Note that the stats are for the Dagger frigate that appeared during the Homeworld War; the following text is for the later Assassin version, that may include Cloaking ability.

If they had only corvettes and fighters to depend upon, the Turanic Raiders would have been tracked down and destroyed long ago. Unfortunately for most of the civilized races of the galaxy, the Raiders have always had access to the heavy firepower of the Assassin-class Ion Array Frigate. The Assassin gives the Turanic fleet the ability to go head to head against most enemy fleets, unless super capital ships like Heavy Cruisers become involved.

The Assassin has one of the most distinctive known profiles for a frigate, due to the massive magnetic web arrays it extends when firing. The mag-arrays are a Turanic invention and were designed to add even more striking power to the already awe-inspiring heavy ion beam. This is achieved by focusing magnetic fields on the beam after it leaves the Assassin's hull and accelerating the ion stream even closer to the speed of light. This extra infusion of power lets the Assassin's beam cut through even heavily reinforced hull armor with disturbing ease. The mag-arrays fold up close to the Assassin's hull when the frigate is not in combat, so as not to be damaged by acceleration and lateral stress from high G turns.

Despite this adaptive design, the Assassin's greatest weakness is still its maneuverability, which is poor even by Ion Beam Frigate standards. Assassins are only employed in the anti-heavy capital ship role, and will damage a ship until it can no longer defend itself, allowing the Thief-class Corvettes to move in. If an Assassin becomes separated from its fighter support, enemy strike craft can move in and the tables can become quickly turned; in such cases it is the Raider captain who must very quickly choose between surrender and destruction.