Assassin: beginner's race guide — classes, strengths and weaknesses

In short: The Assassin is the master of the stealth strike: it wields daggers, hits fast and prefers to take a target down before it can react. It's an exciting pick for anyone who loves high damage and constant movement.

In the world of Lineage II, the Assassin is the shadow nobody sees coming. It doesn't trade blows head-on like a heavy warrior — it closes in, finds a weak spot and unloads concentrated damage in seconds.

It's the classic "rogue" fantasy: light, agile and deadly. If you like the idea of being the character who appears, removes the target and vanishes, this is your race.

Overview

Profile
Role	Stealthy melee damage (DPS)
Style	Daggers, speed and backstabs
Difficulty	Medium
Number of classes	8

The Assassin is a race built to deal damage, not to soak it up. It shines when it gets to choose the time and place of the fight.

Strengths

• Burst damage: dagger strikes from behind multiply your damage, so the Assassin can drop targets fast when well positioned.
• High mobility: it's one of the fastest races at closing in, escaping and repositioning — great for hunting and for getting out of trouble.
• Strong against single targets: facing one enemy at a time, few characters deliver this much damage in so little time.
• Fun right away: the fast pace and critical hits make both farming and PvP very dynamic from early on.

Weaknesses

• Fragile: it has low defense and health; if surrounded or caught off guard, it goes down quickly.
• Depends on positioning: the big damage comes from striking the back. Head-on, and against very defensive enemies, performance drops a lot.
• Struggles against crowds: without good defense, facing several enemies at once is risky.

Assassin classes

The Assassin exists in two origin lineages (Human and Dark Elf), and each one evolves through the same stages. Every class below has its own detailed guide on the blog.

Starter

• Assassin (H) (Starter): the Human starter version — learns the basics of daggers and stealth.
• Assassin (DE) (Starter): the Dark Elf starter version — same base, with the agile flavor of Dark Elves.

1st Class

• Assassin (H) (1st Class): the first Human evolution, with more damage and mobility tools.
• Assassin (DE) (1st Class): the first Dark Elf evolution, focused on speed and precise strikes.

2nd Class

• Assassin (H) (2nd Class): a matured Human assassin, with a more complete stealth kit.
• Assassin (DE) (2nd Class): a matured Dark Elf assassin, even deadlier against a single target.

3rd Class

• Assassin (H) (3rd Class): the elite Human version, the peak of stealth damage.
• Assassin (DE) (3rd Class): the elite Dark Elf version, a specialist at removing priority targets.

How to start

For a beginner, either starter version works well — pick by the look and the race you prefer (Human or Dark Elf). The playstyle is practically the same.

1. Create the character: choose the origin (Human or Dark Elf) and start as an Assassin (Starter).
2. Do the early quests: they teach the basics, give starting gear and your first experience points.
3. Turn on auto-hunt: in Essence, your character can farm nearby monsters on its own. Leave it hunting in an area for your level to gain levels steadily.
4. Change class: when you hit the required levels, advance to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd class to unlock new skills.

Tip: always keep HP/MP potions in the auto-supply slot. Since the Assassin is fragile, that's what keeps it from dying while hunting on its own.

Common beginner mistakes

• Attacking everything head-on: ignoring positioning throws away the race's biggest asset, which is backstab damage.
• Forgetting gear attributes: in Essence, enchanting and adding attributes to your weapon makes a huge difference to your damage — don't leave it for later.
• Hunting in too tough an area: since you die easily, choosing monsters far above your level stalls your leveling and causes pointless deaths.

It's for you if…

• You like a fast pace: you want constant movement, critical hits and fights that end quickly.
• You enjoy taking targets down solo: you'd rather be the threat that picks its victim than the tank that holds the line.
• You accept being fragile in exchange for damage: you're fine dying more to hit much harder — that's the Assassin's deal.