Star Wars: The Old Republic Continues Its Onslaught Showcase By Breaking Down Assassin And Shadow Classes

As the next expansion for Star Wars: The Old Republic approaches, the team behind the popular MMO has been showcasing the their upcoming class changes, including new abilities, set bonuses and tactical items. The latest classes to get this treatment are the Assassin and Shadow.

After detailing the Sorcerers and Sages, the latest update to the SWTOR blog hones in on the Assassin and Shadow, breaking down their new abilities and bonuses, as well as the new tactical items for each. The Assassin can use their new ability Severing Slash to deal damage to targets, slowing their movement speed by 50% for 3 seconds. Additionally, the Darkness Assassin can help to pull large groups of enemies and burn them down, helping to make PvE content a bit faster to grind through as you level up.  

The Shadow is similar, with their Cleaving Cut having the same effect as Severing Slash. However, an Infiltration Shadow excels in giving the DPS class a guaranteed critical hit every time they use an ability thanks to its set  bonuses and tactical item. 

After giving the tank some time to build threat, our Infiltration Shadow lets loose a flurry of abilities. This may seem unconventional, but they open with Force Potency. Force Potency increases the chance of the next two Force abilities to crit by 60%, which serves as the springboard for this rotation. Our Shadow follows with the Psychokinetic Blast and Force Breach abilities, both of which crit! Luck is on our Shadow’s side this time--not only does this give our Shadow a 10% damage bonus for 20 seconds thanks to the “Death Knell” Set Bonus, but Vaulting Slash can now be used! Although, that won’t be used just yet...

With the 10% damage buff, now is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the “Blade of the Elements” Tactical. By firing off two Clairvoyant Strikes, our Shadow gets two Clairvoyance stacks, giving Vaulting Slash a 50% increased chance to crit per stack. Because of our Set Bonus and Tactical combination, we’ve guaranteed our Vaulting Slash to crit with a 10% damage boost. After using Vaulting Slash, our Shadow continues to use other damage abilities in their rotation. Using Clairvoyant Strike at least every 15 seconds will refresh the Clairvoyance buff, guaranteeing that every Vaulting Slash used in this fight will be a critical hit! Soon enough the boss lays defeated in front of our Shadow and their group, spoils ready for looting.

Be sure to check out the full post on the Star Wars: The Old Republic website, as it breaks down each new set bonus and tactical item for the two classes in a bit more detail.