I am a terrible assassin [Diablo 2]

[synkr0nized]

"OH MAN SYNK YOU SHOULD POST THIS IN A DIABLO FORUM."
No, shut up. I am not joining a Diablo forum when I'm sure several of you have more than enough knowledge to help out / we can get some neat Diablo stories going in this thread.


I haven't ever really played the Diablo games. OH NO I MUST SURRENDER MY GAMER CARD. At LANs here and there, sure, I'd happily join in and randomly pick a class and click at monsters, but I never really learned the game. Cool games, though, I knew that much; kept informed enough to talk about the games.

As I recently find myself playing with friends, I am re-discovering how bad I am at selecting skills appropriately. I am thinking of them too much like WoW skill trees or like leveling up skills in Mass Effect, to think of an example that's similar to my way of thinking about it. Being able to toss only one point into something and count that as sufficient/count that skill as just a stepping stone until I level enough for the one I actually want isn't easy to get used to.

But that's not really what this is about, as I'm learning that and getting a feel for the trees.

This thread is about me being a piss-poor assassin. Or at least I think I am. I have an assassin that is level 18 or so and in Act II (lol slow?). I've been playing with a buddy over TCP/IP and also in single player with /players 3-4. And killing Andy a lot 'cause I like yellow drops.

That said, I feel like in clusters I am downing potions faster than I am breathing air to complete combos and not die from poisons when fighting those monsters that have it. Or the ones that are lightning enchanted. Fuck those sparks.

I also chose to go with dual claws and work down the shadow tree to shadow master. Perhaps that is a terrible idea! Perhaps I should be putting more points in Martial arts! I don't know, honestly.

I'm not feeling this weak on any other class (in fact the game feels much easier on them), so I'm pretty sure I'm-a doin' it wrong. Though on single targets I feel like I can bring the pain, so maybe I shouldn't be thinking of the assassin as something that's meant to take on hordes?

So, make fun of my assassin/help me see what I could've done when leveling AND share your Diablo 2 tales!

build so far at level 19 (extra point from that book that drops off the first Act II quest named):
Tiger Strike - 1
Dragon Talon - 1
Dragon Claw - 1

(should I have picked up cobra strike?)

Claw Mastery - 8
Psychic Hammer - 1
Burst of Speed - 1
Weapon Block - 5
Cloak of Shadows - 1
Shadow Warrior - 1


The plan is to nab dragon flight, shadow master, and venom, leveling the latter two as well as claw mastery and weapon block but not the prereqs.
-------

Also I laugh at Mephisto. For a Prime Evil, he was kind of meh.

[Ryong]

I um, always went with getting a LOT of points in Tiger Strike then picking between Dragon Flight or Dragon Tail.

Alternatively, get a fuckton of traps. Either way, don't worry about Shadow Warrior/Master, they're good. Fade is also very important.

[Azisien]

Get some life leech. For low levels, Cathans Seal Ring (6% per finger) works well.

[Bells]

I was never able to play a decent Assassin. Never. It always failed. Guess i'm too lazy, since what i truly enjoy in Diablo 2 is getting a mean Necromancer, spamming the screen with minions and watch them go to town on everything else while i pick treasure from the floor.

it's fun.

But if my memory serves me right, Assassins are MUCH more Equipment based than skill based. But you won't get very far without fast attacks and area-based damage

[Hanuman]

Sin works the same in D2 as in GW, you are a melee spiker that can bring the pain every 1-3 hits, mana leech is pretty essential, kiting is HUGELY important.

There's a few ways to play MA sins, the basic 2 primaries are ice claws and kickers, dragon is for PvP if you are to level it, you can also go for fire fists if you want dragon tail as the tail translates all melee fire damage into AoE fire damage.

All of these builds will be useless vs. physical immune, to deal with that get an amp damage amulet or something to that effect, one with charges.

Kickers are great, they have insane AR (especially when enchanting themselves with Demon Limb), and they can drain almost any monster down to nothing super fast. This works because they are essentially a 4 attacks per animation version of a smiterdin, you apply Crushing Blow with Dragon Talon and watch them lose 20% of their total HP per hit, quickly draining them to about 15% regardless of their original HP score.

Really, MA isn't built for damage though, and is a pretty difficult melee class to run.

Trappers on the other hand work amazingly, require no gear, kill most units based on layout and strategy (but sadly not on immunity), and almost never die (making them my 2nd best choice for hardcore).

http://d2items.com/skills.php

Shadow master is a good idea, it's a mana tank that will help you kite, so is cloak of shadows which is essentially area-wide dimvision.

Venom is OK but really it never has many points unless you are playing a Ninja, which is gear required to fuel the blade fury.

Right now it would be best to choose one of 2 things: elemental or tiger strike.

If you choose elemental, then train that element and phoenix strike, if you choose tiger then level up your talon and charge up tiger with dual claws.

Also, don't put points into claw blocking in the future, if you think you need to block use a shield (like when fighting diablo and his hose) then switch back to claws as the point of dual claws is to have fast attack and blocking speed is harder to get than FHR so you're going to spend more time stunned as a blocker than just taking the hit.

[Sithdarth]

I had a Trapsin a long time ago. Worked great right up until hell and immunities then I didn't really have the gear to support myself. That's about the only experience I have with them. You might want to try traps though they might not fit your play style while. Certainly no matter what you play its a good idea to learn how to kite effectively.

Currently I'm running a Hammerdin (which was respecced from a Zeolot because they are easier to run at low levels) and have managed to solo all the way to Act 4 on Hell difficulty.

[synkr0nized]

I avoided traps because that whole line seemed dumb (regardless of actual in-game power, I mean)/not appealing to me personally. I thought the shadow line with martial arts would fit more what I wanted to think of as an assassin. Unfortunately for me most of the builds/strategy things I read were very positive about traps, so I went "derp?" and moved on.


Isn't paladin like easy mode? :P

[Fifthfiend]

Um Synk I don't remember seeing DIABLO FORUM written at the top of this forum maybe because it isn't one you should probably go find a forum that is one of those and then post this thread there

[Bells]

Um Synk I don't remember seeing DIABLO FORUM written at the top of this forum maybe because it isn't one you should probably go find a forum that is one of those and then post this thread there

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3660/3541375826_cc9bf80e46.jpg?v=0

As far as paladins go, HammerDin is Easy Mode. Every other paladin build i know is Seasonal at best.

Sorcerer still sucks outside of PvP though

[Sithdarth]

It is certainly easier than playing a Zealot but I still can't just run around like I'm superman or anything. Act II was a particular pain in the but with all the magic immune undead.

[Yrcrazypa]

I loved my Zealot back when I played, tearing things to shreds with Zeal is so much more appealing to me than just spamming hammers.

[Azisien]

[SWAP="Fifthfiend ... the Fun Police"]
Sorcerer still sucks outside of PvP though

Are you kidding me? Teleport + Warmth + Any of the Level 24-30 spells = A character that barely needs any gear, can get around faster then any other class, and does a shit load of damage.

The only issues you'll have later on are elemental immunities in NM and Hell but he's playing over TCP/IP so...whatever. :p

[Hanuman]

I avoided traps because that whole line seemed dumb (regardless of actual in-game power, I mean)/not appealing to me personally. I thought the shadow line with martial arts would fit more what I wanted to think of as an assassin. Unfortunately for me most of the builds/strategy things I read were very positive about traps, so I went "derp?" and moved on.


Isn't paladin like easy mode? :P
Trap sins are more like tech-sins, throw a nade in the room and BAM, everything dies, or you could think of the demo in TF2, you bait em to your traps. Lightning traps can be cast up 5 at a time and fry the hell out of monsters quickly, you can run away while attacking, keep your master in the front and dim their vision with cloak. Most sins are trappers, it's fun.

Are you kidding me? Teleport + Warmth + Any of the Level 24-30 spells = A character that barely needs any gear, can get around faster then any other class, and does a shit load of damage.

The only issues you'll have later on are elemental immunities in NM and Hell but he's playing over TCP/IP so...whatever. :p
Maybe in 1.09

[waddle2120]

It is certainly easier than playing a Zealot but I still can't just run around like I'm superman or anything. Act II was a particular pain in the but with all the magic immune undead.

Holy Bolt solves your problem.

[01d55]

This thread is about me being a piss-poor assassin. Or at least I think I am. I have an assassin that is level 18 or so and in Act II (lol slow?). I've been playing with a buddy over TCP/IP and also in single player with /players 3-4. And killing Andy a lot 'cause I like yellow drops.

That said, I feel like in clusters I am downing potions faster than I am breathing air to complete combos and not die from poisons when fighting those monsters that have it. Or the ones that are lightning enchanted. Fuck those sparks.

That is actually a totally normal thing to happen when you are standing in a cluster and not at all a symptom of your terrible build (which is in fact bad).

I also chose to go with dual claws and work down the shadow tree to shadow master. Perhaps that is a terrible idea! Perhaps I should be putting more points in Martial arts! I don't know, honestly.

I'm not feeling this weak on any other class (in fact the game feels much easier on them), so I'm pretty sure I'm-a doin' it wrong. Though on single targets I feel like I can bring the pain, so maybe I shouldn't be thinking of the assassin as something that's meant to take on hordes?

So, make fun of my assassin/help me see what I could've done when leveling AND share your Diablo 2 tales!

build so far at level 19 (extra point from that book that drops off the first Act II quest named):
Tiger Strike - 1
Dragon Talon - 1
Dragon Claw - 1

(should I have picked up cobra strike?)

Claw Mastery - 8
Psychic Hammer - 1
Burst of Speed - 1
Weapon Block - 5
Cloak of Shadows - 1
Shadow Warrior - 1


The plan is to nab dragon flight, shadow master, and venom, leveling the latter two as well as claw mastery and weapon block but not the prereqs.

Okay, so first of all that is way too many points in Claw Mastery this early in the game. You want your claw mastery later.
Second, you see those three skills on the left side of martial arts? Those are the dual-claw skills. The skills down the middle? Are single-claw skills. Since you've already invested in weapon block and haven't put more than one point in the single-claw skills (which you need for early on and as prereqs for Phoenix, which you will max for the synergy bonus) you may as well start pumping your dual-claw elemental strikes, which will give you some pretty okay crowd killing power and reasonable flexibility against elemental immunities.

Venom plays into dual-claw pretty well, since it allows you to deal damage with all four elements. (Venom also causes your poison damage to happen so quick it's like a dd nuke.) That said your 3 claw skills + 1 synergy are pretty skill point hungry and you want to keep up with them, they don't scale so well with gear.

Also the darkness spell? Is AMAZING. You only need level 1 but seriously use it. It's the one that darkens the edge of the screen and blinds EVERYTHING.

If you are working on the latest version you can get skill respec from that lady in Act 1, so if you want to use the single-claw skills I reccomend Tigerstrike/Dragon Tail with a sprinkling of Cobra Strike. TS/DT is amazing for killing crowds, and if you use cobra strike (2-3 points will carry you) in conjunction you can also sustain very well. Just remember that you can't leech anything off skeletons.

The shadows are good for free bags of expendable hit points but they won't do much damage for you.

[synkr0nized]

Thanks for the pointers.

The assassin is currently a side project. My group has expanded to four of us with me on one of my other characters; we have a were-bear druid, a spear amazon, a poison necro, and my sorceress. Currently the druid, though he has a bunch of wolves and a few ravens flyin' around, and the amazon complain that the necro and I kill things too quickly. I anticipate that will change once we get into Nightmare and Hell when magic resistance rockets up, but for now I am enjoying being able to clear rooms and then teleport through walls. My secondary group gets a Bowazon from me, and that I've got figured out no problem (will be aiming for strafe). In any case, I will return to the assassin but will likely either a) store her gear and start over or b) purchase the skill reset and hope I don't fuck it up as badly again.

If you'll forgive the hyperbole, part of my problem was that every post about assassins was for some level 3436436 build with set gear that assumed I had two relevant degrees in Diablo-speak when really I should have just taken the time to sit down and read each skill carefully, especially considering synergies, instead of looking for someone to just tell me what to click on in the skill tree. I actually did play an assassin before at some LAN and killed things, so clearly I must be capable of rational thinking :P.

*e: Haha, yes, Cloak of Darkness is a lot of fun.


Also, I don't know if I should frown or "lol" at taking a summon-necro solo at Diablo. I mean, my army of minions annihilated everything up to him, but then the fight was repetitions of the following:
- Me: "Fly, my stupids!" sending minions in
- Diablo: "Ha ha summons. L2play." They all die fairly quickly.
- Me: *scroll of town portal* -> *random waypoint to kill/resummon*
- *return to battle*
- repeat



So far, though, fuck Duriel. Fuck him in his mutant, Lesser-Evil ass.

[Sithdarth]

Duriel is disproportionately hard in normal. After that he gets way easier. I have no idea why.

[Yrcrazypa]

Duriel on normal gave me more trouble than the three barbarians you have to fight before you can get into Baal's penthouse. WAY more trouble. Doesn't help that as soon as you load into the area, you have to react instantly or risk getting taken down quickly.

[Hanuman]

Summon Necro > Everything

1% of the game's monsters hit you

Stat importance: Vitality 100%

Gear importance: +Skills 100%

Normal to hell hardcore naked, kills all.

[01d55]

The problem with summon necro is act bosses get arbitrary bonuses against minions, both offensively and defensively. You basically have to run around spamming your rank 1 bone spear or use the thorns curse and spam golem and there's just no way it isn't going to be tedious and dumb.

Or you can get a MA assassin to hang around with you and carry you through in exchange for being carried through everything before the act boss.

Like the problem with MA is you have to stand next to monsters to hurt them, which naturally leads to being surrounded which naturally leads to "chug potions or die." CoD can help with this, plus the fact that all 3 major MA builds* have a "1: 3 melee hits 2: huge aoe damage spike 3: GOTO 1" rhythm which supports hit-and-run, but it's much easier when you have a horde of disposable hit point bags to distract them while you blow shit up.


* The three major MA builds are
1: Claw/shield Tiger Strike / Dragon Tail
2: dual claw elemental
3: Claw/shield phoenix strike

TS/DT is probably the fastest to start owning with and it actually never stops owning. Vulnerable to immunities but let's face it: immunities are bullshit for everyone, a big "FUCK YOU FOR SOLOING."

Oh, and no amount of carefully reading the skills is going to tell you that the left column of attacks will swing with both your claws while the central column will just swing your main claw over and over while your other claw sits there looking stupid. You have to actually look at the animations while holding two claws to see that.

[Hanuman]

The problem with summon necro is act bosses get arbitrary bonuses against minions, both offensively and defensively. You basically have to run around spamming your rank 1 bone spear or use the thorns curse and spam golem and there's just no way it isn't going to be tedious and dumb.
Spam golem before your minions die, they tend to like to target new summons so having them duke it out with a level 1 meatshield golem while your skeles and merc hacks at it, pretty swell.

The defensive bonus is cut by Amp Dmg which -100% of their physical resistance, period.

Their offensive is negated by Defiance aura merc.

How are you affording bone spear? Fishy?

I'm talking flat out summoners, 1 into amp and MAYBE 1 into corpse explosion.

Taking more points from it early on means your minions go crunch?

[01d55]

Spam golem before your minions die, they tend to like to target new summons so having them duke it out with a level 1 meatshield golem while your skeles and merc hacks at it, pretty swell.

The defensive bonus is cut by Amp Dmg which -100% of their physical resistance, period.

Their offensive is negated by Defiance aura merc.

How are you affording bone spear? Fishy?

I'm talking flat out summoners, 1 into amp and MAYBE 1 into corpse explosion.

Taking more points from it early on means your minions go crunch?

Hireling damage is 50% against Bosses in Normal, 35% in Nightmare, and 25% in Hell difficulties. Additionally, Hirelings takes 10 times more damage from End Act Bosses.
I'm pretty sure that applies to summons as well; I know any boss with an AOE gibs skeletons.

Bone spear is a prereq for bone prison and gives you something to do solo when the boss AOE gibs your army. I do prefer to just run with a group and be a cursebot; I'll keep that golem trick in mind. It'd shut down goddamn Duriel.

[Hanuman]

I'm pretty sure that applies to summons as well; I know any boss with an AOE gibs skeletons.

Bone spear is a prereq for bone prison and gives you something to do solo when the boss AOE gibs your army. I do prefer to just run with a group and be a cursebot; I'll keep that golem trick in mind. It'd shut down goddamn Duriel.
Mm, I prefer to work within tactical AI abuse, I'll make golems to tell the boss to attack it, then I'll use the combination of cold damage, clay slowness and sometimes even decrep to force it into an attack loop, since I can manipulate my armor and it's attack rate I can slow down it's damage significantly as it won't be able to hit me, and when it does I can usually make it hit a golem, which is essentially killing 1/5th a mana pot, ect.

Damage is one thing, but armor is mostly for being able to hit rather than dmg taken.