Making A Perfect Assassin

[look_out_bees]

Hey,

I'm building an assassin and i need to know what skills to use. Any advice or tips would be very appreciated.


:ph34r: Mike :ph34r:

[schizoidmime]

there are lots of different assassin builds, check out diabloii.net or theamazonbasin (which seems to be down at the moment apparently) for some good builds. probably some here as well. what kind of assassin do you have in mind?

[Occhidiangela]

1. What patch are you playing, 1.09, or the 1.10s beta?
2. Do you want Martial arts, cookie cutter uberness, traps emphasis, or an "all around" Assassin with a bit from each discipline?

General Comments:

For a Trapper: You won't need much Energy beyond 50, as you should be able to acquire all the Mana you want or need from items over time. I have had trappers with Energy up to 80 or 100, but by the time I hit hell, generally wished I had put the points into Vitality. (I tend to play Hardcore.)

For Martial Arts: Base Energy, Cobra Strike will leach all you need, both life and Mana.

Shadow Skills. Put one point into the following for any Assassin.

Claw Mastery
Cloak of Shadows: Sometime handy for a quick escape to regroup versus a mob
Burst of Speed: For running in town, and for speeding up casting rate for traps
Claw Block: have to and it is an option over a shield if you are +skills obsessed.
Paychic Hammer: One point wonder versus Smith and Hephaesto
Mind Blast: slows down mobs, and bosses, and champs. Handy defensive skill with one point. Conversion feature of debatable value, depending on build.
Fade: see below
Claw Mastery: for early life, a must for to hit assistance, for any Martial Artist, you MAX this.

I recommend maxing either Shadow Master or Shadow Warrior, depends on if you want a tank or someone laying down a lot more traps. If you go MA, use Master. If traps, I use Master, but Warrior has her uses. If you play a lot of pubbies, lots of folks don't like the way Master casts Cloak of shadows on her own initiative, which makes their screen go dark. Careful on that score in public and team games.

Beyond that, Fade is a great skill, but typically your +skills is your best way to boost that. It decreases both elemental damage, thanks to its resist all, and Curse duration. Handy as hell in Hell, that last feature.