Single-pass HC Assassin Questions

sir_cyclops

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Jan 4, 2019
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Hello friends! It's been awhile, but I'm interested in picking up d2 again for a little bit.

I've always thought single pass and untwinked were cool because it gets you really hyped for all the random semi-good finds along the way. And I havent dabbled much in HC, so I'm thinking that would be a good fit. So my requirements are:
- Single pass (no rerunning bosses)
- HC
- S/e is allowed

I'll probably be playing a melee assassin. I am considering pheonix striker (@maxicek thoughts?) or a kicker. I mostly don't know if a kicker will be viable. I'm going to allow DS usage, but not any other traps. I could also consider going PS with a a respec to kicker if i found a good item with crushing blow along the way that would make it possible.

Any thoughts or questions or things I'm not thinking of?
 
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Defenses and crowd control. What skills do you want to use and how. Once she has control of the battlefield the assassin can do whatever she wants with her offensive versatility but she is not a tank like a barbarian.

Don't forget to make a Malice claw for stubborn resistant monsters.
 
Welcome back! Assassin is very versatile for Untwinked playthrough, even single pass if that’s what you’re after. PS is quite versatile, requiring only a fast weapon and some mana leech. If you’re open to respec going pure kicker with DS is good drops happen is a great option, as PS is good for questing early and not as dependent on drops.
 
Well I’m no HC player but @jiansonz has done untwinked PS several times - He wrote the HC section in the guide.

Kicker will be all about the boots, but finding and upping a pair should be doable. When you say kicker do you mean TS DTail or Dragon Talon?
 
Thanks for the input yall 😊

@maxicek i was mostly thinking dtalon. i've never messed with dtail much. Obviously the damage is quite low. I assumed it would be too low for hell unless I was able to find some crushing blow in my single pass. Is that reasonable or do you think I could assume I'll be fine without CB if I dont find a source of it?

I looked over the guide, I'll revisit the HC section.
 
You can count on finding quite a few Amn and Tir runes for strength if nothing else. It's not too bad for a kicker with the strength bonus of the rune word. CB is quite neat for a fast hitting character but if you can survive the melee long enough to kill the monsters fast with crushing blow you can most likely also survive long enough to kill them slow without it. Lack of regular physical damage and thereby life leeching has been more limiting in my experience.
 
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Welcome back Sir Cyclops . I recently completed a SC one pass untwinked and no extended stash. I found Io a few times in NM so a Black flail or knout is an option for a kicker if you can deal with the knockback.
 
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