Assassin Skillset - Stuns

[F8L Fool]

UPDATED: 10/15 (Tooltip, Godstone, and other alterations)

The Assassin is the highest single target DPS class in all of Aion. However, due to their lack of crowd control abilities and snares (roots, slows, etc.), when it comes to PvP they have to rely on arguably what is their most valuable asset: stuns.

The Assassin does not have a stun in their arsenal that is purely a stun, and nothing else. In many games the "Rogue" class has skills that stun a target and that is its sole purpose. In Aion, that is not the case. Every stun an Assassin uses has additional effects, most commonly the effect being pure damage. Below you will find a full list of abilities which have the stun effect.

In total the Assassin class has 7 stunning abilities. Previously Elyos had 8 stuns, but as of patch 1.5 the stun skill was changed to a silence/debuff (credit to Chibisukei for the find). The skills are as follows:

Any and all of the following may be subject to change in later patch notes and will be adjusted accordingly in this thread

Skills
*(Due to the nature of forcing a player into the "aerial" state, it is arguably a mere variation of a traditional stun seeing how it performs the same basic function. Therefore those will be included in this list as well!)*
**The text descriptions are personal editing/translations from the tooltips that consist of some broken English**

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1.) Counterattack [lvl. 5] < 10s cooldown > - After successful evasion (dodge) damages and stuns target at a certain rate (the rate refers to success rate, and is not guaranteed to stun).

*Important Note: Successfully evading a spell through the use of the Focused Evasion (as well as Aethertwisting) skill will not activate this ability (Credit to Stebthefirst & Shoseijutsu for clarifying this).

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2.) Pain Rune [lvl. 13] < 18s cooldown > Erases engraved pattern within 10m range, damaging and stunning the target. Damage and stun probability based on level of pattern erased.

*Important Note: The developers have referred to this as an Assassins "main" stun. Reason being its range capability, coupled with the high success (if engraved properly), and lowest cooldown next to Counterattack.

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3.) Ambush [lvl. 25 *Stigma*] < 40s cooldown > Moves (teleports) to the back of a target within 20m range, dealing damage and stunning at a certain rate.

*Important Note: Cannot be used while in flight, or on flying target. Like Counterattack the stun is not guaranteed though is more consistent. The stun chance however is reportedly much higher than Counterattack. This is one of three stuns obtained at 25!

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4.) Whirlwind Slash [lvl. 25] < 1 minute cooldown > Upon evading (doding), deals damage to target and puts it in a "Spin" state.

Video:

YouTube - Aion Spin

YouTube - Aion Spin

*Important Note: The "Spin" state is a 1.5 second duration stun which forces the target to turn around. Essentially giving the Assassin a free back attack. Has same activation rules as Counterattack. This is one of three stuns obtained at 25!

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5.) Binding Rune [lvl. 25] < 1 minute cooldown > Erases pattern engraved on target within melee range, dealing damage and placing the target into an "Open Aerial" state for 3s duration. *CANNOT BE USED ON FLYING/GLIDING TARGET OR WHILE YOU ARE IN FLIGHT*
Video:

YouTube - Aion Aerial

YouTube - Aion Aerial

*Important Note: The "Open Aerial" state is when a player is launched several feet off the ground, and locked there essentially stunned in mid-air. Though it appears they are laying upside down with their back exposed, you still must run behind them as if they were facing you to perform a back attack with the bonus. This is one of three stuns obtained at 25!
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6.) Spiral Slash [lvl. 40 *Divine Prayer*] < 15 minute cool > Rushes to target within 25m range, damaging and stunning for 3s.

*Important Note: Due to the lack of requirements (no need to evade or engrave patterns), astonishing 25m range, and guaranteed 3s stun, the cooldown is the longest of all Assassin stuns by a substantial amount.
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7.) Throw Dagger [lvl. 46] < 40s cooldown > Throws a dagger at a target within 20m range, damaging and stunning it for 2s.

Poison Procs
The above skills every Assassin (save for 1) are given, in the order with which they obtain them. They are skills which are activated and result in a stun. It is important to note that there is one other Assassin exclusive form of stunning in an Assassin's repertoire, and that is through poisons.

Apply Deadly Poison [lvl. 28 *Stigma*] < 2 minute cooldown on the skill, but lasts 2 minutes, equaling no cooldown > Uses 2 Scolopen Poison to spread poison on your weapons (both weapons you are wielding). The poison has a 2% chance of stunning the target with each successful attack. Not as commonly used as regular poisons due to the Assassination skill, lower proc rate, and stigma slot requirement.


--When combined with God Stones you can have up to 8% chance to stun off of proc attacks alone.
--It has been suggested many times over that Paralyze is a superior Godstone, which would yield a 4% chance to proc when combined with poisons.

Godstones
Last but not least are God Stones. Although they are not unique to Assassins, they are very powerful tools to use in addition to their regular skills.

Unlike Mana Stones, these stones have level requirements for socketing, but have amazing effects. One such effect is a stun that can be found on the following stones:
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Fasimedes's Majesty: < Item must be level 40 or higher > Imbues a weapon with the effect that stuns the target for 1 second at the trigger rate of 6%.

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Vidar's Dignity: < Item must be level 40 or higher > Imbues a weapon with the effect that paralyzes the target for 5 seconds at the trigger rate of 2%.

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Spatalos' Chastisement: < Item must be level 40 or higher > ((Elyos Quest Item)) Imbues a weapon with the effect that paralyzes the target for 5 seconds at the trigger rate of 2%.

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Suthran's Threat: < Item must be level 40 or higher > ((Asmodian Quest Item)) Imbues a weapon with the effect that paralyzes the target for 5 seconds at the trigger rate of 2%.

There are many, many, many other viable God Stones to be had in Aion. The above are merely a few examples of a typical Assassin stone.

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- Thank you Darth Frettchen for the video footage!

[Kossori]

Great job putting everything regarding Assassin stuns into a single post.

[F8L Fool]

Originally Posted by Kossori

Great job putting everything regarding Assassin stuns into a single post.

Thank you! It just seems like a lot of people are confused about the subject. When people first start an Assassin they think, "Wow! We get no stuns!", yet people that don't play the class think, "You have a ton of stuns, be quiet!" So I thought this would help settle that argument and help people come to their own educated conclusion.

Some people will still think they have too many, and others will think they have too few. Personally, I'll have to experience end game play to come to my own conclusion.

[shoseijutsu]

resisting a spell doesn't count as a dodge, and u cannot use ur evasion skills when u resist a spell.

pattern explosion has 12 sec cd

ambush stun rate is higher then counterslash, regarding numbers i can't help, but ambush stuns quite often

erasing a lvl 5 with pattern explosion wont give u 100% stun rate, but i would say it would be around 85-90% because it does stun almost always

Spiral Slash is our 4K DP skill, which means u cannot use it whenever u want, as well as all the other 4K DP skills, it has 1 hour cd


just wanted to clarify few things

also i dont think any assassin would actually put stun godstones on his weapons, they would go with slow / blind / silence / damage imo :x
overall good post ^^

[F8L Fool]

Originally Posted by shoseijutsu

resisting a spell doesn't count as a dodge, and u cannot use ur evasion skills when u resist a spell.

pattern explosion has 12 sec cd

ambush stun rate is higher then counterslash, regarding numbers i can't help, but ambush stuns quite often

erasing a lvl 5 with pattern explosion wont give u 100% stun rate, but i would say it would be around 85-90% because it does stun almost always

Spiral Slash is our 4K DP skill, which means u cannot use it whenever u want, as well as all the other 4K DP skills, it has 1 hour cd


just wanted to clarify few things

also i dont think any assassin would actually put stun godstones on his weapons, they would go with slow / blind / silence / damage imo :x
overall good post ^^

Half of the descriptions were taken directly out of the games skill list, and the other half were taken out of Aion Armory. I changed the wording around because frankly it's somewhat sloppy.

Are you saying the cooldowns found on both Aion Armory and in the in game client are wrong for pattern explosion? (Link found here to it on AO). Also the same goes goes for the Spiral Slash cooldown which you can see here.

Thanks for the clearing up the stun rate of Ambush and the 5pt Pattern Explosion as well.

As for the Godstones I just wanted to put them in there for the sake of being thorough lol. Although when you think about it with 2% stun poison + 6% 1s stun stones, you'd have an 8% stun chance on regular swings.

How high of an Assassin have you played up to?

[shoseijutsu]

the AionArmory skill descriptions dont state any of the DP skills any class have, and Spiral Sash is a 4K DP skills, ill log on my assassin in china and SS to show u once im home from work, as well as the cd on pattern explosion (not that those 2 second matter much but i like being accurate xD)

and um o_O the pattern explosion link u gave shows 18 sec, and u wrote 10 xD

and yea i know the godstones just came to show u can have even more stun rate, but imo like i said there are so much better stones to put

i've yet to try deadly poison out, i have it sitting in my WH, but i just can't replace any of my stigmas i have right now (using Ambush, Quick Contract, Successive Pattern Engraving), but i will take one of them out just for the sake of testing to see how good it is.

my assassin is 5 bars away from 35
just lazy on editing my sig >_>

[F8L Fool]

Perhaps the version of the game is different that you're playing on? If it's a future change they made (one that won't be in place on NA release), then I'd prefer to avoid adding it.

[shoseijutsu]

i high doubt 4K DP skills cooldown would change, those skills are extremely powerful, and no way in hell u would have an assassin spamming their 4K DP every 5 min, just as a sorc wont be going around 1 shot everyone with their 4K DP skill as well

regarding the skill cd, once ill get home ill confirm this.

other than that changes made in 1.1 and 1.2 as far as i know haven't changed many of the assassin pre lvl 45 skills

and for the resisting issue, i've used focused evasion (which lasts 5 seconds btw :x) so many times, and counterslash NEVER went active after i resisted a spell, its just like templar can't resist a spell and use their counter shield attacks.

[Riboswitch]

Does it make any sense to have twice the same poison (for getting a higher "Succesrate")?

[Dabirii]

Originally Posted by Riboswitch

Does it make any sense to have twice the same poison (for getting a higher "Succesrate")?

I'm not sure but I think it might apply to both weapons at once.

Either way, with the assassin's extremely hight attack rate you should see it proc a fair bit.




And now I'm really torn as to wether I want to go Asmo or Elyos That extra stun looks REALLY nice to have.

[F8L Fool]

Originally Posted by Dabirii

I'm not sure but I think it might apply to both weapons at once.

Either way, with the assassin's extremely hight attack rate you should see it proc a fair bit.




And now I'm really torn as to wether I want to go Asmo or Elyos That extra stun looks REALLY nice to have.

Very good question. When you read the tooltip it says "on weapon", which can be taken two ways: the first being it's on "a" weapon, as in one single application, which would result in it only being applicable on one weapon every 2 minuites, or, it could be read as a typo and the "s" was left off of the word "weapon" which should make it be "on weapons", as in on the dual wield.

In short, I believe it applies to only one weapon, and therefore the tooltip should be altered accordingly.

As for the stun I'm somewhat on the fence about as well. But perhaps an HP draining attack (if large enough drain) could offset a single "temporary" stun. I'd have to find out the exact figures on the length of the Elyos stun, as well as the Asmodian drain to make an educated conclusion on the matter.

But this is great, keep asking questions and throwing in ideas.

P.S. If ANYONE knows whether or not the Deadly Poison skill puts poison on one or two weaps at a time, please let me know on this forum or via PM!

[shoseijutsu]

the buff applies on ur weapons, meaning both of them, just like the regular poison u apply on ur weapons

[BackFired]

nice write up m8 now i know what stuns i get to work with mostly.

[F8L Fool]

Originally Posted by shoseijutsu

the buff applies on ur weapons, meaning both of them, just like the regular poison u apply on ur weapons

Thanks again. The correction has been made.

[Dabirii]

Originally Posted by shoseijutsu

the buff applies on ur weapons, meaning both of them, just like the regular poison u apply on ur weapons

Definitely good to know, the wording had led me to believe this, but due to not actually being able to test it I had no way of for sure knowing until now, thank you.

Originally Posted by F8L Fool

As for the stun I'm somewhat on the fence about as well. But perhaps an HP draining attack (if large enough drain) could offset a single "temporary" stun. I'd have to find out the exact figures on the length of the Elyos stun, as well as the Asmodian drain to make an educated conclusion on the matter.

You bring up a valid point there, both tool's could be extremely helpful, though the life drain could see some potential abuse... edit: Apparently in the Armoury it isn't the one I was thinking of.

But still, two or more potential life drains as an Asmodian, hmmm... More stuns or more survivability...

Sorry, offtopic but I felt the need to discuss it.