Assassin

Assassin
Type	Fighter
Acquisition	Contacts Starting Captain
SKILLS
Primary Skill	Stealth
Secondary Skill	Blades
Tertiary Skill	Evasion

Starting Captain Traits

A captain whose first job is Assassin will gain the following traits:

Stalker	Seeks high-value targets, when crew combat includes an enemy officer or captain then immediately gains a Buff for +15% Critical, +10% Dodge, +10% Parry and Stealth Mode for 3 Turns	Profession	+3 *
On Edge	Coiled spring ready to strike, +1 Strength, +1 Fortitude, +3 Initiative	Profession	+3 *

Skills

As a character advances in the Assassin Job, he or she gains the following Skill points at each Rank.

Ranks 1 to 12

Rank	Blades	Evasion	Stealth
1	2	1	1
2	3	1	3
3	4	1	3
4	4	1	4
5	5	1	4
6	5	1	5
7	5	1	6
8	6	1	6
9	6	1	7
10	6	1	8
11	7	2	8
12	7	3	8

Ranks 13 to 24

Rank	Blades	Evasion	Stealth
13	7	4	8
14	7	4	9
15	8	4	10
16	8	4	11
17	8	4	12
18	8	4	13
19	8	5	13
20	9	5	14
21	9	5	14
22	10	5	15
23	10	5	16
24	10	5	17

Ranks 25 to 36

Rank	Blades	Evasion	Stealth
25	10	5	18
26	11	5	18
27	11	5	19
28	11	6	19
29	11	6	20
30	12	6	21
31	12	6	22
32	13	7	22
33	14	8	22
34	15	8	22
35	15	9	22
36	16	10	22

Talents

Each Job provides a series of Talents representing the special abilities granted by this specific training. As a Character progresses through Job Ranks, more and more Talents become available.

	Rank: 1 Smoke Bomb 12 Initiative In crew combat, Crippling Grenade Attack hits 2 targets and causes -2 Initiative, -20% Melee Defense for 2 Turns; if hits successfully Engages Stealth Mode, +(10% + Stealth) Critical for 2 Turns
ON INIT	Rank: 1 Hitman Rush On Initiative When making Initiative Roll in Crew Combat, Requires Stealth Mode active; Buff yourself with +2 Initiative, +25% Melee Accuracy, +10% Critical for 3 Turns
ON INIT	Rank: 1 First Blood On Initiative When making Initiative Roll in Crew Combat, front line enemy freezes in fear of unseen opponent; -3 Initiative, -10% All Accuracy, -25% Melee Defense, -10% Armor for 3 Turns; Requires Stealth Mode to use
	Rank: 1 Venomous Blade Weapon's Initiative In crew combat, Crippling Blade Attack with +10% Melee Accuracy, +20% Melee Damage; successful hit causes +22 Bio-Poison Damage, -10% Armor for 2 Turns

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SKILL SAVE	Rank: 5 Never There 5 weeks Cooldown Automatically passes a failed Stealth test in any situation; including exploring, landing or during a mission
	Rank: 5 Gliding Advance 8 Initiative In crew combat, Buff yourself with +20% Melee Damage, +10% Critical, Engages Stealth Mode, +(10% + Stealth) Critical; lasts for 3 Turns, advances 1 slot (requires blade)
	Rank: 5 Fatal Blow 1.5X Weapon's Initiative In crew combat, Blade Attack with +10% Melee Accuracy, +50% Critical and removes all Buffs from target
EDICT	Rank: 5 Silent Executioner 3 weeks Cooldown Price for death warrant Edict is discounted by 10% + Stealth Skill

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BOARDING	Rank: 8 Targeted Killing 9 weeks Cooldown After a successful Boarding, a fleeting shadow moves among the enemy crew killing an unlucky target; one enemy crew member dies
	Rank: 8 Arterial Slash Weapon's Initiative In crew combat, Crippling Blade Attack with +10% Melee Accuracy, +10% Melee Damage, +10% Armor Piercing; successful hit causes -3 Initiative, +8 Bleeding for 3 Turns; Requires but ends Stealth Mode to use
	Rank: 8 Antidote 6 Initiative In crew combat, Removes all Debuffs; Buffs with +10% Armor, +32 Bio-Poison Resist for 3 Turns

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	Rank: 11 Death Among Shadows 8 Initiative In crew combat, front line enemy freezes in fear of unseen opponent; -25% All Accuracy, -25% All Damage, -10% Armor for 3 Turns, drags target forward 1 slot; Requires Stealth Mode to use
	Rank: 11 Dissection 2X Weapon's Initiative In crew combat, Crippling Blade Attack with +50% Melee Damage; successful hit hits 2 targets and causes +3 Bleeding for 2 Turns; Requires but ends Stealth Mode to use

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BOARDING

Rank: 15 Gut the Leadership 18 weeks Cooldown After a successful Boarding, whirling shade strikes down an enemy leader; one enemy officer dies. If there is no officer to take the hit, the enemy Captain takes up to 30 + Stealth Skill Dmg

Talent Strategy

Smoke Bomb

Smoke Bomb is a grenade attack and thus follows grenade attack mechanics to hit. Unlike other grenades, it costs 12 initiative instead of 16 which is vital to it being useful. This talent is a good alternative to Gliding Advance as you cannot use that talent while in the front-most position. The biggest downside of this approach to stealth is that if you are unable to hit either target, you don't get the stealth buff.

Hitman Rush

This on-init talent won't trigger on the first turn as you won't have stealth then. It is pretty useful for Assassins that are a little under-leveled as the accuracy bonus can help them hit evasive targets.

First Blood

This on-init talent is an offensive alternative to Hitman Rush. While you can learn both, only one can trigger per turn. First blood shines earlier in combat when your foes are still strong and need some debuffs to soften up. It isn't as helpful later as it always affects the front-most target, which at that point might not need an additional debuff to defeat.

Venomous Blade

This is a reliable talent to select early on. It doesn't require stealth mode to use and has a large damage over time effect with significant other bonuses. It is a fall-back move when stealth is removed even once you have other talents.

Never There

Stealth saves are nice, but you really only need one of these per entire crew. Non-combat focused Spies are often a more logical choice for this talent so you can focus on combat talents with this class.

Gliding Advance

This is the alternative way to gain a stealth buff with this class. It shifts you forward and cannot be used from the front position, so it won't always be a good option for you. However, it costs less initiative than smoke bomb and doesn't require you to hit foes in order to ensure you get the stealth buff.

Fatal Blow

This is an alternative option to Venomous Blade for non-stealth attacks. The critical chance is massive but the initiative cost can be an issue. It is also less accurate than Venomous Blade. However, removing all buffs can be extremely useful.

Targeted Killing

This is an identical talent to what the Sniper can learn. It is a strong talent early in ship combat when the opposing crew has higher health as it will one-shot a crew member regardless of health remaining.

Arterial Slash

This move ends stealth but has a massive bang for its initiative cost.

Antidote

This talent can really help when you aren't using a Combat Medic and don't have a lot of options for removing debuffs. It also helps in the rare circumstances where your foe is relying on bio-poison damage considerably. If you have a Combat Medic among your usual combat team, it isn't as helpful.

Death Among Shadows

This is a good way to shut down hard hitting enemies and possibly moving them out of attack range, such as with Soldiers not equipped with snubbers.

Dissection

This is the powerful stealth-ender that makes all the buffing worthwhile. The damage is massive and the bleeding helps finish off what the attack does not. Timing this correctly at the end of your turn without knocking you into penalty initiative for the next turn is key.

Gut the Leadership

This is a powerful talent that serves to weaken enemy combat teams as well as seriously cripple their dice pools in ship combat. It rarely deals enough damage to finish off a Captain, and can only do so if all officers are somehow already dead, however.