Assassin Build

[LiquidDamage]

I would love to get AR bonuses (as well as others) from the off-hand claw.  Unfortunately, all the information I've seen implies that weapon mods (AR, ED, PMH, CTC, CB, yadda  yadda yadda) from the secondary claw do not impact BF while personal mods do.

I think you are right about not getting AR bonuses from the off-hand. The LCS says you are.

I have loads of experience with Trap and Blade Fury assassins, but I have never used a dual claw one, I have always used Claw/Shield, or weapon/shield. I knew weapon mods didn't apply, but I thought AR fell in the "stat" category. It apparently doesn't. I will test it though, when I can use my claws. The AR difference will be massive, so it should be pretty obvious.

Also, thanks for reminding me of Open Wounds. That is another affect I forgot about. And you don't sound condescending at all, don't worry about it. :)

Well, darn. I found what I thought was my near-dream off-hand claw:

Ethereal Battle Cestus
+2 assassin skills (I am a primary trapper with a shadow, so I'll take the mana cost increase to BF in exchange for more trap damage and a better shadow)
30% IAS (for weapon block speed, I hear it is based upon weapon speed. Again, I've never used dual claws)
Fool's (+16.5 AR per level)
+1 to Fade

It also has +20 to maximum damage (on top of the level based +max from Fool's), and 4% mana steal, but as I said, it was going to be an offhand claw, so I didn't consider that to be important.

Now, I COULD use it as my primary, but my ethereal Bartuc's does so much more damage :P. I may use it anyway, as while it averages only 87 damage at level 75 (65.25 with blade fury), and the ethereal Bartuc's averages 157 (117.5 with BF), I will probably hit far, far more with the Battle Cestus, plus it has enough mana steal that I will likely only need one other source (or I could socket a pskull in it).

I'm going to have to figure out exactly how much more often I will hit with the Battle Cestus. I may wind up just sticking an Eth or a pamythist in the Bartuc's.

Thanks for pointing this out, by the way. I was planning my character around that, and I'd hate to have socketed the wrong things in those claws.