- Aug 5, 2005
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Originally Posted by HappyAssassin on Dec 4, 2006
Note: This guide was originally written for BNet. Please bear in mind it may recommend items not found or permitted in Single Player.
WW/Trapper Hybrid Guide v1.2
Intro
Hi everyone, I'm Ollie, and I play on US West. Since I started playing Diablo 2, I've primarily played Assassins. I love the class, especially its versatility. I feel that over my time playing, I've played enough assassins, experimented with enough builds, and gained sufficient skill and experience to offer up this guide to help other players use the class to its potential. I don't claim to be the absolute best with this character, but I am one of the best, and this guide is based on a very long period of testing, building, testing and rebuilding. This is a PvP build for patch 1.11. My goal with building this character is to make an assassin that can take on the vast majority of duelers out there.
An important note here. I say that I'm building this character. I do NOT take credit for creating this build, it's been around longer than I've been playing, and many very skilled players contributed to its making, I'll give credit at the end.
The goal of this build is to combine the trapper and whirlwind assassin builds. A trapper with any skill (i.e. not one who sits in his traps and hopes the enemy dies on their own) uses mind blast to hold the opponent in place while the traps do their work. Most of the best trappers I've seen also trap aggressively, using traps to close with the enemy and keep pressure on them. They can also switch to a defensive style of play, slowly wearing the opponent down if the foes is too dangerous to stay close to. Whirlwind assassins on the other hand have a pretty simplistic game plan. They Dflight to the target and demolish it with a bramble fueled whirlwind. Whirlwind assassins (the good ones) use Wake of Fire traps and mind blast also, to stun the enemy, reduce their block and make them an easy target. Many (some would consider them the best ones) have adopted a play style using Enigma's teleport and traps with mind blast to cripple the opponent with stun lock while still effectively whirlwinding their targets to death. This last build provided some inspiration for this one. These are simplistic versions of these classes, this character is capable of much more than simply emulating these styles.
I understand that it's the practice of many guide writers to include a list of acronyms. Here's mine:
AR - Attack Rating
BoS- Burst of Speed
CoS- Cloak of Shadows
CoA - Crown of Ages
CTA - Call to Arms
DF - Dragon Flight
PDR - Physical Damage Reduction
FHR - Fast Hit Recovery
GC - Grand Charm
FCR- Faster Cast Rate
IAS - Increased Attack Speed
LS - Lightning Sentry
MB - Mind Blast
OW - Open Wounds
PLR - Poison Length Reduction
Res - Resistance
SC - Small Charm
SM - Shadow Master
WB - Weapon Block
WW - Whirlwind
What you will achieve with this build:
Offensively
1. 4 Frame Whirlwind. This means that you have the most possible hit checks when your opponent is within range.
2. 6k Damage LS, good damage considering that you also have a strong whirlwind. This can go as high as 8k, depending on gear.
3. Good Open Wounds, critical against casters/barbs.
4. A 3k Whirlwind. This is what your screen shows. The actual damage is higher due to the double poison application bug.
5. Satisfactory attack rating (this is a tough part of the build).
6. 65% Fast Cast Rate, enough to mind blast effectively and teleport quickly.
7. 9 Frame Trap Laying.
Defensively
1. Over 3000 life without lifers, much more with them. 4.2k is the functional maximum.
2. Max res in hell after losing 30 Res all to the Anya bug.
3. 50% PDR after fade.
4. 58% or higher Claw Block (this is huge).
5. A strong shadow master to minion stack, cause diversion, etc.
Now, how do we get these numbers?
This is the meat and potatoes of the guide, the items and skills. Afterwards comes the smoke and mirrors, the strategy section.
Note: This guide was originally written for BNet. Please bear in mind it may recommend items not found or permitted in Single Player.
WW/Trapper Hybrid Guide v1.2
Intro
Hi everyone, I'm Ollie, and I play on US West. Since I started playing Diablo 2, I've primarily played Assassins. I love the class, especially its versatility. I feel that over my time playing, I've played enough assassins, experimented with enough builds, and gained sufficient skill and experience to offer up this guide to help other players use the class to its potential. I don't claim to be the absolute best with this character, but I am one of the best, and this guide is based on a very long period of testing, building, testing and rebuilding. This is a PvP build for patch 1.11. My goal with building this character is to make an assassin that can take on the vast majority of duelers out there.
An important note here. I say that I'm building this character. I do NOT take credit for creating this build, it's been around longer than I've been playing, and many very skilled players contributed to its making, I'll give credit at the end.
The goal of this build is to combine the trapper and whirlwind assassin builds. A trapper with any skill (i.e. not one who sits in his traps and hopes the enemy dies on their own) uses mind blast to hold the opponent in place while the traps do their work. Most of the best trappers I've seen also trap aggressively, using traps to close with the enemy and keep pressure on them. They can also switch to a defensive style of play, slowly wearing the opponent down if the foes is too dangerous to stay close to. Whirlwind assassins on the other hand have a pretty simplistic game plan. They Dflight to the target and demolish it with a bramble fueled whirlwind. Whirlwind assassins (the good ones) use Wake of Fire traps and mind blast also, to stun the enemy, reduce their block and make them an easy target. Many (some would consider them the best ones) have adopted a play style using Enigma's teleport and traps with mind blast to cripple the opponent with stun lock while still effectively whirlwinding their targets to death. This last build provided some inspiration for this one. These are simplistic versions of these classes, this character is capable of much more than simply emulating these styles.
I understand that it's the practice of many guide writers to include a list of acronyms. Here's mine:
AR - Attack Rating
BoS- Burst of Speed
CoS- Cloak of Shadows
CoA - Crown of Ages
CTA - Call to Arms
DF - Dragon Flight
PDR - Physical Damage Reduction
FHR - Fast Hit Recovery
GC - Grand Charm
FCR- Faster Cast Rate
IAS - Increased Attack Speed
LS - Lightning Sentry
MB - Mind Blast
OW - Open Wounds
PLR - Poison Length Reduction
Res - Resistance
SC - Small Charm
SM - Shadow Master
WB - Weapon Block
WW - Whirlwind
What you will achieve with this build:
Offensively
1. 4 Frame Whirlwind. This means that you have the most possible hit checks when your opponent is within range.
2. 6k Damage LS, good damage considering that you also have a strong whirlwind. This can go as high as 8k, depending on gear.
3. Good Open Wounds, critical against casters/barbs.
4. A 3k Whirlwind. This is what your screen shows. The actual damage is higher due to the double poison application bug.
5. Satisfactory attack rating (this is a tough part of the build).
6. 65% Fast Cast Rate, enough to mind blast effectively and teleport quickly.
7. 9 Frame Trap Laying.
Defensively
1. Over 3000 life without lifers, much more with them. 4.2k is the functional maximum.
2. Max res in hell after losing 30 Res all to the Anya bug.
3. 50% PDR after fade.
4. 58% or higher Claw Block (this is huge).
5. A strong shadow master to minion stack, cause diversion, etc.
Now, how do we get these numbers?
This is the meat and potatoes of the guide, the items and skills. Afterwards comes the smoke and mirrors, the strategy section.