The Keen Scythe is designed to take advantage of the Assassin's high chance to get a critical hit and the high maximum damage for scythes. The version listed here is designed for Alliance Battles, but with minor changes can be effective in Random Arenas and Team Arenas.

Attributes and Skills

Assassin / Dervish	Attribute Rank
Critical Strikes	9 + 1 + 3
Shadow Arts	9 + 1
Scythe Mastery	12

Crippling Sweep

Malicious Strike

Lyssa's Assault

Critical Eye

Way of the Assassin

Sharpen Daggers

Dark Escape

Feigned Neutrality

Equipment

• Armor: Sentry's or Nightstalker's Insignia
• Weapons: good prefixes are Crippling and Vampiric, good inscriptions are "Brawn Over Brains" and "Dance with Death", good suffixes are Defense and Fortitude

Runes of Clarity and Restoration are also good choices.

Usage

Set up Critical Eye, Way of the Assassin, and Sharpened Daggers, then pick a target, or ideally a group of targets. Lead with Crippling Sweep, quickly followed up by Malicious Strike to spread cripple and bleeding. Use Malicious Strike and Lyssa's Assault as often as possible to maximize damage, and refresh your 3 buffs as needed. If a target tries to kite away from you, use Dark Escape to land a Crippling Sweep. When low on health, use Dark Escape and Feigned Neutrality (in that order) then run away.

Counters

• Defensive stances that block or evade attacks
• Blind and weakness
• Enchantments that reduce damage
• Spells that prevent you from getting critical hits
• Hexes that give you a chance to miss

Variants

• For use in RA or TA, replace Lyssa's Assault with Resurrection Signet
• Alternately, replace Dark Escape & Feigned Neutrality with Way of Perfection and Resurrection Signet
• If conditions are troubling you, replace Lyssa's Assault with Assassin's Remedy
• If you want in-combat healing, replace Lyssa's Assault with Way of Perfection

Notes

With 12 Scythe Mastery and 13 Critical Strikes, Critical Eye and Way of the Assassin give you an approximately 67% chance to land a critical strike: 17% (Scythe Mastery) + 13% (Critical Strikes) + 6% (Critical Eye) + 31% (Way of the Assassin)