Sorry Thy Tempest,
The high end equipment discussion has moved on a bit (probably my fault) from the original question, which had to do with skill allocation. While better or more expensive equipment can improve any build, the K/T assassin is IMHO actually one of the builds LEAST dependent on equipment choice.
The primary source of damage for a k/t assassin comes from Death Sentry's corpse explosion, but you need to get the first corpse or two quickly, and to get through Hell, you will need to combine your skills so that you're dealing simultaneous damage from multiple sources. Your standard PvM tactics should be to cast CoS, drop a few Death Sentries, and then go in with your kicks and Shadow Master.
SKILLS :
MAX Death Sentry - MAX ... CE range and increased lightning damage.
MAX Lightning Sentry - MAX ... synergy only, increases lightning damage.
10+ Dragon Talon
10+ Shadow Master
Ideally, you want to get your Shadow to at least level 17 for the final equipment upgrade.
I don't normally max Dragon Talon - 3 kicks (level 12 after skills) works fine for me through Nightmare, but for Hell, I've moved up to 4 kicks. The damage increase from higher levels isn't that significant, and if you hold down your attack button, 7/3/3/3..7/3/3/3 isn't much different from 7/3/3/3/3/3. In fact, if you can take out a creature with 4 kicks, any additional kicks will actually slow you down because you can't move onto the next target until the sequence is complete. It's not a problem that you've already maxed Talon, but try dropping it from 30 to 29 and see if it makes any difference.
EQUIPMENT :
Good equipment will always make your like easier, but you don't need much in the way of specific equipment. + skills increase your lightning trap damage and Shadow Master, but are not nearly as important as they would be for a sorceress or necro. CoS/Blade Fury actually work better at low levels, and the DS corpse explosion damage is always the same, only range increases.
Similarly, since kick damage comes from your boots, weapon choice isn't a major issue either ... the only item that you NEED in order to use Dragon Talon, is a boot that does high damage. Gore Riders are the best, so you're fine there.
Crushing Blow !!
The strength of Dragon Talon isn't in its damage (which is pitiful), but rather its speed. It is one of the fastest attacks in the game and is an incredible way to transfer abilities that activate on striking. The most important of these is Crushing Blow, which is essential to compensate for your lack of raw physical damage. The CB percentage is applied to each of your kicks, so the higher you can get this the better ... Duress armour (SHAEL-UM-THUL) is good and easy enough to make, and you already have Gore Riders. While more is better, 30% CB should activate twice on most 6 kick sequences.
After that, consider ways to increase elemental damage and look at special CtC on striking effects that could increase damage or otherwise enhance the build, like the CtC Amplify Damage from Atma's Scarab or CtC Life Tap from Dracul's Grasp.
You don't need expensive runewords like INFINITY, FAITH and LAST WISH, an Act 2 merc with Might aura will increase your physical damage nicely. If you can make him a CRESCENT MOON polearm with SHAEL-UM-TIR, the damage can be quite good and he gets 7% CtC Static Field. Some life leech on his armour or helm will help keep him alive a bit longer, as will the Life Tap from Dracul's Grasp if you can get them. Another interesting option is TREACHERY (SHAEL-THUL-LEM), it's quite good for you, but may even be better on your merc - Venom, Fade and increased attack speed, but then he'll probably need LL on the helm.
For your equipment : Gore Riders are fantastic, Duress a good end game armour and Dracul's Grasp superb ... the rest doesn't matter much, but you'll want some life/mana leech, resistances and if possible, get your FHR up to 86%. Ravenfrost for the cannot be frozen mod, and some lightning absorb are useful too. For your weapons, Bartuc's Cut-throat and Jade Talons should both be affordable and are quite possibly the best end game weapons for dual-claw k/t assassin. Either could work as the primary claw - I use Bartuc, but Jade would give you the mana leech.
Your build so far looks fine - don't start over, but try to add a few points to your Shadow Master. Since you already have the best boots possible, you should be fairly well set. If you don't have a better use for your GUL rune, you may want to consider trading for a couple of UM runes (+ extra if you can) and try out Duress armour and Crescent Moon for your merc, but even more important IMO is to get yourself a pair of Draculs' Grasp.
I do go on a bit - but this is my favourite build by far and I don't want you to give up on it.
