The Federation Elite Assassin is a Section 31 hostile that patrols Federation space at levels 30 to 39, appearing as an Interceptor, Battleship, or Explorer. You find it one level per system, from warp 24 up to warp 47. It drops Parsteel, Tritanium, and Romulan and Klingon reputation, and it lowers your Federation standing. One rule sits above everything else: only a Klingon or Romulan designed ship can fight it, or your ship is destroyed the moment combat begins.
How to beat the Federation Elite Assassin
Read its combat ability before you send a ship. The S31 Elite Lethal Strike means only Klingon or Romulan designed ships can engage it. Any other ship is lethally struck at the start of combat, so anything not built by the Klingon or Romulan factions dies before it can fire. Bring a Klingon or Romulan hull and nothing else.
Its second ability, Elite Assassin Training, raises its Isolytic Damage by 100% at the start of combat, so it hits harder than its base stats suggest. Plan for a quicker, punchier fight and keep repair resources handy if you farm it in bulk.
Within the Klingon and Romulan ships you can use, match the hull to the variant you face. In the combat triangle, Interceptors beat Battleships, Battleships beat Explorers, and Explorers beat Interceptors, while Survey ships barely fight. This hostile spawns as all three combat hulls, so bring a Battleship against its Interceptor, an Explorer against its Battleship, and an Interceptor against its Explorer. Check which variant is in the system before you commit.
Because it rotates through all three combat hulls across its ten levels, farming the full range works best if you keep a Klingon or Romulan ship of each hull type ready rather than leaning on one ship. If you only plan to grind a single level, you can get by with the one hull that counters the variant sitting in that system.
For crew, put a captain that boosts weapon damage against hostiles in the captain seat, then add officers that raise damage or mitigation. Crew choices move with the meta, so use the Officer Tier List for current picks rather than a fixed lineup.
Where to find the Federation Elite Assassin
The Federation Elite Assassin sits in Federation and border systems, one level per system. The lower levels cluster around warp 24 to 27, then the warp requirement jumps to the mid 40s at levels 36 and up. Match your warp range to the level you want, since each level lives in a single named system. None of the levels share a system, so you cannot farm two of them in the same spot; pick the level that fits your ship and reputation goal and travel to its system.
| Level | Warp | Systems |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | 26 | Doloran |
| 31 | 26 | Inari |
| 32 | 27 | Thama |
| 33 | 26 | Aiti |
| 34 | 25 | Tau Ceti |
| 35 | 24 | Siiolux |
| 36 | 45 | Archer |
| 37 | 47 | Tellar |
| 38 | 46 | Peliar Zel |
| 39 | 47 | Memory Alpha |
Rewards and what it drops
Killing it earns Romulan and Klingon reputation and drops the raw materials Parsteel and Tritanium, while it costs you Federation standing because it flies under the Federation flag. That trade makes it a steady target for players grinding Romulan or Klingon reputation who do not mind losing Federation points. Ship XP climbs with level, from about 520 at level 30 to roughly 1,100 at level 39, so higher spawns level a ship faster. The reputation payout scales the same way, with higher levels handing out more Romulan and Klingon points per kill, so the level 39 spawn is the most efficient to farm once your ship can clear it.
| Drop | What it is |
|---|---|
| Parsteel | Basic resource for building and upgrading |
| Tritanium | Basic resource used for buildings and ship components |
| Romulan Points | Reputation with the Romulan faction |
| Klingon Points | Reputation with the Klingon faction |
| Federation Points | Federation reputation; attacking this ship lowers your Federation standing |
Federation Elite Assassin stats
Stats vary by hull variant and climb steeply with level. These anchor rows come from the Explorer variant.
| Level | Total strength | Hull HP | Shield HP | Attack | Defense | Ship XP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 1,501,473 | 483,525 | 483,525 | 72,948 | 945,000 | 520 |
| 35 | 13,166,745 | 3,473,438 | 3,473,438 | 318,307 | 9,375,000 | 703 |
| 39 | 27,965,294 | 7,104,300 | 7,104,300 | 2,011,844 | 18,849,150 | 1,101 |
Section 31 in Star Trek
Section 31 is the Federation’s covert intelligence arm, an autonomous organization that operates outside Starfleet oversight and answers to almost no one. It appears across Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Enterprise, and Discovery, always working in the shadows to protect the Federation by whatever means it judges necessary, from espionage to sabotage to assassination. In Discovery it fielded a fleet of black-hulled ships and an advanced artificial intelligence. A ship named the Elite Assassin fits that history: a lethal asset moving under Federation colors while doing work the Federation will not admit to.
Is the Federation Elite Assassin worth grinding?
It is a solid stop for Romulan and Klingon reputation with a side of Parsteel and Tritanium, as long as you are fine trading away Federation points to get it. It suits mid-game players who already fly Klingon or Romulan ships and sit in the warp 24 to 47 range. The catch is the hard ship requirement: you need a Klingon or Romulan hull to fight it at all, which rules it out for players still flying mostly Federation ships. If you have the right hull and want that reputation, match your warp to the level, bring the combat hull that counters the variant in the system, and repeat.