LLD101 Level 9 Min-Damage Tiger Strike Assassin
Introduction to PvP and LLD/MLD PvP
Player vs Player (PvP for short) was an integral part of the game Diablo 2 : Lord Of Destruction (D2LOD). While the PvP community as a % of the total D2LOD population was small, the pursuit of PvP gear invariably made Player vs Monster (PvM) players rich, with players repeating the Leveling, Magic Finding, Upgrading and Selling process each ladder season. This pursuit of PvP items also applied at lower dueling brackets. Low Level Dueling ("LLD") encompasses the dueling brackets 9, 18 & 30 and 49. Level 9 PvP is typically referred to as Very Low Level Dueling or "vLLD" while Level 49 PvP is typically referred to as Mid Level Dueling or "MLD". There are some slight variations to the dueling brackets from time to time i.e. Level 12's with restrictions and characters above level 49, with restrictions, respectively. Duels take place in the Blood More in normal difficulty ( Melee duels might sometimes take place in Inner Cloister) and Mana Potions (and all other potions) are never used. Users have played LLD for decades, spending sometimes years to perfect their characters. Some players to this day are still trying to perfect their character. The Journey to perfection of a PvP character has restarted in the game Diablo 2: Resurrected (D2r) and with changes to the game (FHR, new mechanic's, redundant or missing guides) a new set of guides is being written to support new and old players coming to the game. The journey to perfecting a character may involves tens of hours of effort - its a labor of love and is often frustrating (item availability in particular!), never the less, we all need a HOBBY, and for some people, this is it.
As with all PvP dueling brackets in D2r, the goal is to perfect your character as best you can in order to increase your Life/Damage sothat you can take more hits or kill your opponent faster. The lower the bracket, the more your gear will play an integral part of your success. In this regard players will always seek to Min-Max their characters to perfection. Min-max is a gaming term used to describe the process of minimizing your weaknesses and maximizing your strengths. This means having your character rushed through normal, nightmare and hell, completing Anya and all Stat/Skill Quests (get a friend to help otherwise you might level up by accident), getting a perfect inventory and equipping your character with the best gear possible.
Introduction to Level 9 Builds
(A) Limitations to dueling at Level 9 : This dueling bracket (as with all LLD dueling brackets) has skill, stat and item limitations not seen at the other dueling brackets. (Required Level max = 9 after all). As a consequence there are only certain viable builds with very little room to increase the available class count. Casters are typically in short supply at this dueling bracket noting Enigma (Level 65), never mind Skin of the Viper-magi (Level 29) or Stealth (Level 17) are out of the equation due to Level Restrictions. Furthermore the shortage of available PvP skills in the class skill trees at this level is very restrictive on what you can actually do. Regular builds seen at higher levels "WW Barb" and "Bowa" simply cannot exist.
(B) Damage modifiers at Level 9 : The enhanced damage modifier available at level 9 is far lower then at other brackets. Weapons at this bracket can only get 70% enhanced damage (and thats 2 mods!). Anything over this level and the item requirement will increase beyond the level we want it to be at. This is a far cry from the 450% Enhanced Damage possible at Level 48 or even 165% enhanced damage possible at level 30. In this regard characters at vLLD will typically have Rare Eth-Rep Weapons, making each character unique, which has its own attraction.
(C) Damage to Mana Modifier : With Mana Potions not allowed, and with the limitations on available items while also noting that the mana rolls on items at this level are very low, we also need something to help us to not run out of mana. Enter the Modifier "Damage Taken Goes go Mana" (DTM). This Modifier can spawn on shields and Jewels and effectively solves our mana problems. This is one of the few dueling brackets where this modifier is not useless.
(D) Jewels - the go-to at this level bracket : Most classes at this bracket will use a 3 socket (superior, 15% enhanced defense) Helmet and 4 socket (superior, 15% enhanced defense) Armor. Some will also use a Superior 15% enhanced Defense shield and a superior 15% enhanced damage weapon. All these are Base items, not rare, noting you can get more sockets, and sockets at this level equates to damage.
Sockets - While Ohm grants 50% Enhanced Damage and Magic Jewels 40% Enhanced Damage, we cant use these as the level requirement is too high. 30% Enhanced Damage is also Level 37 so that's out as well. i.e. For all dueling brackets 9-30 the maximum % Enhanced Damage on a Jewel is 20%. This is also why Jewels are so strong at this level - 20ed 4-14 can spawn for jewels (Weapon jewel) while 8Min/-15% Requirements/40ar would be the dream jewel for builds such as this one.
(E) Charms - The elusive 15life 12attack rating charm : One of the steepest "walls" to taking part at this dueling bracket (the same issue is at Level 18 and 30, not so much at 49) is the availability of suitable charms. The perfect charm at this level bracket is a large charm with the modifiers 15 life 12 Attack Rating. When last I checked I saw people offering 1000fg for this charm. So when you are running past unid large charms in Cow Runs or elsewhere, try to remember that finding one of these charms may be a gateway to that Enigma or item you really wanted. It does not matter if it is Ladder or Non Ladder.
Overview of Level 9 Min-Damage Tiger Strike Assassin Build
Tiger Strike assassins ("TS Sin") are very strong at this bracket due to their incredibly fast attack, high damage output and high attack rating (that scales from the skill tiger strike and from claw mastery). The main strategy is to use Tiger Strike to charge up your attack until you have 3 charges, and then switch to normal attack to offload the charges. With the changes in Patch 2.4 of D2r, each normal attack only costs one charge, so after you've accumulated 3 charges from tiger strike, you have 3 empowered normal attacks.
This Guide is championing the Min-Damage Jewel approach - Ths approach uses Jewels with "8 Minimum Damage" (this is 2 mod's of +4 Min and +4 Min) throughout your item slots in order to raise your minimum damage to such an extent that it results in your damage being equalised (where min damage = max damage). While this might take a bit of head scratching, noting at Level 9 jewels can spawn 14 Max damage (this is also 2 mods, 9max + 5max) , the net affect of building your character with 8Min Damage Jewels is that your character will do more damage then using a 14max damage jewel. TLDR: A 8min damage jewel is effectively better then a 16max (which cant even spawn) jewel. The Dream Jewels for our Min Damage TS Sin would therefore be (Armor) 8 Minimum Damage -15% Requirements with 40 Attack Rating (Mask and Shield) 8 Min 3 Dexterity 40 Attack Rating and (Weapon) 20% Enhanced Damage 8 Minimum Damage 40 Attack Rating.
As with a lot of builds in LLD everyone wants to see your rare weapon. While you may start with a Superior 15% Enhanced Damage 3 Socket Blade Talon, the end game weapon you are looking for is a Rare Eth Replenish Quantity "Eth Rep" Blade Talon with 10ias, 70% Enhanced Damage, 2 Sockets and with the Chance to Cast Amplify Damage "CTC Amp" modifier. While such a weapon is not expected to be seen anytime soon, mentioning it might be the first step to actually seeing it as awareness of what good looks like, is a serious mountain for the wider D2r community, to overcome.
Unless you manage to trade an amazing weapon (unlikely, for the reasons outlined above), the journey of getting your End-Game weapon will involve making new characters, rushing them to Level 18 and imbuing new Eth Blade Talons over and over again as you rush new characters. These Base ethereal items (superior quality is irrelevant) typically sell for between 5fg - 10fg each (throughout all cycles of ladder/non-ladder). While there is a recipe to reroll rare items (x6 Pskulls + item) this would change your base Eth item to Non Eth, therefore this recipe cannot be used in this endeavor. The 6Pskull + Item would however be used to re-roll jewels (more on this later). so TLDR: Ethereal weapons do way more damage then non ethereal ones and a TS Sin wants a 10ias Eth Repl %ED Weapon for End Game completion of character. The journey to completing you character may be long and winding but remember - the Journey is sometimes more exciting then arriving at your destination!
Pros to the Build
High Damage and High Attack Rating
Low Strength and Dexterity Requirements
High Life
Cons to the Build
Low Defense (no skills to augment this)
As with all vLLD Builds item availabilty is a massive problem
Time and FG cost to making a very good one is very daunting
This post was edited by ferdia on Nov 30 2022 07:35am
D2:R