I was sitting around, having fun and actually getting something useful done for once, and then I thought "Hey, I should be on the internet debating raging nerds over a hundred-odd pages over which helm is better on my build in an eight-year-old game!" Well, needess to say, I was right. So posthaste, I got online and reformatted my guide and fixed it up as nicely as possible so I can have a storming rampage of people in hurry to hurl juvenile insults at my guide because they can't take 5 minutes out of their busy days of atrophying their muscles to read any of my explantions and think critically about them. However, since thus far I've yet to see any reasonable criticisms of my build since version 1.5, I'm making an offer to all the useless spammers. If you can find any flaws with this build (the build, not the guide...so spelling/grammar errors don't count, although please point them out anyway), and provide an argument that actually shows your position to be correct, I'll donate you the rest of my fg. I'm putting my money where my mouth is. But, believe me, I've debated and refined the living shit out of this build, so don't expect it'll be easy fg. So, without further ado, here's version 1 3/4 of the (in)famous "spider" assassin guide. It includes everything except strategies.

And yeah, i'm going to keep calling it spider as long as people post entertaining shit about it. Or maybe I'll change it to the super death laser spider from HELL.



TABLE OF CONTENTS
It's clickable!

Section 1: Introduction to the spider and version 1 3/4
Section 2: Making a Spider
---------Part 1: abridged version
------------------Gear
------------------Stats
------------------Skills
---------Part 2: full version
------------------Gear
------------------Stats
------------------Skills
Section 3: Playing a Spider
---------Part 1: general strategy and tricks
---------Part 2: Counter-class strategies
Section 4: FAQs
Section 5: My spider
Section 6: notes
---------Part 1: notes on skills
---------Part 2: notes on equipment choices
Section 7: credits

Section 1: Introduction to the spider and version 1 3/4

Well, I think at this point most everyone has seen this guide in one of its forms owing to the terrific amount of spam I manage to get, but for those who aren't aware, the "spider" is my 102 fcr c/c (although now it sports a w/s mb and tvt switch) trapper with whirlwind build. And, yes, it uses griffons. And yes, i know, i know, i know it doesn't boost traps (and for all the retards out there....no it doesn't boost traps IN ANY WAY and yes I have tested this myself).

At any rate, for the less jaded public, I can honestly say this is the most fun build I've played. It's very effective, it's very fast-paced, it's very competitive. You need good reflexes and a good amount of practice, but I've found it well worth the time I've put into it. I think it contains the best of the trapper and the best of the hybrid, without sacrificing too much of either. If you're invested in the idea of a "pure" trapper or hybrid, this build isn't either of those things. But I'd like to think it's a little more unique than those builds, and equally effective, to say the least (and before someone quotes me out of context, i said MORE unique not totally unique, I'm sure plenty people have made this build before I have, but a lot MORE people have made trappers and hybrids). Here's sort of a brief overview of what the build is, and isn't.

it is:
-fun (imnsho)
-fast
-competitive in any gm setting with decent absorption rules

it isn't:
-cheap
-easy (it's fairly easy to be mediocre, but hard to be good)
-capable of bm dueling whatsoever

as far as what's new to this version compared to version 1 1/2, well mostly the notes section, updated FAQs, screenshots of my new assassin, a few minor revisions, and, of course, the credits section because everyone loves to read the credits.

as far as what's new to this version compared to version 1, it's got more gear switches, better skill setup, new screenshots, and lots of other revisions, although sadly no strategies yet because i've been taking a break and playing morrowind for the past few weeks instead of playing diablo (and if you think i'm a know-it-all in diablo, you oughta see me in morrowind). DO NOT use the stickied guide (version 1) because, frankly, it sucks balls compared to this one lack of a strategy section notwithstanding.

Finally, I’d point out that this guide assumes you have SOME knowledge of assassins and Diablo 2…I assume you already know (or can find) the fcr and fhr breakpoints, etc, and know basic abbreviations. I know some guides post that stuff, but this one’s already awfully long and I’d rather discuss more important things.

This post was edited by darcanegel on Jul 13 2008 02:44am

Section 2: Making a spider

Part 1: abridged version

The in-depth how-to for building a spider gets fairly lengthy, but here’s a quick overview to get the gist of it. If you’re serious about building one, or if you don’t understand why I’ve done something, I recommend reading the in-depth version, but here’s the essentials:

Gear:

Main Gear:

Helm: griffon’s eye (+% and -% stats don’t matter because traps are minions) socketed with 15 ias 15 resist jewel
Amulet: 2 assassin skills 17+ fcr crafted amulet
Armor: low-strength enigma
Claw 1: +3 LS chaos GT
Claw 2: trap claw GT (2/3/2 preferrable) socketed um
Belt: arachnid mesh
Gloves: trangs
Boots: shadow dancers
Rings: 2x fcr rares with strength/life/AR/res
Charms: 9x trap lifers
6x life res scs
4x fhr res scs
torch
anni
switch: cta + spirit monarch

stash:

maxblock setup:
stormshield “eld”
35 spirit pb
IK gloves
Fcr + dex ring (+strength if you want base str build)
Rfrost
2 sin 20 fcr dex circlet
2 sin 17+ fcr dex amulet (optional)
then 6 dex trap gcs + 2 dex/mod scs until max block is achieved (possibly none, if you’ve pumped dex)

sorb (gm):

infernostrides
wisp
15/15ias kiras
15/15ias jade
rising sun (if it’s gm where you duel)

TvT (if you want to tvt):

Hoto

(if you don’t have enough room for all this, you can put some of the lesser-used gear on a merc (and resurrect it to get it back, then kill it again), pump dex to save space taken up by dex charms, put it on a mule character to xfer as needed, or get higher dex on your ring, amulet, circlet, etc.)

stats:

strength: enough for gear (base strength is achievable)
dexterity: base if you’re using mass charmage for maxblock, or pump until you get max block with your maxblock setup if you prefer.
Vitality: the rest

Skills:

Martial arts:

none

Shadow disciplines:

1 claw mastery
1 burst of speed
1 fade (unless you get it on a claw)
1 venom (unless you get it on a claw)
1 claw block
1 shadow warrior
1 shadow master
1 psychic hammer
1 cloak of shadows
20 mindblast (max this FIRST, before traps)

traps:

1 fireblast (if by some miracle you have extras, they can go here)
1 wake of fire
20 shock web
1-20 charged bolt sentry (max this last!)
20 lightning sentry
20 death sentry

that’s your basic setup. However, behind that, things get much more in-depth. So if you’re ready to put your brain into a meat grinder, here’s the…

Part 2: Extended version

Gear:

Helm: griffon’s eye socketed 15 res 15 ias

Why griffons? Quite simply, it’s one of only two ways to get 102 fcr on a claw/claw assassin legitly. The +1 all skills is very nice and boosts traps, all your shadow skills, battle orders and command, and whirlwind. The light skill stats do not affect traps however (except shock web) so just try to get one with high defense, or don’t worry about it and get the cheapest available.

Valk is the only other possible helm for this build, however imo it is not as good, and much much more expensive. Simple reason: the levels of skills, especially claw block and shadow master, are exactly where they need to be with griffons, the damage boost is much larger than the life boost (via fhr from valk, which means more life charms), the ias is not a problem thanks to gear switches (or wsm bug if you prefer), and the frw is almost unperceivable because of the diminishing returns. For the longer explanation, see the notes section.

Amulet: 2 assassin skills 17+ fcr crafted amulet

Again, this is required for 102 fcr. In terms of additional mods, you want life, dex, resists, ½ freeze (useful vs windys, that’s about it), resists, replenish life, etc. strength works as well BUT I don’t recommend it. It means you can’t switch amulets and it tends to be very expensive, plus there are just better things to get. It’s not hard (well, it’s a little hard) to get base strength without any from an amulet anyway.

Armor: enigma

There really shouldn’t be any explanation for this. It’s most of the reason we’re getting 102 fcr in the first place. Even without the strength, skills, dr, and life, I’d use it just for teleport.

In terms of armor, you’re pretty restricted. Why? With claw setup, you can afford anything with ~95 strength thanks to strength from rings, but with maxblock setup, you need to be able to get it on with only your base strength + anni + torch + any on your rings and amulet. Of course if you want to bug it on with charms, disregard this. If you aren’t though (and I see no reason to do so) your enigma needs to go on first to support your IK gloves, which need to support your stormshield, which will support dancers. I have a 15 strength fcr ring (none on amulet) so I chose cuirass. Unless you have 17+ strength from amulet and rings, your best choice in terms of pure stats is mage plate. At 17+ it’s dusk shroud. However, in my opinion DS is ugly on assassins. Of course this is up to you. Gothic plate is also alright as long as you have at least 70 strength between rings, amulet, base, torch, and anni, but it means you run slower and has low defense. Personally I prefer the look of cuirass to the ~50 additional defense from mage plate, but this is all preference.

I recommend getting a non-superior enigma, since those tend to have very high repair costs and don’t give much real benefit. Keep one around on a mule for very difficult duels vs meleers if you want, but I haven’t really had any melee duels that my maxblock setup hasn’t dealt with.

Claw 1: +3 LS chaos GT

+3 ls is essential, any other skills are great though. If you want a competitive assassin, I recommend getting additional helpful skills on it though, compared to the total cost of the build a good chaos shouldn’t be terrible, and it will mean you don’t have to level as high if you can get good skills to save points. Here’s are all the useful skills:

+venom (won’t need this on w/s setup, so you lose nothing by only having it on c/c setup)
+fade (same as above, but get +venom first. If you can get a +3 LS + venom + fade, that is ideal)
+WoF (this will save a skill point, but it means you won’t have it for w/s setup. Up to you if think this is worth it)
+mindblast (you still want to max mindblast to make your shadow cast it often, but this gives more damage and duration on your own mindblast)
+blade shield (not much damage, but it has a fairly long duration and it can be helpful as an additional hit to keep them stunned)
+claw block (might allow you to get a high block%, but in my opinion it’s not worth it)
+shadow master (you NEED a hard point in master, but it won’t hurt to have a higher level shadow. This mod tends to be very expensive though so I wouldn’t recommend it)
+dflight (I’ve never bothered to use it, but it’s not likely to make the claw cost much more, if any at all, so it can’t hurt much. It does help you aim since it won’t work except on a target, but it’s slower and buggier than teleport)

note that any skills below lvl 12 are basically impossible to find on a claw (not TOTALLY impossible, but extremely extremely difficult and you’d prolly have craft it yourself, and it’s impossible to get +fireblast and +LS on the same GT)

Claw 2: trap claw GT socketed um

Ideal is a 2/3/2 GT, you really want 2 assassin skills more than anything else though for its boost to block, venom, claw mastery, shadow master, mindblast, fade, etc. if you can afford one with extra skills, see the list above, however these tend to be quite expensive. Socket this is with ums for the open wounds, this will be the bulk of the builds whirlwind damage.

Belt: arachnid mesh

Not much to discuss. It’s the only belt for hitting the breakpoint and the +1 skill is invaluable. And it’s dirt cheap really.

Gloves: trangs or magefists

Originally I thought trangs were the only choice, but it’s really fairly open. Trangs gives about 1.5x venom damage, but venom isn’t all that much of your whirlwind damage, and cold resist. magefists give a boost to fireblast and mana regeneration. To some extent it comes down to which attack you prefer to use, and how much cold stack you can achieve with your stash. I went with trangs because I like whirlwind and I wanted to be able to fully negate cold mastery. Keep in mind the mana regen isn’t very useful because you’ll be drinking mana potions en mass, but if you want mages for fireblast they’re viable. They’re both cheap gloves, so keep a pair of the other ones on a mule if you want to, I do.

Boots: shadow dancers

This is one of those things I always get a lot of shit for, but I really prefer these to duped boots, even wraith brands. Why? well the dex is fantastic, it allows base dex with just anni, torch, and these, and is crucial for maxblock setup. The fhr is very high as well, and saves mucho life from charms. The frw is good for faster whirls and dodging, and the shadow skills are HUGE. With my setup, I get exactly enough for 56% block, without these I would have only 54%, which is equivalent to nearly 200 life. The +fade is nice, the +shadow master allows for a level 17 shadow (which means all the randomly-spawning gear is available for it), the +mindblast is useful of course, you get more AR and damage from claw mastery and venom, and the boost to cloak of shadows doesn’t hurt either. I would never use any other boots. Get 2/25 if possible for maxblock setup and AR.

Rings: fcr rares

Ready for the head mashing part? Choice of rings can get very very difficult. Additional mods you want are strength, life, AR/dex, resists, ½ freeze, and replenish life. Strength is, imo, the most useful one because having base strength will mean you won’t need to remake if you get better gear. You’ll need 33-40 strength between the 2 of them for base strength, assuming none on amulet (higher levels = less strength required, 33 is at level 99, 35 at level 96, 40 at level 91). In my opinion the AR boost is very nice, I get ~600 more AR with my rings on thanks to their AR boost. Life is also, of course, very useful. Resists are crucial if you’re dueling in hell without gear switches or rejoining (for anya resists) but you can get away without them if you’re dueling in nightmare (the standard gm spot for my realm). If you're dueling hell nl, i recommend 09 rares with 15 allres etc. It can be hard to decide between stats, so here’s my approximate table of equality…using this, you can hopefully figure out which ring is the best for you. However, of course different stats will be more useful to different people.

10 life ~ 3 strength
10 life ~ 25 AR
10 life ~ 5 allresist (or 3 all resist if you’re dueling in hell)
10 life ~ 3 replen
10 life ~ ½ freeze (although this is most dependant on how good of windys you’re dueling against since that's the only time you need it)
(note: this table is just for reference and don't shoot me if you think it's innacurate...i realize these stats aren't directly comparable I just wanted to reduce so many people pming me about which rings are best)

hopefully this will give you a basic idea of how good that ring you’re looking at is and prevent people from spamming my inbox for help (although if you toss in a decent donation I’m available for help ). I realize it’s extremely general though, so you’ll have to do some difficult critical thinking if you want to have the ideal ring setup. Good luck!

Charms:

9x trap lifers.
Should be self-explanatory. You need a total of 18% fhr, so there’s no way to use fhr gcs to get more life unless you’re on a budget. so all lifers it is. matching graphics = sexy (unless they're monster of course).

6x life res scs
I prefer 5 allres life scs (all mine are 19 life because I kinda ran out of fg ). I don’t recommend any other kinds of resist unless you’re on a budget. I also don’t recommend mana, except maybe bmanas on east, because you’ll be chugging mana potions anyway.

4x fhr res scs
these are the best way to get 48 fhr breakpoint with dancers. On my assassin I used 2x 11 light resist fhrs to negate v/t and mage conv and allow me to use BoS in nm duels vs other trappers, with the other 2 being 5 allres 5 fhr. If I was doing hell duels I’d probably use all 5/5s. I don’t recommend using cold res scs since you’ll need massive stash gear to deal with them anyway, and there’s a clever way to use cold resist charms anyway as you’ll see later however I suggest you put some thought into whether you want light or allresist charms, depending on your rings, amulet, etc.

Torch
Try to get good stats and resists. Stats are first priority since they’ll prevent remakes, but you want to get as close to perfect on resists as you can as well. A perf torch isn’t that expensive anyway.

Anni
Same as above, except that a perf anni can be quite expensive. Use low +exp for the best cost efficiency, and keep a 10% xp in stash for leveling if you want.

Switch: Cta + spirit
If you’ll be doing tvt, I recommend a spirit that allows you to get 174 bp with a hoto in place of cta, which should be 32 if you have a 17 fcr amulet, or less if yours is higher.

Inventory:

Maxblock setup

This setup is to be used in place of claw build versus melee and bow opponents, mostly bvcs, ghosts, and bowas. It allows for 75% block, 50% dr, 86 fhr, 3 frame block, faster running, and cbf, at the expense of trap damage, life, ww, and claw block. 102 fcr is still achieved. Use burst of speed to achieve fastest trapping, you have max dr% without fade and don’t need high resists versus melee. In my opinion this offers enough protection to basically, if applied correctly on a good dueler, make any melee opponent your bitch

Helm: 2 assassin 20 fcr dex circlet “ber”

Try for as high of dex as possible to save space in your stash and life. Resists or life are also nice. If you can afford a 2/20/2/+Dex rare, then 1) wow you’re insanely rich 2) damn you! 3) put a ko/pemerald/9 dex jewel with resist/life mods in the other socket. Skills and fcr are first priority though. The ber allows for max dr% with stormshield and enigma.

Amulet: 2 assassin 17+ fcr +dex amulet

This isn’t required (well, none of this is, but it ends up saving you a bunch of life in the long run) but it helps a lot. Only worry about dex, other stats aren’t really important. This is likely to be the most expensive item in your stash, so like I said it’s optional. But it’s a good idea if you have the fg for one, it gives much better life with maxblock setup plus saves a bunch of space (if you’re going for base dex w/ charms). further, you can toss it on for extra AR with c/c setup when you don't need resists if you want.

Weapon: spirit phase blade

Long sword works too, but if you get hit by arach or nos you’ll lose a trapping breakpoint. Of course most opponents will be using tgods anyway, but try to phase if you can, it looks cooler too. You NEED the fcr and fhr this provides, hoto is not a good option even with +10 dex and +1 skill because you will lose your fhr breakpoint.

Shield: stormshield “eld”

What else? Maxes max dr% a cinch and has good block and block rate. Don’t use shael, it won’t hit the next breakpoint. Without eld it’s very hard to get maxblock, so use it.

Gloves: Immortal king’s forge

The dex boost is great, and the strength boost helps to keep on dancers and stormshield with maxblock setup. You don’t need the poison damage or cold resist with maxblock anyway, and you’ll still get the fcr breakpoint. There’s really not a good reason to use anything else, even godly rares can't match these stats.

Ring 1: fcr rare with dex

Needed for 102 breakpoint. Try for 15 dex (or, for the rich, 16+ from a crafted one). If you’re using base strength, you’ll probably need some strength on this one, around 2-9 depending on level (2 at level 99, 9 at level 90) unless you have some on your amulet or circlet by chance (don’t bother looking for those though, the ring is the easiest place to get it).

Ring 2: ravenfrost

This is crucial for cbf versus other ravenfrosts or accidental cold damage on enemy circlets, rings, amulets, charms, etc and for the big dex. 20 dex should be cheap, don’t worry about AR since you don't have ww with mb setup obviously. If you have massive stack versus cold sorcs, and feel like absolutely decimating them, you can use this on them too if you can wear it, although you probably can’t without dropping shadow dancers on c/c setup.

Charms: (this is only if you really really want base dex)

6 dex trap gcs (extremely extremely optional, not even recommended, it's just a possibility so i thought i'd bring it up, please don't shoot me mister *wimper*)
use these to help get maxblock if you want base dexterity and aren't level 99 with 20 dex amu and 30 dex circlet. I recommend getting these as a different graphic than your regular charms so you can tell which you’re wearing, there’s nothing more annoying than finding out you’ve have a few hundred life than usual because you didn’t switch your charms back. These are more efficient than scs in terms of life : dexterity. Personally, i can't decide between hard points into dex or dex charms. advantage to charms is more life with c/c setup. advantage to hard points is more life with w/s and more AR with c/c. it's really, really up to you. personally I'm using charms FOR NOW so i can avoid making a descision but there's a very good chance i'll eventually use hard points into dex.

2 dex scs/5 dex large charm (see above)
you want at least 3 spaces worth of these. Why? you’ll get 86% fhr with spirit + dancers + 1 fhr small charm, so there’s no good reason to have additional fhr on with max block setup. 5 dex lc + 2 dex sc is the most efficient in terms of space : dex, but if you don’t need an additional +1 dex you can use 3x scs instead since they can have better secondary mods. If you want base dex and need an additional 2-4 dex to achieve after 1 lc + 1 sc, use more of these, if you need 6 or more dex, use more 6 dex trap gcs. ONE IMPORTANT NOTE: you can use these for other purposes. If you can get cold resists, you can switch these for your lightning resist fhr scs or allresist fhr scs versus cold sorcs, since you’ll be using jade and/or kiras so you’ll have plenty of fhr. This is why I say to use light resist fhr instead of light resist life scs. You can also use poison resists for versus rabies and poison necs. I don’t recommend fire since there aren’t really any good characters that can lower your fire resistance. or you can use 20 life charms instead, and pump dex, but then you're still taking up stash space.

Sorb gear (gm):

You probably won’t NEED to use this, but you better believe they’ll be using tgods or wisp, and fair is fair. If you don’t need to use it, don’t, you’ll get better practice and the duel will be more fun. I don’t ever recommend violating gm rules for sorb, so feel free to customize this if it breaks your rules for gm, this is just my setup for d2pk rules.

Versus fire:

Rising sun

This annihilates fire trappers and auradins, although it’s sometimes considered bm. If it is, I don’t recommend using it. You can almost certainly win without it, but it’s just one space and I don’t usually feel like giving auradins any chance. If you’re in pubs you’ll need this versus stacked, sorbing auradins though. It DESTROYS them, you gain 1K+ life per second with no stack gear, they become your mobile akara. If you don’t want to use this or a dex amulet for maxblock, you can get strength on your main amulet if you want. You do lose the 102 breakpoint with this, but you should rape auradins and fire trappers with it regardless, you’ll heal from most of their attacks.

Infernostrides/hotties OR noko

Hotties are usually bm on c/c assassins, so use infernostrides if that’s the case, although of course hotties are devastating. You’ll need to strap on some dex charms to make up for the loss of dancers, or use your dex/fcr ring and/or amulet (remember you don’t need much strength since you’re not wearing dancers, although you might not get the spirit boost to +bo if that falls off…wear an eth one if you’re worried about it).

You can use noko if you want to save space or you need the high +fire resist (with fade, you shouldn’t) but you’ll miss 102 fcr breakpoint.

Versus light:

Wisp

By d2pk rules, tgods is bm on c/c assassins so I don’t use it, but it’s very deadly versus other trappers, and if they’re using it and they’re c/c, I recommend you do too (I keep one on a mule just in case). versus other trappers, I recommend agreeing to no sorb though, because with both players using wisps duels can go loooong, and it will be even without them, just shorter. This does lower you to the 65 fcr breakpoint, but in my opinion 40% negation of damage pays off better than one frame more fcr. However, as I’ve said, it’s usually best to agree to no sorb before the duel anyway. When you wear this, use IK gloves to allow you to remove a fcr/strength ring.

Kiras “15/15ias” + jade talon “15/15ias”

This is for versus FoH, and should give enough stack to handle them. The total is a devastating 150 resist if your kiras and jade are perfect, which 100% negates their conviction. You do lose the 102 fcr breakpoint, but if you lose to a FoHer with this kind of stack, you suck if you accidentally manage to die, rejoin the game to get back your anya resistance boost. You’ll need to wsm bug jade (link to FAQ about wsm bugging)

Versus cold:

Kiras “15/15ias + jade talon “15/15ias” + maras (optional)

This should destroy most cold sorceresses, use maras if needed and rejoin the game for the anya boost. You do get a very slow fcr with maras, but honestly a cold sorc without cold mastery is a fish in a barrel, and they need to get close to hit anyway so fast teleport isn’t that important. You’ll need to wsm bug jade (link to FAQ about wsm bugging)

Versus poison:

Jade talon “15/15ias”

Use if needed against poison necs (you shouldn’t). if you REALLY need it, kiras is there too, but I like to keep the 102 fcr, and c’mon, you shouldn’t need it at all. If you’re still losing, imo just keep trying and get better rather than resort to the stash. You’ll need to wsm bug jade (link to FAQ about wsm bugging)

TvT switch:

HotO flail

Switch this for cta for tvt so you can have 174 fcr switch for chasing down casters and aggressively fast mindblast. Pretty self-explanatory.

Stats:

Strength: I went for base on my assassin, so I have the peace of mind knowing that I won’t need to remake her if I find a better ring. This is very achievable if you have good rings and get to a high level for maximum enigma boost. If you need to put hard points into strength, don’t beat yourself up, but realize you may want to remake later so don’t take it to level 99 O_O Also remember that the +10 from chaos won’t apply when you switch to spirit to cast shadow master the first time, burst of speed, fade and venom if you put hard points into those, or mindblast if you’re using tvt switch (as well as fhr and frw with hoto tvt switch). These things aren’t crucial but it’s something to keep in mind, if you can keep dancers on when prebuffing it can only be a good thing.

Dexterity: this is a tricky one. Here’s what putting a point into dexterity means:
+7.5 life on maxblock setup (because you don’t need as many dex charms)
-5.5 life on claw setup (because you don’t get that point into vitality)
+13 AR on whirlwind on claw setup
so if you’re having a harder time with melee opponents than casters, then it will pay off to put enough dex into here to avoid using dex charms (except for the 5 dex lc + 2 dex sc that take the place of the extra fhr charms). And the AR boost adds up quickly and gives a more viable whirlwind. My biggest problem was bone necs so I left it at base, but it really depends on what you need help against. Also more dex means more stash space.

Vitality: the rest. Bet you didn’t see that one coming! With max vit on my assassin I get ~4.3K life with claw setup.

Skills:

Martial arts:

I didn’t have any points into these, although some trappers and hybrids use dtalon/dclaw to chainlock versus casters. I prefer whirlwind, though, so I didn’t bother. Also keep in mind you have fireblast and mindblast to chainlock with, and that skill points are extraordinarily tight.

Shadow skills:

1 Claw mastery
A prerequisite, but an important one. Without this, your whirlwind AR is true garbage. Don’t pump it, but realize it’s there.

1 Burst of Speed
This is required to use with your maxblock setup, so put a hard point here for sure. 1 point is certainly enough though.

0-1 fade
If you can get this on your chaos or trap claw, don’t put a point here since you’ll only use it when you use claws, and you need to save as many skills as possible. The only real benefit to additional points is dr%, which only matters versus windys and smiters, who are both (in my opinion) pretty easy to kill with this build. You’ll be using maxblock versus the other physical opponents. So don’t pump it, but get it from claws, or a hard point if that’s not possible.

0-1 venom
Same as above. As long as you’re whirlwinding, you might as well have venom, but it’s certainly not worth pumping considering the builds low AR and focus on traps. If you have fade on a claw, I don’t recommend putting a hard point into venom + fade just to get venom. However, if you’ve already put a point into fade, or you’ve venom on a claw, it’s worth using certainly.

1 claw block
With my gear I get 56% block with 1 point. 56% is a good number since 57% takes 3 additional skills, whereas 56% is pretty easy to get. I don’t recommend having lower, but don’t pump this skill.

1 shadow warrior
Just a prerequisite. One of the few skills you’ll never use.

1 shadow master
your guardian angel. With my gear setup it’s level 17, which means it’s often immune to an element and has solid life and block. It will mindblast a ton with maxed mindblast, and its minion stack can’t be underestimated. Recast it every time it dies, and you’ll find you stun much better and live much longer. To top it off, many players will mistake your shadow for you, which is hilarious and invaluable. I’ve had some players kill my shadow many times while never hurting me. It’s absolutely critical to have this on claw AND maxblock setup.

1 psychic hammer
An interestingly useful skill. Its main advantage over mindblast is that it automatically aims and won’t misfire, and it costs much less mana. Downside? No stun, and it seems to only hit one opponent at once. For this reason, it’s usually bad to use versus minion stackers unless you’re trying to blast their minion off them. Also, it can reach farther than mindblast can because it will hit opponents off your screen as long as you’re close enough with your mouse, so it can be useful to keep them knocked back for a moment until you can get a namelock. It’s also great for throwing people back into trap fields when you need a fast way to manipulate them, just teleport, hotkey hammer, and swing your mouse in their general direction. Certainly no replacement for mindblast, but since your shadow keeps them stunned fairly often it’s definitely got its uses.

1 cloak of shadows
An interesting skill, that has 2 facets: gives you more def and your opponent less, and decreases visibility. The first part is, of course, always good, but not as good as it seems. Any opponents who use AR (and thus who the +defense will matter against) will probably be countered with the maxblock setup, in which case the -defense won’t matter, so only one affect matters in any given duel. Versus paladin casters, -enemy defense won’t make much of a dent most likely. Versus other casters, though, -enemy defense can make a big impact. The downside, of course, is that decreased visibility gives most of them an edge if they’re playing defensively since you can't see thier missiles. It really comes down to how you play, but if you can get good playing in the dark, you’ll force your opponent to play in a situation they might not be familiar with, and with lower defense. So if you don’t mind learning to use it, this is a potentially very nice skill. However, I recommend putting it on one of your minor hotkeys since you can’t cast it very often (there’s basically a hidden cast delay that's as long as the duration).

20 mindblast
This is one of the single most important reasons to use an assassin. I’m assuming you already know why it’s good assuming you’ve ever played with or against an assassin, so I’ll cover why you want to max it. there’s 3 reasons, basically:
1) more damage
2) more stun length
3) more casting by your shadow.
Don’t think #3 is theory. This is ABSOLUTELY true. Try it in single player or d2pk if you don’t believe me. Max mindblast causes shadows to use it EXPONENTIALLY more than base mindblast. We’re talking a 30-40x increase. It also uses it about 3x more often with 20 mindblast than with 15 mindblast. So that’s why you want to max this FIRST, rather than after traps. And of course, the additional damage DOES add up (200 damage mindblast, multiplied over the often 30+ times you’ll use it in a duel, is 6000+ damage…) and the stun duration is good too. Finally, it’s worth noting that ONLY hard points make any difference in how often shadow casts it, and what level your shadow casts it at.

Trap skills:

1 fireblast
This can be used for chainlocking and for stun, which I’ll cover later, but also it’s a prerequisite so it’s not like you’ve got a choice if, by some amazing miracle, you have an extra skill point (with fade and venom on claws, no martial arts, and all the skills except light traps and mindblast at 1, you get 1 extra point at level 99) put it here.

1 wake of fire
Worth a point for its massive stunlocking ability. The damage is piss though so don’t think it’s worth putting additional points here or dropping more than 1-2 of them at a time. It can really help lock opponents in place though, mix it in with LS and it will serve you well.

20 shock web
a synergy for LS obviously. Your shadow master likes this skill, so max it first out of the synergies to give him the most possible damage (it will still be garbage, but it can’t hurt and it’s less useless than some of the other trap skills)

1-20 charged bolt sentry
max this skill last. It’s just another synergy, really nothing you or your shadow will over use most likely.

20 lightning sentry
your main attack! Max this after mindblast. I don’t think this needs any explaining.

20 death sentry
nice for pvm (who cares?) and a synergy, plus shadow uses it occasionally, so it’s more useful than CBS at least (the skill, not the tv station).

Leveling:

A minor note, but I’ll cover it quickly…the best way to level is, of course, to get a bug rush to hell A5 and then get in an uber level until 90+. If you’re too cheap to afford a grush + ul…then I suggest you don’t make this, because the 30-ish fg is a drop in the bucket next to the gear. Also, try to avoid using the norm and nm ancients until you’re one level away from your “final” level, for the maximum benefit.

You’ll want to get to level 90+ minimum, ideally 95-98. You’ll need those levels if you want to get anywhere near max traps, and it means more life and OW damage (yes, OW damage is dependant on level)

Section 3: Playing a Spider

Strategy:

I swear I'll get around to writing this section soon. until then, I recommend you defwhore whirl until I tell you what to do or you can read the (admittedly flawed) strategies in my stickied guide, I shan't post them here or the trolls will come out of the woodwork. assuming the internet has any woodwork.

Section 4: FAQs

What is wsm bug and how do I do it?

Wsm bug is a bug that makes getting fastest trapping much easier for a minimum of effort. For this build, it’s not really necessary since you have 35 ias on chaos and 15 on griffs, and there’s not much better things to put in griffs. No need for cham since you have kiras vs cold sorcs and rfrost versus melee opponents with cold damage, so it only helps versus windy druid’s cane. No need for ber since you use stormshield vs all physical opponents except windys and smiters who are fairly easy. And wsming means you can’t wsg or recast bo easily, so I prefer to only use it when using jade talon, since you don’t need wsg and you’re not likely to need to recast bo in those duels.

ANYWAY, how you do wsm bug is pretty simple. For jade talon, put jade on your glove side, and chaos on your boot side. Then, every time you bo, rejoin, die, enter a new game…basically after every time you aren’t in-game with your claws equipped…double click on jade to re-equip it. And no, you can’t just leave chaos primary, that’s not how it works.

your wsm bugged speed will = (average wsm of both claws - (the difference in speed of the claws)). so if you have a 0 speed claw (suwayyah) and a -20 speed claw (greater claw), you get ((-20 + 0)/2 - (0 - (-20))) = -20/2 - (20) = -10 - 20 = -30. so even with 2 slower claws, you're still as fast as with 2 GTs. and the bigger a difference in the speed of your claws, the faster your speed is. with a war fist and a GT your wsm is -50, -20 faster than any weapon in the game.

Thanks to Xepo (whichever multi he's on) for this info

Why don’t you make a “true hybrid?” with higher whirlwind venom damage?

Hybrids are, to a large extent, a lie. I realize I’ll probably get lots more shit for saying this, but the math is there. Quite simply, venom is vastly overrated. It LOOKS nice to say you have 4K whirlwind with 2K venom, but how much is that really? Well it’s about 5K per second, which is ~830 pvp, which is ~210 after max resistances. That means you’re only doing, on a ghost with good venom, 210 damage per second with venom. So if you were relying completely on venom, it would take ~25 seconds of constant triwhirl to kill a high-level paladin. In reality it’s much faster, and it’s even more obvious versus nonblock characters. Why? phys, magic, and OW. Phys and magic are actually very important, they’re about a hundred total pvp per hit, but it’s applied OFTEN, especially versus low-defense, nonblock characters. You can get over a thousand phys and magic in a second against a caster. OW becomes important versus those hard-to-hit maxblock paladins and whirling barbs, because you can continue to do damage without being in harm’s way. This build takes good advantage of unresistable OW damage. Phys and magic are mostly limited because of the second claw, and because your AR is so bad, however with CoS active it can add up, definitely. Venom is not a big source of damage for the build, but that’s ok. It’s still a trapper. But you get the OW and whirlwindiness of a hybrid, along with part of the phys/magic/venom. That’s really the best you can do with max mindblast and 102 fcr. Maxing venom is just a terrible idea, your AR just isn’t there for a good OW without the standard 65 fcr gear like rfrost, mindblast will give a much bigger advantage than trying to make the character a hybrid with crap AR.

is it really worth it to get 102 fcr?

Cast rate is really hard to compare to other things, and to be fair it really comes down to a matter of preference. You can get a bit more damage with less fcr, and max dr% without prebuff. That’s nice. Personally, I really like the fast tele and mindblast, it helps a lot for stun and you can chase down casters and evade meleers much more reasily. In any case, that’s the guide, I’m a speed-whore. If you want a little more damage, life, dr% and res then you should seek out another guide. But in my opinion there is nothing you can kill with 65 fcr that you can’t kill with 102, and it makes dueling many players much easier.

Is it worth it to get whirlwind?

I think it is. versus low defense characters it's effective for stun and OW, especially with CoS. versus high defense characters it's effective as a movement tool, since it's uninterruptible, keeps claw block, and movement. there's a somewhat more lengthy explanation in the notes section (under items -> chaos). If you really don't like it you can use another 2/3/2 with 15/15 jewels (preferrably with base ias). I played hybrid before i went back to trapper, though, so I personally prefer the chaos.

What is wsg?

Whenever you switch weapons, any hit recovery or block animations are cancelled (it doesn’t work for casting or attacking, it just won’t let you switch). Toggling quickly between weapon sets while running allows you to get out of stun much more easily. The plus side (compared to whirlwind) is that it’s faster movement, the downside is that you lose claw block while running or walking, and you don't hit anyone who might be standing next to you. I tend to use whirlwind more often, but if your opponent is good there are times when you need the faster movement to escape. However if you’re in extreme stun sometimes wsg’ing is hard, whereas ww will allow you to move essentially whenever you need to, guaranteed, since it's uniterruptable. They both have their place.

Part 5: My Spider

Here’s my most recent assassin, Heretic. While she’s not perfect, she definitely has pretty solid gear, and a few pieces of truly great gear. On wscnl, she’s worth around 12K fg including stash gear.

As you can see, her stats aren’t all spent, until I decide if I want base dex, or pump dex to avoid dex charmage.

Stats:


Skills:

Her claw/claw gear:


claw/claw charms:


stash gear including max block: