This Pathfinder RPG's weakest class is a poisoner in a game where nearly everyone is immune to poison, but after two years it's about get a lifesaving overhaul

Orc Assassin in leather armor looking around corner holding dagger
(Image credit: Owlcat)

If you wanted to play a sneaky assassin guy (like I often do) in the excellent CRPG, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, you paradoxically never, ever wanted to pick the Assassin prestige class⁠—it was that bad. In the game's 2.2 update accompanying the release of its Lord of Nothing DLC on November 21, though, Assassins might just get their ticket to the major leagues.

In a campaign where a good 70% or more of the enemies are demons immune to poison, the master poisoner prestige class was kinda screwed. Assassins' Death Attack ability, with its chance of paralysis, was a bit more promising, but you'd be better off leaving crowd control to a Wizard while your edgy dual daggers guy opted for pure damage. Seriously, there's a companion in the game who calls himself an assassin, but doesn't have any levels in the class⁠—developer Owlcat knew Assassins were not ready to rumble.

The first major Assassin-buffing move coming will be Mythic feats to let them ignore poison immunity⁠—pretty much a build essential moving forward, and it'll help keep things balanced by making Assassins lose out on or delay other powerful Mythic feats. The class's own poison abilities are getting buffs to their duration, attribute-harming effects, and how hard they are for enemies to resist.

The decent but not great Death Attack will be replaced with an ability called Mark of Death, and it's reminiscent of the Dragon Age Assassin ability of the same name. Marking a target will debuff them, allowing Asassins to ignore their damage resistance⁠—a huge get in a game where nearly as many dudes have mega-high DR as are immune to poison. Mark of Death also gets special synergies with sneak attacks at higher levels, and opens up enemies to a potentially instant death Assassinate Target ability.

The last really exciting addition is an ability called Alter Ego. Owlcat's update says this ability "works like Mirror Image," a spell that makes characters harder to hit. In addition to that, when active, all of the Assassin's attacks become sneak attack-eligible. All-in-all, Wrath of the Righteous' worst class looks like it'll be at least viable moving forward, if not a new top-tier DPS option.

Associate Editor

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch.

Read more
Key art for the Ranger class in Path of Exile 2
Path of Exile 2 has finally perfected the fantasy archer
Casting a fireball at a mushroom creature in Avowed.
My respec in Avowed turned the combat from Skyrim into Dishonored, and now I'm having a blast as an invisible parkour sword-mage
Half Orc wearing rare Bhaalist Armor in Baldur's Gate 3 standing in front of Astarion and Karlach
It turns out you can get Baldur's Gate 3's best assassin armor without killing a baby angel elephant and joining a cult, all you have to do is pickpocket a ghost
Baldur's Gate 3 Gale romance - Gale sacrificing himself
Baldur's Gate 3's accidental PS5 release of Patch 8 has the theorycrafters in a flurry—though I'm just glad D&D's blade cantrips are officially here
A trio of characters battle an ogre in Legacy: Steel & Sorcery.
To make its fantasy extraction game, this studio of ex-Blizzard devs had to teach itself the art of third-person combat design: 'There's a science to how those are built'
An Oathbreaker Paladin restoring their Oath in Baldur's Gate 3.
Baldur's Gate 3's Patch 8 is so big, it needed its own patch before it even released, and we're one step closer to a Permanent Booming Blade Economy
Latest in RPG
Person battling bizarre four-eyed monster with stylish UI elements surrounding them
Persona and Metaphor: ReFantazio's UI designer is open to accessibility options for players who find the stylish menus overstimulating: 'That is something we understand we'll need to work on and provide in the future'
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth money farm - Super Crazy Delivery
Like a Dragon series director sums up why sidequests are essential to a great RPG with a single metaphor: 'a good main dish alone will not earn you a Michelin star'
Image of a sweetroll with a candle in it
Bethesda marks Oblivion's 19th with a sweetroll, a candle, and absolutely no happy birthday gift for fans eager for the still-unannounced remaster
Fallout 76 ghoul screenshots
Getting to level 50 in Fallout 76 to become a ghoul actually isn't as daunting as it seems, which is why I created a new character
Koana, a main character in Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail, stares thoughtfully at a book in his hands.
After a controversial coding slip-up fed stalkers info on their victim's alts, FF14 wipes the slate clean to try and fix its mistakes
Scorched person with their hands on their head
Ghoul players in Fallout 76 are starting to place their camps in the most radioactive areas of the map, and regular humans aren't happy: 'I had to inject 30+ radaway into my veins'
Latest in News
Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer still - woman in the front seat of a car, looking out the back window while holding a wad of cash
The specter of a GTA 6 delay haunts the games industry: 'Some companies are going to tank' if they guess wrong, says analyst
Image for
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide’s getting a new roguelite wave defense mode that sounds a whole lot like a souped-up take on Killing Floor
Battle Brothers
Nearly 2 years after its last update, the excellent Battle Brothers gets 'a bucket load of fixes' and free new content
Western outlaws with masks and guns
'Players don't explore': former Grand Theft Auto 6 and Red Dead Online designer lays out the perils of 'open world fatigue'
Person battling bizarre four-eyed monster with stylish UI elements surrounding them
Persona and Metaphor: ReFantazio's UI designer is open to accessibility options for players who find the stylish menus overstimulating: 'That is something we understand we'll need to work on and provide in the future'
Split Fiction screenshot
Split Fiction is reportedly at the center of a bidding war for its movie rights