The Ninja is back

[Winter]

Question - When you say CB/SF + DTalon.. what's SF?

Crushing Blow, Static Field, Dragon Talon.

There are ways to make far better characters, with much better equipment.  Part of my build is to shoot for very low level equipment.  But if, for example, you wielded BloodTree Stump on one hand (50% CB, +25 Strength) you could toss away Guilliame's AND Rattlecage and still have 75% CB as long as you stick to Goblin Toe boots.  But then "Crescent Moon" becomes a switch weapon, and it's sooo much better as a primary weapon :(

I wouldn't go Bloodtree. I think Crescent Moon is the best for this (or any similar) build. Squeezing yourself up to 100% CB might be nice, but i'm not so sure it's worth the cost.

With fast enough boots and a charm or two, I'd say you can scoot quickly enough to keep Fade up.

One of the problems with this is that Goblin Toe is a vital part of the build. You could switch GT out for Gore Riders (i think that's the one... the 15% CB excep unique) but that's a 10% loss. Is that what you suggested with your first line?

Fade does more than resists: it also shortens curse duration, which is VERY handy in hell diff, what with the longer curse durations.

I'm not saying Fade isn't worth using (i think it really, really is- elemental attacks are just too powerful in 1.1 to not have some sort of strategy against them) but that i wish i had BoS. In my build i'm sinking some points into BoS as well as Fade. BoS is for general use, Fade is for when i run into something ugly like a Gloam boss pack.

When Chilled, you can always switch to BoS, if you have a few +skills items you should be OK so far as speed goes.

The only time i end up chilled where i don't want Fade active (to prevent more cold damage) is for Holy Freeze-type bosses.

Finally, i think this style build needs Ravenfrost or something like that. Getting bogged down with chill is too dangerous when you're tring to avoid direct confrontation.