Please do not PM me with questions about this guide. Any questions can be posted here.
Try to keep spam non existent so I don't have to repost.





Why play a Hybrid?

Hybrids are widely considered the "jack of all trades" when referring to Assassin builds. There are multiple ways to go about constructing your Hybrid, but for the most part they are all teleporting WWsins with emphasis on trap, primarily Lightning Sentry, damage as well. The foundation of a good Hybrid is balance, and not putting all your eggs into one basket. It is a very viable pub and GM dueling character, and if played correctly will have limited serious threats against it.

The goal of this build is to be able to primarily take out casters with ease, and still be balanced enough to handle melee builds. You will have some of the best stun output the game has to offer, multiple defensive buffs, a meat shield and agressive summon in Shadow Master, and a supplement to your WW damage in Venom.





Table of Contents

Section I: FCR/FHR/IAS breakpoint tables for Assassins
Section II: Skill allocation and stat distribution
Section III: Claw selection
Section IV: Equipment options
Section V: Hotkey examples
Section VI: A treatise on Namelocking/Chainlocking with an Assassin
Section VII: Open Wounds/Deadly Strike
Section VIII: Dueling tactics





Section I: FCR/FHR/IAS breakpoint tables for Assassins

Faster Hit Recovery

Faster Hit Recovery determines how long you will be stunned after being hit and taking a certain amount of damage. The more %FHR you have the faster you will get out of stun making it a very important stat for PvP. The ability to WW out of stun is invaluable here, but you still will want to invest in some FHR.

Assassin FHR Frames

0% 9 frames
7% 8 frames
15% 7 frames
27% 6 frames
48% 5 frames
86% 4 frames
200% 3 frames

We will be aiming for the 27% FHR and 48% FHR breakpoints, depending on the opponent.
A 6 frame FHR will be primarily used against other WW 'sins, I'd advise you up it to 5 frame against anything else.



Faster Cast Rate

Faster Cast Rate is the statistic that determines how fast you will cast your SPELLS. Traps are not considered spells, and will not be affected by FCR. The game labels traps as minions so they are affected by IAS. Even though, FCR is still a very important statistic. FCR does determine how fast you will Teleport and Mind Blast.

Assassin FCR Frames

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

We will be using an 11 frame casting rate almost exclusively. A 102 % FCR setup is almost NEVER useful in comparison with what you would have to sacrifice to make it accessible.



Increased Attack Speed

Increased Attack Speed is the statistic that determines how fast you attack with melee skills, and how fast you summon your traps.

Will be aiming for atleast 10 FPA trap laying speed, PLEASE don't get suckered into using two suwayyahs.

An IAS calculator can be found here (JSP messes with the direct link to it, so follow this link and click on the IAS calculator link):
http://www.diablo2.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11633





Section II: Skill allocation and stat distribution

Over the years many different variations of the Hybrid have been brought into the PvP scene, some with more success than others. Here are some of the more commonly used, and better builds IMO:

Standard Hybrid

• Venom - 20
• Lightning Sentry - 20
• Charged Bolt Sentry - 20
• Death Sentry - 20
• Shock Web - 1-20, invest in this skill last after investing in all utility skills needed.
• Mind Blast - 1-2, there's been quite a few arguments on rather or not putting 2 hard points into Mind Blast actually increases how much your Shadow Master uses it. If you feel like you can put it to use then put 2.
• Weapon Block - 1
• Shadow Master - 1
• Dragon Claw - 1
• Blade Shield 0 - 1, this is only optional, if you don't think you can put it to use then spend the points in a trap synergy.
• Prerequisites - 1

Shadow Bruiser

• Venom - 20
• Claw Mastery - 20
• Lightning Sentry - 20
• Charged Bolt Sentry - 20
• Death Sentry - 1-20
• Mind Blast - 1-2
• Weapon Block - 1
• Shadow Master - 1
• Dragon Claw - 1
• Blade Shield 0 - 1
• Prerequisites - 1

Stalker

• Venom - 20
• Mind Blast - 20
• Lightning Sentry - 20
• Charged Bolt Sentry - 20
• Death Sentry - 1-20
• Claw Mastery - 1
• Weapon Block - 1
• Shadow Master - 1
• Dragon Claw - 1
• Blade Shield 0 - 1
• Prerequisites - 1

The Standard Hybrid is a balanced build with substantial WW and LS damage, and is the most common of the listed builds. The Trap based Hybrid will use the same skills as a Standard Hybrid, but focus more gear towards LS damage. The Shadow Bruiser is a Standard Hybrid with a 20 pt Claw Mastery, leaving it with a higher WW damage and more AR, but a dent in trap damage. Lastly, the Stalker is a Standard Hybrid with a 20 pt Mind Blast for increased MB damage, stun acceptance duration, and more frequent SM spam.

Stat distribution

This is one of the more simple parts of constructing your Hybrid, and has stayed pretty universal over the years. Enough strength and dexterity to equip all of your setups, taking into mind how much of each stat your items add as they are equipped. The rest of your stats will be dumped into vitality. Even though this build will suffer from a lower mana pool than most, it's not worth investing points into Energy.





Section III: Claw selection

This can be one of the more confusing aspects of putting together your 'sin. There are a variety of base claw speeds that must be averaged to determine your IAS requirements for each trap laying speed breakpoint, and WSM bugging just adds to the confusion.

The primary claws to look for on this build are:

• Greater Talons - 79 strength/dexterity requirements, -30 WSM
• Runic Talons - 115 strength/dexterity requirements, -30 WSM
• Suwayyahs - 99 strength/dexterity requirements (89/89 as ethereal), 0 WSM
• Feral Claws - 113 strength/dexterity requirements, -20 WSM

Greater Talons and Runic Talons are probably the most popular claw types, both with a base weapon speed of -30 WSM. While Runic Talons have a tad bit more damage, Greater Talons have less requirements. If you can equip your Runics without investing hard stats, go for it. Other wise I'd recommend you use GTs. Feral Claws out damage them both, but have large requirements as well and also have a slower base speed. Suwayyahs are almost exclusively used to WSM bug with, explained in detail below:







Section IV: Equipment options

Here I will list options for every slot of equipment, and an example setup for each build.

Helmets

• Circlets - These are widely considered the best overall option among helmets. Even a basic 2 Assassin/20% FCR/2 socket magic circlet can be a great choice. Look for stats, visionary (%AR per level), and resists primarily. You can fill your sockets with Jahs for a boost in life or Bers to fill DR gaps.
• CoA - One of the more popular helmets among PvP builds, CoA has limited uses on a WW 'sin. It forces you to use an FCR amulet to keep your casting breakpoint. You can fill the sockets with Bers or -requirements/resists jewels.
• Shako - Again, a popular helmet among most other builds that has limited uses on this build. It offers better stats than CoA, but no FHR, resists, possibly less DR, and is behind in socket count.
• 08 Valkyrie - One of the more popular duped items, this helmet has a lot to offer to a Hybrid. Covering IAS, FHR, FCR, and FRW all in one piece of equipment is quite the achievement, but beware of unperms.

Claws

• Chaos - One of the few MUST have items for this build. The whirlwind addition on this item can be found no where else besides from hard points on a Barbarian, and it comes packed with juicy mods. Look for LS and Venom primarily.
• Fury - This will be your main claw against opponents with lower defense, especially sorcs and necs. Try to find one with LS and Venom.
• Fool's mod Claw - Fools mod offers AR and max damage based on level, so it is most ideally used against opponents with high defense.

Armors

• Enigma - You will RARELY take off Enigma on this build. Teleporting is one of your biggest assets.

Gloves

• Trang's - Thanks to a double poison application bug, these are the supreme gloves for any Venom orientated WW 'sin.

Belts

• Arachnid's - Due to the lack of FCR from weapons, this will be a major help. It also offers a skill boost.
• Verdungo's - You can use this in conjunction with an FCR amulet or Bramble/Fort setup to get some extra DR.

Boots

• Shadow Dancers - These are an absolutely nasty pair of boots. 2 Shadow skills, massive dexterity, FRW, and FHR are all smiled upon.
• Duped boots - You will want to look for FRW/FHR/Resists on these primarily. They can be an excellent choice, but Hybrids are pretty stressed for dexterity and FHR.

Amulets

• Mara's - An excellent choice for an amulet if you have your FCR breakpoint covered. Offers you a skill boost, some stats, a nice resists.
• Highlord's - This amulet is a melee character's best friend. At higher levels it offers as much as 37% DS, IAS, and a boost to skills with some nice Lightning resists.

Rings

• Ravenfrost - This will provide your source of CBF, and a massive boost to dexterity and AR, with a minor boost to mana.
• Rare/Crafted FCR rings - These will be a necessity on most setups. Look for stats, AR, and resists.

Stash options

• Fortitude/Bramble - These can be put to use against melee characters, primarily Barbarians. The preferred choice for a Hybrid is Bramble.
• Prebuff - This is optional of course, and considered BM in most communities. Can be as simple as a Demon Limb, or as elaborate as 9x Shadow GCs + Venom claws.
• Widowmaker - This can be a pretty nifty tool. You can use it to aggro overly defensive opponents, or go all out l8z spam and use it as draining weapon via Venom and OWs.
• Absorb/Max resists - This is considered BM on nearly all realms, and it should be as it is completely unecessary on a C/C Assassin. If someone is BMing you, though, you have every right to BM back.

Standard Hybrid Shadow orientated/Stalker

• 2/20/2 Ber Ber'd
• Enigma
• Chaos Suwayyah 3 LS/3 Venom
• Fool's/40 IAS/2 socket Runic Talon Um Um'd
• Trang's
• Arachnid's
• Shadow Dancers
• Mara's
• Ravenfrost/Rare or Crafted FCR ring
• 8x Shadow Lifer GCs, 1x Shadow FHR GC, 2x FHR/resists SCs, 8x Life/resists SCs

Standard Hybrid Trap orientated

• CoA Ber -15 requirements/15 resists jewel'd
• Enigma
• Chaos Suwayyah 3 LS/3 Venom
• Fool's/40 IAS/2 socket Greater Talon Um Um'd
• Trang's
• Arachnid's
• 30 FRW/20% FHR/resists boots
• 2 Assassin/15% FCR amulet
• Ravenfrost/Rare or Crafted FCR ring
• 9x Trap Lifer GCs, 10x Life/resists SCs

Shadow Bruiser

• 2/20/2 Ber Ber'd
• Enigma
• Chaos Suwayyah 3 LS/3 Venom
• Fool's/40 IAS/2 socket Feral Claw Um Um'd
• Trang's
• Arachnid's
• Shadow Dancers
• Highlord's
• Ravenfrost/Rare or Crafted FCR ring
• 8x Shadow Lifer GCs, 1x Shadow FHR GC, 2x FHR/resists SCs, 8x Life/resists SCs

Section V: Hotkey examples

Here is my hotkey setup. Use what ever you feel most comfortable with, this is just an example.

• A - Whirlwind
• S - Teleport
• D - Mind Blast
• F - Psychic Hamer
• G - Cloak of Shadows
• Z - LS
• X - WoF
• C - Shadow Master
• Q-Y - Prebuffs (BC/BO/Venom/Blade Shield/Fade/BoS)

This post was edited by _Mork_ on Oct 31 2009 03:54pm

Section VI: A treatise on namelocking/chainlocking with your Assassin

This little section will provide you with some usefull information about chainlocking. Chainlocking is simply namelocking multiple times without breaking the lock for more than a split second. This allows you to continously stay on your target, and when combined with a nice damaging skill and trap locks, it will make taking down your target a much easier job in most situations.

• Namelock
  The first thing to learn is Namelocking. Namelocking is simply clicking on your opponent's character and holding the button down so that their name appears above them (or in what ever direction towards the edge of your screen that they are in.) Namelocking makes it so your attacks target the position where ever your target is (with spell attacks it will shoot at that position, with melee attacks you will walk to that position and attack once your are in range, with whirlwind you will whirl towards that position, with teleport you will teleport directly to that position etc).
  
  You will use namelocking and chainlocking (hopefully) a LOT while dueling on your 'sin. Read further for an explanation of how.
• Using Mindblast for namelocks
  On some builds you will use your main attack to namelock sometimes (Fireball on a Fire 'sorc, Bone Spear on a Bone 'nec). Other times you may use a skill that will do nothing to maintain a lock and not do anything (Unsummon, or Throw) (most commonly on left click). On this build, you will almost always be using Mindblast to obtain a lock. To namelock with mindblast you simply put your cursor over your opponent and cast Mind Blast, but hold the click down. This will continously cast Mind Blast on your opponent's position, untill they are off your map (you can maintain a namelock off screen.)
• Chainlocking with Mindblast and holding your Traplocks
  This tactic will be most useful against Bow 'zons. They will shoot at you untill you get on screen and then (if they have it) switch to their block setup and try to walk out of your traps (some will constantly switch weps and walk to decrease the effects of stun, also known as Wsg). What you will do is close into them (never in a straight line) and set some traps off the corner of your screen. When they are on your screen obtain the namelock with Mindblast. They will start to run, so switch to a trap (via hotkeys) and since you are holding down the right click button it will automatically lay the traps at your trap laying speed. After you have one or two, make sure your cursor is directly on your character and quickly switch to teleport. After you teleport you will lose the lock, so let go of your right click button and click down and hold again. Since you allready have your cursor set on you, and you teleported right on top your opponent you will again have a namelock via mindblast on your opponent. You can mix this in with just about anything. After you teleport, instead of again namelocking with mindblast you can switch to whirlwind and whirlwind in the direction they are running/walking. Remember not to namelock with whirlwind though, or you will be stuck doing that untill either you hit them or they break your lock.
• Chainlocking with a secondary attack
  This tactic, similiar to chainlocking with mindblast, will use a secondary attack (like Dragon Claw or Dragon Talon) and left click.
  First, close in with teleport. Lay your traps on the corner of your screen like with Mindblast chaining. When you see them on your screen you will want to first Mindblast, to initiate the stun icon (swirly icon above their head after being Mindblasted). Quickly switch to teleport (you should allready have a right click namelock with Mindblast from initiating the stun acceptance, and your cursor should allready be on you). When you teleport on top of them, let go of your right click namelock and click and hold left click. This will start a namelock with your secondary skill that should be assigned to your left click. Since at worst situation you allready have the stun icon on them, they will be tolerable to stun from just Dragon Claw (if you did it right traps will also be firing and they will be nearly completely locked up). Dragon Claw offers a high attack rating, and Dragon Talon offers a fast kick and knockback. I chose Dragon Claw over Dragon Talon because you will hit more often and the point is to keep your opponent in place anyway. Smart opponents will try to Wsg (mentioned in Chaining with Mindblast). This will enable them to get out of your trap lock/dclaw attacks and hopefully for them, teleport away. Since you allready have the namelock on left click with dclaw, as soon as your target is out of your attacking range you will begin to walk. As soon as your target gets out of your attacking range, switch on right click to Teleport, and right click. You should allready have your cursor again on you, so when you teleport you will appear right on top of your target again. Let go of right click and again left click with Dragon Claw. You will want to mix this up with Whirlwinds and traplocking.

A video explaining the basics of left click chainlocking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNxsJv_HBHc





Section VII: Open Wounds/Deadly Strike

I decided to take a portion of this guide to go a little in-depth with Open Wounds and Deadly Strike mods, because they will be frequently used on any properly constructed WWsin. Both of these mods are capped at 100%, that is with 100% Open Wounds or Deadly Strike, it will always proc if the hit goes through. I should note, though, that OWs and DS mods on your claws will only apply to that claw, and OWs and DS from other pieces of gear will apply to both claws. Remember that correctly geared WWsins will have a 4 frame WW speed, and only the main hand claw (boot side while WSM bugging, glove side without bugging) will get a hit check at the first frame (4th), and from then on out both claws will get a hit check (8th, 12th, 16th etc etc....)

Open Wounds

Quote (Arreat Summit)

This is a chance of making a monster bleed uncontrollably. They lose health while bleeding. Open Wounds Items stack in most cases.

Duration: 200 frames (that is 8 seconds).

The damage per frame seems to be the following (where Clvl is the attackers level, that is the player's level usually):

Clvl=1-15: (9*Clvl+31)/256
Clvl=16-30: (18*Clvl-104)/256
Clvl=31-45: (27*Clvl-374)/256
Clvl=46-60: (36*Clvl-779)/256
Clvl=61-99: (45*Clvl-1319)/256

If you prefer per second, just multiply by 25:

Clvl=1-15: 25*(9*Clvl+31)/256
Clvl=16-30: 25*(18*Clvl-104)/256
Clvl=31-45: 25*(27*Clvl-374)/256
Clvl=46-60: 25*(36*Clvl-779)/256
Clvl=61-99: 25*(45*Clvl-1319)/256

Some examples:

Clvl 10: 11.8 per sec over 8 seconds for a total of 94.5 damage. Clvl 30: 42.6 per sec over 8 seconds for a total of 340.6 damage. Clvl 50: 99.7 per sec over 8 seconds for a total of 797.7 damage. Clvl 70: 178.8 per sec over 8 seconds for a total of 1430.5 damage. Clvl 90: 266.7 per sec over 8 seconds for a total of 2133.6 damage.

Also, the damage is divided by 4 for a player target. In addition, for a missile versus a player target one should divide the damage by 8 instead.

Finally, versus bosses and champions (could be just bosses or special bosses) the damage is divided by 2.

It is possible to get up to 100% chance for Open Wounds. Anything above 100% is discarded.

Deadly Strike

Quote (Arreat Summit)

This is a chance of doing double damage. All melee damage is doubled, whether its physical, magic or elemental (such as skills Berserk or Vengeance). Deadly strike is the last thing that's applied to your damage, meaning that all other damage modifiers are taken into account as well. Deadly Strike stack in all cases, there is only one chance to trigger a deadly strike blow per hit. There is no cap on how high the chance to trigger a deadly strike can get, but anything over 100% is a waste. Critical Strike (CS) and Deadly Strike (DS) exclude each other. Deadly Strike does not work with Smite.

If you have a 33% Deadly Strike item, and 68% Critical Strike Skill the complete chance to get double damage is:

=CS + (DS/100)*(100-CS)
=68% + (33/100)*32%
=68% + 10.56%
=78.56%

It is possible to get up to 100% chance for Deadly Strike. Anything above 100% is discarded.

Section VIII: Dueling tactics

In this section I will provide some basic dueling tactics and detailed explanation of how to take on any build as well.

• DoD/Tri-whirl - This is a widely used skill among WW builds. Dance of Death or Triangle WW is simply WWing around your opponent and applying hit checks. A triangle is the most commonly use shape, and I usually DoD clockwise. DoDs are best used in succession with namelock teleports, and since you are landing above your enemy on a tele stomp, you should begin your DoDs down and to the right, then continue down to the left, and finally up and to the right. You will want to make your DoDs as tight as possible but make sure you aren't passing through your opponent.
• Drive-by WWs - Also commonly referred to as "passes", a drive by WW is simply a quick WW through or close enough to your enemy to hit them and begin checking hits. This can be put to good use on a Ghost with a lot of OWs, where bleed tactics can be a very successful strategy.
• DClaw chaining - This is performed with the left click mouse button. Obtain your namelock teleport obtain namelock with DClaw. This can be used in rapid succession and works best when you are involving a stun sequence into your chains.

Use CoS willingly, lower defense = better chance for you to hit them.



Druid

Tornado

You will want to play all out offense against Tornado druids and take advantage of their bad FHR. Just because you are playing offensive does not mean you should kamikaze teleport into Nado packs and kill your self. Don't teleport in straight lines when closing in on your opponent. Always start your sequence with traps, this way you are not left open to a tele stomp and if you do get a nice MB lock they are getting pouded by traps constantly. Although you can play a nuetral game fairly successfully against Druids, you'd be better off playing in an offensive manner and making good use of your WW. If you see the druid teleporting away to resummon, that would be a huge opening. Use your DR setups against Nado druids, and Fade for an extra boost to DR.

Volcano/Armageddon

These druids will be played a lot like Tornado druids and are generally less dangerous. You may want to stack Fire resists against these, some of them carry -resists gear and Fire is usually a resist that is scarce from gear. Most of their damage is AoE from armageddon spraying, but skilled namelocker can make Volcano a pain in the ass. Lock them down quick and start DoDing, they'll last about as long as their Cyclone Armor. You will be using Fade for the added resists.

Shape shifters

Firstly, there are Fury and Rabies/Fury varients to worry about. A well geared Fury or Fury varient can take you out in a few Fury sequences, so don't underestimate them. You may want to go as far as disregarding your Shadow Master against Rabies varients because if they get a Rabies off on your summon and it spreads to you it will force you to play VERY offensive, and Fury will be all the more potent in that situation. You can generally play them in a nuetral trapping style and tele drive-by WW when you see an opening. There's also a few Fire Claw Bears that hit hard and fast. You will play them the same as the others. Don't get caught without your traps up, it can be pretty painful. Use Fade aganst all shape shifters.



Paladin

Hammerdins

This is an interesting duel, as always with hammerdins. Usually pub hammerdins are a complete joke and they'll camp in hammer fields. Force them out with traps and bleed them through OWs and Venom by WW passes. Remember to WW south after exiting a namelock teleport to avoid freshly casted hammers. The good hammerdins will use synch willingly, and attempt to tele stomp you and take you out early. A properly built hammerdin will generally kill you in 2 hammers, and Mage will generally take 3. You will play Mages the same as hammerdins. Always keep your SM up because without him it's your clawblock vs losing 1/2 your life. You can use traps to predict when they are synched and coming, the traps will go off anyways. If you are using this tactic it's generally better to have a few LS's out, and a WoF at your feet. Liberators are no different, and I pray everytime I see one that he's dumb enough to charge at me. You will want to use BoS against hammerdins, and Fade against Mages and Libbys. You can go as far as a BoS Widowmaker setup, but it's fairly easy to die with that so I wouldn't recommend it to the inexperienced.

Smiters

Thanks to moderate-high LS damage, these duels are generally easy. This means you can die all the more easy if they are over sorbing. Use your DR setup. You can generally WW away from smiters and let your traps eat them up. If you have a Fools claw with KB, now would be the time to use it. Watch out for tele smites, they can get pretty unpredictable at times. V/Ts and T/Vs are generally a bit tougher. Usually they have around the same Smite damage as a normal smiter, and a substantial FoH damage. You will be using Fade against Smiters.

*Note: You will play Zealers and Smiters the same.



Necromancer

Bone 'necs

Higher WW damage varients of the Hybrid usually do better in this matchup. This will be another cat and mouse game with you playing the feline role, same as against druids. Allthough, necs are a LOT tougher. A good necro can be considered your toughest matchup in GM duels. They will apply constant pressure through IBS, curses, and teeth spam that kills your meat shield. Stay up close and personal, and apply pressure back. Use DClaw chains willingly, they work GREAT against vita necs. It's really just a chess match untill you can establish a nice stun, and in turn a checkmate. Use BoS against necs, and Fade when you are cursed.

Poison 'necs

These you will generally play the same as Bone 'necs. Overall it is not a common build, and you won't run into it much at all. They are usually vita and stack massive revives. If you come across this just lay your traps and MB him out of his revives, and follow with a quick teleport DoD. You will use Fade against poison 'necs, you'll need the resists badly.



Sorceress

All sorcs

You will generally play all sorcs the same. You should stack against cold sorcs, and if you come across Infinity wielding Lightning sorcs, stack for that as well. Any build using a 2H weapon will die really fast. You will use the same tactics, for the most part, against every sorc, and that is chase (not in a straight line) them down, lock them up, and whirl them to death. L8z whore FB/Lightning sorcs can be a bitch sometimes, but just stick with chasing them and try not to run into spam. Those duels generally end as soon as you get a nice stun. If you're up against a camping blizz sorc, lay your traps and MB them out of their blizzard. You can also use Blade Fury. You will use Fade against sorcs for the resists.



Amazon

Bow 'zons
These won't pose much of a problem to you TBH. Circle in on them, lay traps, MB, and begin to whirl. Make sure you are applying pressure with MB and traps if they are WSGing out of your stun. Make sure to recast your SM at any opportunity if she dies. Generally just keep a lock chained will win you the duel, the traps will be constantly eating the zon up even if you can't get WWs off. Use Fade against Bow 'zons.

CS/LF 'zons

CS/LF 'zons aren't much different from Bow 'zons except that they have more life and damage in an element. You will generally use the same tactics against them, close in lay traps MB WW. Some of these 'zons will use a mod called far cast which allows them to auto aim CS's on you. Sorb them willingly and laugh when CS's heal you. You should be Fading against CS/LF zons for resists.



Barbarian

Teleporting Barbs

These can be very tough. You will want to play like a pure C/C trapper. Keep them from getting near you, and learn when the right time to MB is. If they catch you off guard MBing it will take a huge chunk of your life, some times all of it. Don't go for a WW if you don't think its safe, they have WAY more damage coming from that department. Play defensive and pressure them into going too aggressive, and you can catch them with their pants down. I find WoF almost completely useless here, LS does the damage and a nice stun on barbs. If they are over sorbing you simply can not win, they will have more life, more WW damage, and more defense. Use Fade against barbs for added DR. You will generally play BvBs the same way, except NEVER WW.



Assassins

Ghosts

This can be a tough duel for either side. You will want to play a mix of defense and offense, and force them in to making mistakes. Always have your traps up, they do a lot more damage than your counterparts. DO NOT TRADE WHIRLWINDS WITH A GHOST! They maxed Claw Mastery for a reason, more AR and claw damage will hurt you more than you hurt them. Time your WWs and teleports right, and you can win. You should use 50 DR here, they will have high DS and physical WW damage.
Use Fade against Ghosts.

WWsins

Pure wwsins without teleport (Bramble/Fort sins) will generally be easy pickings. You have traps and fast teleport to over power their massive poison damage. You can play them like a barb, and keep them away from you while trapping/MBing. Always stay on your feet, and keep moving. If they are sorbing it can be VERY hard to win, you have to time your wws perfect.


C/C Trapper

One of the best things for you about this duel is you have traps AND WW. Lay your traps on the edges of your screen, and force them out of their trap field. If you catch them off guard, you can take a HUGE chunk out of their life. You will want to play them offensive, and doing drive by whirlwinds can get OWs and Venom on them, and you left untouched. If they are sorbing, you should too as it well hurt them more than you. You should use 48% FHR against good sins, but shouldn't have to bother with it against some campwhores through forcing them out of their trap fields.


Whirlwind/Trap Hybrids

The best strategy I can give you in this department is to go out and find some good hybrids, and duel often. It's best to form your own techniques when it comes to xbuild v xbuild. TBH, just play alert and stay on your feet. Don't make the little mistakes that will cost you the duel, and put a lot of pressure on your opposition. If you feel it slipping away, tele away and pull it together. Think about what you do before you do it, but don't be too slow!





Credits

Isaac (xSmithenatorx2) for hours and hours of sin v sin duels and help with the guide.
Dave (Tienje/Marnou) for help with sin v nec and the WSM bugging chart.
Jordan (Oilerfan) for duels and the idea for me to make a WW 'sin.
Bryant for moderating my guides and making sure no randoms spam/IAS calculator....and for your wife.
John (ImBehindyou) for sin v sin duels.
Sambo (Sambo.) for harsh comments on my first "guide" that helped me to fix it, and lots of duels.
Ollie's Hybrid Guide for inspiring me to play a hybrid sin and write a guide myself.
Max (Ziecheik/ZAIBADDIE/ZAISPAWN) for help with suwayyah info and duels.
TJ (ThatWasShockin) for video of chainlocking and duels.
Rodkneepoo (alia) for having the #1 feminine voice on skype (OH GOD...OH GOD...OH...GOD~!)

Everyone on my flist.
All of the sin community @ USWest NL.

Another Hybrid Sin guide.

This post was edited by Varsity on Sep 9 2009 09:24pm

Wow... you actually put THAT in there....
Fuckin dick

Edit:

I'M VOTING HORRIBLE RATING JUST FOR THAT!

This post was edited by Bryant on Sep 9 2009 09:43pm

Needs a more in depth discussion on the sin builds; which are better for what situation. Needs at least a minor dclaw vs DoD paragraph. Needs a max block setup for barbs. Should use max/ar/life on the shadowbruiser build. I'd remove the valk from the gear section, unless you are aiming for 102fcr I don't see it as being viable at all. I wouldn't advise cos on very many duels at all, considering how it shortens your vision and makes namelocking just that bit harder, wwsins chase so much that anything impeding your chasing is a no go. However, I concede that is probably open to preference and personal opinion.

That is all I see right now, maybe more later.

Didn't we go over that?

Yes, but I still think it should be there. I will never understand why he won't put on more trap damage, more fcr, and nearly 50% more effective life against one of the hybrid's hardest duels. Even if he doesn't like it, people deserve to know about it

This post was edited by xSmithenatorx2 on Sep 9 2009 10:19pm

BUT...BUT..NO COMMENTS ON THE IMG IC....:(

Beautiful guide, and 8th one now? Lol. Also love the pic at the opening.
Strats lack a tiny bit for people who need to be walked through everything, 8/10

This post was edited by Scaryghoul on Sep 10 2009 05:13am

8 edits, yes.