It´s a double edged sword, really. When I was playing my Melee Blues Phoenix Strike Assassin, one point in CoS was enough and I didn´t
want any more. She was a very powerful character.
But if you kill slower, there is an advantage to having a longer duration: fewer recastings needed to take down a monster pack. That nasty pack of archer minions in the background will otherwise launch a dangerous volley at your party every 8 seconds (if you have CoS at level 1), because it´s hard to time the recasting to right after the previous one has worn off (like Gohanman said, it can´t be recast while it´s in effect). The reduced enemy defense on high level CoS is also tasty, of course.
One thing to remember is that CoS will only affect the monsters from a certain distance when it´s cast. There may be many more monsters who have spotted you and moved in your direction, but are still too far away to get blinded. Now they can´t be blinded until the duration has run out, and that takes over 20 seconds on high level CoS. Therefore, when you spot a monster pack, it´s a good idea to
take a few steps towards them, cast CoS, then pull back those steps again (and maybe a little more). You want to nail as many potential threats as possible with it.
Cloak of Shadows is much less annoying to use indoors (and in Lost City!), where it´s already dark...
You can have the Shadow Warrior cast CoS if you ready the skill. This will cause the SW to always cast CoS whenever she sees a monster and is not next to one. Her CoS casting timer is independant of yours, so if there are monsters she didn´t blind, you can remedy that right away. Quite useful.
Regarding the different claw types:
First, you need to know their QLVL. Look
here for that. A gambled item will have an ilvl from your clvl-5 to your clvl+4, determined at random, with equal probabilty for all 10 possible outcomes. It can only show up on the gambling window if the ilvl turns out to be at least as high as the qlvl for that claw type. For exceptional and elite claws, you can´t see that they are exceptional/elite in the gambling window. You will have to go for the Normal type, and hope for an upgrade (provided your clvl is high enough).
Items you buy in shops will have an ilvl of your clvl+5. There are caps on this in the different acts in normal. Look
here for more on this, and this calculator will also tell you which vendor can sell what claw type.
Example: Blade Talons have a QLVL of 21. That means you need to be clvl 17 to have a (smallish) chance to see them in the gambling window. Best chance is always at nine levels higher or above, i.e. clvl 26+ in this case, because even if the ilvl drops to 21, they will still be there.
To shop Blade Talons, you need to be clvl 16 and the first vendors that can sell them are Normal Hratli and Asheara (because of the ilvl 20 cap in act 2 Normal).
I know nothing of Weapon Block since I always use a shield when I fight with a claw.
). I thought I'd use CoS on my single tree tournament shadow, how many points are good to put into this skill. Can it be a good idea to max it or will one point be enough?
