Introduction:
Hello, I�m Silent Shaddow and I have for along time an avid assassin and finally have decided to go about writing a guide for my favourite variant, the k/t assassin, I find it a well balance effective triple element character. I think that my knowledge has processed far enough to qualify the writing of this guide.
Ok so I maybe be a bit of an assassin fan, but I come from the opinion that the assassins are the queen of Player Vs Machine and that a properly build assassin has as good as, if not better killing power than any other character you care to name.
Another thing that I have tried to bear in mind is the cost of the build. I don�t expect everybody to be spending xx high runes to get this character working. So most of my recommendations come with that thought in the back of my mind.
I would also just like to say this much, I am experienced with this build. Please do not at any point think that anything I say is born out of stupidity or ignorance. Please bear this in mind when posting.
Advantages:
- Strong triple element character (we all know how rare those are)
- A character that improves with skill. A feature that is of great importance to me, I like the fact that my abilities and skills make a difference to how the character performs.
- Coolness, you will be much cooler than any paladin
- Not a Hammerdin, and we all know how important this is
- Independent of weapon damage
- Dependence on Myrmidon greaves
- This is not a tank, not designed to hang around whilst getting hit.
Next we need to consider what main skills and what �one point wonders� we want, these �one point wonders� will make or break your build depending on how you use them. More on that later. Personally I would recommend getting everything except the charge up skills and the blade skills, as you never know when you might find them appropriate. This breaks down to:
Martial Arts
- Tiger Strike: 0 � Useful for charging up and taking screenshots, but warrants no further use in this build
- Dragon Talon: ~ 18, (ball park guess I think it would be this for most people) We aim to gain at least a level 24 Dragon Talon as this is the breakpoint at which we gain an extra kick, after that (until level 30) the advantages of extra levels negligible. So therefore we need to achieve at least level 24 at all times. Therefore we add up all the skills that we can be assured we will have all the time. To take me as an example, I will never swap or change the enigma armour, spirit shield, rare helm, torch or annihuls. So therefore I can always count on having on at least 2+2+2+3+1, 10 skills meaning that I need: 24-10 =14, so 14 is the optimum amount for me to put in Dragon Talon. However I don�t count the skills from my heart of the oak because I use Last Wish vs. bosses. The final note is that this skill offers a lot of enhanced attack rating, so much that we don�t need to worry about it, what ever it gives will be enough for player versus machine
- Open Wounds
- Crushing Blow
- Elemental Damage
- Magic Damage
- +X% Enhanced Damage from non-weapon gear
- +X% Life Leech
- +X% Mana Leech
- +X% Chance to cast xxx on striking
Now, these modifiers do not transfer to your kicks:
- Deadly Strike
- Critical Strike
- + Max Damage
- + Min Damage
- +X% Enhanced Damage from weapon
- +X% Chance to cast on attacking.
- Fists of Fire: 0 - A good skill can be used well, but no use in this build
- Dragon Claw: 1 � prerequirement
- Cobra Strike: 0 - A good skill can be used well, but no use in this build
- Claws of Thunder: 0 - A good skill can be used well, but no use in this build
- Dragon Tail: 1 � prerequirement
- Dragon Flight: 1 � useful for collecting mercenary, I use it every time I attack a monster and creates a minion stack, requires less accuracy than teleport
- Blades of Ice: 0 � A good skill can be used well, but no use in this build
- Phoenix Strike: 0 � A good skill can be used well, but no use in this build
Shaddow Disciplines
- Physic Hammer: 1 � Prerequirement
- Claw Mastery: 1 - Prerequirement
- Mind Blast: 2 � An emergency skill, I advise against using this generally as converted monsters will slow you down. An extra point encourages Shadow Master to use it a lot more.
- Claw Block: 1 � Prerequirement
- Cloak of Shadows: 1 � Main crowd control skill, do not under estimate this skill, I will go into it later on.
- Shadow Warrior: 1 � Some favour this type and I say good luck to them, their use of your hot keyed skills I find not helpful and most annoying. On the other hand there is Shadow Master which is very helpful.
- Shadow Master: 1 � Personally I find this type of summon the most effective, as unlike the shadow warrior she can use any skill, at any time. Whilst this can be annoying, (who wants their shadow to Dragon Flight off at random) how ever she can also cast life saving mind blasts and other very useful stuff.
- Venom: 1 � Now then remember what I said about not using venom? Well I lied, kind of I mean just that we don�t max it out doesn�t mean we should just throw away essentially free damage. How I advise against maxing it due to a large sacrifice in lightning damage.
- Fade: 1 � This skill offers a large amount of resist and has a hidden bonus of +1% damage reduction per level. This skill is mutually exclusive with burst of speed. It can�t at the same time as burst of speed. A warning do not a put more that one point here, as +skills is more than enough.
- Burst of Speed: 1 � This skill increases your attack speed, run and walk speed although fade looks like the more practical I find that burst of speed works better for me in nearly all situations. My suggestion is that you try both and see how you like them. A warning do not a put more that one point here, as +skills is more than enough.
Traps
- Fire Blast: 3 � Why three? I hear you cry. Fire Blast synergies Death Sentry at one shot per 3 skills in Fire Blast. So I think that the extra points are worth it.
- Shock Web � Our final synergy, it gets the rest of our points
- Charged Bolt Sentry: 20 � Synergy and it looks cool.
- Lightning Sentry: 20 � This is our highest damaging trap, max it first as it will help you level up.
- Death Sentry: 20 � Our favourite trap, this will do most of our damage and bag us most of our kills. Maxing it second, we will use this more once we are fully up and killing in hell. It is doubly useful because it fires lightning bolts like our good friend the lightning sentry and also has the ability to pop corpses at 40-80% of monsters life. Max it.
- Wake of Fire: 0 � Like Wake of Inferno this hands out very little damage and has limited range, however it is the best trap for �stun locking� a common duelling technique
- Wake of Inferno: 0 � Low damage, in fact a third of listed damage, just not as good as light traps for this build.
- Blade Sentry: 0 � Useless and unpractical
- Blade Fury: 0 � This skill turns out � of your weapon damage at a fix rate, and also isn�t affected by iron maiden. However it offers no enhanced damage and also fixes you in place when attacking leaving you vulnerable. So as I see it, the only time this is helpful when cursed by iron maiden, having killed all other enemies, carrying a high damage weapon and for some ludicrous reason you decide to not use traps. My final thought on this is going to be, should me an enemy that it would be good to use blade fury on, and ill show you a dead enemy.
- Blade Shield: 0 � Useless as far as I am concerned, offers almost nothing. So why bother? I don�t have the hot keys to waste on this.
Grand Total: 96 skill points,
Meaning we finish at level 84.
Stat Layout:
Here we need to be able to meet a number of requirements; the primary one is being able to equip a phase blade. The reasoning is of course the phase blades low weapon speed modifier, meaning that we need very little IAS to bit the fastest breakpoint.
Another important item to be able to equip is a monarch, with the lowest strength requirement for a four socket shield (that assassins can use) this important for two rune words, spirit and phoenix
We also need to be able to equip mydriyon greaves, these give the highest base damage and have a hefty strength requirement of 172
This means that we need to hit at least 172 strength and 136 dexterity. It is also worth noting that increases in strength and dexterity also increase damage.
Now then I am going to pull the usual line and say:
Strength: enough for equip.
Dexterity: enough for equip (I have found max block not useful)
Vitality: Rest � don�t worry too much about going stat perfect, your play style will affect your life bulb more than individual stat points.
Energy: None, manald heal will solve any mana immediately.
Breakpoints:
Faster Cast Rate: 0,8,16,27,42,65,102,174
Fastest Initial Kick Speed:
Follow Up Kick Speed:3,4,5 etc
Faster Hit Recovery 0,7,15,27,48,86,200
Equipment:
-Overview
Firstly we have several very useful tools available to us. The first is this weapon speed calculator: http://diablo2.ingame.de/tips/calcs/...p?lang=english Also we have a table of attack speeds here: http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=229326I will also refer you to Jrichard�s, as he is the authority on assassin attack speeds and so on.
-Aims
- 65 Faster Cast Rate if teleporting. 0 Otherwise. (actually depending on whether you have Call To Arms, other wise pre buff will take a long time)
- Fastest Follow up kick speed with any weapon.
- Fastest Initial kick speed with crushing blow weapon.
- 48 or 86 Faster Hit Recovery. 48 is actually very easy if you are all good assassins and follow my instructions with regard to spirit.
- Maximum Resists in hell after Anya bug.
- 75+ Crushing Blow with our crushing blow weapon
- Some crushing blow at all times.
- ~4.5k+ Lightning sentry damage.
Boots:
Ok, here we go. The big ones, yep our lady needs fine boots and only the best will do. Three options, Myrmidon Greaves � Rare these can be really quite sexy with lots of good looking modifiers but I think that the remaining two are better. Upped Gore Riders and Shadow Dancers (kudos if you can up these). Now Shadow Dancers may look pretty tasty from a far but in fact all my break downs lead to Gores being the better choice. They certainly have better damage over time and allow us to maintain an ok level of crushing blow with any weapon.
Armours:
I am going to run down the major useful armours that came to mind. Hopefully this will cover 99% of situations. Things to look for are; Skills, Resists, and + stats etc.
- Enigma � I find this armour very useful, and having tried all of the below. In my opinion nothing compares with the +1 teleport.
- Chain of Honours � The resists, strength and skills makes this a very strong choice.
- Fortitude � Ah, my pet hate. Don�t get me wrong, it�s a good armour, else where however its modifiers break down to weak sauce. It offers +300 enhanced damage, 25% Faster Cast Rate, 25-30 resists and a hunk of life. The enhanced damage is the reason that this is picked so often, but makes very little difference to our build, the average damage for a k/t is ~1k damage. If you stack up off weapon enhanced damage you could manage ~2k damage, not helpful. Our main source of damage is crushing blow, we only actually need physical damage for that last chunk of life to kill the bad guy (erm, hello? Traps?). Trust me, I have used this armour and it makes no difference to killing speed. The other modifiers are entirely forgettable and/or achievable elsewhere. I think of this armour as maybe an expensive Skin of Viper Magi, or even a rubbish Chain of Honours.
- Lion Heart � This armour is possibly one of the strongest cheap armours and should be used over fortitude. The resists, strength and dexterity bonus beat fortitude hands down, and whilst fortitude offers quite a lot of life. Don�t forget that this armour carries +90 life itself (50 from the modifier and 40 from the vitality bonus.)
- Upped Skin of Viper Mage � Offers some nice resists but also offers resists and faster cast rate. This is nice mostly for sorceress and whilst our sin would benefit from this, she should be using Lion Heart
- Duress � Lots of People use and like this armour. I�m not a big fan, but hell, if you want to go for it. Enjoy.
Ah now anybody who has read Janus Jones� guide knows that there are many viable weapon choices. To be honest he recommended all of them and some more, I shall not recommend any two handed weapons or bows. To simplify things I have also chosen to ignore claws, as there is limited choice and ineffective. Compare twin Bartucs to Heart of the Oak + Spirit and you can see that�s its 5 skills versus 4, 65 res versus 0 etc. What ever combination of claws I try, I end up at that weapon/shield is better and that it saves a lot of points in weapon block.
Now what we are looking for varies on what we want the weapon to do. For example I carry five separate weapons build into my assassin; each has a specific purpose but also is viable in any roll. I carry:
- Heart of the Oak � (Main weapon) I use this 99% of the time, Faster Cast Rate, Resist and skills this is my teleporting, trapping weapon and general doing stuff weapon.
- Last Wish � (cube) I spent along time not liking this weapon and got on fine with out it. My biggest problem is the Chance to Cast Fade. Which if your relying the Increased Attack Speed from Burst of Speed becomes a major problem. However once I had built this into my lady with all the correct breakpoints. It became a joy to use, the chance to cast life tap is a real saver although I still use Draculas with this for added safety and laziness.
- Call to Arms � (switch) This is on my switch and the life and mana for teleporting etc and the free skill is just gravy, assassins don�t have any life modifiers, so this is very helpful.
- Wizard Spike � (cube) The Resists, Mana and Faster Cast Rate are just a cut above the rest. I use this for times when I know I will be teleporting a lot. It allows me to make gear sacrifices else where and is a huge step to being safer. I use it when Baal running or playing as support in an uber run. Small, easy to store and great to use if you don�t have heart of the oak
- Law Bringer � (stash)Simply an amazing weapon, I was so pleased when I discovered I could use this weapon. The aura, element damage and chance to cast Decrepify mean that my assassin turns into a soul killer not a soul victim (more on this aspect later) This like all weapons you can should be made in a phase blade and like the spirit monarch I am not really giving you much choice about this. For example, those skeletons in uber Tristram? They become one hit kills.
In the list below I have considered all rune words that I think are viable and worthy or considering. Please take note, I have include black as to be detailed later this will be the primary weapon in my �cheaper� gear section. The other rune word of note is Strength which should only be used if choosing claw/claw, which I don�t recommend (loss of spirit shield).
Base Weapons,
This is a very important element and getting this wrong can be costly or even ruin your build, for example lets take a choice between Beast and Death, if you can put the death in a fast base and want to go with that then that�s your best choice. However if you have to put either of them in a slow base, for example a berserker axe, then the beast is the better option as it has a hugely reduced Increased Attack Speed requirement on your build. I�m going to list the (in my opinion) the best base weapon ignoring retail value.
Axe: Military Pick, it has the fastest weapon speed modifier of [-10] and the lowest requirements.
Maces: Flail, it has the fastest weapon speed modifier of [-10] and the lowest requirements.
Scepters: War Scepter, it has the fastest weapon speed modifier of [-10] and the lowest requirements.
Swords: Phase Blade, wins hands down over the others, chose this if possible.
Beast
5 Socket Axes/Scepters/HammersBlack
Ber + Tir + Um + Mal + Lum
Level 9 Fanaticism Aura When Equipped
+40% Increased Attack Speed
+240-270% Enhanced Damage (varies)
20% Chance of Crushing Blow
25% Chance of Open Wounds
+3 To Were bear
+3 To Lycanthropy
Prevent Monster Heal
+25-40 To Strength (varies)
+10 To Energy
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
Level 13 Summon Grizzly (5 Charges)
Military Pick
3 Socket Clubs/Hammers/MacesDeath
Thul + Io + Nef
+120% Enhanced Damage
40% Chance Of Crushing Blow
+200 To Attack Rating
Adds 3-14 Cold Damage - Cold Duration 3 Seconds
+10 To Vitality
15% Increased Attack Speed
Knock back
Magic Damage Reduced By 2
Level 4 Corpse Explosion (12 Charges)
Flail
5 Socket Swords/AxesHeart of the Oak
Hel + El + Vex + Ort + Gul
100% Chance To Cast Level 44 Chain Lightning When You Die
25% Chance To Cast Level 18 Glacial Spike On Attack
Indestructible
+300-385% Enhanced Damage (varies)*
20% Bonus To Attack Rating
+50 To Attack Rating
Adds 1-50 Lightning Damage
7% Mana Stolen Per Hit
50% Chance of Crushing Blow
+(0.5 per Character Level) 0.5-49.5% Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)
+1 To Light Radius
Level 22 Blood Golem (15 Charges)
Requirements -20%
Phase Blade
4 Socket Staves/MacesLast Wish
Ko + Vex + Pul + Thul
+3 To All Skills
+40% Faster Cast Rate
+75% Damage To Demons
+100 To Attack Rating Against Demons
Adds 3-14 Cold Damage, 3 sec. Duration (Normal)
7% Mana Stolen Per Hit
+10 To Dexterity
Replenish Life +20
Increase Maximum Mana 15%
All Resistances +30-40 (varies)
Level 4 Oak Sage (25 Charges)
Level 14 Raven (60 Charges)
Flail
6 Socket Swords/Hammers/AxesLaw Bringer
Jah + Mal + Jah + Sur + Jah + Ber
6% Chance To Cast Level 11 Fade When Struck
10% Chance To Cast Level 18 Life Tap On Striking
20% Chance To Cast Level 20 Charged Bolt On Attack
Level 17 Might Aura When Equipped
+330-375% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Ignore Target's Defense
60-70% Chance of Crushing Blow (varies)
Prevent Monster Heal
Hit Blinds Target
+(0.5 per character level) 0.5-49.5% Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based on Character Level)
Phase Blade
3 Socket Swords/Hammers/Scepters|||Call To Arms
Amn + Lem + Ko
20% Chance To Cast Level 15 Decrepify On Striking
Level 16-18 Sanctuary Aura When Equipped (varies)
-50% Target Defense
Adds 150-210 Fire Damage
Adds 130-180 Cold Damage
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
Slain Monsters Rest In Peace
+200-250 Defense Vs. Missile (varies)
+10 To Dexterity
75% Extra Gold From Monsters
Phase Blade
The other weapon of note is this one, listed separately for obvious reasons, this is a get it if you can afford it thing. Stick it on switch with a spirit. Again! Consider your Faster Cast Rate breakpoints to make sure your not missing out.Uniques
5 Socket Weapons
Amn + Ral + Mal + Ist + Ohm
+1 To All Skills
+40% Increased Attack Speed
+250-290% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Adds 5-30 Fire Damage
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
+2-6 To Battle Command (varies)*
+1-6 To Battle Orders (varies)*
+1-4 To Battle Cry (varies)*
Prevent Monster Heal
Replenish Life +12
30% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Flail or a weapon that looks different to your usual weapon. Not getting confused is a key element here.
(to be improved)
Fleshripper
Gimmershred
Stormlash
Shield:
Ah, our shield the reason we aren�t using a two handed weapon. The can offer us a lot, far more in combination with a weapon than any two handed weapon can. No two handed weapon offers blocking and so the shield instantly wins
- Spirit � (shield and switch) This is the shield you should be using. No question about. It offers too much to miss. 2 skills, 25-35 Faster cast rate, 55 Faster hit recovery, 35 cold/light/fire res � I consider this the same as resist all, I mean poison isn�t that important. Get one, use it, and consider your breakpoints to see how much faster cast rate you need. The Faster Cast Rate is also nice even if you aren�t teleporting as it gains you several frames and thus allows you to throw out mind blast and cloak of shadows more effectively. 27% Faster Cast Rate is optimal if you don�t have any other sources, I would suggest that you at least have this much on your shield.
- Storm Shield � (stash) In some situations the high blocking is preferable, with many useful stats this is more helpful in more melee areas or when you going to be kicking a lot. However considering we use traps and that elemental damage is more likely to be a problem, keep this as a back if you feel you need to. I removed mine a while back after I observed I never used it.
- Phoenix � This offers us 400% enhanced off weapon damage, which is added to kicks. Forget it. Hello? Traps, remember? This is the same issue as discussed in the fortitude section. The advantage here is redemption which gain instantly gain us back large amounts of life and mana. So do our kicks, with life and mana leech we don�t need this the redemption and so we lose out from out having spirit shield which is why I am advising again against it.
For me this build will make use of the �holy combo� of belts, that is Verdungo's Hearty Cord and Credendum I always have both close by on my sin,.
- Credendum � (stash) This is the default belt if you do not have enough resists on you assassin, if not. Get one and use it, with some nice strength and dexterity (but don�t build these stat points in to your build we want to be able to switch the belt around)
- Verdungo's Hearty Cord � (belt) This is the �don�t know what else to do with the belt slot� belt, meaning that if we�ve achieved all our attack speed and resists (resists and attack speed are more important to use then extra life) then we use this belt. It is a nice belt providing a healthy bonus to Damage Reduction and Life
- Nosferatu's Coil � (cube) This provides a nice bonus of 10 Increased attack speed which I personally use when I equip my last wish (to hit fastest follow up speed) this also offers some nice modifiers including slowing enemies which can make your life easier.
- Arachnid Mesh � Apart from being expensive, this is nice belt more for the Faster Cast Rate then it is for then skill on it. My advice would be only come to this belt if you really need the Faster Cast Rate as the other belts provide a lot more stability.
- Thundergod's Vigor � This belt is useful if we are going to be facing a lot of souls but I don�t think it�s necessary as we shouldn�t be getting hit anyways. With some nice stat bonuses this is a nice belt otherwise and if you don�t have access to the others this is a fine belt to use.
- Guillaume's Face � This helm is one of the sexiest, if not the sexiest melee helm in the game. It offers the amazing heights of 35% Crushing Blow, 15% Deadly Strike, 15 Strength and 30% Faster Hit Recovery. The crushing blow is awesome ladies and gentlemen and the other stats are all gravy, if we are lacking crushing blow this should be our first port of call I would suggest that most of you should start with the idea that you will use this helm. Lacks skills but don�t worry about that.
- Rare Helm � (helm) Ah now this can be truly beautiful here we can gain 2 skills, 20 Faster Cast Rate, Strength/Dexterity or maybe resists/life/mana if we are lucky. I would say your primary aim is to gain the 2/20 then look for resists then look for two sockets. I personally use this type of helm as I found my assassin�s Faster Cast Rate was to slow.
- Harlequin Crest � Its ugly is my opinion. The modifiers are quite nice, 2skills, Life, Mana, and Damage Reduced and if your on battle.net this is a useful cheap helm. However I would suggest that you move on to a different helm with more suited modifiers a rare helm can have some nice resists for example
- Andariel's Visage � Again, Ugly but good modifiers. Here we gain 20 Increased Attacked Speed some strength and 2 skills. More useful that shako, but more ugly.
- Metal grid � This is a very nice amulet, elsewhere. It offers a nice lump of resists, some attack rating and some defence. The attack rating is wasted on us as it does nothing to increase our chance to hit and the defence is at best forgettable.
- Mara's Kaleidoscope � This amulet is a subject of much debate to me, as when I compare it to possible rare amulets I find it just more expensive. However that does not prevent it from being a nice amulet and if you can afford it and want to go for it, do so.
- Rare � Now then or me this is the best choice, with the right modifiers it can easily hold its own against Mara�s and provides us with an opportunity to pick up other valuable modifiers, for example you could get 2 assassin skills, about 20 all resists, and then some dexterity or strength or something really useful. Mara�s isn�t bad I just think the options here are better
- Seraph's Hymn � This is a no resists Mara�s as far as I am concerned, apart from the 2 skills it offers us nothing useful. My advice is to use if you feel your traps need a boost and/or you don�t have access to something better.
- Saracens Chance � This amulet is a two edged sword, whilst it offers some nice resists and attributes it also has a chance to cast iron maiden which can be lethal if you are depending on life tap to keep you alive. I would suggest play testing and caution with this amulet.
- Crescent Moon � This is a source of crazy mana leech and some nice life leech. If you are having serious mana problems and manald heal/mana leech ring isn�t working for you then this will probably do the trick.
- Raven�s Frost - This was of course going to make an appearance somewhere, we all know what it�s for, and the �Can Not Be Frozen� is invaluable. If you�re really crazy get 20 dexterity and add the dexterity into your build.
- Manald Heal � This ring is also invaluable in my opinion has it has some great modifiers for an assassin lacking mana. Don�t be afraid to us one, although check below
- Rare � We do like rare items on this build don�t we? Here we are probably going to be aiming for 10 faster cast rate, + (8-11) all res, strength, dexterity, mana and life leech. If you can find a sexy mana leech ring, don�t be afraid to replace your manald heal with it.
- Dracul's Grasp � These are your most likely choice as they give the essential chance to cast life tap and whilst we could manage with out them if we have to, they make our lives so much easier. I carry a Last Wish in stash
- Trang-Oul's Claws � However if you have another source of life tap then other glove options present themselves (this only really applies if you choose to use Last Wish constantly or decided against life tap) these gloves offer a nice 20 faster cast rate, and 25%poison skill damage. The poison damage works wonders with our venom damage making these a strong choice.
- Steelrend � Similarly to the Trang-Oul�s these are for you non life tap/Last Wish people and present some tasty modifiers such as crushing blow. If you can, go for them but again I stress the importance of life tap again
- Rare � Ah, more rare items, here we are looking for +2 martial arts skills, 20 Increased Attack Speed, and then things such as life and mana leech and even crushing blow is possible.
Never really got this far
-Cheap Gear
Never really got this far
Player versus Machine:
Our, this is where we put our sin into practice and we start kicking some monster ***. The biggest things to note is that, the more you push your sin and use her to her full capability; this is the difference between clearing an entire room in the same space of time as killing one or two of its contents. The trick is to use what skills when, for example if there are corpse on the ground. Explode them, the number of people that don�t think to do that is unbelievable, the CE from Death sentry is the room clearing skill of our choice as its kill radius increases with increasing skill levels. You can end up at the point at which the radius can cover over 13 yards! Now we can lay 5 traps at the time, each Death Sentry can cast 10 Corpse Explosions. Each Corpse Explosion can generate more corpses, which in turn gets exploded. Giving us one room full of very dead enemies.
Our main use for our attack skills are corpse generation. That�s right, don�t expect to go around kicking and trapping things to dead, a) it will take you along time b) if you want to go there use a more appropriate build.
Cloak of Shadows versus Mind Blast
Basically you should always be using Cloak of Shadows unless a really emergency in which case you should be spamming mind blast to save your life. Mind blast converts monsters making them immune to your lighting traps and corpse explosions which will greatly slow down your killing speed.
Souls
Ah, our friends. They will be after you�ve read this, remember that Law Bringer I mentioned, get it! First thing we do once we are caring the Law Bringer is Cloak of Shadows the area. Then dragon flight in, always dragon flight, the soul will die pretty fast then dragon flight on the next again and again and again. The Law Bringer does most of the dirty work; the aura means that our kicks will do huge amount damage to the undead. The decrepify triggers a lot further increasing our damage and then some well place element damage tops them off nicely. The aura also works to keep them knocked back. Use mind blast at will to keep yourself alive though.
Iron Maiden
Traps is our friends here, forget blade fury. In the chaos sanctuary the only light immunes are Storm Casters which apart from their mana drain (we can leech that back later) are entirely forget able. Just play it like a trap
Sin, using all the proper skills In the WSK level 3 + throne room we should trap again, however if there maybe be scarabs and souls around, posing a problem. Instantly CoS, and mind blast if you feel the need to. Next consider your situation, do you have a mercenary? If you I would recommend returning anya, nothing wrong with it and I would rather not pay the 50k for the sakes of swallowing my pride a bit. If you encountering souls the you should be fetching your Law Bringer anyways so stop by anya. Most times your solution is to return to town, if you don�t want to then you can struggle with using your traps to kill the non light immunes and then explode their corpses. I always return to town, safer and less frustrating.
Mercenary
I will always put an act2 mercenary at the top. Reasons are that well may well be teleporting around, but also dragon flight at enemies. Were we and our mercenary are going to be face to face fighting, therefore a combat mercenary is needed. This rules it down to act2 or act5, an act5 mercenary doesn�t benefit from the auras which leave me at act2. These mercenaries also have access to a lot of nice weapons including infinity, insight and obedience to name a few. Things to remember, always have a source of life leech on him, blood crafted helm is nice for this and keep him close to your own level. As for auras I'm going to recommend holy freeze for the added safety but please experiment.
Player vs. Player:
This is mostly a joke; you are a slow trapper with low damage meaning that your traps can be easily absorbed. The kick element whilst can be effective when build for it. However we are not and so we miss out on a huge amount of damage because we lack high Venom and OW. However if some idiot comes in with a badly build hammerdin or something, he is dead meat. The usual mix of traps, mind blast and fast teleport will be backed up by our ability to take him by surprise and kill him fairly effectively. In short she can win, just don�t expect to be able to. |||Well I have been sitting on this for quite some time, but as I felt it wasn’t going anywhere I would just post it anyway. There are many pares that haven’t been started or finished and I think there are some points that possibly need rewriting. But here it is :smiley: my own guide!
I think theres alot more capabality in there for untwinked/new lowlevel characters but I have tried to explain everything and give a level of understanding to the reader at the same time|||Nice write-up! :smiley:
For some cheaper gear I'd mention a 'Crescent Moon' phase blade and 'Treachery' armor as options. Cheap shields include 'Rhyme' and Whistans. Also I'd prefer rare Mirrored or Boneweave boots over Myrmidons, the strength requirement on them is simply too high.
Minor nitpick: rare gloves (or any other rare/blue item for that matter) cannot spawn with CB. I think you wanted to mention the Blood recipy there.|||Quote:
Nice write-up! :smiley:
For some cheaper gear I'd mention a 'Crescent Moon' phase blade and 'Treachery' armor as options. Cheap shields include 'Rhyme' and Whistans. Also I'd prefer rare Mirrored or Boneweave boots over Myrmidons, the strength requirement on them is simply too high.
Minor nitpick: rare gloves (or any other rare/blue item for that matter) cannot spawn with CB. I think you wanted to mention the Blood recipy there.
Thank you! all nice catches :undecided:|||Although the -res on Crescent Moon would be wasted it still has ctc Static.
Very nice and thurough guide! :smiley:|||Hi Silent Shaddow
Nice layout ...
A kicker/trapper is definately one of the most versitle and fun to play builds, but what makes them so effective in PvM is the natural synergy between Dragon Talon and Death Sentry. Lay a few Death Sentries, and then engage the enemy with Dragon Talon ... once you have a couple of bodies, the CE from Death Sentry will start a chain reaction and clear the screen in seconds.
But what you have here, is not really a kicker/trapper, but rather a below average Lightning Trapper with too many points in Dragon Talon.
1. By putting points into Shock Web and CBS, you're forced to use LS as your primary trap (else the points are wasted).
2. Enigma armour is fine for a pure trapper, who rather than engaging the enemy, lays her traps (usually LS) and teleports to safety. But if you plan to use a close range melee attack then there are far better armour choices.
3. Your inability to block attacks is a problem if you plan to engage in melee. Again, Spirit Shield is fine on a pure trapper, but for a kicker/trapper, Storm Shield or Dual claw would be better options.
Suggestions
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1. Focus on your Lightning traps and try to raise your skills as high as possible. Get an Act 2 mercenary with an Infinity polearm for Conviction (and/or a wand on switch with lower resist). Lay traps and teleport away from your enemies, not into them - your kicks are not strong enough and your blocking is poor.
2. Alternatively ... if you want to build an effective kicker/trapper. Keep the 14+ points in Dragon Talon and max Death Sentry ASAP. Then maximise LS (for synergy with DS) and Venom for additional kick damage. Change your armour to Fortitude for the additional damage and your shield to a Storm Shield for block and DR, or go dual-claw with Bartuc's and Jade Talon for resists and elemental block.
Incidently, a kicker/trapper is one of the best builds against Souls and Gloams. Fortitude and Thundergods Belt will give you 90% lightning resist and 20% absorb, and if you go dual claw you should also have at least 50% weapon block with only a single point invested. Add COS to the mix and they haven't got a chance.
Mahric|||all in all, not a bad write up, but, no offence intended, it just doesn't compare to ilkori's bible of 'sin
some minor nitpicks:
1: Phys damage kickers are, as you allude too, a complete joke. things like Fort/Phoenix & Beast just don't pass-muster.
2: spirit shields lack FIRE resist, not poison res.
3: flashdancers (for this is the build you are writing for) deal FOUR elements of damage, straight out of the box, not three as you suggest. Phys (kicks and death-sentry), Lightning (traps), poison (venom) and FIRE (death sentry)
4: a Lawbringer will completely neuter your Death Sentry, as will a Phoenix Shield. we want those corpses to go BOOM so anything that uses corpses or render's them "un-BOOM'able" should be studiously avoided.
5: i would STRONGLY advise against useing rare myrmidions. arguably the best mods on both Shadow Dancers and up'd Gores is the -% requirements. raw myrmidions have a 208 str req. i'd go for rare Mirrored Boots (or even 2x up'd Goblin Toes) as this keeps our strength spend down. again, phys damage is a small part of our make-up, see point 1.
6: Gladiators Bane is a really nice pvm armour for this build, enough iDR/mdr can make one nigh on PvM immortal. personally, i use a Treachery.
7: a Stormlash is, imho, THE 'dancers weapon of choice.
8: a Spirit shield lacks +blocking and will cost oodles of dex to get decent blocking with. stormshield, sanctuary, whistans, mosers & rhyme all strike me as better melee shields. that said, i keep dual spirits on switch on my 'dancer to hit the 200%fhr breakpoint on occasions where i find it useful (like BoS powered sprints down through the Halls of Pain to wallop Nihlathak)
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fyi, heres a cheap setup for ya:
helm: Guillaumes
armour: treachery
weapon: Black flail
ammy: any rare with +traps/res
rings: ravenfrost + who-really-cares
belt: string of ears
boots: up'd gores or some kind of rare mirrored boots
shield: whistans, mosers, rhyme, sanctuary, stormshield are all fine choices
gloves: crafted blood gloves, bloodfists, dracs are all fine choices.
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fyi: here's MY personal setup for ya
helm: 36iDR/22 res all magic circlet (chromatic of life everlasting, socky with 2x Sol)
armour: treachery
weapon: Stormlash (currently socky with a 14-res all jool)
shield: stormshield with p-diamond
ammy: +2traps/20iDR magic
rings: ravenfrost + (honestly, i can't remember)
belt: t-gods
gloves: dracs
Quote:
2. Alternatively ... if you want to build an effective kicker/trapper. Keep the 14+ points in Dragon Talon and max Death Sentry ASAP. Then maximise LS (for synergy with DS) and Venom for additional kick damage. Change your armour to Fortitude for the additional damage and your shield to a Storm Shield for block and DR, or go dual-claw with Bartuc's and Jade Talon for resists and elemental block.
yar, max death sentry, i agree there but NO, do not use a fort on this build. it is, quite frankly, dumb.|||Ouch ... I really like Fortitude.
I use Treachery through the middle levels and then give it to my merc and upgrade to Fortitude ... I like the increased damage and REALLY like the Chilling Armour. Also need the additional resists in hell and extra hit points are always good.
Treachery is a great armour, the Venom and IAS are nice (especially if you don't invest points in Venom), but Fade can be annoying as I generally have resists maxed and prefer to use BOS. On my Act 1 Rogue, Treachery is amazing ... Venom, 35% (I think) IAS and and Fade are all very useful.
Mahric
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