12-12-2003, 01:27 PM
Awesome build there! I'll have to give a hammerdin a try sometime. However, I'm quite surprised that no one has mentioned the rival if not superior to the hammerdin in 1 on 1 boss combat. Little if anything kills faster 1 on 1 than a well equipped dTalon kickassassin. I can kill the Diablo Clone solo in well under 2 minutes. Maybe 1 minute.
The key is fast, accurate kicks, prevent monster heal, life tap, and a lot of crushing blow, open wounds, etc.
This is what I went for when designing my assassin as a clone killer, and so far, she has been godly.
Stats
Stength ~200
Dex ~150
Vitality Rest
Hit points ~1100
Mana ~230
Skills
Max dTalon
Max Lightning Sentry
Max Death Sentry
Max Shadow Master
1 Blade Fury
1 Mind Blast
1 Cloak of Shadows
5 Burst of Speed
1 Fade (not really necessary if you're committed to BoS, but I got it anyway)
1 Dragon Flight (I'll have that at level 90, currently level 88)
Mercenary
My assassin uses an act II offensive blessed aim mercenary for 30-31% increase in Blade Fury accuracy and 5-6% increase in dTalon accuracy. The act II defensive mercenary with holy freeze would probably be a good choice also, but my assassin prefers the stronger offense. With my assassin's Shadow Master, Cloak of Shadows, and Mind Blast, she really isn't that concerned with more defense. She often parties with others who already have the HF mercenary anyway. Regardless, mercenaries tend to die very fast with the Diablo Clone around :).
Equipment
Stormlash (weapon) (This weapon is godly. Tornadoes, Static Field, Lightning Damage. The 30% IAS on the Stormlash easily allows my assassin to hit 7/2 kickspeed with no IAS gear. She has a 7 BoS with items. Totally awesome. I'll probably socket Stormlash with a Mal rune for prevent monster heal, currently swaping Hwanin's Blessing belt for Ueber D.)
Guillaume's Face (helm) (hit recovery, crushing blow 35%, etc. What more does a dTalon assassin want? I'll probably socket it with a 15% resist jewel later.)
Metalgrid (amulet) (awesome attack rating bonus, armor bonus, and resists. For attack rating, this amulet is superior to Mara's Kaleidoscope. I have found +skills to be less important for my playstyle, but the Mara's is still really nice. I just prefer Metalgrid for the attack, armor bonuses. The iron golem is fun to summon every now and then as well, though he usually doesn't last long. I haven't experimented with the Iron Maiden charges yet, since my assassin uses Life Tap vigorously.)
Dracul's Grasp (gloves) (THE gloves to have. The open wounds and life tap are priceless. I solo Uber D easily with these gloves - very nice for keeping other party members and mercenaries alive with 50% life leech, even in hell difficulty Nice Blood crafted gloves would be ok. I just find Dracul's to be superior for my playstyle.)
Wilhelm's Pride (belt) (for the life, mana leech, 10 to cold resist, and for the +35 hit points for having 2 orphan's set items. String of Ears or Verdungo's would be ok for more DR, but since my assassin will eventually have shaftstop and stormshield, SoE or Verdungo's would not be as useful.)
Shaftstop (armor) (30% DR, bonus hit points, and bonus defense vs. missiles. Medium armor, so it doesn't slow an assassin down much (-5% RW for medium armor). I'll probably socket this with a 15% resist jewel later.
Two 4 Diamond Monarch (shields) (light shield, no reduction in RW speed, 76% to all resists. This puts my assassin at 75% in all resists and 47% block. Later I will swap this with Stormshield to max out DR (50%) and to increase block to 72%, and will put an UM rune in it. With the 2 15% resist jewels and the UM in SS, that should put my assassin back to 75% resist max. That's the master plan anyway )
Elite Upgraded Gore Rider (boots) (there is no better boots for a dTalon kickassassin. OW and Crushing Blow are priceless )
Raven Frost (ring) (+248 AR, +20 Dex, cannot be frozen, etc. Very nice and essential for my assassin's build)
Rare Leech, prismatic, AR (ring) (Trying to find dual leech with similar properties)
Gimmershred (Flying axe for alternate weapon. The elemental damage is awesome vs. physical and lightning immunes. Nice to Blade Fury with as well.)
Life Tap Tomb Wand with charges (Level 5 Life Tap, 97 charges). (I keep this handy in the event I want my assassin to life tap immediately - like vs. an uber boss or pack.)
In Summary, this character should have the following:
83% Crushing Blow
35% Open Wounds
7/2 Kickspeed w/dTalon
Some Hit Recovery
70-80+ Run/Walk Speed
75% Resists
30-50% Damage Reduction (50% if SS is used)
47-72% Block (72% if SS is used)
Huge leech with life tap, decent life leech otherwise. 20+% with Dracul's, Wilhelm's, and Rare Ring
Sufficient mana leech
And an awesome attack rating (10-16K+ dTalon, 1-7K Blade Fury)
Well, that's about it. Sorry for the long winded post. I've been playtesting and researching this type of assassin for quite a while now, and I feel this is about as good as it gets. Just make sure you use Cloak of Shadows, your Shadow Master, your Mercenary, lots of Death Sentries, lots of Kicks, and Blade Fury vs. nasty bosses that you don't want to get too close to. Let the ancillary effects of Life Tap, Tornadoes, Static Field, Lightning Damage, Crushing Blow, and Open Wounds do the rest.
- Leurocian
The key is fast, accurate kicks, prevent monster heal, life tap, and a lot of crushing blow, open wounds, etc.
This is what I went for when designing my assassin as a clone killer, and so far, she has been godly.
Stats
Stength ~200
Dex ~150
Vitality Rest
Hit points ~1100
Mana ~230
Skills
Max dTalon
Max Lightning Sentry
Max Death Sentry
Max Shadow Master
1 Blade Fury
1 Mind Blast
1 Cloak of Shadows
5 Burst of Speed
1 Fade (not really necessary if you're committed to BoS, but I got it anyway)
1 Dragon Flight (I'll have that at level 90, currently level 88)
Mercenary
My assassin uses an act II offensive blessed aim mercenary for 30-31% increase in Blade Fury accuracy and 5-6% increase in dTalon accuracy. The act II defensive mercenary with holy freeze would probably be a good choice also, but my assassin prefers the stronger offense. With my assassin's Shadow Master, Cloak of Shadows, and Mind Blast, she really isn't that concerned with more defense. She often parties with others who already have the HF mercenary anyway. Regardless, mercenaries tend to die very fast with the Diablo Clone around :).
Equipment
Stormlash (weapon) (This weapon is godly. Tornadoes, Static Field, Lightning Damage. The 30% IAS on the Stormlash easily allows my assassin to hit 7/2 kickspeed with no IAS gear. She has a 7 BoS with items. Totally awesome. I'll probably socket Stormlash with a Mal rune for prevent monster heal, currently swaping Hwanin's Blessing belt for Ueber D.)
Guillaume's Face (helm) (hit recovery, crushing blow 35%, etc. What more does a dTalon assassin want? I'll probably socket it with a 15% resist jewel later.)
Metalgrid (amulet) (awesome attack rating bonus, armor bonus, and resists. For attack rating, this amulet is superior to Mara's Kaleidoscope. I have found +skills to be less important for my playstyle, but the Mara's is still really nice. I just prefer Metalgrid for the attack, armor bonuses. The iron golem is fun to summon every now and then as well, though he usually doesn't last long. I haven't experimented with the Iron Maiden charges yet, since my assassin uses Life Tap vigorously.)
Dracul's Grasp (gloves) (THE gloves to have. The open wounds and life tap are priceless. I solo Uber D easily with these gloves - very nice for keeping other party members and mercenaries alive with 50% life leech, even in hell difficulty Nice Blood crafted gloves would be ok. I just find Dracul's to be superior for my playstyle.)
Wilhelm's Pride (belt) (for the life, mana leech, 10 to cold resist, and for the +35 hit points for having 2 orphan's set items. String of Ears or Verdungo's would be ok for more DR, but since my assassin will eventually have shaftstop and stormshield, SoE or Verdungo's would not be as useful.)
Shaftstop (armor) (30% DR, bonus hit points, and bonus defense vs. missiles. Medium armor, so it doesn't slow an assassin down much (-5% RW for medium armor). I'll probably socket this with a 15% resist jewel later.
Two 4 Diamond Monarch (shields) (light shield, no reduction in RW speed, 76% to all resists. This puts my assassin at 75% in all resists and 47% block. Later I will swap this with Stormshield to max out DR (50%) and to increase block to 72%, and will put an UM rune in it. With the 2 15% resist jewels and the UM in SS, that should put my assassin back to 75% resist max. That's the master plan anyway )
Elite Upgraded Gore Rider (boots) (there is no better boots for a dTalon kickassassin. OW and Crushing Blow are priceless )
Raven Frost (ring) (+248 AR, +20 Dex, cannot be frozen, etc. Very nice and essential for my assassin's build)
Rare Leech, prismatic, AR (ring) (Trying to find dual leech with similar properties)
Gimmershred (Flying axe for alternate weapon. The elemental damage is awesome vs. physical and lightning immunes. Nice to Blade Fury with as well.)
Life Tap Tomb Wand with charges (Level 5 Life Tap, 97 charges). (I keep this handy in the event I want my assassin to life tap immediately - like vs. an uber boss or pack.)
In Summary, this character should have the following:
83% Crushing Blow
35% Open Wounds
7/2 Kickspeed w/dTalon
Some Hit Recovery
70-80+ Run/Walk Speed
75% Resists
30-50% Damage Reduction (50% if SS is used)
47-72% Block (72% if SS is used)
Huge leech with life tap, decent life leech otherwise. 20+% with Dracul's, Wilhelm's, and Rare Ring
Sufficient mana leech
And an awesome attack rating (10-16K+ dTalon, 1-7K Blade Fury)
Well, that's about it. Sorry for the long winded post. I've been playtesting and researching this type of assassin for quite a while now, and I feel this is about as good as it gets. Just make sure you use Cloak of Shadows, your Shadow Master, your Mercenary, lots of Death Sentries, lots of Kicks, and Blade Fury vs. nasty bosses that you don't want to get too close to. Let the ancillary effects of Life Tap, Tornadoes, Static Field, Lightning Damage, Crushing Blow, and Open Wounds do the rest.
- Leurocian