So, I've begun leveling a Kicker/Trapper Assassin on HCL, just hit lvl 40 and soon to be entering NM. I've run into a lot of conflicting advice regarding skills, but let's talk about what I have now, what I plan to have in the near future, and what skills work best.
Level 40
Gear:
Lore circlet (upgrading to Guillaume's once a trade goes through)
Rare ammy (+1asn, +19all resists, +30ar, +26mana)
spirit shroud (Not sure what to put here.)
Bloodfist (Also not sure what to put here, except maybe crafted blood gloves.)
String of Ears
Infernostride (Looking for goblin toes or gores.)
rare ring - 3%ml, cold resist, +102ar
rare ring - 3%ll, cold, light, fire resists
Crushflange (Also have the Gnasher, Spirit sword on switch for buffs.) Planning to make Black and Voice of Reason.
Whitstan's Guard w/ PDiamond (Sigon's on switch for prebuff.)
Skills:
20 dtalon
1 venom, shadow master, death sentry, blade fury, dragon flight (and 1 in all prereqs).
After maxing dragon talon, I'm not sure what to max out next. Right now I'm running straight into large groups kicking and laying death sentries and this works great. I originally considered upping venom or shadow master, but I've read a lot of conflicting opinions on the skills, so I'm now leaning towards traps.
Should I improve my traps over venom and shadow master? If so, should I max lightning sentry or death sentry first? And where do I go after that.
Any other suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks!|||I'd max the DS's synenergy; Lightning sentry, and put 6 hard points into fireblast, and I'd then max Venom. Use the Trang Oul's gloves to improve the venom damage
*note, Trang oul's 25%poison damage applies two times to Venom. Once before the hit, and then after, which is nice. It would also add maybe 600 damage with a lvl 20 + skills.. then add (600*1.25) (1.25).. or so I understand it to work. It would add alot of damage to your DT, and be a real good resource in hell against PI's.
And I would also put a few points into fade. It would be pretty good to have a 10-15 fade on you. (lvl 15 with the help of skills should be ideal before diminishing returns begin to hit harder. But a lvl 20 is nice too, and 20%dr not wrong either.)
Neither is it to be said that there isn't enough skill points to bet set into Shadow master.|||Quote:
I'd max the DS's synenergy; Lightning sentry, and put 6 hard points into fireblast, and I'd then max Venom. Use the Trang Oul's gloves to improve the venom damage
*note, Trang oul's 25%poison damage applies two times to Venom. Once before the hit, and then after, which is nice. It would also add maybe 600 damage with a lvl 20 + skills.. then add (600*1.25) (1.25).. or so I understand it to work. It would add alot of damage to your DT, and be a real good resource in hell against PI's.
And I would also put a few points into fade. It would be pretty good to have a 10-15 fade on you. (lvl 15 with the help of skills should be ideal before diminishing returns begin to hit harder. But a lvl 20 is nice too, and 20%dr not wrong either.)
Neither is it to be said that there isn't enough skill points to bet set into Shadow master.
So I should go ahead and max DS, then LS? I was planning on putting a few more into Fade when I near the end of Nightmare since my resists are pretty good to get started in NM with 85 fr and 75 lr.
Definitely makes sense to me to put points into fire blast once the DS range is larger, so I'll keep that in mind.
As for Venom, I suppose it will be the last thing I max, though it all depends on the drops and experiences over the next 30 levels. Hell difficulty tends to make decisions for you when you realize just how much is immune to your primary damage type, though I'm less concerned about it now that one may respec. I'm also fortunate to have experimented with an Assassin in SCL this season to play around with a few different play styles.|||Honestly, gear availability will probably play a role in your choices.
I'm not a fan of HCL as the thought of dying to lag is just unacceptable to me, but I do realize that survivability is paramount.
First thing to know is if you plan on ubers or not, as that will pretty much set your path.
As far as skills go, the reason why venom gets the conflict is because while it does add additional damage, with the speed of dtalon, it's not being applied to every kick, as it's faster than even the .4 duration. While my original kicker was a 20 hardpoint venom, my newest kicker is a kick/trap variant.
In order to utilize traps, you really need to synergize unless you strictly rely on your kicks and DS. Even then, I strongly believe that for general pvm, a heavy focus on traps is the most effective as it has a larger effective area (more traps with a piercing lightning) that gives you an elemental attack to supplement your physical.
I'm not a fan of dumping points into fade, as you shouldn't be relying on it for resists as you'd need to stack res on top of fade if you plan on uberland. Either way, points here take away from trap synergies.
On a kicker I wouldn't waste more than the pre-req hardpoint in FB, a few more shots out of DS isn't worth it if you want your traps doing decent damage. If you plan on pure DS for CE, consider the fact that all the main traps synergize fb, and that while an aoe, it will be lacking in damage if you aren't heavily synergizing your LS anyway.
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