MapleStory Classic Assassin Guide: Skill Build, AP, Stars, Training

Quick summary

• An Assassin is the claw-and-throwing-star branch of Thief. You take the job in Kerning City at level 30. In Founder's Access it's your final job, because Nexon hasn't added third job yet.
• Lucky Seven stays your main attack from level 10 to 70. None of the six Assassin skills hits more than one monster, so this is a single-target class.
• The usual second-job order is Claw Mastery, then Critical Throw, then Haste, then Critical Recovery. The guides split on the last 30 points: a maxed Claw Booster or a maxed Drain.
• Put just enough DEX into your next claw's requirement and everything else into LUK. Stars matter as much as the claw does.
• Get Wolbi stars from the Kerning City Citizen shop at grade 3. Mushmom drops Ilbi stars, which no shop sells.

Checked against the Founder's Access build on October 13, 2026. Grand Launch is October 21, 2026; see the end of the guide for what may change.

Decide whether Assassin fits you

Pick Assassin if you like attacking from range and don't mind jumping and throwing for hours. mscw-guidebook says that with Keen Eyes maxed, Lucky Seven locks onto targets about 400 pixels away. It also says throwing in midair never turns into a claw punch in this version, even with a monster right next to you.

The trade-off is mobbing. mscw-guidebook calls Assassin the only class that reaches second job without a mobbing skill, and planet-helper says the same. On the community tier lists in our MapleStory Classic class tier list, Assassin's median grade is A. It's S on two lists and B on the farm recap, which rewards hitting many monsters at once.

You want	Assassin?	Why
Ranged, low-risk solo play	Yes	Auto-targeting throws, Dark Sight, and no midair punch
Fast mobbing at 30–70	No	Every attack is single-target. Ice/Lightning Wizard and Fighter mob better.
Bossing damage	Yes	Strong single-target damage, and you can farm Ilbi stars from Mushmom
Cheapest possible upkeep	No	Stars and potions add up. Cleric and Hunter are cheaper to run.
Party utility	Somewhat	Haste speeds up the whole party. There's no heal or party damage buff.

Get to level 30 as a Thief

You start as a Beginner and take first job from the Dark Lord in Kerning City at level 10. At level 30 you go back to Kerning City and choose Assassin or Bandit. Our job advancement guide walks through each quest step.

Spend first-job SP

First job gives 61 SP from level 10 to 30. mscw-guidebook lists two builds that both use exactly 61 points:

Skill	Max Dark Sight build	Max Nimble Body build
Lucky Seven	20	20
Keen Eyes	15	15
Nimble Body	3	15
Disorder	3	3
Dark Sight	20	8
Total	61	61

Order: 1 point in Lucky Seven, then Nimble Body 3 to unlock Keen Eyes, then Keen Eyes 3. Then max Lucky Seven and finish Keen Eyes. After that, take Disorder 3 and Dark Sight, or max Nimble Body first.

Choose by the monsters you fight. On mscw-guidebook's level 70 model, both builds hit level 60 Red Drakes every time. Against level 70 Tauromacis, the max Dark Sight build hits about 82% of the time, and the max Nimble Body build hits 100%. If you usually fight monsters below your level, take max Dark Sight. At max level it doesn't slow you down and costs less MP. If you fight monsters at or above your level, take max Nimble Body.

Example: you plan to train at the Wraith and Florina maps in your 40s, at or below your level. Max Dark Sight is the better pick. You'll get through maps faster and won't need the extra accuracy yet.

Know why Lucky Seven beats Double Stab early

mscw-guidebook compared a Thief using Lucky Seven with one using Double Stab, both on the same stats. Lucky Seven's minimum damage pulls ahead at level 11, and its average pulls ahead at level 14. Lucky Seven has its own formula with mastery fixed at 50%, so its damage is much steadier. At level 30 the two are about even (Lucky Seven averages about 407, Double Stab about 410). If you raise DEX to 30, you can use a level 30 claw, and Lucky Seven's average goes up to about 448.

Build your second-job skills

Assassin has six skills. The table uses the mapleclassic.wiki figures, with effects at max level from mscw-guidebook.

Skill	Max	Prerequisite	What it does at max
Claw Mastery	20	—	Mastery level 10, +20 attack, 25% chance to get thrown stars back
Critical Throw	30	Claw Mastery 3	+15% crit rate, +35% crit damage
Claw Booster	20	Claw Mastery 5	+2 attack speed tiers from level 1. Max level lasts 300 seconds at 10 HP and 10 MP.
Haste	20	—	+30 speed and +10 jump for the party, 300 seconds, 35 MP
Critical Recovery	20	—	After a crit, restores 10% of your max HP and 10% of your max MP, with a 30-second cooldown
Drain	30	Critical Recovery 3	240% damage. 12% chance to heal 15% of the damage dealt, capped at 25% of your max HP.

Maxing all six takes 140 SP, but levels 30 to 70 give you 121. Whatever you choose, you'll leave 19 points out.

Compare the three published builds

Skill	mscw-guidebook standard	mscw-guidebook max Drain	planet-helper	mapleclassic.guide
Claw Mastery	20	20	20	20
Critical Throw	30	30	30	30
Haste	20	20	20	20
Critical Recovery	20	20	3	20
Claw Booster	20	1	18	20
Drain	11	30	30	11
Total	121	121	121	121

Source conflict: planet-helper keeps Critical Recovery at 3, the minimum Drain needs, and maxes Drain. mscw-guidebook and mapleclassic.guide max Critical Recovery and stop Drain at 11. mscw-guidebook's one-hour potion model puts the two routes almost level (about 104,000 vs about 101,000 mesos of potions an hour). The Drain route does about 11% less total damage for the same number of casts. maplestory-classic.com ranks Drain early only because it's the one skill whose damage the wiki lists. It doesn't test that against the others.

Our read: take the standard build if you want to kill fast and rebuff less often. Take max Drain if you get hit a lot and would rather heal yourself than drink potions.

Follow the leveling order

This is mscw-guidebook's order for the standard build. The level marks come from its own checkpoints.

Level	Points spent so far
30–33	Claw Mastery 5, then Claw Booster 1, Haste 1, Critical Recovery 1, Critical Throw 2 (10 SP)
By 50	Claw Mastery 20, Critical Throw 30, Haste 9, Claw Booster 1, Critical Recovery 1 (61 SP)
By 60	Haste 20, Critical Recovery 20 (91 SP)
61–70	Claw Booster to 20, then Drain 11 (121 SP)

mapleclassic.guide starts with 1 point in Haste at level 30 and maxes Claw Mastery by level 37. planet-helper also maxes Claw Mastery by 37, because the +20 attack cuts the hits needed per kill on maps in the 30s. Every guide we read has Claw Mastery and Critical Throw maxed by about level 47.

Example: at level 38 you have Claw Mastery 20 and a few points in Critical Throw, and Lucky Seven still needs one more throw per kill on Wraiths. Keep putting points into Critical Throw. mscw-guidebook works out the maxed crit bonuses at about 9.9% more average damage. Haste can wait until your damage is in place.

Plan AP around your next claw

Assassins need DEX to wear claws and LUK for damage. mscw-guidebook's rule: add up the DEX on your gear, put in just enough base DEX to meet the claw's requirement, and put the rest into LUK.

• Level 30: if you put all your AP into LUK, you'll have 25 DEX and be stuck on the level 25 claw. Move 5 points into DEX early so you can wear a level 30 claw.
• Level 50: the Steel, Blood, Sapphire, and Dark Slain claws all have 34 attack and need 50 DEX and 105 LUK. mscw-guidebook suggests Dark Slain first, since its extra 1% crit rate also triggers Critical Recovery more often.
• Level 70 example: 60 base DEX plus 10 from your hat and shoes meets the Brown Scarab claw's 70 DEX requirement. All your other AP goes into LUK.

A Steel Slain is a Weaponcrafting 10 recipe (mscw-guidebook), and crafting is capped at Lv 8 at launch, so it can't be made yet. Check the materials against the market price of a finished claw before you craft one.

Pick throwing stars and keep them cheap

Your weapon attack is your claw's attack plus your stars' attack. mscw-guidebook lists the following (attack and stars per set):

Star	Attack	Per set	Notes
Subi	15	500	Cheapest to recharge and the best damage per meso spent on recharging (mscw-guidebook)
Wolbi	17	500	Citizen shop at grade 3 (Kerning City)
Mokbi	19	700	Same attack as Wooden Top, but cheaper to recharge
Kumbi	21	700	Same attack as Icicle, but cheaper to recharge
Tobi	23	1,000	Drops (our training guide lists Golem's Temple)
Steely Throwing Knives	25	1,000	Our sources don't say where to get them. Check the wiki.
Ilbi	27	800	Mushmom and Zombie Mushmom drops. No shop sells them.
Hwabi	29	800	The highest attack on the list, and mscw-guidebook's long-term goal
Snowball / Wooden Top / Icicle	17 / 19 / 21	800	Cost more to recharge than Wolbi, Mokbi, or Kumbi stars with the same attack

On mscw-guidebook's model, recharging is a small cost next to potions. At level 70, an hour of Lucky Seven costs about 810 mesos to recharge Subis and 2,700 to recharge Hwabis. Expensive stars cost most when you first buy them, not when you recharge them. Claw Mastery's star recovery also cuts recharge costs by about a quarter.

Example: you're level 32 and thinking about buying Mokbis. If your current stars already kill in the same number of hits, keep using them until you move to tougher monsters. Our mesos guide covers this kind of saving in more detail.

Unlock Wolbis through Kerning City citizenship

mscw-guidebook says Thieves can apply for citizenship in Kerning City at level 12. Grade 2 needs level 17 and 1,500 Contribution, and grade 3 needs level 22 and 3,500. Contribution resets each time you rank up. mscw-guidebook reports that grade 2 turned out to need 1,500 contribution in game, not the 1,000 in older posts. Its example schedule, using the daily and weekly quests, reaches grade 3 on about day 10.

Train efficiently from 30 to 70

Level	Map	Why	Source
30–35	Burnt Land II (Fire Boars)	Lots of monsters. Stars drop on Burnt Land. Iron Hogs have 500 weapon defense, so leave them to magicians.	FullBoosts training guide; maplestory-classic.com
30–40	Kerning City Subway (Stirges)	They fly up and down, and auto-targeted midair throws suit them	mscw-guidebook
40–50	Wraith maps, Florina	Monsters at or below your level that you can kill one at a time	FullBoosts training guide
50–70	Golem's Temple	Tobi star drops on top of the experience	FullBoosts training guide

The full list of maps is in our MapleStory Classic training guide. maplestory-classic.com has a separate table that ranks monsters by EXP per HP.

Choose a solo or party method

Method	Speed	Upkeep	Best for
Solo single-target grinding	Steady	Stars and potions. Critical Recovery offsets some.	Most players, and Founder's Access while maps are quiet
Party grinding (Haste carrier)	Faster with a mobbing teammate	Split by party size	Duos with an Ice/Lightning Wizard or Fighter
Boss runs	Spiky	Boss potions	Ilbi stars and crafting materials
Powerleveling by a stronger player	Fastest	Your star and potion budget falls behind your level	Players short on time

Use Assassin in boss fights

Our bosses guide lists five challenge bosses in Founder's Access. Assassins do well against all of them because each is a single target.

• Mushmom (Lv 40): worth farming for Ilbi stars. A Fire/Poison Wizard helps, since the wiki lists Mushmom as weak to Fire.
• Shade and Zombie Mushmom: bring a Cleric for Holy damage. You add ranged damage from somewhere it can't touch you. Zombie Mushmom also drops Ilbi stars.
• Jr. Balrog (Lv 80): needs a full, geared party and a lot of potions. Assassin brings damage and Haste.

If you're returning, boosted, or making an alt

• Returning from pre-Big Bang MapleStory? Most of what you remember still holds: Lucky Seven, Haste, and Drain. Two things differ, according to mscw-guidebook: midair throws never punch, and the Citizen system lets you buy Wolbis. Nexon hasn't added third job, so don't plan around third-job skills.
• Powerleveled or boosted to 30+? Check your SP was spent the way you want it. Then check your supplies. An Assassin who got to a high-level map quickly often can't afford the stars and potions to stay there. Don't spend on a high-attack claw until you can pay to keep using it.
• Making an Assassin alt? Nexon gives each account three character slots in Founder's Access. Use your main to farm Ilbi stars and mesos, and keep the alt on Subi or Wolbi stars until those are ready.

Want a hand with this?

If you would rather not grind this part yourself, MapleStory Classic powerleveling services are listed on FullBoosts. Read Nexon's Terms of Service before you buy any service from anyone, FullBoosts included — a marketplace listing isn't publisher permission.

What may change at Grand Launch

This guide describes the Founder's Access build as it was on October 13, 2026. Re-check these against Nexon's Grand Launch notes on October 21: whether crafting still stops at craft level 8, whether Forgotten Hollow, Orbis and third jobs stay closed, KPQ channel limits, NPC shop stock, and any Founder's Access-only events or packages mentioned here. Nothing here assumes a closed area or feature will open.

FAQ

At what level do you become an Assassin in MapleStory Classic?

Level 30. You make the choice in Kerning City, between Assassin and Bandit. First job is at level 10.

What is the best Assassin skill build in MapleStory Classic?

Max Claw Mastery and Critical Throw first, then Haste and Critical Recovery. mscw-guidebook and mapleclassic.guide put the last points into Claw Booster 20 and Drain 11. planet-helper keeps Critical Recovery at 3 and maxes Drain instead.

Should Assassins max Drain?

Only if you take a lot of hits. mscw-guidebook's one-hour model shows Drain saving about the same in potions overall, but doing about 11% less damage than Lucky Seven.

What is the Assassin's main attack in Classic World?

Lucky Seven, from first job. Assassin doesn't get a mobbing attack in second job, and there's no third job yet.

How much DEX does an Assassin need?

Just enough, counting your gear, to wear your next claw. For example, the level 50 Slain claws need 50 DEX and 105 LUK. All other AP goes into LUK.

Where do Assassins get good throwing stars?

Wolbis come from the Kerning City Citizen shop at grade 3. Ilbis drop from Mushmom and Zombie Mushmom, and no shop sells them. Tobis drop in Golem's Temple, according to our training guide.

Is Assassin good for a first character?

Yes, if you'll put up with slow mobbing. It's ranged and easy to keep alive. It's listed as a comfortable first pick in our class tier list.