Starting Assassin from dirt scratch. Any tips appreciated

[japanzaman]

Ancient's Pledge will solve all of your res issues on normal. You can get the Ral/Ort/Tal runes from Countess with some cubing, and any 3 socket shield will do.

 

[duck]

Well I just completed Anya quest. I also decided to use ATMA, since I really want a bigger stash :S Been a great day so far, since I found Angelic Ring, 2 x Amn, and a Shael while walking through Arreat Plateau to Frozen River. Finally can get my Rhyme done I'm actually probably gonna try to go Hell with this character. I will really take my time to do so though, since it's gonna be repetitive. Only excitement is that I have to find and make do with those equipments (as compared to trading in the Realms).

Quick question: Does your levels affect your chance to hit?

 

[jiansonz]

Does your levels affect your chance to hit?

Yes, it is a major factor (the level difference between character/merc and the monsters).

 

[duck]

@jiansonz Thanks! So that's the reason why all my old SP characters found it hard to hit monsters. I got them to Act 5 too quickly!

I just completed NM Countess (damn Eld Rune...). I'm level 49, and I have maxed out both TS and DTail. It is at this point where I realised a few things:

1) My main damage source is 3 TS Charged DTail. This means that it doesn't really matter what damage my Weapon does. I'm only concerned for my attack speed, and what possible bonus mods I can get from the Weapon.

2) Claw Mastery is hence not important. My TS hits doesn't need to hurt, as long as my DTail does.

This means that I probably have to reset my skills, because I put extra points in Claw Mastery. I also should start looking at alternative Weapons too. With that said, NM has been quite tricky so far especially against Cursed bosses. I have maxed FR, and fairly decent LR (could use Fade if necessary). CR and PR are low, but I can buff them with Thawing/Antidotes. Right now looking further ahead, my main problem will probably be PI/FI monsters. There are 3 routes which I'm considering, and I'm seeking some opinions.

a) Venom + DTalon. TS/DTail will probably last me a while more till I can get my secondary Venom + DTalon going. I think it will require me to get some CB equipment for the Switch. How will it fair against PI/FI monsters?

b) CoT + PS. This will require me to use a Claw. Like before, I don't think the Claw damage is important. So there's no need for Claw Mastery. But I read that I need to be using 2 Claws. Is this true?

c) Lightning Sentry + Death Sentry. Personally, I think it's damage might be lacking due to my lack of +Skills and not maxing the other synergies. I highly doubt this is a good route to go.

Lastly, my Merc is having issues. Currently, I threw my old Chipped Topaz Helm + Ringmail on him. He is also using a random magical 4%LL Pike. Is there anything I should do to change his setup? Once again I'm currently in NM Act 1 Countess.

 

[japanzaman]

Well, the first thing you need to do is make sure your boots are as high damaging as possible. Don't worry about any other mods for the time being, just get the heaviest hitting ones you can score. For your weapon, a runeword like Black can be nice for some shots at CB while your charging your tiger strike. Blood gloves are good as they add CB to your kicks.

You'll be changing your merc once you hit act 2 to an offensive merc for the might aura, which will again provide a nice boost to your damage. For immunes you may want to consider getting a wand with lower resist charges. Now might also be a good time to try and get a mana leech ring, as it can save you some hassle once you hit hell and you find you need 4 or 5 kicks to kill things.

 

[jiansonz]

1) My main damage source is 3 TS Charged DTail. This means that it doesn't really matter what damage my Weapon does. I'm only concerned for my attack speed, and what possible bonus mods I can get from the Weapon.

Basically, yes. If you use claws, look for +skills (including useful staffmods - those bonuses to individual assassin skills that can spawn on claws of the Hand Scythe type and up). The Fool's mod is great for your chance to hit, as it gives a large AR bonus based on your level (this ability can spawn on rares). Against non-bosses, Ignore Target's Defense is great.

2) Claw Mastery is hence not important. My TS hits doesn't need to hurt, as long as my DTail does.

Claw Mastery also has a pretty big attack rating bonus, so points here are rarely wasted if you stick with claw(s).

Right now looking further ahead, my main problem will probably be PI/FI monsters. There are 3 routes which I'm considering, and I'm seeking some opinions.

There won't be many of these but they will indeed show up now and then. Several monster types have at least 50% physical resistance in Hell, and if they have native fire resistance and spawn with Stone Skin, you will often get one (unless it is also cold immune because that takes priority, and a monster can only have two immunities).

a) Venom + DTalon. TS/DTail will probably last me a while more till I can get my secondary Venom + DTalon going. I think it will require me to get some CB equipment for the Switch. How will it fair against PI/FI monsters?

Venom works, but keep in mind that you may be able to get a free (as far as skill points go) level 15 Venom from a 'Treachery' armor. Pretty easy to make, as Lem is the only rune you are not guaranteed to find, and they are reasonably likely to drop in mid-late Nightmare.
Merc can also use this armor if you prefer something else yourself.

Crushing Blow is physical damage so it does absolutely nothing to a PI monster.
Open Wounds works, though. It is slow in the late game (compared to the huge life of monsters) but nothing is immune to it if you can do at least 1 point of damage of a type the boss is not immune to.

Also keep in mind that if you are fighting a mob with only PI monsters, Dragon Tail does no damage. The skill takes the physical damage you do to the monster you kick, then convert it to fire damage. So if you have a mixed mob and release the TS charges with a DTail on a non-PI monster, the resulting explosion will damage nearby PI monsters.

b) CoT + PS. This will require me to use a Claw. Like before, I don't think the Claw damage is important. So there's no need for Claw Mastery. But I read that I need to be using 2 Claws. Is this true?

PS requires no claw, just a melee weapon of some kind. It is not a fast solution to kill FI monsters. Even a dedicated Phoenix Striker that invests 40 points in these skills is a slow killer vs. FI monsters that have a lot of life (e.g. bosses). Part of this is because it is not always easy to keep releasing the 2nd (lightning) charge and not 1st or 3rd.

CoT requires at least one claw. It is a slow attack if you use claw + shield. Much faster with two claws and you have a chance to score 2 hits with one use of the skill. I have no experience with this skill in the late game.

Like I wrote before, Claw Mastery helps with hitting with claws. But these skills have a good AR bonus on their own, so if your gear is good, you can get by with no extra CM.

c) Lightning Sentry + Death Sentry. Personally, I think it's damage might be lacking due to my lack of +Skills and not maxing the other synergies. I highly doubt this is a good route to go.

I think this will work fine the few times you will need it, at least if you give the merc something that can stop monster regeneration (poison or open wounds). Plus high level Death Sentry kicks some serious butt on low players settings.

Lastly, my Merc is having issues. Currently, I threw my old Chipped Topaz Helm + Ringmail on him. He is also using a random magical 4%LL Pike. Is there anything I should do to change his setup? Once again I'm currently in NM Act 1 Countess.

Depends on how much of the killing he is doing, and how well he survives. How big damage does the Pike do? If it is rare and has good Enhanced Damage number, consider upgrading it to a Lance (if the merc is OK with the higher STR requirment).

One item that helps both the damage and the life steal is a crafted (blood) Helm.

 

[maxicek]

Look for claws / weapons with ctc Amplify Damage.

 

[duck]

Thanks for replies once again

Well isn't the main purpose of Death Sentry the CE? So wouldn't leaving it at level 1 be enough? Or is the extra radius that important? CE also does Physical/Fire, so it won't affect PI/FI. Is doing ~1k Lightning damage Death/Lightning Sentry enough?

Since CB doesn't work on PI, I don't see why I should go for DTalon. That leaves with option b and c. So the main reason why you use 2 claws for CoT is that with 1 use of it, I can potentially get 2 charges? Otherwise I'm probably build charges at the same speed as my TS? I don't see much problems with this though haha.

Lastly, is Crescent Moon runeword a good choice for my main weapon? Of course I'm open to using other weapons, but Shael Um Thul looks obtainable and it's mods seems useful to last me a long while.

 

[jiansonz]

Well isn't the main purpose of Death Sentry the CE? So wouldn't leaving it at level 1 be enough? Or is the extra radius that important?

Having just recently played with character with maxed DS, I can say that a big radius makes it all the more powerful.

CE also does Physical/Fire, so it won't affect PI/FI. Is doing ~1k Lightning damage Death/Lightning Sentry enough?

Yes, it is enough the relatively few times you have to rely on it.

Since CB doesn't work on PI, I don't see why I should go for DTalon. That leaves with option b and c. So the main reason why you use 2 claws for CoT is that with 1 use of it, I can potentially get 2 charges? Otherwise I'm probably build charges at the same speed as my TS? I don't see much problems with this though haha.

Phoenix Strike builds charges at the same speed as TS. CoT builds them either faster (two claws) or considerably slower (1 claw). I encourage you to try it early game so you get a feel for these skills.

Lastly, is Crescent Moon runeword a good choice for my main weapon? Of course I'm open to using other weapons, but Shael Um Thul looks obtainable and it's mods seems useful to last me a long while.

CM is very nice, but if you have it as main weapon you miss out on many +skills, as you have to make it in a sword.
Or in a polearm. Hehe, that would make an interesting build if you make it in an elite polearm. Against FI monsters, you could then go Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Attack for a big physical damage hit (while you hopefully get some Static Field going off as well). Lack of shield hurts safety and it's harder to get good resists, though.

 

[duck]

Ah yes I copied a new file to try the CoT. It is definitely slower, so I get where you guys are coming from. So it seems like I'm going towards Lightning + Death Sentry after all

Well I'm not sure if I would be interested in any random claws, unless I can find some +1-2 Skill + DTail/TS Claw haha. A Bartuc/Jade Talon would be quite nice if they dropped for me though :O