Matriarch/Patriarch/Guardian Archive Thread

Originally posted by Usurper on Jun 14, 2004:

Matriarch AcidQueen

Matriarch AcidQueen
Level 81 Fists of Fire/Phoenix Strike Assassin

Stats (before/after items):
Str - 170/220
Dex - 80/153
Vit - 225/245
Eng - 25/35

HP: 1074
Mana: 232

Skills (before/after items):
Fists of Fire - 20/30
Phoenix Strike - 20/30
Dragon Tail - 20/30
Claw Mastery - 13/17
Fade - 5/9 (13 with +shadows skills claws)
Misc. Martial Arts skills - 1/11
Misc. Shadows Disciplines skills - 1/5 (9 with +shadows skills claws)

Fists of Fire damage: 1404 - 1495 per second (on charge three)
Phoenix Strike damage (meteor): 2208 - 2484
Phoenix Strike damage (fire): 2107 - 2242 per second
Dragon Tail damage: 762 - 1242 (6 kicks)

Resists: 75% all around (after fade)

Equipment:
Weapon - Bartuc's Cut-Throat
Sheild - Whistan's Guard (socketed with a perfect diamond)
Weapon Switch - 2x Shadow Scissors Katar
Armor - Lionheart (in a Superior Hellforge Plate)
Helm - Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Gloves - Soul Knuckle (rare Heavy Gloves with +2 MA skills, 20% IAS, +5 str, +14 dex, +14 AR, and +16% poison resist)
Belt - String of Ears
Boots - Gore Rider (upgraded)
Amulet - Kenshi's Amulet of the Tiger (+3 MA skills and +26 life)
Ring #1 - Raven Frost
Ring #2 - Order Touch (+28 AR, +26% fire resist, and +28% cold resist)
Charms - +2 MA skills, +2 SD skills, and an assortment of stats and resists bonuses

Mercenary: Act 2 Holy Freeze
Weapon - Cruel War Pike (socketed with a Shael and Amn)
Armor - Duriel's Shell
Helm - Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest

Inspired by the title of the Sergio Leone film A Fistful of Dynamite.

This character was originally meant to be a way of trying out some skills I had never previously used extensively, but turned out to pretty fun. I had initially worried that she'd hit a brick wall in hell due to fire immunes, but Dragon Talon combined with Phoenix Strike's other charges turned out to be surprisingly effective.

Thanks to everyone who MPed with me, especially Zertuals_Ovrlrd (I played alongside his berserker barb though most of hell).
 
Originally posted by Vang on May 3, 2006:

Matted the DragonTail

I've always been fond of assassin, but more along the martial arts line than the trapper line. Maybe its because I'm relearning the game since 1.10 changed everything from 1.09. Not having finished an assassin, and being on some "Fire Kick" literally in this case though. She managed to find herself at a spiffy level and even though I didn't get to wear quite what I wanted, she managed to pull of some impressive damage to boot(some more bad pun)

She started off quite well, and once I got TigerStrike and DragonTail working together, and my brain working with it, and the hotkeys, I really enjoyed that part, I mainly used 6 skills, with a few others showing up(not including prebuffed Masters/venom/BoS) So the whole build up 2-3sets of charges and let go with a bang was less frustrating and highly enjoyable. Unto Hell, everything else is more of a chore sometimes.

First and foremost:

My playstyle for Hell: I have the character solo it all, except some key wps. Frankly I don't feel like wasting time running around and doing mundane stuff anymore, usually by the time I get this far I want to try another build. Act1 and Act2 are pure soloed. Act3 I can't stand. Not anymore, so I toss them the Travincal and Durance of Hate Level2 wps. Act4, River and City of Damned wps. Act5, Cry.Passage and Ancients Way wp(with the occasional WSK2 wp when all goes horrible before I reach the wp from the ancients)

The first 2 acts were easy, and with my boot to everythings face, little problems occured, Catacombs, Arcane Sanctuary, and the Tomb was a little pestering for all the Physical/Fire immune types in the areas. Act3 was short and sweet, and everything died rather quickly.

Act4 I decided to gain a couple levels, maybe I'd finally use that CoA I traded Tracul for, if I could muster up enough resist with removing my Kira's Guardian. City of The Damned spawned a lot of non-fire immunes and only ran into one run with Venom Lords. Hit 82, and bam I couldn't make a Lem to upgrade a Vipermagi to get the resist I wanted, oh well. Chaos Sanctuary was interesting and wasn't nearly as bad as the Fireclaws Bear had it, actually I had it quite easy(we'll get to that later) Lord De Sies(or whatever that dude is called) caused me some problems, knocking me off once due to some reason, lets call it..I walked away and got a drink, yeah that works...anyways once I dispatched him and Big D spawned he cowered in a corner while I whacked him a couple of times and he went splat. Dropped: nothing. Noticing a theme on the drops?

Act5: Gloams, I don't know why I hate them until today. They usually are just annoying, but today they cost me a couple of stupid deaths, in WSK2 before i reached the waypoint. They cost me about 20million experience, and I was <1million from 83. Everything to this point was a dispatched with a kick or two. So I ran some Eldritch about 8times to get the level, and continue on my merry way after I hooked myself up with the waypoint. The first three groups of Baals minions died quite nicely, and the fourth followed suit shortly after. Lister and company took a little longer than I'd like and a couple merc deaths due to that fact he was cursed and Physical immune. Baal followed suit and would of died sooner if i didn't have my buff weapons active for 3/4's of his life, I wondered why I could him hit at all. Baal dropped: Gull Dagger

Now the stats:
Kick Damage(lvl35) 24k-35k.

Now lets explain this real quick, as it was a learning process. Your supposed to be horrid against Fire Immunes, due to having fire damage, but since your damage is calculated after physical damage is dealt, physical immunes are actually the horrible ones. And your kick still does some nice damage, enough to kill fire immunes without to much work. If all else fails, just Dragon Talon them, having +15skills works that way. So my debate was to use my Medusa's Gaze that I love, or use Atma's Scarab for amplify damage. After some tries in early hell, Atma's was the clear winner, as I never got hit enough with a holy freeze merc running around when I needed the extra damage. Now I don't know the whole calculation stuff, but if it all worked right, when AmpDamage was on, my damage doubled at least that much(maybe a lot more, I don't know) So enemies died superfast. I don't know how much faster, but you just kick and they die. Maybe I'll figure the whole stuff out once I get some more odd gear on.

Stats and stuff:

HF Drops:
NM: Pul
Hell: Hel

Level: 83
Str: 185(261)
Dex: 60(119)
Vit: 235(255) *10 points unused*
Life: 1152
Resist: 61FR/41CR/85Light/75Poison

Gear:
Kira's Guardian
Leviathan
Tgods
ShadowDancers
Blood Gloves w/ +2MA 20ias 9CB 5FR 15Life
RavenFrost
Blood Ring w/ 1%LL 5%ML 15FR 20LR 61AR
Atma's Scarab
Main Weapon: Bartuc's
Offhand: Jade Talon +2MA/+1Shadow 48%Resist
Switch: Two +3 Shadow claws.
Charms: 8 +1 MA charms, various other lifers/resist charms.

Merc:
Holy Freeze
Upped Kelp Snaer
Kira's Guardian
Upped Shaftstop

Skills:
MA:
20 Tiger Strike
20 Dragon Tail
1 Dragon Flight
1 Cobra Strike
2 Pre-req

Shadow:
1 Mindblast
1 Venom
10 Shadow Master
7 Pre-req

Traps:
20 Death Sentry
4 Lightning Sentry
1 BladeFury
5 Pre-req

Next up: Either a Frenzy/Dual Wield Barb using Schaefer's Hammer/Stone Crusher, Frost Maiden, or some zealer.
 
Originally posted by VoX Dei on Mar 7, 2010:

Matriarch Shaula_II, Titan Scorpion

Presenting Matriarch Shaula_II, Titan Scorpion


Background

Shaula_II is the remake of Shaula, the PDR Immobilizer. I took the things I’ve learned from playing the original Shaula, while keeping the general trapless martial artist approach, but did an additional effort to make the look match that of a scorpion. As a result, Shaula_II has a powerful sting (Tiger Strike/Dragon Tail combo and Venom), strong claws (C/C setup and Dragon Claw), and a sturdy exoskeleton (Fade).

In this build I’ve focused on maxing DTail damage. That means going Titan, maxing TS and DTail, as much +skills as possible, having a way of reliably breaking PIs*, and finally decent IAS.

* Unfortunately, Dragon Tail takes enemy physical resistance into account before converting physical damage into fire damage. Hence, unless there’s a source of Amplify Damage or Decrepify to break PIs, DTail does zero fire damage vs. PIs. Add the fact that my secondary attacks (TS and DC) also take enemy physical resistance into account, and it’s not hard to imagine that without a reliable way to break PIs, the whole build would play exactly like a Greek Tragedy!


LCS


Stats

70% IAS with Fade => 7 FPA TS / 9 FPA DTail / 6 FPA DC
20% FCR => 14 FPC
0% FBR => 5 FPB
90% FHR => 4 FPH
40% DR

Attributes

Everything into strength!

Skills**

** Slvl with hard points (slvl after +skills, including +1 from CtA’s Battle Command)

Martial Arts: 42
20 (47) Tiger Strike (only charge-up used)
20 (47) Dragon Tail (main attack)
1 (28) Dragon Talon (pre-requisite)
1 (28) Dragon Claw (FI and mana burn solution)

Shadow Disciplines: 53
20 (32) Fade (main “aura”)
20 (32) Venom (more damage)
4 (16) Claw Mastery (20% critical)
4 (16) Weapon Block (56% block)
1 (13) Burst of Speed (secondary “aura”)
1 (13) Psychic Hammer (pre-requisite)
1 (13) Cloak of Shadows (main debuff)
1 (13) Shadow Warrior (pre-requisite)
1 (13) Shadow Master (the apprentice; only lacks a rare amulet)

Traps: 0

Equipment

Claw 1: Bartuc's Cut-Throat 200/5 (Shael)
Claw 2: Bartuc's Cut-Throat 196/9 (P.Skull)
Helm: Kenshi's Circlet of the Whale (2 x plain jool of Fervor)
Armor: ‘Chains of Honor’ Wyrmhide
Belt: Arachnid Mesh
Gloves: Kenshi’s Gauntlets of Alacrity
Boots: Shadow Dancer 1/20
Amulet: Beast Torc
Ring 1: Raven Frost 20/240
Ring 2: BKWB 5
Switch weapon: CtA War Scepter +5 BO
Switch shield: Spirit
Pre-buff: Demonlimb
Inventory: full with Cube + Charms
Code:
Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Sustenance x 5
Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Life
Shogukusha's Grand Charm of Dexterity x 2
Fine Small Charm of Vita x 2
Fine Small Charm of Sustenance
Fine Small Charm of Dexterity x 2
Steel Small Charm of Vita x 4
Steel Small Charm of Dexterity x 3

Mercenary

Jemali, lvl84 Might enhanced Town Guard:
Weapon: eth Reaper’s Toll (Amn)
Helm: Guillaume’s Face (Um)
Armor: eBugged ‘Treachery’ Great Hauberk

Journey

Normal and Nightmare were played at /p8 (except the Ancients ofc). As usual I took my time doing all quests, but this time I used BoS to skip lots of unnecessary fights. When fighting was required, TS, BoS, and CoS, made everything smooth. This lasted until the moment I had to retrieve Khalim’s brain from the NM Sewers and first met with the exploding Dolls. At this point she had a little less than 500 life and was still underlevelled for CtA, so you can imagine what happened when she got face on with Dolls… I had to switch to Fade and let the merc do the kills. At Chaos Sanctuary she found a harder wall (ie, Oblivion Knights). I had to repeat the “Doll dance”, and pay my share of resurrections to the poor angel Tyrael. This despite this time she had the help of Shadow Master thanks to Izual’s skill points. After CS headache, things went back to being smooth, and I levelled her a bit at Pindle (to late 60s) before entering Hell.

Hell was played at /p1-p3, mostly /p1. At the Countess’ Tower, I found yet another wall (PI ghosts merrily singing McHammer's "Can't touch this"). Jemali was still a few levels shy from equipping his Reapers, so I had to go back to NM Pindle, and get him to 75. After equipping the Reapers, PIs were no longer a problem and everything went back to being smooth. I think I only found one PI that stood proud against Reapers’ Decrepify. Cursed Fanatic Hephaesto, literally hammered her once in the head, and she was dead, but the Sewers and CS were much easier this time with higher lvl Fade, higher life, and the lower p.settings. As a sidenote, I’ve missed Mind Blast a little, especially at the problematic Sewers and CS. In hindsight, I don’t think my decision to shave off this 1-point wonder was such a good idea! Act V was a breeze. The Ancients rolled pretty harmless. CoS completely shut down Souls. Reaching Baal was unavoidable. Baal was rather docile and insisted that Shaula_II should be addressed as Matriarch, and so it was. Happy End :cloud9:

Overall, Shaula_II was a very enjoyable char to play, and a major success relative to her predecessor.

Finds

Nightmare:
Hel (Forge)
Fal (Pindle)
Hone Sundan (Pindle)
Skin of the Flayed One (Pindle)

Hell:
+17 max damage jool (somewhere in Act 2)
+3 Bone Spirit ethereal wand with 2os (Spider Forest)
+1 Traps skiller (Spider Forest)
+1 Javelin, +3 max dmg skiller (Spider Forest)
~300% ED, 40% IAS Crystal Sword - unfortunately not ethereal (Flayer Dungeon lvl3)
+3 ES staff (Durance of Hate)
Hellmouth (Plains of Despair)
Pul (Forge)
Marrowwalk (Arreat Plateau)
Oculus (Baal)

Next

Probably Tornado Wolf.


Thank you for reading thus far!

Cheers,
VoX Dei
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by zaphodbrx on Apr 6, 2012:

Matriarchs Lanfear and Graendal, two assassins

Hey guys. Just finished two assassins. Played them together, had a lot of fun with them, thought I'd make a writeup.

Matriarch Lanfear - phoenix strike/Dragon claw

Stats


Level: 84
Life 1597
Mana 189

Endgame LCS with burst of speed active

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Block: 50%
Physical resist: 42%
Phoenix strike: 7fpa
Dragon claw: 5fpa

Skills

20(36) Phoenix strike
20(36) Fists of fire
20(36) Dragon claw
20(27) Claw mastery
1 Mind blast, dragon flight, burst of speed ,all prereqs
3 Blades of ice

No death sentry.

Gear

Natalya's Mark ( ed jewel )
Bartuc's Cutthroat
Natalya's Shadow ( RalOrtTal )
Natalya's Totem
Natalya's soul
Kenshi's amulet of the colossus
Raven frost
Grim Knot ( ring )
Verdungo's hearty cord
Glyph hold ( gloves )

Switch: Call to arms+ Sigon's guard

Charms: 5x MA skillers, resist and life charms

Gear readout

Code:
Natalya's Mark
Scissors Suwayyah
One-Hand Damage: 134 to 171
Durability: 40 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: 88
Fingerprint: 0xdc6cb627
+236% Enhanced Damage
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)

Ruby Jewel
Required Level: 58
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xa8957cae
+36% Enhanced Damage

Bartuc's Cut-Throat
Runic Talons
One-Hand Damage: 95 to 179
Durability: 58 of 69
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 115
Required Strength: 115
Required Level: 67
Claw Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0x97f5cfb0
+20 to Strength
+20 to Dexterity
+195% Enhanced Damage
+25 to Minimum Damage
+50 to Maximum Damage
6% Life stolen per hit
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
Required Level +7
30% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Natalya's Shadow
Loricated Mail
'RalOrtTal'
Defense: 585
Durability: 34 of 36
Required Strength: 149
Required Level: 73
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xa0964d55
+158 Defense
Fire Resist +30%
Lightning Resist +30%
Poison Resist +55%
Poison Length Reduced by 75%
+2 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)
+84 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (3: 3 used)

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0xc643beec
+16 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+218 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

Grim Knot
Ring
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0xed5af9a4
+19 to Strength
+20 to Attack Rating
Lightning Resist +16%
Cold Resist +25%
3% Mana stolen per hit

Natalya's Soul
Mesh Boots
Defense: 140
Durability: 65 of 66
Kick Damage: 23 to 52
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 25
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 99
Fingerprint: 0x836daebc
+96 Defense
Lightning Resist +24%
Cold Resist +16%
+50 Maximum Durability
40% Faster Run/Walk
Heal Stamina Plus 21% (Based on Character Level)

Glyph Hold
Vampirebone Gloves
Defense: 79
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x4559fdd5
+5 to Strength
+20% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +8%
20% Increased Attack Speed
+2 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Kenshi's Amulet of the Colossus
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: **
Fingerprint: 0xd0f83ab
+55 to Life
+3 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Natalya's Totem
Grim Helm
Defense: 216
Durability: 39 of 40
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 59
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x6e8b7f37
+20 to Strength
+28 to Dexterity
+143 Defense
Magic Damage Reduced by 3
All Resistances +20

Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Mithril Coil
Defense: 143
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 106
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0x6b12cba1
+40 to Vitality
+103 to Maximum Stamina
+118% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 12%
Replenish Life +13
10% Faster Hit Recovery

Mercenary: Act2 Normal defensive ( defiance )

Gear
Code:
1: Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Death Mask
Defense: 114
Durability: 11 of 20
Required Strength: 55
Required Level: 66
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x31d141c3
+60 to Life
+30 to Mana
+45 Defense
All Resistances +15
10% Life stolen per hit
10% Mana stolen per hit

2: Stone
Balrog Skin
'ShaelUmPulLum'
Defense: 3891
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 155
Required Level: 57
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x4db09d45
+16 to Strength
+10 to Energy
+16 to Vitality
+276% Enhanced Defense
+300 Defense vs. Missile
All Resistances +15
60% Faster Hit Recovery
Level 16 Clay Golem (16/16 Charges)
Level 16 Molten Boulder (80/80 Charges)
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 4 used)

3: The Reaper's Toll
Thresher
Two-Hand Damage: 37 to 438
Durability: 51 of 65
Required Dexterity: 89
Required Strength: 114
Required Level: 75
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x76e3f885
+211% 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

Thoughts

The first character I ever made was a phoenix striker, and since I had much better gear now I thought I would go back and do it again, as I had respeced that character into a K/T sin. Also, I had a vague idea to make a physical 'claw-sin' using dragon claw, and so thought of making a sort of hybrid.

That did not work out very well. I mean dragon claw is okay. But I sort of expected it to be like frenzy and it totally failed in that regard. The physical damage is not even really enough as a backup attack. Looking back I think the main problem is the low damage of claws, and also, I think I've been spoiled by 'Grief's and 'Death's and 'Fortitude's and such like. I still think a physical clawsin is possible, using dual shadow killers, fortitude, highlord's wrath and so on, using Venom and Death sentry to speed things up, but at the moment I don't feel any inclination to try it.

Leaving that aside, it was actually a pretty enjoyable character. All of hell was done on p3, and I powerleveled in the pits for a while to get the level reqs for Natalya's mark. It was particularly annoying because all the cool features of the set such has huge dual leech, damage reduction, resists are only obtained with the full set. I finally got to level 79 on killing Hell Radamant and boy was that dude sick with -5 poison resists. His poison was draining 200 hitpoints per second or something ridiculous.

Normal mode was mainly done with bug ravenclaw and in nightmare I became a blades of ice assassin. It was very impressive- I plan to go back to it again. Hell was okay, except for an incredibly nasty pack of wraiths in the flayer dungeon who were cursed, fanaticism enchanted and backed by undead dolls. It's been a while since there was a monster pack I couldn't kill no matter what. Also, lowered to p1 for bosses, ancients, some places with lots of FIs like chaos sanctuary, and almost everything after Nihilithak because I just wanted to finish the game. Also, no traps, on purpose.

Stopped using CtA after getting the full Natalya's set. Between 42% DR, 50% weapon block, high defense and 1500+ life, I didn't need more survivability at any point. And there was also another problem. Every time I switched to the CtA, she kept taking her pants off. Rumour has it it has something to do with 'strength'. Can someone help me here? Pic.

Future plans: Pure phoenix striker respec. No more of dragon claw crap. One of the things I really want to explore is that of using the elemental charges in places where there are none of that elemental resistance present. The advantage is the charge up time is faster due to dual claws, I can key both to RMB and simply press that button down, changing between charge up and release ( can't do this with PS because PS is much more precise regarding number of charges, so I use LMB for that ), and they do about the same damage ( specially blades of ice ). I did try it with BOI ( nightmare ), and FoF (hell ), though FoF is much worse than meteor from PS.

Matriarch Graendal - Lightning Trapsin

Stats


Level: 84
Life 1494
Mana 365

Endgame LCS ( fade active )

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Skills

20(37) Lightning sentry
20(36) Fire blast
20(36) Death Sentry
20 Charged bolt sentry
11 Shock Web
1(10) Fade, Weapon block
0(10) Mind blast ( from claw )
0(10) Dragon flight (from claw )

Gear

Witch hunter's greater talons of swiftness ( shael )
Grim scratch greater claws
Treachery dusk shroud
Harlequin crest ( Ral)
Rune beads ( amulet )
Storm clutches ( gauntlets )
Chaos turn ( ring )
Havok shank ( boots )
Arachnid mesh
Stone of Jordan

Switch: Harmony longbow ( for running around quick without using BoS )

Charms: 4x Entrapping Grand charms ( thanks maxicek ), resists, life charms

Gear readout
Code:
Witch-hunter's Greater Talons of Swiftness
'Shael'
One-Hand Damage: 21 to 35
Durability: 69 of 69
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 79
Required Strength: 79
Required Level: 42
Claw Class - Fastest Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xc0a8558c
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
50% Increased Attack Speed
+1 to Lightning Sentry (Assassin Only)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Grim Scratch
Greater Claws
One-Hand Damage: 31 to 53
Durability: 52 of 52
(Assassin Only)
Required Dexterity: 76
Required Strength: 76
Required Level: 42
Claw Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x9989da85
+35% Enhanced Damage
+12 to Attack Rating
+7 to Minimum Damage
+4 to Maximum Damage
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
+1 to Dragon Flight (Assassin Only)
+1 to Mind Blast (Assassin Only)
Ignore Target Defense

Arachnid Mesh
Spiderweb Sash
Defense: 136
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 80
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xfa4e1d81
+117% Enhanced Defense
Increase Maximum Mana 5%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+1 to All Skill Levels
Slows Target by 10%
Level 3 Venom (11/11 Charges)

Harlequin Crest
Shako
'Ral'
Defense: 121
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 62
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x9226850d
+2 to Strength
+2 to Energy
+2 to Dexterity
+2 to Vitality
Damage Reduced by 10%
Fire Resist +30%
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to All Skill Levels
+126 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+126 to Mana (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Havoc Shank
Mesh Boots
Defense: 44
Durability: 16 of 16
Kick Damage: 23 to 52
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0xe3d39eb4
Lightning Resist +36%
Poison Resist +25%
Adds 1-12 lightning damage
30% Faster Run/Walk

Storm Clutches
Gauntlets
Defense: 20
Durability: 24 of 24
Required Strength: 60
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 86
Fingerprint: 0xf861b117
+26% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +24%
Cold Resist +28%
17% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

The Stone of Jordan
Ring
Required Level: 29
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x3297ec83
+20 to Mana
Adds 1-12 lightning damage
Increase Maximum Mana 25%
+1 to All Skill Levels

Chaos Turn
Ring
Required Level: 26
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 92
Fingerprint: 0x146c21d2
+13 to Life
+15 to Attack Rating
Cold Resist +20%
Poison Resist +27%

Rune Beads
Amulet
Required Level: 40
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 91
Fingerprint: 0x1559d894
+9 to Strength
+4 to Mana
Lightning Resist +23%
6% Mana stolen per hit
10% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Trap Skills (Assassin Only)

Treachery
Dusk Shroud
'ShaelThulLem'
Defense: 466
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 77
Required Level: 49
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 83
Fingerprint: 0xcd64e5f
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)

Mercenary: Act 2 normal defensive ( defiance )
Gear

Code:
Treachery
Boneweave
'ShaelThulLem'
Defense: 493
Durability: 34 of 45
Required Strength: 158
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x46f215ba
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)

Andariel's Visage
Demonhead
'Ral'
Defense: 333
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 102
Required Level: 83
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x9d482858
+27 to Strength
+115% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +0%
Poison Resist +70%
+10% to Maximum Poison Resist
8% Life stolen per hit
20% Increased Attack Speed
+2 to All Skill Levels
15% Chance to cast Level 15 Poison Nova when struck
Level 3 Venom (20/20 Charges)
Socketed (1: 1 used)

Insight
Colossus Voulge
'RalTirTalSol'
Two-Hand Damage: 91 to 817
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Dexterity: 45
Required Strength: 200
Required Level: 48
Polearm Class - Slow Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 82
Fingerprint: 0x728c0375
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
+231% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
Adds 5-30 fire damage
+75 poison damage over 5 seconds
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+1 to Critical Strike
35% Faster Cast Rate
197% Bonus to Attack Rating
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Level 17 Meditation Aura When Equipped
Ethereal (Cannot be Repaired), Socketed (4: 4 used)

Thoughts

Well, basically a cookie cutter here. Normal was the bug RC, level 30+ lightning sentries annihilated everything till hell. Act 1 and 2 were played at p7, but then slowed down to p3 in Act3 ( waaaay too many LIs in act 3 ), and kept that for the rest of the game. Bosses and such were at p1. As always with ranged/casters I hated their fragility and lack of leech, but having ranged attack made up for that.

This is probably my only character to use blue and yellows as endgame weapons- In fact, she uses more yellows than 4-5 of my characters combined, which is kinda funny. I particularly like the fact that I got DF and MB as staffmods thus saving tons of points in useless skills - because of that, this character will be 'complete' at level 93. Also, this was my first character not having teleport to go without CBF the whole game. It wasn't nice, but 75 cold resist and stacked ias kept it from being too annoying.

It would have been nice to get 2os on the magic claw at larzuk's but whatever. It still reaches max laying traps fpa even without treachery.

This is the first time I used a treachery merc, instead of the usual ebug stone/duress, going for the fade assassin+fade merc. Have to say, I wasn't impressed. Even with defiance he only had 6k def which is way less than what I'm used to and he died a lot. Probably to do with the fact that the treachery wasn't in an ebug armor ( and that it doesn't give enhanced defense ). Wish I could get that reduced curse duration elsewhere - probably the most useful aspect of fade.

Future : Baal runs maybe? Don't really know. Enigma+Infinity and level 93 would complete the character, I suppose.

Finds

( both considered together )

String of Ears from NM Radamant
Pus spitter crossbow ( didn't have one )
Naj's puzzler ( my third )
Ist, Gul from hellforges :cloud9: ( About time )
Metalgrid amulet.

Well, that's all I guess! Thanks for reading.

Three sept completion: 19 of 21.
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by zaphodbrx on Nov 10, 2012:

Matriarch Arianne: Infinity wielding phoenix striker

Hurrah for two handed phoenix strikers!

Good stuff

LCS

Phoenix strike: slvl 36

Fire damage: 3036 - 3384, burn damage: 1012 - 1077 per sec
Lightning damage: 1 - 7704
Cold damage: 576 - 616

Skills

20(36) Phoenix strike
20(36) Fists of fire
20(36) Claws of thunder
20(30) Shadow warrior
3(13) Fade
1(17) Dragon talon
1 in all prereqs, CoS, Mindblast, Dragon flight

Gear

Infinity thresher ( -50% elr )
Treachery ancient armor
Mara's kaleidoscope
Glyph Visor circlet
Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Eagle Track boots
Raven frost
Storm Touch ring
Glyph Hold gloves ( 2/20 MA )
switch: CtA+spirit

7x Shogukusha skillers, one with +24 life.

Readouts

Code:
Infinity
Thresher
'BerMalBerIst'
Two-Hand Damage: 42 to 504
Durability: 65 of 65
Required Dexterity: 118
Required Strength: 152
Required Level: 63
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0xaab0f32f
+258% Enhanced Damage
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
35% Faster Run/Walk
Prevent Monster Heal
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
Level 12 Conviction Aura When Equipped
50% Chance to cast Level 20 Chain Lightning When You Kill an Enemy
Level 21 Cyclone Armor (30/30 Charges)
+43 to Vitality (Based on Character Level)
-50% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x7cb4853b
+5 to Strength
+5 to Energy
+5 to Dexterity
+5 to Vitality
All Resistances +29
+2 to All Skill Levels

Treachery
Ancient Armor
'ShaelThulLem'
Defense: 224
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Strength: 100
Required Level: 43
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x826717c9
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)

Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x389177a7
+15 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+150 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen

Storm Touch
Ring
Required Level: 13
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0x8e67a02d
+1 to Energy
Fire Resist +20%
Lightning Resist +27%
Poison Resist +29%

Eagle Track
Light Plated Boots
Defense: 10
Durability: 18 of 18
Kick Damage: 8 to 16
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 26
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 88
Fingerprint: 0xe4654593
+5 to Dexterity
Fire Resist +27%
Lightning Resist +36%
Poison Resist +33%
46% Extra Gold from Monsters

Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Mithril Coil
Defense: 143
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Strength: 106
Required Level: 63
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 94
Fingerprint: 0x6b12cba1
+40 to Vitality
+103 to Maximum Stamina
+118% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 12%
Replenish Life +13
10% Faster Hit Recovery

Glyph Visor
Circlet
Defense: 27
Durability: 35 of 35
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x730d791c
+14 to Strength
+38 to Life
+83 to Mana
5% Life stolen per hit
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels

Arianne's Glyph Hold
Vampirebone Gloves
Defense: 79
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 47
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 75
Fingerprint: 0x4559fdd5
+5 to Strength
+20% Enhanced Defense
Fire Resist +8%
20% Increased Attack Speed
+2 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)

Call to Arms
Crystal Sword
'AmnRalMalIstOhm'
One-Hand Damage: 17 to 52
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Strength: 43
Required Level: 57
Sword Class - Very Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 81
Fingerprint: 0x708d6b82
+252% 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
+3 to Battle Orders
+3 to Battle Cry
+2 to Battle Command
Prevent Monster Heal
+1 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (5: 5 used)

Spirit
Monarch
'TalThulOrtAmn'
Defense: 143
Chance to Block:  47%
Durability: 86 of 86
Required Strength: 156
Required Level: 54
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 84
Fingerprint: 0xbc067e13
+22 to Vitality
+94 to Mana
+250 Defense vs. Missile
Lightning Resist +35%
Cold Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
55% Faster Hit Recovery
28% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to All Skill Levels
+5 Magic Absorb
Socketed (4: 4 used)

Merc: Act 1 fire rogue

Merc gear:

Code:
1: Delirium
Tiara
'LemIstIo'
Defense: 302
Durability: 25 of 25
Required Level: 52
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 80
Fingerprint: 0x76359f60
+10 to Vitality
+261 Defense
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to All Skill Levels
11% Chance to cast Level 18 Confuse on striking
6% Chance to cast Level 14 Mind Blast when struck
14% Chance to cast Level 13 Terror when struck
1% Chance to cast Level 50 Magic Shrine when struck
Level 17 Attract (60/60 Charges)
Socketed (3: 3 used)

2: Treachery
Wire Fleece
'ShaelThulLem'
Defense: 472
Durability: 32 of 32
Required Strength: 111
Required Level: 53
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x53f77b8
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)

3: Silence
Crusader Bow
'DolEldHelIstTirVex'
Two-Hand Damage: 45 to 189
Required Dexterity: 97
Required Strength: 78
Required Level: 57
Bow Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x9a691be7
+200% Enhanced Damage
All Resistances +75
11% Mana stolen per hit
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Requirements -20%
20% Increased Attack Speed
20% Faster Hit Recovery
Hit Causes Monster to Flee 25%
Hit Blinds Target +33
75% Damage to Undead
+50 to Attack Rating against Undead
+2 to All Skill Levels
+2 to Mana After Each Kill
Socketed (6: 6 used)

Thoughts

Arianne is inspired by Matriarch Serafina, the Mang Song's phoenix striker. I was intrigued by that thread and decided to make my own 2H PSer . No Mang Songs here, but I did have an infinity runeword in a non ethereal base for some reason. Actually the reason was that while making the runeword I didn't have any specific build in mind but based on my experiences with reapers vs eth reapers I thought that the merc would not be much more useful with an ethereal base, like the damage on reapers really matters jack so long as it procs decrepify. That was before I knew about all those unbreakable lightning immunes and how the merc damage really matters in taking them down and all that. Oh well, one lives and learns. Also, polearms are very suited for assassins as they have unique polearms called Naginatas. Wait, that was Median XL. But still.

Since I did not need an act 2 merc as such I decided to get an Act 1 rogue with a crowd control theme, namely Silence bow and Delirium helmet. An interesting choice, not a very good one, but I decided to be stubborn and stick with it to the end. Lacking a tank I was seriously hampered in Act 1 hell until I went back to Akara and respeced to put my spare skill points in shadow warrior- a very good decision. It not only acts as a decent tank but also casts phoenix strike pretty often and they do considerable damage and cold freeze. The rogue merc on the other hand, I struggle to find anything positive about it. Confuse and blind were sometimes useful I guess. It did not go into bone form very often and thus didn't crash the game even once which is sort of a record for a delirium merc. While in bone form, it still fired arrows which looked hilarious. It also didn't die very much.. atleast not any more than Act 2 mercs die anyway, which was pretty good.

Arianne despite her 2k hp and 'crowd control skillz' was really a glass cannon. She just took soo much damage from everything. In comparison I realized that Natalya set for phoenix strikers isn't only good for the skills and ITD claw but also very much for the defensive bonuses like pdr, claw block and huge dual leech. For that one I infact didn't bother with using cta at all for the most part, while with Arianne it was painfully obvious when BO ran out. She was also a big potion addict, requiring frequent town trips and mass full rejuv muling after every playing session.

Damage wise it was pretty good. I still felt that the first charge of meteor mostly surpassed lightning even with all the -elr. Of course lightning was very good at times, specially much better than usual against broken lightning immunes even though it is much better to just burn them with fire. Especially in tight spaces lightning kind of sucked while fire shined. Cold damage was not significant though with all the reduced cold resistance on monsters it froze them for like a year and that was useful, though I didn't use it much, but my shadow warrior occasionally did. With all those items I felt like I could have been doing more damage. Still, bringing that conviction aura near all that elemental damage resulted in very dead monsters. The attack speed at 12 fpa wasn't as good as claws but it made releasing the right charge much easier. I used 1 point dragon talon as the release attack as normal attack just didn't have good enough AR even under conviction.

I played all of hell on p5, right up till the end. Only Ancients, Diablo/Baal and maybe Duriel were done on p1. Fairly good damage output meant that it wasn't slow at any point, but her fragility really annoyed me. One thing which bugged me was how she somehow lagged behind 1 level compared to my zealot who also played hell on p5. Like completed A2 at L82 rather than 83, A4 at 85 rather than 86. Really don't know why, did mostly full clear with both. Ended just a little shy of 87, but part of that because on a sudden impulse I bumped it up to p8 for Baal waves. It kind of worked until the last wave when I realized how completely over the head I was. Impossible knockback dinosaurs and Lister spawned Lightning enchanted on top of that. I lured them out and parked them, slipping back into the throne room and killed the 2-3 remaining minions somehow, and after that it was Baal on p1 and the end.

One funny incident happened while killing Andariel. I had some stacks of meteors left over on killing some monsters when Andariel came up and I thought, well, let her beat on the shadow while I pick off all these irritating shamans with lightning first. Well I had just killed the first shaman and then I heard a whoosh, ting and saw a big pillar of flame. Apparently Andariel had died to the meteor burn damage and the shadow. And that was on p5! Hilarious. Come to think of it this was the first time I had actually killed an act boss by accident rather than on purpose.

There was one pack in the game that this character could not beat ( some others were a bit tough but were beaten eventually, and parked Lister ). That was in Drifter caverns, a champion pack of four frenzytaurs and just behind that a frenzytaur boss pack with might and amp. Fire immune frenzytaurs at that. Merc and shadow vanished instantly, I didn't stay to find out more.

Infinity has respectable physical damage and it was noticeable, when I often took out large chunks of monster life when charging up the PS. It also had good crushing blow and I used dtalon to apply CB to bosses for a bit and then drop meteors on them. Ancients were killed on fourth try. First time there was a holy freeze aura and amp the next two times. Surprisingly none of them were fire immune, or one had been broken, I don't know. What else do I like about infinity on a character other than the usual suspects? The FRW is excellent, life per level is good. Charges of cyclone armor are worse than useless though.

There were actually very few deaths compared to how fragile this character was. One was in bloody foothills to a double might fana amped slinger/quillrat pack. Another was to some skeletons in Jail level 1 or 2. Maybe more, but I don't remember. Usual NDE moments with gloams and such.

All in all I enjoyed this character. She had good damage and lack of survivability and no A2 merc were a good challenge. Still if you are considering some build with non ethereal infinity, don't do this one. It's not worth it.

Finds: Realgar jewel of fervor. Two um runes, one from hellforge another from Durance 3. Baal dropped a reapers. That's about it.

Screenshots

Lightning!
Unbreakable FI/LI Infector
Bone doll shooting arrows
Remains from five boss packs in the same screen
The end


Weird/Oddball sept completion- 4/7

Patriarch Ralf, untwinked single pass co op concentrate barb
Matriarch Traxex, everything enchantress ranger
Patriarch Asmodean, holy bolting zealot
Matriarch Arianne, Infinity wielding phoenix striker

Thanks for reading!
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by @maxicek on Apr 4, 2012:

Matriarch Serafina - Mang Song's Phoenix Striker

Once upon a time I found a Mang Song's Lesson with perfect -Fire and -Lightning resists. Some time later in the Assassin Forum, someone asked about the effect of facets on the elemental martial arts skills (-resists works, +damage doesn't generally). This thread gave me the idea for a Mang Song's Phoenix Striker.


The idea went on hold for a long time. I wanted her to be powerful, but keeping a high level of +skills was not possible whilst maintaining a decent attack speed, resists and chance to hit. Then came 1.13c with it's increased rune drops. Infinity and Chains of Honour were the glue I needed to hold the build together.




Serafina
Matriarch Serafina, Mang Song's Phoenix Striker

1584909815374.png
The Chaos Lightning charge of Phoenix Strike gets my vote for the best looking skill animation in the game.


Stats
1584909791549.png

Name: Serafina
Class: Assassin
Experience: 1152918452
Level: 86


Naked/Gear
Strength: 38/97
Dexterity: 20/46
Vitality: 442/447
Energy: 25/30
HP: 1546/1784
Mana: 152/209
Stamina: 728/744
Defense: 5/1083


Fire: 189/149/89
Cold: 158/118/58
Lightning: 185/145/85
Poison: 138/98/38


MF: 25
GF: 0
FR/W: 20
FHR: 15
IAS: 55
FCR: 30




Skills
Claw Mastery: 1/12
Psychic Hammer: 1/12
Burst of Speed: 1/12
Weapon Block: 1/12
Cloak of Shadows: 1/12
Fade: 1/12
Shadow Warrior: 1/12
Mind Blast: 1/12
Venom: 0/0
Shadow Master: 2/13


Tiger Strike: 1/22
Dragon Talon: 2/23
Fists of Fire: 20/41
Dragon Claw: 1/22
Cobra Strike: 1/22
Claws of Thunder: 20/41
Dragon Tail: 1/22
Blades of Ice: 20/41
Dragon Flight: 1/22
Phoenix Strike: 20/41


Nothing in Traps




Equipment
Weapon: Mang Song's Lesson 'Shael'


Switch Weapon: Ribcracker


Helm: Rare Circlet - Armageddon Brow
Armour: Chains of Honor
Belt: Hsaurus Iron Stay
Boots: Hsaurus Iron Heel
Gloves: Kenshi's Gauntlets of Alacrity (+3 MA 20IAS)


Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope (23% resist all)
Ring1: Ravenfrost
Ring2: Rare with life leech, strength and lightning resist.


Inventory: 7x Martial Arts Skillers, Resist Charms, FHR charms.


Equipment Readouts:
Code:
Mang Song's Lesson
Archon Staff
Two Hand Damage: 83 - 99
Durability: 10 of 26
Required Level: 82
Required Strength: 34
Fingerprint: 0x59deda97
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5 to All Skills
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+30% Faster Cast Rate
-9% to Enemy Cold Resistance
-15% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
-15% to Enemy Fire Resistance
Regenerate Mana 10%
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Shael Rune


Ribcracker
Quarterstaff
Two Hand Damage: 58 - 156
Durability: 130 of 130
Required Level: 31
Required Strength: 25
Fingerprint: 0x253e11b5
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+50% Increased Attack Speed
+50% Faster Hit Recovery
250% Enhanced Damage
Adds 30 - 65 Damage
50% Chance of Crushing Blow
+100% Enhanced Defense
+100 Defense
+15 to Dexterity
+100 Maximum Durability


Armageddon Brow
Circlet
Defense: 53
Durability: 35 of 35
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0x3e466881
Item Level: 91
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
+15% Increased Attack Speed
8% Mana stolen per hit
+71% Enhanced Defense
+17 to Strength
All Resistances +20
Fire Resist +5%
Damage Reduced by 4
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Garnet Jewel of Fervor


Chains of Honor
Dusk Shroud
DolUmBerIst
Defense: 776
Durability: 15 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


Hsarus' Iron Stay
Belt
Defense: 220
Durability: 13 of 16
Required Level: 3
Required Strength: 25
Fingerprint: 0x1f6d64b4
Item Level: 12
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life
Cold Resist +20%
Set (2 items): +215 Defense (Based on Character Level)


(2 items): Attacker Takes Damage of 5


Hsarus' Iron Heel
Chain Boots
Defense: 9
Durability: 13 of 16
Required Level: 3
Required Strength: 30
Fingerprint: 0x7945a373
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Faster Run/Walk
Fire Resist +25%
Set (2 items): +860 to Attack Rating (Based on Character Level)


(2 items): Attacker Takes Damage of 5


Kenshi's Gauntlets of Alacrity
Gauntlets
Defense: 14
Durability: 23 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


Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0x3e396d1c
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
All Stats +5
All Resistances +23


Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Fingerprint: 0x312fb210
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+213 to Attack Rating
Adds 15 - 45 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
+19 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
Cold Absorb 20%
Cannot Be Frozen


Raven Gyre
Ring
Required Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x393b39f9
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+14 to Attack Rating
8% Life stolen per hit
+17 to Strength
+16 Maximum Stamina
Lightning Resist +26%


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 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: 0x28600945
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+24 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


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 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


Amber Small Charm of Venom
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0xbf9dd437
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 15 Poison Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
Lightning Resist +10%


Amber Small Charm of Dexterity
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0xb1c3d3e1
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +11%


Ruby Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0xeed6503c
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Fire Resist +11%


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


Snake's Small Charm of Balance
Small Charm
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0x5c4e080b
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5% Faster Hit Recovery
+9 to Mana


Small Charm of Balance
Small Charm
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0x23a97a48
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5% Faster Hit Recovery


Snake's Small Charm of Balance
Small Charm
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0xae090d47
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5% Faster Hit Recovery
+8 to Mana




Mercenary Equipment
Mercenary Type: A2 NM Defensive - Holy Freeze
Helm: Vampire Gaze
Armour: 'Treachery' Ethereal Ornate Plate
Weapon: 'Infinity' Ethereal Thresher


Code:
Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 32 of 40
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0xf490892e
Item Level: 75
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 6 - 22 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
7% Mana stolen per hit
8% Life stolen per hit
+100% Enhanced Defense
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Damage Reduced by 17%
Magic Damage Reduced by 13


Treachery
Ornate Plate
ShaelThulLem
Defense: 1009
Durability: 31 of 31
Required Level: 43
Required Strength: 160
Fingerprint: 0xc591f1b3
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
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: NM,Pul Hell.
Vex in Dark Tunnel, 11% Sapphire SC of Inertia. I thought I took a screenshot of the Vex, but when I completed the character I found out I had a different key bound to screenshot than usual. Hence the general lack of pretty pictures.


Thoughts
Despite the 1.8K life Serafina was a glass cannon. The 8% damage reduction from CoH wasn't really enough when going toe to toe with monsters. I did consider trading for a PDR circlet and amulet, but in the end decided against it. With Cloak of Shadows, Mind Blast and a strong merc, I used careful crowd control to stay alive. And running away if I had too. In the end there were comparatively few deaths. CoS and MB really are all you need to stay alive if you play with a bit of care and that was one thing I wanted to prove with this build. I have often advocated no weapon block on Phoenix Strikers, so here is proof it is viable.


Attacking at 10FPA was a bit slow at times and you certainly notice the speed difference compared to 7FPA with claws. But it did mean that it was easier to control which charge was triggered. It was a long time since I last played a pure Phoenix Striker. It is a bit dependent on your equipment setup, but I definitely found charge two to be more powerful than charge one. On several occasions I released charge one, re-charged and released charge two, killing the target monster pack, before the meteor had even arrived. The residual fire damage of charge one is good though, and with conviction it did considerable damage.


I played the whole of Hell at /players3, except The Ancients. Charges one and two did decent damage but I found the Cold charge ineffective even when fully synergised, despite the conviction and -cold resist from MSL. It does freeze extremely well, even in Hell, and was an important part of my crowd control, but when you consider you can get half as many cold attacks in than you can drop meteors, I don't think it is an efficient way to kill things.


I couldn't decide what switch weapon to use and the slots were empty until Act 5. With +5 to skills from MSL, a pre-buff wasn't required. I could have used some claws with Death Sentry staffmods, but I dislike switching weapons mid fight. With a triple element main attack I didn't need an immune solution and I wanted to avoid using Call to Arms. With the Ancients fight looming, I decided to add a Ribcracker. 50% Crushing Blow in one weapon slot and a chunk of FHR. It fitted well with the character wielding only staves.


Ribcracker turned out to be an inspired choice. The Ancients took out my mercenary before I had even managed to kill one, leaving me with a huge drop in chance to hit, especially as I was unleashing Phoenix charges with Normal attack. Enter the Dragon (Talon). With a two point investment I hit 4 kicks at fastest 7/3 kick speed and with 50% crushing blow. So I ran around the Arreat Summit like a maniac on (Burst of) Speed until I managed to separate one. I Dragon Taloned him to about 10% life and then charged PS and released it with DT so that I could actually hit him. Then it was a case of repeating it with the other two. Despite the fact I had some in my inventory, I was missing the extra row of potions in Hsaurus' belt and very nearly ran out. I think in the end I had two mana potions left before I killed the last Ancient and gained access to the WSK.


The WSK was comparatively easy after The Ancients. Lister and The Minions of Destruction were first stunned by Mind Blast and then frozen with the third PS charge. After that it took a few Lightning charges to take them out. Baal was Dragon Taloned down then had some meteors dropped on his head.




That's Assassin number 17. Three more to go.
 
Originally posted by aduckduckgoose on May 21, 2009:

Shael- Lightning Trapsin

Helloww 👋. Woops, my first post ended up taking waaay too long and had to re-log, only to find my very long post gone *poof*. Oh well, it was too long anyways, I'll try to hurry it up this time around.

I finally Mat'ed Shael, and boy does it feel good. My first Mat/Pat ever!!

Normal difficulty was the hardest act for me all game because I didn't know about /p8 'til somebody told me on the forums:crazyeyes: (I was level 22 when I attempted Ancients....)

After that, NM was quickly finished on /p8, with nothing eventful happening. Although, I did find my best runes in that difficulty (Hel from ?, Pul, Ko from chests in early NM iirc and Fal sometime later).

As I initially wanted to do alot of Pit runs with Shael, as soon as I hit Hell I skipped everthing and made a mad dash for Outer Cloister WP. I did about 3-4 runs and stopped 'cuz my merc died twice every run due to poor equipment and those nasty nasty Dark Archers. (Now that I think about it, I forgot about Cloak of Shadows....wow) Still, it would've taken along time so I decided to go back to NM Act3 and ask Mr. Meph for some early Christmas gifts for me merc. He happily obliged and offered me MANY Tal's Crests and a Shaftstop. (Apparently I've been very bad this year b/c he decided to send me many MANY excep. unique swords; TWICE; *PUKE*)

PIts Round 2. I did a few runs with kill/safety equipment just to see how fast I could run it, not expecting any items of course but LOW AND BEHOLD! I found a Mara's in uberchest with 0mf! 👍. Ironically, after I put on my mf stuff( around 300%) I stopped finding any more uniques of anything and gave up after about 100 runs. (although I was lucky with ammy's I guess cuz I found nice +63mana +34mf ammy and my first teleport ammy, along with the Mara's.)

Hell was also a breeze on /p3.

Fast forward to Hellforge. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! A HEL RUNE...:steam:
ANYWAYS... Chaos sanctuary was easy, the hardest part being the lightning immune bird?1? thing? boss from the first seal. (just had to sit there for a bit spamming fireblast) Lord The Sissy dropped the quickest out of the 3 seal bosses, and Diablo was a sitting duck thanks to Reaper's Toll.

Once in Harrogath, Shael decided to take a break from her demon-slaying contract to explore a career in the circus (Barbarians in Spandex & Co.)
She was doing quite well at her newly appointed task, http ://img41.imageshack.us/img41/5831/screenshot022j.jpg, but eventually crumbled under the stern gaze of the ringmaster, Quel-Theck, http ://img41.imageshack.us/img41/4308/screenshot037x.jpg. woops...notice though, how she does really look like a juggler:yes:

After her little career stunt failed, she signed a new contract with Tyrael & Co. to defeat the Ancients and slay Baal. My merc died quite a bit to the Ancients on the first few tries so I got annoyed and just did /p1. Poor Korlic, his only immunity was cold so he went down the fastest thanks to LS and FB at the same time. Switched back to /p8 for WSK then /p1 for Baal and Minions. No sweat. Boy, this still turned out to be pretty long, I think I got a little excited for my first Mat/Pat!

Shael the Lightning Trapsin - lvl 84.

Stats:

STR 90/192 (heh, glitched IK and Bartuc's)
DEX 50/115
VIT 300something/370
ENRG Base/55

Life: 1465
Mana: 278

Resists:
Fire 16
Cold/Poison Minus 21
Light 75 👍

Skills:

1 in prereqs, 9 after gear
7/15 Shadow Master
20/28 FB
20/28 CBS
20/28 LS
20/28 DS

End game Gear:

Peasant Crown
Mara's
Naj's Light Plate (nice resist all, + to life and +1 to skill)
2x Bartuc's (looked for +3 trap claws, but gave up trying to shop them)
IK set- gloves, belt, boots
2x rare rings with +25 +30 Lightning resist

Merc:

Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest
Shaftstop
Cryptic Axe Insigiht/ Reaper's Toll

Thanks! Bye:wave:
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by AJK on May 29, 2007:

Come see my first assassin matriarch.

Stupid word filter won't let me spell ******in. :sad2:

*hacks word filter*

Yay, I can spell assassin now. This is a good thing(TM), because I just promoted my first assassin to matriarch. Better late than never, I guess. I therefore present, for your reading (dis)pleasure:

Matriarch FluffyPuppy, lvl. 82 furysin.

Once upon a time I found a missing part of my grail. A fanged knife. I nearly self-destructed when I found out that it was ethereal. After much wailing and lamenting in the IFT, a certain fish of the night remarked that an eth fleshripper would be gg for a furysin.

I have never played an assassin before, so I decided to consult a guide. While I could clearly see why a fleshripper would be condensed awesomeness, I decided to go for something even more destructive instead. Enter Schaefer's hammer. First imagine 20% chance to cast static on each missile fired at a bit over 4 times per second. Then imagine a couple of death sentries. Finally, imagine lots of squishy demon giblets all over the place.

There's a problem with blade fury though. The problem's called 'Harry', er., I mean 'lack of AR'. If a blade goes *whoosh* and a monster goes *lol, noob*, the CtC *zap* doesn't mean squat. This problem is easily solved by plugging a Jah rune into a weapon. How thoughtful of Blizzard.

I killed three cows and popped two superchests for runes to cube into a Jah for the 'Ignore target's defense' mod, but no luck. A 'Jah'ed hammer was out of the picture. Good thing that this weapon comes with its own hefty AR bonus, so my HR poverty wouldn't affect my chance to hit too much. A couple of charms and Cleglaw's claw+pincers (oh noes, a normal set!!!) bumped the AR up to a nice and comfy level. The blessed aim merc I hired shot my AR through the roof. 12.5k AR meant a close to 90% chance to hit.

Overall playing experience: A very fun and very safe build. My shadow master had enough points in it to serve as a useful second tank while I stayed behind and peppered the battlefield with tiny but deadly projectiles. Cloak of shadows took care of anything stupid enough to take a shot at me. Because I was twinked like on steroids, I managed to clear acts I-III on /P3, and went for /P1 after that. Having 35% slow and 30% CB meant that bosses weren't really as scary as they should be (except one).

I only died twice in Hell, a personal record:
- Diablo: I underestimated his fiery breath.
- Ancients: Stupidity on my part. I had them slowed 35% but one still managed to sneak away from my two tanks and whack me in the head while I stretched myself and yawned. *note to self: do not do that in HC*

Retirement plans: none. She was fun to play, but she doesn't have the power or spare slots to serve as a Baal runner/MFer.

---

Stats:
- Str: 103 (189)
- Dex: 77 (103)
- Vit: 295
- Ene: 25
- Resists: 10/11/75/0 (72/73/75/62)
- LCS unbuffed/no merc aura
- LCS with aura/buffs

Skills, or, I suck at planning: (=+skills)
- 1 Blade Fury (5)
- 20 Death Sentry (24)
- 13 Lightning Sentry (17)
- 20 Venom (28 prebuff)
- 11 Shadow Master (19 prebuff)
- 4 Mind Blast (8)
- 8 Fade (16 prebuff)

Endgame gear:
- Head: Pain Casque
The best hat I ever gambled, with the +29 str bonus being the most important for my build.
- Neck: Beast Eye
A very solid assassin amulet with another much appreciated strength boost (+27).
- Weapon: Schaefer's Hammer 'Eth'
My own personal WMD. Having a 20% CtC static means that my corpse bombs become even more devastating than they already are. This weapon also has the closest thing to ITD: a scaling AR bonus (and an 'Eth' rune).
- Prebuff: Dual Bartuc's
Didn't have +3 shadow tree claws, too lazy to shop.
- Torso: 'Duress' Archon
Crushing blow, elemental damage, open wounds, resists. No armor I have tops it for this build.
- Shield: Cleglaw's Claw 'PDiamond'
Made a surprising comeback in my setup. I was looking to gather as much AR as obtainable without resorting to the familiar angelic combo. When I stumbled upon the claw's set bonus I decided to go for it. It's almost a backpack full of steel charms' worth of AR.
- Gloves: Cleglaw's Pincers
Knockback and slow. My kind of tactic when playing a walking talking tommy gun.
- Belt: Nosferatu's Coil
Strength, leech, and even more slow. Tailor made for this build.
- Ring 1: Raven Hold
A dutch expression: "It's better to have one bird in the hand than ten in the air" (but then in Dutch).
It has absolutely no relevance for my choice of ring, but the name made me think of said saying.
Er, what did I want to say, ... O yes. This ring has leech, AR, and strength, and could not escape my finger because of it.
- Ring 2: Raven Frost 20/241
More dex = more AR. More AR = more AR. CbF = keeping your speed up at all times. All of these mods are OK in my book.
- Boots: Are made for walking
And for evisceration. The first to guess that I'm wearing Gores wins the thread.

Charms:
Code:
A combination of shocking/arcing/steel with life

AR:           +542
Life:         +60
Strength:     +2
Light damage:   +7-396

Merc: Blessed Aim
- Head: Tal Rasha's ugly mug
Resists and 10% leech. I should use this one more often, because it's quite good.
- Body: Shopstaff, staffshop?
You know, 30% damage reduction. Keeps morons vertical against nasty bosses.
- Weapon: 'Obedience' sup.eth. Thresher
I love cheap runewords that turn the merc into something that can almost solo the game, if it weren't for the inability to step through portals, and the requirement of a frontal lobotomy for joining the desert army.

Leveling gear, in chronological order:
- Cleglaw's Tooth + Claw + Pincers.
My fledgling furysin loved it. Deadly strike, scaling damage, leech, knockback, slow.
- Coldsteel Eye + Spirit forge.
Again deadly strike, slow, and blinds target. All firing merrily away at 6FPA.
The spirit forge added a bit of fire and two sockets for mana batteries (sapphires).
- 'Crescent Moon' Phase blade + Tiamat's Rebuke
Had to reshuffle some gear to get enough Dex, but this weapon could have been endgame material.
Ignores target's defense. CtC static. A great moderately (Um) expensive furysin weapon.
Tiamat's Shield seasons the flying razorblades with three flavors of elemental ouch.
- Ethereal Fleshripper
Now the fun starts. -50% target's defense. Crushing blow. Deadly strike. Open wounds. Slow.
This weapon turns each tiny shuriken into a mini death machine. Endgame material, save the fact that I had something more mass-destructive in my possession, which unfortunately had to wait until level 79.

Rares:
Rich (BB code):
Pain Casque
Tiara
Defense: 42
Durability: 22 of 25
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 95
Fingerprint: 0x1e351571
+27 to Strength
+120 to Attack Rating
Lightning Resist +39%
6% Mana stolen per hit
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
30% Faster Run/Walk

Beast Eye
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 96
Fingerprint: 0x1fffbeb0
+29 to Strength
+1 to Dexterity
+49 to Life
Fire Resist +41%
Lightning Resist +12%
Cold Resist +12%
Poison Resist +12%
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels

Raven Hold
Ring
Required Level: 65
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 78
Fingerprint: 0x49e6456
+13 to Strength
+5 to Mana
+41 to Attack Rating
Poison Resist +19%
8% Life stolen per hit

Note 1: The name FluffyPuppy was caused by a massive brainfart.
Note 2: If I ever manage to find a Jah rune, I will never use it for something as trivial as ITD, of course. It's no 'Enigma' that I shall make a 'Brand' new bow. Have 'Faith', and 'Dream' on.
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by Arkardo on Apr 27, 2010:

Matriarch #11: TutHola, untwinked lightning Trapsin

Hey all,

My eleventh SP character to obtain the (P/M)atriarch title. I usually don't make Pat/Mat threads, because I usually make twinked cookie-cutter builds that just aren't much fun to read. TutHola is such a typical lightning trap Assassin, but she's untwinked, unlike my other characters. She found everything herself, although GoMule was used to export stuff. Runeword mod was utilized once.

Character info

Name: TutHola
Class: Assassin
Experience: 419176283
Level: 74

Stats

Naked/Gear
Strength: 84/130
Dexterity: 65/79
Vitality: 231/251
Energy: 25/25
HP: 889/975
Mana: 134/220
Stamina: 450/450
Defense: 16/292
AR: 100000289/100000400 <- GoMule fail

Fire: 116/76/16
Cold: 73/33/-27
Lightning: 122/82/22
Poison: 104/64/4

MF: 82 Block: 10
GF: 114
FR/W: 27
FHR: 5
IAS: 0
FCR: 10

Skills

Fire Blast: 20/25
Shock Web: 1/6
Charged Bolt Sentry: 15/20
Lightning Sentry: 20/25
Death Sentry: 20/25

All Shadow Disciplines except Venom: 1/6

Martial Arts: 0/lol

Equipment
Weapons: 2x Witch-hunter's Blade Talons (+2 Assassin skills)
Helm: Tarnhelm

Hailstone Flange
Hard Leather Armor
Defense: 38
Durability: 28 of 28
Required Level: 18
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0x47a99366
Item Level: 45
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+53% Enhanced Defense
+4 to Strength
+12 to Life
Fire Resist +10%
Poison Resist +24%
Attacker Takes Damage of 3

Carrion Fist
Gauntlets
Defense: 18
Durability: 72 of 72
Required Level: 13
Required Strength: 60
Fingerprint: 0x54f0a0c0
Item Level: 36
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+14% Enhanced Defense
Lightning Resist +23%
Fire Resist +15%
10% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Boots: Tearhaunch
Belt: Thundergod's Vigor

Skull Clasp
Amulet
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x4a86b29f
Item Level: 66
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Summoning Skills (Necromancer Only)
+25 to Life
Cold Resist +33%
Fire Resist +23%
39% Extra Gold from Monsters

Order Touch
Ring
Required Level: 30
Fingerprint: 0x68e1a4d5
Item Level: 39
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+27 to Attack Rating
+8 to Strength
+5 to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +18%
Fire Resist +28%
15% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Death Grip
Ring
Required Level: 13
Fingerprint: 0x31361ba
Item Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Dexterity
Lightning Resist +15%
Poison Resist +22%
10% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

On switch: 2x Shadow claws (+3 Shadow Disciplines)

Charms
Viridian Small Charm of Frost
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0x74f8cb2
Item Level: 15
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 1 - 2 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (25 Frames)
Poison Resist +6%

Grand Charm of Strength
Grand Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0x1f2e3ca7
Item Level: 14
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+6 to Strength

Serpent's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 35
Fingerprint: 0xa05d4bc1
Item Level: 58
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+51 to Mana

Small Charm of Fortune
Small Charm
Required Level: 18
Fingerprint: 0x8f1c2192
Item Level: 46
Version: Expansion 1.10+
4% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Fine Grand Charm of Inertia
Grand Charm
Required Level: 14
Fingerprint: 0xe0229a09
Item Level: 19
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+7% Faster Run/Walk
+2 to Maximum Damage
+14 to Attack Rating

Stout Large Charm of Strength
Large Charm
Required Level: 2
Fingerprint: 0xf3bd9148
Item Level: 9
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 Defense
+3 to Strength

Jade Large Charm of Incineration
Large Charm
Required Level: 26
Fingerprint: 0xc58972e
Item Level: 56
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 9 - 13 Fire Damage
Poison Resist +12%

Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 17
Fingerprint: 0x610a04e9
Item Level: 79
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+14 to Life

Amber Grand Charm of Burning
Grand Charm
Required Level: 22
Fingerprint: 0xa77dfe78
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 2 - 6 Fire Damage
Lightning Resist +26%

Small Charm of Balance
Small Charm
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0xc65c7b6d
Item Level: 77
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5% Faster Hit Recovery

Snake's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x92cc7afd
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+26 to Life
+35 to Mana

Stout Small Charm of Dexterity
Small Charm
Required Level: 16
Fingerprint: 0xd5a15f95
Item Level: 60
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+4 Defense
+2 to Dexterity

Small Charm of Life
Small Charm
Required Level: 14
Fingerprint: 0x8cd8ea5d
Item Level: 82
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+9 to Life

Stash
Kelpie Snare <- my precious

2os Trellised Armor [Tal + nothing]

Mercenary
Name: Kasim
Race: Desert Mercenary
Type: Off-Nightmare
Experience: 48158164
Level: 73
Dead?: false
Death count: 409583405820

Naked/Gear
Strength: 165/170
Dexterity: 132/137
HP: 1317/1431
Defense: 980/1750
AR: 1100/271700

Fire: 135/95/35
Cold: 141/101/41
Lightning: 135/95/35
Poison: 142/102/42

Havoc Cowl
Hydraskull
Defense: 281
Durability: 10 of 18
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 84
Fingerprint: 0xb17afdba
Item Level: 83
Version: Expansion 1.10+
10% Chance to cast level 3 Nova when struck
+93% Enhanced Defense
+24 to Life
Cold Resist +6%
Poison Resist +7%

Loricated Mail of the Whale
Defense: 489
Durability: 31 of 36
Required Level: 55
Required Strength: 149
Fingerprint: 0xe3210d39
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+90 to Life

Insight
Battle Scythe
RalTirTalSol
Two Hand Damage: 101 - 230
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Level: 27
Required Strength: 72
Required Dexterity: 72
Fingerprint: 0x65f85ed9
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 14 Meditation Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster Cast Rate
244% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
246% Bonus to Attack Rating
Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
+5 to Critical Strike
All Stats +5
+2 to Mana after each Kill
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Ethereal

Quests
All completed, except Nihlathak & Cow King.

Way Points
All activated, except Halls of Pain.

Gameplay
Gameplay was rather easy at the start; I knew I would have three respecs, so I spent my skill/stat points as I saw fit. Didn't encounter many problems early on, except for the usual mana problem. Also, the earlier traps aren't very powerful. Charged Bolt Sentry was a huge improvement over Shock Web, especially against bigger monsters like Gorebellies and those walking tree things. Also, Shadow Warrior solved some of the mana issue. theAll in all, things were a bit slow, but very doable.

At level 24, Lightning Sentry made things a bit easier, but the higher level CBS was still better in some situation. Around level 28 I used my first respec to pump up LS and have spare points for Death Sentry, which helped my killing speed a lot. At level 30, I got DS and Shadow Master, but I hold off using them for some time. I killed Baal around level 29 I think. There was just one minor obstacle after Baal.

Then cometh Nightmare, where things started to get a bit hairy. The Tainted in the Jail levels were tough with their lightning resist. Pitspawn Fouldog had to be skipped. Somewhere in Act 2, I think, I found a Kelpie Snare, which was incredibly useful at certain difficult parts throughout the game. In Nightmare Act 3, a stroke of incredible luck happend in the form of this, which quickly turned into this. Shorty after, a pair of Tearhauch dropped, which ended up being worn for the rest of the game.
In Act 5, I found my Thundergod's Vigor. While not so useful without maxed lightning resist, I at least finally had a belt with four rows.

Hell was where things just were a crawl. I used so many TP's and had to revive my merc to many times, it just got ridiculous. Lightning Enchanted monsters were terrifying. Here's an example. Even if I could deal with the monsters, my navigation skills were a bit off sometimes. Try and figure out the funny part in this image.
With great difficulty I reached the Council in Act 3. Here I had to equip my merc with the Kelpie Snare (which was a GODSEND for this part; not just the slowing, but also the fire resist) for the first time, and I lured them out one by one.
In the Durance of Hate I found out the knockback of Mind Blast actually works against Champions/Uniques. :scratchchin:
The River of Flame was actually pretty easy; Vile Mothers and Sand Worms spawned their children, which turned into nice corpses for DS. Diablo himself was relatively easy, thanks to Kelpie Snare.
Act 5 was also surprisingly easy, with the exception of the Ancients. This fight was by far the hardest. It took me a few rolls to get Madawc not fire immune. My merc was useless here, and I died. Another try later I managed to kill Talic and Korlic, but I carelessly forgot to replenish the health & mana potions I had scattered around. It took litteraly hundreds of Fire Blasts to finally kill him. I was tempted to abort the fight and respec just for this fight, and respec again for the Worldstone Keep, but I hung on. About half an hour later, he finally died, and I sighed with relief.
Baal's minions were difficult, but nothing compared to the Ancients. Baal was actually tough, but compared to the Ancients and even his minions he was a joke. His droppings.

Tadaa.


Deaths
#1: NM Maggot Lair. Attacked from behind by some beetles. Could've S&E'd out, but that would've been cheesy.
#2: NM Palace. A ridiculously large pack of cold skeletal archers behind some grates got the better of me.
#3: Surrounded by those pesky blowpipers somewhere in early NM Act 3 Flayer Jungle, I couldn't move. Should've used Mind Blast...
#4: NM Mephisto somehow killed me while I was behind a pillar, so I couldn't see what happened. I think it was a Frost Nova, or sumthing.
#5: I think NM Diablo killed me... not sure though.
#6: Hell Mephisto killed me with... Charged Bolts, I think?
#7: Hell Hephasto the Armorer pretty much one-shotted me, due to my low resists.
#8: One of the Ancients WTFpwned me.
#9: Last but not least, Lister killed me when I returned from my TP, having conveniently surrounded it with his minions to ping-pong me.

Hellforge
?/Fal/Ko

Notable finds
Fool's Blade Talons of Quickness
Um rune


Q&A time!
Q: What's with her low-ish level?
A: I tried not to re-run any area's. For the most part, I didn't, except for when I S&E'd and continued from a WP, of course. Also, I had to redo NM Tal Rasha's Tomb, because I had forgotten to talk to Tyrael.

Q: Your gear smells like noob.
A: Yeah, I didn't have much luck in finding decent gear, even considering I didn't re-run.

Q: Noob. Why so many deaths?
A: Resists were a notorious problem throughout the entire game. Maybe I should've used Fade (only used like, once or twice) more, but I valued mobility more in most situations. Also see the previous two Q&A's.

Q: Noob. Why did you not complete the Nihlathak and Cow King quest?
A: Because I did not feel like it.

Q: Noob. Why did you collect all those WP's?
A: That's what I do. I'm a completionist. For the most part. Wait...

Q: What's with the 2os armor with a Tal in your stash?
A: I was hoping to find an Eth to make Stealth. Sad thing is, I had one, but I used it to make Holy Thunder in some lousy Scepter for the runeword grail. Then I found out I didn't have any left, and only had 2 Nefs. Didn't find either for the rest of the game.

Q: Noob. What are your plans for her next?
A: No plans yet. Right now I can't be arsed to run anything.

Q: Noob. Where are your (P/M)atriarchs #1-10?
A: I never made threads about them, save for one. As a bonus, I'll quickly describe them.
Matriarch Frostmagics, level 95 Blizzard Sorceress
Not much to say. Responsible for >95% of my wealth.

Patriarch Triple_H, level 83 IK Whirler
Yeah, I like wrestling, big whoop. Equipped with dual Nature's Peace, and has Sol'd socketed. Very safe, pwned Hell.

Matriarch Roia, level 93 lightning Sorceress
Her name was generously provided by some random name generator website, which I unfortunately have forgotten. Probably my most powerful character. Runs Diablo & Baal with an Infinity merc.

Matriarch Bloodpulse, level 86 Furyzon
Apparently I didn't have much inspiration when I named her. Anti-cow specialist.

Patriarch Blaaskaak, level 89 Wind Druid
Used to run Baal with, until I started running LK special chests. Awesome character to play with, though.

Patriarch Snoeihard, level 90 Travincal Whirler
Used to be a failure, but got respec'd in 1.13 and now kicks Counsil's behinds.

Patriarch Galbak, level 86 Fanatic Zealot
Has a Grief PB to whack with, so you know this one rocks. I was hoping I could use this character to run Uber Tristram someday. Yeah... :scratchchin:

Matriarch Cawaryia
Another character named by the random name generator, I used her... to run NM Andariel until I got sick & tired of it. Didn't find a single damned SoJ.

Patriarch Widowmaker, level 78 Fury Druid
Badly named Druid, this one I didn't enjoy so much, mainly because of the Fury interruption crap.

Patriarch Isary, level 72 Holy Shock Zealot
Another name generator name. Zeals & shocks, what else can I say?

Conclusion
I liked playing her, but in Hell I remembered why I usually play twinked. Nah, just kidding. Next time I'll re-run area's for more experience and drops, though.
Well, thanks all for reading this wall of text. I hope you enjoyed it! Comments are welcome, of course. 👍
 
Last edited:
Originally posted by bcoe on Jul 29, 2010:

Matriarch Progne_Subis (base vita Furysin)

Matriarch Progne_Subis


This turned out to be a lot of fun… I started this gal about a year ago, around when Ceramic Weasel wrote his marvelous Blade Fury manifesto. It is highly recommended reading if you haven’t seen it. Short version is that using max-BF adds a significant chunk of off-weapon damage that isn’t seen on the LCS and can make BF quite an effective killer. I played her through mid-nightmare back then, but abandoned her. I don’t clearly remember why, I think the AR issues were getting frustrating. Well, I’ve been thinking about a BF-build that would really start to come into her own around late nightmare, so I re-specced her into Progne’s stats (skills didn’t change) and pushed her through Hell. She was a TON of fun- very safe, a very effective killer, and an interesting play-style.

Her name is the latin name for the Purple Martin. It’s the largest north American swallow. Live in big colonies, and are amazing fliers. They have this iridescent puplish-black plumage, and are very pretty.

STATS:

Name: Progne_Subis
Class: Assassin
Experience: 917229326
Level: 83

Naked/Gear
Strength: 67/103
Dexterity: 398/400
Vitality: 20/20
Energy: 25/25
HP: 274/786
Mana: 148/189
Stamina: 197/247
Defense: 99/2441

Fire: 90/50/-10
Cold: 119/79/19
Lightning: 90/50/-10
Poison: 102/62/2

MF: 0 Block: 97
GF: 25
FR/W: 33
FHR: 59
IAS: 0
FCR: 25

Skills (after + skills):
Fire Blast: 1/4
Shock Web: 1/4
Blade Sentinel: 1/4
Charged Bolt Sentry: 1/4
Wake of Fire: 1/4
Blade Fury: 20/23
Lightning Sentry: 1/4
Wake of Inferno: 0/0
Death Sentry: 20/23
Blade Shield: 0/0

Claw Mastery: 1/7
Psychic Hammer: 1/7
Burst of Speed: 1/7
Weapon Block: 1/7
Cloak of Shadows: 1/7
Fade: 20/26
Shadow Warrior: 1/7
Mind Blast: 1/7
Venom: 0/0
Shadow Master: 20/26

LCS: Blade fury damage 904-3102
Actual BF damage: I don’t know, but a lot higher

AR= 6637 ( also -50% to enemy defense)
Deadly strike= 68%
Crushing blow = 40%
Slows Target = 45%
Open Wounds = 60%
Chance to block = 75%
Damage Reduction= 28% (fade)

Equipment:
Weapon: Perfect eth Fleshripper socketed with an Ohm
Fleshripper
Fanged Knife
One Hand Damage: 99 - 382
Durability: 19 of 19
Required Level: 68
Required Strength: 32
Required Dexterity: 76
Fingerprint: 0x7dc02ba0
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
350% Enhanced Damage
-50% Target Defense
25% Chance of Crushing Blow
33% Deadly Strike
50% Chance of Open Wounds
Prevent Monster Heal
Slows Target by 20%
Ethereal
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Ohm Rune
Helmet: Cruel Cowl (super-sexy circlet)
Cruel Cowl
Coronet
Defense: 40
Durability: 25 of 30
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0xe73f92dd
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
83% Bonus to Attack Rating (Based on Character Level)
+26 to Strength
+32 to Life
All Resistances +11
Level 2 Twister (16/25 Charges)
Armor: Fortitude Archon Plate
Shield: Lance Guard (with Ruby jewel – 40% ED)
Switch: CtA/Lidless Wall
Belt: Trang’s belt
Gloves: Cleglaw’s
Ammy: Angelic
Rings: 1x Angelic, 1x awesome dual leech rare
Shadow Turn
Ring
Required Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0x76ff7998
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+111 to Attack Rating
5% Mana stolen per hit
8% Life stolen per hit
Cold Resist +29%
Poison Resist +12%
Damage Reduced by 1
Boots: Goreriders

Charms:
4x Mentalists grand charms, 3x Steel GCs (2 of Vita, 1 of balance), 1x entrapping of balance
Steel/Shimmering SCs

Resists (after Fade): 59/75/59/71

Merc: Might with eth Reapers toll (with RjoF), fortitude dusk shroud, Vampire’s gaze

Finds:
Hellforge: Io/Um
Nothing else notable, yet

GoMule item data dump:
Code:
Mentalist's Grand Charm of Greed
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x24c3b284
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)
25% Extra Gold from Monsters

Mentalist's Grand Charm of Fire
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x5bd03f4e
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)
Adds 2 - 3 Fire Damage

Mentalist's Grand Charm of Strength
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xcd5eacd7
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)
+6 to Strength

Mentalist's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 53
Fingerprint: 0xca064b9a
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Shadow Discipline Skills (Assassin Only)
+32 to Life

Steel Grand Charm of Balance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 41
Fingerprint: 0x978b530f
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+12% Faster Hit Recovery
+126 to Attack Rating

Entrapping Grand Charm of Balance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xa9de710b
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Trap Skills (Assassin Only)
+12% Faster Hit Recovery

Steel Grand Charm of Vita
Grand Charm
Required Level: 69
Fingerprint: 0x9c5c1224
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+119 to Attack Rating
+36 to Life

Steel Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0xbd177116
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+28 to Attack Rating
+20 to Life

Steel Small Charm of Dexterity
Small Charm
Required Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x2efde1c5
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+32 to Attack Rating
+2 to Dexterity

Steel Small Charm of Strength
Small Charm
Required Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0xce4fcfaf
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+32 to Attack Rating
+2 to Strength

Steel Small Charm of Strength
Small Charm
Required Level: 49
Fingerprint: 0x8d5c4b5a
Item Level: 81
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+32 to Attack Rating
+2 to Strength

Shimmering Small Charm of the Glacier
Small Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0x1c0a6437
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 3 - 5 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (25 Frames)
All Resistances +5

Shimmering Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x855e693f
Item Level: 69
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+17 to Life
All Resistances +5

Shimmering Small Charm of Inertia
Small Charm
Required Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0x5480d7f9
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3% Faster Run/Walk
All Resistances +5

Horadric Cube
Fingerprint: 0xe716631
Item Level: 13
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Tome of Identify
Fingerprint: 0xb3622f59
Item Level: 9
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Steel Grand Charm of Vita
Grand Charm
Required Level: 69
Fingerprint: 0xac45ab93
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+121 to Attack Rating
+40 to Life

Tome of Town Portal
Fingerprint: 0xc98ffdf
Item Level: 93
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Angelic Wings
Amulet
Required Level: 12
Fingerprint: 0x8ce8f0ad
Item Level: 21
Version: Expansion 1.10+
20% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
+3 to Light Radius
Set (2 items): +75 to Life
Set (3 items): +1 to All Skills

(2 items): +10 to Dexterity

Fortitude
Archon Plate
ElSolDolLo
Defense: 1542
Durability: 37 of 60
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 103
Fingerprint: 0x84a060f2
Item Level: 88
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
+124 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Replenish Life +7
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
All Resistances +29
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

El Rune
Required Level: 11
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +50 to Attack Rating
+1 to Light Radius
Armor: +15 Defense
+1 to Light Radius
Shields: +15 Defense
+1 to Light Radius

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

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

Lo Rune
Required Level: 59
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: 20% Deadly Strike
Armor: +5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
Shields: +5% to Maximum Lightning Resist

Angelic Halo
Ring
Required Level: 12
Fingerprint: 0x4252736f
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life
Replenish Life +6
Set (2 items): +996 to Attack Rating (Based on Character Level)
Set (3 items): 50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

(2 items): +10 to Dexterity

Cleglaw's Pincers
Chain Gloves
Defense: 9
Durability: 14 of 16
Required Level: 4
Required Strength: 25
Fingerprint: 0xb646a5fa
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Slows Target by 25%
Knockback
Set (2 items): +830 to Attack Rating (Based on Character Level)


Trang-Oul's Girth
Troll Belt
Defense: 158
Durability: 14 of 18
Required Level: 62
Required Strength: 55
Fingerprint: 0xa21d7a85
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+95 Defense
+66 to Life
Replenish Life +5
+41 to Mana
+30 Maximum Stamina
Cannot Be Frozen
Requirements -40%
Set (3 items): Cold Resist +40%


Gore Rider
War Boots
Defense: 143
Durability: 32 of 34
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 94
Fingerprint: 0x8bee92b3
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+30% Faster Run/Walk
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike
10% Chance of Open Wounds
+166% Enhanced Defense
+20 Maximum Stamina
Requirements -25%
+10 Maximum Durability

Demon Limb
Tyrant Club
One Hand Damage: 100 - 182
Durability: 65 of 65
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 133
Fingerprint: 0xb6cf48b8
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion 1.10+
214% Enhanced Damage
+123% Damage to Demons
+150% Damage to Undead
Adds 222 - 333 Fire Damage
11% Life stolen per hit
Fire Resist +20%
Repairs 1 Durability in 20 Seconds
Level 23 Enchant (14/20 Charges)

Shimmering Small Charm of Balance
Small Charm
Required Level: 29
Fingerprint: 0x1722faaf
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5% Faster Hit Recovery
All Resistances +5

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Full Rejuvenation Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 100%
Replenishes Health 100%

Call to Arms
Superior Flail
AmnRalMalIstOhm
One Hand Damage: 3 - 88
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Level: 57
Required Strength: 41
Required Dexterity: 35
Fingerprint: 0xa98c0552
Item Level: 77
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+40% Increased Attack Speed
268% Enhanced Damage
+150% Damage to Undead
Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
7% Life stolen per hit
Prevent Monster Heal
+1 to Battle Cry
+6 to Battle Orders
+6 to Battle Command
Replenish Life +12
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Increase Maximum Durability 11%
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

Lidless Wall
Grim Shield
Defense: 285
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 70 of 70
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0x25fdd40e
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+20% Faster Cast Rate
+89% Enhanced Defense
+10 to Energy
Increase Maximum Mana 10%
+4 to Mana after each Kill
+1 to Light Radius

Fleshripper
Fanged Knife
One Hand Damage: 99 - 382
Durability: 19 of 19
Required Level: 68
Required Strength: 32
Required Dexterity: 76
Fingerprint: 0x7dc02ba0
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
350% Enhanced Damage
-50% Target Defense
25% Chance of Crushing Blow
33% Deadly Strike
50% Chance of Open Wounds
Prevent Monster Heal
Slows Target by 20%
Ethereal
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Ohm Rune

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

Lance Guard
Barbed Shield
Defense: 164
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 55 of 55
Required Level: 58
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0x17948086
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
40% Enhanced Damage
20% Deadly Strike
+108% Enhanced Defense
+50 to Life
Attacker Takes Damage of 47
15% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Ruby Jewel

Ruby Jewel
Jewel
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x4866f7d3
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
40% Enhanced Damage

Cruel Cowl
Coronet
Defense: 40
Durability: 25 of 30
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0xe73f92dd
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
83% Bonus to Attack Rating (Based on Character Level)
+26 to Strength
+32 to Life
All Resistances +11
Level 2 Twister (16/25 Charges)

Shadow Turn
Ring
Required Level: 65
Fingerprint: 0x76ff7998
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+111 to Attack Rating
5% Mana stolen per hit
8% Life stolen per hit
Cold Resist +29%
Poison Resist +12%
Damage Reduced by 1

Mercenary:

Name:       Durga
Race:       Desert Mercenary
Type:       Off-Nightmare
Experience: 69443872
Level:      83
Dead?:      false

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   183/183
Dexterity:  147/147
HP:         1687/1770
Defense:    1245/2817
AR:         1889/1889

Fire:       191/151/91
Cold:       191/151/91
Lightning:  191/151/91
Poison:    191/151/91

Fortitude
Dusk Shroud
ElSolDolLo
Defense: 1320
Durability: 6 of 20
Required Level: 59
Required Strength: 77
Fingerprint: 0x2d840f69
Item Level: 85
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
+83 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Replenish Life +7
+5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
All Resistances +29
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

El Rune
Required Level: 11
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +50 to Attack Rating
+1 to Light Radius
Armor: +15 Defense
+1 to Light Radius
Shields: +15 Defense
+1 to Light Radius

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

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

Lo Rune
Required Level: 59
Version: Expansion
Weapons: 20% Deadly Strike
Armor: +5% to Maximum Lightning Resist
Shields: +5% to Maximum Lightning Resist


Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 34 of 40
Required Level: 47
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0xe8942f26
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 6 - 22 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
7% Mana stolen per hit
8% Life stolen per hit
+100% Enhanced Defense
15% Slower Stamina Drain
All Resistances +15
Damage Reduced by 20%
Magic Damage Reduced by 12
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Um Rune

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%


The Reaper's Toll
Thresher
Two Hand Damage: 66 - 776
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Level: 75
Required Strength: 107
Required Dexterity: 81
Fingerprint: 0x74af6ed9
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion 1.10+
33% Chance to cast level 1 Decrepify on striking
+15% Increased Attack Speed
268% Enhanced Damage
Ignore Target's Defense
Adds 4 - 44 Cold Damage Over 0 Secs (6 Frames)
15% Life stolen per hit
33% Deadly Strike
Requirements -25%
Ethereal
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Ruby Jewel of Fervor

Ruby Jewel of Fervor
Jewel
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x87fd6c5a
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15% Increased Attack Speed
40% Enhanced Damage

Thoughts:

Short version: Lots of fun. Fleshripper is an amazing weapon, and BF hits a lot harder than I thought

Long version:
What a fun skill to use. BF adds a whole bunch of damge (I was 1-hitting a lot of enemies in A5 hell on players 1). The major drawback for BF is that you get absolutely no help with AR, so you have to make some serious sacrifices to hit stuff. Here is where Fleshripper shines. The -50% to enemy defense is a huge help. Also, daggers get ED from dex, not strength, so maxing dex added damage AND AR. Once I found that circlet with 1-99% to AR, (level dependent), I knew I was getting somewhere. Those two, along with angelics, got my CtH high enough that I could swap out a BA merc for a might, and the damage went up a ton. Fleshripper is great in lots of other ways too – the DS, OW, and CB are always nice, and the slows-target is a ridiculously powerful add-on, especially when combined with the knockback and slowing from Cleglaw’s gloves. I found the perfect ethereal one a while back, and wanted to make a build that properly showcased how awesome it is. The Ohm was found a few weeks ago from the Cows, and I think this weapon deserves it…

She was a surprisingly safe character, especially remembering that she had base vita. I often let the BO from CtA lapse, and didn't really worry much about it. 786 Hp was usually plenty for her. Between the knockback and slow, enemies rarely reached her. When they did, she had 28%DR and max block, as well as two healthy tanks. The shadow master didn’t bug me much. This character is not a speed-demon, so the deliberate sneaking up on enemy packs allowed the SM to keep up without poofing too much. She used Death Sentry fairly often, and didn’t waste much time on other traps. At level 28, she had native 79% resist all. When she casted fade on herself, she got even tougher….

I really struggled about where to get leech with her, since pretty much every equipment slot was taken. I used Wilhelm’s belt and a ravenfrost for a while, but liked the Trang’s belt and dual-leech ring better. I got more leech, CBF and a nice chunk of life from the belt – very welcome with a base vita build.

Overall, this was an extremely fun character. BF is just plain cool – and it does make for some creative gear choices. I highly recommend reading Ceramic Weasel’s treatise, there are lots of interesting ideas in his original post and the subsequent discussions.

I can't seem to get my screenshots to upload from my work computer at the moment, if I can figure it out I'll insert them later.

Thanks for reading…
 
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Originally posted by chumley669 on Feb 24, 2007:

Introducing...Matriarch PeltHunter

Just finished begging and pleading with Baal to die already, so that I'd have my first Mat. Whew! He just would not listen to reason. Anyway, here she is:

Matriarch PeltHunter
Level: 83
Exp: 893916211
Class: Assassin, Lightning Trapper

Skills with/without equipment
Lightning Sentry = 20/30
Charged Bolt Sentry = 20/30
Fire Blast = 18/28
Shock Web = 17/27
Shadow Master = 9/18 (or 20)
+ a slew of 1 point wonders

Equipment endgame
Helm = Harlequin Crest (w/ perfect topaz)
Armor = Skin of the Viper Magi, +24 resist (w/ perfect Topaz)
Weapons 1 & 2 = +3 Traps skills claws
Switch = + 2 Assassin skills, + 3 Shadow SKills claws
Gloves = rare Bracers, +19 Lightning res., +10 MF
Belt = Rare, + 14 Fire res., + 6 Poison res., + 24% Faster Hit Recovery
Boots = Rare boots, +7 Lightning Res., +37 Poison res., + 15 MF
Ring 1 = Magical, + 6 all res., + 18 MF
Ring 2 = Magical, + 21 MF
Amulet = rare, + 1 Assassin skills, + 59 Life, + 51 mana, + 10 Energy (I also had a + 3 shadow skills ammy that I put on when I had breathing room to buff the Shadow Master up to 20 skill points)

Mercenary
Act 2 Might Merc
Helm = Tal Rashas Horadric Crest
Armor = Shaftstop
Weapon = Kelpie Snare for most of the game, until late Act 5 when I needed him to kill a little bit faster. Then I put on an ethereal Arioc's Needle.

Hell Forge drops
NM = Io (I think)
Hell = Fal

Best Finds
Wolfhowl visor
Marrowwalks
Bartucs (ironic, huh?)

Synopsis
I had a lot of fun with her. Very safe character, a lot like a fishymancer in that you just let your minions do the dirty work while you pick through the loot. Lightning immunes got a little tricky, since you lob fire blast all over the place, so it takes time. But overall, there's nothing that she can't handle in some fashion. Fade gives a nice resist boost, two tanks in the merc and the SM, traps laying down suppressing fire...it's a thing of beauty, I tell you. Plus, Cloak of Shadows just flat out rocks. I mean, you cast that at Gloams, and they just sit there waiting for you to walk up to them and dispatch them. How great is that? Anyway, as you can see from the equipment, too, you can pretty much do what you feel like, or don't feel like, doing. I just never paid too much attention to it. I could have come up with some better boots, a better belt, better rings, etc., but never was forced into it. Maybe some more MF would have been nice, but oh well.

Nothing was anything more than "tricky" until the Ancients in Hell. I triggered them the first time, and my merc and SM just melted. I mean, they were gone so fast there wasn't even time to recognize that I had better do something. It took several different adventures with that triumvirate before I was successful in splitting them up a bit. All in all, a fun build to play. Her future? She is probably going to get mothballed, in truth. She doesn't do anything really well where I would user her to MF frequently. Maybe some pit runs or something, she's much more suited to running areas than to actually doing boss runs. We'll see. I've got a great many other projects going, so I will most likely spend time there. Anyway, thnaks for reading my meanderings up to this point. See you next time!
 
Originally posted by Colorless Green on Jul 14, 2008:

Matriarch Seiko, Furysin

Matriarch Seiko, Level 83 Blade Fury Assassin


Str: 103 (147)
Dex: 70 (86)
Vit: 312 (312)
Ene: 25 (25)

Damage (per LCS): 718-3052
AR (w/ merc): 5136
CB: 83%
Life: 1272
Mana: 188
Resists: 70/75/80/60

Skills:
Blade Fury: 1 (2)
Burst of Speed: 18 (23)
Venom: 20 (25)
Lightning Fury: 20 (25)
Death Sentry: 20 (25)
Assorted pre-reqs/one point wonders: 1 (2/6)

Equip:
Guillaume's Face (Um)
Fortitude Archon Plate
Dracul's Grasp
Nosferatu's Coil
Gore Rider
Highlord's Wrath
Raven Frost
Havoc Coil Ring (101 AR, 10 res all, 6 ML, 10 FCR)
Stormlash
Tiamat's Rebuke (PD)
Switch: Shael Bartuc's/FHR jewel Bartuc's

Blessed Aim Merc: IAS Tal's Mask, Treachery, Reaper's


I really wanted this char to do well, though she never really did. She was quite a bit of fun, though, even while not being a powerhouse. I did hell all the way through on p3 - she might've killed a bit quicker on p1, but given the CB (and eventually the ctc static), I don't think it would have been that much of a difference. I don't want to give the wrong impression - she was able to kill things quite well, but I'm pretty sure the char would have been stronger had I just used traps and let BF take down LI's. Oh well.

Blade fury was amusing to use. It was something like a (very) slow strafe where I got to aim every shot. I used a fleshripper through most of hell, so it was quite amusing to try to make sure that I had OW and slow and whatever else I could come up with applied to as many monsters as possible.

As I said, I played on p3 for all of hell. Didn't really have any problems through most of it - my biggest problem was tedium in certain situations (like when the merc died). When things aren't going my way, I'm quite safe thanks to MB, CoS, and high level BoS, but it's a bit tricky to kill in a timely manner when I can't set up a long string of shurikens with the merc tanking and DS nearby to clean up the mess. The only trouble I had involved frenzytaur bosspacks with scary mods in the glacial trail, which (twice) involved a pretty speedy pwning. My only other death in hell was my first try at the ancients. I really should have rerolled, as I got fanatic/cursed and some other mods I didn't have enough time to notice before dying horribly. Second try went fine - dodge around, maybe set some traps, try to apply OW (or possibly even trigger static), repeat. Minions were fine, and baal went down quite quick thanks to static/cb.

Um/Ist from hellforges (woot), a marrowwalk and a trap skiller from a3, a lightning skiller from a4 (IIRC), so a relatively profitable char as compared to what I've been getting lately.

All in all, I'd say this char is fun if you can afford her, but is never going to be particularly powerful.

-CG
 
Originally posted by @Corax on Apr 25, 2008:

Matriarch Isabella

been along time since i've posted one of these. well here go's

Name: Isabella
Class: Assassin
Level: 79

Stats: with gear(without gear)
Str:146(79)
dex:126(79)
vit:314(307)
nrg:32(base)
life:1290(1127)
mana:142(556)

Skills:
Fire Blast:20(37)
wake of fire:20(37)
wake of inferno:20(37)
Death sentry:17(33)
All shadow skills:1(13)
No MA

Damage:
Fire Blast:3075-3625
Wake of fire:823-932
wake of inferno:3196-3520
death sentry:1-770

Gear:
Weapon: Dual Bartuc's
Helm: 2 p'topaz shako
Armour: Chains of honour archon plate
Gloves: magefist
Boots: silkweave
Belt: lenymo(upp'd to demonhide sash)
Amulet: Mara's
Ring:dual Stone of jordan
Charms: 4x Trapping GC's

Merc
NM Holy freeze
Um'd Vamp gaze
Eth duriels shell
Shael reapers toll


I did have an arachnid mesh waiting for her but made mat before 80 so ./shrug.
alrighty run down on how she goes. wake of fire + fire blast slaughtered anything not FI. and death sentry + merc + shadow master + my own venom'd bartucs was more than ample for any FI's.
Chaos sanctuary was slow going because i took my mercs weap off and there are FI venom lords and Knights.
All of the act bosses were cake. just BoS and run laps around them, throw up 5 wake of infernos then lob fire blasts.
Ancients were easy. Korlic and Madawc both non-FI so i just run around spamming wake of fire. then the merc and master pinned down talic and i threw up death sentries and got stuck in with venom(i love venom):jig:
Lister was a bit slow going due to being all FI, but i just kept em mindblast locked and no problems.

Overall a solid finisher. not uber but solid. untwinked would be a different story requiring you to maybe max lightning sentry aswell.

Gonna equip some MF and have a go at running andy, seeing how quickly she died first time. hell you may even see her in a pvp match.:wink2:
 
Originally posted by Cormallon on Jul 26, 2007:

Matriarch Mari the Orphan

I hereby present to you Matriarch Mari the Orphan. She is my #6 of set wearing chars. I chose Orphan's Call and a furysin build for her.

The set offers no +skills at all, but quite some crushing blow, MF and really good blocking. All these mods as well as the leech on the belt are perfect for a furysin. She never(!) died during her journeys, did most of hell at P5 and never ever was in any danger. With the shield from the set I went max block and still got lots of life. She would have survived with half that life, though. A furysin doesn't depend on skills at all, blade fury works with just one point. I got a shadow master to help keep the monsters away from her and do some elemental damage, and venom to support the blades.

Most guides suggest to push fade as well. I didn't. My resists with just that one point are good enough except lightning... but that is because all my LR SCs are on other chars and I need to find new ones for her. One 15%LR GC is to be replaced by 10+% SCs.

The key to a furysin is crushing blow. I've got 105% of that... and with this setup there is almost no difference in killing speed between P1 and P5 in hell. PIs got handled by the Gimmershreds on switch. Attack rating still matters, and therefore I got the two rings. CB is supplemented with Death Sentry... and those speed up things considerably. You have to cast them when there are already corpses around, but after that other enemies are disposed really fast. Nice for crowds.

You may ask why I took Seraph's and the Stone Crusher. Seraph's for the +2 all skills... all my other all skill ammys are in use by other chars. And the Stone Crusher I just found cool to use. You need quite some strength for it, but I felt I could spare the points. Alternatives would be a 'Black' runeword or some cheaper stuff like Fleshrender or Spineripper (for the ITD). In fact, I used a Fleshrender until I was ready for the Stone Crusher.

Gore Riders were there for the CB (of course) and the FRW. I thought I'd use fade in hell. I didn't most of the time. Burst of Speed I had. Move fast and kill fast ... and you don't have to worry about resists. They are sufficient without fade. Now, I could change them back to Goblin Toe and dump the Duress for something better suited like Skullders. Use Mara's instead of Seraph's and resists will still be better. CB would stay at 100%. I have to find another Skullders or Mara's first, though ;)

The merc... nightmare A2 defensive. Holy Freeze helps to keep the monsters in the line of the blades. He has a Crescent Moon Thresher, the ctc static helps getting the foes down even more... if it triggers. Sometimes the blades are just too fast to notice the static effects. I'll give him a Kelpie against Baal.

Best find so far was a Gul from the hellforge. Since she's got a really perfact Baal map: The stairs from WSK2 to WSK3 are just around one corner, and the stairs to the throne room are again just a really small distance from the stairs. I guess I'll do some Baal runs with her. My first try took about 15 minutes from start of minions till Baal was dead (P3 minions, P1 Baal). Not really good, but it will get better with better chances to hit.

Character name : Mari
Character type : Assassin
Character level : 84
Character exp : 1000387884

Strength : 136 / 209
Energy : 25 / 25
Dexterity : 142 / 152
Vitality : 212 / 212
Stat Points Rem : 0
Skill Points Rem: 21

Life : 822 / 1073
Mana : 149 / 220
Stamina : 438 / 458

Gold (Inventory): 14063
Gold (Stash) : 1317524

Damage: 606-805 with blade fury
Defense: 1394
Resists in hell: 41/52/20/-12
Resists with fade: 75/75/65/33

Crushing Blow: 105%
LL / ML : 5/5
MF: 133

Equip
The set:
Magnus' Skin - Sharkskin Gloves
Wilhelm's Pride - Battle Belt
Guillaume's Face - Winged Helm (PTopaz)
Whitstan's Guard - Round Shield (PDiamond)

Other:
Duress - Mage Plate
Seraph's Hymn - Amulet
Gore Rider - War Boots

Ghoul Gyre
Ring
Required Level: 37
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x90e9e8fa
+66 to Mana
+93 to Attack Rating
Adds 1-15 lightning damage
15% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Eagle Hold
Ring
Required Level: 43
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0x15c9549e
+4 to Strength
+28 to Life
+5 to Mana
+108 to Attack Rating
All Resistances +5
14% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Weapon:
Stone Crusher - Legendary Mallet

Switch:

Gimmershred - Flying Axe
Whitstan's Guard - Round Shield

Charms:

Mentalist's Grand Charm of Sustenance (+34 life)
Mentalist's Grand Charm of Strength (+4 str)
Mentalist's Grand Charm

Ocher Small Charm (6% LR)
Lapis Small Charm of Pestilence ( 7% CR, 24 psn dmg)
Garnet Small Charm of Strength (8% FR, +1 str)
Garnet Small Charm of Vita ( 9% FR, 16 life)
Lapis Small Charm of Sustenance (+11 life, 6% CR)
Ruby Small Charm ( 11% FR)
Ruby Small Charm of Balance ( 10% FR, 5 FHR))
Sapphire Small Charm of Frost ( 11% CR, 1-2 cold dmg)
Shimmering Small Charm of Vita ( +4 all res, +19 life)
Tangerine Small Charm of Blight ( 5% LR, 6 psn dmg)
Tangerine Small Charm of Life ( 3% LR, +10 life)
Tangerine Small Charm of Vita ( 3% LR, +18 life)
Tangerine Grand Charm ( 15% LR)

Mercenary Items :
Shaftstop - Mesh Armor
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest - Death Mask
Crescent Moon - Thresher

Skills
Venom 20 (25)
Shadow master 20 (25)
Cloak of Shadows 1 (25)
6 prereqs 1 (6) each

Blade fury 1 (3)
Death sentry 20 (23)
6 prereqs 1 (3) each

Unspent: 21
 
Originally posted by Crazy Runner Guy on Dec 9, 2005:

Introducing Matriarch DarkClock

DarkCloak, a long-abandoned project, was resurrected this week at the prodding of one Kabal and Liquid Evil. With the BM tourney coming up, here's the PvM version of the character I plan to take.

Stats first:

Stats (no modifiers, these are base and actual)
STR: 79
Dex: 87
vita: 82
Unused stat points: 236

627 life
567 mana

Res (hell):
48/73/72/48

Gear:
2x Cunning Blade Talons (+3 traps each, and both clean)
69 res Kira's (clean)
Vipermagi (shael'd)
Magefirsts
2x SoJ
Arachnid Mesh
25 cold/24 light Nat's boots

This amulet:
Dread Beads
Amulet
Required Level: 51
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 93
Fingerprint: 0x6aed4b1
+101 to Mana
Regenerate Mana 9%
All Resistances +14
+1 to Assassin Skill Levels
16% Faster Cast Rate

6x trap charms (3 /w life, 1 /w FHR)
5x Serpents SC's of vita
1x Serpents of life

20 Shock Web
20 CBS
20 LS
20 DS
1 WoF
1 Fire Blast
1 in all shadow skills except venom

LS dmg: 1-7888

Act 2 Def merc (HF)
Tal's
Reaper's
Shaft

Story:
Like I said, I made this character a long time ago. And then, when looking over my new PvP'er (a Dancer i.e. D-Talon/Trap assassin), I realized that it would take a lot of time to learn to play the character. Also, I didn't have all the items I would need (like shadow skillers, for example).

So I looked around, as I had been very impressed with Speederlander's Fast cast WW/stun Assassin guide in the assy forum. It appealed to me a lot, and I actually made a half-arse attempt at making one (sans enigma), which failed utterly. However, it did turn me on to traps and mind blast.

In v1.09 when I dueled on Bnet, I hated trappers. They would wear my barb down with WoF and MB. I would be stunned, and despite my 190% fr/w (yes, that's right, 190% fr/w), I would have a hard time getting to them because I was always stunned and knocked back.

Then the BM PvP tourney came up. I thought (with Kab over a long IM session) that trapper could possibly be one of the only builds that could win the whole thing without going BM. Hard, but doable.

So I muled some gear, and WHAM! she took off. NM was a breeze, as was much of hell. No close calls until Act 3 hell.

When I build a PvP character, I like to leave as many stat points unassigned as possible, as to make sure I don't waste a point in dex or str (or not have enough points to put in STR/DEX). Thus, my life was relatively low and having 5 LS's (which are killing Vampires) out while a pack of Doll's comes running in the room, right next to my fragile character, is well, death.

That happened twice. I did not die throughout the rest of the game, even to Ancients.

Oh, the ancients. I rerolled about 12 times. Each time, they were cursed or two were LI. Twice I killed two (all but thrower Mawdawc, who is always LI) twice, but in their deaths, somehow my merc died. Re-roll anyone?

And so on my last one, I again killed all but Mawdawc, and then led him to a corner where my shadow and merc pounded on him while I cast MB for stun and fire blasted.

WSK was easy, no gloams until Throne, and then I ran to town a time or 4 to heal. DS and merc took care of them, and the waves were easy. Lister spawned Fanat. The pack wasn't so hard as lister himself. See, lister's pack you can MB all you want and they're not going to convert, so that's what I did. Lister himself didn't like my merc, and those two tussled for a while before I could rain MB's down.

Baal sucked, all yellows. Hell hellforge dropped a Hel. NM dropped a lem. :rant:

Other notable finds: 4/3 fire facet, 1-23 light dmg/17 life sc.

But yeah, now I need to level to about 90 and swap some gear on, like this:

Valkyrie Wing
Winged Helm
Defense: 130
Durability: 38 of 40
Required Strength: 115
Required Level: 44
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x6525f64c
+35 Defense
30% Increased Attack Speed
30% Faster Run/Walk
30% Faster Hit Recovery
30% Faster Cast Rate

Props to SideShowBob for the v1.07 valk wing. See you all in the moor.

crg
 
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Originally posted by crazymatt1 on Aug 10, 2008:

Matriarch Koga_Ichiban, the Immortal Queen

I'm a little upset that Vang beat me by about a week on posting a 2-handed Blade Furysin. I had taken time away from mine to build a Charged Boltress. Regardless, I present Koga_Ichiban, the Immortal Queen!

Rich (BB code):
Character name  : Koga_Ichiban
Character type  : Assassin
Character level : 80

Strength        : 278 (338)
Dexterity       : 52 (87)
Vitality        : 140
Energy          : 25
Life            : 838
Mana            : 169

Skills:
20 Death Sentry, Venom, Shadow Master
9+ Lightning Sentry
5 Fade
3 Mind Blast (whoops!), Fire Blast
1 Blade Fury, all prereqs

Gear:
Armor: Immortal King's Soul Cage (Socketed with Ptopaz)
Belt: Immortal King's Detail
Boots: Immortal King's Pillar
Gloves: Immortal King's Forge
Helm: Guillaume's Face
Weapon1: Immortal King's Stone Crusher (Socketed with 2x Eth)
Weapon2: Lacerator
Shield2: Blackoak Shield
Amulet: Angelic Wings
Ring1: Angelic Halo
Ring2: Raven Touch (+100AR, 8%ll, 5%ml, 17%LR)

Merc: Alhizeer
Act 2 Might
Weapon: eth Obedience Thresher
Armor: eth Treachery Wire Fleece
Helm: Vampire Gaze

This build started off because I had 2 ethereal Bonesnaps sitting in my stash collecting dust. When I read the Blade Fury guide in the Strategy Compendium, Bonesnap seemed to be a great starting weapon -- high damage and 40% Crushing Blow. And also, I got to run around with a big honkin' club! The Bonesnap lasted me all the way through Normal.

At the beginning of Nightmare, I decided to switch to an eth Spire of Honor, just because the damage looked ridiculous. It killed a little slower due to the lack of crushing blow, but I got to run around with a humongous pointy stick!

At level 53, things got interesting. That's when I equipped my usual merc weapon-- an eth Obedience Thresher. That thing tore everybody up with resists, crushing blow, and especially the constant +200% AR bonus from Enchant! It was around this point, when I noticed how much strength I had, that I decided I might as well go all out and make the Immortal Queen.

The IK maul actually makes a pretty good weapon. It too has 40% Crushing Blow and when combined with 4 other set pieces gets a whopping 345-1238 combined elemental damage! To offset the loss of Enchant from the Obedience, I filled the 2 sockets with Eth runes for -50% enemy defense. I didn't seem to have a problem hitting anything (except Baal). My AR was generally showing ~50% chance to hit things, but it generally seemed closer to 75%. I'm not sure whether the displayed % to hit takes the Eth runes into account or not. Maybe someone else can chime in on this?

Just by chance while going through my stash, I came across the Lacerator and noticed the 33% chance to cast Amp. I added a Blackoak Shield for the +Dex so that I could equip it. The Lacerator was great for Amping bosses. The problem with regular enemies is that is also has a 50% enemy flee, which seems to overwrite the Amp. D'oh! Still, it was great for act bosses and the Ancients.

Hell Ancients continued their run of not being very bad. I haven't had to re-roll them in a loooong time. The thrower was cursed, but other than that, I don't remember any bad mods. My merc and Shadow actually killed the whirler without any help from me! I only had 1 death-- to Hell Diablo's lightning hose. I tried to drink several rejuvs, but didn't realize that I was holding on shift. Whoops. Baal didn't cause too much trouble. He split twice, but I used my new super-cheez strategy of TP'ing as soon as he splits. I don't know how I played this game for years without knowing that that kills the clone.

The game really wanted me to have the complete IK set, so it dropped me 2 green Avenger Guards during play. Hellforge was Lem/Fal. I seemed to find a fair number of S/U, but nothing exciting. I did come across a +1 Shadow Disciplines skiller somewhere in Kurast, though.

I totally fell in love with Cloak of Shadows during this run. It really warms my heart to see Gloams floating harmlessly in space while I stand back and throw shuriken at them :)

Since she's not really suited for running, I think Koga_Ichiban is probably headed for retirement. Overall, though, this ended up being a pretty safe build and loads of fun to play. I may end up ditching the IK theme now and tweaking her gear some just for kicks. I would highly recommend a building a Blade Furysin if you haven't. It's a nicely different take on a ranged attacker.

Thanks for reading!
 
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Originally posted by DementiaMaster on Jan 15, 2006:

Matriarch Safana the Trapsin

I thought I'd never make it but I did...and, oddly enough, with ease! Let's start shall we.

--Stats--
Without Items/With Items
Level 78
Strenght: 80/118
Dexterity: 80/95
Vitality: 295/363
Energy: 25/35
HP: 1181/1584
Mana: 657/675

--Skills--
Without Items/With Items
Fire Blast: 20/24
Death Sentry: 20/24
Lightning Sentry: 20/30
Prereq and Shadow Tree: 1/7

--Equipements--
Weapons: Cunning Greater Talon of Bashing
Weapons: Shadow Greater Talon
Armor: Lionheart Dusk Shroud
Helmet: Rare Tiara
Gloves: BloodFist
Boots: Sandstorm Trek
Belt: Verdungo's Hearty Cord
Ring: Dwarf Star
Ring: Manald Heal
Amulet: The Eye of Etlich

--Mercenary Equipements--(I switch from character to character)
Weapon: Eth The Reaper's Toll
Armor: Shaftstop
Helmet: Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest

--Crunchy Stuff--
-HellForge-
Normal: Don't remember
Nightmare: Don't remember
Hell: The reason I don't remember the above, IST

-Top Drop-
Arachnid Mesh off Hell Diablo! With ZERO MF! Click Me!. 'Ceinture en Fils d'araignée' is translated as 'Spiderweb Sash'.

-Toughest Fight-
Hell Lister the Tormentor. He spawned Extra Fast so he breezed tru my Mercenary like the wind. I had to divide them, lure them to my traps and stunlock them against the wall until they died...one at a time.

-Easiest Hell Fight-
Probably against Izual. There was a pack Champion Souls near him and my Death Sentry exploded their corpses...leaving Izual with very little life since my Lightning Sentry were already electrifying him.

-Funnyest Moment-
Probably the fact that I screamed 'OMFG' out loud when Diablo dropped the Arachnid Mesh

-Hell Ancients-
Easy. Traps took out Korlic, Fire Blast took out Madawc and Mercenary washed away Talic. Got out of there without a scratch.

--What's Next?--
Three spellcasters completed out of 7. Trapsin, Meteorb and Bonemancer. I'll probably do the Hammerdin next. On a side note, Photobucket was being dumb as I posted this so the screenshot might not work.
 
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Originally posted by fredsta54 on Sep 10, 2005:

Matriarch ninja

Another mat thread.


STATS: lvl 83 blade fury assasin

1068 life
222 mana

117 base strength
66 base dex
base energy
287 vita


Skills-
20 shadowmaster
20 venom
20 fade
1 all shadow presquites

20 death sentry
trap presquites
1 blade fury



Gear:
Etheral upgraded "eth" headstriker
atmas scarab
"duress" wirefleece
Goblin toe
String of ears
ghoulhide
mosers blessed circle socketed with 2Xpdiamond
guilliames face with 39% ed jewel

3 shadow gcs and about 300 ar from charms total

Merc: lvl 82 might merc

eth cresent moon thresher
shaft
gaze



To be honest, this character was a lot of fun to play, and hell was... a breeze, as expected.

100%+ deadly + amp is pretty sick with blade fury, in addition to massive crushing blow, open wounds, and venom all at once. Once a couple corpses are on the ground, and the enemies are amped, death sentry takes care of the rest.

Hell worldstone keep from lvl 2- killing baal took about 13 minutes total, and that was clearing everything i came across.

Overall the most fun assasin i have ever played, although in wide open areas my trapsin kills faster, against bosses the blade furysin takes the win with about 1.5 mins to solo hell baal (no merc)

until lvl 39 i used clegaws set, which is amazing on this character at low lvls. Then at 58 i upgraded the headstriker.


Now ill be using this character to run hell baal, pit, eldritch//shenk.



:)





Fred
 
Originally posted by GooberGrape on Jan 1, 2013:

Matriarch GangnamStyle - lightning trapsin (1.13 SC)

"Heyyyyyyy sexy lady!"

Moderately twinked SC lightning trapsin, my second Matriarch since I returned. Started life as a fire trapsin to take advantage of Leaf and Magefist, then respec'd to standard lightning build. Should have stuck with fire a little longer, it's way more powerful than the LCS might lead you to believe.

After leveling up almost entirely on Normal and NM Shenk runs, she equipped "The Disciple" full set. Great cheap set, allowed me to use BoS full-time instead of Fade. She finished Hell in multiplayer with my girlfriend's Tesladin. Having two sources of lightning damage wasn't as bad as it sounds, the paladin was a tank and the assassin's one pointers had enough crowd control to save the day.

Speaking of one pointers, MVP goes to...Mind Blast! SICK SKILL. Ridiculously OP. How did this one slide past the QC guys at Blizzard...let's see how about AoE stun, knockback, and conversion all for one point! Sheesh. Runnerup skill was Weapon Block, simply because it saved me a lot of dexterity and allowed me to use dual Bartucs for cheap +skills.

Overall she was a glass cannon. Despite huge LCS damage she really didn't clear any faster than a naked Fishymancer, and she was constantly in a state of "almost dying". No plans to continue with her.

Stats:

PS: I don't know why it shows bad resists. She was 75 all in Hell without Fade.
PPS: She also had +7 all skills, not +5 as shown.

Code:
Name:       GangnamStyle
Class:      Assassin
Experience: 783089008
Level:      81

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   79/129
Dexterity:  79/139
Vitality:   267/267
Energy:     25/25
HP:         1011/1035
Mana:       145/367
Stamina:    503/519
Defense:    19/1209
AR:         100000359/-194940277

Fire:       180/140/80
Cold:       152/112/52
Lightning:  133/93/33
Poison:     153/113/53

MF:         0       Block:      19
GF:         0
FR/W:       30
FHR:        80
IAS:        20
FCR:        0

Fire Blast: 20/25
Shock Web: 5/10
Blade Sentinel: 0/0
Charged Bolt Sentry: 20/25
Wake of Fire: 0/0
Blade Fury: 0/0
Lightning Sentry: 20/25
Wake of Inferno: 0/0
Death Sentry: 20/25
Blade Shield: 0/0

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

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

Gear:

Code:
Tome of Town Portal
Fingerprint: 0xefc9cc2a
Item Level: 8
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Tome of Identify
Fingerprint: 0x9a6ee6b5
Item Level: 8
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Key
Fingerprint: 0x7cb6b41b
Item Level: 1
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Horadric Cube
Fingerprint: 0x9ed71cd7
Item Level: 13
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Amber Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 22
Fingerprint: 0x3d644d63
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Lightning Resist +27%

Emerald Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0xdf5b8d6b
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Poison Resist +11%

Sapphire Large Charm of Life
Large Charm
Required Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0x152ae4e9
Item Level: 59
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+7 to Life
Cold Resist +14%

Shimmering Large Charm of Craftmanship
Large Charm
Required Level: 19
Fingerprint: 0x837cbf7c
Item Level: 34
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Maximum Damage
All Resistances +5

Sapphire Large Charm
Large Charm
Required Level: 27
Fingerprint: 0xbdf9615
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Cold Resist +14%

Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0xb76f9836
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+17 to Life

Telling of Beads
Amulet
Required Level: 30
Fingerprint: 0xf71aa2f6
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
Cold Resist +18%
Poison Resist +36%
Attacker Takes Damage of 8

(2 items): +150 Defense
(3 items): Adds 22 Poison Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
(4 items): +10 to Strength
(5 items): +10 to Dexterity
+2 to All Skills
+100 to Mana
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%

Dark Adherent
Dusk Shroud
Defense: 768
Durability: 19 of 20
Required Level: 49
Required Strength: 77
Fingerprint: 0xbd0f42be
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
25% Chance to cast level 3 Nova when struck
Adds 24 - 34 Poison Damage Over 2 Secs (50 Frames)
+380 Defense
Fire Resist +24%

(2 items): +150 Defense
(3 items): Adds 22 Poison Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
(4 items): +10 to Strength
(5 items): +10 to Dexterity
+2 to All Skills
+100 to Mana
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%

Bahamut's Ring
Ring
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x4d07e993
Item Level: 86
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+119 to Mana

Rite of Passage
Demonhide Boots
Defense: 58
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0xb090c55a
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+30% Faster Run/Walk
+25 Defense
+16 Maximum Stamina
Half Freeze Duration

(2 items): +150 Defense
(3 items): Adds 22 Poison Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
(4 items): +10 to Strength
(5 items): +10 to Dexterity
+2 to All Skills
+100 to Mana
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%

Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 85
Durability: 11 of 12
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0x3c9e669c
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
10% Chance to cast level 3 Holy Bolt on striking
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+350% Damage to Demons
+25 Defense
Fire Resist +50%

(2 items): +150 Defense
(3 items): Adds 22 Poison Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
(4 items): +10 to Strength
(5 items): +10 to Dexterity
+2 to All Skills
+100 to Mana
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%

Credendum
Mithril Coil
Defense: 113
Durability: 15 of 16
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 106
Fingerprint: 0x39602b94
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+50 Defense
+10 to Strength
+10 to Dexterity
All Resistances +15

(2 items): +150 Defense
(3 items): Adds 22 Poison Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
(4 items): +10 to Strength
(5 items): +10 to Dexterity
+2 to All Skills
+100 to Mana
Cold Resist +50%
Lightning Resist +50%
Fire Resist +50%
Poison Resist +50%

Kira's Guardian
Tiara
Defense: 151
Durability: 23 of 25
Required Level: 77
Fingerprint: 0xd7c87d57
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+106 Defense
All Resistances +56
Cannot Be Frozen

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Bahamut's Ring of Precision
Ring
Required Level: 48
Fingerprint: 0x84c74640
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10 to Dexterity
+103 to Mana

Super Mana Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenishes Mana 250%

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

Super Healing Potion
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Replenish Life +320

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: 0x50a07994
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
5% Life stolen per hit
+20 to Strength
+20 to Dexterity

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: 0xfdd34594
Item Level: 61
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Martial Art Skills (Assassin Only)
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
185% Enhanced Damage
Adds 25 - 50 Damage
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
8% Life stolen per hit
+20 to Strength
+20 to Dexterity

Mercenary:

Name:       Jemali
Race:       Desert Mercenary
Type:       Comb-Normal
Experience: 59208608
Level:      81
Dead?:      false

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   183/188
Dexterity:  148/153
HP:         1670/1730
Defense:    1232/2119
AR:         1928/368248

Fire:       148/108/48
Cold:       148/108/48
Lightning:  148/108/48
Poison:    148/108/48

Shaftstop
Mesh Armor
Defense: 635
Durability: 32 of 45
Required Level: 38
Required Strength: 92
Fingerprint: 0x8d6856c
Item Level: 99
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+197% Enhanced Defense
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+60 to Life
Damage Reduced by 30%


Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 38 of 40
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0x3f8a8f4
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 6 - 22 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
6% Mana stolen per hit
8% Life stolen per hit
+100% Enhanced Defense
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Damage Reduced by 16%
Magic Damage Reduced by 15


Insight
Bill
RalTirTalSol
Two Hand Damage: 73 - 244
Durability: 26 of 26
Required Level: 27
Required Strength: 85
Fingerprint: 0x928aa1f5
Item Level: 49
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 16 Meditation Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster Cast Rate
209% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
190% Bonus to Attack Rating
Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
+6 to Critical Strike
All Stats +5
+2 to Mana after each Kill
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ral Rune
Socketed: Tir Rune
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune

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

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

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%

Sol Rune
Required Level: 27
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +9 to Minimum Damage
Armor: Damage Reduced by 7
Shields: Damage Reduced by 7
 
Originally posted by Grape on Dec 29, 2016:

Matriarch SizzlingSally - Charged Bolt Sentry Assassin

Introduction

This has been on my build list ever since I imbued not only one, but two pairs of +5 CBS Greater Talons. A nice demonstration why everyone should use their high level imbues to staffmoddable items only ;)

I refused to find out any possible damage numbers beforehand, and went blindly to bumping the skill to its maximum effects. I was wishing it would be enough to kill in Hell. I was not to be disappointed, and this worked really really well.

After the last Matriarch, I checked how many Mats/Pats I had completed this year and found out the number was 11. Twelve sounded like a nice round number for a year to achieve so I picked this from Norm Act II and finished it over about one week.


Build

Since I was unsure of the firepower, I gave her the best possible equipment. I also wanted to go with the 102FCR breakpoint to finally give some use for my 1.07 Valkyrie's Wing. That meant also going with Enigma and Teleport to enjoy the feeling of (relatively) fast casting to the fullest. Other breakpoint I aimed for was +42IAS for the fastest trap laying speed with GTs.

Another thing I paid close attention to, was to get enough mana to play comfortably enough with Infinity merc. That drove especially my ring and charm choices. Immune problems were naturally taken care with Fire Blast, which is a synergy to Charged Bolt Sentry. While CBS was clearly the main killer, I didn't avoid using Fire Blast. It was used nicely along side all the time. What I avoided however was using the Death Sentry. It could have sped things from time to time, but I think there's going to be many builds I'll take advantage of it, so I left it out from use this time.

Also, as the other claw provided me points in Mind Blast, I didn't take CoS this time. That way I saved some points, meaning more damage to my traps.

LCS:
1584912944093.png

Charged Bolt Sentry numbers would be: 1-1095 damage. Shoots 10 times, releases 11 Charged Bolts. That's with lvl 44 CBS, and 8 skills missing from one synergy (Death Sentry). Really quite a killer!

Skills and stats:
Code:
Name:       SizzlingSally
Class:      Assassin
Experience: 893014855
Level:      83

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   49/129
Dexterity:  55/83
Vitality:   361/361
Energy:     45/53
HP:         1297/1619
Mana:       183/416
Stamina:    623/623
Defense:    13/1689
AR:         100000239/100000578

Fire:       119/79/19
Cold:       108/68/8
Lightning:  132/92/32
Poison:     91/51/-9

MF:         83       Block:      10
GF:         0
FR/W:       75
FHR:        40
IAS:        45
FCR:        105

Fire Blast: 20/38
Shock Web: 18/35
Blade Sentinel: 0/0
Charged Bolt Sentry: 20/43
Wake of Fire: 0/0
Blade Fury: 0/0
Lightning Sentry: 20/37
Wake of Inferno: 0/0
Death Sentry: 12/29
Blade Shield: 0/0

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

Tiger Strike: 0/0
Dragon Talon: 0/0
Fists of Fire: 0/0
Dragon Claw: 0/0
Cobra Strike: 0/0
Claws of Thunder: 0/0
Dragon Tail: 0/2
Blades of Ice: 0/3
Dragon Flight: 0/3
Phoenix Strike: 0/0

The reason Shock Web stands at level 18 is that it gives one bolt more per three levels. It doesn't give more damage to the bolts themselves.

I think I could squeeze some more points to Vitality as I never used a re-spec. I'll see about that later.

Items


Let's start with the claws that inspired the whole thing:
Code:
Demon Song
Greater Talons
One Hand Damage: 59 - 93
Durability: 69 of 69
Required Level: 48
Required Strength: 79
Required Dexterity: 79
Fingerprint: 0x2ced2313
Item Level: 92
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Assassin Skill Levels
164% Enhanced Damage
Adds 4 - 1 Damage
+121 to Attack Rating
+3 to Dragon Flight (Assassin Only)
+3 to Blades of Ice (Assassin Only)
+3 to Charged Bolt Sentry (Assassin Only)
+1 to Strength
+4 to Energy
All Resistances +14
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Scintillating Jewel of Knowledge

Scintillating Jewel of Knowledge
Jewel
Required Level: 26
Fingerprint: 0xf5bff4de
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+4 to Energy
Cold Resist +14%
Lightning Resist +14%
Fire Resist +14%
Poison Resist +14%

Shadow Bite
Greater Talons
One Hand Damage: 21 - 35
Durability: 69 of 69
Required Level: 37
Required Strength: 79
Required Dexterity: 79
Fingerprint: 0x996267ba
Item Level: 95
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Trap Skills (Assassin Only)
+54 to Attack Rating
5% Life stolen per hit
+3 to Mind Blast (Assassin Only)
+2 to Dragon Tail (Assassin Only)
+3 to Charged Bolt Sentry (Assassin Only)
+7 to Strength
+4 to Energy
All Resistances +15
Poison Resist +20%
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Scintillating Jewel of Knowledge

Scintillating Jewel of Knowledge
Jewel
Required Level: 26
Fingerprint: 0x60ad0ae6
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+4 to Energy
Cold Resist +15%
Lightning Resist +15%
Fire Resist +15%
Poison Resist +15%

And the rest:
Code:
Entrapping Grand Charm of Strength
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xae29d118
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Trap Skills (Assassin Only)
+5 to Strength

Entrapping Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xe937261a
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Trap Skills (Assassin Only)
+22 to Life

Entrapping Grand Charm of Strength
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xd0938552
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Trap Skills (Assassin Only)
+5 to Strength

Entrapping Grand Charm of Life
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xb02c3eef
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Trap Skills (Assassin Only)
+11 to Life

Entrapping Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 53
Fingerprint: 0x35510e22
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Trap Skills (Assassin Only)
+34 to Life

Serpent's Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0x299f6c29
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+12 to Life
+13 to Mana

Entrapping Grand Charm of Vita
Grand Charm
Required Level: 69
Fingerprint: 0x5f86c60b
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Trap Skills (Assassin Only)
+39 to Life

Serpent's Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0xefd41dd1
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+18 to Life
+17 to Mana

Serpent's Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0xe1155728
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+19 to Life
+17 to Mana

Snake's Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 39
Fingerprint: 0x1d9227e7
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life
+12 to Mana

Serpent's Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0x2a66b54d
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+13 to Life
+14 to Mana

Serpent's Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0x982ee2b5
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15 to Life
+13 to Mana

Serpent's Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0x32a635d3
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+14 to Life
+13 to Mana

Entrapping Grand Charm of Dexterity
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xd48589f9
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Trap Skills (Assassin Only)
+4 to Dexterity

Serpent's Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0x17035597
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+11 to Life
+17 to Mana

Blood Clasp
Amulet
Required Level: 52
Fingerprint: 0xf6140d35
Item Level: 96
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Trap Skills (Assassin Only)
+15% Faster Cast Rate
+37 to Life
+12 to Mana
Regenerate Mana 6%
Lightning Resist +29%

Enigma
Mage Plate
JahIthBer
Defense: 1015
Durability: 56 of 60
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 55
Fingerprint: 0xcad27c7c
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+45% Faster Run/Walk
+1 to Teleport
+770 Defense
+62 to Strength (Based on Character Level)
Increase Maximum Life 5%
Damage Reduced by 8%
+14 Life after each Kill
15% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
83% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level)
3 Sockets (3 used)
Socketed: Jah Rune
Socketed: Ith Rune
Socketed: Ber Rune

Jah Rune
Required Level: 65
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: Ignore Target's Defense
Armor: Increase Maximum Life 5%
Shields: +50 to Life

Ith Rune
Required Level: 15
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Weapons: +9 to Maximum Damage
Armor: 15% Damage Taken Goes To Mana
Shields: 15% Damage Taken Goes To Mana

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%

Entropy Turn
Ring
Required Level: 37
Fingerprint: 0x6ae3b953
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Cast Rate
+8 to Dexterity
+42 to Mana
All Resistances +5

Blood Whorl
Ring
Required Level: 48
Fingerprint: 0x9781e62c
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Cast Rate
+24 to Attack Rating
+10 to Dexterity
+36 to Mana
All Resistances +7

Fiend Nails
Wyrmhide Boots
Defense: 60
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0xba9685c9
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10% Faster Hit Recovery
+6 to Dexterity
Cold Resist +37%
Lightning Resist +32%
Fire Resist +35%
Repairs 1 Durability in 33 Seconds

Magefist
Light Gauntlets
Defense: 25
Durability: 17 of 18
Required Level: 23
Required Strength: 45
Fingerprint: 0xbf0c9fe
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Fire Skills
+20% Faster Cast Rate
Adds 1 - 6 Fire Damage
+25% Enhanced Defense
+10 Defense
Regenerate Mana 25%

Valkyrie Wing
Winged Helm
Defense: 128
Durability: 36 of 40
Required Level: 44
Required Strength: 115
Fingerprint: 0x48b2051c
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion
+30% Faster Run/Walk
+45% Increased Attack Speed
+30% Faster Cast Rate
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
+35 Defense
Fire Resist +13%
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Garnet Jewel of Fervor

Garnet Jewel of Fervor
Jewel
Required Level: 31
Fingerprint: 0xf863672c
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15% Increased Attack Speed
Fire Resist +13%

Arachnid Mesh
Spiderweb Sash
Defense: 136
Durability: 11 of 12
Required Level: 80
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0xe4675714
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+20% Faster Cast Rate
Slows Target by 10%
+117% Enhanced Defense
Increase Maximum Mana 5%
Level 3 Venom (11/11 Charges)

Entrapping Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x43bf5598
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Trap Skills (Assassin Only)
+26 to Life

Horadric Cube
Fingerprint: 0x7f67b2bd
Item Level: 13
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Tome of Town Portal
Fingerprint: 0xf0aad525
Item Level: 63
Version: Expansion 1.10+

Serpent's Small Charm of Vita
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0x772be620
Item Level: **
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+16 to Life
+14 to Mana

Serpent's Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 40
Fingerprint: 0xd0a1d1de
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+15 to Life
+13 to Mana

Call to Arms
Superior Crystal Sword
AmnRalMalIstOhm
One Hand Damage: 19 - 57
Durability: 22 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

Lidless Wall
Grim Shield
Defense: 305
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 70 of 70
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0x3a6453d4
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+20% Faster Cast Rate
+102% Enhanced Defense
+10 to Energy
Increase Maximum Mana 10%
+5 to Mana after each Kill
+1 to Light Radius


Mercenary:

Name:       Chalan
Race:       Desert Mercenary
Type:       Def-Normal
Experience: 63670194
Level:      83
Dead?:      false

            Naked/Gear
Strength:   187/207
Dexterity:  151/151
HP:         1750/1750
Defense:    1288/3294
AR:         1952/1952

Fire:       215/175/115
Cold:       215/175/115
Lightning:  215/175/115
Poison:    215/175/115

Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 36 of 40
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0x46dd5b92
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 6 - 22 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
6% Mana stolen per hit
8% Life stolen per hit
+100% Enhanced Defense
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Damage Reduced by 20%
Magic Damage Reduced by 12


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
Thresher
BerMalBerIst
Two Hand Damage: 75 - 890
Durability: 33 of 33
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 142
Required Dexterity: 108
Fingerprint: 0x7ef4d07f
Item Level: 79
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
322% Enhanced Damage
-47% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
40% Chance of Crushing Blow
Prevent Monster Heal
+41 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


Journey

As I said in the introduction, I picked this up not long time ago. I wanted to finish before the year ends, so I twinked the char accordingly and played with quite a fast pace.

For normal this meant Ravenclaw after the usual Envy jewele'd stuff. For a little addition, I used full Iratha's Finery set through norm and nm (I have a little project where I try to play with all the sets at least once..). By the side I already started to bump my CBS and it proved to be a nice additional killer and my main killer from Act V onwards. I also used Burst of Speed instead of Fade for all the norm and nm difficulties.

After reaching Hell, I ran some Pits in order to wear my last piece of item: Arachnid's Web at level 80. While running Pits, I still quested some, and found myself from Act III when the belt became available.

Some screenshots:
1584912858236.png
Okay, hello there! Not sure did I even have Fire Blast hot-key'd at that time, but strong merc is strong indeed. (He was probably having Insight Partizan at the moment..)

1584912848072.png
Giving some shock therapy to this old filthy Cathedral. Those carpets of lightning are starting to look quite promising!

1584912837752.png
I learned to appreciate the power of Mind Blast. With bigger bosspacks that seemed they might be a threat, I almost always gave them some blasting while laying traps.

1584912826918.png
Acts I-III went all really well and fast. I think I took this shot cause the bites of these were really deadly. My poison resistance was not the highest, but even with Fade these made some real damage.

1584912813193.png
Always a nice "surpirse" if there's a boss down the Sewers lvl 2. These actually managed to take down Chalan.

1584912800546.png
This is how you threat those dolls. Take pictures and keep blastin' n' trappin'. Yo. Travi was really easy, although not so fast with Councils' high resistances.

1584912790449.png
All in all, Act IV went just as great as the previous ones. Only the monsters were a little tougher, so more time (and traps) were needed to kill them. This was starting to look quite chaotic but I managed to pull the packs together and MB'd the hell out of them. Diablo dropped like a fly to an electric swatter.

1584912773734.png
Do you think I had to meet those face to face? I played with varied players setting through the Hell. Most of it at P3, some P5 and then the Ancients and WSK, waves and Baal with P1. Meh, I'll try some higher level Baal runs later. Just got to finish this for now :)

1584912760648.png
Final hurdle, Chalan got some job. Lister doing what Lister is meant to do. Was not a problem.


Aftermath

I enjoyed this character a lot. I happened to get a nice WSK maps for Baal runs, and now I'm thinking I should level this at least to 91, where I would have my damage maxed.

If this happens, I'll try to record some Charged Bolt action for you also!

Happy new year SPF (only little advanced, hey!) ! Let's see what the next year brings, and can I keep my Mat/Pat pace (so high) anymore. :p

Questions, comments, etc? Keep 'em coming!
 
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