Assassins and ranged attacks

[Zarloec]

Let me preface this by saying I am very VERY new to EQ2 (1 week old) <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> I am enjoying playing a Ranger (always have) but am also lured to the Assassin.... Could anyone give me  a decent summary on how Assassins do in ranged attacks/combat? I think they do use bows and ranged atacks, though perhaps not on par with a Ranger, and I am looking for some good info if this is a good class to undertake. How viable are thier ranged attacks?  Are they a decent ranged attack class that is like a more melee based ranger? Sorry for being so far behind the curve <img src="/smilies/499fd50bc713bfcdf2ab5a23c00c2d62.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />   .... I am really happy to have discovered EQ2 though!! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Jayad]

In terms of range attacks they are second only to the Ranger. Unfortunately, it's not even close to a ranger. You get a few CAs but it's really not a good way to do damage. Assassins are almost entirely melee based.

[whytakemine]

<cite>Jayad wrote:</cite><blockquote>In terms of range attacks they are second only to the Ranger. Unfortunately, it's not even close to a ranger. You get a few CAs but it's really not a good way to do damage. Assassins are almost entirely melee based.</blockquote><p>100% agree, except that we are second only to rangers if by ranged you only mean bow attacks.  If by ranged you are including spells, wizards, warlocks, necro's, and conjurors are all better ranged than us.  An illusionist or coercer with the right AA build is too.  An SK probably is better - they get lots of spells.  Probably others I'm not thinking of.</p><p> In short, our ranged damage is pretty weak. </p>

[Siclone]

I think 90 or 95 percent of the time you only use a bow to pull.  So not very much

[Zarloec]

Thank you for your thoughts and info (and patience). <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[chrystolr]

Assassins share the same type of range CA that rangers do and vis veres with rangers and melee attacks. I believe assassisn get a back shot line, double shot line and I think another type. The only difference is there back shot doesnt snare and there double shot is poison based and not fire based like rangers.

[Siclone]

<cite>chrystolred wrote:</cite><blockquote>Assassins share the same type of range CA that rangers do and vis veres with rangers and melee attacks. I believe assassisn get a back shot line, double shot line and I think another type. The only difference is there back shot doesnt snare and there double shot is poison based and not fire based like rangers. </blockquote> yea but dont be misleading, they have very long reset timers. And not used for anything other then pulling mostly.  Assassins damage comes all up close and personal.  Assassin can not put out much DPS while ranged.  Unlike a ranger. 

[Hadanelith]

<p>Actually, our Double Shot has no elements based with it. It's strictly ranged physical (dependent on arrow type).</p><p>In terms of ranged physical damage, Assassins are the only real competitors to Rangers and even then we fall sorely behind. We have four ranged attacks - one takes a little explaining.</p><p>Double-Shot line: Non-position, cannot be cast on the move. Does two hits of ranged physical. Requirement of any ranged weapon, not Bow specific. 20-second cooldown.</p><p>____ Shot line: A flanking shot that deals moderately high damage. Can be cast on the move. Flanking = the back 180 degrees of any mob, you can be just behind the "side" of a mob and use any flanking attack. Any Ranged weapon will do, it is not Bow-specific. 60-second cooldown.</p><p>"Snake" line: A shot to the back (back-centermost 60 degree arc) of a mob. Deals slightly higher damage than the Shot line but is harder to position for. I call it the "Snake Line" due to the naming of the final two abilities, Spitting Viper and Spitting Asp. Also requires any Ranged weapon, not Bow specific. (Note, the first two abilities are Shadow Shot and Cloaked Barb. 4 abilities in the line.) 60-second cooldown.</p><p>MakeShift line: A "ranged melee" attack - this takes some explaining. It will still trigger damage shields as if you were engaged in melee combat, and will activate your Melee auto-attack rather than your Ranged auto-attack upon activation. No positional requirements, and does NOT require any Ranged weapon to use. 20-second cooldown.</p><p>While Assassins do have the freedom of being able to use <i>any</i> Ranged weapon for their shots, most choose Bow due to the higher damage when ranged combat is needed and greater range both for pulling and for ranged combat.</p><p>If you switch from Ranger to Assassin you'll have a slightly lower learning-curve than if you were to switch the other way, however it is still a very, very different game. Approximately half of all an Assassin's attacks rely on being Stealthed, which means you can't be under direct attack nor eating AoEs for your abilities to function properly. Nearly all of your damage will be done in melee, and a great portion by Combat Arts. Rangers, on the other hand, rely more on Ranged Auto damage and poison procs; they enhance the former with their personal Haste and Critical buffs, and supplement between shots and Ranged CA's with Melee CA's. In this the attack pattern is a polar opposite of Assassins - we'll stick in melee as much as we can and then, when all else is down, pop out for a quick high-damage bowshot which gives us just enough time to let our melee skills refresh and begin the cycle all over.</p><p> I hope that helps. Feel free to /tell Hadanelith.Kithicor anytime.</p><p>-Hadanelith Raswrolski of Kithicor</p>

[Sotaudi]

<p>Bows can be used in a number of ways.</p><p>In a group situation, just like for Rangers, there is a sweet spot where you can use ranged and melee attacks.  Thus, if you are waiting for melee timers to refresh, there is no reason to neglect the bow just because we are more melee oriented.  Get in that sweet spot, then you can run through all your melee attacks and all your ranged attacks.</p><p>In a solo situation, you can use the following strategies with a bow:</p><p>Get behind your target at max bow range, fire one of the positional ranged attacks, followed by the non-positional ranged attack, then use the Makeshift ranged-melee attack, which puts you into melee autoattack as the mob cloes to melee range.  Because the positional ranged attacks have longer refresh times, alternate between them on pulls.</p><p>Since we have a number of positional or stealthed melee attacks that can make better use of Cheap Shot, it is usually best to reserve Cheap Shot to execute these melee attacks.  But since the positional ranged attacks do not require you to stand in place, it is also possible to use Cheap Shot to stun the target then, as you run past the target, queue a positional ranged attack and keep running.</p><p>Another stategy is to run thorugh your primary melee sequences then, once your non-positional ranged attack is ready, root the target, back up and fire your non-positional ranged attack followed by as many ranged autoattacks as you can get off before the root breaks.  Once the root breaks, fire the Makeshift ranged-melee attack as you move back into melee (assuming it, too, is back up).</p><p>On a long fight (e.g., a heroic encounter), you can use this latter sequence to get out of melee range of the mob and, if it has no ranged attacks, you can do quite a bit of damage (the non-positional raged attack and at least two ranged autoattacks, usually, in addition to the ranged-melee attack) while taking no damage yourself.  This is especially good when you are waiting for melee timers to refresh.  Similarly, in a multi-mob encounter, it is extremely hard to get off stealthed attacks until you are down to only one mob.  This means you can very quickly run through all your non-positional melee attacks and have to wait for timers to refresh with multiple mobs on you.  However, using that last sequence, you can root one of the mobs, back out of his melee range, cutting the damage being done to you, and still do damage to that mob while your timers refresh.</p><p>We may not be as adept with ranged attacks as a Ranger is, but we can certainly find uses for the bow.</p>

[Norrsken]

<cite>chrystolred wrote:</cite><blockquote>Assassins share the same type of range CA that rangers do and vis veres with rangers and melee attacks. I believe assassisn get a back shot line, double shot line and I think another type. The only difference is there back shot doesnt snare and there double shot is poison based and not fire based like rangers. </blockquote>Back shot, flanking and double shot. We also get a ranged melee attack. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />