| |
| Release date | 20 November 2012 (Update) |
|---|---|
| Members | No |
| Skill | Strength |
| Level | 55 |
| Type | Threshold |
| Adrenaline | −15% |
| Equipment | Any |
| Cooldown | 30 seconds |
| Description | |
| Assault your target 4 times for 3.6 seconds, once every 1.2 seconds, dealing damage equal to 219% of weapon damage each strike. Combo attack. | |
 Click animation for full size | |
Assault is a channeled threshold Strength ability. When activated the player will proceed to hit their target four times, hitting one hit every 1.2 second with each hit capable of 43.8-219% weapon damage.
Assault is a very powerful ability regardless of weapon, but it is especially potent with a two-handed weapon or when dual-wielding. It can deal over 20,000 total damage over 4 hits when using high-level equipment and boosts. When used while Berserk is active, the damage of this ability doubles and can exceed 40,000, potentially posing a major hazard to any player or boss.
Assault takes 5.4 seconds (or 9 ticks) to fully execute
Comparison to Rapid Fire and Asphyxiate
Rapid Fire and Asphyxiate are generally regarded as the ranged and magic counterparts of Destroy, but Assault is capable of dealing more damage than all three, albeit at a higher cooldown.
Advantages
- Hits the highest among the three abilities, especially if combined with Berserk.
- With good timing, the last hit of Assault can be stacked with the next ability used.
Neutral
- Similar length
Disadvantages
- Assault will be rendered ineffective if your target moves away from you when you use it. When the enemy moves away in the first two seconds of this ability only the first (and sometimes second) hits are dealt. When the third hit is dealt the fourth will always be activated even when the enemy moves.
- Assault lacks the ability to bind the target initially, which Destroy, Asphyxiate and Rapid Fire all have.
- Assault has a longer cooldown of 30 seconds, rather than 20.
Tactics
- As one of the most powerful melee abilities, use it as frequently as possible in PvM. In PvP it's best to use this ability when your opponent is stunned or bound.
- Use Anticipation before using this ability to avoid getting stunned while hitting your target.
- If you have 83 Herblore, drink Adrenaline potion when Assault is hitting your opponent and then use a strong, 1 hit attack like Overpower right after you see the third hit of Assault for a quick knockout. Alternatively a strong special attack like the one of the Armadyl godsword can be used instead of Overpower, and Adrenaline potions are not required in this case.
- Berserk stacks with Assault. If combined, the damage output will be higher than any other abilities.
Countertactics
- Stunning your target can counter this ability.
- Reflect could both halve your damage received and damage your opponent, leaving them in a dangerous state.
- Devotion can be used to block the majority of the attack.
- Simply running away from your target or using Escape can stop this ability easily.
Trivia
- If Assault is used by dual wielding or mainhand wielding (not 2-handers), if the player uses another ability between hit # and next # (e.g. hit 1 then 2), the second hit of Assault would hit right after the ability that interrupted the combo. This is most likely an oversight for Jagex as it does not work with 2-handed weapons.
- Assault has two different varieties; one is seen on the sidebar, and is the animation for the 2-handed sword. The other one uses only the player's mainhand weapon for the animation, even when dual-wielding.
