Three Knight Classes: Sabers (A-F | G-M | N-R | S-Z) | Archers (A-C | D-M | N-Z | Tam Lin Tristan) | Lancers (A-F | G-M | N-Z)
Four Cavalry Classes: Riders (A-F | G-M | N-Z) | Casters (A-F | G-M | Merlin | N-Z) | Assassins (A-F | G-M | N-Z) | Berserkers (A-F | G-M | Morgan | N-Z)
Extra Classes: Rulers | Avengers | Moon Cancers | Alter Egos | Foreigners | Pretenders (Oberon)
Unplayable and Arcade Exclusive: Unplayable | Arcade Exclusive
Other Notable Characters: Chaldea Security Organization (Protagonist | Mash Kyrielight) | Villains (Beasts | Beast I | Observer on Timeless Temple Villains | Epic of Remnant Villains | Cosmos in the Lostbelt Villains (Crypters | Foreign God and Forces | Lostbelt Kings | ORT) | Ordeal Call Villains | Event Villains | Interlude Villains) | Other Characters
Heroic Spirit of Assassination
Assassin, Silent Killer and Heroic Spirit of Assassinations, is one of the seven normal Servant classes summoned for the Holy Grail War and is one of the Four Cavalry Classes; Servants of this class are skilled at operating covertly, stealthy, and silently. This class is one of the weaker classes at fighting, as its members possess low attributes due to not having glorious legends as heroes, so it instead specializes in killing Masters rather than Servants. It is an oddity compared to the more formal knight classes who believe in fair duels and chivalry in combat; they will attack using the most unfair and favorable conditions, and with these conditions, it is possible for an Assassin to match and defeat other Servants. The Assassins' special class ability is "Presence Concealment", which allows them to remain undetected when spying or preparing to ambush their targets.
Shared Tropes
Tropes which apply to most members of the class besides the exceptions should go here.- Combat Pragmatist: For the most part, this class is not expected to engage in any form of gentlemanly warfare—except maybe some of the martial artists (and the supernaturally-powered ones). If it can kill their opponent efficiently (or can cause the most pain), then an Assassin can be expected to use it, no questions asked. Considering their usually-low parameters, it's really the only way they are expected to gain an edge.
- Critical Hit Class: Most Assassin Servants have some aspect manipulating Critical Strength or Critical Star Drop Rates to increase the chance of Critical Hits in the first place. Namely, their Passive Class Skill Presence Concealment increases their Critical Star Drop Rate. Some Servants have card decks that help them with Critical Hits even despite no other skills supporting them, namely a Quick Brave Chain to generate 10 Stars for the next turn.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: More often than not, Assassin Class Noble Phantasms are high-damage single-target attacks, with only a handful of area attack NPs, fitting for the idea as a single-target killer.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Assassin is the class for people like assassins, murderers, executioners and tyrants. Basically, they kill people who can't fight back. However, many large monsters are categorized as Rider class enemies, meaning little girls who are about four and a half feet tall can tear up dragons a thousand times their size with little knives while famous dragon slayers like Siegfried (a Saber) and Saint George (a Rider) struggle to deal with them due to the classes not matching up right.
- Highly-Visible Ninja: King Hassan has A-ranked Presence Concealment despite being a giant in armor covered with flaming skulls, and Cleopatra moonwalks and throws out sparkles every time she attacks, yet still has the skill at B-rank. Apparently it doesn't really matter how you dress or behave.
- Hitman with a Heart: Despite having the unflattering distinction of being called the "Heroic Spirits of Murder/Assassination", many of the Assassins are actually quite affable while off the clock or even be well-intentioned if not outright nice people. Some notable examples include dorky Ninja Fuuma Kotarou and the unflinchingly virtuous Hassan of the Cursed Arm.
- Non-Indicative Name: Some of the Assassin Servants are not really assassins or something similar, with some of them being defined by efficient killing methods and others by general sneakiness. Youkai and other "ghostly" characters also can be Assassins by virtue of them "haunting" a place.
- Out of Focus: Suffered from this for a while; at launch, there were no five-star Assassins at all, and only two four-stars. Even today, they don't tend to have many strong representatives compared to the other regular classes. There was even basically a drought of Assassin Servants, as there was over a year and a half gap between Okita J. Souji and Kiichi Hougen, and after Kama was released, it took about two and a half years for another five-star assassin (Koyanskaya of Light) to be released.
- Planet of Hats:
- A number of Assassin Servants are either a) a member of The Hashshashin, who are the Trope Namer; b) a Japanese samurai, Ninja, martial artist or mythological figure who is likely a Fragile Speedster; or c) a Chinese historical figure/martial artist involved in the chaos of their history. They also tend to be the most numerous out of these particular grouping.
- At least within the early days of FGO, they tend to have 3 Quick cards, which, when combined with their Presence Concealment passive, allow them to gain a lot of Critical Stars in one go. These days, assassins have more of a variety of card decks, but with the exceptions of First Hassan, Semiramis, Li Shuwen, Tezcatlipoca, and Locusta, all of them still have at least two quick cards within their deck.
- Professional Killer: The Hashashin are a clan of eclectic, but ultimately reliable hitmen. Many of the other Assassins in the game are martial artists who simply want opportunities to refine or show off their killing techniques.
- Psycho for Hire: The rest of them are either mentally unbalanced or outright sadists who revel in creating pain and havoc.
- Rare Random Drop: For a long time, Jack the Ripper, the game's first 5* Assassin, was the only available 5* Assassin in the permanent pool. It took almost two years to have another 5* Assassin released for the permanent pool (Osakabehime). Li Shuwen is story-locked and every other 5* Assassin is limited.
- Skull for a Head: Their class card depicts a heavily emaciated assassin wearing a skull mask. This is because the class itself was originally only intended to summon one of the nineteen Hassan-i-Sabbah.
- Stealth Expert: The whole point of the "Presence Concealment" ability, which allows the Assassin class to remain undetected when spying or preparing an ambush. In GO, it translates into a better chance to drop Critical Stars, as actual stealth has little bearing on gameplay. The game is a little shaky when it comes to tying gameplay to lore, but the implicationnote seems to be that Presence Concealment -> Getting the first strike -> More likely to create an opening -> More likely to get in a critical/powerful blow.
- Stone Wall
- Contrasting what you might expect from the class title, Assassins actually tend to have a low attack stat which is reduced further by a hidden 0.9 multiplier, meaning their damage is unlikely to be very high apart from very specific situations, such as Jack vs female Servants or Kama vs Alter Egos. On the other hand, they're often quite bulky with good self healing and damage mitigation. Cleopatra and King Hassan, for example, are capable of soloing some difficult challenge quests.
- Their class is also helpful in terms of the class triangle: Caster enemies aren't very common, but Riders are, giving them a helpful niche. For the enemy party is reverses: Only a few Casters are good offensively and Assassin enemies are quick to reach full NP, meaning they can cause long difficult fights. As a result, Assassin class bosses tend to be some of the most annoying in the game, perhaps surpassed only by the likes of Alter Egos, which have an offensive advantage against the common support classes and their only defensive counter.
- Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: In terms of the game, Assassins have an advantage against Riders and a weakness against Casters. They also have the common strength and weakness against Berserkers and resistance from Rulers, as well as an offensive advantage against Demon God Pillars and the general Four Cavalry Class weakness when dealing with Alter Egos.
