Hello Good People!

I've got bored with playing on battlenet (very few people play and most of them are bots) and decided to challange myself with single player playthrough using non standard character build with some restrictions on top of that. Got inspired by my BN colleague who is doing right now Druid Mauler playthrough [URL]https://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=82499305&f=161[/URL] :) Decided to create this topic to motivate myself and also I hope on some advices along the way as well.

Character I've chosen is Pheonix Strike assassin - should be able to handle most of the hell mode. Here are some additional restrictions I set for myself:

• D2 LoD
  
• Patch 1.14D
  
• No mods, not even Plugyy
  
• Hardcore
  
• Players 8 all the way - maybe will lower this for MFing, but all quests and bosses must be done using p8 setting
  
• 100% selffound
  
• Restricted to dual claws - come on, it doesn't count if you are using other weapons as assassin!
  

Here's my idea so far:

Never played assassin this way. Path I've chosen will require me to use different mechanics and should be rather intense (timing attacks, using multiple skills) - nice change after smashing BN games with stupidly strong items. Phoenix Strike should allow me to handle immunities in hell mode. Damage comes from skill level so I won't need superb weapon. I'll have:

• good mobility thanks to BoS and Dragon Flight.
  
• Good survivability because of Fade, Weapon Block, Cloak of Shadows and Mind Blast.
  
• A lot of fun, because of nicely looking skill effects :)
  

Skills:

• Phoenix Strike - 20 - main skill
  
• Fists of Fire - 20 - synergy + lvl 6-18 main skill
  
• Claws of Thunder - 20 - synergy + lvl 18-30 main skill
  
• + prereqs
  
• 1 in every Shadow Disciplines tree
  

Wish me luck, let's see how long I survive (or my assassin)

Started playing yesterday, I'm already act 2. Here are some observations

• dual claw attacks are very fast, especially with Burst of Speed! Hard to stop at 1st charge
  
• Firsts of Fire is very strong skill in the beggining. Good aoe damage, especially 3rd stack (flames) is good vs groups if you can keep monsters in one spot
  
• So far I do not need great gear to progress through the game, let's see when it will change :)

Here's my 1st unique! Not that usefull
[IMG]https://imgur.com/uHv6TCC[/IMG]

Andy done, let's do act 2! Map is not that great unfortunately - long way to cata 4 :/
[IMG]https://imgur.com/2vGr7zh[/IMG]

edit: hmm, looks like I do not have enough posts to attach images and urls...

This post was edited by el_profesor on Jan 20 2020 10:52am

I think you need 15 posts to do pics, goodluck! On the dual strike skills you can’t get 1 charge unless you miss an attack, phx strike uses your main claw for each charge

Well, that explains everything, thanks!! I may need to rethink my skill points distribution - maybe there is no point in investing into synergy for 1st charge of phx strike

I’d suggest skipping the fire one and focusing on the lightning one and cold one plus phx strike. I got to lvl 60 something and died in nightmare but had a blast doing it! BOS is awesome

Hi there and gl with your wt

You do know that its possible to add ladder runewords without plugy?

Just download the runeword.txt document and follow a guide on YouTube

That's interesting! Now I have to convience my consious that it won't be cheating ;)


I heard people were complaining about cold charge of phx strike. 1st one (fire) was supposed to be good vs bosses due to long lasting flames -> more dmg

Yeah to be honest I didn’t really use phx strike too much, I was using claws of thunder and it was kicking ass. I’ll try and link my walk thru, I died against meph in nightmare at p8 twice and gave up after maybe 4 tries 😂

But against bosses you need CB and IAS mostly

This post was edited by pocketwatch on Jan 20 2020 12:34pm

I watched an interview with Schaeffer (D2 creator) where he said that he didn't know why runewords were disable in single-player. I use that as justification that runewords are just an oversight and therefore okay

OK, you convienced me :)