The Medusa – A PvP WoF-Kicker Guide Version 2.0 by knox100
This is a little guide about Assassins who use Wake of Fire and Dragon Talon as main attack Skills.
This char is based on stunning + hurting the enemy with Mind Blast and Wake of Fire and finish them off with kicks.
I´m playing this Assassin since quite a time now and it´s really great fun!
Medusa → this name because many chars will not be able to move anymore when stunned → like being turned to stone after a look in the eye´s of a Medusa!
A good Medusa does not need to be expensive but of course there are real expensive and rare items which could improve the effectiveness of this char.
All in all you have a lot of possibilities. just go ahead and try out what you like most.This is just an example how i stated and skilled my WoF-Kicker.
In the following i will try to explain important breakpoints and stuff you need to make this build work.
1.Stats, Skill-Points, Items, Inventory
2.Reached Breakpoints and Stats
3.Some explanations
4.Some basic knowledge
5.Duel Strategies
6.Credits
1. Stats, Skill-Points, Items, InventoryStats:Dexterity = Base (or some points if you don´t have enough dexterity from you items to use Widow Maker)
Strength = Base
Life = put all your points here
Mana = Base
Skill-Points:Fire Blast = 20
Wake of Fire = 20
Wake of Inferno = 20
Venom = 20
Shadow Master = 1
Dragon Talon = 1 (→ yes not more needed, why? explained later in 3. Some explanations)
Weapon Block = 1 (→ you will have ~ 56 % Block)
Mind Blast = all points you have left, best would be maxed of course
Items:Helm → Circlet 2 Assa 20 fcr 2 Socket adds (1x 15ias/15resis 1x socket free for what you prefer, resist, poison, dam reduce, fhr...)
Crown of Ages -> Socket 15ias/15resis/ber for damage reduce setupRare Amulet -> 2 Assa 15+ fcr adds, for damage reduce setupArmor → Enigma (Dusk is sexy)
Amulet → Maras
Ring1 → 10 fcr Attack Rate Dexterity Resis Life Mana →Try to get with at least a decent Attack Rate Resis Mana → if you want to save Forumgold drop Life, just makes them very expensive.
Ring2 → Raven Frost
Belt → Arachnid Mesh
Gloves → Trang Ouls (Nr. 1 Gloves 20 fcr 25% Venom Damage 30 cold Resis)
Boots → Shadow Dancer (Nr. 1 Boots for this build, don´t look for others)
Primary Claw → Chaos or Fury Rune Word in a Greater Talons (Try to get with 3 Wake of Fire, good additional stats are: Shadow Master, Min Bllast, Weapon Block, Dragon Flight
(→ if you like Df, i hardly use it because of Mind Blast – Tele lock)
Off Hand Claw → Bartuc´s Cut-Throat socket with 5/5 poison die Jewel. (or get a Resis jewel if you need more stacked Resis)
For real rich people the ultimate dream Claws:Primary Claw:
2 Assassin/fools/2 Sockets(UmUm)/40ias/3 Wake of Fire Greater Talons
or if you prefer more kick damage and do not like to prebuff Venom:
2 Assassin/fools/2 Sockets(Um/Um)/40ias/3 Venom Talons
Off Hand Claw:
2 Assassin/3 Wake of Fire/nice additional stats/2 Sockets (2x 5/5 poison die Facets)
or 2 Assassin/3 Venom/nice additional stats/2 Sockets (2x 5/5 poison die Facets)
Widow Maker Bow (hel´ed or um´ed) -> Check if you have enough dexterity from the items you use. Otherwise you might have to spend some stat-points here.
Try to get also 2x 2 Assa 3 Wake of Fire 2 socks Greater Talons or 2x 3 Traps 3 Wake of Fire 2 socket Greater Talons for pure Fire-Trapper setup.
Socket the Primary Claw with 2x 15ias/15resis (2x shael for low budget solution) -> 30 ias plus 15 ias from Helmet -> 45 ias = fastest trap laying with Greater Talons Combo.
Off Hand Claw with whatever you prefer -> resis, poison, fhr... jewels
(Don´t socket them with Fire-Facets, cause the +% damage and the minus resis will not work with traps)
(If you want, get prebuff Stuff: 50% poison Bramble. 3 Shadow 2 socket Circlet, 6 Venom 2 socks Gt´s , 3 Shadow Amulet, 2x Bul Kathos) → Immense increased damage but also very boring to run into town every some minutes and prebuff again. I hardly use it.)
Inventory9 Trap Skiller with Life
Annihilius
Torch
10x life/resis sc´s → try to stack resis (cold and light) you will have enough attackrating. So no attackrating small charms are needed. Resis and life is more useful for you.
(Note: the +3max damage from 3/20/20´s does not count to kick damage, also don´t use poison small charms with the Venom Skill. See 4. Some basic knowledge)
2. With this setup you got these breakpoints and stats:Fastest trap laying speed → very important for this build
65 faster cast rate → that´s also a must
7/3/3 kick speed → fastest (->kick speed is capped at 7/3/3 -> 7/2/2 kicks are not possible, thanks to Ziecheik to confirm this)
48 faster hit recovery → at least needed for a kicker, if you want go for 86 fhr breakpoint
26 % damage reduce ( 8 % from enigma and 18 % from fade)
Wake of Fire damage = 1163 – 1310 → not this bad believe me
Around 5000 Attack Rating -> enough against all casters
Level 37 Venom
Level 17 Shadow Master ( maxed out item wise, see 4. Some basic knowledge)
Can not be frozen – important for trap-laying
3. Some explanations:I recommend to level at least to 90!For a decent Open Wound damage and enough points to spend in Mind Blast.
Why Chaos Rune Word?It´s not that you have the possibility to ww. I hardly use ww.
- Chaos gives you 35 ias + 15ias from the jewel in your helm and you reach fastest trap laying plus 7/3/3 kick speed.
- 25 % Open Wounds
- 216-471 magical damage is added to kick damage
- additional stun from Frozen Orb (9% change to trigger)
- additional stun from Charged Bolt (11% change to trigger)
- +10 Strength
(+ 25% chance on firestorm from your Torch^^)
(„Quote from Speederlander: Combined with wake of fire and talon itself, you should be a stunning machine.“ )
If you prefer fury because of the higher change for Open Wound, well just use it. But i like the additional stun from Chaos and the wonderful animation when it triggers.
Why Bartuc´s Cut Throat? - 30 fhr → needed for the 86 fhr breakpoint
- 1 to Martial Arts
- 2 to Assa Skills
- 20 Strength
- 20 Dexterity
- Greater Talons → -30 WSM
(Other stats of Bartuc´s will not affect kick damage as a second hand claw)
All this is very useful for a real cheap price.
Why just one point in Dragon Talon?With this setup you got all together level 16 Dragon Talon → 3 kicks. I prefer 3 kicks cause if you don´t hit with the first kick all kicks will miss. So i rather have the chance that the next series of kicks are hitting. Note: With level 18 Dragon Talon you already have 4 kicks.
Why as much as possible points in Mind Blast and not in Fade for morel damage reduction?(Fade has a hidden damage reduction – 1 point in fade is 1% physical damage reduced)
Well for me i rather have maxed Mind Blast
- the Stunning-Time (Swirl) will last longer.
- some more damage
- best of all: Shadow Master will use this skill a lot more
(Seems that the more points in Mind Blast you have spent, the more your Shadow Master is using this skill. He will Mind Blast over more than 2 screens and people might accuse you for using hacks ^^)
But it´s up to you, change this for your build.
4. Some basic knowledge:When using dual claws the effects of the first claw you equip will be carried, not the effects from both claws. -> Use Chaos Claw on glove side and equip it first.
Only "indirect" mods from the second claw (off-hand) such as +skills, +stats, fhr, resists are counting.
IAS on your off-hand claw does not work with any Assassin skills. However, IAS on your off-hand claw does work with Normal Attack and Whirlwind (but no other attacks).
Note: -resis and damage from Rainbow Facet´s do not work with Traps.
You have zero Weapon Block when walking or running with a C/C setup, Weapon Block only functions standing, attacking, and Whirlwinding.
Mind Blast – Tele lockNamelock someone with Mind Blast, keep holding rightclick and switch to tele, you'll teleport once your Mind Blast is finished. You'll end up on top of the enemy.
Why no poison small charms? When Venom is active, it converts the durations of all the poison sources on your equipment match its own(0.4 seconds). Consequently, the damages of all your poison sources are reduced to how much damage they would do over 0.4 seconds (for example, a 400 poison damage charm with a 5 second duration would be converted to 32 poison damage charm with a 0.4 second duration, when Venom is active). For this reason, external poison damage sources are usually useless when used with Venom.
How does Cloak of Shadows reduce the defense?CoS only reduces the “base” defense of a char. For example if a Paladin has 4k defense from equipment , and without any %defense from skills , and he has 40k defense with holy shield / defiance / etc , then a -75% defense CoS will only remove 3k defense (4k / 4 * 3 = 3k). Which means there's still 37k defense left. Hardly worth the effort against high def Palas and Barbarians.
But nice against all other chars. (Necromancer, Assassin, Druid, Amazon, Sorceress)
For Example if you're up against an Ama, then CoS can help. If an Ama has like 3k defense , then -75% from CoS makes this to 750. This is because Ama's don't have any %defense skills.
Kick Speed Breakpoints for -30 WSM Claws see here:Using Dragon Talon and Fade (no BoS)
IAS_EIAS_Frames
0____30___10
2____31___9
18___45___8
46___63___7
Dtalon’s subsequent kicks have different break points. 0 to 24 EIAS puts them at 4 frames. 25 to 66 EIAS for 3 frame follow up kicks.
We have 7/3/3 kicks. Because we use 2x Greater Talons ( WSM -30) 35 ias from chaos and 15 ias from jewels in circlet = 50 ias and only 46 are needed.
and we got 65 EIAS ->3 frame follow up kicks. Note: Only the ias of the glove hand side claw is important. Only the Claw Type of the second hand claw matters, probable ias of this claw will not count.
Do the math:
EIAS = ((120*ias)/(120+ias)) + (– WSM)
EIAS = (120*50)/(120+50) + -30
EIAS = 35 +30 = 65
How much ias is needed for fastest trap laying with 2x greater talons used?According to Xepo´s ias table. We need 42 ias → we got 50 ias (35 chaos + 15 from jewel in circlet)
Look here:
http://xepolite.technocow.nl/FAQ/index.php?p=iastraplayingFaster Cast Frame Rates0% - 16 frames
8% - 15 frames
16% - 14 frames
27% - 13 frames
42% - 12 frames
65% - 11 frames → at least needed for this build
102% - 10 frames
174% - 9 frames
Only the following effects are carried by the kicking skills: - Crushing Blow, Open Wounds, Slow Target
- Magic, Elemental, and Poison Damage/Venom (not displayed on the character screen)
- Knockback (Dragon Talon has it´s own Knockback, only works for Dragon Flight)
- Life/Mana steal and Life/Mana after kills
- %Chance to Cast on Attack/Strike
- +% Damage (except from weapon)
- +AR (except on your weapon)
- +% AR (from anywhere)
- Blind, Freeze, Prevent Monster Heal
- MF and Gold find
- Weapon Range
- Ignore Target Defense (only in pvm)
- Hit Causes Monster to Flee
Now, these mods do NOT transfer to your kicks: - Deadly Strike
- Critical Strike
- + Max Damage
- + Min Damage
- +X% Enhanced Damage from weapon
- +X% Chance to cast on attacking
Min and Max Damage on BootsName_____________Min Dmg___Max Dmg
Leather Boots________3________8
Heavy Boots_________4________10
Chain Boots__________6________12
Light Plated Boots_____8________16
Plated Boots_________10________20
Demonhide Boots_____26________46
Sharkskin Boots_______28_______50
Mesh Boots__________23_______52
Battle Boots_________37________64
War Boots___________39_______80
Scarabshell Boots_____69_______118
Boneweave Boots_____69_______118
Mirrored Boots________50_______145
Myrmidon Greaves_____83_______149 → Shadow Dancers
At level 17 a Shadow Master is maxed out item wise, he will get: - Rare version of your own armor's base item
- Rare version of your own helm's base item
- Rare left ring
- Rare right ring
- Rare amulet
- Rare Bramble Mitts/Vambraces/Ogre Gauntlets
- Rare Suwayyah/War Fist/Scissors Suwayyah on their right hand
- Rare Battle Cestus/Runic Talon on their left hand
For Assassin Breakpoints and many other important Questions answered, i recommend you to read:Xepo´s Assassin Handbook
http://forums.d2jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=65764985. Duelling Strategies:I try to keep it short. Actually it´s quite easy ^^.
Against all casters:
You just need to hunt them. Always have at least one or two traps out. Mind Blast your enemy ( with many points in Mind Blast you will recognize that your Shadow Master is doing this job perfectly.) Once you see a Swirl over their head from Mind Blast and your traps are hitting, try to Mind Blast-Tele in and finish them off with kicks. Cloak of Shadow is also helpful here. Lowers the defense of your enemy, increases yours and makes you almost invisible when faded. You can also use BoS instead of Fade against Bone Necros and Hammerdins . Always recast your Shadow Master and don´t try to tank others. Only attack with Dragon Talon when they are stunned.
Against good Smiter, Zealer and WW Barbarians, WW Assassins:
If they don´t use absorb, equip your damage reduce setup (CoA and 2 Assa 15+fcr adds Amu) get 2x 2 Assa 3 Wake of Fire (or 3 Trap 3 WoF) Greater Talons and even change Raven Frost for a Bul-Kathos or SoJ for more WoF Damage. Try to keep distance and kill them with Wake of Fire and Mind Blast. It really does not make much sense to go into close combat against smite or ww as a kicker, even if they are stunned for a short time. (Good Palas will charge out of stun and Barbs, WW Assassins will whirl out of stun anyway.)
If they absorb your Wake of Fire, than use Widow Maker bow and play like a real Defwhore. Prebuff Venom and always keep distance. Try to stun with WoF and Mind Blast, shoot arrows and tele away, repeat. Those duels may last a while ^^.
6. Credits
Thanks to all who already put a lot of effort in creating those great guides sticked in the d2jsp Strategy and Guides Section! To Ziecheik and tudey for the help!
This post was edited by knox100 on Jan 25 2009 11:35am