In Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, the Assassin is by far the flashiest class, and one that relies on a fair amount of patience to play.
The Assassin can chunk away at Oni health bars, or clean up scattered enemies while gaining resolve as quickly as possible. This class requires a decent amount of resolve to be utilized to the full potential, since a Super Assassination / Critical requires one resolve to use.
My first tip for new Assassins: focus on skills that maximize the time you are spending out of enemy sight and picking them off one by one. An effective strategy with is to initiate combat with an assassination, use a smoke bomb to blind enemies and block out of LoS, then either escape or pick them off one by one.
Class Ability: Toxic Vanish | Group Vanish
If you want to be a selfish teammate and listen to your teammates groan for an hour in Nightmare, then choose Toxic Vanish. Don’t be confused: Toxic Vanish isn’t bad by any means, but Group Vanish is one of the few utility options that Assassins can provide to a team.
If you are playing with friends, Toxic Vanish is powerful when assassinating into a group, using the ability and assassinating again, or retreating. Group Vanish is the higher utility class ability, and has a shorter cooldown than Toxic Vanish.
Ultimate Ability: Shadow Strike
Shadow Strike is a fun ultimate. Using it, the Assassin enters an ethereal form and teleports forward, assassinating three enemies in rapid succession. Unfortunately, once you begin facing the higher level Oni, your assassination won’t one-shot kill enemies.
Shadow Strike is similar to the Samurai’s Hachiman’s Fury ultimate ability, but with more control and the option to choose the target before attacking. Shadow Strike doesn’t make the Assassin invisible nor invincible, but you do move faster and can cover long distances in seconds.
Below is the Assassin Technique Tree in Ghost of Tsushima: Legends.
- Rank 2: Critical Hit – Inflict 30% more damage during assassinations.
- Rank 3: Experienced Assassin – Stealth attacks are faster and quieter.
- Rank 5: Shadow Storm – Shadow Strike gains 2 extra strikes
- Rank 7: Super Strike – Perform a stronger Stealth Attack dealing 2x normal damage.
- Rank 9: Light Step – You are silent when running.
- Rank 11: Chain Vanish – Successfully assassinating an enemy while vanished re-activates vanish and refreshes the duration
- Rank 14: Assassin Unleashed – Decrease class ability cooldown by 15%.
- Rank 16: Opportunist – Deals 50% bonus assassination damage to Staggered enemies
- Rank 18: Legendary – Increase the number of Legendary items you can equip by 1.
Assembling a deadly Assassin
It goes without saying that Assassins are one of the most versatile classes in terms of ways to to approach a fight and help your team.
If you favor a bold playstyle in Survival, equip a sticky bomb and a healing gourd for the ghost weapons. What this does is allow you to jump into the fray, eliminate a few opponents with ease, and have tools to not only keep you alive but also stagger enemies to escape with no issues. This style is often considered reckless and doesn’t play well into a coordinated group. However, if used by a solo player floating to hold objectives on Survival mode, it works incredibly. In this loadout, opt for the Shadow Storm perk, which adds two more assassinations to the ultimate ability. Adding this perk increases the Assassin’s damage potential and makes them more capable of cleaning up objectives swarmed by hordes.
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If you favor a stealthier Assassin and are looking to clear the Story missions, focus on building a loadout that weakens the Oni, making them more susceptible to assassinations. For a full stealth loadout, equip Group Vanish, a blowgun, kunai, or a sticky bomb for your first ghost weapon, and then a smoke bomb for the second ghost weapon. Smoke bombs have a modifier that gains one resolve instantly when used, and the super assassination ability requires one resolve to use. If timed well, the smoke bomb can blind multiple enemies, making a super assassination and retreat tactic effective. The same can be done with Group Vanish if a teammate is in trouble, using sticky bombs to clear a path only to disappear and gain a second to heal.
As for a charm, always go with a melee or stealth charm since they provide ultimate, stealth, and assassination damage bonuses. The stealthy option works better with the Chain Vanish perk, where an assassin will reactivate the Group Vanish or Toxic Vanish after a successful assassination. Make sure you have enough resolve to pull off a super assassination, or at least until an enemy is weak enough to be assassinated.
The Assassin is not as overpowered as we predicted back when Ghost of Tsushima: Legends was first announced, but it is perhaps the class with the highest skill ceiling. When built correctly and played skillfully, the Assassin can be an efficient stress reliever in Survival or an all-out terror in the story missions.
Ghost of Tsushima has a few minor bugs when it comes to assassinations, ranging from teleporting enemies to getting stuck in an animation that gets you killed. Bugs aside, this is a great class with no flaws. Play patiently, remain in the shadows, and strike when the Oni least expect it to make the most of the Assassin in Ghost of Tsushima: Legends.
