Introduction
Hai, and welcome to my Whirlwind Assassin FAQ. Before you start to read, Id like to inform you that this is not meant as a guide. I wont discuss dueling strategies or in-depth gear choices. I noticed that lots of guides lacked certain info and thus had to deal with lots of questions from people who are either too dumb or too lazy to do some research themselves. This is why I wrote this FAQ, to mouth-feed the crowd with important Assassin knowledge.

Read and learn, it wont get easier than this. Good luck and have fun!

Table of Contents

1) What is a Ghost sin?
2) What is a Bramble sin?
3) Why is Enigma superior to Bramble?
4) What is trap-locking?
5) What is the purpose of maxing Mind-Blast?
6) How does Venom works?
7) Does Venom negates Deadly Strike/Critical Strike?
8) Claw-block
9) Fade
10) Primary Claw
11) How much IAS do I need for 9-frame trap laying?
12) Claw Positioning bug.
13) Whirlwind
14) What are the Assassins FCR breakpoints?
15) What are the Assassins FHR breakpoints?
16) What is the “Anya” bug?
17) How do I stack vs FoH?
18) How can I boost my AR?
19) Pre-buffing.



1) What is a Ghost Sin?

A Ghost-sin is a WW-sin who relies on speed and stunning rather than high-damage. Although they can pack quite some damage when pre-buffing (see [Pre-buffing] for numbers). Ghost sins are known to be one of the best 1v1 duellers; they can beat all classes except good WW-babas.

Gear goals; 65% FCR bp and 9 frame trap-laying.

Gear concept;
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Only meant as a rough sketch, read a guide for in-depth gear choices and/or alternatives!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Helm: 1.08 Valk [JAH]
Amulet: Maras
Armor: Enigma
Rings: 2x Raven
Gloves: Trang Oul
Boots: Duped resist boots or Shadow Dancers
Claws: Runic Talon / Feral Claw [Chaos], Runic Talon [Fury].



2) What is a bramble sin?

Bramble sins are power builds, that’s about it. In my opinion these builds suck ass, their only pro is really high venom damage. Read [Why is Enigma superior to Bramble?] for motivations.

Gear goals ; High venom damage.

Gear concept;
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Only meant as a rough sketch, read a guide for in-depth gear choices and/or alternatives!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Helm: Shako/CoA
Amulet: Maras/Metalgrid
Armor: Bramble
Rings: 2x Raven
Gloves: Trang Oul
Boots: Gore riders, Duped resist boots or Shadow Dancers (if CoA aswell)
Claws: Suwayyah [Chaos], Suwayyah[Fury]

Bramble sins rely less, sometimes not at all, on traps. This is mainly because they don’t have the speed or mobility to make them useful.



3) Why is Enigma superior to Bramble?

Mobility >>>>> Damage.

This is the short version of why enigma is better than bramble. Bramble gives you a huge damage boost and a somewhat useful thorns aura, but it forces you to walk/run all the time. You loose your claw-block while doing it.

When you wear bramble, your only FRW source will be your boots, so that makes 10-30% FRW. In other words; slow as hell. You cant even properly avoid a stream of fireballs coming from a 200% FCR sorc, your best bet would be just standing still or whirling away and hope that most of those balls/spirits/whatever be blocked.

No teleport means that you wont be able to catch that defensive sorc of necro who keeps 2 screens away. Although that might not be considered as dueling, a ww-sin is supposed to be a caster killer.

Enigma means less damage, but besides mobility also means LIFE. Points you’d otherwise spend on strength go into vitality and the Jah rune increases your life with another 5%.

Finally, although meager, enigma has more defense than bramble.



4) What is trap-locking?

Trap-locking means; preventing your opponent from moving/fleeing/attacking with mind-blast and (low lvl) traps. Opponents wont be able to do anything because they are forced into faster hit recovery all the time.

Normally, you would have to deal 1/8th of ones live damage to put him into FHR. Along with mind-blast that is not the case (Read [What is the purpose of maxing Mind-Blast?] for more info on why). The traps that are used for trap-locking are Lightning Sentry and Wake of Fire. LS has a nice range and goes off 10 times, WoF fires 5 fire waves quite fast. Here is the idea of setting up a trap-lock;

Namelock your opponent with your right mouse-button pushed down. Switch your right skill to MB, switch MB to LS, switch back to MB, switch to WoF. (Tele -> WW)

So in a diagram; MB -> LS -> MB -> WoF (-> Tele -> WW)


There are endless combinations possible, 2x LS, 2x WoF? Sure, its your call. The two traps combined are a necessity versus high FHR characters though; Using only 1 type of trap somehow always leaves an opening to get away.

Also, make sure that you place a LS prior to a WoF. The time between each shot of a LS is greater than that between shots of a WoF. Placing a LS first and a WoF after, puts the two in a better, how shall I say, harmony. Sounds weird, but you’ll notice when you try.

Trap locking does not work (really good) versus characters who have uninterruptible attacks. Trap-locking a paladin doesn’t work since he can just keep on smiting or just charge out. It wont help versus a WW-barb either.

WoF is your best friend when it comes to fighting amazons. Since WoF traps shoot waves so fast, amazons will continuously be put into either FHR or dodge-animations. Their otherwise so useful skill turns itself against them, nice for us.



5) What is the purpose of maxing Mind-blast?

The most important thing mind-blast is used for is stunning, obviously. Did you ever notice the swirl that appears above your opponents head when you MB him? Whenever that swirl is visible, your opponent will be put into hit-recovery by everything that hits him, regardless of damage.

This swirl allows you to put your opponent into a lock. Traps will be constantly triggering hit-recovery, thus preventing your opponent from attacking or fleeing. The higher MB is, the longer the swirl lasts. That’s 1 reason to max MB.

A second reason comes from your Shadow Master. A SM has the tendency to use the skills you have the most points in more frequently. Your shadow master will mind-blast quite some for you, even when you teleport around! This gives you a great advantage over those tele-happy sorcs, necros and druids.

The third and last reason is damage. With certain builds mind-blast can reach lvl 50. A lvl 50 mind-blast deals 336-346 damage, 28-29 damage after the PvP penalty and 50% DR. This might not seem tremendous, but its enough to get Smiters and Hammerdins offensive. Oh, and above all, its fun as hell to MB people to death, especially those crappy non-DR MF hammerdins.

Damage related MB is only effective whit a 65% fcr sin, although finishing off running 1hp characters can be done with any FCR or lvl-MB.



6) How does Venom works?

Venom is the damage providing skill of a WW-assassin. Unlike other poison attacks in the game, venom is incredibly fast and deals its damage in 0.8 seconds. Yes, 0.8, that’s different from the 0.4 seconds you read in the game right?

This is because Hell-difficulty has a hidden poison length reduction penalty. The length of all poison attacks get “reduced” with -100%. This means that the time as well as the damage gets doubled.

1000 poison damage over 0.4 second becomes 2000 poison damage over 0.8 seconds.

+% psn damage modifiers which can be found on facets, bramble and trang oul’s gloves act differently than you might think. Instead of just multiplying your poison damage once, it multiplies it twice.

Lets say your venom skill displays 1000 damage. When you equip trang ouls gloves, this number becomes (1000*1,25) = 1250. Yet when you cast it, your character screen shows a quite different number. That is because when you cast venom, the +% bonus gets applied again; 1250*1,25 = 1563.

Mind that the second multiplication only acts when you actually wear the gear that provides it. So pre-buffing will only help you so far.

Another great feature of venom is that it bypasses a sorc’s energy shield or a necro’s bone armor.

Finally, what a lot of people do not realize, venom makes poison charms completely useless. The poison length on a charm gets converted to 0.4 seconds, just the time, not the damage. A 290sc deals its damage in 10 seconds. Along with venom, this becomes; 290*(0.4/10) = 12 psn damage, without the PvP penalty and 75% resists. So every 290sc will increase your damage with an awesome 12/6*0.25 ≈ 1!!!



7) Does venom negates DS/CS?

Venom does not negate Deadly Strike. The reason why many people think that it does, is because any type of poison damage rules out the “sparkle” animation you’d normally see when DS kicks in.

Now, some will believe me, some wont. So I’ll give you an example (tested on open Bnet);

Difficulty: Normal (So no -100% psn length, to easy up calculations)
Claw; 135-136 damage, 100% chance Deadly Strike.
Enemy; Paladin, 3125 HP, 75% Poison resist, 0% DR.
Lvl 1 Venom.
No Fire, Cold, Lightning or Magic Damage.

Whenever the claw hits, it will deal 45 damage;
135 / 6 * 2 = 45.
136 / 6 * 2 ≈ 45,33 = 45.

When Venom is cast, it adds 60-80 damage over 0.4 seconds. After PvP penalty and 75% res this will be;
60 / 6 * 0.25 = 2,5 = 3.
80 / 6 * 0.25 ≈ 3,33 = 3.

No Venom:
1st hit: 3125 HP -> 3080 HP (∆ = 3125-3080 = 45 )
2nd hit: 3080 HP -> 3035 HP (∆ = 3080-3035 = 45 )
3rd hit: 3035 HP -> 2990 HP (∆ = 3035-2990 = 45 )

With Venom:
1st hit: 3125 HP -> 3077 HP (∆ 3125 – 3077 - 3 = 45 )
2nd hit: 3077 HP -> 3029 HP (∆ 3077 – 3029 - 3 = 45 )
3rd hit: 3029 HP -> 2981 HP(∆ 3029 – 2981 - 3 = 45 )

As you can see, the physical damage dealt with and without venom is the same. Conclusion; Venom does not rule out Deadly Strike.

As for Critical Strike? Read Deadly Strike.



8) Claw Block

Claw block is the most useful form of negating opponent attacks. It blocks everything; fireballs/blizzards/spears/bone spirits etc. even smite.

Claw block is incredibly fast, it requires only 2 frames. Which is equal to the block speed of a paladin with Holy shield. Other characters need around 86 - 600+ % Faster block rate depending on class and form.

With “ordinary” shield blocking, your chance to block drops when you run. This penalty is worse for claw-block users, since your block will drop to 0% whenever you run or walk. Claw block stays at its full potential when you attack (ww, df, trap, etc), stand still or teleport.

Claw block suffers from so called diminishing returns. Every time you want to raise your block with 1% you need to spend more skill points than before. The highest block % you can reach without wasting too much points is 60%.

The following table shows you the points needed for a 1% block increase, starting at 57%

CODE

| Corresponding skill lvl  | ∆ with previous block % --------------------------------------------------------------- 57% Block | 20                       | - 58%       | 21                       | 1 59%       | 23                       | 2 60%       | 26                       | 3 61%       | 31                       | 5 62%       | 36                       | 5 63%       | 42                       | 6 64%       | 49                       | 7 65%       | 60                       | 11

As you can see, 60% claw block is a reasonable percentage without wasting skill points.



9) Fade

Fade is the skill for an Assassin to use for three reasons;
- Provides resists.
- Reduces curse lengths.
- Provides physical damage reduction.

In most cases the skill level of fade varies between 22-42. This level depends on the amount of %DR that needs to be obtained through fade. As most people know, fade provides a hidden bonus to DR. Each additional level equals 1% DR. Whether this level is obtained through hard skill points, +skills or both does not matter.

Determining the amount of skill points you need to spend on fade is easy;

PIF(points into fade) = 50 – (DR from gear + skills from gear).

Lets say you are using the following gear;
Shako, Enigma, Arach, trang gloves, 2x raven, mara, gore riders. 9x skiller, torch, anni, cta, lidless and BO.

Your gear provides 18% DR on its own (Eni[8] + Shako[10]. 8+10 = 18).

You have +23 skill points from gear (Shako[2], Eni[2], Arach[1], Mara[2], Skillers[9], Torch[3], Anni[1], Cta[1], Lidless[1], BO[1]. 2+2+1+2+9+3+1+1+1+1 = 23).

PIF =50 – (18+23) = 50-42 = 8.

With this gear 8 hard points need to be put into Fade.

Remember that the lvl of Fade only matters when you cast it.

The resists you gain varies between 65% and 72%, depending on Fade’s skill level.
The curse length reduction varies between 83% and 88%. This is very useful versus smiters and necros. In other words; Fade = bye bye lifetap/curse.



10) Primary Claw

Positioning of claws matters, a lot. Whenever the game looks around for mods (IAS, open wounds, crushing blow, etc) to add to attacks like kicking, blade fury and trap laying it only looks at your primary claw.

Now, basically your primary claw is the claw you equip first, regardless of its position. However, when you switch your weapons tab, to use battle orders for example, the game forgets which claw you equipped first and just takes the claw above the gloves as primary.

Because of this, its best to consider the glove-side slot as the primary claw slot.




11) How much IAS do I need for 9 frame trap laying?

The amount of IAS needed depends greatly on the type of claws used and their position. The position is important due to the way IAS is used. The IAS that takes part in trap-laying is located at your Helmet, Armor, Belt, Amulet, Gloves and Primary Claw.

The following table shows the necessary amount of IAS with each claw combination to obtain 9 frame trap laying speed.

CODE

| Base   | War     |          | Scissor  | Wrist    | Battle   | Feral    | Runic                  | Speed  | Fist    | Suwayyah | Suwayyah | Sword    | Cestus   | Claw     | Talon --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- War Fist         | [10]   | 174     | 147      | 147      | 125      | 125      | 105      | 89 Suwayyah         | [0]    | 147     | 125      | 125      | 105      | 105      | 89       | 75 Scissor Suwayyah | [0]    | 147     | 125      | 125      | 105      | 105      | 89       | 75   Wrist Sword      | [-10]  | 125     | 105      | 105      | 89       | 89       | 75       | 63 Battle Cestus    | [-10]  | 125     | 105      | 105      | 89       | 89       | 75       | 63 Feral Claw       | [-20]  | 105     | 89       | 89       | 75       | 75       | 63       | 52 Runic Talon      | [-30]  | 89      | 75       | 75       | 63       | 63       | 52       | 42

A little example to illustrate the importance of claw placement;
Runic Talon + Runic Talon setup requires 42% IAS. Claw I has 0% IAS, claw II has 1000000% IAS. Your other gear provides 0% IAS.

You place claw I on the primary slot, claw II on the secondary. The IAS on claw II is enormous, yet is completely useless when not placed on the primary claw slot; 9-frame trap laying is not reached this way.

For far more info; http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=229326



12) Claw Positioning Bug

Yes, you read it right, there is a claw bug. An IAS related bug. Lets start with the basics;

Normally, the base speed of the two claws you use is averaged;
A suwayyah with base speed [0], combined with a Runic Talon [-30] results in a base speed of (0) + (-30) / 2 = -15.
Based on this number the correct amount of IAS can be calculated for the desired frame of attacks like trap-laying. We wont go further into how these numbers are calculated because this is a mouth-feed thread after all.

In order for this bug to show up, you need to place the claw with the highest base speed right, above your boots. After that place the other one above your gloves.

WARNING; this order is absolutely necessary, so ill repeat; Equip your fastest claw first above the boots, then equip the second above your gloves.

What this bug does is using a different calculation for the average claw speed;
(([base speed right claw] + [base speed left claw]) / 2) + ([base speed right claw]- [base speed left claw])

So instead of an average speed of -15 like in the previous calculation, we get an average speed of;

(((-30) + (0)) / 2) + ((-30)-(0)) = -15 + -30 = -45

This bug allows you to get max trap laying speed with far less IAS. But beware; when you switch weapons to BO or w/e the bug disappears and calculates everything like it should. You have to re-equip your claws.

You can exploit this as much as you like. Personally I think its too much of a hassle and it sucks ass when you loose your speed after accidentally switching or re-BO.

For those who wish to use it, the following table shows the necessary amount of IAS with each claw combination to obtain 9 frame trap laying speed. Remember that the claws listed left are the ones that need to be placed first.

CODE

x = Not Applicable                    | Base   | War     |          | Scissor  | Wrist    | Battle   | Feral    | Runic                  | Speed  | Fist    | Suwayyah | Suwayyah | Sword    | Cestus   | Claw     | Talon --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- War Fist         |  [10]  | x       | x        | x        | x        | x        | x        | x Suwayyah         |  [0]   | 105     | x        | x        | x        | x        | x        | x Scissor Suwayyah |  [0]   | 105     | x        | x        | x        | x        | x        | x   Wrist Sword      |  [-10] | 63      | 75       | 75       | x        | x        | x        | x Battle Cestus    |  [-10] | 63      | 75       | 75       | x        | x        | x        | x Feral Claw       |  [-20] | 34      | 42       | 42       | 52       | 52       | x        | x Runic Talon      |  [-30] | 2       | 19       | 19       | 26       | 26       | 34       | x

13) Whirlwind

Whirlwind is a dynamic attack which, at its maximum capacity hits every 4th frame. This 4th frame check is not self-evident, the claw speed determines whether hit-checks are done each 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th or 12th frame. A lower frame means more hits and thus more damage.

The speed breakpoints are listed below.

CODE

Frame | Claw Speed Needed ------------------------- 8     | 24 to 10 6     | 9 to -12 4     | -13 and lower

You calculate this claw speed by subtracting the IAS on the claw from its base-speed.
A War Fist with 20% IAS operates at 6 frames;
War Fist base speed = 10.
Claw speed = 10 – 20 = -10 ≈> 6 frame WW.

CODE

| Base Speed | IAS needed on the claw -----------------------------------------                 War Fist         | [10]       | 35% (or more) Suwayyah         | [0]        | 15% (or more) Scissor Suwayyah | [0]        | 15% (or more) Wrist Sword      | [-10]      | 10% (or more) Battle Cestus    | [-10]      | 10% (or more) Feral Claw       | [-20]      | None needed Runic Talon      | [-30]      | None needed

As you can see, claws such as feral claws and runic talons do not any additional IAS in order to reach 4 frames since their base speed already starts at respectively -20 and -30.

This information is very important for determining whether a oh so sexy looking rare claw is really useful. Good luck with your 400% ED ethereal fools War fist (whatever), nice damage, but you have to socket it with a Zod; which means it stays at a 8 frame check, even when the claw has 2 sockets and you shael it stays at a 6 frame check. This equals suck, not to mention the lack of open wounds.

Another common screw-up; Ethereal Jade Talons. Eth Jade Talons need to be socketed with a Zod rune, which means that the claw doesn’t hit the 4th frame check and thus deals less damage than a non-eth would. So whenever you go looking for a Jade talon, make sure you look for a nice non-eth one and place a IAS/x jewel in it.


14) What are the Assassins FCR breakpoints?

CODE

Frame      |  16  |  15  |  14  |  13  |  12  |  11  |  10  |  9 -------------------------------------------------------------------- FCR needed |  0%  |  8%  |  16% |  24% |  42% |  65% |  102%|  174%

15) What are the Assassins FHR breakpoints?

CODE

Frame      |  9   |  8   |  7   |  6   |  5   |  4   |  3   |  2 -------------------------------------------------------------------- FHR needed |  0%  |  7%  |  15% |  27% |  48% |  86% |  200%|  4680%

16) What is the “Anya” bug?

Anya is that lovely lady you have to rescue in Act5. Mala then gives you a scroll of resistance which grants you +10 to all resistances. This quest can be done each difficulty, so you end up with +30 to all resistances from this quest.

Giving those nice resists is awfully kind, yet there is a small problem. Whenever you die in a game, those +30 to all resistances disappear. This can not be seen on screen, but they are gone.

Re-entering the game each time after you die solves this problem.



17) How do I stack vs FoH?

To fully negate a FoH paladin you need to wear a thundergods, along with 395% Lightning resist.

-100 Hell penalty
-150 conviction
-25 scepter
-25 griffons
-10 facets (Zaka and bugged Tal maybe)
85 max res (thundergods)
__________
395

To obtain this you have a few gear choices;
- 100% LR Kiras (70% all + Ort)
- 80% Jade Talon (50% all + 15ias/30%LR jewel)
- 4x % Duped Boots (Depending on what realm you play)
- 30% Mara (or 35% from Metal grid)
- 20% Torch
- 20% Anni
- 110% Charms (10x 20/11 lr charms)
__________
400 – 409%

When you wear all this stuff you sacrifice AR and mana/life. Its best to base your gear swap on the FoH’er, V/T or Mage you are dueling. Completely negating is not always necessary. Sometimes you might “over-stack”, the v/t or Mage has a low lvl conviction or not as many facets, thus wasting valuable AR, life or mana.

Also remember that you have claw-block, which gives you a huge advantage. Don’t throw away this advantage by using a 160% LR shield, which some people advice.

18) How can I boost my AR?

Most WW-sins have an attack rating ranging between 6000 to 7000. This is more than enough versus low def characters like Sorceresses, Necromancers, Druids, Amazons and Assassins. However, your low AR might give you a hard time versus high def characters like Barbarians and Paladins.

Of course you can hit every character with 6-7K AR, just not consistently and reliably; more AR just turns the odds a bit more in your favor.

1) Demon Limb. The elite unique mace that comes with lvl 23 enchant charges.
2) Angelic amulet + 1 Angelic ring. (grants 10 dexterity)
I don’t recommend using 2 angelic rings, since you most likely will have to put points into dexterity in order to retain the proper amount of dexterity for your claws. In other words, the extra AR gained from 2x angelic is not worth the life loss due to putting stat points into dexterity.
3) Fools Claw.

A fools claw refers to a claw with the “Fools” mod. This is a prefix which grants AR and max damage based on your characters level. Try to find one that hits the 4 frame ww-bp, without the need to put an IAS jewel or rune in it (See [Whirlwind] for a IAS table);

Another valuable thing you can have on a fools claw is Knockback. Although its not a must, its nice enough too look for it or even socket your claw with a Nef. It comes to personal preference on this one really, so try it out and see what you like.

If you decide to not use a Nef or you have it as a mod, socket everything with UM’s. The more chance to trigger open wounds the better.

A simple but awesome claw is a “Fools runic talon/feral claw of the Bear”, socketed with 2 UM’s.


Don’t worry about loosing max-trap laying speed with your fools claw. Trapping isn’t that useful versus chargers, smiters or ww-babas anyway.

Various combinations of AR-boosting gear obviously gives different results, lets take a look at all possible combinations. The AR numbers may vary between every assassin build, depending on things as using AR/life scs. The general AR boost stays the same though.

The following is based on my old lvl 90 Assa, who used 2x raven + mara and no ar/life sc’s.

2x Raven + Fury = 6384 AR
2x Raven + Fools = 14251 AR
2x Raven + Fury + Enchant = 8847 AR
2x Raven + Fools + Enchant = 19952 AR

Angelic + Fury = 9802 AR
Angelic + Fools = 16850 AR
Angelic + Fury + Enchant = 13911 AR
Angelic + Fools + Enchant = 24196 AR

As you can see, there are 2 combinations who are not really usable; 2x Raven + Fury + Enchant and Angelic + Fury. This because when we are talking about high-def characters, we are talking about HIGH-def characters. 20-40 K defense. The increase of 3k AR wont help you that much versus thos.

You might think; Hey, I don’t see a % bonus to AR/lvl helmet in there. That is, because they suck major ass. The +% bonus only applies to base AR, the same way enchant does. However, enchant provides a far larger bonus, +218% instead of a shitty 1-99%, you also do not have to sacrifice any gear to use it. If you use shako, you would lose tons of life. If you use a 1.08valk or similar circlet, you loose vital FCR and IAS.



19) Prebuffing

With Pre-buffing you equip items to get a certain skill as high as possible, cast it and re-equip regular gear. This way you can get incredibly high venom damage or cast a high-lvl fade without spending that much points. (the following numbers are for visualisation only, dont flame me if Im off 100 damage or so)

A ghost sin who does not pre-buff can reach lvl ~50 venom, along with trang ouls this will eventually lead to 2226-2258 venom damage added to your attack.

Now, lets pre-buff. For pre-buffing you can use the following gear;
- +3 shadow, 2sox helm. Socketed with 2x +5% psn facets.
- 2x +3 shadow, +3venom, 2sox claws. Socketed with 2x +5% psn facets.
- 2x Soj/Bk
- +3 Shadow skills amulet
- Shadow Dancers (you might use these standard already)
- Trang Ouls (you already use these standard)
- 50% Bramble armor

With this gear your reach a lvl ~55 venom, along with +105% from facets, bramble and trang ouls. This gives 4010-4061 venom damage.

These numbers are for a sin who uses enigma as armor and has faceted nothing. However, when you use a bramble as your main armor and you have socketed your helm with a +5% facet, your damage will stay lots higher; 5774 – 5848 on screen.

Either way, you see a tremendous increase of damage which is obviously a big pro. The only con is that switching all that gear around takes a lot of time. I personally think its not worth it, you can easily do without buffing. Also good luck finding people who are willing to wait while you are busy pre-buffing… Zzzzz



~~~~ The End ~~~~

This post was edited by xepolite on May 12 2006 07:20am

Beautiful, when I get time I'm gonna read through the whole thing.
And that diagram is so well made, it's impressive. Nice triangle ww

i saw wwsin with 9k each claw how can it be ??

Venom lamor brebuffing. Waste of time imho.

Nice character guide my hollander friend..

First, the guy prebuffed. Second, the damage you see under [Prebuffing] is pure venom. So without claw damage, magical damage, fire/cold/lightning damage, +% physical from WW and Claw mastery and without possible 3/20/20's.

@ x0r Ty, I hope you still like it when you have read it
@ Faulk Thanks, and yeah, I think prebuff suxor aswell.

This post was edited by xepolite on May 12 2006 08:28am

this faq roxx man!

now my decide is 100% - i gonna make me a wwsin^^

You loose your claw-block while doing it.


Not true at all, claw block is not affected by running or walking

I suggest you go do some field work then. I noticed it, along with lots of other Assa players that it doesnt. Heck, even the Arreat Summit says its doesnt work while running or walking.

This post was edited by xepolite on May 12 2006 10:25am

nice guide