Assassins: how to deal with a good tank?

Hey guys. I recently had the joy (lol) of playing with a good tank. He'd escort his bot spawns into our base. I foolishly tried to slash through him, thinking he'd have poor reaction time, but he simply charged me and finished me off with his primary. After that I decided that if he was going to escort his bots into our base, I'd get them when they spawn. He chased me down (with the rest of his team helping!) and I was forced to start from square one again. Oh, and naturally, he bought juice 24/7. :lol: He was completely unstoppable, ending with like, 40-4 on multiple occasions.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if there's anything I can do against tanks like these (which I've been meeting a bit more often than usual) or if this is one of those "well he IS your class's hard counter..." moments. I'm not looking for a way to kill him, just to get his bots without getting roasted.

1. Avoid him, try to keep him on the defensive by killing whichever bots he isn't working with

2. Shurikens, lots of them. Even if you're just taking his health down a little at a time, you'll be killing his bots and he'll have to retreat eventually

3. Be opportunistic, wait until he's busy with your other teammates. Definitely make sure his charge is on cooldown

and avoid him like the plague (unless hes on low health) then lunge and grapple him

Basically what has already been said, with the addition that you're much much more mobile than he is. He can only escort one batch of bots at a time, so you should skip/shuriken the wave he's escorting and camp the bot spawner.

Just be careful that he doesn't do the same, because one quick Blossom will take out an entire wave.

Here's a little Protip. Any bit of damage prevent health recovery, so if you see any enemy with low health try you best to do some damage to stop that process. In the case of Assassin vs. Tank you do that as you keep distance.

Confusion can be a Tanks worst enemy and that's why it's best to gang up on them.

If he's facing you, wait until he is reloading his jet gun, lunge slightly left or right to him, turn around, backstab. If he survives that, smoke bomb to reduce charge damage and withstand knockback, then slash him to death.
Alternatively, use shurikens.

EDIT: Also, use ejectors to kill bot waves he's escorting.

Shurikan launcher is quite an amazing weapon. In fact, apart from grapples, I use Shurikans against turrets and pros far more than the sword. The sword is for the bots.

It's pretty much been said, but if you have level three cloak, you can just pair that with shurikans. Cloak a split second, critical shurikans, cloak a split second, and repeat. Also, if you can manage to hit him with a couple shurikans, a lunge+backstab is a guaranteed kill.

...
But I personally avoid tanks

Basically, inclusive of what's been said,
Try get away from his Jet gun range, if he's good at railing, or just has Gold RoF, zigzag a lot, and try to vary each zig/zag.
If you spot him before he spots, you, cloak if you're far enough away, if you're too close, you'll produce the dreaded humming sound.
If you're retreating, and he's Railing + strafing, try launch some Shurikens but sway your aim left/right a bit, to deny some area.

The last one also helps for any area/health regen denial.

Well, if you're just trying to get his bots, an ejector's the most efficient way.

Otherwise, I wouldn't even try to kill the guy and rather focus my time on people I know I actually have a good chance against.

Shurikens, lunge and backstab that's it.

As a general rule, never engage a full health tank in melee. If they're a problem that needs to be dealt with, ejectors are a helpful start and usually in the path of the tank... then i usually drop down and lunge into a backstab if he's intent on sticking around. Usually removing the bots will make him back up to the next group or swap lanes.

If they're already engaged with someone however, i'll stick my sword through thier spine and move on. Better they go down without a fight. The last thing you want as a sin is to be in a fight with a tank.

Not necessarily true. I've gotten a few Tank kills by staying barely out of the range of the jetgun and spam shurikans at the rather large target. If the Tank tries charging to close the distance, I use the smokebomb/dash to regain said distance. Honestly, Tanks are way easier to kill this way than trying to go after an Assault instead.

Gunners are a little more of an issue due to their powerful mid range capabilities, but they can be one shot back grappled, provided they're not overhealed. Going after an overhealed Gunner though is generally akin to simply handing yourself on a silver platter for the other team to take.

Well yes - kiting them is an option i will take in a pinch. It's hilarious how many tanks will walk or charge right into a clip of crit shurikens. By the time they realize they are in trouble they can't escape.

Almost every Gunner i engage will slam as soon as any Assassin even THINKS about being nearby. I will of course try to backstab them - better they not put up a fight. But when it comes down to it they can be amazingly easy to outplay. There's really only one string to his bow - and the slam is it.

Also, yeah - avoid overhealed players. Especially gunners.

I do believe that a lunge backstab from lvl 3 cloak will kill a gold armour tank. IIRC, one of the devs said so, but I'm not 100% sure. I do know that silver armour tanks will die to it. So if you're good at that sort of stuff, knock yourself out. Still, only do it when you really need to or when you get that golden opportunity. Generally, assissins just want to stay the heck away from tanks.

If the tank has the passive health bonus and gold armor, he'll survive a lunge + backstab with a silver pf health.
Tanks are still way easier to deal with than assaults as assassin, they are less mobile, have limited range and large hitboxes.