What is the point of an assassin?

Niyumi··3 votes·1,266 views

ADCs hit harder, are more reliable, have higher range, have next to no downtime, don't have to ramp up their damage, have virtually no counterplay, have god tier sustain, do more damage, tankier than assassins...

Mages have higher range, do more damage, most have assloads of CC, most can just one shot you or global you, also don't have to ramp up their damage, also tankier...

Divers are more reliable, have better tools to survive when they fight someone, have CC, have just as much mobility, have very little if any counterplay, oftentimes do more damage, have better sustain, are tankier...

Juggernauts do more damage, are god tier tanks, have tons of sustain, have less counterplay and delay than assassins, and are capable of frontlining...

What does an assassin do? They have to either literally one shot someone, or they just die. They don't have the tools for longer fights, and they usually have pretty lengthy cooldowns on their method of killing someone and doing their job, they can't teamfight minus maybe picking one person off and dying (if they can even do that much), their damage is now delayed and heavily telegraphed outside of fringe cases... Half the time I feel useless playing one that isn't named Kha or Kayn, and AP assassins are just about synonymous with garbage at this point (unless your name is LB, but she's a mage) unless the enemy team somehow miraculously feeds you 4-5 kills early game.

I feel more like an assassin playing Yorick, Camille or even Lux, and that just isn't right.

15 Comments

Unreformed Shaco2 votes

Nothing anymore.

Assassins are good for picking off lone targets with high burst in small window. Meddler said thats not fair or fun.

Blade Runner6 votes

Meddler was splitpushing alone when they had a 15/0 Zed. ''Assassins must change, no counterplay'' [leblanc-funny]

Niyumi3 votes

Assassins can't even really pick off lone targets anymore. Say you try to fight an ADC or certain mages... if they don't instantly die the moment you appear on them, they just turn around and 100-0 you in half a second. A tank... psh, you can't even dent them.

But apparently it's fun for an ADC to right click on you from a screen away and kill you in half a second, having nothing you can do to mitigate the damage or not die? Or for Lux / Ori / Ahri / Syndra / etc to just roll their face and global you? Or for someone like Shyv or Garen to just walk up and delete you with an auto?

I think Meddler might be a bit insane. Or he's being directed by something else...

RavenHusky1 votes

Most mages have to aim their skillshots, giving you opportunity to react and dodge. It's the point and click burst that you can't react to that makes assassins impossible and unfun to play against.

Niyumi1 votes

Really? You have to aim?

Ahri Anivia Annie Azir Brand Fiddlesticks Fizz Malzahar Morgana Ryze Swain Syndra TwistedFate Veigar Viktor Vladimir

Gee, I really don't know about that "aiming" thing. And if you're implying you can miss anything in half of the actual skillshot champs' kits... then you might need some glasses or carpal tunnel surgery.

Only champs you can actually miss on (as far as mid mages goes)...

AurelionSol Lissandra (minus her ult) Taliyah Velkoz Xerath

Kind of a small list.

Oh and do tell how I can react to TF, Annie, Malz, Syndra, or any of them.

idontplaythemeta2 votes

{quoted}

Really? You have to aim?

Ahri Anivia Annie Azir Brand Fiddlesticks Fizz Malzahar Morgana Ryze Swain Syndra TwistedFate Veigar Viktor Vladimir

Gee, I really don't know about that "aiming" thing. And if you're implying you can miss anything in half of the actual skillshot champs' kits... then you might need some glasses or carpal tunnel surgery.

Only champs you can actually miss on...

AurelionSol Lissandra (minus her ult) Taliyah Velkoz Xerath

Kind of a small list.

Oh and do tell how I can react to TF, Annie, Malz, Syndra, or any of them.

you included ahri anivia morg swain vieger and viktor in your list of point and clicks, ill be it vieger ult is point and click but it can hardly one shot any1 at any point in the game without landing another skillshot even if you have 800 ap.

even if they have "an" ability that isn't skill shot reliant that doesn't mean they arnt skilshot reliant champs. ahri with you know 2 big damage abilities being slow linear skill shots, anivia stun being clunky af and kinda important to not dying, swain snare is near immposible to get stuck in so if your smart enough to just dodge that you can just walk away from swain til his q is done, and 3/4 vieger abilities having clear preimtive animations for you to react to and dodge accordingly.

Niyumi2 votes

Yeah... except Anivia can just throw her ult on you which makes her Q pretty easy to land, and 90% of her damage is point and click.

Swain throws Q on you, slows you by 9,000%, and has a pretty easy snare.

Ahri's HIGHEST DAMAGING ABILITIES are her W and R, which are AUTOMATICALLY targeted.

And it's not hard to land Veigar's Q at all. And Q>Ult can kill a squishy if you're not terrible at Veigar.

I'm saying the majority of their damage is point and click, not their entire kit (but the rest of them may as well be targeted in most cases, not like you can miss them)

idontplaythemeta1 votes

{quoted}

Yeah... except Anivia can just throw her ult on you which makes her Q pretty easy to land, and 90% of her damage is point and click.

Swain throws Q on you, slows you by 9,000%, and has a pretty easy snare.

Ahri's HIGHEST DAMAGING ABILITIES are her W and R, which are AUTOMATICALLY targeted.

And it's not hard to land Veigar's Q at all. And Q>Ult can kill a squishy if you're not terrible at Veigar.

I'm saying the majority of their damage is point and click, not their entire kit (but the rest of them may as well be targeted in most cases, not like you can miss them)

okay anivia swain understandable

my counter arguemeant to vieger q is that though its easy to land I also find dodging it to be not a problem

ahri w r most damage?????????? like wut. charm is the dodgable skillshot that allows you to easily land boths forms of q damage which btw is wut you max first for its better base damage, scaling, heal, and true damage.

w gets maxed last and r I find you just use a lot for mobility purposes... also you know the numbers are like not as high as E Q...

Need Gold 4 Tent1 votes

Fly all over the screen with your innate mobility, throw all kinds of skills to seem like you're doing something and make a quick escape. You won't accomplish anything but at least you look cool and can flash your M7 while typing GGEZ.

Edit: And you have to include summoner 4 in the combo. It looks cool and increases your damage.

Niyumi1 votes

Seems about right. Assassins are just there to look cool and flashy and exciting without accomplishing much. It's like a fireworks show for your team! I get it now! You're morale support.

idontplaythemeta1 votes

couple flaws in your statements.... divers... zed... diver... khazix... diver...rengar...diver...talon...also diver... dafuq were you thinking of when you said diver?

adc's.... not tankier by any means and probably won't work out that well building a couple tank items...

point in question: purpose of assassin

in many stages of the game assasins damage is more reliable based upon if the adc's damage mainly comes from critting. as even with 80% crit it feels as though there are moments where you don't crit for 4 autos and die because of it. aka unreliable. with an assassin, lets say kha zix here you know that your abilities and autos are always going to do a set amount of damage and plan accordingly.

I don't know where you get off saying tanks do more damage. the majority of tanks haven't done a lot of damage since season 4 cinderhulk madness. tanks are in a fairly balanced state at the moment and don't do very much damage unless you build much damage.

getting more on track an assassins purpose the majority of the time is to either merely annoying the enemy team into baits or poor fights and sometimes an effective objective stealer (shaco for example) or eliminate an enemy carry effectly enough so that they cannot react to what you do. "well that's just unfun and has 0 counterplay" well typically there is always something the enemy carry can do or something the enemy team can do to assist the carry. to effectively eliminate this carry however you the assassin must wait for your team bait out an ability before you goin or zone the carry away from their team for you to kill them. THUS, there is counterplay your just too narrowminded and tilted to see it.

othertimes the assassin role is for players with a hardcore solo que mentality and strictly solo carry a game to end at 20 minutes. ever see a good talon player get fed? and 15 minutes in that talon player is 28 and 2? hes not really taking any objectives not farming just roaming around the map slaughtering everything with ease to make the game seem pretty hopeless. to the point you probably surrender. but if you were to hold out that game somehow these characters fall off pretty hard. one way to think about it is that they cant get any more fed than one shotting you. and at some point with some hard teamwork you can push out a game to win it. but because the assassin diver got a few early kills he hard carried a game and forced a team into a difficult spot that they did have chance to get out of... just probably tilted themselves into playing poorly or surrendering.

other roles would include taking you assassin and not building assassin/playing like one. examples would be playing shaco as a peeling tank. or zed as an attack speed split pusher since his wave clear is pretty damn good.

Niyumi2 votes

Okay, so first off, you first called Zed a diver, and then called him an assassin... and then did the same for Talon (contradicting yourself in the first place). They're both assassins though, sorry.

Diver: Someone who jumps in and causes chaos in the backline, with decent kill potential, and usually has CC or tools to isolate their target (Win Nhao ult, Camille ult, Jax E, Rek'sai knockup, etc.) <-- This is what you're talking about.

Assassin: Someone who is (supposedly) meant to sneak in and eliminate priority targets and get out without taking much time or damage, or to assassinate lone targets (gee like their name implies!) <-- This is what I'm talking about.

And ADCs are tankier because of these: item 3812 item 3072 item 3046

idontplaythemeta2 votes

{quoted}

Okay, so first off, you first called Zed a diver, and then called him an assassin... and then did the same for Talon (contradicting yourself in the first place). They're both assassins though, sorry.

Diver: Someone who jumps in and causes chaos in the backline, with decent kill potential, and usually has CC or tools to isolate their target (Win Nhao ult, Camille ult, Jax E, Rek'sai knockup, etc.) <-- This is what you're talking about.

Assassin: Someone who is (supposedly) meant to sneak in and eliminate priority targets and get out without taking much time or damage, or to assassinate lone targets (gee like their name implies!) <-- This is what I'm talking about.

And ADCs are tankier because of these: item 3812 item 3072 item 3046

roles of league... assassin marksman tank mage support and either warrior or fighter (cant remember which).... these are the game predicate roles

diver, bruiser, juggernaut, hyper carry, hyper assassin, and some others.... these are sub roles that the community has gradually came up with

I am not contradicting myself, talon is an assassin by the games rules, and the community sub role I believe it falls under is diver. so yes I called him an assassin and a diver.

P.S. xin Zhao and reksai are fighters(or maybe warrior) by the games rules. and personally I see them go bruiser more often than not anyways

fun fact: did you know azir is a secondary marksman? if you look now it may not be that way but it used to be.

Niyumi1 votes

{quoted}

roles of league... assassin marksman tank mage support and either warrior or fighter (cant remember which).... these are the game predicate roles

diver, bruiser, juggernaut, hyper carry, hyper assassin, and some others.... these are sub roles that the community has gradually came up with

Tanks

  • Vanguards

  • Wardens

Fighters

  • Juggernauts

  • Divers

Slayers

  • Assassins

  • Skirmishers

Mages

  • Burst Mages

  • Battle Mages

  • Artillery

Controllers

  • Enchanters

  • Disruptors

Marksmen

Unique Playstyles (No solid category they fit in)

These are the roles Riot made.

https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/developer-corner/3A5uuBw7-champion-subclass-list

More from Gameplay

More by Niyumi