User blog:RefillSunset/Assault Build Part 1

I get asked a lot: Why do you like Assaults? They’re frail, they can’t heal, they can’t tank, all they can do is deal more damage than other classes. That doesn’t help!

I like the assault because I always find tanking boring. Sure, it’s cool, standing there like an unstoppable goliath, but it’s boring. You only need half effort if you can’t ever die. Running around, blasting zombies apart, feeling a possibility of being killed by zombies, and thus forcing yourself to pay more attention to the game, THAT’S what makes the game fun. That’s what the Assault’s about.

So here’s an explanation on the build my Assault’s going towards.

It aims to deliver the highest amount of damage in the shortest amount of time, and employ evasive tactics against any threats that have not been dealt with already.

This blog will be about the Skill Points, Gear and Playstyle. The second, if I have the chance to post, will be about the benefits, weaknesses, and other stuff of this build, and finally I’ll add in a FAQ section. I’m dividing the whole build into a couple of blogs so that the words don’t form an unreadable cluster.

1) Skill Points (With 8 from Augmentation Progress Rewards):
-Deadly Force: 25

-Critical Shot: 25

-Adrenaline: 25

-Fast Movement: 25

-Field Supplies/Fast Reload: 6

-Stim Shot: 1

-Killing Spree: 1

Critical Shot and Deadly Force can greatly increase your dps, combining with Adrenaline gives you even higher damage. Some people don’t invest in Deadly Force but that 25% boost is very essential for this build. Don’t underestimate it. Deadly Force is based on the base stat of the weapon, meaning if a RED tempest has Deadly augmented, you get 500 extra damage instead of 250.

Adrenaline gives you over 50% boost in movement speed, reload speed and firing speed. This, along with Deadly Force, forms the majority of your damage boost. If you keep on using Adrenaline you should be at 50% extra speed for nearly 50% of the time.

Fast Movement is absolutely essential for this build, which is why there is 25 points invested in Adrenaline and Fast Movement. The name of the game is to kill the zombies before they arrive, or evade them if they manage to get close. Speed will not only be your way to quickly deliver damaging blows, it’s also your primary defense by evading the zombies.

Stim Shot and Killing spree are only worth one point, not because they’re bad—both are great skills—but because other skills are more important. For Stim Shot, you don’t really need more than level one. It triggers when you have 20% health left, and brings you to 50%, which, if you augment the vest correctly, it shouldn’t be a small amount. Killing spree, while being great, needs hordes of zombies to trigger, and I’d rather not be reliant on how many zombies there are to decide how good I am.

Field Supplies is great to deal 1.5x damage for free as it earns a lot of HD ammo, but if you have reached the stage where money is simply not a concern any more, switch it to Fast Reload to further increase the DPS.

2) Weapons
Not entirely important. What matters is the skill points investment and how you play the character, not the weapons. With this set, anyone can become a great zombie mower, as long as you have a primary, damaging weapon, like the Sublight, Hornet, HIKS, and a good crowd control weapon like the Gigavolt, Shockfield, and Mixmaster. However, avoid using DOT weapons because the goal is to maim the zombies ASAP. DOTs kind of miss this point. Also, Adaptive on your weapons is absolutely a must because otherwise it would take ages to kill Nightmare zombies, and similarly, it misses the point of the fast, offensive assault.

I would go for:

-Poison Claw (Tenacious Capacity Race-modded Overclocked (Mastery))

-Sublight (Deadly Overclocked Adaptive Pinpoint)

-Mixmaster (Deadly Overclocked Piercing Pinpoint)

Sublight is my first choice weapon for everything, since it’s all-rounded awesome, Mixmaster can clear hordes better than most other weapons while still serving as a decent bossing weapon, and Poison Claw gives a variety of damage. Since it's a pistol, the DOT-reliant nature is acceptable. Some people don’t equip a pistol but I think it’s occasionally handy if you want to run even faster. Once you’re used to it, you won’t mind needing to change weapons that include a pistol anyway.

3) Gear
Remember, damage, crit rate and speed is what you should be aiming for. Similarly, augments should focus on extra speed, damage, crit rate, and finally increased health rather than defense, because health corresponds to Stim Shot while extra defense doesn’t really get you anywhere in this set.

I would go for

-Dragonfly Helmet

-Rubicon Vest

-Titan Gloves

-Dragonfly pants

-Titan Boots

I think most armor here are pretty standard for an assault. Some may prefer to use the Titan Helmet but I didn’t like the movement penalty.

Playstyle:
Many people don’t like the assault because it’s frail and don’t help much, since they can’t tank or heal. I find that very laughable.

I believe that “Offense is the best Defense”.

Medics can heal damage? Heavies can tank damage? Well guess what, my Assault doesn’t even take damage, because the zombies are dead.

That’s where this Assault is oriented towards. Devastating attacks and overwhelming speed will deal with zombies swiftly and give them a very premature end. Most of the time, your team can’t get the kills, because this Assault can move and mow things down so quick that they don’t even get the chance to see the zombies. Sometimes I mow them down so fast my team is like, “What happened to the horde?”

This Assault has to ability to deal very high damage consistently, probably the highest among the team. He doesn’t have to stay near his team very much because with a good speed, good damage output, decent health and a failsafe health regeneration, he can solo most fights and walk away triumphant.

So that’s what this assault does. Rush ahead of the team and eliminate threats swiftly, leaving your team free to push forward. Nightmarish eggs, Purge nests, Regen and resistant bloaters, Helipads in VIP, maybe even some bosses, I don’t really care. These are all good targets this assault can deal with ease.

And if you happen to get in a messy situation, your speed is your greatest defense. No matter how strong the zombie, how much defense it ignores, if you can’t touch me, you can’t harm me. Your speed will let you run around easily and evade sticky situations, and return for a comeback in a matter of seconds

And that’s where this build is oriented towards. Fight if you want to, run if you have to. Rush, fight, kill. Rinse and repeat.

This is just my opinion and my build, feel free to ignore it. If there is anything you think is wrong or could be improved, comment below. If you think it’s good, tell me in the comments below. Thank you, and happy hunting.


 * For anyone Interested, you guys can also check out Sarcastos’ build. He’s an offense-oriented assault as well. His build and mine are slightly different but the two of us see things quite similarly.