Assassin Thoughts
As already mentioned, the skill Temple Strike had a huge effect during the preview weekend. The ability to daze and blind an opponent for 8 seconds is extremely powerful. Condition removal was able to combat it somewhat, but when the condition removing Monk was also dazed, Temple Strike became a very commanding skill. The build that I reached the Halls with had two Temple Strike Assassins that were able to take down enemy Monks with quite a high degree of success. This skill also worked well against almost all other builds, shutting down casters and blinding warriors. Many have predicted that this skill will be nerfed, but then again many people are still shouting for the IWAY nerf that has yet to come. More likely in my opinion is a further reliance on Restore Condition and an emphasis on interrupting Assassin combo chains.
Another skill that worked well, specifically in coordination with Temple Strike, was Signet of Shadows. It does 29 damage, plus 51 if the target is blind. Since this requires points in Deadly Arts, another skill that worked well for damage was Impale, dealing 58 earth damage when the target is hit by a dual attack. Add in Black Mantis Thrust for a cripple and Death Blossom as the dual attack (a nice AE skill) and you have a decent shutdown and damage build that can take down a soft target impressively fast. Of course, you'll also want to bring along Expose Defenses, just to make sure no protection Monks will keep you from a successful kill.
Though that build worked well for me over the weekend, a few other skills caught my eye. For example, many degen builds would benefit from having Assassins or Assassin secondaries. One skill that I used was Shameful Fear, a hex that lasts 10 seconds and does 15 damage each second if the target is moving. Along the same lines is the skill Enduring Toxin, causing 3 health degen and self-renewing as long as the target is moving when the hex would normally end. Though I didn't get to test it out over the weekend, Seeping Wound also caught my eye, augmenting any degen build that uses conditions by adding 2 health degen to a target that is already bleeding or poisoned.
Shadow Arts was another skill line that will take more time to develop. Skills like Scorpion Wire and Aura of Displacement open the way for more strategy concerning character placement. The various teleportation skills also allow for more confusion strategy, allowing a character to disorient the enemy and make it more difficult for them to correctly use their build. For example, it would be difficult for the build I detailed above to be successful if the target teleported back to their starting location just after being hit by Temple Strike. After all, the Dazed condition is worthless if there's nobody there to interrupt the target's spells.
Overall the Assassin will cause a complete evolution in PvP strategy. Factions PvP players will have to know the importance of disrupting combos. They will have to recognize hexes like Enduring Toxin and Shameful Fear so as not to kill themselves like many players I fought during the preview weekend did. Condition removal will become more important, and players will have to keep a clear head when their target is teleporting all around the screen. Arenanet has been successful in bringing even more skill to a game that has already set a new precedent in skill-based gaming, and once Factions is released, PvP will never be the same.
