In fact, they are the first confirmed users of the shield wall tactic later made famous as the classical Greek phalanx and the Roman "testudo formation".
The Mesopotamian battle formation consisted of the shield wall and short-sword armed sliders in front, and the missile troops behind, with charioteers on the flanks.
They were one of the first to produce iron weapons, which, alongside their utter ruthlessness and the aforementioned tactics, helped them succeed with campaigns in Egypt, Asia Minor, and the Levant, arguably making the Assyrians one of the best ancient empires.
These were multistoried wooden towers with four wheels and a turret on top and one, or at times two, battering rams at the base.
The heir(s) to the throne eventually became too incompetent to micromanage the empire and started a civil war for control that effectively ended the Assyrian project and allowed Medes, Babylonians and Persia to take power.