Assassin Builds - 8th ed army book.

[Underway]

Looking over the new assassin opne notices that he can take 50pts of magic items and that his poisons now nicely overlap with magic weapons. I really think that the assassin has a place in the army and that there are some very interesting builds people are overlooking. I've always had success with assassins (esp against chaos characters) so wanted to give them some love.

Here are some of my new fav builds.

Eyebite:
-Glittering Scales, Sword of might, Manbane

OR
-Glittering Scales, Potion of Str, Manbane, AHW

I made the leap in the fencers blades and glittering scales combo to just using glittering scales as assassins already have WS 9. One of the assassins main issues is his inability to survive due to lack of saves. Taking a different tack the glittering scales makes him hard to hit: 6+ for WS4 and below troops and 5+ for all others that don't have WS 10. That's pretty good against most rank and file and many characters. He works extra well if you place him in a unit with the Razor Standard.

Chaosbane:
-Obsidian Blade, Manbane

This is excellent against 1+ save opponents with T5 or below. One of the main weaknesses of DE characters is they have a hard time wounding on str 4. Now the assassin gets essentially a +1 to Str on his to wound rolls and will always wound on a 5+. This assassin goes through heavy armour like the awesomeness that he is. My main chaos foes hate him with a passion as he always guts their knights and WoC unit champions/heroes.

Phoenixbane:
-Manbane, AHW, Glittering Scales, Other Tricksters Shard

OR
-Dark Venom, AHW, Glittering Scales, OTS

Reroll successful WS you sons of .... well you get the point. Hard to hit and forces a reroll on ward saves. Good against those units that have WS like phoenix guard.

Headsman:
- Dark Venom, Ogre Blade

Personally the Ogre Blade is what makes this character dangerous, the rest are just a throw in. This is basically a more powerful executioner that has ASF.


Any other interesting combos out there??

[T.D.]

Any other interesting combos out there??

See my sig

[Gerner]

My favorit build as I have already written in T.D.'s Thread is Manbane, Glittering Scales, Dragonbane Gem & Potion of Strength.
Just cross your fingers that they fail their ward saves.

[T.D.]

My favorit build as I have already written in T.D.'s Thread is Manbane, Glittering Scales, Dragonbane Gem & Potion of Strength.
Just cross your fingers that they fail their ward saves.

Do you charge this guy out from his unit in order to go after enemy units with flaming attacks?

and if so, how do you find playing him?

[Gerner]

Only played him in the beginning, now he is standing on the shelf.
But his primary opponent was pesky WoC Lords with Breath Weapon, which he dealt very nicely with (besides there ward save).
He is also (as you said) a killing machine against anything with the flaming banner, but it is often hard getting him against those unless he is in a unit of Shades.
But after figuring the Meta out it becomes easier to predict who has the Banner of Eternal Flame.

[T.D.]

Cool.

He is a nice build for sure.

@ Underway

I like "eyebite" - I don't think we've seen that one listed before. Hard to hit and has a good chance of hurting most infantry opponents. Also gets rid of pesky ethereals.

[Underway]

I like the shield of ptlos option and perhaps running him with shades, or on his own. One of the interesting options as well is this,

Spellshield:
AHW or RHB
Manbane or Dark Venom
Ring of Hotek

This guy goes in a unit of shades. Revealed ASAP. He helps with shooting and fighting off chaff hunters. Also the shades now have a very good defense against magic missiles which are deadly against them. Also he can really do damage against specific targets.

Question: Does the RoH work while the assassin has not been revealed? My inclination is no as he is "not on the field"

[T.D.]

Another cool one!

No one seems to have reported back on 'shadestar' variants yet this edition, but this Assassin could be very useful for exploring this route!

- Hidden models can't affect play, so only Hotek effects when revealed.

[Underway]

I actually developed him as I have a unit of Mengel Manhides Manflayers that I want to use and needed suitable rules for Mengels Manflayers.

[Rkhatzar]

Assassins are 90 compered to 70 for Master, ASF isn't any good as all elves have it, i wonder why any one would use Assassins in other means than in Shades to charge War Mashines?
(Assassin can charge in 1 turn, as he don't have scout rule and isn't on the table during deployment, right?)

[Calisson]

(Assassin can charge in 1 turn, as he don't have scout rule and isn't on the table during deployment, right?)

No, 'sass cannot charge turn 1.
Assuming you accept them to hide in scouting shades (some people contest that), the prohibition for shades to charge turn 1 is a movement limitation which would extend to the 'sass.
As per BRB rules p.99, if the character is subject to any move restriction, then those restriction apply to the combined unit, and vice versa.

[Rkhatzar]

But, you can get out of the unit, and so restrictions will cease? But I may read it not right;/

[Calisson]

Charge declaration happens when the 'sass is inside the unit.
If he moves out, it means that charge sub-phase is over.

[Dangerous Beans]

I really like all of those Underway! Eyebiter particularly reminds me of how I used to imagine the survivability of an assassin would work (back at the start of 5th edition) as WS5 troops were a real rarity then. I particularly like the sword of might version - he'd do very nicely against enemy spirit host blocks and in tying down WS4 enemies, I could even see him holding up a unit by going solo. The headsman seems like too much too little for what he does somehow, the Spellshielder seems good but only on shade units with the maximum models (to get the most use out of the item).

[Executioner_of_khaine]

Perfect topic. I been thinking about this today and came up with a few thoughts
First off with some previously mentioned combinations I see armor choices and I was thinking if you didn't have mundane armor as an option you couldn't take magic armor?? I cannot find that exact wording except to say it replaces the mundane piece of armor when giving a magical one.

Anyways, here goes my thoughts....
Strength 4 is kind of a weak I think as the army is fairly weak vs high armor enemies(exception-Executioners)

3 attacks is kinda wimpy for a guy called ASSASSIN!!!

A guy with no armor will probably die in any combat vs horde units with all the combat attacks.

Has a great weapon skill, and initiative, and with always strikes first it seems like a no brainer until you think of the previous statement.

So the trick here (IMO) is to make him worthwhile to put on the board, not to die when in combat, OR make it worthwhile when he does die. I think the latter is the only reason to take this guy. Being able to remain hidden will help a tad with this strategy.

Here is a combo I think has potential if used with care to pop up and assassinate characters(similiarly to Eyebite)
Manbane
Sword of might
Opal Ammy
Other tricksters Shard

Obsidian Blade and Manbane as mentioned would be awesome too

[Calisson]

Please use the other thread about same topic: Hashishin loadouts, which will serve for future references.
Thread locked.
Calisson.