10. Dual claw build
Incase a certain skill isn't mentioned below it shouldn't recieve any skill points.
10.1 Martial Arts Tree
In the martial arts tree the whole left and middle branch should be left alone and shouldn't be spend any skill points in. The reason to this is, that you wan't to be kicking all the time and don't have the time to gain charges and release them, besides this charges works very poorly with dragon talon since they are added to the final damage and not multipled as with a claw attack.
Dragon Talon - 20 points
This will be your primary attack. It's the fastest attack that assasins have now, even though the initial attack is 7 frames compared to dragon claws 5 frames it has capability of reaching 2 frames for the following attacks.
Dragon Claw - 1 point
Prerequisite to dragon flight.
Dragon Tail - 1 point
Prerequisite to dragon flight.
Dragon Flight - 20 points
This is a VERY handy skill for catching fleeing opponents or getting out of a stressed situation. Also gets you "in you opponents face" once they are stunlocked. Now that the dragon flight bug has been corrected it had become an even more useful skill, with the new kick damage on boots this can become a very deadly skill and is no longer just a mean of trasportation.
Some would augment that maxing this skill isn't nessesary, but my reasons to maxing dragon flight is, that a level 20-31 dragon flight does tremendous damage. Dragon flighting with a pair of myrmidon greaves, maxed venom and open wounds can take a great potion of any opponents life, especially those who 'fly around the screen' like sorceresses or 'enigma' users. Being hit by a 2.5-3k dragon flight will definately make them think twice before getting too close.
10.2 Shadow Disciplines Tree
Claw Mastery - 1 point
Prerequisite to shadow master, burst of speed and venom.
Burst of Speed - 1 point
Prerequisite to venom
I would recommend only spending a single point in this skill, with the +skill gear, charms, the +6 Shadow Disciplines switch for precasting and IAS from equipment you will have plenty of IAS to reach the maximum attack speeds you will need.
Fade - 1 Point
Prerequisite to venom
Venom - 20 points
This skill has gotten alot more powerful than it used to in patch 1.09, it can now be cast together with fade or BoS. At level 20 it inflicts 425-445 poison damage over 0.4 seconds, which is almost instant. This is 1250 poison damage over 1 second.
Weapon Block - 8-15 point
This is your only way of gaining block, the breakpoint you want to reach is at level 26 with 60% chance to block. The reason i'm putting 8-15 points here is because you will be wearing a +1-2 assasin amulet and 10 shadow disciplines skill charms. Together this is atleast 11 points extra to weapon block, this is the minimum extra skills you'll be wearing at all times. IT IS IMPORTANT that you check the gear you are going to use and make sure that you at ALL times have a slvl 26 weapon block!
Ways to lower the amount of points spent in weapon block is:
Shadow Disciplines skillers
Runewording a claw that has +weapon block on it
+skill equipment
+skill
Shadow Warrior - 1 point
Prerequisite to shadow master
Shadow Master - 1 point
This is a lifesaver sometimes, in patch 1.10 the shadow master has gotten alot weaker even though it has recived alot better AI. It has lower life and isn't quite the tank it used to be in patch 1.09. wouldn't recommend maxing this skill, I would prefer a high level dragon flight instead.
My reasons to this is, that even though a high level shadow master can inflict great damage it's rarely of any use except for distractions since most opponents attack will kill it in 1 shot wether it's level 1 or 20.
Psychic Hammer - 1 point
Prerequisite to mind blast
Cloack of Shadows - 1 point
Prerequisite to mind blast
Mind Blast - 1 - As many points as possible
Once you have maxed out all other main skills and you have 1 point in all prerequisites, start pumping points into mind blast and get it as high as possible. Mind blast starts with 2 seconds stun swirl duration and increases with 0.2 seconds per extra skill point spent in it. This is a VERY powerful skill.
10.3 Traps Tree
Fire Blast - 1 point
Prerequisite to lightning sentry and wake of fire
Shock Web - 1 point
Prerequisite to lightning sentry
Lightning Sentry - 1-20 points
Very useful skill for stun locking opponents, even at low levels. Some augments that a maxed sentry isn't of any use vs. target you want to 'push around'. A high level lightning sentry will be able to push opponents like barbarians, druids and trappers around so they can't play you defensive.
Death Sentry 0-1 points
This depends on you. This is very useful for leveling but not as much a must as it used to be in patch 1.09 for cow levels, really this is a matter of taste. It can work very well against crowds but isn't an uber skill like it used to be unless its pumbed full of points, and since you're not a trapper you won't be needing alot of points in this one.
Wake of Fire - 1-20 points
Prerequisite to blade shield
Very useful skill for stun locking opponents, even at low levels. If you do want to ue lightning sentry i suggest using this skill, even though it has semi-low damage.
Blade Sentinel 0-1 point
Prerequisite to blade shield
Blade Fury 0-1 point
Prerequisite to blade shield
Blade Shield - 0-1 point
Most people don't pay this skill alot of attention, but it's actually quite a powerful skill even at low levels. Blade shield's attack speed is locked at 25 frames (once per second), regardless of weapon speed and BoS. Blade shield's range is locked at 6(the range of the longest weapon, 4 yards), regardless of weapon range, this is good since the weapons you'll be sing have very low range.
The effects triggered by blade shield is listed below
1/4th Physical damage of the weapon you're wielding
Elemental Damage
Magical Damage
Poison Damage
Deadly strike
+X% Life Leech
+X% Mana Leech
As you see in the above list blade shield triggers neither open wounds or crushing blow. However the magical damage and poison are the two main factors. If you're wielding either chaos or azurewrath you will be able to tranfers up to an extra 500 magical damage which is unresistable, this is quite alot even after PvP penalty. The poison will also be tranfered to inflict extra damage, but as your dragon talon is already triggering poison this is less useful.
Another aspect of blade shield is the very short duration, some people find it annoying to recast it alot during a match since it durates very fast.Wether you want to spend the extra 3 skill points this skill will require is solely up to you. Personally I have had some good experiences with it combined with magical damage.
10.4 Skill/build Summary
Below is listed the final build for level 99, the reason i listed the order of preference to max out skills is, that most people will probably head for level 80-90 since leveling past level 85 is quite extensive and time consuming.
Order of preference for 'maxing' skills
- Dragon Talon
- Weapon block (Only spent as many points as you need here DON'T overkill)
- Venom
- Dragon Flight
- Lightning Sentry/Wake of Fire
- Mind Blast
Martial Arts (42)
20 Dragon Talon
1 Dragon Claw
1 Dragon Tail
20 Dragon Flight
Shadow Disciplines (36-42)
1 Claw Mastery
1 Burst of Speed
1 Fade
20 Venom
8-15 Weapon Block
1 Shadow Warrior
1 Shadow Master
1 Psychic Hammer
1 Cloak of Shadows
1 Mind Blast
Traps (24-28)
1 Fire Blast
1(0) Blade Sentinel
1(20) Wake of Fire
1(0) Blade Fury
1(0) Blade Shield
1 Shock Web
1 Charged Bolt Sentry
1(20) Lightning Sentry
1(0) Death Sentry
10.5 Leveling advice
To level fast I suggest you should be using the following equipment.
Cathans ring
Cathans amulet
Sigons complete set
Rhyme shield
Skewer of krintiz
Guilames face
Gore riders (upgrade)
String of Ears
Atma's scarab
Dracul's grasp
Stormshield
Lionheart [Hel + Lum + Fal]
Strength [Amn + Tir]
Manald heal
Ravenfrost
Bartuc's Cut Throat
Bartuc's Cut Throat
Jade Talon
Jade Talon
Level 1 to 11
I suggest you will start out by muling 50k gold to your assasin, stash this up. Afterwards buy about 3-5 packs of standard javelins, these will be your weapon of choise untill level 11 where you can equip better weapons. Clean blood moor and the cave this should grant you about 2-3 levels. Put all stat points into strength and all the skill points into dragon talon. Once you reach level 11 you will have enough strength to wear the complete sigons gear, this is what you will be wearing for a long time.
Once you reach level 6, put 1 point into all prerequisites and burst of speed, make sure this is enabled all the time.
Put on cathans ring and amulet at level 11.
Level 12 to 26
When you reach level 12 put 5 points into dexterity and put on skewer of krintiz, this is some basic mana leech you'll need to keep on kicking. From level 12-26 be sure to get the needed stats for wearing the gear in the future. Remember the prerequisites and once you have maxed out dragon talon start maxing dragon flight.
About now you should have reach Act 2 sewers and the archers should be causing you alot of pain - atleast they did to me. Handle hem by using 'cloak of shadows' to blind them, then move in and kick away. You should be able to clean atleast 50% of 6-8 archer gruop in a 8 player game, during the 8 seconds CoS lasts.
At level 15 you'll put on manald heal.
Once you're level 17 go to arcane santuary and on to Canyon of the magi. Search for 8 player games and level in Canyon of the magi alone, don't worry you should have plenty of protection and damage to handle the monster all alone.
At level 24 start doing travincal runs to gain extra exp.
Level 27 to 31
Pretty simple, start doing diablo runs and equip your Rhyme shield, string of ears and Strength claw. Also equip your Lionheart armor.
Level 32 to 41
Go on leveling at baals minions, at level 40 equip guilames face and at level 41 equip the two bartuc's cut throat.
Level 42 to 65
Start on nightmare and equip ravenfrost. Work you way through nightmare in parties or with help from friends to boost. Check out http://www.purediablo.com/guides/news.php?id=512&pageno=1 for the best places to level.
At level 47 equip goreriders and at level 60 atma's scarab.
Level 66+
Go to hell and start working on getting to baals minions, this is relatively fast to do with parties and a little help from friends. At level 66 you should equip dual jade talons for resistances and at level 71 you should equip your shadow dancer boots and at level 76 put on draculs grasp, from this point off just do baals minions runs to level up.
10.6 Stat Point Distribution
Strength
With the dragon talon skill, strength is the most determining factor when calculation the damage. Therefor strength is now more important than dexterity to this build, the more strength the more damage. I suggest getting strength up around 200'ish, while wearing your items. Your base strength should be around 110-150. This should bring you around 1.2-1.3k dragon talon damage due to a lower amount of dexterity..
Dexterity
In dexterity you should put the amount of points equal to the claw with the highest requirements.
Vitality
All spare points should be spent in vitality, as this is the amount of life you will have in duels. 1 point in vitality is 3 life points for assasins.
Energy
None is needed here.
10.7 Weapons
About claw weapon there is one thing to say, always go for an elite claw. Aim to get a claw with +1-3 weapon block on, this is absolutely the best skill you can get since it lowers the amount of points you'll have to put in weapon block and then you can use the skill points in other places that needs it more.
Magical claw [+3 Shadow Disciplines, extra mods] - {Grade 4-5/5}
These should be used to precast burst of speed, venom and fade. Look for a pair with extra skills on like venom or shadow master.
Fury - {Grade 4/5}
3 Socket Melee Weapons
Jah + Gul + Eth
+209% Enhanced Damage
40% Increased Attack Speed
Prevent Monster Heal
66% Chance Of Open Wounds
33% Deadly Strike
Ignore Target's Defense
-25% Target Defense
20% Bonus To Attack Rating
6% Life Stolen Per Hit
+5 To Frenzy (Barbarian Only)
Superior primary claw weapon, the mods are like mentioned before superb. It's fairly cheap to make and has great usage.
Suggestion for the weapon to make this runeword in:
Runic Talon's [WSM -30] - Speed. Preferably with +1-3 weapon block.
Suwayyah [WSM 0] - Style. Preferably with +1-3 weapon block.
Malice - {Grade 5/5}
3 Socket Melee Weapons
Ith + El + Eth
+33% Enhanced Damage
+9 To Maximum Damage
100% Chance Of Open Wounds
-25% Target Defense
-100 To Monster Defense Per Hit
Prevent Monster Heal
+50 To Attack Rating
Drain Life -5
A witch-hunters dream, sorceresses and mages for sure doen't like this weapon's mods. A great primary weapon to wield, since then you wont have to think about getting OW from other sources.
Suggestion for the weapon to make this runeword in:
Greater/Runic Talon's [WSM -30] - Speed. Preferably with +1-3 Weapon block.
Chaos - {Grade 5/5}
3 Socket Claws
Fal + Ohm + Um
9% Chance To Cast Level 11 Frozen Orb On Striking
11% Chance To Cast Level 9 Charged Bolt On Striking
+35% Increased Attacked Speed
+290-340+% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Adds 216-471 Magic Damage
25% Chance of Open Wounds
+1 To Whirlwind
+10 To Strength
+15 Life After Each Demon Kill
Great claw! Semi-expensive touch though, the magical damage gets added to each kick so with 5 kick it's 1080-2355 extra unresistable damage, the 25% OW and extra IAS is sweet too. Some nice 'glitter' effects with the two chance to casts too.
Suggestion for the weapon to make this runeword in:
Runic Talon's [WSM -30] - Speed. Preferably with +1-3 weapon block.
Suwayyah [WSM 0] - Style. Preferably with +1-3 weapon block.
Bartuc's Cut-Throat - {Grade 3/5}
Greater Talons
Damage: (77-88) To (137-155) (107-121.5 Avg)
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 79
Required Dexterity: 79
Durability: 69
Weapon Speed: [-30]
(Assassin Only)
+150-200% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Adds 25-50 Damage
30% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Bonus To Attack Rating
5-9% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies)
+20 To Strength
+20 To Dexterity
+2 To Assassin Skill Levels
+1 To Martial Arts Skills (Assassin Only)
A nice primary claw too, it's used by many since it's pretty cheap and has great mods. If you can't get better stick with this one.
Jade Talon - {Grade 5/5}
Wrist Sword
Damage: (98-115) To (130-153) (114-134 Avg)
Required Level: 66
Required Strength: 105
Required Dexterity: 105
Durability: 56
Weapon Speed: [-10]
(Assassin Only)
+190-240% Enhanced Damage (varies)
+1-2 To Martial Arts (Assassin Only) (varies)
+1-2 To Shadow Disciplines (Assassin Only) (varies)
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
10-15% Mana Stolen Per Hit (varies)
All Resistances +40-50 (varies)
So sweet secondary claw, when hunting elemental attackers this sure helps your resistances to stay at max, the mods is just fantastic too.
10.8 Inventory
Your inventory should be filled with these charms
10 Shadow Disciplines skillers with +Life (FHR)
1 Annihilus unique small charm
9 small charms with life/resist
10.9 Equipment summary
To summarize a little bit, listed below is what I think is some of the best setups you could be using. Primary claw is the right hand claw (the ones tranfering effects to the kick)
Melee setup #1
Helm : Crown of Ages "Ber Ber"
Armor : Enigma / Lionheart / Duriel's Shell
Primary Weapon : Malice
Secondary Weapon: Bartuc's Cut Throat
Gloves : Dracul's Grasp / Souldrainer
Amulet : +2 Assasin, >15 stats, allres, dual leech
Ring 1 : dual leech, >15 stats
Ring 2 : dual leech, >15 stats
Boots : Shadow Dancer
Belt : 15/40 verdungo's hearty cord
Remember to include atleast one +5 replenish life item to counter malice's life drain. Make sure you have enough weapon block with this build since shadow dancer boots are swapped out.
With this setup you'll have 70% FHR from the gear, to reach the 86% break point you should put a shadow disciplines skiller w/ 12% FHR in the inventory together with a 5% FHR small charm.
Another melee option is available to those who aren't rich enough to buy two ber runes and a perfect PDR crown of ages.
Melee setup #2
Helm : Crown of Ages / Harlequin's Crest / Vampire Gaze
Armor : Leviathan 25% PDR
Primary Weapon : Malice
Secondary Weapon: Bartuc's Cut Throat
Gloves : Dracul's Grasp / Souldrainer
Amulet : +2 Assasin, >15 stats, allres, dual leech
Ring 1 : dual leech, >15 stats
Ring 2 : dual leech, >15 stats
Boots : Shadow Dancer
Belt : 15/40 verdungo's hearty cord
Counter elemental setup
Helm : Harlequin's Crest / Crown of Ages
Armor : Guardian Angel
Primary Weapon : Malice
Secondary Weapon: Jade Talon
Gloves : Dracul's Grasp / Souldrainer
Amulet : +2 Assasin, >15 stats, allres, dual leech
Ring 1 : dual leech, >15 stats
Ring 2 : dual leech, >15 stats
Boots : Shadow dancer
Belt : 15/40 verdungo's hearty cord
Remember to include atleast one +5 replenish life item to counter malice's life drain.
With this setup you'll have 100% FHR from the gear and reached the 86% FHR breakpoint, heading for 200% FHR is useless.
Keep-the-distance setup #1
Helm : Crown of Ages "Ber Ber"
Armor : Enigma / Lionheart / Upgraded Duriel's Shell
Primary Weapon : Malice
Secondary Weapon: Bartuc's Cut Throat
Gloves : Dracul's Grasp / Souldrainer
Amulet : +2 Assasin, >15 stats, allres, dual leech
Ring 1 : dual leech, >15 stats
Ring 2 : dual leech, >15 stats
Boots : Shadow dancer
Belt : 15/40 verdungo's hearty cord
As with the melee setup there's another option for keep-the-distance.
Keep-the-distance setup #2
Helm : Crown of Ages / Harlequin's Crest / Vampire Gaze
Armor : Leviathan 25% PDR
Primary Weapon : Malice
Secondary Weapon: Bartuc's Cut Throat
Gloves : Dracul's Grasp / Souldrainer
Amulet : +2 Assasin, >15 stats, allres, dual leech
Ring 1 : dual leech, >15 stats
Ring 2 : dual leech, >15 stats
Boots : Shadow Dancer
Belt : 15/40 verdungo's hearty cord
Remember to include atleast one +5 replenish life item to counter malice's life drain.
With this setup you'll have 100% FHR from the gear and reached the 86% FHR breakpoint, heading for 200% FHR is useless.
11. Why not max fade
After having made numerous calculations and had numerous discussions/debates with people about the very much debated fade skill, I have decided to add a complete section on why I chose to leave fade out of option maxing or even spending more than a single point in.
First off, you'd have to sacrifice another maxed skill in order to max out fade. You can choose among these skills.
Dragon Talon
This is not viable leaving at level 1, as it is your main attack.
Dragon Flight
This is probably the most likely to leave at level 1.
Venom
Not viable as it is a source of extra damage for your kicks.
Lightning Sentry
Another option to leave at level 1 and use it solely for its stunning capabilities. But then you'll have even more problems with opponents you have to keep of your tail.
From the above the only skill you can sacrifice is dragon flight, now I'll augment why this is a bad idea.
1) Dragon flight easily reaches 2.5-3.5k+ damage, add 0.5-1k+ poison damage to this and 50-100% open wounds and you got a lethal attack. Even the initial damage can take out 20-35% of an opponents life supply, which is quite alot for an initial blow.
2) The resistances from fade is easily gained from other sources. The calculations of resistances without fade is done below.
3) Physical resistance is also gained fairly easily, it will be easier for a claw/claw to reach maximum resistances while harder toreach 50% PDR and vice versa for a weapon/shield kicker.
4) You will be able to obtain both maximum physical resistance and elemental resistance with a level 1 fade, without sacrificing any gear.
I order to be able to gain maximum resistances, and by this I'm heading for maximum resistances in hell, you will need 100% + 75% (+15%). The extra 15% in paranthesis is for reaching 90% resist all. In total an amount of 175-190% resist all is needed.
11.1 Weapon/shield resistances with low level fade
With a level 1 fade your resistances can look like this.
Precast claws : +6 Shadow Disciplines (Potentially +12 Fade with +3 Fade on each claw)
Andariel's Visage : +1 Shadow Disciplines
Amulet : +2 Shadow Disciplines
In all +9 Shadow disciplines and potentially a level 15 Fade. This grants
9-15% PDR
52-60% Resist all
Combined with the other sources of equipment you will gain
Andariel's Visage: 70% Poison resist, -30% Fire resist
Stormshield : 60% Cold resist, 25% Lightning resist
Anya quests : 30% Resist all
Annihilus : 20% Resist all
Guardian Angel : 10% higher maximum resist all
Fade Slvl 9-15 : 9-15% PDR, 52-60% Res all
Um in Guardian Angel: 15% Resist all
Um in Andariel's Visage : 15% Resist all
Um in Stormshield : 22% Resist all
Resist all small charms : 45% Resist all
Verdungo's Hearty Cord : 10-15% PDR
In total this will result in
54-65% PDR
Fire resistance : 169-177%
Cold resistance : 259-268%
Lightning resistance: 242-250%
Poison resistance : 269-278%
In hell mod this will leave you with a 69-77/90/90/90 Resist all. Fire is neglected a little bit but this can be compensated for by using a few small charms with +11% fire resistance or just socketing Andariel's visage with a Ral to make up for the -30% Fire resistance.
11.2 Claw/claw resistances with low level fade
With a level 1 fade your resistances can look like this.
Precast claws : +6 Shadow Disciplines (Potentially +12 Fade with +3 Fade on each claw)
Crown of Ages : +1 Shadow Disciplines
Shadow Charms : +10 Shadow Disciplines
Amulet : +2 Shadow Disciplines
Shadow Dancer : +2 Shadow Disciplines
In all +22 Shadow disciplines and potentially a level 28 Fade. This grants
22-28% PDR
65-68% Resist all
Combined with the other sources of equipment you will gain
Crown of Ages : 20-30% Resist all, 10-15% PDR
Anya quests : 30% Resist all
Jade Talon : 50% Resist all
Crown of Ages : 30% Resist all
Annihilus : 20% Resist all
Guardian Angel : 10% higher maximum resist all
Fade Slvl 20-26 : 20-26% PDR, 64-67% Res all
Um in Guardian Angel: 15% Resist all
Um in Crown of Ages : 30% Resist all
Resist all small charms : 45% Resist all
Verdungo's Hearty Cord : 10-15% PDR
In total this will result in
42-58% PDR
246-262% Res all
This overshoots the mark you want to hit by 71-87% Resist all for the 175% Resist mark and by 56-72% Resist all for the 190% mark. so you can even leave out an Um rune or two while using fade.
11.3 Conclusion on fade
From the above calculations it should now be obvious that maxing out fade is a complete overkill. If you want to use fade and find it nessesary for one reason or another, keep in mind that you can easily go with a level 1 fade. The sockets that the Um runes take up will probably not be used for alot of other stuff since neither ED nor MAX/MIN damage affects dragon talons damage. There can be a slight problem reaching 7/2 FPA, but this too can be done with maximum hell resistances, I refer to fuzzbox IAS table (http://www.purediablo.com/characters/assassin/ias.shtml) to find the apropriate amount of IAS needed .
12. Why max venom
Anoter controversial skill is venom, there have been alot of debate about wether to use this skill or not. From my experiences it's a very powerful skill and should be maxed, my augments for this are
- Not every one has maxed poison resistances.
- Using venom might force people with low poison resistance to max them out and neglect other equipment.
- Venom easily reaches over 700 poison damage dealt in 0.4 seconds.
Even though people has high poison resistance, venom will still add a small amount of damage, and therefor be a damage dealer in the overall picture since you will kick around 5-6 times per attack. Another reason is that a kicker will need all the extra damage that can be added to the kicks.
13. Maxed mind blast or one maxed trap
This section is aimed toward the weapon/shield kicker build, since only they will have to suffer from this. Due to the fact that it has become severely harder to level up past level 85, I have decided to write a section about the topic.
When facing the balance between a maxed trap or maxed mind blast one is before a hard choise. As everyone knows a high level mind blast is crucial to any stunlock and a low level mind blast around 5-8 simply wont cut it. You need at least a level 11 or higher mind blast in order to keep the lock and have time to recast mind blast while placing new traps. A lower level mind blast will cripple your abilities to do this alot unless you have a high faster cast rate.
As a weapon/shield kicker, when you reach level 85-88 you haven't got enough points to have a high level mind blast and a high level trap at the same time, if you want both you have to go around level 95 or higher in order to have a decent level mind blast. For traps there is no middle way, either max them or leave them at level 1. Mind blast however can go with a mediocre level and still be very efficient.
The advantages of a high level trap is that it will do higher damage and give you an easier time on the characteres where you'd rather not do face to face with them, even if they are in stunlock. The disadvantage is in order to gain a high level trap you will be left with a low level mind blast and have to be effective and very fast while dealing with you opponent in stunlock. The downside of this is, that while you're attacking with dragon talon which takes ~12-17 frames to complete a full attack, the traps might run out of ammo or the mind blast will stop its effect. This leaves you basically defenseless as you probably wont have another shot on re-obtaining your stunlock.
The advantage of a high level mind blast is that you will have a much easier time attacking your opponent while still being able to re-cast traps and mind blast. However chosing a high level mind blast will leave you with a harder time on the characters you don't want to come close to and you have to run a higher risc on attacking them as you will have to stunlock them and the hit them with open wounds. This means that you will have to get close to them and then move away again, moving away will lower your chance of blocking an attack (unless you're walking away) and you will be an easier target.
In the end the decision is upto you, it all depends what you want and what your skills are with PvP. If you very good at stunlocking and at keeping the lock while attacking i would suggest a high level trap, that is if you can handle it. Otherwise i personally think it would be smarter to max out mind blast. My suggestion is that you start out by practicing with a low level mind blast before putting points in it, if you able to work fine with that head for the trap.
The reason claw/claw kickers wont have to face this hard choise is that they by 'nature' is equipped with a high level mind blast from alot of shadow disciplines charms and skill gear, therefore they will have sufficient high mind blast to work proberly.
14. Thanks to
If I missed out on someone on this list and you'd contributed (or think you have
) please let me know and I'll see to it.
Chippydip's Skill Info (http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~cbradfor/diablo2/skills.html).
D2items.com skill planer for patch 1.10 (http://www.D2items.com/skill.html).
Fuzzbox's IAS Table (http://www.purediablo.com/characters/assassin/ias.shtml).
DiabloII.net (http://www.purediablo.com).
The people around the Statistics forum for supplying informations on breakpoints and skills. (http://www.rpgforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=13).
The people around the assasin forums. (http://www.rpgforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=15).
All the people who helped with advice/comments/suggestions to this guide.
Jrichard for alot of useful info.
Naliworld for stickying this guide and for extra info about bladeshield.
Areat Summit (http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp).
Stats.DiabloII.net (http://stats.purediablo.com/calcs/wspeed.shtml).
Funpop for alot of useful input and rethinking of the build.
HellBoundName for alot of questions and rethinking of the build.
Chaos9 for making me think a bit about a few things, mainly fade.
Skythe for some info on mods for belts.
Incase a certain skill isn't mentioned below it shouldn't recieve any skill points.
10.1 Martial Arts Tree
In the martial arts tree the whole left and middle branch should be left alone and shouldn't be spend any skill points in. The reason to this is, that you wan't to be kicking all the time and don't have the time to gain charges and release them, besides this charges works very poorly with dragon talon since they are added to the final damage and not multipled as with a claw attack.
Dragon Talon - 20 points
This will be your primary attack. It's the fastest attack that assasins have now, even though the initial attack is 7 frames compared to dragon claws 5 frames it has capability of reaching 2 frames for the following attacks.
Dragon Claw - 1 point
Prerequisite to dragon flight.
Dragon Tail - 1 point
Prerequisite to dragon flight.
Dragon Flight - 20 points
This is a VERY handy skill for catching fleeing opponents or getting out of a stressed situation. Also gets you "in you opponents face" once they are stunlocked. Now that the dragon flight bug has been corrected it had become an even more useful skill, with the new kick damage on boots this can become a very deadly skill and is no longer just a mean of trasportation.
Some would augment that maxing this skill isn't nessesary, but my reasons to maxing dragon flight is, that a level 20-31 dragon flight does tremendous damage. Dragon flighting with a pair of myrmidon greaves, maxed venom and open wounds can take a great potion of any opponents life, especially those who 'fly around the screen' like sorceresses or 'enigma' users. Being hit by a 2.5-3k dragon flight will definately make them think twice before getting too close.
10.2 Shadow Disciplines Tree
Claw Mastery - 1 point
Prerequisite to shadow master, burst of speed and venom.
Burst of Speed - 1 point
Prerequisite to venom
I would recommend only spending a single point in this skill, with the +skill gear, charms, the +6 Shadow Disciplines switch for precasting and IAS from equipment you will have plenty of IAS to reach the maximum attack speeds you will need.
Fade - 1 Point
Prerequisite to venom
Venom - 20 points
This skill has gotten alot more powerful than it used to in patch 1.09, it can now be cast together with fade or BoS. At level 20 it inflicts 425-445 poison damage over 0.4 seconds, which is almost instant. This is 1250 poison damage over 1 second.
Weapon Block - 8-15 point
This is your only way of gaining block, the breakpoint you want to reach is at level 26 with 60% chance to block. The reason i'm putting 8-15 points here is because you will be wearing a +1-2 assasin amulet and 10 shadow disciplines skill charms. Together this is atleast 11 points extra to weapon block, this is the minimum extra skills you'll be wearing at all times. IT IS IMPORTANT that you check the gear you are going to use and make sure that you at ALL times have a slvl 26 weapon block!
Ways to lower the amount of points spent in weapon block is:
Shadow Disciplines skillers
Runewording a claw that has +weapon block on it
+skill equipment
+skill
Shadow Warrior - 1 point
Prerequisite to shadow master
Shadow Master - 1 point
This is a lifesaver sometimes, in patch 1.10 the shadow master has gotten alot weaker even though it has recived alot better AI. It has lower life and isn't quite the tank it used to be in patch 1.09. wouldn't recommend maxing this skill, I would prefer a high level dragon flight instead.
My reasons to this is, that even though a high level shadow master can inflict great damage it's rarely of any use except for distractions since most opponents attack will kill it in 1 shot wether it's level 1 or 20.
Psychic Hammer - 1 point
Prerequisite to mind blast
Cloack of Shadows - 1 point
Prerequisite to mind blast
Mind Blast - 1 - As many points as possible
Once you have maxed out all other main skills and you have 1 point in all prerequisites, start pumping points into mind blast and get it as high as possible. Mind blast starts with 2 seconds stun swirl duration and increases with 0.2 seconds per extra skill point spent in it. This is a VERY powerful skill.
10.3 Traps Tree
Fire Blast - 1 point
Prerequisite to lightning sentry and wake of fire
Shock Web - 1 point
Prerequisite to lightning sentry
Lightning Sentry - 1-20 points
Very useful skill for stun locking opponents, even at low levels. Some augments that a maxed sentry isn't of any use vs. target you want to 'push around'. A high level lightning sentry will be able to push opponents like barbarians, druids and trappers around so they can't play you defensive.
Death Sentry 0-1 points
This depends on you. This is very useful for leveling but not as much a must as it used to be in patch 1.09 for cow levels, really this is a matter of taste. It can work very well against crowds but isn't an uber skill like it used to be unless its pumbed full of points, and since you're not a trapper you won't be needing alot of points in this one.
Wake of Fire - 1-20 points
Prerequisite to blade shield
Very useful skill for stun locking opponents, even at low levels. If you do want to ue lightning sentry i suggest using this skill, even though it has semi-low damage.
Blade Sentinel 0-1 point
Prerequisite to blade shield
Blade Fury 0-1 point
Prerequisite to blade shield
Blade Shield - 0-1 point
Most people don't pay this skill alot of attention, but it's actually quite a powerful skill even at low levels. Blade shield's attack speed is locked at 25 frames (once per second), regardless of weapon speed and BoS. Blade shield's range is locked at 6(the range of the longest weapon, 4 yards), regardless of weapon range, this is good since the weapons you'll be sing have very low range.
The effects triggered by blade shield is listed below
1/4th Physical damage of the weapon you're wielding
Elemental Damage
Magical Damage
Poison Damage
Deadly strike
+X% Life Leech
+X% Mana Leech
As you see in the above list blade shield triggers neither open wounds or crushing blow. However the magical damage and poison are the two main factors. If you're wielding either chaos or azurewrath you will be able to tranfers up to an extra 500 magical damage which is unresistable, this is quite alot even after PvP penalty. The poison will also be tranfered to inflict extra damage, but as your dragon talon is already triggering poison this is less useful.
Another aspect of blade shield is the very short duration, some people find it annoying to recast it alot during a match since it durates very fast.Wether you want to spend the extra 3 skill points this skill will require is solely up to you. Personally I have had some good experiences with it combined with magical damage.
10.4 Skill/build Summary
Below is listed the final build for level 99, the reason i listed the order of preference to max out skills is, that most people will probably head for level 80-90 since leveling past level 85 is quite extensive and time consuming.
Order of preference for 'maxing' skills
- Dragon Talon
- Weapon block (Only spent as many points as you need here DON'T overkill)
- Venom
- Dragon Flight
- Lightning Sentry/Wake of Fire
- Mind Blast
Martial Arts (42)
20 Dragon Talon
1 Dragon Claw
1 Dragon Tail
20 Dragon Flight
Shadow Disciplines (36-42)
1 Claw Mastery
1 Burst of Speed
1 Fade
20 Venom
8-15 Weapon Block
1 Shadow Warrior
1 Shadow Master
1 Psychic Hammer
1 Cloak of Shadows
1 Mind Blast
Traps (24-28)
1 Fire Blast
1(0) Blade Sentinel
1(20) Wake of Fire
1(0) Blade Fury
1(0) Blade Shield
1 Shock Web
1 Charged Bolt Sentry
1(20) Lightning Sentry
1(0) Death Sentry
10.5 Leveling advice
To level fast I suggest you should be using the following equipment.
Cathans ring
Cathans amulet
Sigons complete set
Rhyme shield
Skewer of krintiz
Guilames face
Gore riders (upgrade)
String of Ears
Atma's scarab
Dracul's grasp
Stormshield
Lionheart [Hel + Lum + Fal]
Strength [Amn + Tir]
Manald heal
Ravenfrost
Bartuc's Cut Throat
Bartuc's Cut Throat
Jade Talon
Jade Talon
Level 1 to 11
I suggest you will start out by muling 50k gold to your assasin, stash this up. Afterwards buy about 3-5 packs of standard javelins, these will be your weapon of choise untill level 11 where you can equip better weapons. Clean blood moor and the cave this should grant you about 2-3 levels. Put all stat points into strength and all the skill points into dragon talon. Once you reach level 11 you will have enough strength to wear the complete sigons gear, this is what you will be wearing for a long time.
Once you reach level 6, put 1 point into all prerequisites and burst of speed, make sure this is enabled all the time.
Put on cathans ring and amulet at level 11.
Level 12 to 26
When you reach level 12 put 5 points into dexterity and put on skewer of krintiz, this is some basic mana leech you'll need to keep on kicking. From level 12-26 be sure to get the needed stats for wearing the gear in the future. Remember the prerequisites and once you have maxed out dragon talon start maxing dragon flight.
About now you should have reach Act 2 sewers and the archers should be causing you alot of pain - atleast they did to me. Handle hem by using 'cloak of shadows' to blind them, then move in and kick away. You should be able to clean atleast 50% of 6-8 archer gruop in a 8 player game, during the 8 seconds CoS lasts.
At level 15 you'll put on manald heal.
Once you're level 17 go to arcane santuary and on to Canyon of the magi. Search for 8 player games and level in Canyon of the magi alone, don't worry you should have plenty of protection and damage to handle the monster all alone.
At level 24 start doing travincal runs to gain extra exp.
Level 27 to 31
Pretty simple, start doing diablo runs and equip your Rhyme shield, string of ears and Strength claw. Also equip your Lionheart armor.
Level 32 to 41
Go on leveling at baals minions, at level 40 equip guilames face and at level 41 equip the two bartuc's cut throat.
Level 42 to 65
Start on nightmare and equip ravenfrost. Work you way through nightmare in parties or with help from friends to boost. Check out http://www.purediablo.com/guides/news.php?id=512&pageno=1 for the best places to level.
At level 47 equip goreriders and at level 60 atma's scarab.
Level 66+
Go to hell and start working on getting to baals minions, this is relatively fast to do with parties and a little help from friends. At level 66 you should equip dual jade talons for resistances and at level 71 you should equip your shadow dancer boots and at level 76 put on draculs grasp, from this point off just do baals minions runs to level up.
10.6 Stat Point Distribution
Strength
With the dragon talon skill, strength is the most determining factor when calculation the damage. Therefor strength is now more important than dexterity to this build, the more strength the more damage. I suggest getting strength up around 200'ish, while wearing your items. Your base strength should be around 110-150. This should bring you around 1.2-1.3k dragon talon damage due to a lower amount of dexterity..
Dexterity
In dexterity you should put the amount of points equal to the claw with the highest requirements.
Vitality
All spare points should be spent in vitality, as this is the amount of life you will have in duels. 1 point in vitality is 3 life points for assasins.
Energy
None is needed here.
10.7 Weapons
About claw weapon there is one thing to say, always go for an elite claw. Aim to get a claw with +1-3 weapon block on, this is absolutely the best skill you can get since it lowers the amount of points you'll have to put in weapon block and then you can use the skill points in other places that needs it more.
Magical claw [+3 Shadow Disciplines, extra mods] - {Grade 4-5/5}
These should be used to precast burst of speed, venom and fade. Look for a pair with extra skills on like venom or shadow master.
Fury - {Grade 4/5}
3 Socket Melee Weapons
Jah + Gul + Eth
+209% Enhanced Damage
40% Increased Attack Speed
Prevent Monster Heal
66% Chance Of Open Wounds
33% Deadly Strike
Ignore Target's Defense
-25% Target Defense
20% Bonus To Attack Rating
6% Life Stolen Per Hit
+5 To Frenzy (Barbarian Only)
Superior primary claw weapon, the mods are like mentioned before superb. It's fairly cheap to make and has great usage.
Suggestion for the weapon to make this runeword in:
Runic Talon's [WSM -30] - Speed. Preferably with +1-3 weapon block.
Suwayyah [WSM 0] - Style. Preferably with +1-3 weapon block.
Malice - {Grade 5/5}
3 Socket Melee Weapons
Ith + El + Eth
+33% Enhanced Damage
+9 To Maximum Damage
100% Chance Of Open Wounds
-25% Target Defense
-100 To Monster Defense Per Hit
Prevent Monster Heal
+50 To Attack Rating
Drain Life -5
A witch-hunters dream, sorceresses and mages for sure doen't like this weapon's mods. A great primary weapon to wield, since then you wont have to think about getting OW from other sources.
Suggestion for the weapon to make this runeword in:
Greater/Runic Talon's [WSM -30] - Speed. Preferably with +1-3 Weapon block.
Chaos - {Grade 5/5}
3 Socket Claws
Fal + Ohm + Um
9% Chance To Cast Level 11 Frozen Orb On Striking
11% Chance To Cast Level 9 Charged Bolt On Striking
+35% Increased Attacked Speed
+290-340+% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Adds 216-471 Magic Damage
25% Chance of Open Wounds
+1 To Whirlwind
+10 To Strength
+15 Life After Each Demon Kill
Great claw! Semi-expensive touch though, the magical damage gets added to each kick so with 5 kick it's 1080-2355 extra unresistable damage, the 25% OW and extra IAS is sweet too. Some nice 'glitter' effects with the two chance to casts too.
Suggestion for the weapon to make this runeword in:
Runic Talon's [WSM -30] - Speed. Preferably with +1-3 weapon block.
Suwayyah [WSM 0] - Style. Preferably with +1-3 weapon block.
Bartuc's Cut-Throat - {Grade 3/5}
Greater Talons
Damage: (77-88) To (137-155) (107-121.5 Avg)
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 79
Required Dexterity: 79
Durability: 69
Weapon Speed: [-30]
(Assassin Only)
+150-200% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Adds 25-50 Damage
30% Faster Hit Recovery
20% Bonus To Attack Rating
5-9% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies)
+20 To Strength
+20 To Dexterity
+2 To Assassin Skill Levels
+1 To Martial Arts Skills (Assassin Only)
A nice primary claw too, it's used by many since it's pretty cheap and has great mods. If you can't get better stick with this one.
Jade Talon - {Grade 5/5}
Wrist Sword
Damage: (98-115) To (130-153) (114-134 Avg)
Required Level: 66
Required Strength: 105
Required Dexterity: 105
Durability: 56
Weapon Speed: [-10]
(Assassin Only)
+190-240% Enhanced Damage (varies)
+1-2 To Martial Arts (Assassin Only) (varies)
+1-2 To Shadow Disciplines (Assassin Only) (varies)
+30% Faster Hit Recovery
10-15% Mana Stolen Per Hit (varies)
All Resistances +40-50 (varies)
So sweet secondary claw, when hunting elemental attackers this sure helps your resistances to stay at max, the mods is just fantastic too.
10.8 Inventory
Your inventory should be filled with these charms
10 Shadow Disciplines skillers with +Life (FHR)
1 Annihilus unique small charm
9 small charms with life/resist
10.9 Equipment summary
To summarize a little bit, listed below is what I think is some of the best setups you could be using. Primary claw is the right hand claw (the ones tranfering effects to the kick)
Melee setup #1
Helm : Crown of Ages "Ber Ber"
Armor : Enigma / Lionheart / Duriel's Shell
Primary Weapon : Malice
Secondary Weapon: Bartuc's Cut Throat
Gloves : Dracul's Grasp / Souldrainer
Amulet : +2 Assasin, >15 stats, allres, dual leech
Ring 1 : dual leech, >15 stats
Ring 2 : dual leech, >15 stats
Boots : Shadow Dancer
Belt : 15/40 verdungo's hearty cord
Remember to include atleast one +5 replenish life item to counter malice's life drain. Make sure you have enough weapon block with this build since shadow dancer boots are swapped out.
With this setup you'll have 70% FHR from the gear, to reach the 86% break point you should put a shadow disciplines skiller w/ 12% FHR in the inventory together with a 5% FHR small charm.
Another melee option is available to those who aren't rich enough to buy two ber runes and a perfect PDR crown of ages.
Melee setup #2
Helm : Crown of Ages / Harlequin's Crest / Vampire Gaze
Armor : Leviathan 25% PDR
Primary Weapon : Malice
Secondary Weapon: Bartuc's Cut Throat
Gloves : Dracul's Grasp / Souldrainer
Amulet : +2 Assasin, >15 stats, allres, dual leech
Ring 1 : dual leech, >15 stats
Ring 2 : dual leech, >15 stats
Boots : Shadow Dancer
Belt : 15/40 verdungo's hearty cord
Counter elemental setup
Helm : Harlequin's Crest / Crown of Ages
Armor : Guardian Angel
Primary Weapon : Malice
Secondary Weapon: Jade Talon
Gloves : Dracul's Grasp / Souldrainer
Amulet : +2 Assasin, >15 stats, allres, dual leech
Ring 1 : dual leech, >15 stats
Ring 2 : dual leech, >15 stats
Boots : Shadow dancer
Belt : 15/40 verdungo's hearty cord
Remember to include atleast one +5 replenish life item to counter malice's life drain.
With this setup you'll have 100% FHR from the gear and reached the 86% FHR breakpoint, heading for 200% FHR is useless.
Keep-the-distance setup #1
Helm : Crown of Ages "Ber Ber"
Armor : Enigma / Lionheart / Upgraded Duriel's Shell
Primary Weapon : Malice
Secondary Weapon: Bartuc's Cut Throat
Gloves : Dracul's Grasp / Souldrainer
Amulet : +2 Assasin, >15 stats, allres, dual leech
Ring 1 : dual leech, >15 stats
Ring 2 : dual leech, >15 stats
Boots : Shadow dancer
Belt : 15/40 verdungo's hearty cord
As with the melee setup there's another option for keep-the-distance.
Keep-the-distance setup #2
Helm : Crown of Ages / Harlequin's Crest / Vampire Gaze
Armor : Leviathan 25% PDR
Primary Weapon : Malice
Secondary Weapon: Bartuc's Cut Throat
Gloves : Dracul's Grasp / Souldrainer
Amulet : +2 Assasin, >15 stats, allres, dual leech
Ring 1 : dual leech, >15 stats
Ring 2 : dual leech, >15 stats
Boots : Shadow Dancer
Belt : 15/40 verdungo's hearty cord
Remember to include atleast one +5 replenish life item to counter malice's life drain.
With this setup you'll have 100% FHR from the gear and reached the 86% FHR breakpoint, heading for 200% FHR is useless.
11. Why not max fade
After having made numerous calculations and had numerous discussions/debates with people about the very much debated fade skill, I have decided to add a complete section on why I chose to leave fade out of option maxing or even spending more than a single point in.
First off, you'd have to sacrifice another maxed skill in order to max out fade. You can choose among these skills.
Dragon Talon
This is not viable leaving at level 1, as it is your main attack.
Dragon Flight
This is probably the most likely to leave at level 1.
Venom
Not viable as it is a source of extra damage for your kicks.
Lightning Sentry
Another option to leave at level 1 and use it solely for its stunning capabilities. But then you'll have even more problems with opponents you have to keep of your tail.
From the above the only skill you can sacrifice is dragon flight, now I'll augment why this is a bad idea.
1) Dragon flight easily reaches 2.5-3.5k+ damage, add 0.5-1k+ poison damage to this and 50-100% open wounds and you got a lethal attack. Even the initial damage can take out 20-35% of an opponents life supply, which is quite alot for an initial blow.
2) The resistances from fade is easily gained from other sources. The calculations of resistances without fade is done below.
3) Physical resistance is also gained fairly easily, it will be easier for a claw/claw to reach maximum resistances while harder toreach 50% PDR and vice versa for a weapon/shield kicker.
4) You will be able to obtain both maximum physical resistance and elemental resistance with a level 1 fade, without sacrificing any gear.
I order to be able to gain maximum resistances, and by this I'm heading for maximum resistances in hell, you will need 100% + 75% (+15%). The extra 15% in paranthesis is for reaching 90% resist all. In total an amount of 175-190% resist all is needed.
11.1 Weapon/shield resistances with low level fade
With a level 1 fade your resistances can look like this.
Precast claws : +6 Shadow Disciplines (Potentially +12 Fade with +3 Fade on each claw)
Andariel's Visage : +1 Shadow Disciplines
Amulet : +2 Shadow Disciplines
In all +9 Shadow disciplines and potentially a level 15 Fade. This grants
9-15% PDR
52-60% Resist all
Combined with the other sources of equipment you will gain
Andariel's Visage: 70% Poison resist, -30% Fire resist
Stormshield : 60% Cold resist, 25% Lightning resist
Anya quests : 30% Resist all
Annihilus : 20% Resist all
Guardian Angel : 10% higher maximum resist all
Fade Slvl 9-15 : 9-15% PDR, 52-60% Res all
Um in Guardian Angel: 15% Resist all
Um in Andariel's Visage : 15% Resist all
Um in Stormshield : 22% Resist all
Resist all small charms : 45% Resist all
Verdungo's Hearty Cord : 10-15% PDR
In total this will result in
54-65% PDR
Fire resistance : 169-177%
Cold resistance : 259-268%
Lightning resistance: 242-250%
Poison resistance : 269-278%
In hell mod this will leave you with a 69-77/90/90/90 Resist all. Fire is neglected a little bit but this can be compensated for by using a few small charms with +11% fire resistance or just socketing Andariel's visage with a Ral to make up for the -30% Fire resistance.
11.2 Claw/claw resistances with low level fade
With a level 1 fade your resistances can look like this.
Precast claws : +6 Shadow Disciplines (Potentially +12 Fade with +3 Fade on each claw)
Crown of Ages : +1 Shadow Disciplines
Shadow Charms : +10 Shadow Disciplines
Amulet : +2 Shadow Disciplines
Shadow Dancer : +2 Shadow Disciplines
In all +22 Shadow disciplines and potentially a level 28 Fade. This grants
22-28% PDR
65-68% Resist all
Combined with the other sources of equipment you will gain
Crown of Ages : 20-30% Resist all, 10-15% PDR
Anya quests : 30% Resist all
Jade Talon : 50% Resist all
Crown of Ages : 30% Resist all
Annihilus : 20% Resist all
Guardian Angel : 10% higher maximum resist all
Fade Slvl 20-26 : 20-26% PDR, 64-67% Res all
Um in Guardian Angel: 15% Resist all
Um in Crown of Ages : 30% Resist all
Resist all small charms : 45% Resist all
Verdungo's Hearty Cord : 10-15% PDR
In total this will result in
42-58% PDR
246-262% Res all
This overshoots the mark you want to hit by 71-87% Resist all for the 175% Resist mark and by 56-72% Resist all for the 190% mark. so you can even leave out an Um rune or two while using fade.
11.3 Conclusion on fade
From the above calculations it should now be obvious that maxing out fade is a complete overkill. If you want to use fade and find it nessesary for one reason or another, keep in mind that you can easily go with a level 1 fade. The sockets that the Um runes take up will probably not be used for alot of other stuff since neither ED nor MAX/MIN damage affects dragon talons damage. There can be a slight problem reaching 7/2 FPA, but this too can be done with maximum hell resistances, I refer to fuzzbox IAS table (http://www.purediablo.com/characters/assassin/ias.shtml) to find the apropriate amount of IAS needed .
12. Why max venom
Anoter controversial skill is venom, there have been alot of debate about wether to use this skill or not. From my experiences it's a very powerful skill and should be maxed, my augments for this are
- Not every one has maxed poison resistances.
- Using venom might force people with low poison resistance to max them out and neglect other equipment.
- Venom easily reaches over 700 poison damage dealt in 0.4 seconds.
Even though people has high poison resistance, venom will still add a small amount of damage, and therefor be a damage dealer in the overall picture since you will kick around 5-6 times per attack. Another reason is that a kicker will need all the extra damage that can be added to the kicks.
13. Maxed mind blast or one maxed trap
This section is aimed toward the weapon/shield kicker build, since only they will have to suffer from this. Due to the fact that it has become severely harder to level up past level 85, I have decided to write a section about the topic.
When facing the balance between a maxed trap or maxed mind blast one is before a hard choise. As everyone knows a high level mind blast is crucial to any stunlock and a low level mind blast around 5-8 simply wont cut it. You need at least a level 11 or higher mind blast in order to keep the lock and have time to recast mind blast while placing new traps. A lower level mind blast will cripple your abilities to do this alot unless you have a high faster cast rate.
As a weapon/shield kicker, when you reach level 85-88 you haven't got enough points to have a high level mind blast and a high level trap at the same time, if you want both you have to go around level 95 or higher in order to have a decent level mind blast. For traps there is no middle way, either max them or leave them at level 1. Mind blast however can go with a mediocre level and still be very efficient.
The advantages of a high level trap is that it will do higher damage and give you an easier time on the characteres where you'd rather not do face to face with them, even if they are in stunlock. The disadvantage is in order to gain a high level trap you will be left with a low level mind blast and have to be effective and very fast while dealing with you opponent in stunlock. The downside of this is, that while you're attacking with dragon talon which takes ~12-17 frames to complete a full attack, the traps might run out of ammo or the mind blast will stop its effect. This leaves you basically defenseless as you probably wont have another shot on re-obtaining your stunlock.
The advantage of a high level mind blast is that you will have a much easier time attacking your opponent while still being able to re-cast traps and mind blast. However chosing a high level mind blast will leave you with a harder time on the characters you don't want to come close to and you have to run a higher risc on attacking them as you will have to stunlock them and the hit them with open wounds. This means that you will have to get close to them and then move away again, moving away will lower your chance of blocking an attack (unless you're walking away) and you will be an easier target.
In the end the decision is upto you, it all depends what you want and what your skills are with PvP. If you very good at stunlocking and at keeping the lock while attacking i would suggest a high level trap, that is if you can handle it. Otherwise i personally think it would be smarter to max out mind blast. My suggestion is that you start out by practicing with a low level mind blast before putting points in it, if you able to work fine with that head for the trap.
The reason claw/claw kickers wont have to face this hard choise is that they by 'nature' is equipped with a high level mind blast from alot of shadow disciplines charms and skill gear, therefore they will have sufficient high mind blast to work proberly.
14. Thanks to
If I missed out on someone on this list and you'd contributed (or think you have
) please let me know and I'll see to it.Chippydip's Skill Info (http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~cbradfor/diablo2/skills.html).
D2items.com skill planer for patch 1.10 (http://www.D2items.com/skill.html).
Fuzzbox's IAS Table (http://www.purediablo.com/characters/assassin/ias.shtml).
DiabloII.net (http://www.purediablo.com).
The people around the Statistics forum for supplying informations on breakpoints and skills. (http://www.rpgforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=13).
The people around the assasin forums. (http://www.rpgforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=15).
All the people who helped with advice/comments/suggestions to this guide.
Jrichard for alot of useful info.
Naliworld for stickying this guide and for extra info about bladeshield.
Areat Summit (http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp).
Stats.DiabloII.net (http://stats.purediablo.com/calcs/wspeed.shtml).
Funpop for alot of useful input and rethinking of the build.
HellBoundName for alot of questions and rethinking of the build.
Chaos9 for making me think a bit about a few things, mainly fade.
Skythe for some info on mods for belts.
However, I had to delete the first 2 posts directly after the guides, so it could be joined up with a 3rd post of eclipsedk's(which I replaced with the third part of the guide). I hope you guys don't mind.
).