Matriarch/Patriarch/Guardian Archive Thread

Originally posted by frosty on Jul 22, 2005:

Matriarch Pandemonium

Just blasted Baal to hell and back, and got Pandemonium to Matriarch in the process.

Matriarch Pandemonium

lvl 83 Phoenix Striker Assassin

No.4 of the class specific set sept.

Stats

Str: 109
Dex: 96
Vit: 280
Ene : base

Skill points

0 in Traps
17 in Fist of Fire, 20 in Claws of Thunder and 20 in Phoenix strike. 1 in all other martial arts except Dtail and Dflight.
20 in Claw mastery, 2 in Weapon block and 1 in all other shadow skills.

Gear

Full Nat's set
Helm socketed with +7 resist all, +24LR rare jewel
Nat's mark socketed with shael
Bartuc's with Amn
Armor with 1 shimmering jewel, 1 scinilitating jewel and Hel.

Raven/dual leech ring
Mara's
Verdungo's

Dread Hand
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 189
Durability: 11 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 43
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0xeafbd8bc
+200% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +29%
3% Life stolen per hit
+5 to Light Radius
20% Increased Attack Speed
5% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

2x shadow claws on switch

Charms are 2x Martial Arts skillers and 1 mentalist and steel sc of vita.

Merc is might act 2 merc using Reaper's + Duriel's +Tal's mask

Comments

One of the slowest builds to complete, partly because I don't like 'sins much initially. I stand corrected after this experience. :)

Normal was a grind mainly because the nice skills are at a lvl req and I wasn't used to the idea of switching between skills that frequently.

NM was rushed through for her with the result that I had a lvl 51 champion. The rest of the uncompleted quests was completed alone and through NM Baal runs she lvled to a respectable lvl of 73

In Hell she mped to act 2 before carrying on alone. She quested and ran pits for levels as I was rather reluctant to use the full set for just 2 acts. So she stayed in act 2 until she got to lvl 79. I liek the eth look. :)

For actual fighting, the tactic is rather simple, I usually chose the skill that the monsters in the area is not immune to and used it throughout the area. Charging up and CoS was reserved for rather chaotic situations like one where she was charged by a dozen vipers and frenzytaurs each in the ice caves, whereby CoS silenced the crowd and CoT/PS destroyed them. The graphics are fun to look at. :-/

I would first charge up one of the charge up skills and use Dclaws to discharge the power on the monsters.

Hell was completed on p3, but I am fairly confident that she could take up to p5 with ease.

Pretty easy to play with, once you get the hang of switching charge up skills. And now with the most troublesome build out of the way, the sept can be completed with ease with the druid, zon and pally left.

Pandemonium is named for the chaos she causes and should be retired soon. Next up is teh axezon and fury rabid wolfie.

Thanks to Randall for the Nat's mark and Nacaa for mping with me through the most boring of places.


edit: I forgot the damage output.

With FoF/PS damage is 4-6k

With Cot/PS damage is 13-20k

With Cot alone damage is 10-14 k

edit2: oops typed too much I guess. :p
 
Originally posted by Grape on Mar 20, 2016:

Matriarch Anne - Max PDR Phoenix Strike Assassin

Introduction

This character was inspired by couple of items. First of all, back when I played 1.07, the most horrible racking experience I had was when I ran for The Gladiator's Bane. Not the most optimal rack and it just wouldn't give it up. So that it wouldn't be all in vain, I just had to finally give it some use.

The second item that I wanted to give a go was my Jeweler's Tiara of Life Everlasting. Item just screams to make a PDR based character around it. Funny enough, when Anne was parked in Hell Act 2 I gambled another one of those, this time with perfect PDR. The former had 23.

And then - I have never made a PS Assassin and neither a char with maximized PDR, so this was to combine two wholly new experiences to me in one char.


Build

Items:

Weapon: 'Crescent Moon' Phase Blade
Armor: 1.07 Gladiator's Bane 'Sol'
Helm: Jeweler's Tiara of LE 'SolSolSol'
Amulet: Highlord's wrath
Shield: Gerke's Sanctuary 'Sol'
Boots: Aldur's Advance
Ring 1: Nature's Peace
Ring 2: AR/Dual leech/Life/Res craft, also another Nature's Peace and Wisp in stash
Belt: Crafted Blood belt, FHR/Str/life leech/OW/Life
Gloves: Rare 2 MA/20IAS gloves
Switch: CtA, eth 'Spirit' Monarch

Inventory: Skillers, Life/@ charms and AR/Life SCs

Merc: 1.07 Eth 'Infinity' GPA, 'Coh' Dusk, Eth Andariel's 'Cham'
Stashed: Guillaume's 'IAS/@' jewel

Total of 111 PDR or 122 if using two Nature's Peaces

GoMule dump:
Name: Anne
Class: Assassin
Experience: 1383821454
Level: 88

Naked/Gear
Strength: 116/146
Dexterity: 135/136
Vitality: 259/259
Energy: 25/25
HP: 1001/1568
Mana: 155/155
Stamina: 502/682
Defense: 33/1921
AR: 100000639/100000845

Fire: 186/146/86
Cold: 100/60/0
Lightning: 195/155/95
Poison: 122/82/22

MF: 0 Block: 54
GF: 0
FR/W: 47
FHR: 54
IAS: 60
FCR: 0

Fire Blast: 0/0
Shock Web: 0/0
Blade Sentinel: 0/0
Charged Bolt Sentry: 0/0
Wake of Fire: 0/0
Blade Fury: 0/0
Lightning Sentry: 0/0
Wake of Inferno: 0/0
Death Sentry: 0/0
Blade Shield: 0/0

Claw Mastery: 1/2
Psychic Hammer: 1/2
Burst of Speed: 1/2
Weapon Block: 0/0
Cloak of Shadows: 3/4
Fade: 6/7
Shadow Warrior: 0/0
Mind Blast: 1/2
Venom: 0/0
Shadow Master: 0/0

Tiger Strike: 1/10
Dragon Talon: 0/0
Fists of Fire: 20/29
Dragon Claw: 0/0
Cobra Strike: 1/10
Claws of Thunder: 20/29
Dragon Tail: 0/0
Blades of Ice: 20/29
Dragon Flight: 0/0
Phoenix Strike: 20/29

Highlord's Wrath
Amulet
Required Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0x11ac43f6
Item Level: 81
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+20% Increased Attack Speed
Adds 1 - 30 Lightning Damage
33% Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)
Lightning Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 15

Nature's Peace
Ring
Required Level: 69
Fingerprint: 0xd15d98e4
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Prevent Monster Heal
Slain Monsters Rest in Peace
Poison Resist +22%
Damage Reduced by 11
Level 5 Oak Sage (27/27 Charges)

Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 53
Fingerprint: 0xb321927d
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+31 to Life

Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 53
Fingerprint: 0x98814b5e
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+33 to Life

Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x5108330e
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+25 to Life

Bitter Hand
Demonhide Gloves
Defense: 50
Durability: 6 of 12
Required Level: 35
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0x82dbd23
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+39% Enhanced Defense
+1 to Dexterity
Fire Resist +25%
Half Freeze Duration

Ghoul Harness
Mesh Belt
Defense: 36
Durability: 13 of 16
Required Level: 85
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0xc4546d51
Item Level: 96
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+24% Faster Hit Recovery
2% Life stolen per hit
6% Chance of Open Wounds
+29 to Strength
+52 to Life
Lightning Resist +7%

Steel Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x193824c7
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+35 to Attack Rating
+20 to Life

The Gladiator's Bane
Wire Fleece
Defense: 1255
Indestructible
Required Level: 85
Required Strength: 111
Fingerprint: 0x14438c03
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
+150% Enhanced Defense
+50 Defense
Damage Reduced by 32
Magic Damage Reduced by 20
Cannot Be Frozen
Poison Length Reduced by 40%
Attacker Takes Damage of 20
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Sol Rune

Sol Rune
Required Level: 27
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +9 to Minimum Damage
Armor: Damage Reduced by 7
Shields: Damage Reduced by 7

Artisan's Tiara of Life Everlasting
Tiara
Defense: 41
Durability: 14 of 25
Required Level: 52
Fingerprint: 0xb0a984ec
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Damage Reduced by 46
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Sol Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune

Sol Rune
Required Level: 27
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +9 to Minimum Damage
Armor: Damage Reduced by 7
Shields: Damage Reduced by 7

Sol Rune
Required Level: 27
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +9 to Minimum Damage
Armor: Damage Reduced by 7
Shields: Damage Reduced by 7

Sol Rune
Required Level: 27
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +9 to Minimum Damage
Armor: Damage Reduced by 7
Shields: Damage Reduced by 7

Shimmering Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0xd5f1fdb0
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+30 to Life
All Resistances +14

Amber Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x5f5ef383
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+17 to Life
Lightning Resist +10%

Amber Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x59b44b92
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life
Lightning Resist +10%

Aldur's Advance
Battle Boots
Defense: 39
Durability: 13 of 18
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 95
Fingerprint: 0x50360a9a
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Indestructible
+40% Faster Run/Walk
+50 to Life
+180 Maximum Stamina
Heal Stamina Plus 32%
Fire Resist +50%
10% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
Set (2 items): +15 to Dexterity
Set (3 items): +15 to Dexterity
Set (4 items): +15 to Dexterity


Steel Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x83ba0ee2
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+25 to Attack Rating
+20 to Life

Shimmering Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xd719bb3b
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life
All Resistances +4

Amber Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x87a6bea7
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life
Lightning Resist +11%

Skull Coil
Ring
Required Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0xa957747e
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+80 to Attack Rating
4% Mana stolen per hit
2% Life stolen per hit
+1 to Strength
+56 to Life
Fire Resist +11%

Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Life
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x82544757
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+15 to Life

Shimmering Grand Charm of Inertia
Grand Charm
Required Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0x30fadcf6
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+7% Faster Run/Walk
All Resistances +13

Shimmering Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x6170c05c
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life
All Resistances +5

Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 53
Fingerprint: 0x1f885c2d
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+33 to Life

Shimmering Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x92c99569
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+17 to Life
All Resistances +4

Amber Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x53169d58
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+17 to Life
Lightning Resist +11%

Steel Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x5af31d94
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+26 to Attack Rating
+20 to Life

Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x31f17193
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+22 to Life

Horadric Cube
Fingerprint: 0x91d50e0b
Item Level: 13
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Steel Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x6a9fc965
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+35 to Attack Rating
+18 to Life

Amber Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0xacb66679
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15 to Life
Lightning Resist +11%

Call to Arms
Superior Crystal Sword
AmnRalMalIstOhm
One Hand Damage: 19 - 57
Durability: 17 of 22
Required Level: 57
Required Strength: 43
Fingerprint: 0x5367fe4c
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+40% Increased Attack Speed
285% Enhanced Damage
Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
7% Life stolen per hit
Prevent Monster Heal
+5 to Battle Command
+6 to Battle Orders
+3 to Battle Cry
Replenish Life +12
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Increase Maximum Durability 14%
5 Sockets (5 used)
Socketed: Amn Rune
Socketed: Ral Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune
Socketed: Ohm Rune

Amn Rune
Required Level: 25
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 7% Life stolen per hit
Armor: Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Shields: Attacker Takes Damage of 14

Ral Rune
Required Level: 19
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
Armor: Fire Resist +30%
Shields: Fire Resist +35%

Mal Rune
Required Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Prevent Monster Heal
Armor: Magic Damage Reduced by 7
Shields: Magic Damage Reduced by 7

Ist Rune
Required Level: 51
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Armor: 25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Shields: 25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Ohm Rune
Required Level: 57
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Enhanced Maximum Damage
Armor: +5% to Maximum Cold Resist
Shields: +5% to Maximum Cold Resist

Spirit
Monarch
TalThulOrtAmn
Defense: 219
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 43 of 44
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 146
Fingerprint: 0x6f2f76e3
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+30% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+99 to Mana
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+6 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune

Tal Rune
Required Level: 17
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
Armor: Poison Resist +30%
Shields: Poison Resist +35%

Thul Rune
Required Level: 23
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 3 - 14 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Armor: Cold Resist +30%
Shields: Cold Resist +35%

Ort Rune
Required Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
Armor: Lightning Resist +30%
Shields: Lightning Resist +35%

Amn Rune
Required Level: 25
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 7% Life stolen per hit
Armor: Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Shields: Attacker Takes Damage of 14

Crescent Moon
Phase Blade
ShaelUmTir
One Hand Damage: 92 - 104
Indestructible
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 25
Required Dexterity: 136
Fingerprint: 0x20850994
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
10% Chance to cast level 17 Chain Lightning on striking
7% Chance to cast level 13 Static Field on striking
+20% Increased Attack Speed
198% Enhanced Damage
Ignore Target's Defense
-35% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
25% Chance of Open Wounds
+9 Magic Absorb
+2 to Mana after each Kill
Level 18 Summon Spirit Wolf (30/30 Charges)
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Um Rune
Socketed: Tir Rune

Shael Rune
Required Level: 29
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +20% Increased Attack Speed
Armor: +20% Faster Hit Recovery
Shields: +20% Faster Block Rate

Um Rune
Required Level: 47
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 25% Chance of Open Wounds
Armor: Cold Resist +15%
Lightning Resist +15%
Fire Resist +15%
Poison Resist +15%
Shields: Cold Resist +22%
Lightning Resist +22%
Fire Resist +22%
Poison Resist +22%

Tir Rune
Required Level: 13
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +2 to Mana after each Kill
Armor: +2 to Mana after each Kill
Shields: +2 to Mana after each Kill

Gerke's Sanctuary
Pavise
Defense: 247
Chance to Block: 54
Durability: 161 of 172
Required Level: 44
Required Strength: 133
Fingerprint: 0x3aae24dd
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
30% Increased Chance of Blocking
+213% Enhanced Defense
Replenish Life +15
All Resistances +30
Damage Reduced by 23
Magic Damage Reduced by 17
+100 Maximum Durability
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Sol Rune

Sol Rune
Required Level: 27
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +9 to Minimum Damage
Armor: Damage Reduced by 7
Shields: Damage Reduced by 7

Guillaume's Face
Winged Helm
Defense: 217
Durability: 31 of 40
Required Level: 34
Required Strength: 115
Fingerprint: 0x75a2cbf7
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15% Increased Attack Speed
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
35% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike
+120% Enhanced Defense
+15 to Strength
All Resistances +9
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Shimmering Jewel of Fervor


Shimmering Jewel of Fervor
Jewel
Required Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0xf7aa14a0
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15% Increased Attack Speed
Cold Resist +9%
Lightning Resist +9%
Fire Resist +9%
Poison Resist +9%

Wisp Projector
Ring
Required Level: 76
Fingerprint: 0xcb103bc5
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
10% Chance to cast level 16 Lightning on striking
Lightning Absorb 19%
11% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Level 7 Spirit of Barbs (11/11 Charges)
Level 5 Heart of Wolverine (13/13 Charges)
Level 2 Oak Sage (15/15 Charges)

Nature's Peace
Ring
Required Level: 69
Fingerprint: 0x87352cfc
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Prevent Monster Heal
Slain Monsters Rest in Peace
Poison Resist +21%
Damage Reduced by 11
Level 5 Oak Sage (27/27 Charges)

Mercenary:

Name: Leharas
Race: Desert Mercenary
Type: Def-Nightmare
Experience: 82728586
Level: 88
Dead?: false

Naked/Gear
Strength: 191/236
Dexterity: 154/154
HP: 1887/1887
Defense: 1387/3614
AR: 1946/1946

Fire: 187/147/87
Cold: 217/177/117
Lightning: 217/177/117
Poison: 287/247/187

Chains of Honor
Dusk Shroud
DolUmBerIst
Defense: 1754
Durability: 11 of 11
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 67
Fingerprint: 0xd5fde2d4
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+200% Damage to Demons
+100% Damage to Undead
8% Life stolen per hit
+70% Enhanced Defense
+20 to Strength
Replenish Life +7
All Resistances +65
Damage Reduced by 8%
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Dol Rune
Socketed: Um Rune
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune

Dol Rune
Required Level: 31
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Hit Causes Monster to Flee 25%
Armor: Replenish Life +7
Shields: Replenish Life +7

Um Rune
Required Level: 47
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 25% Chance of Open Wounds
Armor: Cold Resist +15%
Lightning Resist +15%
Fire Resist +15%
Poison Resist +15%
Shields: Cold Resist +22%
Lightning Resist +22%
Fire Resist +22%
Poison Resist +22%

Ber Rune
Required Level: 63
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 20% Chance of Crushing Blow
Armor: Damage Reduced by 8%
Shields: Damage Reduced by 8%

Ist Rune
Required Level: 51
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Armor: 25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Shields: 25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items


Infinity
Great Poleaxe
BerMalBerIst
Two Hand Damage: 311 - 858
Durability: 28 of 28
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 169
Required Dexterity: 89
Fingerprint: 0x3babb97c
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion
50% Chance to cast level 20 Chain Lightning when you Kill an Enemy
Level 12 Conviction Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster Run/Walk
352% Enhanced Damage
-48% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
Prevent Monster Heal
+44 to Vitality (Based on Character Level)
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Level 21 Cyclone Armor (30/30 Charges)
Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune

Ber Rune
Required Level: 63
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 20% Chance of Crushing Blow
Armor: Damage Reduced by 8%
Shields: Damage Reduced by 8%

Mal Rune
Required Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Prevent Monster Heal
Armor: Magic Damage Reduced by 7
Shields: Magic Damage Reduced by 7

Ber Rune
Required Level: 63
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 20% Chance of Crushing Blow
Armor: Damage Reduced by 8%
Shields: Damage Reduced by 8%

Ist Rune
Required Level: 51
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Armor: 25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Shields: 25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items


Andariel's Visage
Demonhead
Defense: 473
Durability: 11 of 11
Required Level: 83
Required Strength: 92
Fingerprint: 0x978194fd
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
15% Chance to cast level 15 Poison Nova when struck
+2 to All Skills
+20% Increased Attack Speed
9% Life stolen per hit
+104% Enhanced Defense
+25 to Strength
+10% to Maximum Poison Resist
Fire Resist -30%
Poison Resist +70%
Cannot Be Frozen
Level 3 Venom (14/20 Charges)
Ethereal
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Cham Rune

Cham Rune
Required Level: 67
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Freezes target +3
Armor: Cannot Be Frozen
Shields: Cannot Be Frozen


Skills:

20(29): Fists of Fire
20(29): Claws of Thunder
20(29): Blades of Ice
20(29): Phoenix Strike
1 (10): Tiger Strike
1 (10): Cobra Strike
1 (2) : Physic Hammer
1 (2) : Burst of Speed
1 (2) : Claw Mastery
6 (7) : Fade
3 (4) : Cloak of Shadows
1 (2) : Mind Blast

4 unused skills. Should've put those in Mind Blast and/or Cloak of Shadow.

LCS:
1584902692818.png
1st charge (Meteor) : 2435-2769
2nd charge (Lightning): 230-5829
3rd charge (Orb): 1293-1443


Journey

She started her journey as a fire trapper. Lots of WoF and Blast were laid and bombed. I have lately tinkered a lot with different kind of equipment for normal to make it more interesting. This time I ran around wearing Full Sigon's for a little nostalgia. I played it all time on /players 8. Re-spec'd to Lightning traps at the beginning of Act 4, cause monsters were starting to take little too much time to get killed for my taste. Travi action shot.

Nightmare was a cruise through. Continued to keep it /P8 for the whole difficulty. Was having fun as a trapper so I decided I'd re-spec to final build not until I was in Hell. Another Travi shot. Also Lost City was like, totally lost.

Then upon meeting Akara in Hell, it was time to switch for the final build and start the real play. I could nothing but admire the visual effects of PS. Here's the first shot in Hell, it's the second charge I have just released. On left there's some Meteors burning from the first charge.

Acts 1, 2 and 3 were at /players 8. IV and V were played at /players 5. I suffered no deaths, so I guess she was quite sturdy after all, and her crowd control skills are great (Mind Blast and Cloak of Shadows). Mercenary did a great job and killed a lot, but he bit the dust quite a few times too. My good resistances, biggish life pool and huge PDR gave me quite a lot of time to react to damage taken, and there were not even close calls. Lots of potions had to be used though.

I'll let the screen shots speak for themselves:
1584902657240.png
Burn baby burn!

1584902638722.png
I think I'm leveling here in order to be able to equip my final piece, The Gladiator's Bane. Used Raven Frost for CBF before it by the way.

1584902625021.png
Assassins like it in the shadows...

1584902615784.png
Weighing here should I go to-to-toe with these. Dolls were actually not a problem, PDR shined versus them.

1584902605774.png
Durance level 3 was quite heated at first. I'd say this battle was more dangerous than the Councils in Travincal.

1584902595474.png
Took Hephasto with care. Other monsters were Mind Blasted out of the battle until Hephasto and his aura were down.

1584902587195.png
Sur! My first HR while questing I think. Hell Forge was Gul, and also found Gul from WSK 1. Not bad.

1584902578831.png
Used Cloak of Shadows here once. I've read that it might cause crashing but luckily it didn't this time. Ancients were killed at first try. Fed merc with enough of potions and it was all fine, just took a while. When the first was down I targeted one and merc another. Great team work for once!

1584902569296.png
Monster rolls in WSK and Throne were OK. Quite fun actually, adjusting what charge to release all the time. Targeting PI monsters and trying to leave leechables to merc etc. These levels brought nicely the tactical aspects of Phoenix Strike. Baal + waves were fine too. MB is imba versus Lister's gang. :p


Last comments

I didn't totally fall in love with PDR. It gave a lot of protection but I was far from invisible still. I think I'll do it at least once more, but I rather have other ways to stay alive.

Mixed feelings about Phoenix Strike. From time to time it was really fun to use, but at times I didn't like it a lot. Managing charges was kind of manageable but a lot of miss click were also made. But I can totally understand why this has been quite popular (I think) in the tournaments here. If I were to do it again, I'd probably go C/C that time.
Maybe even some Death Sentry to speed thing up. She is not the fastest killer at least with high player settings.

Next char is already quite far and I think I'll do a short writing about it too. Crazy amount of char ideas, just taking it one by one. We'll see what I come up with next. Meanwhile, I'm always open for funny ideas for chars and builds. Having quite a lots of different kind of items in my stashes, many things are viable... :)

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment, ask questions etc. !
 
Originally posted by Hergrom on Mar 11, 2004:

1st Matriarch

May I present my first ever Matriarch:

SC Ladder
Matriarch Elektra
Martial Arts Assassin
Level 88
Exp 1368487820

Str 170 (233)
Dex 170 (221)
Vit 170 (190)
Egy 25 (35)

Life 734 (818)
Mana 155 (213)

Martial Arts Tree:

TS - 20 (23)
FoF - 5 (8)
PS - 20 (23)
All others - 1 (4)

Shadow Disciplines Tree: {denotes pre-buffing level}

CM - 20 (22)
BoS - 4 (6) {16}
SM - 9 (11) {21}
Venom - 1 (3) {13}
All others - 1 (3)

Traps Tree:

DS - 1 (3)
All pre-reqs - 1 (3)


Her Equipment is pedestrain at best:

Winged Helm - 3 PTopaz
Bartuc's Cut-Throat - Shael
Ward - 4 PDiamond
Griswold's Heart - 3 PTopaz
Battle Gauntlets - 3% mana/life leach
War Traveler - Upgraded to exceptional
Wilhelm's Pride
Raven Frost
Nagelring
The Mahim-Oak Curio

For weapon switch I have twin +3 Shadow Discipline Claws, a +3 Shadow Discipline helm, and a +3 Shadow Discipline ammy, for a +12 pre-buff.

Mercenary:

Defiance Act 2 Normal
Level 88

Sazabi's Mental Sheath
Bonehew - AmnAmn
Ornate Plate - 4 PTopaz


I'm very happy with Elektra. The were very few areas where she had a really tough time. Hell Ancients, Hell Chaos Sanctuary (not Diablo though), Hell Tal Rasha's Tomb were probably the worst. That being said, she is definately not a speed demon, and all areas require care and time. Played most of Hell on /Players 3. All of Normal and Nightmare on /Players 8.

If I could change her, I would have put 1 point into TS, and maxed Venom instead. The other points would go into SM or FoF.

Hergrom
 
Originally posted by lone_wolf on Dec 14, 2005:

Matriarch Kumi RWM

i felt i needed to sin a bit;)

Matriarch kumi RWM level 85

Stats

base/weapon switch1/weapon switch2

str 92/189/196
dex 176/195/202
Vit 227/247/254
Energy 25/25/32

life weapon switch 1: 1016
life weapon switch 2: 1037
mana weapon switch 1: 191
mana weapon switch 2: 203

res 75,75,85,75

Dragon talon damage on LCS without might

weapon switch 1: 723-1167
weapon switch 2: 752-1215

on LCS with might

weapon switch 1: 905-1495
weapon switch 2: 935-1543

gear:

Guillaume's Face um
Highlord's Wrath
COH(no i dont have 2 i took the armor from my lit amazon)
t-gods
dracul's gasp
raven frost
crafted dual leech ring
upgraded gore raiders
sheild1 stormshield pdiamond
sheild2 stormshield pdiamond
weapon1 stormlash eth
weapon2 azurewrath

7x Shogukusha's Grand Charm
1x Shimmering Grand Charm of Inertia
1x Shimmering Large Charm
and some res all sc and res sc

might merc wears:

Andariel's Visage
The Reaper's Toll
Duriel's Shell

skills:

traps

Death sentry 21 rest 4/ death sentry 22 rest 5

shadow diciplines

venom 23 shadow master 23/ venom 24 shadow master 24
(rest here is unimportant)

martial arts

dragon talon 30 rest 11/ dragon talon 31 rest 12
(with rest im meaning Dragon claw, dragon tail and dragon flight)

so i have sinned today:p
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by marzin on Apr 16, 2007:

matriarch dr. claw

yes i named her dr. claw.

thanks to 7 inches of rain closing all the roads, today i was able to matriarch my assassin. this is my first character to get past act 1 of hell. she is a meleesin build, claw/claw, basically using dragon claw, venom, shadow master, cloak of shadows, mindblast, fade, and weapon block. got some blades of ice too but didn't use it much in hell.

why meleesin? i started it and thought it would be a challenge to finish her first.

STATS:
strength: 95 (117)
dexterity: 84 (117)
vitality: 266 (266)
energy: 26 (27)
unspent: 29

SKILLS:
dragon claw - 20
venom - 20
shadow master - 14
fade - 6
weapon block - 6
claw mastery - 7
blades of ice - 7
prereqs.

EQUIPMENT:
weapon - Bartuc's Cut-Throat 'Shael'
weapon2 - rare hand scythe - fools, 113% ed, 6% LL
helm - Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
armor - Crow Caw 'PTopaz'
gloves - crafted sharkskin gloves - 20% IAS, 10% CB, 3% LL, +8 dex
belt - Wilhelm's Pride
boots - Natalya's Soul
Amulet - The Eye of Etlich
ring1 - rare with 15/15/15/53 resists, 4% LL, 14% MF
ring2 - rare with 26% light and 22% cold resist, +71 AR

INVENTORY:
many small charms with resists but none with good 2nd mods
iron grand charm of balance (82)
viridian large charm of balance (10%)
lizard's small charm of vita (2/19)
small charm of vita (20)
stout small charm of good luck (1/6%)

MERC:
act 1 defensive (defiance).
cruel stygian pike (276%)
corpsemourn
tal rasha's horadric crest

PLAN: with fade, my resists were 55/75/75/75 in hell. use cloak of shadows, spam mindblast, roll in and fight, hope not to die.

WHAT HAPPENED: normal was easy in p7. nightmare was tougher, dropped to p5/p3. hell was tough, i had to go back and run hell meph a few times to get better stuff. tried to beat the entire game untwinked but it wasn't working so i gave in and got bartuc's. also realized i needed some CB so i crafted gloves. bosses were all tough, took time, pots, tps. OKs weren't too bad, pick them off one at a time. gloams sucked though. i rerolled or ran past ALL of them. (including the frozen river 8 times!!) rerolled ancients 4 times, it was tough w/out CoS (the bug). baal wasn't too bad, cost me only 12 fat purples and a few TP scrolls.

FINDS:
nothing interesting: 3 tal's crests and 3 hwanin's justice. a few good skillers. 2 small charms with vita suffix. a few nice rares. lance guard, crown of theives, courpemourn, IK maul, furious amulet of life everlasting, marshall's amulet of the titan, snowclash.

NEXT UP:
i guess i'll try MF with her, but mostly i want to equip her well. i've already traded for or otherwise acquired some good stuff for her, and i have some more to get - keep an eye out for the ISO thread, my trap skiller will prolly be the first to go as i don't plan to make another assassin anytime soon.

thanks to san, darkoo, ashmer, sandro, etc. for the trades and zarfen and others for advice.

have a blessed day:innocent:
 
Originally posted by @maxicek on Mar 17, 2011:

Matriarch Gogo_Yubari: TS/DTail and PS Assassin

Gogo_Yubari
Matriarch Gogo_Yubari: Tiger Strike, Dragon Tail and Phoenix Strike Assassin

One of those builds I have always meant to try, but never got around to. Making Infinity last year put this higher up the list. I think she is pretty much optimum geared for the build.


Stats
Name: Gogo_Yubari
Class: Assassin
Experience: 1106120686
Level: 85

Naked/Gear
Strength: 142/197
Dexterity: 89/171
Vitality: 264/269
Energy: 25/30
HP: 1010/1086
Mana: 151/191
Stamina: 505/505
Defense: 22/1553
AR: 100000409/100001088 (GoMule error)

Resists on Lawbringer switch
Fire: 184/144/84
Cold: 254/214/154
Lightning: 229/189/129
Poison: 160/120/60

MF: 25
Block: 66
GF: 92
FR/W: 30
FHR: 50
IAS: 20

Damage as displayed by the LCS
Dragon Tail damage with three charges of Tiger Strike, Claw/Claw: 27K - 42K
Dragon Tail damage with three charges of Tiger Strike, Lawbringer: 20K - 32K

Phoenix Strike Charge Two, Claw/Claw: 404-9615
Phoenix Strike Charge Two, Lawbringer: 390-7622


Skills
Claw Mastery: 1/9
Psychic Hammer: 1/9
Burst of Speed: 1/9
Weapon Block: 1/9
Cloak of Shadows: 1/9
Fade: 0/0
Shadow Warrior: 1/9
Mind Blast: 1/9
Venom: 0/0
Shadow Master: 1/9

Tiger Strike: 20/34
Dragon Talon: 1/15
Fists of Fire: 1/15
Dragon Claw: 1/15
Cobra Strike: 1/15
Claws of Thunder: 20/34
Dragon Tail: 20/34
Blades of Ice: 3/17
Dragon Flight: 1/15
Phoenix Strike: 20/34



Equipment
Weapon: Lawbringer
Shield: Stormshield

Switch Weapon: Bartuc's
Switch Weapon2: 'Grim Scratch'

Helm: Pain Circlet
Armour: 'Chains of Honor' Dusk Shroud
Belt: String of Ears
Boots: Shadow Dancers
Gloves: 'Grim Knuckle' rare +2 MA 20IAS gloves

Amulet: Mara's
Ring1: Ravenfrost
Ring2: Rare with Mana Leech

Inventory: 6x Shogukusha's Grand Charms, 4x SCs of Balance, 2x Lightning Resist SCs, both tomes and the cube.

Equipment Readouts
Code:
Lawbringer
Phase Blade
AmnLemKo
One Hand Damage: 31 - 35
Indestructible
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 25
Required Dexterity: 136
Fingerprint: 0x6ae2d016
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
20% Chance to cast level 15 Decrepify on striking
Level 16 Sanctuary Aura When Equipped
-50% Target Defense
Adds 150 - 210 Fire Damage
Adds 130 - 180 Cold Damage Over 7 Secs (175 Frames)
7% Life stolen per hit
Slain Monsters Rest in Peace
+224 Defense vs. Missile
+10 to Dexterity
75% Extra Gold from Monsters
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Amn Rune
Socketed: Lem Rune
Socketed: Ko Rune

Stormshield
Monarch
Defense: 461
Chance to Block: 47
Durability: 59 of 86
Required Level: 73
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0xac045ec9
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Indestructible
+35% Faster Block Rate
25% Increased Chance of Blocking
+318 Defense (Based on Character Level)
+30 to Strength
Cold Resist +60%
All Resistances +19
Lightning Resist +25%
Damage Reduced by 35%
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 10
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Perfect Diamond

Bartuc's Cut-Throat
Greater Talons
One Hand Damage: 84 - 149
Durability: 69 of 69
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 79
Required Dexterity: 79
Fingerprint: 0x7e8e1640
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
183% Enhanced Damage
Adds 25 - 50 Damage
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
6% Life stolen per hit
+20 to Strength
+20 to Dexterity

Grim Scratch
Feral Claws
One Hand Damage: 25 - 55
Durability: 52 of 52
Required Level: 58
Required Strength: 113
Required Dexterity: 113
Fingerprint: 0x528290f9
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
Adds 3 - 2 Damage
+34 to Attack Rating
8% Mana stolen per hit
+3 to Dragon Tail (Assassin Only)
+3 to Strength
All Resistances +10
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Shimmering Jewel of Virility

Pain Circlet
Circlet
Defense: 23
Durability: 103 of 105
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0x8d2fa8ac
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
+19 to Dexterity
+44 to Life
Cold Resist +34%
All Resistances +19
Lightning Resist +28%
Damage Reduced by 4
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Ambergris Jewel of Hope

Chains of Honor
Dusk Shroud
DolUmBerIst
Defense: 776
Durability: 18 of 20
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 77
Fingerprint: 0xf0c887ec
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+200% Damage to Demons
+100% Damage to Undead
8% Life stolen per hit
+70% Enhanced Defense
+20 to Strength
Replenish Life +7
All Resistances +65
Damage Reduced by 8%
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Dol Rune
Socketed: Um Rune
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune

Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0x42b0e501
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
All Stats +5
All Resistances +20

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x36db24c8
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+230 to Attack Rating
Adds 15 - 45 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
+18 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
Cold Absorb 20%
Cannot Be Frozen

Storm Circle
Ring
Required Level: 46
Fingerprint: 0x8425be47
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+39 to Attack Rating
5% Mana stolen per hit
Replenish Life +6
All Resistances +7
Fire Resist +5%
Poison Length Reduced by 25%

String of Ears
Demonhide Sash
Defense: 106
Durability: 21 of 22
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0x3d6a1629
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
8% Life stolen per hit
+161% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
Damage Reduced by 15%
Magic Damage Reduced by 10
+10 Maximum Durability

Shadow Dancer
Myrmidon Greaves
Defense: 130
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 71
Required Strength: 167
Fingerprint: 0x57d4892a
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)
+30% Faster Run/Walk
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
+81% Enhanced Defense
+20 to Dexterity
Requirements -20%

Grim Knuckle
Light Gauntlets
Defense: 15
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Level: 35
Required Strength: 45
Fingerprint: 0x4419527
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+29% Enhanced Defense
+5 to Dexterity
Fire Resist +19%

Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Life
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x1586dcc7
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+7 to Life

Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Dexterity
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x7cba39ba
Item Level: 69
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+5 to Dexterity

Shogukusha's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x335012e2
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Shogukusha's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xcb83124e
Item Level: 73
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Shogukusha's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xa4d0ce1e
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Greed
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x8e663f73
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
17% Extra Gold from Monsters

Coral Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0xca6319e8
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+14 to Life
Lightning Resist +8%

Coral Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 20
Fingerprint: 0xa4fc693a
Item Level: 69
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+11 to Life
Lightning Resist +8%

Small Charm of Balance
Small Charm
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0xe7dab677
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5% Faster Hit Recovery

Small Charm of Balance
Small Charm
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0xfb7746f
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5% Faster Hit Recovery

Small Charm of Balance
Small Charm
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0x88555087
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5% Faster Hit Recovery

Small Charm of Balance
Small Charm
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0x9cb9732d
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5% Faster Hit Recovery

Mercenary Equipment
Mercenary Type: Ahsab, A2 NM Defensive
Helm: Tal Rasha's HC 'Shael'
Armour: 'Treachery' Archon Plate
Weapon: 'Infinity' Ethereal Thresher

Code:
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 114
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 66
Required Strength: 55
Fingerprint: 0x57f84a09
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
10% Mana stolen per hit
10% Life stolen per hit
+45 Defense
+60 to Life
+30 to Mana
All Resistances +15
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune

Treachery
Archon Plate
ShaelThulLem
Defense: 502
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 103
Fingerprint: 0x8cf702d1
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Chance to cast level 15 Fade when struck
25% Chance to cast level 15 Venom on striking
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
+45% Increased Attack Speed
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
Cold Resist +30%
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Lem Rune

Infinity
Thresher
BerMalBerIst
Two Hand Damage: 71 - 833
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 142
Required Dexterity: 108
Fingerprint: 0x2c532938
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
50% Chance to cast level 20 Chain Lightning when you Kill an Enemy
Level 12 Conviction Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster Run/Walk
295% Enhanced Damage
-53% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
Prevent Monster Heal
+42 to Vitality (Based on Character Level)
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Level 21 Cyclone Armor (30/30 Charges)
Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune


Finds
Hellforge: An Um in Hell. Since 1.13, NM HF drops seem almost irrelevant.
Other drops were truly terrible, despite playing the entire game at /P3. I didn't find and decent runes, charms or jewels. In fact it seems like I hardly found any runes at all. I did find a reasonable Steel GC of Sustenance, nice for LLD possibly. And I made some nice 'Strength' Feral Claws for a Phoenix Striker, just because I found all the bits. I doubt that I will use them though.The Duriel drop summarises my luck with this character nicely.

Code:
Strength
Feral Claws
AmnTir
One Hand Damage: 29 - 71
Durability: 47 of 52
Required Level: 58
Required Strength: 113
Required Dexterity: 113
Fingerprint: 0xbae04319
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
35% Enhanced Damage
7% Life stolen per hit
25% Chance of Crushing Blow
+3 to Phoenix Strike (Assassin Only)
+20 to Strength
+10 to Vitality
+2 to Mana after each Kill 2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Amn Rune
Socketed: Tir Rune

Steel Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0x2e407ee1
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+94 to Attack Rating
+24 to Life


Random Thoughts
I like Lawbringer. A lot. It may not be a great weapon for a build that actually uses it to do physical damage with (although I have used in in the off hand on a frenzier), but on kickers it is awesome. For me undead are the bane of a melee character. Getting swarmed by a horde of unleechable skeletons with high physical resistance. Poisoned by Unravellers or Poison Exploding Zombies. Blown up by dolls. Cursed by OKs (Not so bad these days thought). Fried by Gloams. The knockback and ignores defence of undead of the Sanctuary aura, coupled with Decrepify is awesome.

Dragon Tail is often criticised as an attack as it suffers from two immunities. First the damage is nerfed by the physical resistance of the target, them the fire resistance. So Lawbringer takes care of the first. Infinity the second. Easy. I rarely had to use the Phoenix Strike backup attack, except in A4 where almost everything seemed to be FI. The damage numbers look very impressive on the claw switch, but in practical terms Lawbringer and Stormshield was much more powerful. I was using claws through Nightmare, but by A1 Hell I was using Lawbringer only, irrespective of the targets resists.

Dragon Tail only needs 40 points to be at full strength, so it leaves a lot of skill points spare. Given that the second charge of Phoenix Strike also only needs 40 points too, and I had already loaded up on MA Skillers, this made the obvious choice for a backup attack. In practice I didn't use it that much. A bit in A1 to deal with the Fallen (Shamans are breakable), but mainly in A4. In fact I pretty much played A4 as a Phoenix Striker.

I think this is one of the few builds where Chains of Honour is the top choice for armour. Going Claw/Claw with BoS leaves resists lacking. CoH plugs this nicely, plus adds +2 skills. Is it really worth the Ber? The build would have worked with Vipermagi or Smoke quite nicely, but if you have made CoH this is a great build for it.

She was great fun to play, very fast paced with BoS and powerful with conviction. Dragon Flight is a must as you are often out pacing your mercenary with his Conviction Aura. I was a bit worried The Ancients would kill my merc quickly and leave me fighting on FI and on LI on my own. In the end they were despatched quickly and Baal bit the dust shortly after.

My 51st Mat/Pat and my 14th Assassin.

Cookie for anyone who knows where the name comes from, without searching :)


What Next?
I'm slowly levelling my C/C PvP trapper, trying to get her to 95 (currently 93). Trav runs with a WW Barb for the RW Grail, although luck hasn't been great recently. I have two more Assassins just starting Hell and a Necromancer in progress, who I think will be quite interesting.
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by @maxicek on May 22, 2008:

Matriach Xenja - Natalya's Set Phoenix Strike Assassin and Kastagir - PvP WW Barb

Matriach Xenja - Natalya's Set Phoenix Strike Assassin


A character with powerful fire and lightning attacks, a cold attack with a decent freeze duration even in Hell, running around at high speed and backed up by corpse Explosion - What is there not to like?

Stats
Character name : Xenja
Character type : Assassin
Character level : 82

Strength : 103
Energy : 25
Dexterity : 79
Vitality : All the rest, giving me about 1.2K life


Skills
20 (36 after +skills) Phoenix Strike
20 (36) Claws of Thunder
20 (36) Fists of Fire
1 (17) Dragon Claw
1 (17) Dragon Flight
12 (17) + Death Sentry
2 (9) in Shadow Master (don't ask me why)
1 (8) in all shadow skills except Venom. I didn't think a low level venom was worth the bother.


Equipment
Weapon1: Natalya's Mark, socketed with a 25% damage, 27% poison resist jewel.
Weapon2: Bartuc's Cut Throat

Switch Weapon: Demon Limb
Switch Shield: 3os Kite Shield with +8 Strength Jewels (so I could equip Demon Limb)

Helm: Natalya's Totem, socketed with 8% resist all rare jewel.
Armour: Natalya's Shadow, socketed with rare resistance jewels.
Belt: String of Ears
Boots: Natalya's Soul
Gloves: Rare +2 MA

Amulet: Rare +2MA and resists
Ring1: Ravenfrost
Ring2: Dwarf Star

Inventory: 6x Martial Arts Skillers (one of Vita), 4x SCs of Balance, Tomes of TP & Identify and the cube.

Equipment Readouts:
Code:
Natalya's Mark
Scissors Suwayyah
One-Hand Damage: 130 to 165
Durability: 68 of 68
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 118
Required Strength: 118
Required Level: 79
Claw Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x46594f67
+7 to Energy
+225% Enhanced Damage
Poison Resist +27%
Adds 12-17 fire damage
+50 cold damage over 4 seconds
40% Increased Attack Speed
Ignore Target Defense
200% Damage to Demons
200% Damage to Undead
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Death Eye
Jewel
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0xb478fa12
+7 to Energy
+25% Enhanced Damage
Poison Resist +27%

Bartuc's Cut-Throat
Greater Talons
One-Hand Damage: 81 to 143
Durability: 69 of 69
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 79
Required Strength: 79
Required Level: 42
Claw Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xe3394da5
+20 to Strength
+20 to Dexterity
+168% Enhanced Damage
+25 to Minimum Damage
+50 to Maximum Damage
6% Life stolen per hit
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
30% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Natalya's Totem
Grim Helm
Defense: 282
Durability: 40 of 40
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 59
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x6e1adc0e
+17 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+25 to Dexterity
+175 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 3
All Resistances +28
Replenish Life +1
13% Extra Gold from Monsters
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Plague Heart
Jewel
Required Level: 35
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x64f3f73
+5 to Energy
All Resistances +8
Replenish Life +1
13% Extra Gold from Monsters

Natalya's Shadow
Loricated Mail
Defense: 617
Durability: 36 of 36
Required Strength: 149
Required Level: 73
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x32b076fb
+3 to Dexterity
+15 to Mana
+26 to Maximum Damage
+167 Defense
Lightning Resist +56%
Cold Resist +28%
Poison Resist +25%
Poison Length Reduced by 75%
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
+2 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)
+79 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Plague Gyre
Jewel
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 57
Fingerprint: 0x5a6a26da
+3 to Dexterity
+11 to Maximum Damage
Lightning Resist +28%

Ambergris Jewel of Carnage
Required Level: 18
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 48
Fingerprint: 0xe06e786
+11 to Maximum Damage
Lightning Resist +28%

Grim Talisman
Jewel
Required Level: 16
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x7d193eda
+15 to Mana
+4 to Maximum Damage
Cold Resist +28%
+2 to Mana After Each Kill

String of Ears
Demonhide Sash
Defense: 112
Durability: 22 of 22
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x23e90cf0
+179% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 15
Damage Reduced by 15%
7% Life stolen per hit
+10 Maximum Durability

Natalya's Soul
Mesh Boots
Defense: 158
Durability: 66 of 66
Kick Damage: 23 to 52
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xc7e6b299
+121 Defense
Lightning Resist +20%
Cold Resist +20%
+50 Maximum Durability
40% Faster Run/Walk
Heal Stamina Plus 19% (Based on Character Level)

Ghoul Hand
Light Gauntlets
Defense: 48
Durability: 18 of 18
Required Strength: 45
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x1354556f
+9 to Strength
Fire Resist +23%
Replenish Life +5
20% Increased Attack Speed
+2 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+39 to Defense (Based on Character Level)

Chaos Necklace
Amulet
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x9928a3a4
Fire Resist +51%
Lightning Resist +17%
Cold Resist +17%
Poison Resist +17%
Half Freeze Duration
+2 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x37b00278
+20 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+218 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

Dwarf Star
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 78
Fingerprint: 0xf7f5fe7c
+40 to Life
+40 to Maximum Stamina
Heal Stamina Plus 15%
Magic Damage Reduced by 13
100% Extra Gold from Monsters
15% Fire Absorb

Demon Limb
Tyrant Club
One-Hand Damage: 104 to 189
Durability: 65 of 65
Required Strength: 133
Required Level: 63
Mace Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x4faba0c8
+227% Enhanced Damage
Fire Resist +20%
Adds 222-333 fire damage
13% Life stolen per hit
123% Damage to Demons
150% Damage to Undead
Level 23 Enchant (20/20 Charges)
Repairs 1 durability in 20 seconds

Gemmed Kite Shield
Defense: 17
Chance to Block:  33%
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Strength: 47
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x2c782d67
+24 to Strength
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Shogukusha's Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 57
Fingerprint: 0x8178e668
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x7b44e18
+14 to Life
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x75b7c015
+38 to Life
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Shogukusha's Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x6b330877
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Shogukusha's Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x8d25cb1b
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Shogukusha's Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0x386ad205
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xb52b189f
5% Faster Hit Recovery

Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x9cb9732d
5% Faster Hit Recovery

Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x7ef2bcc5
5% Faster Hit Recovery

Bronze Small Charm of Balance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x6211be78
+9 to Attack Rating
5% Faster Hit Recovery

Iron Small Charm of Pestilence
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xd9271306
+22 to Attack Rating
+25 poison damage over 5 seconds

Iron Small Charm of Thunder
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 31
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x5f806fb1
+21 to Attack Rating
Adds 1-12 lightning damage

Mercenary Equipment
A2 Blessed Aim merc:
Helm: Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Armour: Duriel's Shell
Weapon: The Reaper's Toll


Finds
Hellforge: Um NM, Gul Hel.
My second ever character to do the double. The first was another Assassin, Trinity.
I also found a Skullder's Ire in the Hell CS. At least I think I did, I am playing so many characters at the moment it could have easily not been with this one.


Random Thoughts
My second charge up assassin, and she was great fun to play. I pretty much only used Phoenix Strike, with a Dragon Claw or Dragon Flight finisher. Although I put points into Death Sentry, it only got used a few times, mainly when I died and couldn't retrieve my body (witches in the WSK). Claws of Thunder was also used only a few times. The main reason is that most of the time I seem to find myself getting attacked by more than one kind of monster. If some are LI, the are often FI. So my combat sequences normally went like this:
- Charge to no 3 & release with Dragon Claw. This freezes everything not CI very nicely, even in Hell.
- Unless the mob is LI, try to release charge 2 (Lightning).
- If I mess up and release 1 or 3, it normally dealt with other monsters or kept the freeze going.
- If the monsters were CI, the decrep from my merc kept them still long enough to rain meteors down on their heads.

Key setup was like this. I try to keep the same keys as much as possible on all my assassins, as this stops me hitting the wrong buttons when I change characters - especially PvP:

Left click - Dragon Flight.
Don't put Dragon Claw on left click and try to swap mouse buttons to release charges. Trust me, this is how I started. The main problem with this is that if you accidently left click on a monster on the far side of a pack, you will attempt to walk all the way around the pack to release the charges. Very slow and extremely annoying.

Main Attacks on right click
Z - Phoenix Strike
X - Dragon Claw
C - Claws of Thunder

Utility Skills
A - Mind Blast
D - Death Sentry
F - Cloak of Shadows

Pre-buffs
Q- Burst of Speed
W - Shadow Master

Most of the time you run around with right click held down. On the keyboard you alternate between PD and DC to charge and release. It reminded me of Daley Thompson's Decathlon on the ZX Spectrum at times. The biggest problem with getting the charges released properly is either missing or getting interrupted, so you rhythm gets messed up. This is why ITD, AR and FHR are important.

I think one of the reasons that Nat's set works so well for this build is the ITD on the claw. This means you hit all the time against regular monsters, meaning you will always charge up. Agains bosses (especially the ancients) AR is important for the same reason. Hence the Blessed Aim merc and the Demon Limb. My AR was about 8K with Blessed Aim.

All in all a great build that really fits the class specific set nicely. The drawback is that you need to level to 79 to equip the claw, normally I prefer to be in endgame gear at the start of Hell. I leveled to 76 at NM Baal, and then to 79 in The Cave in The Cold Plains. I enjoyed the versatility and the play style. Not a build to play if you just want to play without thinking, you have to plan your attacks. It isn't like playing a Zealot, just wading in and shift clicking.

Cookie
Once more, a cookie for anyone who can find out where the name comes from. Two clues - I spelt the name with a 'j' (=y sound as in 'you') instead of an 'i' and it comes from a film.


Patriach Kastagir - PvP WW Barb
PvP Sept 4/7
I completed this one earlier in the year and he has already seem a bit of action on the Blood Moor. Just a quick write up for the sake of completeness.


Stats
Character name : Kastagir
Character type : Barbarian
Character level : 87
Character exp : 1328254544

Strength : 126
Energy : 10
Dexterity : 155
Vitality : 239
Stat Points Rem : 0
Skill Points Rem: 0

Life : 1662 / 1143
Mana : 625 / 96
Stamina : 1298 / 392


Skills
20 Whirlwind
20 Battle Orders
14 Leap
20 Sword Mastery


Equipment
Equipment is for PvM, but does't really change much for PvP, only the stuff marked* Anyone who has read Doomas' PvP WW Barb guide can easily work out what gets equipped on the moor.

Weapon1: 'Grief' Phase Blade
Weapon2: Stormshield

Switch: 2x Echoing Swords (thanks to Dune)

Helm: Arreat's Face
Armour: Duress Great Hauberk
Belt: String of Ears*
Boots: Gore Riders
Gloves: Laying of Hands*

Amulet: Metalgrid
Ring1: Ravenfrost
Ring2: Rare with Mana Leech*

Inventory: Sharp GCs and Fine / Life GCs


Mercenary Equipment
A2 Might merc:
Helm: Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Armour: Duriel's Shell
Weapon: The Reaper's Toll


Finds
Hellforge: ?? NM, Hell Io.
Pretty dismal on the finds front really.


Random Thoughts
Yes, another PvP cookie cutter, but there is never any glory in leaving a pretty corpse.
Kastagir has already had a brief try out on the moor, and he has done OK. I think most of the PvP problems are between the keyboard and chair, and not with the build itself. I need to put in a bit of time to level him further, ideally to about 92.


Cookie
Again, a cookie for anyone who can find out where the name comes from. I think Google or Wikipedia will turn this one up fairly quickly, but I will be impressed if anyone knows this one without resorting to a search. He's linked to one of my 2h sword sept characters.



What Next?
I have about nine characters in various stages of Hell, mostly in A1, so I suppose that I had better play some of them. The trouble is that I find planning and building new characters so addictive.

I am mainly working on my PvP sept (idea blatantly stolen from Z_Y), a themed trio based on the book The History Of The Runestaff and continuing my obsession with assassins. Actually I now have no assassins in progress, so maybe I had better start another one ... or three?
 
Originally posted by @maxicek on Oct 29, 2007:

Matriach Trinity - Kicker Assassin

Lister: "I think we can handle one little girl".
Baal: "No, Lister. Your minions are already dead."


(with apologies to all the Matrix fans)

Presenting Matriach Trinity, Kicker Assassin. Trinity is a themed PvP build based on the character from the Matrix movies.

Trinity in PvM gear
Trinity in PvP gear
Pretty picture of Trinity kicking Diablo in the mush


As you can see, she doesn't really fit the theme PvM, but looks the part PvP.

Stats
Level after Hell Baal: 80
Strength: 162
Dexterity: 115
Vitality: The rest
Energy: Base

My stats are maybe a bit higher than they need to be, but it will give me more gear flexibility PvP as I'm not sure what will work the best yet.

Resists in Hell : 75 to all with Fade active
AR: About 7K for kicks.

Skills
20 Fade
20 Venom
20 Dragon Talon
1 Blade Fury
1 Dragon Flight

Those are the key skills I used PvM, I'll let you guess the other skills I have for PvP, it doesn't take a genius to work them out.

Equipment (for PvM)
Weapon: 'Crescent Moon' Phase Blade
Shield: Tiamat's Rebuke

Switch Weapon: 'Call to Arms' War Scepter
Switch Shield: 'Spirit' Monarch

Helm: Guillaume's Face
Armour: 'Lionheart' Dusk Shroud
Belt: String of Ears
Boots: Gore Rider Myrmidon Greaves
Gloves: Trang Oul's Claws

Amulet: Mara's
Ring1: Ravenfrost
Ring2: Manald Heal

Inventory: Mentalist Skillers, SCs of Vita, Fine SCs, Tomes of TP & Identify and the cube.

Mercenary Equipment
A2 Might merc:
Helm: Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Armour: Duriel's Shell
Weapon: The Reaper's Toll

Finds
Hellforge: NM Um, Hell Gul.
It doesn't get any better than that 😁
Having just taken my next char to the HF and got Io/Hel though I guess it evens out in the long run. No other finds that really spring to mind.

Random Thoughts
Trinity is my first ever character designed specifically for PvP. Eventually she will be a hybrid, at the moment she just kicks. A small matter of a second Ohm rune being required after I made CtA with the first. Having got a 2 BO roll on the CtA, I kind of wished I had made the Chaos first. Still, she should be playable as a kicker in the meantime.

PvM she is a good killer one-on-one, but has a tendency to get swamped rather quickly. I MPed with her for all of NM and up to A3 Hell, the rest was done solo at /P1. Crowd control solo wasn't too bad, as long as I remembered to use Mind Blast and not just wade straight in. I had a map with the cathedral on it in A4, which I can't remember seeing before.

She was quite similar PvM to Myshella, my Warrior Monk. I missed the Death Sentry, but I won't be putting more than one point in Shadow Master again. SM is good as an auto spammer of Mind Blast, but doesn't do enough damage otherwise to be worth the points. I like the kicker as a base build. It gives a good boss killer and has lots of room for customisation. Max DS & LS for a good PvM build, or tweak the skills a bit for PvP.

I started claw/claw, but was missing any kind of a vianle Blade Fury for PvM. Crescent Moon is a great weapon for this build, if built specifically for a BF sin thoug I would put it in an eth Cryptic Sword for some more damage. Tiamats provides very little blocking, but some resists and elemental damage helps BF a lot. I have switched to a Stormshield though for Baal runs.

What Next?
First some more levels, until about 90 or so. Then I suppose I had better make my PvP debut. Someone in an MP game reminded me that Trinity dies at the end of the Matrix films, pierced by a load of spikes. So probably the theme is well chosen for my entry into PvP as I'm sure that will be the fate of this Trinity too. She was fun to play PvM and hopefully I will enjoy PvP too.

Thanks
Thanks to everyone who I MPed with during NM & Hell and to everyone who I have leeched XP from in Baal runs.
Maybe I'll see you on the Moor.
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by @maxicek on Nov 4, 2008:

Matriarch Karina, Rift Kicker

Karina, Rift Kicker

Grolak the Blunderbore was having a good day. He and his men had just finished torturing the last of his Barbarian captives and had his remains lined up for lunch. The siege on Harrogath seemed to be progressing nicely.

He saw a dark blur out of the corner of his eye. At first he didn't think anything of it, but there it was again. Then it stopped momentarily and his eyes focused on a woman dressed in black.

"Aaah an Assassin," he thought to himself. "Not much meat on those women, but it will pass the time to lunch. At least she has none of those damned traps."

His vision darkened. The Assassin vanished into thin air. His slow brain was still trying to work out where she had gone when his stomach felt the boot connect. Sprays of ice chilled his bones.

"I was really looking forward to lunch too" he gasped as the poison sucked the last of his life away.



Stats
Name: Karina
Class: Assassin
Experience: 764003495
Level: 81

Naked/Gear
Strength: 162/232
Dexterity: 135/195
Vitality: 148/168
Energy: 25/35

Fire: 40
Cold: 75
Lightning: 75
Poison: 39

MF: 0
Block: 75%
GF: 97%
FR/W: 30%
FHR: 30%
IAS: 0%
FCR: 10%


Skills
Fire Blast: 1
Shock Web: 1
Blade Sentinel: 1
Charged Bolt Sentry: 1
Wake of Fire: 1
Blade Fury: 1
Lightning Sentry: 1
Death Sentry: 1

Weapon Block : 7
Cloak of Shadows: 1
Burst of Speed: 1 (12 with pre-buff)
Mind Blast : 20
Venom : 20 (31 with pre-buff)

Dragon Talon : 16
Dragon Flight : 12


Equipment
Weapon: 'Rift' War Scepter
Shield: Stormshield + Perfect Diamond

Switch Weapon: Bartuc's Cut Throat
Switch Shield: Bartuc's Cut Throat

Helm: Guillaume's Face 'Ort'
Armour: 'Lionheart' Dusk Shroud
Belt: String of Ears
Boots: Gore Rider Myrmidon Greaves
Gloves: Dracul's Grasp

Amulet: Rare with Resists & +2 Shadow Disciplines
Ring1: Ravenfrost
Ring2: Rare with mana leech

Inventory: 5x Mentalist Grand Charms, Resistance Charms, both tomes and the cube.

Equipment Readouts:
Code:
Rift
War Scepter
One Hand Damage: 10 - 17
Durability: 70 of 70
Required Level: 53
Required Strength: 44
Fingerprint: 0x81f20ffd
Item Level: 70
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
150% Damage to Undead
All Stats +7
+10 to Dexterity
+60 - 180 Fire Damage
+160 - 250 Magic Damage
+38 Damage Taken Goes To Mana
16% Chance to cast level 21 Frozen Orb on attack
20% Chance to cast level 16 Tornado on striking
Level 15 Iron Maiden (40/40 Charges)
Requirements -20%
75% Extra Gold from Monsters
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Hel Rune
Socketed: Ko Rune
Socketed: Lem Rune
Socketed: Gul Rune

Stormshield
Monarch
Defense: 442
Chance to Block: 47
Durability: 57 of 86
Required Level: 73
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0xfac2464f
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+30 to Strength
25% Increased Chance of Blocking
Damage Reduced by 35%
Lightning Resist +25%
Cold Resist +60%
35% Faster Block Rate
+10 Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of
Indestructible
303 Defense (Based on Char Lvl)
All Resistances +19
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Perfect Diamond

Bartuc's Cut-Throat
Greater Talons
One Hand Damage: 78 - 139
Durability: 69 of 69
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 79
Required Dexterity: 79
Fingerprint: 0xa703144f
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+20 to Strength
+20 to Dexterity
155% Enhanced Damage
+25 to Minimum Damage
+50 to Maximum Damage
7% Life stolen per hit
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
30% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Bartuc's Cut-Throat
Greater Talons
One Hand Damage: 81 - 144
Durability: 69 of 69
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 79
Required Dexterity: 79
Fingerprint: 0xb56b7a4e
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+20 to Strength
+20 to Dexterity
169% Enhanced Damage
+25 to Minimum Damage
+50 to Maximum Damage
5% Life stolen per hit
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
30% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Guillaume's Face
Winged Helm
Defense: 217
Durability: 39 of 40
Required Level: 34
Required Strength: 115
Fingerprint: 0x165bb3fa
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+15 to Strength
120% Enhanced Defense
30% Faster Hit Recovery
35% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike
Lightning Resist +30%
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Ort Rune

Lionheart
Dusk Shroud
Defense: 374
Durability: 13 of 20
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0xa08c0609
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
All Resistances +30
All Stats +10
+15 to Strength
+5 to Dexterity
+10 to Vitality
+50 to Life
20% Enhanced Damage
Requirements -15%
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Hel Rune
Socketed: Lum Rune
Socketed: Fal Rune

String of Ears
Demonhide Sash
Defense: 109
Durability: 19 of 22
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0x9be21f15
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
171% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 10
Damage Reduced by 14%
8% Life stolen per hit
+10 Maximum Durability

Gore Rider
Myrmidon Greaves
Defense: 207
Durability: 31 of 34
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0xf2ff2d5a
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+20 Maximum Stamina
197% Enhanced Defense
+10 Maximum Durability
Requirements -25%
Required Lvl +7
30% Faster Run/Walk
10% Chance of Open Wounds
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike

Dracul's Grasp
Vampirebone Gloves
Defense: 140
Durability: 10 of 14
Required Level: 76
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0xa2e65d1c
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+10 to Strength
113% Enhanced Defense
9% Life stolen per hit
+6 Life after each Kill
25% Chance of Open Wounds
5% Chance to cast level 10 Life Tap on striking

Storm Clasp
Amulet
Required Level: 35
Fingerprint: 0xc9552d3c
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+11 to Dexterity
Poison Resist +23%
10% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)
All Resistances +15

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x37b00278
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+20 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+218 to Attack Rating
+15 - 45 cold damage with 4 sec Duration
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

Shadow Band
Ring
Required Level: 21
Fingerprint: 0xf59d7cb2
Item Level: 35
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+76 to Attack Rating
Lightning Resist +15%
Cold Resist +8%
3% Mana stolen per hit
Replenish Life 3
5% Chance to cast level 3 Chain Lightning on attack

Mentalist's Grand Charm of Greed
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x4c118468
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
22% Extra Gold from Monsters
+1 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)

Mentalist's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x6dcb6bb3
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+1 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)

Mentalist's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xb1f11cb1
Item Level: 66
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+1 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)

Mentalist's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x8584ce48
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+1 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)

Mentalist's Grand Charm of Dexterity
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x84aa1859
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+4 to Dexterity
+1 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)

Shimmering Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0x32e88031
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
Fire Resist +15%
Lightning Resist +15%
Cold Resist +15%
Poison Resist +15%

Viridian Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0x1f53a819
Item Level: 11
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
Poison Resist +7%

Ruby Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0x7ecc62d
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
Fire Resist +11%

Ruby Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0x4fe92759
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
Fire Resist +10%

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x64efa826
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+18 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xdd764d07
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+18 to Life

Amber Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0x3d32391
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
Lightning Resist +11%

Mercenary Equipment
A2 Might merc:
Helm: Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Armour: 'Treachery' Ethereal Great Hauberk
Weapon: The Reaper's Toll


Finds
Hellforge: Can't Remember NM, Lum Hell.
My HF drops seem to be going through a bad patch, it seems a long time since I got on of the top three. On the other hand I had some reasonable drops. A few decent charms and this rare TC84 Grailler from a boss pack of Blunderbore on The Arreat Plateau. Not bad considering I had 0% MF.

Ravenlore
Sky Spirit
Defense: 357
Durability: 10 of 20
Required Level: 74
Required Strength: 113
Fingerprint: 0xc959c0b8
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties:
+20 to Energy
129% Enhanced Defense
+7 to Raven (Druid Only)
+3 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)
-18% to Enemy Fire Resistance
All Resistances +25


A nice roll too, resists are perfect and the fire resistance is 2% off the best possible roll too. Maybe I will have to add a fire druid to my very long "to do" list. Takes me to Grail -25.


Random Thoughts
Well, if you have read any of the stats you are probably wondering what is going on with my skill and stat point allocation. OK, I'll come clean, Karina is in a PvM disguise. I am going to re-equip her for levelling (Fortitude, Stormlash, CtA etc) and pay Pindle a few hundred visits. When she gets to about level 90 she we be re-equipped for some action on The Blood Moor. She is a somewhat experimental build, so it will be interesting to see how she gets on. If you want to know more about her, you will just have to get a character together and wait for PvP week :)

With the skill point allocation I was aiming for, I was worried about crowd control when questing. The RibGriller gave me a stash of runewords and I found a 'Rift' War Scepter amongst them. I had always wanted to try a Rift Kicker, but never had the Gul spare, so here was my chance.

I didn't use Death Sentry on purpose, even though I had a point in it. In fact the one time I did try it I corpse exploded an undead flayer right on top of myself and died. That was the last time for that. CoS and the CtC ettects were my crowd control and they worked very well. She was an extremely quick killer throughout NM at /P8, especially as I was using BoS. Hell was OK played through at /P1.

I'm putting points into Dragon Flight as they are of little real use elsewhere for PvP and give me a nice damage and AR bonus. This works really nicely for PvM. With a single point DF often missed PvM, but with more investment it hits almost all the time, particularly if CoS is active. I played with DF on left click and DT / Cos on right. Combat sequence was cast CoS, DF in, DT away in a shower of Frozen Orbs. Rinse & repeat. The nice thing about DF on left click is that you can run with it held down and when you get near a target it will auto DF in on it.

Another fun build. If you put spare points into Death Sentry you have a very nice character. If you have an Infinity from some lucky LK drops, you must give this one a try. You won't regret it.



What Next?
Back to the 'Faith' builds. My melee / revive-mancer, Corum, is most definately up next. A bit of levelling of PvP characters inbetween too. Watch out for a tourney from me in the next week or so too.
 
Originally posted by @maxicek on Sep 22, 2011:

Matriarch Ultima - The Ultimate Assassin

Back in March 2009, someone in the Assassin Forum asked What sin build does most dmg?

maxicek said:
Tiger Strike assassin finishing with Normal Attack using a eBOTD Thunder Maul and Fortitude Armour?

Later in the same year, Liquid, Zylo and Ray_Patean completed their Blood Brothers Project which tried to answer the question which character class deserves the title of “Most Damaging Melee Character?”

The stipulations for this were:
Code:
- Must have 7500+ AR (or Conviction-induced equivalent)
- Must have positive cold, fire, and poison resists
- Must have 75+ lightning resists
- Must not devote more than 28 inventory spaces (7x4) to charms
- Must not carry any poison charms

All this got me thinking...
How close could an Assassin push these three muscle men?



Ultima
Matriarch Ultima - The Ultimate Assassin


Fans of the Final Fantasy series have probably already worked out where the name comes from. Ultima Weapons are the best weapon you can get for each character in the game. There is kind of an echo here to Leeloo in the film The Fifth Element. The assassin herself is the weapon, with all elements optimised to give the maximum damage - which does leave her somewhat fragile in certain areas.


As with all melee characters, it is all about the weapon choice. So lets start with the equipment.

Equipment
Weapon: 1.07 Ethereal 'Death' Decapitator

eBoTD Thunder Maul would have given some pretty LCS numbers, but packing on the deadly strike is the easiest way to get the damage up. With Highlord's & Gores I managed 90% Deadly Strike at level 86. Of course in the 1.07 base the Decapitator packed in a huge amount of damage in itself, but all the mods helped. The mana leech meant I didn't need to find it elsewhere, low requirements, an AR boost, 50% Crushing Blow and ctc Glacial Spike to help the safety. If you don't need the IAS on weapon, this has to be the best weapon in the game.

Switch Weapon: Beta 'Call To Arms'
Switch Shield: Spirit

Gave me a vital life boost as well as a +5 pre-buff for Burst of Speed.

Helm: Kira's
Well unfortunately I needed to pack in some resists somewhere, so I had to drop the options of a +3 MA / 80% ED circlet or Guillaume's face for that 100% Deadly Strike. Kira's packed the resists into one place and freed up the inventory space. A nice rare jewel let me pack in a bit more ED too.

Armour: Fortitude
Belt: Verdungo's
Boots: Gore Rider Myrmidon Greaves

Pretty standard stuff for a melee character. The boots were upped for kicking.

Gloves: Kenshi's of Alacrity
I needed 20IAS here. Laying of Hands may have been a more practical PvM choice, but that would have meant 180% less ED for a fully charged Tiger Strike. Much less impressive on the LCS.

Amulet: Highlord's Wrath
Ring1: Ravenfrost
Ring2: Rare - Death Spiral

I didn't need the Cannot be Frozzen from Ravenfrost as Kira's already covered it, but I wanted some more base AR. The second ring added more AR, life leech and resists.

Inventory
7x Martial Arts Skillers with life, 7x SCs of Vita, both tomes. This covered the must not devote more than 28 inventory spaces (7x4) to charms requirement. The AR was acceptable with just the conviction alone, but I used Enchant charges from Demon Limb for a further boost.

Equipment Readouts:
Code:
Death
Decapitator
HelElVexOrtGul
Two Hand Damage: 373 - 1047
Durability: 21 of 21
Required Level: 55
Required Strength: 144
Required Dexterity: 19
Fingerprint: 0x64c43885
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion
100% Chance to cast level 44 Chain Lightning when you Die
25% Chance to cast level 18 Glacial Spike on attack
Indestructible
411% Enhanced Damage
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+50 to Attack Rating
Adds 1 - 50 Lightning Damage
7% Mana stolen per hit
50% Chance of Crushing Blow
43% Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)
+1 to Light Radius
Level 22 Blood Golem (15/15 Charges)
Requirements -20%
Ethereal
5 Sockets (5 used)
Socketed: Hel Rune
Socketed: El Rune
Socketed: Vex Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Gul Rune

Kira's Guardian
Tiara
Defense: 127
Durability: 23 of 25
Required Level: 77
Fingerprint: 0x9891a11d
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
27% Enhanced Damage
+1 to Minimum Damage
+78 Defense
+9 to Strength
All Resistances +68
Lightning Resist +21%
Cannot Be Frozen
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Wraith Scarab

Wraith Scarab
Jewel
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x61ad1b0
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
27% Enhanced Damage
+1 to Minimum Damage
+9 to Strength
Lightning Resist +21%

Fortitude
Dusk Shroud
ElSolDolLo
Defense: 1377
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 59
Required Strength: 77
Fingerprint: 0x7f9f9547
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
20% Chance to cast level 15 Chilling Armor when struck
+25% Faster Cast Rate
300% Enhanced Damage
+200% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
+86 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Replenish Life +7
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
All Resistances +26
Damage Reduced by 7
12% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+1 to Light Radius
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: El Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune
Socketed: Dol Rune
Socketed: Lo Rune

Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Mithril Coil
Defense: 157
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 106
Fingerprint: 0xae5a9116
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Hit Recovery
+138% Enhanced Defense
+39 to Vitality
Replenish Life +12
+118 Maximum Stamina
Damage Reduced by 13%

Gore Rider
Myrmidon Greaves
Defense: 187
Durability: 16 of 34
Required Level: 72
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0x48b98e1a
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+30% Faster Run/Walk
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike
10% Chance of Open Wounds
+198% Enhanced Defense
+20 Maximum Stamina
Required Level +7
Requirements -25%
+10 Maximum Durability

Kenshi's Gauntlets of Alacrity
Gauntlets
Defense: 14
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 60
Fingerprint: 0x3c632a87
Item Level: 96
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+20% Increased Attack Speed

Highlord's Wrath
Amulet
Required Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0x58d7f811
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+20% Increased Attack Speed
Adds 1 - 30 Lightning Damage
32% Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)
Lightning Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 15

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x37b00278
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+218 to Attack Rating
Adds 15 - 45 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
+20 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
Cold Absorb 20%
Cannot Be Frozen

Death Spiral
Ring
Required Level: 35
Fingerprint: 0x5d610aa3
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+104 to Attack Rating
6% Life stolen per hit
+9 to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +18%
Fire Resist +12%

Demon Limb
Tyrant Club
One Hand Damage: 92 - 167
Durability: 65 of 65
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 133
Fingerprint: 0x5abc48a2
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
188% Enhanced Damage
+123% Damage to Demons
+150% Damage to Undead
Adds 222 - 333 Fire Damage
7% Life stolen per hit
Fire Resist +16%
Repairs 1 Durability in 20 Seconds
Level 23 Enchant (17/20 Charges)

Call to Arms
Superior War Scepter
AmnRalMalIstOhm
One Hand Damage: 37 - 63
Durability: 80 of 80
Required Level: 57
Required Strength: 55
Fingerprint: 0xd24f673
GUID: 0x3ff0f5af 0x14584f 0x0
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion
+2 to All Skills
+40% Increased Attack Speed
271% Enhanced Damage
+150% Damage to Undead
Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
7% Life stolen per hit
Prevent Monster Heal
+3 to Vigor (Paladin Only)
+1 to Holy Shield (Paladin Only)
+1 to Sanctuary (Paladin Only)
+10 to Battle Cry
+12 to Battle Orders
+9 to Battle Command
Replenish Life +12
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Increase Maximum Durability 15%
5 Sockets (5 used)
Socketed: Amn Rune
Socketed: Ral Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune
Socketed: Ohm Rune

Spirit
Monarch
TalThulOrtAmn
Defense: 133
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0x6041a4e4
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+26% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+96 to Mana
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+3 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune

Charm Readouts
Code:
Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x28600945
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+24 to Life

Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xbdd284e3
Item Level: 81
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+29 to Life

Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xe4b1c3da
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+25 to Life

Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Vita
Grand Charm
Required Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x2a2b62e4
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+43 to Life

Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Vita
Grand Charm
Required Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0xbce77dc2
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+45 to Life

Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Life
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x7b44e18
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+14 to Life

Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Vita
Grand Charm
Required Level: 69
Fingerprint: 0x75b7c015
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+38 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x5e320b11
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x7281c5c0
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x407df56d
Item Level: 66
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x44eefca3
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xaf1f959a
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life

Lizard's Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x582c108f
Item Level: 81
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life
+3 to Mana

Azure Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x7d66782a
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life
Cold Resist +3%


Skills

Burst of Speed: 17

23 with pre-buff from Beta CtA and Spirit. With and additional 40IAS, that gave me the maximum 10FPA attack with the Decapitator. And of course an extremely quick movement speed.

Cloak of Shadows: 5/7
I put a few extra points here for the duration, due to my low level of +Shadow skills. Getting the balance here can be tricky - too many points and you end up waiting for the timer to run down after you havewiped on one pack and before you engage the next. Too few and you run the (possibly lethal) risk of it running out mid battle. I think the seven points worked well for me given my damage output.

Mind Blast: 1/3
I put the point here for one reason. Lister and The Minions of Destruction. CoS is not effective agianst these guys, but they get stunned beautifuly by MB, turning them into pussy cats.

Tiger Strike: 20/32

Phoenix Strike: 20/32

I decided to use Phoenix Strike as a backup attack instead of going for the Fishysin route and using Death Sentry as I didn't want the traps to be dominant. I was originally planning on using the second Lightning charge, but it can be difficult to trigger it reliably. The Meteor charge could be dropped at 20 frame intervals and I quite liked the idea of my enemies having to walk in the fire to hit me under conviction.

Dragon Talon: 6/18
A few points in Dragon Talon gave me a 7/3/3/3 fame kick sequence with 65% Crushing Blow. It was useful for boss fights before a few Tiger Strikes took out the remaining life. I also had to use it for a PI FI Hephasto.

Dragon Flight: 1/13
One point in DF was absolutely essential. With such a high level of BoS, it was easy to out distance the mercenary and his all important conviction. DF collected him.

Synergies and Pre-Requisites
Claw Mastery: 1/3
Psychic Hammer: 1/3

Fists of Fire: 20/32
Dragon Claw: 1/13
Cobra Strike: 1/13
Claws of Thunder: 1/13
Dragon Tail: 1/13
Blades of Ice: 1/13


Stats
Name: Ultima
Class: Assassin
Experience: 1160220911
Level: 86

Naked/Gear
Strength: 460/469
Dexterity: 20/49
Vitality: 20/59
Energy: 25/25
Life: 1384
Mana: 363
Stamina: 679
Defense: 2211

Fire: 36
Cold: 27
Lightning: 80
Poison: 24

FR/W: 30
FHR: 30
IAS: 40
FCR: 25



Mercenary Equipment
Mercenary Type: A2 NM Offensive
Helm: Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Armour: 'Treachery' Ethereal Kraken Shell
Weapon: 'Infinity' Ethereal Thresher

Code:
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 114
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 66
Required Strength: 55
Fingerprint: 0x57f84a09
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
10% Mana stolen per hit
10% Life stolen per hit
+45 Defense
+60 to Life
+30 to Mana
All Resistances +15
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune

Treachery
Kraken Shell
ShaelThulLem
Defense: 942
Durability: 25 of 25
Required Level: 61
Required Strength: 164
Fingerprint: 0x889077aa
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Chance to cast level 15 Fade when struck
25% Chance to cast level 15 Venom on striking
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
+45% Increased Attack Speed
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
Cold Resist +30%
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
Ethereal
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Lem Rune

Infinity
Thresher
BerMalBerIst
Two Hand Damage: 71 - 833
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 142
Required Dexterity: 108
Fingerprint: 0x2c532938
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
50% Chance to cast level 20 Chain Lightning when you Kill an Enemy
Level 12 Conviction Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster Run/Walk
295% Enhanced Damage
-53% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
Prevent Monster Heal
+43 to Vitality (Based on Character Level)
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Level 21 Cyclone Armor (30/30 Charges)
Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Mal Rune
Socketed: Ber Rune
Socketed: Ist Rune

Finds
Hellforge: Ko NM,Ko Hell. Symmetrical at least.
Despite the complete lack of MF, I did actually have some reasonable finds with this character. I found a few reasonable Exceptional and Elite Uniques. The standout finds were an Andariel's Visage, a Gul rune from The Stony Field, a Serpents SC of Inertia, a Mentalist's skiller and some reasonable rare boots. I also had a drop from Duriel that made a change from Scrolls of Town Portal.

Readouts
Code:
Ghoul Tread
Light Plated Boots
Defense: 21
Durability: 17 of 18
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0x322ab1e9
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+30% Faster Run/Walk
+77% Enhanced Defense
+3 to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +31%
Fire Resist +31%
63% Extra Gold from Monsters

Mentalist's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x5b527887
Item Level: 84
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)

Serpent's Small Charm of Inertia
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0xbd0d7379
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3% Faster Run/Walk
+16 to Mana

Gul Rune
Required Level: 53
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 20% Bonus to Attack Rating
Armor: +5% to Maximum Poison Resist
Shields: +5% to Maximum Poison Resist


The Damage
OK, enough of the warm up, if you are still reading by this point you will want to know what the damage numbers were. My calculations and the LCS differ a bit.

LCS Damage (and Hell Baal):
Tiger Strike: 3740 to 12K, 3402AR
Normal Attack: 11K to 34K with fully charged TS. 2913AR

Phoenix Strike: 2484-2784 Meteor, 2416 - 2571 residual fire damage per second.
Dragon Talon: 1375-2342 according to the LCS, 1201 - 1615 according to the Amazon Basin calculator with 65% Crushing Blow at 7/3/3/3 FPA.

By my calculations based on chance to hit, 7500AR is equivalent to 1280AR with lvl12 Conviction. So my worst case normal attack AR of 2913 easily met that requirement.


Calculated Damage

My assumptions at character level 86:
Weapon damage 336 to 1047
327% off weapon ED (Fortitude and Jewel in Kira's)
Strength 469
Level 32 Tiger Strike, fully charged giving 2160% ED
90% Deadly Strike at level 86

Tiger Strike: 4019 to 12522
Normal Attack: 11276 to 35137

Per four hit sequence (40 Frames) that is 23332 to 72704, average 59684.

But that is before we add in the 90% Deadly Strike:
Per four hit sequence (40 Frames) with DS: 44389 to 138319, average 113548.
Per Frame with DS: 1110 to 3458, average 2839.

Per second with DS: 287743 to 86449, average 70968.

I'll save you checking, unsurprisingly the damage numbers per second are not as high as the Blood Brothers. The trouble is that she just can't hit fast enough. D2 melee is really a speed game, and no matter how much DS and ED you pile on, you can't compete with a 10FPA attack agains a 4 FPA attack. But I will take consolation with whipping all three's backsides in terms of single attack damage.


Playability
All that damage is very impressive, but it is like attaching a V8 engine to a skateboard if you can't harness it. I went full Titan, but it didn't make a major difference to the damage numbers. But then with about 1400 life after BO, she wasn't really that much of a glass cannon either. The whole game was played at /players3, except The Ancients. I did try going higher, but she struggled if I got surrounded. Most things died with one whack in the early acts, later acts took about two. All in all, I think she was a pretty well rounded character, with all the right attributes that make a good PvM build.

Crowd Control? Cloak of Shadows and Mind Blast.
Raw damage? Average 38K per second.
Crushing blow? 65% at 7/3/3/3 FPA.
PI Solution? Fire damage + Infinity.
Mobility? High FRW from BoS and boots, Dragon Flight.


So is she The Ultimate Assassin?
A well equipped lightning trapper can do about 1 to 12K damage with 5 traps firing at 31FPA each. That is about 24.2K damage per second average. So Ultima comfortably beats that. But then lightning pierces and therefore damages more targets. It also benefits more from conviction. So in terms of damage numbers, yes she is the ultimate assassin, but in practically terms she will be out damaged by a trapper. Surely she is the Ultimate Martial Artist.



Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone that I traded with for the gear (almost exactly a year ago now).






Update:

Gear Change - Skull Breaker
Now as many people are aware, OMG has a rather tasty rare by the name of Skull Breaker. In fact it is the rare maul mentioned in the thread from the Assassin forum where this all started. It looks like this:

Skull Breaker
Thunder Maul
Two-Hand Damage: 264 to 1478
Durability: 31 of 31
Required Strength: 243
Required Level: 65
Mace Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xc3dcea3a
+440% Enhanced Damage
+184 to Attack Rating
+20 to Maximum Damage
70% Increased Attack Speed
150% Damage to Undead
Repairs 1 durability in 33 seconds
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (2: 2 used)


How does it compare to Death?

According to the LCS:
Tiger Strike 3084 - 17K
Normal Attack 8808 - 49K


Now that is nice top end damage, an improvement of 15K to the max damage and 6.5K to the average strike damage. But I know, I can already hear you saying that I have missed out on a load of Deadly Strike. We are going to need to look at the calculations, once more my base numbers differ slightly from the LCS.

My assumptions at character level 86:
Weapon damage 264 to 1478
327% off weapon ED (Fortitude and Jewel in Kira's)
Strength 469
Level 32 Tiger Strike, fully charged giving 2160% ED
47% Deadly Strike at level 86

Tiger Strike: 3281 to 18370
Normal Attack: 9142 to 51182

Per four hit sequence (40 Frames) that is 18986 to 106292, average 72132.

But that is before we add in the 47% Deadly Strike:
Per four hit sequence (40 Frames) with DS: 27957 to 156515, average 106214.
Per Frame with DS: 699 to 3913, average 2655.

Per second with DS: 17473 to 97822, average 66384.


I actually thought that Skull Breaker would give a bit higher damage even despite the lack of DS, but whilst I was making this edit I found an error in my average damage calcs with DS (now corrected for Death too). So in the end Death was the better choice by about 5K average damage per second. Thanks obviously go to OMG for the loan.

I did enjoy one hit killing Shenk at /P3 with Skull Breaker though.


All out Damage
I was going to do an all out damage version as per the thread in the Assassin forum, but I don't think there is any point equipping a character with almost no resists and the insufficient AR to hit anything. One of the tings I like about this build is that she is, despite the focus on damage, extremely playable.
 
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Originally posted by Megalomania on Jun 22, 2009:

Matriarch - Maria_Anna (Pure Martal_Arts Sin)

INTRODUCTION

Hi all,
I'm trying out to make the writeup as I go. I takes so long time when I make them afterwards.

Thank you for stoping by and feel free to share some thoughts about this!

BACKGROUND
Origin

This is one of the builds I have really longed to try out

Outcome
Lets try it out!

Solution
And when we are at it we go in Pure MA


SUMMARY
Normal

I played all of normal on /players 8 and it's was kind of a bumpy ride without burst of speed early on, I kicked my way through level 24 and started building up blades of Ice. I used The Rare Claw Rune Scratch which have kind of nice elemental damage and AR. Attack speed was still a pain so I was more than happy when This droped in LK (with my LK Girl not this char) which I was pretty fast in sticking 3 x Shael in. After level 30 I built up Phoenix Strike and Blades of Ice parallely, which gave pretty nasty cold damage. I played trough normal mercless and act bosses pretty much got a couple of Meteors in their head and good game.

Taking on Normal Baal gear
Wormskull
Angelic Amy
Angelic Plate
2 x Manald Heal
3 x Shael Blade Talon
Sigon Glooves
Gigon Belt
Sander Boots

Nightmare
I Put on my Treachery at level 49. By some reason I couldn't help my self from doing it in an Superior Dusk Shroud... repairs cost ouch! After that attackspeed was not any problem. At level ~65 I got myself an ACT2 Holy Freeze Merc with Infinity, Fortitude and a vampgaze. I put my Call to Arms on Switch and surfed my way through out Nightmare until I hit River of flame. That crazy old Smith demon exploded like mini A-Bomb and she suffered her first death. Laterin the the Chaos Sanctuary I was sniped by some Oblivion Knight (Not Iron Maden, some 7.62 Long Russian Sniper Bullet). I cleared the the sanctuary with the 3 x Shael Blade Talon so Iron Maiden was not a problem... for me, my mercy-moron died some times of it. Then it was some serious kindergarden before Bartuc in wave 3 exploded and killed me instantly, Baal however went down fast

Clearing NM Baal Gear
Bartuc's Cut-Throat (Shael)
Treachery
Sazabi's Mental Sheath
Rare Amy (+29% Lightning res. +30% Poison res. +1 Sin Skills)
Sigons Guard (PDiamond)
Kenshi's Leather Glooves (+3 Martial Arts)
Rare Ring (double Leech)
Raven Frost
Nosferatu's Coil
Sander Boots

Hell
Here we go! In never had such a warmachine before, I ended up with impresive +23 to The Martial Arts Tree. The Chain Lightning does 3 - 10k and the snakes of lightning cuts through just about everything. Her defence was 666 without any manipilation trough out most of Hell. I noticed Phoenix Strikes attackspeed increasing with every level (or maybe it's all the energy drink and hardstyle). Altough my life was 2k she doesn't survive lots of hits, but she doesn't have to. Merc starts to tank, you run up on the flank and release some charge suited for the situation. In the CS I changed to 3 x Shael Blade Talon and a 3 x Shael Quab which made Iron Maiden not a problem, except for my moron friend how took the plunge like 10 times in there. When Activating last Seal Infector of Souls and his fast crew swarmed me and I suffered the only death in this Difficulty. ACT5 was pretty much a breeze except does glooms, they where in Frozen River and in the WSK. Since Infinity breaks their Immunity I used Lightning on them, so it was kind of a Lightning war!. The ancients down in first try using 3 Health potions and max 2 full Rejuvination potions, some Glooms in WSK and dolls in Throne made things a little more tricky. Minion waves pretty much a joke, however wave 4 (Pit Lords) wasted my moron by swarming him. Baal died fast, kind of my morons doing, Baal droped me a Cathans Seal! so I have a level 99 one now!

Becoming Matriarch Gear
Bartuc's Cut-Throat (Shael)
Bartuc's Cut-Throat (Shael)
+3 Martial Arts Circlet (Ort + Ral) (+30% Fire res., +30% Lightning res.)
Mara's Kaleidoscope
Kenshi's Leather Glooves (+3 Martial Arts)
Treachery (in Sperior Dusk Shroud, repairs cost ouch!)
Stone of Jordan
Raven Frost
Archanid Mesh
Sander Boots


Switch : CtA

4 x GC: +1 to Martial Arts Skillers
4 x GC : Shimmering (total of 59% all res.)
6 x SC : Vita (total of +120 to life)

CHARACTER

Rules

Hard points in Martial Arts Three Only

Name Choice
Maria_Anna (Initials is MA) Seems a little boring for char name, But I'm kind of old fashion and these two names are my favorite girl names.

Core Info
Name : Maria_Anna
Class : Assassin
Build : Pure MA
Level : 82
Location : Matriach

Skills (naked / Gear + CtA)
11 / 34 Dragon Talon
01 / 24 Tiger Strike
01 / 24 Cobra Strike
20 / 43 First of Fire
20 / 43 Claws of Thunder
20 / 43 Blades of Ice
20 / 43 Phoenix Strike

Stats (naked/gear)
Str : 66 / 119
Dex : 47 / 126
Vit : 367 / 372
Eny : 25 / 30
Remaining : 0

Misc
Defence : 721 (Through out most of hell difficulty it was)
Life : 1448 / 2207
Mana : 277 / 386
Weapon1 : Shaeled Bartuc's
Weapon2 : Shaeled Bartuc's
Leech (21% Life ; 0% Mana)
Increased Attack Speed : +75% :)
Hell Resists : 41 / 41 / 41 / 11 (75/75/75/71 after fade)
Phoenix Strike Damage :
Meteor : 4 k - 4.4k (Xplotion damage 4.1k - 4.3k)
Chain Lightning : 3 - 10k :)
Chaos Ice Bolt : 2.1k - 2.2k

Gear
See gear section.

Merc
ACT2 Holy Freeze
Infinity
Fortitude
Vampire Gaze

Deaths
Nightmare : Hephasto Exploded in my Face.
Nightmare : Some OK sniped me :(
Nightmare : Bartuc got mad that I have his weapon and Blew up!
Hell : Got swarmed by infector of Souls and his crew (Should have TPed out when Moron feel asleep)

Finds
Normal : -
Nightmare : Skin of the Flayed One
Hell : Timat's Reburke, Windhammer

Hellforge
Normal : Ith
Nightmare : Pul :)
Hell : Io :(

/Players
Normal : /p8
Nightmare : /p8
Hell : /p 1

Quests
Normal : All done
Nightmare : -
Hell : -

Way Points
Normal : All found
Nightmare : All except Hall of the Dead
Hell : -

COMMENTS
Normal : How I miss Burst of speed :(
Normal : How I STILL miss Burst of speed :(
Normal : Feel the wrath of the Ice Queen
Normal : Ancients went down much easier then expected!
Nightmare : Questing in Arcane´s when it suddenly just happend....666 :jig:
Nightmare : This one thinks he is and Assassin Killer
Nightmare : In ACT3 another Lame "Assassin Killer" Appeared before Maria_Anna

MERC GEAR
ACT2 Holy Freeze
Infinity
Fortitude
Vampire Gaze


GEAR (Normal)

Level 1
Mask (3x envy), Ancient Armor(-60% Req.), Crystal Sword(6 x envy), Kite Shield (3 x Envy)
Level 3
Mask (3x envy), Ancient Armor(-60% Req.), Crystal Sword(6 x envy), Kite Shield (3 x Envy), Hsarus Boots
Level 6
Mask (3x envy), Ancient Armor(-60% Req.), Crystal Sword(6 x envy), Kite Shield (3 x Envy), Hsarus Boots, Death's Hand, Death Sash
Level 9
Mask (3x envy), Ancient Armor(-60% Req.), Crystal Sword(6 x envy), Kite Shield (3 x Envy), Gore Foot, Death Hand, Death Sash
Level 12
Mask (3x envy), Angelic Armor, Crystal Sword(6 x envy), Kite Shield (3 x Envy), Hsarus Boots, Death's Hand, Death Sash, 2 x Angelic Ring, Angelic Amy
Level 15
Mask (3x envy), Angelic Armor, Crystal Sword(6 x Ith), Kite Shield (3 x Envy), Vidala Boots, Death's Hand, Death's Sash, 2 x Angelic Ring, Angelic Amy
Level 20
Mask(33% dmg goes 2mana) Angelic Amy, Breast Plate (27% dmg goes 2mana), 2 x Angelic Ring, Crystal Sword (6 x Ith), Death's Hand, Death Sash & Vidalas Boots
Level 21
Mask(33% dmg goes 2mana) Angelic Amy, Breast Plate (27% dmg goes 2mana), 2 x Angelic Ring, Crystal Sword (6 x Ith), Death's Hand, Death Sash & Vidalas Boots+ Steel Clash
Reaching LK gear 💓
Wormskull Angelic Amy, Angelic Plate, 2 x Manald Heal, Rare Talon, Death's Hand, Death Sash & Sander Boots
Taking on Baal gear
Wormskull Angelic Amy, Angelic Plate, 2 x Manald Heal, 3 x Shael Blade Talon, Sigon Glooves, Gigon Belt & Sander Boots

GEAR (Nightmare)

Reaching NM LK gear 💓
Bartuc's Cut-Throat (Shael)
Treachery
Sazabi's Mental Sheath
Rare Amy (+29% Lightning res. +30% Poison res. +1 Sin Skills)
Sigons Guard (PDiamond)
Kenshi's Leather Glooves (+3 Martial Arts)
Rare Ring (double Leech)
Raven Frost
Nosferatu's Coil
Sander Boots

GEAR (Hell)

Starting Hell Gear
Bartuc's Cut-Throat (Shael)
Bartuc's Cut-Throat (Shael)
Rare Tiara (+16% all res., +92 AR, 7% life and mana leech)
Mara's Kaleidoscope
Kenshi's Leather Glooves (+3 Martial Arts)
Stone of Jordan
Treachery (in Sperior Dusk Shroud, repairs cost ouch!)
Raven Frost
Nosferatus Coil
Sander Boots



4 x GC: +1 to Martial Arts Skillers
4 x GC : Shimmering (total of 59% all res.)
6 x SC : Vita (total of +120 to life)

Becoming Matriarch Gear
Bartuc's Cut-Throat (Shael)
Bartuc's Cut-Throat (Shael)
+3 Martial Arts Circlet (Ort + Ral) (+30% Fire res., +30% Lightning res.)
Mara's Kaleidoscope
Kenshi's Leather Glooves (+3 Martial Arts)
Stone of Jordan
Raven Frost
Treachery (in Sperior Dusk Shroud, repairs cost ouch!)
Archanid Mesh
Sander Boots


4 x GC: +1 to Martial Arts Skillers
4 x GC : Shimmering (total of 59% all res.)
6 x SC : Vita (total of +120 to life)

Thank you for stoping by and feel free to share some thoughts about this!
 
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Originally posted by moo-cow on Sep 9, 2008:

Matriarch Joscelin, DClaw assassin

Matriarch Joscelin

This is my first assassin in the past 5+ years, the last one was a trapper and this one actually attacked using her claws so you could say that the previous one was really a caster of sorts and this is my real first assassin. I want to warn you that this will be a long post, partly because of the theme-character background and partly because I didn't really see this in the mat/pat thread and as long as I'm linking it there it should have lots and lots of information. It always seemed to me you should be able to read a thread there and it should give you an idea about playing the char and not just a template. Anyway, back on topic.

I started this char as a theme char based on the books by Jaqueline Carey (and the titles of which are now escaping me). I had planned on including a quote from the second of the books in the series but of course I gave the books back to my dad to return to the library in the states when he was last here in july. The character in the book Joscelin was based on was also named Joscelin, he was of the Cassilian (sp?) Brotherhood, trained from the age of 10 for 10-15 years to be experts in close quarter defense of their charge with a pair of daggers. They also carried a 2h sword which would only be drawn in effect in case of emergency and solely for the purpose of a fight to the death (normally of the other guy or guys). Some of the times when a glimpse of their martial prowess is given is when Joscelin defends himself and his charge against 6 men on horseback after a week on the run through a blizzard and another being his sparring with the general of the army, him with his two daggers and the general in full battle gear with a sword.

The third was the quote I was going to give that I'll try to paraphrase. Scene is the queen about to be assassinated by one of his brother Cassilian Brotherhood guards in a foreign capital in a temple, orchestrated by the mother of the third-in-line for the throne.
It was an impossible throw, truely one in a million, I am sure that had Blessed Elua not been watching that day's events he never could have made in years of trying. <target> had to interrupt the terminus (some special move they had to slit their own throat and kill their charge to prevent capture, or in this case to assassinate) to block the throw with one of his vambraces, forcing him to look up and see who threw the dagger. At that moment the other three guards noticed that <target> was about to assassinate Yevonne(queen) and he slew the first one with the surprise still on his face. The second turned too slowly and died soon after. By this time Joscelin had jumped down the thirty feet from his spot on the upper ledge and had drawn his sword, running to confront <target> and defend the queen. As he reached him Yevonne's third protector fell to the traitor Cassilian and Joscelin was on <target>.
It was a fight to remember. Truly, very few outside of that hall had ever seen two Cassilians sparring outside of training in their monastery and none had ever seen two Cassilians with swords drawn fighting each other in hundreds of years. All the rest of the fighting in the temple stopped as they turned to watch the two fight. <target> had age and experience on his side, he was in his late 30's and had been preparing for this every morning for years. Joscelin was younger and newer but he had real experience on his side; he had drawn his sword and killed with it already. The two battled in the middle of the temple, point and counterpoint almost too fast to see, all but a blur for those who haven't seen their work before, moving from attack to defense with lightning fast reflexes, moves practiced for years.
Slowly Joscelin was gaining the upper hand, <target> was having to step back more and more often in order to parry the attacks.

and it continues on for a bit longer but I don't remember the rest as well. I kept on using <target>, I really forget the guy's name. As a theme character I had planned on using an act1 merc and actively keeping her alive through the game, which worked until act3nm when I put the char down for a while to play some others. Then with sirpoop's excessively powerful barb finished and his saying he'd try him out for the melee speed baal runs I reread some of that thread and realized no one had done an assassin and here I had one that played very similarly to a frenzy barb. I loaded the assassin up and charged through to act3 hell in one day and then between sunday and monday finished up the rest of hell.

The char was a lot of fun to play. I didn't lose the speed running boost like I often do with frenzy and the weapons had much more than the 26 durability that berserker axes do so that was a treat not having to repair them every 5 minutes. The killing speed slowed down in act2 hell noticeably, especially with PIs. When I got to act3 I sunk more points into SM to hit 17 with skills, got 1 in death sentry and got and maxxed venom for the extra damage boost. That turned out to be fine until act5hell when PIs became a real problem and in order to finish earlier rather than later I rerolled 2 maps with PI ghosts (and kept the rerolls with the gloam spawns). Frenzytaurs in act5 gave me a hard time since although I had a 47% weapon block I still had low defense and they hit hard. They were also normally surrounded by those guys who shoot lightning balls and skeleton cold mages who i couldn't leech off of and together they whittled me down while the frenzytaurs took large dents.

I made liberal use of mind blast and of cloak of shadows when I wanted extra defense, and once i got death sentry i used it mostly to kill off spawned monsters like those ones from the bugs in act4.

Name: Joscelin
Class: Assassin
Experience: 726603347
Level: 80

resists: 75/26/72/75

Naked/Gear
Strength: 90/114
Dexterity: 85/126
Vitality: 295/295
Energy: 25/25
HP: ?/1193
Mana: ?/183
Defense: 21/1695 (with fort's bonus, ~3.3k)
AR: 11182/10969 (2 claws)

Fire: 203/163/103
Cold: 126/86/26
Lightning: 172/132/72
Poison: 181/141/81

LCS - Dragon Claw
w/o venom: 797-1836/966-1721
w/ vemom: 1408-2467/1577-2352
switch: 720-1606/831-1405

Gear:
main claws: 192ED bartucs/Jade talon
switch claws: lightning/fire claws
head: rare circlet, +2 shadow, 18 res all, 45 fire (should be andy's visage)
ammy; highlords
armor: fortitude wyrmhide
gloves: LOH
belt: string of ears/Tgods
boots: gore riders
rings: raven/carrion ring

skills:
dragon claw- 20(25)
claw mastery- 20(27)
BoS- 1(8)
venom- 20(27)
shadow master- 10(17)
1 in mind blast, death sentry, blade fury, prereqs

3 unused

gear readout:
Code:
Bartuc's Cut-Throat
Greater Talons
One Hand Damage: 86 - 152
Durability: 69 of 69
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 79
Required Dexterity: 79
Fingerprint: 0xb3517c66
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+20 to Strength
+20 to Dexterity
192% Enhanced Damage
+25 to Minimum Damage
+50 to Maximum Damage
5% Life stolen per hit
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
30% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
20% Increased Attack Speed
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune

Jade Talon
Wrist Sword
One Hand Damage: 105 - 139
Durability: 56 of 56
Required Level: 66
Required Strength: 105
Required Dexterity: 105
Fingerprint: 0x650f8290
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
210% Enhanced Damage
12% Mana stolen per hit
30% Faster Hit Recovery
+2 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
All Resistances +48

Wraith Visage
Circlet
Defense: 24
Durability: 35 of 35
Required Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0x9692b8f9
Item Level: 58
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
Fire Resist +27%
20% Faster Run/Walk
Poison Length Reduced by 50%
+2 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)
Level 3 Charged Bolt (27/27 Charges)
All Resistances +18

Highlord's Wrath
Amulet
Required Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0x28640101
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
Lightning Resist +35%
+1 - 30 Lightning Damage
20% Increased Attack Speed
+1 to All Skills
+15 Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of
3% Deadly Strike

Fortitude
Wyrmhide
Defense: 1302
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 59
Required Strength: 84
Fingerprint: 0xab64c33f
Item Level: 79
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
All Resistances +30
200% Enhanced Defense
300% Enhanced Damage
25% Faster Cast Rate
+12 Damage Taken Goes To Mana
20% Chance to cast level 15 Chilling Armor when struck
100 to Life (Based on Char Lvl)
+1 to Light Radius
+15 Defense
Damage Reduced by 7
Replenish Life 7
5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: El Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune
Socketed: Dol Rune
Socketed: Lo Rune

Carrion Wind
Ring
Required Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0xce220329
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+121 Defense vs. Missile
Poison Resist +55%
8% Life stolen per hit
+10 Damage Taken Goes To Mana
8% Chance to cast level 13 Twister on striking
10% Chance to cast level 10 Poison Nova when struck
Level 21 Poison Creeper (15/15 Charges)

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x9683c41a
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+17 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+166 to Attack Rating
+15 - 45 cold damage with 4 sec Duration
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

Gore Rider
War Boots
Defense: 150
Durability: 34 of 34
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 94
Fingerprint: 0x3f92db51
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+20 Maximum Stamina
179% Enhanced Defense
+10 Maximum Durability
Requirements -25%
30% Faster Run/Walk
10% Chance of Open Wounds
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike

Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 85
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0xa3ebdce3
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+25 Defense
Fire Resist +50%
20% Increased Attack Speed
350% Damage to Demons
10% Chance to cast level 3 Holy Bolt on striking

Arcing Scissors Katar of Thunder
Scissors Katar
One Hand Damage: 9 - 17
Durability: 68 of 68
Required Level: 50
Required Strength: 55
Required Dexterity: 55
Fingerprint: 0x3ebec9fc
Item Level: 78
Version: Expansion
Properties: 
+2 - 378 Lightning Damage

Flaming Scissors Katar
Scissors Katar
One Hand Damage: 9 - 17
Durability: 68 of 68
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 55
Required Dexterity: 55
Fingerprint: 0x2f0ebc9d
Item Level: 78
Version: Expansion
Properties: 
+113 - 177 Fire Damage

String of Ears
Demonhide Sash
Defense: 103
Durability: 22 of 22
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0xa48dfc6f
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
153% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 11
Damage Reduced by 15%
8% Life stolen per hit
+10 Maximum Durability

Thundergod's Vigor
War Belt
Defense: 146
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 110
Fingerprint: 0xd18a383a
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Properties: 
+20 to Strength
+20 to Vitality
177% Enhanced Defense
10% to Maximum Lightning Resist
+1 - 50 Lightning Damage
+3 to Lightning Strike (Amazon Only)
+3 to Lightning Fury (Amazon Only)
+20 Lightning Absorb
5% Chance to cast level 7 Fist of the Heavens when struck
I used a mixture of fine and sharp charms after I saw how much the AR and damage was boosted by them.

I am unsure what I want to do with this char for the future. I did a few NM baal runs to hit 76 and I was surprised how easily I was able to do it with running past the monsters. Reading the melee baal thread I'd like to see if this character or a similar one is viable but I'll need to get a bunch of levels still to even see if I have a chance. Even so, I don't really have a good PI solution. I can take down PI bosses, but PI ghost packs really slow me down a lot. Also, my OK battle plan was effectively spam mind blast, hope I don't get hit with IM and either run around and try to take out the OK or take down some of the outside of the pack and weaken them with death sentry's corpse explosions until they're thin enough that I can sneak around and take out the OK.

I still have 2 socket quests. One could go in my offhand claw, probably with an Eth if I do end up running Baal, but I forgot to check my CTH against him so I don't know how much its needed. Otherwise I'd look at a straight damage jewel or an Amn to help with leech, which could be better.

Going with the theme build I had planned on making a passion in a 2h elite sword with low reqs but I never got around to it and forgot. It might have been useful for the zeal against bosses which I had planned for it and also for the zerk against PIs, but since a bunch of them were ghosts I probably would've been stuck drinking a mana pot per ghost anyway.

I currently have 3 unused points but I think they'll need to go into BoS. According to the IAS tables in the assassin forum, with an Andariel's visage and an ias jewel for 95ias I'll need like a level 21 BoS to hit max frames and i'm currently at 60 ias and level 8 BoS. Another option if it seems viable is to not max claw mastery. Dragon claw at level 25 gives +640% AR (and 170% damage, i think 25%AR and 5% damage thereafter) and claw mastery at 27 gives +290% AR (and 139%ED, i think 10%AR and 1.5% damage after) so after the first point its really not worth it. What effects get passed onto boots? Dragon talon with say glimmershred/tiamats or blocking shield might be an interesting low mana choice, and i can always throw them or use blade fury against OKs.

I did have one interesting bug that I noticed while playing. I had to kill the ancients 3 times. The first two times I killed the leaper and then the whirler, and when the whirler died he froze the game and it crashed itself. The third time I killed him last and in windowed mode and it went smoothly but still cost me ~150k gold and 5 full juvies it shouldn't have.

note to self: see how long the post is and then see about using the spoiler tag for the theme part to make it seem shorter. Also reread to make sure it flows at least somewhat.
 
Originally posted by muzzz on Jul 30, 2006:

Matriarch Chester

I finally got around to it: matriarching my favourite character :jig:
The name's Chester. Matriarch Chester.

As this little picture shows, she was a Tiger Strike/Dragon Tail assasin. Way back, before I even knew the SPF existed, her younger cousin Bruce-Lin was the first character I ever finished normal with. I've loved the build ever since I unleashed my first Dragon Tail. If there's any character I'd call graceful, she's it. Chester has awesome crowd control, high damage, the ability to deal with absolutely anything, and less life and defense than a Fallen in Hell 😁

Immunties were, surprisingly, hardly a problem. Fire Immunes? Only a slight nuisance, because they took far longer to kill. Physical Immunes? Even easier. The first ones I encountered were in the Forgotten Tower. They were dead already when I saw them, around the corner after a short fight in a doorway 😁. Shortly after that my merc got his Reaper's Toll and, well, do I need to say more?

What also surprised me was how easily she took down the ancients in hell. Madawc spawned cold enchanted and mana burning. Talic and Korlic both spawned teleporting. One combined it with magic resistant while the other was stone skin. It took a grand total of one (1) try, during which she consumed one (1) healing potion and two (2) mana potions.

Aside from those "sure, have my merc for breakfast, will you" oblivion knights, large groups of spread out ranged attackers were her biggest issue. If Cloak of Shadows didn't manage to get enough of them she needed all the hit-and-run prowess I could muster.

Last but not least, my Shadow Master was one big nuisance. Even though she's quite a lovely little tank at times, her spamming of Mind Blast is just plain awful. She'd convert monsters a just a split second before I was able to kick them. Imagine charging Tiger Strike on a Doom Knight, and then diving through a pack of them to take out their cursing buddy, only to have it turn untargetable right before your eyes. The only time I found the conversion effect useful was when converted Stygian Furies started casting Amplify Damage on their former allies. Still, I think the next patch should include a "Mind Blast off" option for Shadow Master's :rolleyes:

EDIT: I forgot to mention her two notable finds: An Ist from HF, and Messerschmidt's Reaver from the WSK.

Obligatory equipment blocks:

Code:
20: Chromatic Coronet
Defense: 33
Durability: 26 of 30
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0xeae1dd34
All Resistances +27

21: The Cat's Eye
Amulet
Required Level: 50
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xc44eb698
+25 to Dexterity
+100 Defense
+100 Defense vs. Missile
20% Increased Attack Speed
30% Faster Run/Walk

22: Treachery
Diamond Mail
'ShaelThulLem'
Defense: 391
Durability: 23 of 26
Required Strength: 131
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0xae5961a5
Cold Resist +30%
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
45% Increased Attack Speed
20% Faster Hit Recovery
25% Chance to cast Level 15 Venom on striking
5% Chance to cast Level 15 Fade when struck
Socketed (3: 3 used)

23: Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x8ff2af02
+20 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+206 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

24: Scintillating Ring of Dexterity
Required Level: 59
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x97d6e5bc
+2 to Dexterity
All Resistances +13

25: Eagle Strap
Plated Belt
Defense: 11
Durability: 23 of 24
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0x3a8f767b
+4 to Life
Fire Resist +27%
Lightning Resist +10%
Replenish Life +3
10% Chance to cast Level 3 Charged Bolt when struck

26: Sandstorm Trek
Scarabshell Boots
Defense: 163
Durability: 14 of 14
Kick Damage: 60 to 110
Required Strength: 91
Required Level: 64
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x51e5a9b6
+14 to Strength
+15 to Vitality
+147% Enhanced Defense
Poison Resist +65%
20% Faster Run/Walk
20% Faster Hit Recovery
50% Slower Stamina Drain
+81 to Maximum Stamina (Based on Character Level)
Repairs 1 durability in 20 seconds

27: Sensei's Light Gauntlets of Chance
Defense: 9
Durability: 16 of 18
Required Strength: 45
Required Level: 30
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x45a85e25
13% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

38: Bartuc's Cut-Throat
Greater Talons
One-Hand Damage: 84 to 149
Durability: 13 of 69
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 79
Required Strength: 79
Required Level: 42
Claw Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x6c388417
+20 to Strength
+20 to Dexterity
+184% Enhanced Damage
+25 to Minimum Damage
+50 to Maximum Damage
9% Life stolen per hit
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
30% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

39: Bartuc's Cut-Throat
Greater Talons
One-Hand Damage: 80 to 142
Durability: 69 of 69
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 79
Required Strength: 79
Required Level: 42
Claw Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 61
Fingerprint: 0x5e39cdc1
+20 to Strength
+20 to Dexterity
+163% Enhanced Damage
+25 to Minimum Damage
+50 to Maximum Damage
8% Life stolen per hit
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
30% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Mercenary Items : 

1: Shaftstop
Mesh Armor
Defense: 682
Durability: 43 of 45
Required Strength: 92
Required Level: 38
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xb0bf005b
+60 to Life
+219% Enhanced Defense
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Damage Reduced by 30%

2: Duskdeep
Full Helm
Defense: 57
Durability: 30 of 30
Required Strength: 41
Required Level: 17
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 23
Fingerprint: 0x905d22c7
+45% Enhanced Defense
+8 to Maximum Damage
+18 Defense
Damage Reduced by 7
All Resistances +15
-2 to Light Radius

3: The Reaper's Toll
Thresher
Two-Hand Damage: 59 to 696
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Dexterity: 79
Required Strength: 104
Required Level: 75
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x390af7dd
+230% Enhanced Damage
Adds 4-44 cold damage over 1 seconds
12% Life stolen per hit
Requirements -25%
Ignore Target Defense
33% Deadly Strike
33% Chance to cast Level 1 Decrepify on striking
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired)

Code:
3: Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Strength
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 68
Fingerprint: 0x39b28516
+4 to Strength
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

4: Amber Small Charm of Strength
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 62
Fingerprint: 0xe2f5aa09
+2 to Strength
Lightning Resist +10%

5: Amber Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0xec9e7726
Lightning Resist +10%

6: Ocher Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x38c20079
Lightning Resist +7%

7: Fine Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x89ff8eda
+15 to Attack Rating
+1 to Maximum Damage

8: Shimmering Small Charm of Greed
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0xacc22811
All Resistances +3
7% Extra Gold from Monsters

9: Shimmering Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 68
Fingerprint: 0x499ff684
All Resistances +5

10: Russet Small Charm of Flame
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 13
Fingerprint: 0x67bf61f2
Fire Resist +7%
Adds 1-2 fire damage

11: Ocher Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 47
Fingerprint: 0x9799d95
Lightning Resist +6%

12: Sharp Grand Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 23
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 38
Fingerprint: 0x2a70875b
+22 to Life
+52 to Attack Rating
+10 to Maximum Damage

13: Fine Small Charm of Greed
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 60
Fingerprint: 0xef4a36d9
+16 to Attack Rating
+1 to Maximum Damage
6% Extra Gold from Monsters

14: Steel Large Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 44
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 61
Fingerprint: 0xc5ce80c9
+22 to Life
+70 to Attack Rating

15: Tangerine Small Charm of Frost
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 10
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 5
Fingerprint: 0x94b4e4b3
Lightning Resist +5%
Adds 1-2 cold damage over 1 seconds

16: Tangerine Small Charm of Dexterity
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 5
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 7
Fingerprint: 0x54c68685
+1 to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +5%

17: Sapphire Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 22
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 76
Fingerprint: 0x38b729c8
Cold Resist +30%

18: Garnet Grand Charm of Greed
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 15
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 28
Fingerprint: 0x614c857c
Fire Resist +25%
39% Extra Gold from Monsters
 
Originally posted by NagisaFurukawa on Dec 16, 2008:

Matriarch Vivio, Glass Phoenix Striker (5/12)

Introduction

Lots of Matriarch/Patriarch threads recently. People are having much more time to play, I see. =).

Introducing Matriarch Vivio. Vivio is a young girl with complete heterochromia. She is very clingy, and a crybaby of sorts. She is also quite clumsy, though she promised to work at it (high dexterity!). With deadly mages as her "mothers", Vivio was designated "virtually invincible" (PDR), despite her rather weak physique (unfortunately low vitality). Won't bother going into detail about how Phoenix Strike fits in, but it does. (She's an artificial mage.)

After finding a Prismatic Circlet of Life Everlasting, I decided to try a PDR build or two. The "two" part can be scratched, as I'm never making one again. Don't get me wrong. They're probably great characters if built correctly, but it's just too defensive-minded for me (though this character is hardly defensive).

-----------------------------------------------------------

Stats and Skills
LCS

Fire Charge: 1161-1329 Impact, 1035-1082 Residual.
Lightning Charge: 3-2880.
Cold Charge: 504-567.

Speed: 8 frames per attack.

Phoenix Strike: 20 (21)
Fists of Fire: 20 (21)
Claws of Thunder: 20 (21)
Blades of Ice: 20 (21)
Burst of Speed: 3 (3)
Mind Blast: 1 (1)

Prerequisites: 1

Equipment
Weapon: 'Shael' Vivio's Wizardspike
Shield: 'Sol' Hsarus' Iron Fist
Helm: 'SolSol' Prismatic Circlet of Life Everlasting
Armor: 'Sol' Iron Pelt
Gloves: Blood Knuckle Gauntlets
Belt: Hsarus' Iron Stay
Boots: Hsarus' Iron Heel
Amulet: Amulet of Life Everlasting
Ring 1: Nature's Peace
Ring 2: Nature's Peace

Code:
34: Vivio's Wizardspike
Bone Knife
'Shael'
One-Hand Damage: 23 to 49
Required Dexterity: 75
Required Strength: 38
Required Level: 61
Dagger Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xbedcc625
Regenerate Mana 15%
All Resistances +75
Increase Maximum Mana 15%
20% Increased Attack Speed
50% Faster Cast Rate
Indestructible
+162 to Mana (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

35: Hsarus' Iron Fist
Buckler
'Sol'
Defense: 207
Chance to Block:  25%
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 12
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 8
Fingerprint: 0x744cd440
+10 to Strength
Damage Reduced by 9

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+202 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

17: Prismatic Circlet of Life Everlasting
'SolSol'
Defense: 27
Durability: 34 of 35
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x792ec080
Damage Reduced by 35
All Resistances +20
Socketed (2: 2 used)

24: Iron Pelt
Trellised Armor
'Sol'
Defense: 503
Durability: 153 of 157
Required Strength: 61
Required Level: 33
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xc76e00c3
+25 to Life
+69% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 25
Magic Damage Reduced by 15
+125 Maximum Durability
+243 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

23: Blood Knuckle
Gauntlets
Defense: 17
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 35
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x59335901
+7 to Maximum Stamina
+10% Enhanced Defense
+15 to Attack Rating
Damage Reduced by 3
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
Fire Resist +10%
Lightning Resist +24%
Cold Resist +8%
+1 to Light Radius

21: Hsarus' Iron Stay
Belt
Defense: 207
Durability: 14 of 16
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 3
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 26
Fingerprint: 0xa8f7585d
+20 to Life
Cold Resist +20%

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+202 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

22: Hsarus' Iron Heel
Chain Boots
Defense: 9
Durability: 14 of 16
Kick Damage: 6 to 12
Required Strength: 30
Required Level: 3
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 47
Fingerprint: 0xeb550d4b
Fire Resist +25%
20% Faster Run/Walk

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+810 to Attack Rating (Based on Character Level)
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

18: Amulet of Life Everlasting
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xa95cb781
Damage Reduced by 25

19: Nature's Peace
Ring
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x8b091749
Damage Reduced by 10
Poison Resist +24%
Slain Monsters Rest In Peace
Prevent Monster Heal
Level 5 Oak Sage (27/27 Charges)

20: Nature's Peace
Ring
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xbdab5b0f
Damage Reduced by 11
Poison Resist +20%
Slain Monsters Rest In Peace
Prevent Monster Heal
Level 5 Oak Sage (22/27 Charges)

3: Steel Grand Charm of Greed
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xaaa258b5
+130 to Attack Rating
13% Extra Gold from Monsters

4: Shimmering Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 61
Fingerprint: 0x1c55ab55
All Resistances +13

5: Sapphire Small Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0xc8ac3e07
+10 to Life
Cold Resist +11%

6: Amber Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 32
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xbb9c9b63
Lightning Resist +10%

7: Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x32a13f18
+16 to Life

8: Serpent's Small Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 40
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0xb054f321
+15 to Mana

9: Shogukusha's Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xc97ea46c
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

10: Shimmering Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 47
Fingerprint: 0x57d768bc
All Resistances +13

11: Fine Small Charm of Strength
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 21
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x89e5c710
+1 to Strength
+20 to Attack Rating
+1 to Maximum Damage

12: Steel Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 35
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x24cbc5e0
+116 to Attack Rating

-----------------------------------------------------------

Mercenary
Class: Fire Rogue Scout
Level: 80

Weapon: 'Harmony' Blade Bow
Helm: Blackhorn's Face (Ethereal)
Armor: 'Smoke' Mage Plate

-----------------------------------------------------------

Comments
1) At level 21, Phoenix Strike kills slowly. Very slowly. While MP'ing with CG's Lightning Fury amazon, I basically gave up on trying to kill anything at all. =). Mind Blast and the freeze from the third charge, however, make it a relatively safe skill to use. It is also quite versatile, though Fire Immunes with Mana Burn were effectively impossible to kill.

2) 118 PDR. Good enough to block out just about all of the damage from any non-boss enemy. Anything Aura Enchanted or Extra Strong was very painful, however, since it made the 118 PDR look very, very sad. It's nice to be invincible while dealing with ordinary monsters, but the problem is that you'd normally have no trouble with them anyway. =X. Then, there's the issue of block lock. Even though her blocking was only 59% (...with 400 dexterity?!), Vivio still managed to get stuck in block lock for extended periods of time against wimpier enemies, while taking zero damage. Amusing for a while, but eventually gets annoying.

3) Sources of purely elemental/magical damage were depressing, as the MDR bug wouldn't apply. Her fire rogue was actually somewhat sturdy against these, however, thanks to her high resists and absorb. Poison was another problem. She may have had 75 poison resist, but that's pretty meaningless with 300 life. =\. The Ancients weren't horrifyingly bad. A few deaths into the process, some tomes were burned to reroll a set with craptacular mods such as Stone Skin. Still took a good half hour to finish, but hey. It's better than nothing.

4) As you might have guessed by now, she died. A lot. A real freaking lot. None of them really stood out, as they were a dime a dozen. Maybe this stupid one, which even a 2 year old could have avoided.

5) Alright. I'll be the first to admit that I could have chosen better gear. Gerke's, however, is quite ugly, and I didn't like the idea of burning 100 stat points for some 'SolSolSolSol' Monarch. Don't underestimate Hsarus' though. It's true that the blocking and resistances are horrible (oh shush), but it does give CBF and a sizable amount of base AR. A claw would have been nice though. I have Fool's Blade Talons of Swiftness (2 sockets) in my stash, and that would have hit 7 FPA with Fade and little OIAS. *shrug*

6) Ist rune. That would be the only good find.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Future Plans
1) Vivio just won a lifetime supply of free parking.

2) Still haven't used the M'avina's I got from Cygnus. Might make a Strafer, potentially for Pit running.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Thanks
1) maxicek | RibGriller for the 2x Nature's Peace.
2) SPF.
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by Nazdakka on Mar 22, 2006:

Matriach Halle and a build plan

Matriach Halle
Level 90 Pheonix Striker 'Sin


Character name : Halle
Character type : Assassin
Character level : 90
Character exp : 1619815421

Strength : 105(128)
Dexterity : 75(118)
Vitality : 340(379)
Energy : 25(25)
Stat Points Rem : 0
Skill Points Rem: 4

Life : 1627
Mana : 214
Stamina : 842

Dragon Talon: 1(9)
Dragon Claw: 1(9)
Tiger Strike: 1(9)
Cobra Strke: 1(9)
Fists of Fire: 20(28)
Claws of Thunder: 20(28)
Blades of Ice: 1(9)
Pheonix Strike: 20(28)

Claw Mastery: 15(27)
Psychic Hammer: 1(13)
Burst of Speed: 1(13)
Weapon Block: 2(14)
Fade: 1(13)
Shadow Warror: 1(13)
Shadow Master: 6(18)

Fire Blast: 1(7)
Shock Web: 1(7)
Lightning Sentry: 1(7)
Death Sentry: 1(7)

Equipment:
Natalya's Totem
Natalya's Mark
Jade Talon (+2 to both trees, +49 all res, 223%ED)
Natalya's Shadow, socketed with Jewel of Freedom and Jewel of Fervor
Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Laying of Hands
Raven Frost
Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Natalya's Soul (20/22, still looking 24-25% lightning res ones)

Mercenary:
Vikhyat, level 90 Act 2 Might merc
Vampire Gaze
Reaper's Toll
Shaftstop

Halle is probably the most fun character I've ever played - she's powerful enough to wade in to a big pack of monsters on /players 8 hell and come out alive, she can do all kinds of spectacular effects with the various Pheonix Strike charges, and there is almost no monster she can't kill one way or another because she has strong physical, fire and lightning damage, plus the ability to freeze an entire screen of monsters. She also hits (according to my sums) the fastest breakpoints for both the claw-claw and single claw effects.

I'm pretty happy with the skill point distribution - the Martial Arts tree is obvious, Death Sentry is occaisionally amazing (Nihlathak is suddenly not a problem!), and the Shadow tree gives me all the skills I need. My 4 remaining points should probably go in the Shadow tree, but I'm undecided about where - Claw Mastery, Weapon Block, BoS or Shadow Master? I probably have all the BoS I need, and Weapon Block has nasty diminishing returns, but Claw Mastery and Shadow Master are both great and I can't decide.

Now, another character. Recently I was struck by the potentially fun interation between Multi-Shot and the Open Wounds mod, and so CrimsonFields, my latest project, was born. The idea is to combine high-level Multi with lots of Poison and OW to let me do tons of damage to entire room's worth of monsters with just one volley. A nice side effect is that she wouldn't care too much about speed and so could potentially use the 200% Buriza I've got lying around :cool: (assuming I've hit 95% OW with the rest of my gear, not a certainty). My current plan looks something like this:

CrimsonFields
Stat points:
Str - to equip
Dex - to equip
Vit - everything else
Eng - nothing

Skills:
1 B&C Prequisites
20 Multishot
1+ Most of P&M tree
? Everything else

Obviously, this isn't very fleshed out, so I'm after some ideas about what to do with the rest of the character. I could go for a Hybrid of some kind, or invest heavily in one of the elemental Bow attacks - maybe Freezing Arrow? Anyhow, I'd like some input on this - what would make a good backup plan for such a build?
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by Neksja on Dec 6, 2007:

Matriarch Tiago, frustrating kicksin.

Meet Tiago, my very first assassin that made all the way, but it was close. Although she was very fun to play, she is the most frustrating character I've played. I think she was pretty nice gear and all, but she is very fragile and killing is everything but fast. Maybe there's something wrong in my playing style or stuff like that 😃

So, for my own interest, I wanted to take ss of her damage every difficulty when killing Baal.

Normal
Nightmare
Hell


Well, damage numbers are quite great, but it's not called Lying Character Screen without a reason. I have no idea what the exact numbers are, but I can say those are not 😁

Tiago is planned for some time. There were few "MUST" items that I really wanted to wear. Crown of Ages, Shadow Dancers, Upgraded Bartuc's Cut-Throat, all those. That brings us to the more interesting part of the mat, stats and gear:

LCS

Character name : Tiago
Character type : Assassin
Character level : 82
Character exp : 821675614

Strength : 130 (202)
Energy : 25 (40)
Dexterity : 80 (165)
Vitality : 270 (334)

Life : 1468 / 1022
Mana : 263 / 146
Stamina : 699 / 508

Resists: all 75

SKILLS
20 Claw Mastery
9 Burst of Speed
1 Fade
1 Claw Block

20 Tiger Strike
20 Dragon Talon
20 Dragon Tail
1 Dragon Flight
1 Dragon Claw

GEAR:

amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope
armor: Lionheart
belt: Verdungo's Hearty Cord
gloves: Dread Grasp
boots: Shadow Dancer
helm: Crown of Ages
ring1: Order Grip
ring2: Raven Frost
weapon1: Bartuc's Cut-Throat
weapon2: Jade Talon

Switch:
Shadow Scissors Quhab
Shadow Scissors Quhab

readouts:
Code:
Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0xc24cbb90
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
All Resistances +25
+2 to All Skill Levels

Lionheart
Great Hauberk
'HelLumFal'
Defense: 468
Durability: 39 of 50
Required Strength: 100
Required Level: 56
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x58eb7c72
+25 to Strength
+10 to Energy
+15 to Dexterity
+20 to Vitality
+50 to Life
+20% Enhanced Damage
All Resistances +30
Requirements -15%
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Mithril Coil
Defense: 153
Durability: 12 of 16
Required Strength: 106
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0x54631a90
+39 to Vitality
+103 to Maximum Stamina
+132% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 13%
Replenish Life +10
10% Faster Hit Recovery

Dread Grasp
Demonhide Gloves
Defense: 61
Durability: 8 of 12
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 35
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0x40152708
+70% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +26%
19% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
20% Increased Attack Speed
+2 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
Level 5 Fire Arrow (32/32 Charges)

Shadow Dancer
Myrmidon Greaves
Defense: 141
Durability: 18 of 24
Kick Damage: 83 to 149
Required Strength: 166
Required Level: 71
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xb51f3f80
+25 to Dexterity
+97% Enhanced Defense
Requirements -20%
30% Faster Run/Walk
30% Faster Hit Recovery
+2 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)

Crown of Ages
Corona
Defense: 398
Required Strength: 174
Required Level: 82
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xe0634b4f
+50% Enhanced Defense
+149 Defense
Damage Reduced by 10%
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +44%
Cold Resist +20%
Poison Resist +20%
15% Increased Attack Speed
30% Faster Hit Recovery
+1 to All Skill Levels
Indestructible
Socketed (2: 1 used)

(24light res/15ias jewel)

Order Grip
Ring
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0xc21a30da
+18 to Strength
+12 to Life
+35 to Mana
+44 to Attack Rating
Fire Resist +9%
3% Mana stolen per hit

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x41f9b833
+20 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+233 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

Bartuc's Cut-Throat
Runic Talons
'Shael'
One-Hand Damage: 92 to 173
Durability: 44 of 69
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 115
Required Strength: 115
Required Level: 67
Claw Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x5b4a4b2
+20 to Strength
+20 to Dexterity
+181% Enhanced Damage
+25 to Minimum Damage
+50 to Maximum Damage
7% Life stolen per hit
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
Required Level +7
20% Increased Attack Speed
30% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Jade Talon
Wrist Sword
'Shael'
One-Hand Damage: 106 to 141
Durability: 56 of 56
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 105
Required Strength: 105
Required Level: 66
Claw Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x5cdb781f
+214% Enhanced Damage
All Resistances +42
10% Mana stolen per hit
20% Increased Attack Speed
30% Faster Hit Recovery
+2 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+1 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Shadow Scissors Quhab
One-Hand Damage: 19 to 40
Durability: 68 of 68
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 82
Required Strength: 82
Required Level: 45
Claw Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0xddb14a35
+1 to Lightning Sentry (Assassin Only)
+1 to Dragon Flight (Assassin Only)
+1 to Claws of Thunder (Assassin Only)
+3 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)

Shadow Scissors Quhab of Performance
One-Hand Damage: 28 to 40
Durability: 68 of 68
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 82
Required Strength: 82
Required Level: 45
Claw Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0xedcbfc2a
+9 to Minimum Damage
+3 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)

charms:
Code:
Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Strength
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x2553b14
+4 to Strength
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Rugged Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 71
Fingerprint: 0x1fc734aa
+20 to Life
+8 to Maximum Stamina

Shimmering Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x241e36f2
All Resistances +14

Shimmering Grand Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x746bdb69
+18 to Life
All Resistances +14

Smoking Large Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 50
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0xc5050eb4
+29 to Life
Adds 7-26 fire damage

Shogukusha's Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x33c5f93
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Shogukusha's Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x42b801a7
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Shogukusha's Grand Charm
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 42
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x7a3ab0f0
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Small Charm of Sustenance
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 17
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x44b992a3
+14 to Life

Serpent's Small Charm of Life
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 40
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0x12e6076
+7 to Life
+16 to Mana

Coral Small Charm of Inertia
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 27
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x3732d3d7
Lightning Resist +8%
3% Faster Run/Walk

Fiery Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xd6477fe1
+20 to Life
Adds 1-2 fire damage

Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x9ded3af3
+18 to Life

Crimson Large Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x983422a
+32 to Life
Fire Resist +5%

Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 64
Fingerprint: 0xcc109c53
+17 to Life

Small Charm of Vita
Keep in Inventory to Gain Bonus
Required Level: 39
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0xd5336e53
+17 to Life

Merc: act2 might
Vampire Gaze
The Reaper's Toll
Shaftstop

Notable finds:
Io-Fal from nm and hell hellforge (still Fal the highest from hf, after 4 tries)
Mara's (the one she is wearing)
Sander's cap
Tal orb (2fire, 2cold, 1light)

Future plans:
Maybe I'll try to switch some gear and take her out again, but not sure. If I can get nice jewel to coa, it might give some interest.

Suggestions:
I would never suggest anyone to play kicksin beyond nightmare, after that is insane hell 😁

Neksja
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by @Peytron on Feb 14, 2019:

Matriarch Shadow-Dancer - A Budget Kicksin

Hi All,

I want to give an overview of my Dragon Talon Assassin. She went solo through the game at players 3 using gear found either herself, or from one of my other 6 single player characters. She was my seventh run through of the game (one of each class) since starting single player recently. My goal was to quest through the game with each character at at least players 3 without significant respecs. By significant respec I mean not changing main skill trees, e.g. playing a Meteorb through normal and nightmare and then switching into a pure Blizzard or Lightning Sorceress, or playing Whirlwind Barbarian and then respecing into Berserk.

In general these characters have to kill every monster pack they encounter on their quest. That is, not skip the tough ones. The odd Flayer or Fallen that runs away we don't chase down. They don't have to clear every level, or explore every inch of the map, just kill every pack that is in their way.

The initial idea for the build came from the Warrior Monk guide by JanusJones:
https://www.purediablo.com/forums/t...istram-assassin-by-janusjones.1075/post-26790
Specific advice on this character was obtained from Galtwish and Namtar from the forums, so big thanks to them for their help:
http://web.archive.org/web/20210223...i.net/forums/threads/kicksin-progress.965884/

Her main skills are Dragon Talon and Dragon Flight, she used Burst of Speed or Fade originally but after acquiring her Treachery Rune Word she switched into using Cloak of Shadows. Shadow Master was used originally but got quite frustrating so she switched into Shadow Warrior. I neglected to put any points into the charge up skills, preferring just to fly right into the pack of monsters and kick away. Even without a high damage weapon she managed to do enough damage that I didn't have to play with charge up skills and finishing moves.

Skill Distribution:
Traps - 1 point into Blade Fury and prerequisites. I did not end up using this skill much at all, but is useful for hitting those Gloams or Hell Temptress monsters that float out over lava, water, etc. Also it was useful in select cases to draw monsters out a few at a time when the packs are too large or dangerous to fly into.

Shadow Disciplines - 20 points into Cloak of Shadows, 20 Points into Shadow Warrior, plus 1 point in each prerequisite. Early on points in Burst of Speed/Fade and Venom will help you quest through Normal and Nightmare until you can equip your Treachery Rune Word.

Martial Arts - 20 points into Dragon Talon, 1 point in Dragon Flight, plus prerequisites.

She had 26 skill points remaining after reaching Matriarch. For surplus skills you could play with Charge Up skills in the Martial Arts tree, put a few points in Venom or Fade for prebuffing until they trigger from Treachery, or even try out Death Sentry from the traps tree. I may end up playing with these options down the road.

Stat points:
Strength - enough to equip Upped Gore Riders Shadow Dancers, or a Monarch. In my case this ended up at 186 (with gear) after reaching Matriarch at level 85.
Dexterity - enough to equip your weapon, which in my case was a Phase Blade. Ended up at 146 points total.
Vitality - all remaining points, 232 total in my case
Energy - nil

Gear:
Helm - Wormskull -> Stealskull -> Crown of Thieves -> Vampire Gaze. One day I will find a Guillaume's Face, which I think would be ideal.
Armour - Stealth -> Duriel's -> Smoke -> Treachery
Boots - Goblin Toe -> Upped Gore Riders or Shadow Dancers. I have both and will likely equip Shadow Dancers if we find a Guillaume's Face.
Gloves - Change Guards -> Trang-Oul's -> Dracul's/Soul Drainers -> Rare with skills and IAS.
Belt - String of Ears
Weapons/Shields - Steel -> Ribcracker -> Upped Ribracker with Shael, and on switch Lawbringer/Stormshield with a Perfect Diamond.
Rings - Rare/Magic with leech stats -> Raven Frost and Carrion Wing.
Amulet - Eye of Etlitch -> Rare with skills and resists
Charms - Anything with resists/life. Mine are mostly 5-7% small resist charms and various +life charms.

Mercenary:
Aura - Defiance -> Holy Freeze -> Might
Helm - Wormskull -> Stealskull -> Crown of Thieves. Guillaume's Face or Vampire Gaze are future desires.
Armour - Stealth -> Duriel's -> Treachery
Weapon - Malice -> Hone Sundan with Shael, Shael, and Amn -> Reaper's Toll -> Bonehew -> Obedience. I dropped the Reaper's once I equipped Lawbringer, and brought out Obedience to help with Crushing Blow towards the end of hell difficulty.

Her Quest:
Starting out she had an advantage over my previous characters, in that she had a wide range of low level twinking gear to make the Normal and Nightmare difficulties less difficult. Although she may not have needed it as much as she seems to have no real difficulties initially. For a lot of Normal and Nightmare we played at players 5 or 7.

After beating Nightmare Baal we decided to stick around at players 8 and run the Worldstone Keep 10 or so times to get some more experience before venturing into hell. With Burst of Speed and her Ribcracker, she just crushed everything.

The first hiccups came once we moved into Hell difficulty. The Ribcracker, whilst doing a decent amount of damage left her very vulnerable. Her mercenary switched from Defiance to Holy Freeze and received a Reaper's Toll, she equipped Dracul's Grasp for Life Tap, but it was not enough. While Burst of Speed meant she could kill everything relatively quickly, a few hits from monsters and she would be dead, as the leech just couldn't keep her life sustained. At this point we decided to go with a Lawbringer Phase Blade and a Stormshield. While her kill speed dropped slightly, she survived and quested through Act 3 and 4 without too much trouble.

This meant swapping out the Reaper's Toll for a Bonehew (and later Obedience) since the Decrepify was provided by Lawbringer. We switched at first to Trang-Oul's gloves for Venom damage, and then to some decent Increased Attack Speed +2 Martial Arts rares since we needed to stop overriding Decrepify with Life Tap for the kill speed.

In late Hell difficulty is where we ran into bigger problems. Her skill speed was dropping significantly even at players 3, but we stuck with it and hit a dead stop in the Crystalline Passage in Act 5. Champion packs of Blood Lords were her death sentence. This is where I sought some help from the forums and transitioned into the gear that would allow her to finish her quest.

The Rune Word Treachery, along with casting Cloak of Shadows allowed her to conquer the packs that were holding her back. Champion Blood Lords, Hell Temptresses, and Black Souls infesting the Throne Room were not an issue. The damage reduction from Fade and Vampire Gaze, plus Cloak of Shadows allowing you to draw the monsters out a few at a time proved to be the winning strategy.

1584907478826.png

She found better runes than she used in her quest too:
1584907461872.png
1584907444138.png
1584907423685.png
1584907399341.png

No "Grail" items were found in the making of this character, but as she was the last that is not too surprising. Her rune finds will serve her companions well. Perhaps it is on to the next Seven for me.
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by purplelocust on Mar 26, 2010:

Matriarch Anthe, twinked Treachery kicker

Matriarch Anthe, twinked Treachery kicker

Quick summary
Wanted to try out a kicker, used great gear much of which was from 1.07, pretty much cruised through at /players 8 the whole way. Not a pure kicker- she used Death Sentry a lot which was effective on already-staticed crowds.

Backgrouund
I've got many characters but I've never really played a kicker. I played around with one on b.net when the expansion introduced the assassin character, and didn't like the squawking noises she made. That might actually have been the last time I kicked anything (besides jars) in Diablo. So I thought I should try one these days. I figured I should play her like a physical damage zealot. Usually I plan things out and read up on things, but I figured with the gear she has access to, I could just have a go at it.

A few choices:

1) Drac's for life tap? No, I decided that if I had enough life leech I could just count on that for all but skeletons etc. That meant that CtC Amp and Decrep were on the table, which she made good use of. And I do have enough life leech with various 1.07 gear: good 34% and 31% leech rings, and the same crafted 33% leech 13% crushing blow gloves that Siarnaq (physical damage zealot) used. There is a lot of common gear between these two, in fact. The problem with no Life Tap is that the merc and sometimes shadow have more difficulty staying alive.

2) Hard points or count on CtC from Treachery? Treachery. I'm an established fan of Treachery and though a prebuffed level 20 hard point Venom definitely beats a ctc level 15 one, a hard point is a hard point. Same story for Fade- a prebuffed maxed Fade would be nice, but the returns are diminishing and thus the level 15 one from Treachery was counted on instead. Sometimes it wouldn't go off, in which case I could start it myself at an OK level (10) when needed, for example when starting out from town.

3) Use Cloak of Shadows? No. It's a huge help and just about any assassin build becomes easier with it but I thought instead I would not use it. The approach was more of a "create a huge tangled mess of monsters and kick and blast away" and CoS is more for a controlled approach.

4) Merc gear? Delirium helm. Delirium is a wonderful runeword that makes lots of underpowered builds feasible. This isn't an underpowered build, but the general approach was to be constantly mobbed and kicking and blowing things up. Delerium works well for that- it tends to draw in monsters from a good range away to add to the festivities. I also got to use my (relatively newly-found) ethereal Reaper's Toll, which works well with Delerium. There was also often the CtC Amp from Sacaran's going off, which added to the "lots of general crowded mayhem" style of play.

5) Cannot be frozen or not? Skip it. Yes, she slows down when cold which affects her survivability in leeching situations, but I figured it would be OK. I had been playing a number of Classic characters where there aren't many options for CBF (Death's Sash, Jade Tan Do, Hawkmail) and that had been manageable, so I stayed with the big leech rings instead of going for a Raven Frost then. I did use a Raven Frost back in NM, I think.

6) Endgame weapon? 1.10 beta Crescent Moon phase blade. I played a lot of 1.10 beta at the end of last year to get some BK rings and I also made the higher ED (irrelevant here) and higher CtC static (very nice here) CM and figured that would be a good choice. It was.

Skills:

20 in Dragon Talon
20 in Death Sentry
1 in each Shadow Discipline, except Shadow Master which had 8

33 left. I think normally a kicker would put those in Venom and Fade, perhaps, but I stuck with Treachery so there are lots of skill points left over.


Stats:

Level 85
STR: 104/196
DEX: 182/184
VIT: 209/229
E: 25/29
life 1046 after charms etc.
mana 236 after charms

resists: 8/75+/23/12 before Fade triggers, 53/75+/68/57 with native Fade, 68/75/83/72 with Treachery's fade and TGods, 75/75/75/72 with rare belt

listed kick damage: 846-1408 with merc's Might. That's certainly wrong as usual, as the charms didn't count toward that.




Gear:

hat: Guillame's
weapon: new-ish 1.10 beta Cresent Moon phase blade
Crescent Moon
Superior Phase Blade
ShaelUmTir
One Hand Damage: 115 - 129
Indestructible
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 25
Required Dexterity: 136
Fingerprint: 0x75691dd3
Item Level: 90
Version: Expansion
20% Chance to cast level 13 Static Field on striking
10% Chance to cast level 17 Chain Lightning on striking
+20% Increased Attack Speed
271% Enhanced Damage
Ignore Target's Defense
+3 to Attack Rating
-35% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
25% Chance of Open Wounds
+11 Magic Absorb
+2 to Mana after each Kill
Level 18 Summon Spirit Wolf (21/30 Charges)
armor: Treachery BP
shield: Stormshield, Um'd
rings: crafted 1.07 huge leech rings
Code:
Storm Grip
Ring
Required Level: 54
Fingerprint: 0x5ac2e759
Item Level: 48
Version: Expansion
31% Life stolen per hit
+14 to Strength
+85 to Mana
8% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Viper Grip
Ring
Required Level: 51
Fingerprint: 0x3b6b5027
Item Level: 48
Version: Expansion
34% Life stolen per hit
+13 to Strength
+4 to Energy

amulets: from the 1.07 cube recipes, a +3 Shadow with leech and a prismatic Saracen's Chance:
Shadow Amulet of the Bat
Amulet
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x3c357b57
Item Level: 62
Version: Expansion
+3 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)
3% Mana stolen per hit
Cold Resist +5%
All Resistances +24
Fire Resist +10%
Poison Resist +14%

Saracen's Chance
Amulet
Required Level: 47
Fingerprint: 0x743d2430
Item Level: 62
Version: Expansion
2% Chance to cast level 5 Iron Maiden when struck
3% Chance to cast level 5 Amplify Damage on striking
+10 to Strength
+10 to Dexterity
All Resistances +26
Lightning Resist +24%
Fire Resist +11%
Poison Resist +45%


gloves: 1.07 leech/CB crafted
Code:
Brimstone Hold
Vampirebone Gloves
Defense: 87
Durability: 10 of 14
Required Level: 69
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0x5bcc434
Item Level: 59
Version: Expansion
33% Life stolen per hit
13% Chance of Crushing Blow
+33% Enhanced Defense
Cold Resist +29%
+1 to Light Radius
belt: various, including rares and Thundergods:

M'avina's Tenet
Sharkskin Belt
Defense: 82
Durability: 12 of 14
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0x653277d5
Item Level: 76
Version: Expansion
+40% Faster Run/Walk
15% Mana stolen per hit
+50 Defense
+5 to Light Radius

Wraith Clasp
Demonhide Sash
Defense: 43
Durability: 8 of 12
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0x79d97ed4
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+24% Faster Hit Recovery
+23% Enhanced Defense
+26 to Strength
Lightning Resist +15%
Fire Resist +20%
78% Extra Gold from Monsters
boots: upgraded Gore Riders
switch: dual Bartuc's. I meant to dig out real prebuff claws but I'd already finished the game.
charms: various combos. Endgame was 2 skillers, some grand sharps with suffices, some shimmering and FHR and lots of elemental charms totalling 10-311 lightning, some cold and fire, 168 life, 377 AR


Merc:

L85 Might
Delirium mask, Treachery BP, eth Reaper's Toll. Before the Reaper's the merc was using a wonderful beta CM eth Thresher for a while:

Crescent Moon
Thresher
ShaelUmTir
Two Hand Damage: 73 - 862
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Level: 53
Required Strength: 142
Required Dexterity: 108
Fingerprint: 0x12b906eb
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion
20% Chance to cast level 13 Static Field on striking
10% Chance to cast level 17 Chain Lightning on striking
+20% Increased Attack Speed
309% Enhanced Damage
Ignore Target's Defense
-35% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
25% Chance of Open Wounds
+10 Magic Absorb
+2 to Mana after each Kill
Level 18 Summon Spirit Wolf (4/30 Charges) Ethereal

When he was using the CM, he got to wear a nice item for a while that hadn't seen any use:

Griffon's Eye
Diadem
Defense: 235
Durability: 11 of 11
Required Level: 76
Fingerprint: 0xf5df3158
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+25% Faster Cast Rate
-17% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
+13% to Lightning Skill Damage
+153 Defense
Ethereal


Gameplay

Players 8 the whole way.

Normal/NM: Full Sigon's on a kicker is hideous looking but with Khalim's Will it's wonderfully quick. Also used Blood Crescent, upgraded Goblin Toe, Coldsteel Eye and a fire faceted Tiamat's (from a FC bear Calorique ) along the way.

One hiccup was doing NM Baal runs I forgot that Stormshield was a level 73, not 72, as I wanted to level to equip that and most endgame gear before starting Hell. Oops, one more level before stepping into Hell. There was a lot of equipment from Siarnaq by the time she was in A5 NM. She pretty much raced through NM.

Hell:

Now things get more interesting. She had some life-bulb yoyoing from time to time. As long as there was something nearby with flesh on its bones around to leech, she was fine. Lightning immunes were noticably slower without the benefit of the Static constantly going off. I went with a lot of lightning damage charms to make good use of the -ELR on CM and she was hitting plenty fast.

Hell A2: Pretty smooth, but the Arcane Sanctuary was a pain with congestion from unleechable physical immunes. She has a nice mix of damage- as long as there is something around she can hurt (she was good on physical, lightning and poison damage) then she could blow stuff up with fire/physical from DS. And Delirium meant that there were often huge mobs of monsters, to make the best use of the large-radius Static and the DS explosions. Duriel took a long time, though.

Hell A3: this was a breeze. Done all in one go at /players 8. The non-LI are easy- they are static'd by the time she gets there and go down pretty quickly. Bremm did have some nasty mods and killed the merc at least once, but Meph was no problem.

Hell A4: pretty quick, in one go. I was still cleaning up a bosspack next to Izual when the merc killed him. In the CS Sanctuary, there was just one IM death, but a couple of merc deaths.

Hell A5: slower going but still quite manageable, as long as the monster mix was OK. Unleechables were an annoyance, and ranged attackers + unleechables were a pain since I wasn't using CoS. Particularly, Anya was a chore, with gloams and witches requiring care. Skeletal ranged attackers are unpleasant.

She was just at the beginning of level 85 for the Ancients. And that battle went pretty quickly- no nasty mods and it was just kick away. I actually remembered to summon Spirit Wolves from the CM before the big battle but of course they didn't last too long. I always intend to do things like that, partly to buy some time to reroll if I get a fast Fanatic cursed combo, but usually I completely forget until after the battle.

The WSK: some OKs but no deaths to them this time. There were witches which would die quickly once I got to them.

Waves: no problem at all. The Confuse from Delirium gave the overlapping packs, but with Static things went pretty quickly. Mana burn Lister meant some trips back to town to get blue potions, though.

Baal took a while, again with mana being an issue, but really wasn't bad at all.


Deaths:
Yes, some. Poison + stopping to sort out inventory killed her for some embarrasing deaths, for example when sorting out inventory after killing Radament. She normally didn't worry about being poisoned as she was usually leeching back life at a huge rate, but when I stopped to sort things out that could be a problem. Otherwise, a few deaths from being cursed with hard hitters or just creating too much pandemonium, luring just a few too many monsters together for big static + DS combos.



Comments:
With the life leech around 100%, there was a lot of room for error. I didn't miss CoS much. Mind Blast from the Shadow Warrior was an intermittent annoyance as I would have to wait for them to unconvert to finish them.

I noticed that the CtC Decrep works fine even when the merc is Bone Fetish-ized.

It felt pretty silly to realize but for all the trappers I've played, I've never noticed that the traps make a buzzing noise when you walk by them. In theory I was aware of that, but I didn't really realize that.


Finds:

Not too much: some progress on the Cathan's Ring ilvl front, some progress on my Staffmod Grail project, an Um from the forge and a Pul dropping in A3, and a Stone Crusher in the WSK. She didn't have much MF.
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by skipjack on Jul 3, 2011:

Matriarch Arcadia - Kicksin

Matriarch Arcadia - Kicksin

Note: This is my first official Mat/Pat thread, although this is most definitely not my first Mat/Pat.

Introduction

Ever since my Classic WW Barb, Lux-Aeterna, hit level 90, my interest in D2 has been on the wane. I attribute this mostly to the fact that solo levelling in Classic is tedious to the extent that it sucks the very essence of life from your soul. I love Classic, but I am not particularly fond of functioning as a mindless drone when I am not a work.

In order to reinvigorate my interest in D2, I decided to try out some sort of fun build. My initial thoughts were BearSin and BearSorc, but then my mind switched into theorycraft mode and produced something I could really get behind:

Kicksin w/ Fanatacism + Concentration + Might + Amplify Damage

And so it came to pass that, following an excessive amount of LK/Travincal running, Arcadia was born!

Code:
Character name  : Arcadia
Character type  : Assassin
Character level : 79
Character exp   : 653235186

Strength        : 101 (223)
Energy          : 25  (35)
Dexterity       : 160 (180)
Vitality        : 204 (204)

Life            : 926 / 818 (1384)
Mana            : 272 / 142 (415)
Stamina         : 442 / 422 (690)

Fire res        : 5  (72)
Cold res        : 65 (75)
Lightning res   : 30 (80)
Poison res      : 75 (75)

LCS

Skills

Martial Arts
Shadow Disciplines
Traps


Gear

Arcadia
Helm: Demon Crest (Um)
Amulet: Atma's Scarab
Weapon1: 'Beast' War Axe
Weapon2: 'Call to Arms' Crystal Sword
Armour: 'Fortitude' Archon Plate
Shield1: Stormshield (Um)
Shield2: 'Spirit' Monarch
Gloves: Raven Hold
Ring1: Raven Frost
Belt: Nosferatu's Coil
Ring2: Doom Grasp
Boots: Gore Rider (Upped)

Demon Crest
Circlet
'Um'
Defense: 24
Durability: 32 of 35
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0x2752690b
+29 to Strength
+66 to Mana
Damage Reduced by 5
All Resistances +25
6% Mana stolen per hit
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Atma's Scarab
Amulet
Required Level: 60
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x81ec5f56
Poison Resist +75%
+39 poison damage over 4 seconds
Attacker Takes Damage of 5
+3 to Light Radius
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
5% Chance to cast Level 2 Amplify Damage on striking

Beast
War Axe
'BerTirUmMalLum'
One-Hand Damage: 34 to 62
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Strength: 67
Required Level: 63
Axe Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Standard
Item Level: 71
Fingerprint: 0xc618f82f
+37 to Strength
+10 to Energy
+245% Enhanced Damage
40% Increased Attack Speed
+3 to Werebear
+3 to Lycanthropy
Prevent Monster Heal
25% Chance of Open Wounds
20% Chance of Crushing Blow
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 9 Fanaticism Aura When Equipped
Level 13 Summon Grizzly (5/5 Charges)
Socketed (5: 5 used)

Call to Arms
Crystal Sword
'AmnRalMalIstOhm'
One-Hand Damage: 18 to 54
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 57
Sword Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x2462fa88
+260% Enhanced Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
7% Life stolen per hit
Replenish Life +12
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
40% Increased Attack Speed
+4 to Battle Orders
+2 to Battle Cry
+4 to Battle Command
Prevent Monster Heal
+1 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (5: 5 used)

Fortitude
Archon Plate
'ElSolDolLo'
Defense: 1548
Durability: 50 of 60
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0x4078d742
+200% Enhanced Defense
+300% Enhanced Damage
+15 Defense
Damage Reduced by 7
Fire Resist +28%
Lightning Resist +28%
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
Cold Resist +28%
Poison Resist +28%
Replenish Life +7
+1 to Light Radius
25% Faster Cast Rate
12% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
20% Chance to cast Level 15 Chilling Armor when struck
+108 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Stormshield
Monarch
'Um'
Defense: 442
Chance to Block: 72%
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 73
Indestructible
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x94875963
+30 to Strength
+25% Increased Chance of Blocking
Damage Reduced by 35%
Fire Resist +22%
Lightning Resist +47%
Cold Resist +82%
Poison Resist +22%
35% Faster Block Rate
Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 10
Indestructible
+296 to Defense (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Spirit
Monarch
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Defense: 147
Chance to Block: 47%
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 79
Fingerprint: 0x91377876
+22 to Vitality
+112 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Lightning Resist +35%
Cold Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
55% Faster Hit Recovery
35% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+4 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Raven Hold
Vampirebone Gloves
Defense: 83
Durability: 12 of 14
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0x55cdcc9
+1 to Strength
+27% Enhanced Defense
+18 to Attack Rating
20% Increased Attack Speed
+2 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 76
Fingerprint: 0x2335afc7
+20 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+229 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

Nosferatu's Coil
Vampirefang Belt
Defense: 57
Durability: 8 of 14
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 51
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0xbc73a234
+15 to Strength
7% Life stolen per hit
-3 to Light Radius
10% Increased Attack Speed
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Slows Target by 10%

Doom Grasp
Ring
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0xcdef5183
+10 to Strength
+7 to Mana
+119 to Attack Rating
Magic Damage Reduced by 2
5% Life stolen per hit

Gore Rider
Myrmidon Greaves
Defense: 197
Durability: 33 of 34
Kick Damage: 83 to 149
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 72
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x13b5ad91
+20 to Maximum Stamina
+190% Enhanced Defense
+10 Maximum Durability
Requirements -25%
Required Level +7
30% Faster Run/Walk
10% Chance of Open Wounds
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike

Pratham (Mercenary)
Helm: Vampire Gaze
Weapon: 'Pride' Thresher (Ethereal)
Armour: 'Treachery' Dusk Shroud

Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 36 of 40
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 41
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0x3eca81c2
+100% Enhanced Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 13
Damage Reduced by 19%
Adds 6-22 cold damage over 4 seconds
8% Life stolen per hit
6% Mana stolen per hit
15% Slower Stamina Drain

Treachery
Dusk Shroud
'ShaelThulLem'
Defense: 459
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 77
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0x76aee9ae
Cold Resist +30%
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
45% Increased Attack Speed
20% Faster Hit Recovery
25% Chance to cast Level 15 Venom on striking
5% Chance to cast Level 15 Fade when struck
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Pride
Thresher
'ChamSurIoLo'
Two-Hand Damage: 18 to 211
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Dexterity: 108
Required Strength: 142
Required Level: 67
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x4f673976
+10 to Vitality
Adds 50-280 lightning damage
Replenish Life +8
Hit Blinds Target +1
291% Bonus to Attack Rating
Freezes Target +3
20% Deadly Strike
Level 19 Concentration Aura When Equipped
25% Chance to cast Level 17 Fire Wall when struck
148% Extra Gold (Based on Character Level)
79% Damage to Demons (Based on Character Level)
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 4 used)

Gameplay

Overall, Arcadia was a dominatrix. No enemies posed a truly serious threat, although Arcadia did manage to die on four separate occasions due to significant errors on my part. Honestly, I could have probably avoided deaths altogether if I had just remembered that there were potions on my belt; I do believe I only ever used potions either between fights to counteract poison or after already performing a full retreat. Still, despite having to cope with my completely idiotic playstyle, Aracdia proved to be a true femme fatale.

Gearwise, Aradia started out twinked with some Envy gear, switched to RC + Twitch for Andariel, and then upgraded the RC to The General's Tan Do Li Ga + Swordback Hold for Duriel. The trifecta of Tan Do Li Ga + Twitch + Swordback was so effective that all three pieces remained equipped until replaced by the final gear selections at the end of NM. Even so, it may have been wise to replace the Swordback with something like a Gerke's Sanctuary when it became available, as I do blame the distinct lack of DR or %DR on the Swordback for Arcadia's death to a pack of Bone Fetishes. Anyway, once the final gear was equipped, Arcadia was able to lay waste to everything in sight at a phenomenal pace. I do somewhat regret just falling short of maxing Arcadia's fire resistance and having a 20% IAS overstack, but those seem like rather silly gripes in retrospect.

As far as general strategy goes, I am a fan of neither full clears nor single pass. Instead, I prefer to just dash from one quick levelling spot to the next. In practice, this means playing primarily at /p1 and paying little heed to anything that is not A1 Normal or general A5, with the possible exceptions of Normal Tombs and general CS. It is a strategy that works well, although it does tend to label most of the acts as little more than chores. I actually managed to surprise myself by bothering to complete all quests and collect all waypoints, although I only did so for the sake of this thread.

In terms of actual combat strategy, Arcadia mainly just telestomped anything worth killing and a few things things that were not. The fact that the DF --> DT --> DF... combination acted as both a means of transport and a means of slaughter was quite cool. Most of the crowd control was provide courtesy of Shadow Master, while Pratham served as a meatshield. As for utility spells, Cloak of Shadows was used somewhat regularly, Death Sentry was used situationally, and Mind Blast was only used under the most dire of circumstances (*cough*Nilhathak*cough*).

When it came time to face Hell Ancients, I am certain fight lasted no more than twenty seconds and it only lasted that long because I was fumbling with the PrtSc button. I still managed to botch the picture due to accidently killing Korlic while trying to get a shot of Arcadia kicking him, but, suffice it to say, the fight was pathetically easy.

Deaths

Arcadia died to the following enemies:

Normal Ancient Kaa the Soulless - Arcadia had just equipped the Tan Do Li Ga + Twitch + Swordback epic gear combo and I thought she was invincible. As it turns out, 5% poison resistance and an inability to hit the potion buttion will not suffice when you choose to do battle with Kaa whilst getting swarmed on all sides.
Lasersnake + Frenzytaur Bosspack - Arcadia was hopping around NM Crystalline Passage when I decided to activate an Evil Urn whilst being engaged by a bosspack of Frenzytaurs. She almost escaped, but I once again forgot to hit the potion button.
Bone Fetishes - Arcadia was clearing the NM Throne of Destruction when I decided telestomping a Vampire surrounded by Bone Fetishes was a good idea. I reckon there was enough time to escape, but my strategy instead involved Aracadia staying there and kicking whatever was next to her. Arcadia was still wearing Swordback, so I blame it.
Venom Lord Bosspack - Arcadia was prancing through Hell Outer Steppes on her way to visit Izual when I made her pounce on a bosspack of Venom Lords. Apparently her fire resistance at the time was lower than I realized. This instance prompted me to socket the Um into her Helm.

Drops

Hellforge - Amn/Hel/Um

Hell Baal's drop was atrocious as per usual, but NM Baal's drop more than makes up for it:

Ribcracker --> From NM Baal
Quarterstaff
Two-Hand Damage: 61 to 168
Durability: 20 of 130
Required Strength: 25
Required Level: 31
Staff Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x3a169b64
+15 to Dexterity
+100% Enhanced Defense
+298% Enhanced Damage
+30 to Minimum Damage
+65 to Maximum Damage
+100 Defense
+100 Maximum Durability
50% Increased Attack Speed
50% Faster Hit Recovery
150% Damage to Undead
50% Chance of Crushing Blow

Seraph's Hymn --> From Hell Corpsefire
Amulet
Required Level: 65
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0x4ca61d2f
+2 to Light Radius
25% Damage to Demons
33% Damage to Undead
+219 to Attack Rating against Demons
+197 to Attack Rating against Undead
+2 to All Skill Levels
+2 to Defensive Aura Skills (Paladin Only)

M'avina's True Sight --> From Hell Act III Unique Sewer Zombie
Diadem
Defense: 208
Durability: 14 of 20
Required Level: 64
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x612c06fc
+25 to Mana
+150 Defense
Replenish Life +10
30% Increased Attack Speed

***Partial Set Item Bonuses***
+1 to All Skill Levels
50% Bonus to Attack Rating
All Resistances +25
***Partial Set Item Bonuses***

Other Thoughts

-As effective as the Fanatacism + Concentration + Might + Amplify Damage combination was, I did expect slightly larger damage numbers given the fact that Myrmidon Greaves have the highest average base damage of any non-ethereal "weapon" in the game.
-A 'Phoenix' Monarch for even more damage would have been awesome.
-As great as Arcadia was, I will most likely delete her just as soon as I finish pillaging her socket quests.
-Apparently kicking does not result in any kind of durability loss.
-Considering how effective and easy to gear they are, it is surprising how few Kicksins are seen in tournaments.
-I only chose a Mercenary name Pratham so I could pretend he was Jason Statham.

All in all, I am incredibly satisfied with the way Arcadia turned out. The Fanatacism + Concentration + Might + Amplify Damage combination was most definitely overkill, but it made things interesting. I would certainly recommend this build to others, assuming they can afford the wealth of runewords required. I hope my next project is just as exhilarating.

Thanks for reading,

skipjack
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by Tanksaabas on Mar 26, 2009:

Triple Mat/Pat thread.

Hi folks! This time I made a mat/pat bundle. They aren't that special to have their own thread , but I still wanted them to end up in the compendium.

So I present you Patriarch Tasuja the Avenger (tasuja pretty much means avenger in estonian :D) , Matriarch Mystique the TStrike/DTail 'sin and Matriarch Yumiko the Furysin!

First off the paladin:

LCS

Tasuja
Lvl 88 paladin

Stats:

Strength: 95 (122)
Dexterity: 105 (130)
Vitality: 320 (381)
Energy: 15 (30)
HP: 1479
Mana: 223

Resists: 80/80/80/75 with fade active

Skills:

Vengance: 20 (27)
Holy Shield: 10 (17)

Conviction: 17 (23)

Resist Fire: 10 (14)
Resist Cold: 10 (14)
Resist Lightning: 10 (14)
Redemption:1 (5)
Salvation: 5 (9)

All prereques at 1...

Gear:
"Oath" eth Cryptic Sword
Guillaumes with pdiamond
HoZ with pdiamond
Verdungos/Thundergods in stash in case of gloamparty
LoH
Aldurs boots
Maras
Raven Frost
Manald Heal <-- I want to switch this for a bkwb but always when in atma I forget it and do sth else :crazyeyes:

Merc had shaftstop , vamp gaze , insight + holy freeze

This is a mp character from start to end. Started about half a year ago untwinked and finished normal , then left to e-rot until I thought he'd make an awsome mp character. And he did. Conviction pretty much helps every character out there , doesent matter if you are melee or caster you still get a boost from the green aura we all so much love :cloud9:

Played through nm and hell with bobthewarrior and his riftadin. Also had some help from other people through the questing. Though I did the ancients myself. They werent hard and the fight was under control with some early running around to seperate the three goons.

Had one death. In Antonios baal game when sth nasty spawned in throne room and killed us all quickly. It was one of those blood star shooting succubi or sth. Lost 2k health via bo very quickly in 1-2 hits.

During all those baal and supermurderruns he leveld to 88 (The LCS screen is taken today actually when I decided to go and finsih off baal as I hadn't done the quest yet :crazyeyes: This was his drop ).

I see him as a party support character and probably the best party character there is - conviction for most of the fight (sorcs will youst love you) , when in gloam dense areas I use salvation to keep my buddies alive , cleansing when asked or right after Achmel , redemtion to clear the resummonable monsters like fallens/skellies/other undead in throne room and so on , vigour to have some speed boost and help stragglers reach the main group when left behind. And he wasnt all about support and help , he could dish out some gg damage himself. So a really fun character and a pleasant surprise as paladins seem so boring.

Oh and the forge was a stinking Io!

Now the two 'sins :cloud9:

Matriarch Mystique:

LCS

Stats:
Strength: 100 (181)
Dexterity: 115 (199)
Vitality: 285 (305)
Energy: 25 (35)
HP: 1461
Mana: 210

Resists: 44/75/75/39

Skills:

Tiger Strike: 20 (31)
Dragon Tail: 20 (31)
Dragon Flight: 1 (12)

Death Sentry: 20 (22)
Lit Sentry: 20 (22)

1 (3) in all of shadow skills except venom

+1 in prereques also

Gear:

Bartucs
Stormshield with pdiamond
Kiras with pemerald
Lionheart Sharktooth armour
1.07 Mavinas belt
rare gauntlets with +2 martial arts , life leech , 14% lit res and some dex (could improve here but not really needed)
Upped Gore Riders
Angelic combo + raven frost for jewelry
dual +3 shadow claws on switch

Inventory has some ar , resists and 6 ma skillers.

Mercanery was Ip the barbarian with eth "Lawbringer" BB , shaftstop and vamp gaze.

Another kicker done (with more to follow 😉 ). This gal wasn't mp'd until act 4 hell. Until then I had a blast but with some issues. I mean early nm was just hilarius. Charge up with 3 claw attacks and then release the kick and watch everything and I mean everything fall! Later on there were more and more fire resistant dudes with more health that it wasn't as fast but nothing I couldn't beat. But the real issue with this build was the dragon tail itself. I dont know whats wrong with it but even with nice ar I kept missing alot. Sometimes the kick would connect but not release the charges so I dtailed with the same 3 unreleased charges (and hitting each time) for 4-5 times before it went off :crazyeyes: I dont think it was the ar's issue as other chars with far less did just fine but Mystique really pissed me off at some point. I like this build but the dtail shenanigans means that I will never do one again. It was just that annoying.

Otherwise she was safe , no deaths.

The merc was chosen partly because the act 5 barbarians are underused and also becasue I wanted sth with decrep before lvl 75 (reapers). Also with a funny name like Ip how could you not let him accompany you! :D It semed he wasn't as dumb as the desert mercs and seemed to survive better. I gave him the Lawbringer for the decrep ctc. Because how dtail works with tiger strike it means the real problem is physiacal resistance and with this setup i bypassed it kinda. Act 4 hell was still mp'd because of all the fire resistant enemies and I didn't bother to wreck my nerves any more.

Hellforge was a Hel :( Though NM was a Pul.

And finally comes Yumiko the Furysin:

LCS

Stats:

Strength: 125 (189)
Dexterity: 155 (161)
Vitality: 220 (220)
Energy: 25 (25)
HP: 997
Mana: 192

Resists: 75/75/75/36

Skills:

Venom: 20 (27)
Fade: 15 (22)
Mind Blast: 1 (2)

Blade fury itself: 1 (2)
DSentry: 20 (21)
Lit Sentry: 20 (21)
Charged Bolt Sentry: 10 (11)

Gear:

Schaefers socketed with eth
Guillaumes with pdiamond
Stormshield with eld
Duress Great Hauberk
Nosferatus Coil
LoH
Gores
Ravenfrost
Highlords
Manald Heal
+3 shadow claws on switch

inventory is full of charms with mainly ar and some resists

Merc had eth "Obedience" thresher , shaftstop and vamp gaze. Aura was Blessed Aim.

I play d2 via mp now the most and this char was also mp'd pretty much all the way.

That meant I always had some meatshields doing my bidding in front of me and they probably killed faster than I with the little shuriken so I pretty much ran along and threw traps on the ground most of the time :whistling: But when fury was needed fury was given and it didn't suck at all (later when I had my endgame gear on). All the DS% CB% and OW% + venom and static field just murdered anything we came across. Throw in Death Sentry and the 300-1000 dmg in the lcs doesen't look so sad at all.

10k (15k when enchanted with demon limb) ar for bf isn't bad at all , eh? The idea for Schaefers was taken from AJK's furysin thread. It is imo the best fury weapon one could want. Better than a Stormlash. Nice damage , the static field and the superuseful +ar.

Like the two previuos characters this one aso had max block. With that and good resist + 50% dr even 1k health was ok to play with. Had one death and that was because of broken computer (formatted since then) and not my leet skillz :D

Oh and the hellforge was something uninspiring that I didn't bother with a screen.

Also sth wierd found with my avenger. :scratchchin:

Special Thanks for Antonio , Eddie , Dune , Bob , Callador for the hammer and still Fabian for the ever useful green belt that I use alot! gg

Thats it! Thanks for reading and see you again in another pat/mat thread or in mp! Bai guyz

edit: fixed some pictures.
 
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