What does "Assassin's Strike" mean to you?

The concept of assassins evokes a killer whos ability allows them to bypass the "Radar" to get a job done. If we look through comics, history and other mediums such as games, the assassin in general has always been the one who blends in, and takes advantage of the element of surprise (Usually) or uses their skill alone to overwhelm the enemy.

Are they 100% more effective than other villains/heroes in comic culture. Not really, but what they do best, they do with finess or with subterfuge. They also know when to withdraw from the fight when the advantage they gained is lost.

Examples could be.

Psylocke/Kwannan = Assassin trained by the hand. Was in her asian body a seductress, a murderer and lethal royal assassin.

Deadpool = Always was an assassin before. Trained as a marksman but also lethal in melee, but arguably is better at his job one on one and usually with the element of surprise on his side.

Elektra = Assassin also trained by the hand...we know a lot about her and with her ninjitsu she generally opperates from the shadows as well.

Bullseye = Master of thrown weapons and master of ranged weapons. Usually sports a crossbow because it's silent and effective. Spends a lot of his time shrouded in mystery.

Jessica Drew/Spiderwoman = Trained by Hydra to assassinate Nick Fury. Used a double agent style to get close enough...uses poison based energy but still trained to be a covert assassin.

The Black Widow = Hot Assassin who uses subterfuge, femme wiles and weapons to assassinate her opponents.

Mystique = Shape Changer who uses the ability of deception to assassinate her enemy

Copycat = Same as Mystique really, only goes one step further to psionicly change her mind to avoid detection. But she got the job done.

Essentially I named many females because comics love the concept of a female assassin. It's much more common. But there are many examples, and the examples I gave were either gaining ground and advantage through surprise, range or deception. There are many more examples even historicly.

The main concept is that the element of surprise, either by posing no threat to the enemy, being a shadow, or deception has always been effective at eliminating and enemy without drawing attention to ones self, which for the very purpose of all assassinations exactly what the assassin him or herself is looking at.

Think of poison back in the day. Effective, drew little attention to the user and was effective.

Modern day we see sniper rifles on bell towers, the neck snap, and other methods of silently killing an opponent without drawing attention, or as we call it Aggro!

So an assassins strike, is in my mind supposed to be exactly what it's intended to be, which is a threatening, undetectable attack, eliminating ones marked target. However this concept is unfortunately limited based on the style of powers that the stalker gain access too. Some make sense and some just plain do not.

People are talking about why Axe and Mace were not ported to the Stalker, but idealy those would not be effective assassin weapons. Nor would a broadsword for that matter but it could be done I guess in some fashion. The only issue is that it does not evoke the feel of being an assassin like some other sets would, nor does the "Squat of doom" work for every set we have.

I have rambled tons...but I am just going with a theme feel here, and while not trying to focus on the mechanics of the Stalker AT, it can't be ignored that die to game mechanics a trained assassin in the game, could be better performed by a number of AT's who can use stealth, but have options when their advantage of being hidden is removed due to game mechanics.

Arguably the only real assassins in this game are Night Widows...which feel like assassins...

Here's another take on this that I was inspired to write up from the Street Justice feedback thread. For a bit of background, someone suggested a Taekwondo spinning hurricane kick as an assassin's strike variant, and someone else noted that this is not a practical move to pull off as it's slow and easy to predict. And I assume it is, but I had to ask myself... Is that a bad thing?

So here's one way to read an Assassin's Strike - it's the sort of attack that, for one reason or another, isn't feasible to pull off when an enemy is actively engaged in fighting you, but which can still be used before the enemy is aware of your existence and has his guard up. I like to use Assassin's Blade (the Ninja Blade one) as an example, as the power has you crouch down into an awkward stance, just in the perfect spot for your enemy to boot you in the head, and you proceed to practically telegraph your intention to stab him through the liver. In essence, it's an attack that is difficult to pull off or difficult to get much result from if the enemy is on his guard, but which can do extensive damage if the enemy is unaware.

I add this because that kind of interpretation actually makes my previous argument of precision vs. power somewhat meaningless. If we can define both critical hits and super blindsides as attacks which would be interrupted/blocked if used face-to-face but connect face-to-back, then we have a pretty good starting point for what Assassin's Strikes should be, if not what they should look like.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

The "T for teen" rating of this game prevents the devs from doing what I think of as an assassin strike. Take a look at Tenchu, or some of the other "One Shot, One Kill" console games and you will have an idea of what I think it should be like. I have always found the power lacking in the animation dept.

It is the knife to the brain stem, the Dim Mak or Quivering Palm that stops the heart, the loss of a head, or the Sub_Zero spine pull. It should be brutal, and destructive, encouraging all around to run, or at least discouraging further resistance. In short, it should be deadly, and frightening.

For Street Justice (as it is noted by Sam in the post above mine) I think a knee to the back in which it bends the person/target in half would be perfect. I however do not think that would fit with what the game, and the rating call for the power to be.