Assassin

"Masters of the killing arts."

- In-game description in The Sacred Stones

The Assassin (アサシン Asashin) is a combat physical class that is first introduced in Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken. Taking on the position of the retired Thief Fighter class, the Assassin class acts as the promoted form of the Thief class, wielding Swords or Knives as its primary weapons of choice. Jaffar stands as the character who introduced the Assassin class to the series, assuming it as his base class in Rekka no Ken.

History in the Series
The direct successor of the Thief Fighter class, the Assassin class is formally introduced to the series in Rekka no Ken as the staple promoted form of the Thief class. Imbued with the deadly Lethality skill, the Assassin class distinctly wields knives instead of Swords in their battle animations.

In Path of Radiance, the Assassin class is unique to Volke, a Thief who promotes into it after a story event that takes place after Chapter 19 concludes. For the first time in the series, Assassins wield actual Knives instead of Swords.

In Radiant Dawn, the Assassin (暗殺者 アサシン Asashin) class is again unique to Volke, acting as his base class.

In Fates, the Assassin class is absent. The closest equivalent to this class is the Hoshidan Master Ninja class, a class that similarly learns the Lethality skill and is armed with Shuriken as its weapon of choice. The Master Ninja class promotes from the Ninja class, a class that acts as the game's replacement for the Thief class.

Combat
It is important to keep in mind that the Assassin and Thief are different classes in regards to combat performance.

Assassins are considered to be a useful class to have on the battlefield, and they are widely feared when encountered as enemies. While they lose their ability to Steal after being promoted from Thieves, they do retain their ability to utilise Lockpicks and disarm traps. Despite being unable to steal, they gain the potential to be a formidable combat class, as they will, on occasion, perform a special lethal attack in which they will defeat a selected enemy target in one fell swoop, regardless of HP or Defense. This special ability is treated as a skill that is commonly known as Lethality. In addition to this, Assassins are known to possess high Critical hit percentages, and this in turn contributes heavily to their chance of activating the Lethality skill (50%). Lethality can even be activated when facing bosses (excluding final ones), but with 25% of the Critical hit rate instead of 50%. Also, when an Assassin activates a lethal attack, the experience they gain from killing the enemy is roughly double the experience that they would have earned if they had killed the enemy through normal methods.

Despite the strengths that have thus far been laid out for the Assassin class, it is not without its flaws; the class possesses low Strength and an equally low Strength cap, and it is therefore not unheard of for it to inflict zero damage on heavily-armored foes. Assassins should also be wary of the accurate attacks of Mages, as they will be able to take advantage of the class's moderate Resistance. Well-trained Assassins can, however, overturn a good number of these flaws, functioning as extremely effective killing machines with the capability of taking out entire armies with a single Killing Edge. The exception to these weaknesses is Volke, who not only has a very high Strength cap, but also high Strength base and growth. His Defense cap, growth, and base are also much higher than normal Assassins, making him a very powerful unit.

Promotions
Being the promoted version of the Thief class (or Myrmidon class in The Sacred Stones and Awakening), the Assassin cannot be promoted any further.

In Radiant Dawn, the Assassin is considered to be a 3rd Tier class that is exclusive to Volke.

Rekka no Ken

 * Jaffar - The Black Fang's Angel of Death and one of the Four Fangs.
 * Jerme - The Black Fang's Death Kite and a former member of the Four Fangs.
 * Possible promotion for: Matthew and Legault.

The Sacred Stones

 * Possible promotion for: Colm, Joshua and Marisa.

Radiant Dawn

 * Volke - An Assassin who works purely for mercenary reasons and is also known under the alias "Fireman".

Awakening

 * Gecko - Leader of a gang of bandits seeking treasure until he is spotted by Owain.
 * Jamil - A member of the Grimleal and leader of an unidentified group of bandits.
 * Porcus - One of the twelve Deadlords.
 * Possible promotion for: Gaius, Lon'qu and Owain.

Trivia

 * Assassin enemies are exceedingly rare in the titles that they appear in. This is most likely due to the Lethality skill being too dangerous for generic enemies to have as it instantly kills a unit based on a luck-based chance. For example, in the GBA games, there are no Assassins faced in the Arena and the only Assassin boss uses magic swords, preventing him from activating his skill.
 * In Awakening, there are more Assassin enemies and bosses. However, outside of DLC and SpotPass, none of them have Lethality equipped on any difficulty.
 * Much like Thieves, Assassins are depicted with knives in their Game Boy appearances' graphics despite equipping swords.
 * In Awakening, the Assassin and Sniper are tied for the highest Skill cap of all promoted classes. Incidentally, both classes use bows.
 * The Assassin is also tied with the Swordmaster for the highest Speed cap of all promoted classes. Both classes wield swords and are the possible promotions for the Myrmidon in this game.