Guildrun Class Guide: How to Play Assassin

The Assassin class is built around Crit, making most of its heroes fulfill the DPS role for the team. While the Crit mechanic can be unreliable in other games, in Guildrun, reaching a 100% Crit chance is a feature. In fact, players are encouraged to go beyond 100% as any extra scales your Crit Damage!

However, there's a lot more to the class than just pure damage, so let's dive in and explore the other mechanics that Assassin has to offer.

Disclaimer: This guide is based on the Guildrun Demo, so please keep in mind that everything is subject to change as new patches get released.

Assassin Mechanics: Crit, Shard, Poison, Rush, Stealth

Assassin heroes tend to be quite strong during the early game, even without dedicated items to support them. This is because their starting C-Rank abilities deal a lot of damage by default.

If you're able to take advantage of this, you can lean into Assassins for their Shard generation in the opening rounds. Even if you decide to drop them later, it's a good way to kickstart your economy with little investment. In Guildrun, every Shard counts!

When it comes to building a team, Assassin heroes can be trickier to include than other classes, as many of them have abilities that scale permanently on-kill. So ultimately, it may depend on the time they are available, and whether you're able to successfully secure kills.

Dragomir

• Base Class: Assassin
• Multiclass: Mage, Vanguard
• Starting Ability: Devour
• Specializations: The Greedy, The Sanguine, The Kingpin

Dragomir is inherently built around Omnivamp, providing him some natural sustain over other Assassins. He's also one of the few heroes that has a Shard generating ability at C-Rank.

• The Greedy — If you're able to reliably kill with Devour, this takes Shard farming to the next level. That said, if you can't, it'll be eating through your Shards with every cast. Be careful.
• The Sanguine — This allows Dragomir to reach the backline which could be very useful in certain fights, while also opening up useful Mage synergies.
• The Kingpin — A decent Backup effect if you've generated enough Shards, but only useful if you're playing Assassins and Vanguards.

Hoyoung

• Base Class: Assassin
• Multiclass: Mystic, Warrior
• Starting Ability: Killshot
• Specializations: The Conduit, The Hunter, The Sniper

Hoyoung is a ranged DPS who excels at striking the enemy backline with his Killshot ability. This scales with both Attack and Magic, allowing him to make use of a wider range of items.

• The Conduit — This has the potential to make Hoyoung a strong Backup support unit, but requires a lot of upfront investment, along with an early B-Rank upgrade.
• The Hunter — A very good source of Shard generation, IF you can reliably kill.
• The Sniper — If the enemy backline is a real concern, this helps solve the issue while also adding Warrior synergies to the mix.

Yuuna

• Base Class: Assassin
• Multiclass: None
• Starting Ability: Shuriken Shadow Strike
• Specializations: The Shadow, The Collector, The Nightshade

Yuuna is a mobile Assassin that can slip through the frontline and burst down the lowest-health enemies. She also has access to three distinct mechanics: Stealth, Shard, and Poison.

• The Shadow — A solid safety net that can help avoid awkward aggro situations, while also setting up for her next Shuriken Shadow Strike. Permanent Crit scaling is a nice bonus as well.
• The Collector — Probably the most reliable of the on-kill Shard abilities, since it actually targets the lowest-health enemy. Like the others, useful early if you can make it work.
• The Nightshade — This is a pretty sizeable damage buff to Shuriken Shadow Strike, alongside the added Poison utility. However, you'll likely want to solve Crit to make the most of it.

Zuri

• Base Class: Tank, Assassin
• Multiclass: None
• Starting Ability: Stone Skin
• Specializations: The Cruel, The Serpent's Kiss, The Bladedancer

Zuri has two base classes in Tank and Assassin, making her ideal on the frontlines. Unlike the other three Assassin heroes, she begins with a passive ability that has permanent scaling potential.

• The Cruel — This offers a strong AoE Stun, but the Poison amount will be pretty negligible unless you've had the time to farm Stone Skin.
• The Serpent's Kiss — Requires some items, relics, and/or stat boosts to be worth it, but it could provide a good chunk of Poison and HP/S.
• The Bladedancer — A very strong choice that lets Zuri handle Act 1 with little investment. The combination of Rush + Stall means she'll have passive healing most of the fight.

Nyx

• Base Class: Duelist
• Multiclass: Assassin
• Starting Ability: Ferality
• Specializations: The Keen-Eyed, The Wild, The Spark

Nyx can be a great asset on the bench with The Keen-Eyed, granting your Assassin heroes (and Duelists) a passive execute effect without any further investment.

Ratna

• Base Class: Mage
• Multiclass: Mystic, Assassin
• Starting Ability: Starfall
• Specializations: The Fashionable, The Ostentatious, The Magnanimous

Ratna has huge scaling potential with Starfall, and The Magnanimous makes this much easier to achieve thanks to its low-health targeting. She can quickly snowball with just a little bit of help, and the built-in Stealth gives her an escape plan during rough combats.

Rip

• Base Class: Vanguard
• Multiclass: Assassin
• Starting Ability: Bloodthirsty
• Specializations: The Glutton, The Enraged, The Brute

Rip can become an offensive powerhouse in addition to his natural bulk as a Vanguard. The Brute puts an emphasis on Crit as a source of sustain, allowing you to build for offense while retaining a lifesteal effect. Notably, it's much easier to scale Crit than Omnivamp.