Ladder 1.11 Ww / trap assassin hybrid - All vitality stacker- by m72mc v. 1.05
UPDATED & REVISED - VERSION 1.05



Table of contents

• Introduction
• Stats
• Skills
• Gear
• Fools and claw positioning
• Strategies
• Mercenary
• Breakpoints
• Claws, kicks and mods
• Calculations
• Bramble tweak
• Visualization
• Links
• Thanks

Introduction

Repost again. Last version got closed due to much off topic spam. Though the new coding on this site also made my guide look bad as all ` and • became ? marks, so maybe was time anyway.Also fixed a broken link. This is the sixth version if anyone cares. last one here -> http://forums.d2jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=6032866
I made this build during patch 1.10, but I posted first in summer of 2006 as a guide here on d2jsp.
This assassin came to be born out of my needs for a good viable assassin that can out stack foh paladins and blizz cold sorceresses, without any gear switching and still get max vitality and have a good damage in traps and ww! I use her mainly for pub dueling!
I must have read all assassin guides there is and I made allot of builds but I was not happy with any of them, so I sat down with pen and paper and reviewed all the items in this game. Finally after much building and testing, this is what I liked the most.
This assassin is very good both for pvm and pvp.
Nothing would be wrong with using a nice assa circlet and verdungos or bb (bugged belt, non-ladder) if you want. Then you would need to keep kiras in stash. This guide is about reaching enough resists without it. Personally I don`t like to keep going to stash and change my setup for everyone I duel. If you want to use a circlet, change these things.

Coa coronet -> +2 assa circlet, nice mods would be: 20 fcr(a must), ar/lvl (Visionary mod)+ life, mana, 1-2 sox, resists, str/dex (if you need it) etc. socket with jah/15ias-res jool, or res/ias jool + res/life or what you prefer..
Keep kiras in stash, for when you need it.
If I would use a circlet I would go for one with high cold res and sox with massive more cold res from jools and some ias. That way you would have to switch to kiras for foh, v/t, auradins etc, but not for cold sorceresses. Or the other way around, thus minimizing the need for kiras.
Arach-> bb(bugged belt, +1 All Skills 15 Str 25 Dex 20 DR 25 All Res 10 Ias 10% Slow on target). Or if you don�t like items that are not meant to be in the game or can`t get it, use verdungos. If you can get some eth bugged claws with nice skills go for it, but they won`t be covered in this guide, since they are so rare and only nl. This is only a suggestion, I won`t go into detail about such a build.
It`s all about preferences. Such a build would be a bit stronger 1v1, but lack some resists when dueling more than one opponent at the same time. Since I mostly pub duel for fun, I find my setup the most appealing to me. If you duel mostly 1v1, go for a circlet setup. The problem is mostly stash space.
Also I believe that there is no best way to build a character in Diablo 2, just different ways, that give different strengths and weaknesses. Nothing is set in stone regarding equipment. I want to share this build that I really like with the rest of you!

Pros and cons of this build.

Pros

Multiple sources of damage
High light sentry damage
High poison damage
High open wounds %
Some physical damage
High damage reduction
High resists
Decent life
Fast teleport and speed
Stun locking with mind blast and traps

Cons

Bvc with thunder god�s belt
Absorbing antidote chucking hammerdins
Probably thunder god`s using antidote chucking, slow using, uber smiter's, though I have never met one of these, tnx for info giff!
Low physical damage

Stats

Strength base or enough to use 148 str coa
Dexterity base
Vitality base + all the rest
Energy base


Skills

Shadow skills

1-20 claw mastery***
1 burst of speed
1 fade
20 venom
1-x claw block **
1 psychic hammer *
1 cloak of shadows *
1 mind blast *
1 shadow warrior *
1 shadow master *

Martial arts skills

Get dragon flight as skill from 1 of your claws *
Dragon talon or similar is optional too. I don`t recommend it unless you get it from your claw. *

Traps skills

1 fire blast
1-x points in shock web **
1-x charged bolt sentry *
20 lightning sentry
20 death sentry
1 blade sentinel *
1 blade fury *
1 blade shield *
0-1 wake of Fire ****

• * try to get as many skills from claws as possible, also it's a matter of taste if you think you're going to use cos for example, personally I like this skill, as well as blade fury. Blade shield gives you one more chance to hit, applying your poison.
• * If you spend points here, it comes at the cost of points in shock web(light sentry synergy)
• Absolutely get dragon flight skill from your claws, saves skill points
• ** depending how much claw block you want, spend some points here. Again if you do, it will come at the cost of light sentry synergy.
• *** if you want more damage and ar with your ww spend more points on claw mastery or if you prefer a weaker ww spend more on lightning sentry synergy for a higher trap damage.
• **** Wake of fire is for stun purposes, it`s not necessary. For some duels it can be useful though.
• There are other ways to spend your skill points with this gear setup. Perhaps you want max dr without prebuffing fade, then just spend more skill points in fade. Perhaps you want a classic ghost-sin skill setup with this gear.
• Note that if you have shadowmaster as skill from claw you cannot BO her. She will be unsummoned when you switch to cta/shield.


Gear

Helm
Crown of Ages, with 2x15 allresist/-15 requirement jewels. Even better jools are -15 req/10 allres 30 cold/light res xx ed jools, but they are very rare. I have one in my coa.
Total stats with jewels will be
• 60 all resist (o yeah very good)
• 30 faster hit recovery (all you need, in my experience)
• +1 all skills
• 15% damage reduction (all you need if you use enigma and prebuff fade)

If you want to sacrifice some life, spend some stat points into strength to be able to use 1 15 allresist/15 ias jewel for faster trap placing speed. Or you can use an assassin amu with strength, though then you can`t switch to angelic`s. Its not really a good choice to build in strength from amu or ring in this build, since then you will lack the flexibility, to change to other ones.

For prebuff venom and fade use a +3 shadow disciplines helm with 2 sox (2x poison jewels) get one with str or dex. How much depends on your anni/torch. You need to be able to put on your bramble and also if you want to prebuff with 2x bk/soj you need dex also, since you loose 20 dex from raven. If you get str from prebuff helm then get dex from the +3 shadow amu, or the other way around!

Armor
Enigma mage plate or other low strength requirement armor.
Gives tele, 8% damage reduction, life and all the strength you need.

For prebuff venom use a low strength requirement bramble, as high + venom as possible. (Can also be used for the bramble tweak).

Gloves
Trang ouls gloves, this is your only choice.
20 faster cast rate, + to poison skill.. Not much else to say.

Weapon 1
Fools claw (greater claw/greater talon). Try to get one with ias + skills and 2 sockets, knock back is fun to have too, but not necessary. Socket with 2 ums or nef+um.
Additional ias on it adds to trap laying speed if used on primary slot.

For low defense opponents a fury claw (greater claw/greater talon) will do fine.
Get a claw with +3 lightning sentry +2 more good skills, like mind blast, shadow master, claw block, etc.

For prebuffing fade and venom use +6 venom claw (greater claw/greater talon), 2 sox with 2 poison jewels.

Weapon 2
Chaos (greater claw/greater talon). Get a claw with +3 lightning sentry +2 more good skills, like mind blast, shadow warrior, claw block, etc.

For prebuffing fade and venom use +6 venom claw (greater claw/greater talon), 2 sox with 2 poison jewels.

Note; greater talons are faster than greater claws but they both fit our dex/str requirement, and they both pass for fastest ww speed. Choose greater talons if you can.

These are 2 of the claws I use. I have others also but these are decent enough. What skills you want depends on your build.

Boots
Resists boots. Try to get ones with 30 frw +40 lightning and 40 cold resist. If they have adds to this all the better, fire resist is great, poison too and poison length reduced mod.
But the most important here is high cold and light resist. You only need lots of stacked fire resists when dueling a conviction character teamed up with a fire sorceress. You also want the best kick damage you can get on these, as long as the str requirement aren't to high.

These are one of the boots I use, since I don't need fhr, they suit me well. a bit low cold res though.


Hotspurs. Used for 90% fire resist as usual and more stacked fire resist. Provide some little life too. Upgrade for more kick damage.

Eth sandstorm treks. Provides 20 fhr and strength. (can be necessary for bramble tweak, also fhr vs. trappers).

Waterwalks. Gives much life and +5 max fire res, personally I have replaced my hotspurs with these. I think hotspurs give too much + max res. It`s more fun when its a little harder to fight fire sorceresses. They also provide some dex. Can be useful for prebuff.
Upgrade these for more kick damage.

Hsarus boots. These boots gives great attack rating boost if combined with hsarus belt.
Combined these items gives, 20 cold resist, 25 fire resists, 20 faster run walk, +20 life, attacker takes damage of 5 and +10/ level to attack rating.

Belt
Arachnids. For reaching the 65 faster cast rate breakpoint use this belt along with an fcr ring and a +15 faster cast rate assassin amulet.

Hsarus belt. For use with Hsarus boots as stated above.

Thunder god`s belt. For dueling FOH paladins or other lightning opponents, use this belt if you need it.

Verdungo`s belt. (Can be used for the bramble tweak).


Amu
Assassin amu with 15 + faster cast rate is needed to reach the 65 faster cast rate breakpoint. Get one with 20 all resists + life and poison length reduced mod and (+ strength to reach 148 strength with enigma, annihilus and assassin torch! ONLY if u use 15allres/15ias jewel in your CoA and don`t want to spend the stat points then needed. You could also gain this from a ring. But as I said earlier I don`t recommend it.)

Angelic wings. For use with angelic halo ring for more attack rating. (Can also be used for the bramble tweak).

Shadow amulet +3. For prebuffing venom and fade, depending on the prebuff helm, you need str or dex on this.

Ring 1
Raven frost. You always need to equip this ring for dexterity reasons, except when prebuffing.

Ring 2
Faster cast rate ring. Get one with +30 lightning, fire and cold resists. Nice ads here would be ar, life, mana and poison length reduced/ dam red.
These are 2 of the rings I use.

Angelics halo ring. To use with angelic amu for more attack rating. (Can also be used for the bramble tweak).

BK or soj. To prebuff venom and fade.

Dwarf star/ wisp projector. For absorbing fire and lightning, I never have to use these, but can perhaps be good in some situations.

Weapon switch
Use call to arms +6 and a +1 shield, lidless/ Sigon's. If you use 1 ias jewel in your coa and add strength, you can use a eth spirit shield (146 strength requirement). (But not if you wan�t to use the bramble tweak).


Charms

9x shadow skill charms with life/ you can use 2x fhr s gc`s also if you want more fhr, or 1 gc fhr + 2 sc�s 5allres/5fhr. (If u wan´t u can use trap skillers also, but I prefer not to.I just mention this as I get a lot of pm`s about it, use whatever mix you wan´t, but I use shadow skillers)
Annihilus. 20 stats/ 20 resist
Assassin torch 20 stats/ 20 resists
10x sc`s 5 all resist with life (If you have space left in inventory you can switch to ar/life or max/ar/ life sc`s for duels when you don`t need resists.

Stash

Everything that`s not on your character + the following:
Demon limb : To prebuff enchant/ with Hel/-req jewels if necessary
Optional:
For more resists keep a fools claw here socketed with resist jools. make sure it hits fastest ww speed.
"Guled" Andy face- if you want to max your psn res, vs. psn using opponents. Ofc u can just use antidotes also if you like.


Notes

• Decide carefully what you want, the stash is only so big!
• The reason for greater talons is so that you don`t have to spend any stat points into dexterity or strength. If you choose higher requirement claws it comes at the cost of vitality. Greater talons are also fastest possible claws.
• This assassin reaches the 65 faster cast rate breakpoint with arachnids, faster cast rate ring and 15+ faster cast rate amulet.
• Using this setup you reach 10 fps trap laying while using fade (this depends on what claws you use atm, claw type and ias), which in my opinion is enough. If you use 1 ias jewel in your coa or get ias some other way you can reach 9 fps trap laying speed.
• For pvm this assassin does great with a conviction mercenary.
• If you don`t prebuff, this assassin still have good poison damage and damage reduction. Prebuff when you need too. Sometimes it`s not necessary and perhaps more fun to duel not so good chars more on equal terms.
• Don`t forget when doing skill distribution that battle command gives +1 to all skills.
• As for dueling, Practice a lot, it takes skill to master a hybrid assassin. There are many buttons (skills) to keep track of.


Fools and claw positioning

Here is a test regarding fools claw and attack rating it is written and tested by WhiteAlien from diabloii forum... credit to him...remember though that kicks, blade fury and blade shield takes its attack rating and mods from primary claw and the usual rules apply to trap speed.

quote:(WhiteAlien)

I've done some tests with ww. I did over 800 ww's, I think this should be enough objective.

Test environment: Open Battle Net.
Test objects: ww barb and high defense pala.

Pala setup was simple: edited high defense armor and defiance aura, gives total defense of 30179, no shield of course to effectively measure hits.

Barb setup is more complicated:
1. First setup, Fool's Axe left hand, normal Axe right hand, screen ww AR 20197
2. Second setup, Normal Axe left hand, Fool's Axe right hand, screen ww AR 1093
3. Third setup, 2 Normal Axe's, screen ww AR 1093
4. Forth setup, 2 Fool's Axe's, screen ww AR 20197

All tests were done in Hell difficulty, Act1, Open B.Net. I did 200 ww over pala for each setup and here are the results:


Setup.....|Test hit chance %|Theoretical H.C. %|
First.......|.........38............|.........34.. ...........|
Second...|.........32............|.........34..... ........|
Third......|.........16............|..........5... ...........|
Forth......|.........73............|.........34... ..........|


To calculate theoretical chance to hit I used this formula:

= 100 * AR / (AR + DR) * 2 * alvl / (alvl + dlvl)


Conclusion

Looking at test results, 1st and 2nd, it seems that Axes swapping from left hand to right hand does not make any difference in average chance to hit target. That makes me think that it is Fool's axe that does successful hit most of the time. Also look at forth test with dual Fool's Axes. Screen shows ~20k AR, but chance to hit had risen drastically from 36% to 73%. Even if you add together 2 fool's axes AR you get ~40k AR and theoretical CtH 52%, here it's 73%. To get so high chance to hit AR for each axe must be calculated individually.

So in my opinion test shows that AR for each hand is calculated separately with ww skill and other hand (off-hand, primary, whatever) does not benefit from Fool's mod!

3rd test did not surprise me - 2 normal axes with only 1k AR, theoretical CTH = 5%, real = 16%, if I could do more ww's probably % could drop even less.

If I'm somewhere wrong you can correct me. Also, can someone post here what mods works with offhand axe.

WhiteAlien end quote.


to be continued..

continued.

Strategies

Dueling Strategy

First some techniques, not written by me, upon request I add them here, but any credit for these go to their respective author.
Whirling Techniques - taken from Happy Assassins WW/ls guide @ diabloii.net forums

Quote :
1) Pass: You teleport on an opponent, whirlwind them, and teleport away.

2) Clipping: You catch the opponent with the edge of the whirlwind. This works best against smiters and other melee characters. Keep in mind that if you are moving away from the enemy whirlwind will auto hit, ignoring defense.

3) Triangles: This is similar to clipping, but you try to keep the enemy in the center of a triangle and cause them to be locked up in either hit reaction or block. It is a tough technique to learn. Search Google for Smash BvC! and you will find some excellent demonstrations of a triwhirl. Keep in mind that your assassin moves slower while in whirlwind, and has less range, so your triangles generally need to be tighter than a barb's. However, a barb has only his Whirlwind to keep the opponent trapped, if you are playing right, you have then stunned by traps as well.

4) Straight: In this technique, you whirlwind straight through your opponent. Only useful against barbs in certain situations or against casters if you are still learning triangles. If you can triwhirl with relative efficiency, you pretty much never need to use a Straight whirl except in WW vs. WW.
Lastly, keep in mind that whirlwind can cause you major problems. This generally happens when you execute a �long� whirlwind, where you are in the animation for an extended period of time. This makes you vulnerable, unable to stop, cast spells, dodge or prevent the enemy from escaping. Avoid this by keeping your cursor in the middle of your screen when using whirlwind and never doing a name lock-whirlwind.

mb name lock to tele/ww flash (takes from speederlender's ww/kick/stun guide)

Quote :
Mind blast name-lock to hotkey flash teleport/WW:

Get mind blast name-lock, while still pressing the right mouse button, hotkey teleport. An instant after the teleport animation begins, hotkey WW. You will exit on top of your opponent doing whirlwind. This is the most useful single attack you have against running targets or targets too dangerous for kicking or targets that are off your screen. This is very hard to time right. Often you toggle WW too fast and end up canceling your teleport and doing a WW in place.

You have to learn to instantly re-center the cursor as the teleport ends in order to do small, triangular whirls. It is easy to end up whirling long using this technique. Long whirls usually get you killed. This skill takes lots and lots of practice. Go out on the blood moor, get a potion (or whatever is useful) and drop it. Move so the potion is at the edge of your screen. Lock it, MB it, then tele/WW on top of it with tight triangles. Drop a pair of potions and just go back and forth. Do that for 30 minutes every night for a few weeks and you WILL get better.

You can hit targets 2 or more screens away with this tactic.

Now to my own strategy, now that you master your whirls.., see this as general tips! If you want more in-depth strategy read speederländers guide.!

General
As always any opponent if played by a skilled player and with godly equipment will be hard to beat. Perhaps with some exceptions!

Paladin

Smiter
For smiters that just tank your ww, it´s very simple! Just keep your traps up and ww away from them. Anyone running or charging your ww will get hit basically automatically.
For these kinds of palas you don`t need high attack rating and I mostly find these duels boring, since you pretty much can`t loose!
More fun then with tele/walking palas that try to position them and get that smite in. For these duels you need high ar, if you want a good hit%. Use your traps to tease them to come close so your ww can hit or if they sorb your traps I like to use mb and blade fury. Blade fury transfers knock back, ow and psn among others. If they desynch you with charge, just keep track of them on your map and get the feeling for when they will come at you and ww in that moment. I usually have no problem ww: in at the right moment, though it might take some practice. If you are low on life keep wwing, chances are they will keep trying to hit you fast then to finish you off, but in doing so they'll keep hitting your ww. Don�t use dragon flight. Use cos if you have the time to cast it.
If they trigger life tap, remember if you use fade it will be a very short duration so just avoid them till it disappears. Don�t use shadow master vs. smiters, since they can possibly trigger life tap and may heal from killing her. Use fade.

Smiter/foh
Pretty much the same as for smiters but when they use foh you can DF and ww if you are fast. If you are to slow, they will change to smite and your toast. Use fade.

Foh
The hard ones just keep charging around making them almost impossible to catch. Your traps won`t hit much. Use mb, blade fury and cast cos on them and try to DF ww them or doing ww`s where they will be in a moment, very hard but I usually get some hits in this way.

Hammerdin
If they have low fhr and no absorb its very easy, just use your traps and mb.
The good ones however have good fhr, fcr and probably absorbs your traps, then you need to use mb, blade fury and ww: in away downwards from them as soon as they tele on you. Rinse and repeat not much else you can do. If they absorb light completely, use your wake of fire. Never ww tank them, even with claw block you will take some hits and die. Hammers are way to powerful. This is a very hard duel. Use bos not fade here.

Barbarian

You won`t have much problem from any other barbs than ww barbs. so I won`t say much about them. Just kill them.

Ww Barb
Well if they are built right with the right gear this is very hard.
Firstly use your traps. Either they will hurt him severely or he must get tg`s, meaning he can`t use his other belt.
Secondly you absolutely need prebuffing here.
Skills like cos and blade fury comes in handy, use them when you can.
If the barb doesn't use a shield, good for you, with high ar you will hit him a lot.
Never ww in the same direction as the barb. Ww in the opposite direction.
Barbs have more life, higher damage and with shield a better block % than you.
Using maximum ar here makes a lot of difference and you need to hit him as much as possible. If he feels superior and runs after you, do a fast ww in the other direction, you might get a few good hits in.
If he does not absorb your traps, use them ofc.
This is a very fun and very hard duel. Use fade.
there is 2 ways of battling the best of bvc.

1. prebuff all you can +enchant, use traps also and ww him to death, believe me it can happen.
2. play grasshopper style(ya lol I think it suits, the name), place traps ww offensive when you can , ww defensive when you have to and then just mb , trap, mb trap, tele out of his reach, if u are good, he will never catch you, BUT you will always make a mistake, unless you are a computer.
pray for luck.

Amazon

Bowazon
Use mb and traps here to stun and put hem in animation. Wake of fire works good here.
Tele and avoid their arrows and be fast on their ass and ww. Most likely they will run, if they don`t they will die. If they run, keep chasing them. Put a few traps mb and tele chase again. Use fade or possibly bos to be quicker and avoid being hit.

Cs zon
Again mb and wake of fire works wonders. Use tg`s if you need. Then just ww them. Use fade.

Necro

Poison necro
Avoid there psn nova. Use traps mb or just DF and ww, either way you will win. Use fade.

Bone nec
Here`s a more interesting duel if they are good. No need here for fade so use bos instead. Use the terrain to avoid his bone spears. Place traps and play a bit defensive.
Keep your shadow master out and if he comes close mb and tele ww him. If you need tele away and put more traps, use mb and recast your shadow master. Use bos.

Sorceress

Blizz
With your nice stacked cold res, they won`t damage you much. Put your traps and mb.
If you need just tele, DF and ww and they will loose. Use fade.

Fireball
Play defensive using your traps and mb. Tele, DF and ww if you can. If you need use hotspurs or dwarf and you can`t loose. Use bos if you don`t need res.

Lightning
Same as above. Use tg`s or a wisp if you need. Use bos if you don`t need res.
For infinity using sosos it`s even easier, since they won`t have any block and your stacked resists nullifies the conv aura. Use fade.

Druid

Elemental
Basically they can`t hit you. If they are stupid and tele on top of you just ww away. Their tornado's are so slow and won`t hit. Keep your traps out and use mb. If they flee just telechase and ww, but don`t underestimate the damage if they hit you. Just be fast and you cant loose. If they play ultra defensive just teleing away you do the same, they are probably faster than you anyway. Use fade.

Melee
I`ve meet one that 1-2 hit killed my assa. He had a very nice druid. Be cautious if they are this good, otherwise just attack with both ww and traps. If he`s ubergood avoid him and use your traps and blade fury. Always kill druids oak if you traps don`t do it for you. Use fade.


Assassin

Trap
Use tg`s or wisp if you need. Use good fhr if you can (I have a good fcr, fhr belt in stash). Avoid there traps and DF ww. Don�t forget to use your traps and mb too.
Unfortunately I never meet any good ones; they always prove to die all too fast.
Use bos if you want, since you won`t need dr.

Ww trap hybrid
This is a fun duel for obvious reasons. Use as much psn res and psn length reduced gear as you can as well as tg`s or wisp if you need. Use fade.

Pure ww
Again use as much psn res and psn l reduced gear as possible. Use traps and ww.
You will win if you're better. If they use bramble use your traps and mobility to your advantage. They will have more damage, but you will have more life. Use fade.

Note
When pub dueling never forget to use everything to your advantage. This includes terrain as well as other duelers. Observe who duels who and use this. Nothing is more fun than all vs. all. If for instance a real nasty bvb is hunting you and he`s also hosted by a blizz sorc, draw the battle closer to where she is. No matter if you're hosted to by her. The barb probably has much less resists than you, so it probably is good for you if you both take some blizzards in the head. He will take more damage than you most likely. Finish the barb off and then the sorc. Success in pub dueling lies much in having a well balanced char.
This assassin really rox !


Mercenary

Ive tried different setups, this is what I recommend.

Act 2 defensive merc hired in nightmare difficulty. For holy freeze aura.
Coa with 2x 15 ias/40 Ed dam jewels.
Infinity eth giant thresher.
Eth COH armor.

This gives good fhr, very good, makes him tank anything and not get stuck in fhr animation. 6, 5 fps attack speed, very fast, means more damage and more life leach.
Great stacked resists, 8% life leach and 18-23% damage reduction, depending on his coa.

Ive tried the normal setup with fortitude Andy and eth CV infinity, and in my opinion it`s not as good.

Breakpoints


Assassin
FHR Frames
0% 9
7% 8
15% 7
27% 6
48% 5
86% 4
200% 3

Assassin
FCR Frames
0% 16
8% 15
16% 14
27% 13
42% 12
65% 11
102% 10
174% 9


Claws, kicks and mods

here`s what works with blade shield

Deadly Strike
Elemental Damage/Venom (1/4)
Leech
Physical/Weapon Damage (1/4)
Blade Sentinel
Deadly Strike
Elemental damage/Venom (3/8)
Physical/Weapon damage (3/8)
Pierce Target (natural)
Prevent Monster Heal

Kicks

Leech (both from equipment and Cobra Strike)
Elemental Damage/Venom (note: Venom is only applied on the monster you target DTail on, not the AoE. However, elemental damage on equipment is added onto the AoE. Elemental damage/Venom is applied on every kick of DTalon, and on DF)
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)

and for blade fury

Ignore Target Defense
Deadly Strike/Critical Strike from Claw Mastery
Crushing Blow
Hit Causes Monster to Flee
Knock back
Chance to cast on Striking
Hit Freezes Target
Elemental Damage/Venom (3/4)
Leech
Open Wounds
Hit Blinds Target
Prevent Monster Heal
Hit Slows Target
Physical/Weapon Damage (3/4)

Note: all of the above mods must be on the primary claw. Leach don`t work in pvp

Calculations

I used to have a lot of calculations here, but not anymore, since xepo`s new assassin handbook is out, you can do all the calculation you want, without even knowing how this game works!
Be sure to read it, it`s under links.

Bramble tweak


There are possibly many ways to make your assassin able to wear bramble while dueling without spending any stat points. I will show you one way!
This is no normal part of this build and not necessary.
I use this setup for fun melee duels only. You will experience how a bramble sin feels like; slow as a snail, bad fcr but with higher ww damage. You will also still have a decent trap damage.

bramble dusk
+2 assa circlet with strength(check how much you need).2sox(2xber for max dr) + the best mods you can get on it.
Raven frost
Angelic ring / another raven / rare ring
Angelic amu / You can use metal grid for attack rating (Can be fun to cast iron maiden on those pesky barbarians, before they ww over your shadow master).
Verdungo
Eth treks x str again it depends how much you need. Also using these you get the 48 fhr breakpoint without any charms, while using eni. Possibly u could use any boots that give enough strength.
Trang ouls gloves
Same claws as usual.
Note If you use this setup you cannot use eth cta, if you normally have chosen to get enough strength for it. Either you choose to use lidless/Sigon's or you don`t get +2 from your spirit shield. Also note that you may have to skip some other equipment to be able to have eth treks and circlet in stash.

Visualization

This visualization uses close to max perfect stats on all equipment and with a perfect build. If you want to calculate for the items you have, use xepo`s guide, there are calculators there. This is an example of what to strive for. The build goal here is what I think is most wanted and common. Big thanks for all the help xepo.

See the Visualization here http://xepolite.technocow.nl/m72mc/



Links

Here is a collection of very useful links, I suggest u read and use them all.

Xepo`s assassin handbook http://xepolite.technocow.nl/FAQ/
Imageshack for hosting your pictures to be traded http://imageshack.us/
Many calculators http://diablo2.ingame.de/tips/calcs/
Tommy`s site for in-depth info http://users.tkk.fi/~tgustafs/
Things you should know about d2 http://www.battle.net/forums/thread.aspx?fn=d2-general&t=1312543&p=1&#post1312543
speederländers guide, great fun to read and in depth strategy http://forums.d2jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=637238&f=87
Arreat summit http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/

Thanks

Zephiris for being the best assa player I have dueled in game and giving me answers to my questions when I became interested in assassins.

Xepo for being nice and having much assa knowledge, helping me with visualizations for this guide!

D2jsp for providing the best site for trading, seeking answers and discussing Diablo 2.

The end.

This is the 6th posted version of the guide? what has changed along the way?

I do find it strange though you don't seem to think trap placing speed is important. Your gear recommendations don't allow you to reach 9 frames, and even with that nice fools claw you posted your sin still won't reach it either. Don't you think trap placing speed is actually very important? And I like those rings, but not on this sin. For hybrid sins who will probably not have maxed out claw mastery, 100+ ar is probably the single most important mod on a fcr ring you can get. 30+ life when you will probably have over 4000 won't help you much at all. But 100+ ar from a ring will add a pretty large percentage of your total attack rating, especially on that chaos claw which will have very low ar to begin with. And wouldn't you rather have a chaos claw with +3 venom on it? Of course poison is negatable, but lightning is even easier to negate. Given a choice of 2 negatable elements I would always choose more poison rather then lightning damage. Unless of course you are implying that this sin is prebuffing all the time which is a major pain in the ass and most people won't want to do.

Sry I just checked your visualization sin and there are a few weird things. First, you don't even have 48% fhr, you have 30% which is just a bad choice imo. You use an ias jewel in your helm to reach 9 frames, but in your guide you don't mention that. You have a fury / chaos combo, but in your guide you say to use fools claw most of the time. Also you seem to have 158 str but no str sources on your sin so what's up with that? What is the point of the visualization if it doesn't follow your guide exactly?

And I know you and xepo both do those visualizations to make your sins look as good as humanly possible, but what would be wrong with using more realistic gear when doing calculations and showing people screenshots? This is why I always use my actual realm sins when telling people stats and showing screenshots. Remember i've seen your sin in game, and you don't have anything even remotely close to that stuff

This post was edited by Trae8 on Jul 28 2007 03:48am

I don't have time to read through all yu said or proove you wrong with all of it but he does say "If you want to sacrifice some life, spend some stat points into strength to be able to use 1 15 allresist/15 ias jewel for faster trap placing speed" and he clearly said you need to get fools AND fury ( and use which one you need at the time)
edit: if you just pick poison damage over lightning over and over again then your traps won't do enough damage for oponents to even bother to absorb and so they won't even need to waste equipment slots for abs.

This post was edited by Shadow_lad on Jul 28 2007 05:45am

All in all the best hybrid guid posted.

1. changed and fixed errors, broken links etc, for the last update you can read it in the beginning.
2. I do personally find 10 fps trap speed enough, though I do mention how to reach 9 fps and I do recommend it in the viz as i think most would wan´t that.
and yes the fools, a gt with 30 ias hits fastest trap speed with 15 ias jool in helm or 10 fps without. additional ias on it would be useless.
3. ar on a ring is less useful for a hybrid actually than for a pure ww sin, since direct ar(+x values from rings etc) are modified by +% (from skill lvl)
for my sin with a 260% skill modifier(1 in cm) the end result in ar, with a 120 ar ring, would be around +450 ar total (for chaos/fury option). Not very much and I find other mods more important. A fools boost ar so much more, when you need it.anyone who thinks otherwise can use whatever they want.
4. for hybrid no I would not chose +3 venom over +3 ls. I won´t recommend that.
5. I use 30 fhr or 50% when using eth treks, I do mention that. Also I mention that if u want u can use fhr skillers.
6. the viz has 158 str, heh I do mention how to get 148 str in the guide, the 158 is a discrepancy(due to the viz dont use eth spirit shield as I recommend in the guide, but a normal spirit shield), but then I did not make the viz and its really not that important.
perhaps I´ll ask xepo to fix it some day.
7. the viz is there as I mention to show what the goal should be, ppl always ask whats best possible..you can always not look at it if u don't want.
8. I have good enough items for my needs actually on my sin. Don´t really need perfect items, I could easily upgrade my skillers If I wanted for example, but I feel no need for it atm.

I don't think its an error. Chaos gives +10 str, which results in 148 strength on BO switch.

ya u are correct, glad we sorted that out.., guess i´m tired.

and



I would never compare but tnx kind words..

This post was edited by m72mc on Jul 28 2007 10:15am

actually no xepo the str thing on the viz is clearly wrong. You're way short of the 158 str it says you have. It's really not that big of a deal, but i'm sure some people might wonder if you fudged the str to bo with a spirit when you actually don't have the str, what else did you fudge on there to get those numbers? Also you say the viz is to show the best possible sin. But your gear choices are poor so how is that the best possible? It's just a bunch of random expensive items slapped together with no rhyme or reason to it. You have a ring with no ar, boots with no Fhr and dex you don't need, bad jewels in your helm, all resist charms when you only need cold, and claws with no added venom on them. That sin is far from the best.

And to say that 450 attack rating isn't as useful as 30 life, well... To each his own of course, but seriously 33 life bo's to what 60? That's like 1% of your sins total life. 450 attack rating is nearly 20% bonus to your total attack rating. You're telling me you really wouldn't want 20% more ar and only give up 1% life? Hybrids suffer from very low attack rating already, but to actually say you can sacrifice another 20% more just to gain measly life is just an oversight.

I know you are conditioned to disagree with everything I say no matter how valid it is so I guess we can just stop now. But for a 6th version of a guide, it looks more like a rough copy. And I really can't believe you would choose life over breakpoints and attack rating.

It is perfectly possible I made a mistake somewhere, please point them out for me. I'm mere human.