Written by Ambuscade
~ The Assassin: ~
Strong, fast, deadly.
The assassin is probably the most flexible character Diablo 2 contains.
She can deal good physical damage perfectly combined with open wounds. She can torture you with 3 different elements, and is a perfect supporter for every team due to her great stunning skills.
~ The guide: ~
This guide will try to answer most questions about the Trapper builds & equipment.
The guide will deal with following specific Assassin issues:
Apr 11, 2012 Weapon1: Grief PB (most dmg for smite) You want a Berserker Axe for PvP for better range, although Phase Blade saves you a lot of IAS. I would go for BA, but its all preference Shield1: Eth Exile (most dmg for smite) Shield base is not important for damage in PvP, after all penalties and your enemies DR its so negligible. The damage comes from.
Maxblock with an Assassin?
Fireblast vs. Mindblast vs. high Weapon block
102 fcr / 48fhr AND high damage reduce?
In the equipment section I will try to list every item that is necessary to have on your Assassin + I will show off some of the items i am using
In the FAQ section you can find nearly every single answer you must know before you start with your Assassin.
Trap laying speed
Bugged trap laying speed
Max block setup?
Dragon flight vs Dragon Talon
Fade
~ Disclaimer: ~
This guide is influenced by many players and some other guides. I do NOT claim that the following strategies/setups got invented by me. I just try to meld knowledge from many different players influenced by my own experience playing Assassines!
~ Skills: ~
This is the first time where the opinions will start to differ.
I will present you in the following part 3 different builds. Anyone of them has advantages and disadvantages, you have to choose which one suites your playing style most!
The offensive fireblast trapper
The team supporting mindblasting trap
The balanced high weapon block based trap
1: It’s getting hot in here!
The Fireblast Assassin is in my opinion the best choice for a 1on1 based character.
She deals a bunch of fire damage beside the standard 11-13 k lightning damage.
Especially versus Assassin arch enemy – the Necromancer – this can give you the advantage you need to succeed over them.
Fireblast is basically a projectile, and so it has no initial delay. It has the fastest firing rate, which equals the trap laying speed of your sin (should be 9 FPA). Because FB has no initial delay, it is a great skill to use in aggressive situations. With the 1v1 build, it deals very respectable damage, and while it is a bit weaker in the team build, it has its uses when your opponent is stacking/sorbing against your LS.
Skills:
Shadow Tree:
-1 point into all Shadow skills beside Mind Blast and Venom.
-2 points into Mind Blast.
Trap Tree:
-20 point into Fire Blast
-1 point into Wake of Fire
-20 points into Shock Web
-1-20 points into Charged Bolt Sentry (Last synergy to max, dump remaining points into here)
-20 points into Lightning Sentry
-20 points into Death Sentry
Martial Arts Tree:
-1 point into Dragon Talon
2: Stop this painful stun!
The max Mindblast Assassin is surely the best choice if you are going to play in a 4on4 team or you are mainly playing TvT’s.
You will reach round about 250 displayed mindblast damage, which will effectively be over 40 physical damage if your opponent has not got any damage reduce.
With full damage reduce this would mean, that you still deal over 20 dmg per mindblast hit, and if a Necromancer can place AMP on your opponent, the physical damage will slowly let your opponent become desperate!
Not to forget that the shadowmasters mindblast frequenzy will be insanely high!
And last but not least… Ever noticed that little swirl that appears above one’s head after a mind blast? Whenever that swirl is visible, the character will be put into hit recovery by anything that hits him. Regardless of the amount or type of afflicted damage. The duration of the swirl increases every level until it reaches its maximum of 10 seconds at skill level 41. A longer duration helps you setting up and maintaining a proper lock.
The disadvantage of this build is in my opinion only the lower clawblock/trap damage you will reach due to the fully statted mindblast points.
Skills:
Shadow Tree:
-1 point into all Shadow skills beside Mind Blast and Venom.
-20 points into Mind Blast.
Trap Tree:
-1 point into Fire Blast
-1 point into Wake of Fire
-20 points into Shock Web
-20 points into Charged Bolt Sentry (Last synergy to max, dump remaining points into here)
-20 points into Lightning Sentry
-20 points into Death Sentry
Martial Arts Tree:
-1 point into Dragon Talon
3: WTF? Why you don’t take any damage?
This was the first build i have ever tried to play in my Assassin career.
Many players still swear on 60 % weapon block on Sins.
First of all it is to say that the skill clawblock can block any attack from your opponent expect area spells (firewall, The fire of a Meteor,…)
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Big disadvantage of this build is, is that you use many stat points that you could really use at other places (like above mentioned) very well.
60 % clawblock requires the skill lvl 26, which means that u gonna need to stat round about 10 points clawblock!
Here a little table how your clawblock increases:
Skills:
Shadow Tree:
-1 point into all Shadow skills beside Mind Blast/clawblock and Venom
-x points into clawblock until you have 60 %
-2-xx points into Mind Blast.
Trap Tree:
-1 point into Fire Blast.
-1 point into Wake of Fire.
-20 points into Shock Web.
-20 points into Charged Bolt Sentry.
-20 points into Lightning Sentry.
-20 points into Death Sentry.
Martial Arts Tree:
-1 point into Dragon Talon.
~ Stats: ~
Starting Stats:
Strength: 20
Dexterity: 20
Vitality: 20
Energy: 25
Hit Points = 50
Stamina = 95
Mana = 25
Stat Bonuses:
1 Vitality point gives 3 Life
1 Vitality point gives 1.5 Stamina
1 Energy point gives 1.5 Mana
Per level:
Life +2
Stamina +1
Mana +1.5
Stat Allocation:
Strenght:
Be sure that you don’t use more points than you need to wear your gear!
Dexterity:
Depends if you are going to play with a max block setup or just claw/claw only
Vitality:
Every single point you have spare
Energy:
Base of course.
~ Breakpoints: ~
~ The equipment: ~
EU Nonladder:
Weapons
2 Assa 3 LS 30-40 base IAS 2 open sox GT (Glove hand)1
2 Assa 3 LS x Mindblast/Weapon Block/Blade Shield (boots hand)2
6 Fade 2 sox GT (switch prebuff when you play TvT)
6 Fade 2 sox GT (switch prebuff when you play TvT)
CTA 6/6/x (switch for 1on1)
Spirit PB 35 FCR (for maxblock setup)3
Shields
Eth Spirit Monarch (combined with CTA for 1on1’s)
Stormshield “eld” (combined with spirit PB for your Max block setup)
Armors
Enigma Dusk
Helmets
Griffon “Jah”
Griffon “Vex”
Griffon “Ber”
Griffon “Cham”
Griffon “15ias/15@”
2 Assa 20fcr 1x Dex xx Life (for your Max block setup)
Gloves
Trang Oul gloves 74 defence
Boots
Shadowdancers 2/25
Belts
Bug Belt
Arach
Amulets
2 Assa 17 + FCR xx Life
2 Assa 17 + FCR xx Dex
or alternativly a 2 Assa 17 + FCR 2x STR ammy combined with low STR rings!
Rings
10 FCR 17 + STR 30 + Life 50 + Mana xx Res
10 FCR 17 + STR 30 + Life 50 + Mana xx Res
10 FCR 15 Dex 25 + Life 30 + Mana
Ravenfrost 20 Dex
Soj / BK
Soj / BK
Charms
9 x Trap Skillers 40 + Life
1 x 5 FHR / 11 CR SC
9 x 20 Life / 11 CR SC
10 x 20 Life / 1x Mana SC’s
20/20 Torch
20/20 Anni
102 FCR / 48 FHR C/C:
– 2 Assa 3 LS 30-40 base IAS 2 open sox GT (Glove hand)
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– 2 Assa 3 LS x Mindblast/Weapon Block/Blade Shield (boot hand)
– CTA 6/6/x (switch for 1on1)
– Eth Spirit Monarch (combined with CTA for 1on1’s)
– Enigma Dusk
– Griffon (which one depends of your opponents)
– Trang Oul gloves 74 defence
– Shadowdancers 2/25
– 2 Assa 17 + FCR xx Life
– 10 FCR 17 + STR 30 + Life 50 + Mana xx Res
– 10 FCR 17 + STR 30 + Life 50 + Mana xx Res
– 9 x Trap Skillers 40 + Life
– 1 x 5 FHR / 11 CR SC
– 9 other small charms depending on your opponent
– 20/20 Torch
– 20/20 Anni
102 FCR / 86 FHR W/S Max block:
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– Spirit PB 35 FCR (for maxblock setup)
– Stormshield “eld” (combined with spirit PB for your Max block setup)
– Enigma Dusk
– 2 Assa 20fcr 1x Dex xx Life (for your Max block setup)
– Trang Oul gloves 74 defence
– Shadowdancers 2/25
– Bug Belt
– 2 Assa 17 + FCR xx Dex
– 10 FCR 15 Dex 25 + Life 30 + Mana
– Ravenfrost 20 Dex
– 9 x Trap Skillers 40 + Life
– 10 x 20 Life / 1x Mana SC’s
– 20/20 Torch
– 20/20 Anni
____________________________________________________________________________________
Here you can see some of the items i am using on my Assassin:
_____________________________________________________________________
1 Glove hand = the weapon slot above your gloves (primary weapon slot)
2 Boots hand = The weapon slot above your boots (secundary weapon slot)
3 Spirit Phase blade is a must, it is the fastest sword you can sock your spirit in!
~ Duelling Strategies: ~
In the following section I will try to show you how I try to duel with my PvP Assassin. Of course every player has a different play style, this is only meant as a rough guide.
Let’s start with the hotkeys:
Note: This is just how i use the hotkeys and how i recommend to use em, it is still up to you to choose!
Y = Teleport
A = Mindblast
A = Wake of fire
X = Lightning sentry
C = Shadow master
D = Psycho hammer
F = Dragon talon
V = Fire blast
Q = Cloak of shadows
1-4 = Mana pots
5 = Burst of speed
6 = Fade
7 = Blade shield (in case you have this skill)
8-9 = Battle orders
General information about Traps, your Shadowmaster, etc…
Trap distance:
The distance before a trap disappears depends on whether you are running or teleporting.
If you teleport the trap will disappear after round about 1.5 screens distance.
If you walk/run the trap will disappear after round about 2.5 screens distance.
Shadow master:
Except playing vs. a smiter with LT you should always have your shadowmaster up for several reasons:
Blocker for attacks
Trap layer
If you chain lock tele the shadow master often hits your opponent when u land on him, that keeps the stun chain up.
Stun:
Here is were to separate the wheat from the chaff!
The perpetuation of the stunning sequence is one of the most important things to play your Assassin successfully!
The most common mistake Assassin players make is, that they fire MB on their opponent before they lay a trap. This means for your opponent that he can prepare himself to escape when u stop fireing mindblast to cast a trap. Therefore your stunning sequenze must look like this:
Base Dmg Phase Blade Cta 4
Trap – MB – further Traps – MB
So why is it superior to start with a trap instead of mindblast? My opponent can escape easily while my trap starts fireing since i do not have any possibility to stun him up!
That might be true, but within the time the trap starts fireing (9 FPA4 ) your opponent will be busy analyzing the situation, which means that he might escape, but if he stands still, keeps fireing at you, and you can get him locked with 1 trap up, your stun chain has begun!
Within your stun chain timing is very important. Try to break your MB exactly at the moment your trap is fireing at your opponent, this will grant that he will not escape!
Lightning sentry vs wake of fire
As a Trapsin you have 2 types of Traps for your disposal:
Lightning sentry (longe range damage dealer)
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Wake of fire (AoE5 stunner)
As initial Trap for your starting stun chain WoF is superior to LS since it has a faster fireing rate, and grants you more possibilities to break your MB to cast more Traps.
Especially for a TvT Assassin WoF is very important since you are acting more as a stunner than as a damage dealer. Remember the swirl over your opponents head – every kind of damage will set your opponent into the FHR animation and keep him stuck!
Remember that 2 WoF’s will grant maximum output unless you are stunning several areas of the map in a TvT! 2 WoF’s will hit the target approximately once every 8-9 frames, which is enough to stunlock most characters. It requires 4 LS to achieve a similar stunning capacity.
Duelling strategies:
~ Amazons ~
Base Dmg Phase Blade Cta System
Bowamazon
Difficulty: Medium – Hard
Setup: 102 FCR / 86 FHR / Max block / Burst of Speed!
Strategy: Max block setup is a must vs bowazones. Never forget to cast cloak of shadows and never attack without your shadowmaster.
Important at this duel is that you always keep the mindblast lock up. Try to catch them in a bad position (corner them near walls or trees) use wake of fire and also use your kick to slow them (if you are using a Bug Belt) and Fireblast them!
The bowa should never escape your mindblast lock!
Javelin Amazon
Difficulty: Easy
Setup: 102 FCR / 48 FHR / C/C
Strategy: Try to place many wakes of fire and fireblast her, she will be permanently in FHR/dodge animation, should be an easy win for you!
Base Dmg Phase Blade Cta 3
~ Assasins ~
Trap Assasin
Difficulty: Very easy – very hard
Setup: 102 FCR / 48 FHR / C/C OR 102 FCR / 48 FHR W/S Hoto/Spirit Monarch Setup
Strategy: Those mirror duels are a pain, I don’t have much to say here else than play def!
If you see that your opponent has the same movement and it feels like you are moving and placing traps parallel, switch your gear to a hoto and spirit setup and strap a TG on, because than you have an advantage when you are running away from the traps. Your opponent will lose more life because his clawblock is 0 when he is running away, and you have a TG on to sorb!
~ Necromancer ~
Bone Necromancer
Difficulty: Hard
Setup: 102 FCR / 48 FHR / C/C / Burst of Speed
Strategy: Max Life Setup and a offhand GT with 2 x Fire facets if you are a Fireblast build.
Put on max volume to hear were invisibles crashing walls!
Try to get close to them, get a mindblast lock, place some wofs and some lightning sentries and than jump them. The fire blast will do the rest!
Small tip: If you are on screen and see xx spirits close to you, don’t try to tele away, run instead! Your frw is faster than the spirits fly and you don’t have any cast delay with running!
~ Barbarian ~
Bvc / Bva’s
Difficulty: Moderate
Setup: 102 FCR / 86 FHR / Max block / Burst of Speed!
Strategy: Burst of speed and your maxblock setup will be a pain in the arse for the barbarian!
Place your traps in a cube form, this has the most efficiency and will cause the most damage vs. barbarians!
High MB damage is here very good because barbarians will most likely play with 8 DR only vs. you!
Another possibility is to pre-bo and use Widowmaker “um” at switch, this will be a sick surprise for the barbarian!
Try to play flexible, for instance just jump the baba once you have your mb lock up, he will be surprised and most likely make a mistake!
It’s a case of staying away from him – but close enough for your traps to hit him as you randomly zip about avoiding his ww’s.
~ Paladin ~
Smiters’s
Difficulty: Moderate
Setup: 102 FCR / 86 FHR / Max block / Burst of Speed!
Strategy: This one is for me always one of the hardest duels due to the mass desynch of Paladins.
I’d recommend to use mblock setup with fade on (to reduce the curse duration in case he casts LT on you)
move a lot, play on distance, always place a wof like half a screen away to see when the smiter is synching towards you!
Second possibility would be to use a chaos and fury, eventhough you have extremely low AR, the WW will hit when the pala is charging.
And second effect is, that you avoid hits if you whirl.
Hammerdin
Difficulty: Moderate – Hard
Setup: 102 FCR / 48 FHR / C/C Setup
Strategy: Use your running speed. When he is trying to jump you just southwalk (run/tele vertically up and down the screen) . Be patient and let him come, don’t jump him or run around the map, there might be invisibles everywhere!
Alternatively you can use a chaos here again to avoid getting hit by the hammers!
Use the full battle field but never forget that he might have u still locked, so tele more than 2 screens away from him before you place your new traps!
Base Dmg Phase Blade Cta Map
~ Sorceress ~
Fireball sorceress
Difficulty: Easy – Moderate
Setup: 102 FCR / 48 FHR / C/C Setup
Strategy: Strap on your fury claw firsthand. No abs ofc, this would be bad mannered if you consider that your shadow master is prolly fire immune and you have your clawblock too!
Try to get a mindblast lock on her, keep it up, place wofs and jump her with Dragon Talon. Probably this will be enough to win, if not continue chasing her down, the OW will let her die slowly!
Lightning sorceress
Difficulty: Easy – Moderate
Setup: 102 FCR / 48 FHR / C/C Setup
Strategy: Do the same as above mentioned! Try to avoid lightning bolts of the sorc, this is an absolute clawblock killer!
Blizzard sorceress
Difficulty: Moderate – Hard
Setup: 102 FCR / 48 FHR / C/C Setup
Additional: Use as much as CR as possible, all your scs, rings, whatever you find and do not forget your Griffon Cham!
Strategy: First you switch on as much res as you got – I am using 9 x 20/11 cr and 1 x 5fhr / 11 cr vs. Blizzard sorceress.
Put on your Griffon “cham”.
Mostly duel the same as vs. other sorc, but stay alert, they can be bitches!
~ Druid ~
Wind Druid
Difficulty: Easy
Setup: 102 FCR / 48 FHR / C/C Setup
Additional: You can also play a 102 FCR Max block storm setup with Burst of Speed!
Strategy: High Fcr and high DR are necessary to survive these duels!
There are not many good Ele Druids around, but if you meet one you need to play very very sly!
Chase him, but don’t be too aggressive, always move so that between you and the ele druid there are at least 2-3 traps.
I’d highly recommend to always place 1-2 WoF’s directly under your feet in case the druid jumps you!
__________________________________________________________________________________________
4 FPA = Frames per attack
5 AoE = Area of effect
Base Dmg Phase Blade Cta Download
~ FAQ: ~
IAS:
9 FPA is the highest trap laying speed you can reach with your Assassin.
It is based on the WSM of your claws. The WSM6 you can find in the table below.
To reach the maximum trap laying speed the AWSM7 must be as shown below:
Ias bugging:
This positioning bug is IAS related, it allows you to reach the fastest attack breakpoints with far less IAS than normal.
You must equip your fastest claw first above your boots. Then you equip the other. This order is absolutely crucial.
NOTE: Whenever you switch weapons to cast Battle Command for example, the positioning is reset and everything is calculated as it should. You’ll have to re-equip claws in the proper order.
Here is a table were you can find the required IAS with claws bugged:
Max block?
Yes max block is essential for your sin to survive vs good barbs / bowas in a 1on1!
Why do I use this setup?
Base Dmg Phase Blade Cta Tool
Let’s compare em a bit:
As you can see the W/S setup is superior vs Barbarians / Bow Ama’s in any case!
Fade
Fade is the skill for an Assassin to use for three reasons;
– Provides resists.
– Reduces curse lengths.
– Provides physical damage reduction.
Each Point into Fade grants you 1 % damage reduce!
Dragon Flight vs. Dragon Talon
DF: Dragon Flight is a teleport-attack skill. It teleports you to your enemy and tries to deliver a kick. In 1.09 this used to be an amazing skill, mainly because it reached for over 2 screens. Now, it has a few extremely annoying features; one of them is that it reaches for 1 screen only. Dragon Flight also needs a clear line of sight, so any trees, puddles or houses between you and your opponent will interrupt the skill.
A Dragon Flight animation takes 24 frames and cannot be sped up in any way. Even though it’s a slow and highly interruptible skill, it still is an awesome skill to hit casters. The most frequently used tactic is to chase with teleport and when near, initiate Dragon Flight to kick in.
DT: Dragon Talon is a skill similar to Dragon flight. The difference between them is the handling. Dragon flight might be very easy to use, but it is definetly a frame killer. Some facts why Dragon Talon is superior:
– No interuptions due to puddles / trees / houses
– Very fast compared to Dragon flight
– 2-3 Kicks which all can provide you with the following effects (kicks in general do):
Leech
Elemental Damage/Venom
Crushing Blow
Open Wounds
Prevent Monster Heal
Chance to Cast on Striking
Hit Causes Monster to Flee
Ignore Target Defense
Hit Blinds Target
Hit Slows Target
Hit Freezes Target
Chance to Cast on Attacking
Knock Back (natural)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
6 WSM = Weapon speed modifier
7 AWSM = Average weapon speed modifier Range extender d-link dmg-112a driver.