The Comprehensive Guide To Assassins
Version 2.0
Made by Thostos
aka The Rain

Table of Contents:

Introduction

I've been playing assassins for a while and I thought I'd contribute some of my knowledge and builds. Under no condition these builds are absolute. They can always be changed for as long as you hit certain breakpoints. This is meant as a guide and I will look deeper into some of the most common gear choices. For better detail about why assassins rule, check http://xepolite.technocow.nl/FAQ.

The trap-based hybrid

This assassin will utilize traps as the main attack.

Equipment

Helm: only option here would be coa. Try to get 2 socks with 15 dr. Don't mind the resists too much. Socleted with 15 ias 15 all res and following jewel could be 15 all res and 15 requirements. I'd use -15 req, 30 cold or light resis and 9 strength jewel. You only need light or cold resists to stack cold mastery or conviction from mage/foher. The reason for -15 req 9 strength jewel is simple. You can use coa with lower req and it adds 9 strength which is vital for equipping shadow dancers.

Armor: Enigma. No other choice. The reason should be clear too. If not, then read on! Enigma is better than bramble in many ways. First of all and the most important of all, MOBILITY. Mobility >>>> damage by far. How much damage helps you, if you cannot catch your opponent? Second, enigma provides way more life.

Amulet: 2 assassin 15+ fcr stats amulet. Try to get amulet with much strength, life, dexterity and all resis.

Gloves: Trang ouls. 20 fcr, Cold Resist +30%, +25% Poison Skill Damage.

Boots: Shadow dancers. 2 shadow skills, 30 frw, 30 fhr and 25 dexterity. You can use any dupes too if you wish, these are not vital to the build and can be replaced. Though, more damage, frw, fhr and life is always nice, no?

Belt: Arachnid mesh. 1 all skills, 20 fcr, increases max mana 5%

Rings: 20/250 raven. You need the dexterity and cannot be frozen. The ar add is nice too
Second ring should be fcr ring. Try to aim for ar, life, dexterity, all resis, mana in that order.

Second weapon slot: Call to arms, duh. try to get 6 bo. Linked with spirit, you can precast your fade and gain +3 skills to it. same with venom.

The claws: Here's where people mess up big time. They usually want suwayyahs. They are good on bramblesin but for hybrid, you want ABSOLUTELY fast claws.
With a claw that has WSM (weapon speed modifier) of [-20], you need 40 ias on the claw with additional 15 ias from elsewhere (hence, the 15 ias jewel in coa). This kind of claw would be Feral Claw. Either rare with 40 ias or fury. With WSM of [-30] (runic talons, greater talons) you only need 30 ias + 15 from elsewhere. Fury or chaos in this kind of claw gets the job done. ( http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i233/Rain_08/Screenshot296.jpg )

Primary claw is the one above gloves. Left claw from you and assasins right claw. Keep in mind though, that you need to hit 60 ias with the primary claw (that is WSM + the ias on your claw, for example a claw with WSM -20, you need 40 ias)

Example: You have chaos feral claws and fury runic talon. You place fury on the slot above your gloves and you got 9 frames trap laying.
Example 2: You have fools claw with 30 ias, 2 sock, um um. Let's say it's a feral claw. You'd need 40 ias on it to reach 9 frames trap laying. Your other claw is chaos runic talon. This setup won't get you 9 frames trap placing no matter what way the claws are. Not with 15 ias from equipment. What you need to do, is either sacrifice ww and use fury runic talon as primary claw or take out 1 um from the fools claw and stick in 15 ias jewel or shael.



60 ias with claw + wsm and 15 ias from equipment.

Skills to aim in from claws.

3 ls, dragon flight, shadow master, blade shield, mind blast.

Stash

Kiras (15/15)
Angelics
Thundergod
2 assassin 20 fcr helm possibly with stats (str is nice)
Jade Talon
Verdungos
Any prebuff stuff you might need
Demon limb (for enchant)
Any absorb you might need

Inventory

9* trap skillers with as high life as possible or 2* fhr skillers to gain 86 fhr with 1 fhr sc
10* scs with life/all res or life/light res or life/cold res (9 scs + 1 fhr sc)
you can use some 20/17s life/mana if you need mana badly
anni + torch of course

ALTERNATIVE: If you wish to have more damage (4k:ish without prebuff) then swap trap skillers to shadow skillers. This would result in ~7k trap and ~3,5k - 4k ww but is not worth it imo.

Skills

Here's where people usually get confused.
+1 Fire Blast
+20 Shock Web
+20 Charged Bolt Sentry
+20 Lightning Sentry
+20 Death Sentry
+1 Claw Mastery
+1 Burst of Speed
+1 Fade
+20 Venom
== 104 skills which are achieved at lvl 93 with all skill quests
Shadow master and mind blast and df should be got from claws. These save loads of skills.

Prebuff

When you swap your skillers to shadow skillers, enigma to bramble, 3 shadow 30 str amulet, 3 shadow 30 str circlet, 6 venom 2 sock +10% claws*2 and venom yourself, you will have 5k+ damage and when you change to your original equip, your venom damage will stay as it was when you casted it with prebuff gear.
NOTE: When you cast venom with bramble, it applies the 50% bonus twice to the venom (50% when you cast the venom and other 50% from bramble when you wear it) so when you take bramble off, you will lose ~1k damage.

General Dueling Strats

Always make sure you have 5 traps out. Play corners. ( http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i233/Rain_08/Screenshot299.jpg ) That way you have advantage over another trapper and usually against most other chars. Don't fall in to camping. That way you're an easy prey to everyone + they all will hate you. Instead, try to be offensive trapper. With proper tactic and offensive play + abusing corners, you can beat even the best. ( http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i233/Rain_08/Screenshot125.jpg )

Detailed Dueling Strats

Amazon

Bowazon
Your claw block really comes to the aid here. Always be on the offensive. Namelock, mb, trap, tele, ww. Abuse the enviroment to dodge arrows. They are mostly easy and can be killed with only ww + mb.

Javazon
Good ones can kill you in few hits. The general thing to do here is short wws and keeping her locked most of the time in dodge/fhr lock so she can't attack. That should be easy with 5 traps + short wws. If you still can't kill the good ones, you might have to slap on tg. For farcasting javazon, nevermind about gm shit. Just slap on 2 wisps and tg. fcr is not important here.

Assassin

WWsin
Use shadow skillers, slap on fools and you're pretty much good to go. You will have slightly lower damage than him, but you got 5 traps to aid and higher ar (most likely.) If he's using a bramble, you can just keep up distance with teleport. Remember to have 5 traps down at all times. If you got problems, use death's gloves for extra poison resist and reduced poison length duration. You could slap on andys visage too. Fools claw evens up pure ww fight, I've won an assassin 5-0 (with my ghost though) when I had way lower damage and life but I was using fools claw.

Trapper
She has advantage over you in damage, so you need to play better. Use corners to gain the advantage in reach. Always approach from south since that way you got much bigger screen.

Hybrid, mirrormatch
Heh.. one of my favourite duels. Treat like trapper, this fight is much based on skill and how well you can abuse the corners. If you need to use absorb, slap on tg and use 20 fcr helm. You can get advantage over him using fools claw too.

WW Barbs
If the barb is bvb, you won't have much problems. Low ww damage does not matter here since you don't want to ww him. He probably will have fortitude as armor so you don't have to worry about him catching you up. Just trap him, keep on the offensive. If he absorbs, start crying about it, say "5-0'd thanks" and s/e.
For bvc, you will need to use the same tactics pretty much.. You still can't ww him much because you will lose in ww against ww match. But since you got 5 traps with 12k damage at your aid, don't be afraid to abuse them. Get the barb in the middle of the traps. You can try and encounter him with ww if you are sure that your traps will deal damage at the same time. Otherwise, don't bother. Good bvcs will kill you most of the time but you can still give them hard time.

Druid

Windies
Stun is your friend here. Always have 5 traps down and be prepared to mb asap you get him in your screen. Let your traps to hit him first before trying to ww, so he doesn't have oak and wolves/bear protecting. _always_ when he flees to recast cyclone armor or minions, get after him. You might be able to catch him recasting and in the process inflict damage to him.

Rabies/Fury
Treat like any other melee, keep your distance. Remember that ww is uninterruptable so you can do few bypass whirlwinds on him. ALWAYS keep 5 traps down. You can close in on him by laying few traps down next to him. If he comes to you, just ww. If he runs away, follow, rinse and repeat.

Paladin

Smiters
Generally fairly easy, but always a threat. Ok, first off, slap on fools claw and angelics. Keep coa on, you need the dr. You might want to swap for shadow skillers to gain higher claw block. With angelics and fools claw you got very nice (20k-30k+) ar so you will most likely hit him well. He will most likely start charging at you so when he does, ww away. If he runs, feel free to ezpk him using ww only. If he walks, have traps all around you at all times, mind blast him so that he can't walk and asap move traps to him. If he starts charging at you to get free of the mind blast, ww quickly on the direction he is charging.

Hammerdins
The pub hdins are easy. They rarely even charge so all you got to do is just follow him and keep on aggressive with traps.
The better hdins pose a threat, though. They most likely will charge and desync. Lightning sentry shoots him even though he's desynced so if you look closely when they start shooting nothing, you can actually predict where he's going or where he is. Try making long whirlwinds to the direction you suppose he is going, lay down a few traps too. If you get him in your screen, namelock and mind blast him. Mind blast slows charge down and occasionally reverts him back to where he was a while ago. Namelock mind blast and then tele ww. Claw block and shadow are your friends here. Always have shadow out when you are going to namelock tele on him.
If you need ar, use fools and/or angelics. You'll lose 65 fcr break with angelics though. Alternative is hsarus boots and belt and 20 fcr circlet with fools.

Foher
Lmao, stack resis and use tg, if you still lose, quit d2.

Necromancer

Boner
Use bos so his golem can't slow you down. Try to aim for 86 fhr. Bartucs helps alot here. He can definitely outrange and snipe you so don't bother camping, always move and try to catch him with df when you get him in your screen. Traps are not that useful because if he's skilled, he can avoid them.

Poison nova
Thank god for fade.
He needs to get close to hit with psn nova so just have traps always down, try to tele to him right after he casted nova so that nova wont hit you. If you got any problems (fade lowers curse durations so lower resis is not that useful for him) then slap on deaths gloves and use 20 fcr circlet.

Sorceress

FB sorc
They hurt, yikes. Most of them can be dealt with ease but good ones can tank your traps for a while and kill you. So never stay still and let fb hit you. Try to catch her in mind blast, shadow helps here alot since she can stun her. MB -> ls -> mb -> tele -> ww. Any problems with her, so slap on infernostrides to stay legit and not hear complaints about hotties ^^

Blizz sorc
Hazardous. Without stacked resis they can 1-hit-ko you. But with stacked resis and 1 raven you should have no problem against them, stay cautious and treat like fb sorc.

Orb sorc
These are telespamming nitwits. They rely on you chasing them. 1 raven and stacked resis will allow you to rip through them with ease. Don't push your luck and go through the centre of the orb though. It hurts even with max absorb.

Light sorc
They got the same range than you. They can 1-hit-ko you too, but since the damage range is something like 7-46k, it will happen rarely. Tg and 20 fcr circlet is the way to go.

Any 9x es sorc no block
One df combined with ww brings their life down to 1. Then you can finish her up with mb easy. If you want to do it with style, let your shadow do it, just tele close to her and shadow should mb or df her.

Any 9x es sorc with max block
Fairly hard. Be more cautious here than anywhere. They can tank your traps for a while and it's hard to hit them too. If you can't hit her with 1-2 wws, retreat, put your traps up fast in case she follows. Don't chase her much down, you must always be near your traps.

The ww-based hybrid

This assassin will be devastating with strong whirlwind and medium traps. (around 7k trap damage and 4k whirlwind)

Equipment

Helm: 2 assassin 20 fcr 2 socket helm with mods (life/mana preferably, you'd want to be able to change helm) Socketed with 2*15/15 jewels. Sort of poor-mans 08 valkyrie ^__^ 2 assassin skills is imperative. You need as much skills as possible for both shadow and trap trees. Some prefer to also have 30% frw in the circlet but it's one wasted mod which will not be that often needed (running also reduces claw block).
Some will claim that %ar per level is useful but it's bullshit. 2k ar TOPS and you have to waste another more useful mod for it.
Other choice is shako or some assassin helm with 30 frw but no fcr. You'd need to adjust the rest build though (15 fcr amulet and fcr ring)

Armor: Enigma. No other choice. The reason should be clear too. If not, then read on! Enigma is better than bramble in many ways. First of all and the most important of all, MOBILITY. Mobility >>>> damage by far. How much damage helps you, if you cannot catch your opponent? Second, enigma provides way more life.

Amulet: 2 assassin 5+ fcr stats amulet. Try to get amulet with much strength, life, dexterity and all resis.
2 assassin 15+ fcr stats amulet.

Gloves: Trang ouls. 20 fcr, Cold Resist +30%, +25% Poison Skill Damage.

Boots: Shadow dancers. 2 shadow skills, 30 frw, 30 fhr and 25 dexterity. Waterwalks have frw, dexterity and life. If you think you won't be needing extra 2 shadow skills, then be my quest and use them. You can use any dupes too if you wish, these are not vital to the build and can be replaced. Though, more damage, frw, fhr and life is always nice, no?

Belt: Arachnid mesh. 1 all skills, 20 fcr, increases max mana 5%

Rings: xx/250 raven. You need the ar and cannot be frozen. nevermind about the dexterity though.
Second ring should be another raven or absorb ring or soj or bk.. actually you can use just about anything.
If you use helm without fcr, you must use fcr ring. I suggest getting one with ar, life, all res, mana.

Second weapon slot: Call to arms, duh. try to get 6 bo. Linked with spirit, you can precast your fade and gain +3 skills to it. same with venom.

The claws: Here's where people mess up big time. They usually want suwayyahs. They are good on bramblesin but for hybrid, you ABSOLUTELY want fast claws.
With a claw that has WSM (weapon speed modifier) of [-20], you need 40 ias on the claw with additional 15 ias from elsewhere. This kind of claw would be Feral Claw. Either rare with 40 ias or fury. With WSM of [-30] (runic talons, greater talons) you only need 30 ias + 15 from elsewhere. Fury or chaos in greater talons or runic talons gets the job done. ( http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i233/Rain_08/Screenshot296.jpg )

You need 63 ias with -20 + -30 wsm claws but only 42 ias with 2*-30 wsm claws.

Reason why I suggest socketing helm with 2*15/15s is simple. You can use say, bartucs and have 86% fhr against necromancer/paladin but still have 9 frames trap placing.

Skills to aim in from claws.

3 ls, dragon flight, shadow master, blade shield, mind blast.

Stash

Kiras (15/15)
Angelics
Thundergod
Jade Talon
Coa with -req jewel + ber for maximum dr when needed.
Verdungos
Any prebuff stuff you might need
Demon limb (for enchant)
Any absorb you might need
Sandstorm Treks
3 socket 20 fcr circlet (socketed with 3 shaels or 3*7 fhr/mods jewels)

Inventory

9* shadow with as high life as possible. If you use waterwalks, you need 2*12 fhr grand charms and 1*5 fhr sc
10* scs with life/all res or life/light res or life/cold res (9 scs + 1 fhr sc)
you can use some 20/17s life/mana if you need mana badly
anni + torch of course

Skills

Here's where people usually get confused.
+1 Fire Blast
+20 Shock Web
+20 Charged Bolt Sentry
+20 Lightning Sentry
+20 Death Sentry
+1 Claw Mastery
+1 Burst of Speed
+1 Fade
+20 Venom
== 104 skills which are achieved at lvl 93 with all skill quests
Shadow master and mind blast and df should be got from claws. These save loads of skills.

General Dueling Strats

Since this is more ww-based assassin, you will have easier time with some chars and harder with some. Same basic rules apply here. Do_NOT_camp. You will be easy prey if you start camping and trust your traps blindly.

Your primary damage-dealer is whirlwind of course.

Detailed Dueling Strats

Amazon

Bowazon
Gear changes: possibly coa for extra dr
Your claw block really comes to the aid here. Always be on the offensive. Namelock, mb, trap, tele, ww. Abuse the enviroment to dodge arrows. They are mostly easy and can be killed with only ww + mb.

Javazon
Gear changes: wisp/tg
Good ones can kill you in few hits. The general thing to do here is short wws and keeping her locked most of the time in dodge/fhr lock so she can't attack. That should be easy with 5 traps + short wws. If you still can't kill the good ones, you might have to slap on tg. For farcasting javazon, nevermind about gm shit. Just slap on 2 wisps and tg. fcr is not important here.

Assassin

WWsin
Gear changes: Sandstorm treks.
You will not have as much dr as she will have, but does that even matter here? If she's using a bramble, you can just keep up distance with teleport. Remember to have 5 traps down at all times. If you find yourself in a situation where you have 5 traps down, be safe to go in and start whirling short whirls. If you got problems, use death's gloves for extra poison resist and reduced poison length duration. You could slap on andys visage too. Fools claw evens up pure ww fight, I've won an assassin 5-0 (with my ghost though) when I had way lower damage and life but I was using fools claw.

Trapper
Gear changes: tg
She has advantage over you in damage, so you need to play better. Use corners to gain the advantage in reach. Always approach from south since that way you got much bigger screen.

Hybrid, mirrormatch
Heh.. one of my favourite duels. Treat like trapper, this fight is much based on skill and how well you can abuse the corners. If you need to use absorb, slap on tg and use 20 fcr helm. You can get advantage over him using fools claw too.

WW Barbs
Gear changes: coa, maybe dungos
If the barb is bvb, you won't have much problems. Low ww damage does not matter here since you don't want to ww him. He probably will have fortitude as armor so you don't have to worry about him catching you up. Just trap him, keep on the offensive. If you prebuff the fuck out of your sin, you could try head-to-head with whirlwinds. I've done that, it's not impossible but it's _hard_. If he absorbs, start crying about it, say "5-0'd thanks" and s/e.
For bvc, you will need to use the same tactics pretty much.. You still can't ww him much because you will lose in ww against ww match. But since you got 5 traps with 7k damage at your aid, don't be afraid to abuse them. Get the barb in the middle of the traps. You can try and encounter him with ww if you are sure that your traps will deal damage at the same time. Otherwise, don't bother. Good bvcs will kill you most of the time but you can still give them hard time.

Druid

Windies
Gear changes: coa
Stun is your friend here. They have some of the worst fhr frames in the game. Always have 5 traps down and be prepared to mb asap you get him in your screen. Let your traps to hit him first before trying to ww, so he doesn't have oak and wolves/bear protecting. _always_ when he flees to recast cyclone armor or minions, get after him. You might be able to catch him recasting and in the process inflict damage to him.

Rabies/Fury
Treat like any other melee, keep your distance. Remember that ww is uninterruptable so you can do few bypass whirlwinds on him. ALWAYS keep 5 traps down. You can close in on him by laying few traps down next to him. If he comes to you, just ww. If he runs away, follow, rinse and repeat.

Paladin

Smiters
Gear changes: angelics, fools, coa
Generally fairly easy, but always a threat. Ok, first off, slap on fools claw and angelics, you might want to use coa too if you need the dr. With angelics and fools claw you got very nice (20k-30k+) ar so you will most likely hit him well. He will most likely start charging at you so when he does, ww away. If he runs, feel free to ezpk him using ww only. If he walks, have traps all around you at all times, mind blast him so that he can't walk and asap move traps to him. If he starts charging at you to get free of the mind blast, ww quickly on the direction he is charging.
The good ones will desynch charge at you. If he goes out of your minimap, you can expect that he will be desynched next time he comes around. Spread your traps and _teleport_ around. Don't stand still, he will have easy time to aim at you. Your traps will start shooting at him even if he's desynched so you can predict where he is. Teleport there and whirlwind.

Hammerdins
Use bos so you can run around. Actually works better than teleport against these. Always walk down when he teleports on you. The pub hdins are easy. They rarely even charge so all you got to do is just follow him and keep on aggressive with traps. The better hdins pose a threat, though. They most likely will charge and desync. Lightning sentry shoots him even though he's desynced so if you look closely when they start shooting nothing, you can actually predict where he's going or where he is. Try making long whirlwinds to the direction you suppose he is going, lay down a few traps too. If you get him in your screen, namelock and mind blast him. Mind blast slows charge down and occasionally reverts him back to where he was a while ago. Namelock mind blast and then tele ww. Claw block and shadow are your friends here. Always have shadow out when you are going to namelock tele on him.
If you need ar, use fools and/or angelics. You'll lose 65 fcr break with angelics though. Alternative is hsarus boots and belt with fools.

Foher
Lmao, stack resis and use tg, if you still lose, quit d2.

Necromancer

Boner
Gear changes: bartucs, waterwalks, 3 socket 20 fcr helm with 3 shaels (86 fhr)
Use bos so his golem won't slow you down that much. If you start camping (which you shouldn't) he can outsnipe you. Your only hope actually is that shadow gets to mind blast him when you can close in with your own mind blast + traps stunlock. Luckily venom goes through bone armor. I find it a good strategy that you chase the necromancer, but quickly change direction and start running away. This might attract him into charging at you which will result in an easy flash of mb/ww.

Poison nova
Thank god for fade.
He needs to get close to hit with psn nova so just have traps always down, try to tele to him right after he casted nova so that nova wont hit you. If you got any problems (fade lowers curse durations so lower resis is not that useful for him) then slap on deaths gloves and use 20 fcr circlet.

Sorceress

FB sorc
They hurt, yikes. Most of them can be dealt with ease but good ones can tank your traps for a while and kill you. So never stay still and let fb hit you. Try to catch her in mind blast, shadow helps here alot since she can stun her. MB -> ls -> mb -> tele -> ww. Any problems with her, so slap on infernostrides to stay legit and not hear complaints about hotties ^^

Blizz sorc
Hazardous. Without stacked resis they can 1-hit-ko you. But with stacked resis and 1 raven you should have no problem against them, stay cautious and treat like fb sorc.

Orb sorc
These are telespamming nitwits. They rely on you chasing them. 1 raven and stacked resis will allow you to rip through them with ease. Don't push your luck and go through the centre of the orb though. It hurts even with max absorb.

Light sorc
They got the same range than you. They can 1-hit-ko you too, but since the damage range is something like 7-46k, it will happen rarely. Tg and 20 fcr circlet is the way to go.

Any 9x es sorc no block
One df combined with ww brings their life down to 1. Then you can finish her up with mb easy. If you want to do it with style, let your shadow do it, just tele close to her and shadow should mb or df her.

Any 9x es sorc with max block
Fairly hard. Be more cautious here than anywhere. They can tank your traps for a while and it's hard to hit them too. If you cant hit her with 1-2 wws, retreat, put your traps up fast in case she follows. Don't chase her much down, you must always be near your traps.

Ghost assassin, kick/ww variant.

This is the build I'm using at the moment. It crushes multiple opponents 1v1 but is not as good in xv1 situation (hybrid assassin is better there).
With this build, you are going to reach 50 dr, 9 frames trap placing, 4 fpa ww, 11 frames casting, 30 fhr, 15k ar, ~4k ww, 7/3 frame kicks with 3 kicks.

Equipment

Helm: 3 shadow 20 fcr 2 sock circlet with 2*15 ias 15 all res jewels ( http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i233/Rain_08/Screenshot300.jpg )
You need 30 ias in your helm because for a runic talon on primary hand and jade talon off-hand you need:
63 IAS to get 9 frame trapping
68 IAS to get 7/3 kicking

Armor: Enigma. No other choice. The reason should be clear too. If not, then read on! Enigma is better than bramble in many ways. First of all and the most important of all, MOBILITY. Mobility >>>> damage by far. How much damage helps you, if you cannot catch your opponent? Second, enigma provides way more life.

Amulet: 2 assassin 5+ fcr stats amulet. Try to get amulet with much strength, life, dexterity and all resis.

Gloves: Trang ouls. 20 fcr, Cold Resist +30%, +25% Poison Skill Damage.

Boots: Shadow dancers. 2 shadow skills, 30 frw, 30 fhr and 25 dexterity.

Belt: Arachnid mesh. 1 all skills, 20 fcr, increases max mana 5%

Rings: 20/250 raven. You need the dexterity and cannot be frozen. The ar add is nice too
Second ring can be any ring with stats or if you need absorb, you can use wisp/dwarf there. I, personally, use second raven but I'm planning to get a ring with 1xx ar 1x dex 3x life with mana and/or all resistances.

Second weapon slot: Call to arms, duh. try to get 6 bo. Linked with spirit, you can precast your fade and gain +3 skills to it. same with venom.

Claws: I like to use fools claw most of the time when pubbing. When 1v1, you need to decide which claw combination is the best. vs necromancer, bartucs is useful because it helps you to reach 86 fhr. Usually I go with fools as primary claw and chaos as secondary. You don't actually need any skills here.

The only ias that matters here is that which is on your primary claw and your equipment NOT INCLUDING your off-hand claw.

NOTE: Chaos runic plus the 30 IAS in your helm only gives 65 ias. You keep your trapping but lose your max kick speed. You still have 3 frame follow-up kicks, but your initial kick is 8 frames.

For two runic talons or any claws with -30 WSM you need:
42 IAS to get 9 frame trapping
46 IAS to get 7/3 kicking speed

For a runic talon on primary hand and jade talon off-hand you need:
63 IAS to get 9 frame trapping
68 IAS to get 7/3 kicking

NOTE: Whenever the game looks for mods for kicks, it looks at your primary claw. Another reason more why you want to have fury as primary. Malice wont help as off-hand (if you wanted 100 ow ^^) If you are going to ww most of the time, then it could be good choice to make malice in runic talon (or any -30 WSM claw) and use it as secondary claw with chaos. That extra ow helps alot vs sorc.

( http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i233/Rain_08/Screenshot302.jpg I use chaos all the time as secondary so I made it in feral claw )

Inventory

9* shadow skillers with as high life as possible or if you want 86 fhr, then use bartucs and 2*12 fhr skillers
10* scs with life/all res or life/light res or life/cold res
you can use some 20/17s life/mana if you need mana badly
anni + torch of course

Skills

+1 Fire Blast
+1 Shock Web
+1 Charged Bolt Sentry
+1 Lightning Sentry
+1 Wake of Fire
+20 Mind Blast
+20 Claw Mastery
+20 Venom
+1 Dragon Flight
+1 Shadow Master
Enough to weapon block for 60% chance to block.
Enough to fade for 50% dr (~14 with cta + spirit and bc)
Enough to dragon talon so you got 3 kicks with bc
( http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i233/Rain_08/Screenshot303.jpg )
( http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i233/Rain_08/Screenshot304.jpg )
( http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i233/Rain_08/Screenshot305.jpg )
Trust me, you don't want more kicks. More kicks means more time still. If your first kick misses, so will the initial kicks. This gives time for the opponent to launch an attack against you. 3 or 4 kicks is nice enough so if you miss, you get off kick animation fast.

General Dueling Strats

Your main weapon vs sorceress will be kicks. They are deadly when combined with ls and wof and mb. If you have noticed, when you mb someone, a swirlie appears on top of them. While it is visible, they will go into hit recovery from every damage made to them, thus your lvl 1 traps are a real killer. ( http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i233/Rain_08/Screenshot308.jpg )

Because you will rarely need ww against sorc, it's better to use high ow + ias claw combined with fury vs sorc. I've noticed though, that using ww vs a sorc with max block is far better than kicks.

The rule of thumb here is that you need to mb them often. Watch your shadow. Whenever she mbs them, it's your chance to lock them. Mb + traps. Remember. mb + mb + wof + mb + ls + mb + wof + df + kicks

vs smiter, you should not worry about kicks. Trap stunning here is quite useful. If they try to walk and maintain their block so your ww cant hit them, lock them with mb + traps. be sure to ww on time though, they might set off in to charge to bust your ass. that's easy hit in if you're fast enough. Always when they charge, just ww away. If they start walking again, repeat the trapping.

NOTE: Never count on claw block to save your ass. Never take a hit so that you can hit them.

Remember that df replaces teleport on close range. Use mind blast to kill those with low health. Hammer paladins can be killed using only mind blast, trust me, I've done that.

Detailed Dueling Strats

Amazon

Bowazon
Claw block to the rescue. Close in circling around like an eagle does on it's prey ^___^ You could also show yourself to her on the minimap, teleport back and then do a wiiiiiide circle around and come from behind (kinky). Just make sure there's enough room to do this.
Most bowazons are glass cannons. Most retarded build ever with like 700 hp. Close in, df and 1 ww. After that you can mind blast her to death. Not even a challenge.
Better bowazons that have upwards to 2-3k life, will pose a bigger threat. You will need tight wws to keep them in dodge animation. Since your ww should hit every 4 frames and dodge animation is 7 frames, you shouldn't have any problems

Javazon
Annoying, mostly. They usually are just farcasters that run to town asap someone competent threatens their life. They do pose a threat if not taken seriously so you still can't go easy on them. Use tg since they can 1-2 hit ko you otherwise.

Assassin

WWsin
This is more skill-based than bvb. Instead of just whirling at right time, you will need to utilize mind blast, df and shadow correctly. Tight wws work better than long whirls. You might want to use death's gloves to nerf your opponent's damage into bits sandstorm treks work wonders too along with andy face. You can win even with 500 hp when the other has 3k left. You just need to wait till she starts mind blasting you (she _will_ teleport at you soon) and wait for the teleport. Immediately start whirling on place. I usually change the timing I mind blast. Sometimes I don't mind blast at all, but I close in quick, do a quick drive-by whirlwind and leave my opponent bleeding.

Trapper
Camping ones are too easy. Just get in and whirl her to dead. Those that constantly are on the move and move their trap field with them are annoying though. You can always lure some traps with your shadow (summon next to the traps) and then immediately attack. Chances are that the trapper _might_ think you already attacked and is distracted.

Hybrid
Combine the dueling strategies for trapper and wwsin. Maybe use tg and sandstorm treks. Not really much you can do if your opponent is skilled. You _can_ negate their damage totally though, but so can they

WW Barbs
s/e

Druid

Windies
Stun is your friend here. They have some of the worst fhr frames in the game. Good druids will get you into chasing them. Then they will quickly attack you and flee again. Their short attack means though that it's easy to dodge from long range and if they try to attack you, you can attack them. Just keep 5 traps down for stun and make quick and tight triwhirls. Try to kill their oak. That will bring them down much faster.

Rabies/Fury
Remember that ww is uninterruptable. If he comes to you, just ww. If he runs away, follow, whirl, rinse and repeat.

Paladin

Smiters
Generally fairly easy, but always a threat. Ok, first off, slap on fools claw and angelics. With angelics and fools claw you got very nice (20k-30k+) ar so you will most likely hit him well. He will most likely start charging at you so when he does, ww away. If he runs, feel free to ezpk him using ww only. If he walks, have traps all around you at all times, mind blast him so that he can't walk and asap move traps to him. If he starts charging at you to get free of the mind blast, ww quickly on the direction he is charging.
The good ones will desynch charge at you. If he goes out of your minimap, you can expect that he will be desynched next time he comes around. Spread your traps and _teleport_ around. Don't stand still, he will have easy time to aim at you. Your traps will start shooting at him even if he's desynched so you can predict where he is. Teleport there and whirlwind.

Hammerdins
Use bos so you can run around. Actually works better than teleport against these. Always walk down when he teleports on you. The pub hdins are easy. They rarely even charge so all you got to do is just follow him and keep on aggressive. Avoid mistakes. Even garbage hammerdins do huge damage. The better hdins pose a threat, though. They most likely will charge and desync. Lightning sentry shoots him even though he's desynced so if you look closely when they start shooting nothing, you can actually predict where he's going or where he is. Try making long whirlwinds to the direction you suppose he is going, lay down a few traps too. If you get him in your screen, namelock and mind blast him. Mind blast slows charge down and occasionally reverts him back to where he was a while ago. Namelock mind blast and then tele ww. Claw block and shadow are your friends here. Always have shadow out when you are going to namelock tele on him.
If you need ar, use fools and/or angelics. Alternative is hsarus boots and belt with fools.

Foher
Lmao, stack resis and use tg, if you still lose, quit d2.

Necromancer

Boner
Use bos so his golem won't slow you down that much. Your only hope actually is that shadow gets to mind blast him when you can close in with your own mind blast + traps stunlock. Luckily venom goes through bone armor. I find it a good strategy that you chase the necromancer, but quickly change direction and start running away. This might attract him into charging at you which will result in an easy flash of mb/ww.

Poison nova
Thank god for fade.
He needs to get close to hit with psn nova so just have traps always down, try to tele to him right after he casted nova so that nova wont hit you. If you got any problems (fade lowers curse durations so lower resis is not that useful for him) then slap on deaths gloves.

Sorceress

FB sorc
They hurt, yikes. Most of them can be dealt with ease but good ones can tank your traps for a while and kill you. So never stay still and let fb hit you. Try to catch her in mind blast, shadow helps here alot since she can stun her. MB -> ls -> mb -> wof -> tele -> ww. Any problems with her, so slap on infernostrides to stay legit and not hear complaints about hotties ^^

Blizz sorc
Hazardous. Without stacked resis they can 1-hit-ko you. But with stacked resis and 1 raven you should have no problem against them, stay cautious and treat like fb sorc.

Orb sorc
These are telespamming nitwits. They rely on you chasing them. 1 raven and stacked resis will allow you to rip through them with ease. Don't push your luck and go through the centre of the orb though. It hurts even with max absorb.

Light sorc
They are absolutely no threat for you. Only decent light sorc I've ever seen lost 5-2 to me. You will need to watch out though since they do some pretty huge damage. So don't be dumb and try to tank all. Do what you need to do and get out.

Any 9x es sorc no block
One df combined with ww brings their life down to 1. Then you can finish her up with mb easy. If you want to do it with style, let your shadow do it, just tele close to her and shadow should mb or df her.

Any 9x es sorc with max block
Fairly hard. Be more cautious here than anywhere. They can tank you for a while and it's hard to hit them too. If you cant hit her with 1-2 wws, retreat, put your traps up fast in case she follows. Don't chase her much down, you must always be near your traps.

Pure Trap Assassin

I felt like there were no good trapper guides in here..

Introduction

Trap assassin, simply, is an assassin that utilizes one of the 2 types of traps available. Lightning and fire. Both of them have their pros and cons, which will be later on looked upon to. Although both of the types are easy to resist, well-placed traps and well-thought tele/run patterns make this assassin viable enemy. On to the guide, shall we?

Overview: Lightning trapper

Pros

+ Can get very high damage
+ Very high range
+ Hard to avoid getting hit
+ Aims at opponent

Cons

- Very high damage range
- Easy to resist and absorb
- Delay between shots
- Requires many skill points to be effective

Overview: Fire trapper

Pros

+ Virtually no damage range
+ Very constant damage
+ Highly stunning
+ Hard-to-see traps ^___^

Cons

- Rather low damage
- Even easier to resist/absorb than lightning
- Doesn't aim automatically (Wake of Inferno does, though)
- Not likely to stun without mind blast
- Low range

Amazingly, fire assassins can be devastating. 1,5k wof damage each wave. 5 traps, 5 waves each means 25*1,5k _almost_ instantly. With low fhr, the opponent has no hope of getting out. Even 142 fhr sorceresses will have trouble getting out. Sure, paladins with charge or characters with whirlwind can still get their way out since they are uninterruptable but it will hurt.
On top of that, you would have 5k-5k (roughly) woi damage, which acts pretty much like ls. 13k ls has average damage of 6,5k so this comes close.
AND one more thing. 10k fire blast. Awesome skill to inflict more damage, although you might be too busy mind blasting the shit out of everything that moves ^__^

Builds

There are 2 different main solutions that work for trap assassin. Them being Weapon/Shield (w/s) and Claw/Claw (c/c)

Overview: Claw/Claw build

Pros

+ Weapon Block, can block anything except stationary attacks (fire wall, fire from meteor, etc.)
+ Higher damage
+ More life
+ Requires less ias
+ Fade
+ Well, Weapon Block...
+ Weapon Block
+ Weapon Block
+ And Weapon Block

Cons

- Lower fcr
- Lower fhr
- Lower mana
- Only 64% block maximum achievable (not sane though)

Overview: Weapon/Shield build

Pros

+ Higher fcr (potentially 174, which is 9 frames)
+ Higher fhr
+ Potential 75% block against melee
+ Fast with burst of speed (bos) and high fcr
+ Higher mana

Cons

- Can only be able to block melee
- Less damage
- bos, no fade
- Less life


Alright, now that we have overview on each of the main builds, it is time to get in-depth.

C/C trapper

This is the main build that people make. This build will reach 9 frames trap placing, 48 fhr, 65% fcr, 26% dr and 57% weapon block I won't bother with ias bugging since it's a pain in the ass and you lose the bug asap you swap weapons.

Gear

Weapons; Primary:
-30 wsm claws (runics, greater talons) with 2 assassin and 3 ls. Additional skills to look for are; mind blast, weapon block, shadow master, fade. Get one with 2 sockets. Base ias would be ideal.
Of course, if you make a fire assassin, choose according skills (wof, woi, fire blast)
What to socket? If you don't have base ias, you should socket it with 2 shaels for 40 ias. If you have base ias, stick in 15 ias 15 all res jewels

Weapons; Secondary:
second pair of -30 wsm claws. same 2 assassin 3 ls and same additional skills. Of course, if you make a fire assassin, choose according skills (wof, woi, fire blast). Only difference here is that you _won't_need_ any base ias. Socket it with say, 7 fhr 15 all res jewel. Best would be: 7 fhr 10 all res 8 life and then maybe additional 30 to single resis

Amulet: I'd go with 2 assassin 15+ fcr life/mana/all res amulet. str/dex is nice but I wouldn't bother unless I land on some _godly_

Armor: Enigma, not another word. dusk is nice because when faded, your assa looks like she wears a bikini ^_______^

Belt: Arachnid

Rings: Raven and fcr ring. Stats to look for in fcr ring are str/dex/life/mana/all res. of course, not all stats are possible ^___^

Helm:
2 Assassin skills 20 fcr 2 socket helm would be ideal. kewl adds would be: frw, life, mana, all resis.
What to socket? I'd go with 2 jahs, or 2 prubies, depending if you tvt alot (with your own bo, 2 jahs give more life but with barb giving bo, 2 prubies give more life)

Gloves: Bloodfists. Ias, fhr, life. What could go wrong?

Boots: Well now, you obviously have many choices. Marrowwalks are nice for pure stats. They also have mana regen and frw but being the highest str req piece of gear, I wouldn't consider these. Waterwalks are great choice. 15 dex, which will be definitely put to use along with 65 life. These boots also sport 20 frw and +5 max fire resis. My number one choice. Then there are sandstorm treks. Overall great boots with 15 vitality and 15 strength. But also, them being the highest str requiring piece of gear that's one stat wasted. If you somehow aren't willing to get 7 fhr jewels for claw, then these boots are the option to go with. 20 frw and 20 fhr being the awesome-maker here. The last but not the least of all boots are rare boots. There are certainly dupes that will blow any boot off but primary stats to look for are frw, fhr and triple resists.

Inventory
9 Trap skillers (duh) with maximum life possible (duh)
anni
torch (duh duh)
9 scs 20 life 5 all res (or single resis (cold/light))
1 sc 5 fhr 5 all (unless you use sandstorm treks, or rare boots with fhr)

Skills

There are several ways to do this so I'm only giving a heads-up

Fire Trapper

+20 Fire Blast
+20 Wake of Fire
+20 Wake of Inferno
+1 Claw Mastery
+10 Weapon Block (60%)
+1 Burst of Speed
+1 Psychic Hammer
+1 Shadow Warrior
+1 Shadow Master
+1 Cloak of Shadows
+1 Mind Blast (rest goes here after fade)
+ Rest in fade or until you get enough/satisfying amount

You will have your main skills and +1s at lvl 65.

Lightning Trapper

+20 Lightning Sentry
+20 Shock Web
+20 Death Sentry
+20 Charged Bolt Sentry
+1 Fire Blast
+1 Wake of Fire
+1 Psychic Hammer
+1 Cloak of Shadows
+1 Mind Blast
+1 Claw Mastery
+3 Weapon Block (57% block or +2 if you plan on getting it from bc ~57 for like 2 minutes)
+1 Shadow Warrior
+1 Shadow Master
+1 Burst of Speed
+ Rest in Fade

You will have your main skills at lvl 82. Any more skill points go into fade

Since weapon/shield build ain't really a viable option to go with, I'll only list the gear shortly.

Weapon/Shield trapper

174 fcr 86 fhr

20 fcr circlet
20 fcr amulet
hoto
spirit 35 fcr
arach
2 fcr rings
trangs
enigma
sandstorms

== 175 fcr 75 fhr currently. 86 is the break you should aim at which is achieved with 11 more fhr from gear. Can be 1 shael in circlet or fhr skiller.

max block max dr 102 fcr 48 fhr

shako shael
storm fhr + adds jewel
15 fcr amulet
trangs
arach
hoto
fcr ring
raven
sandstorms
enigma
1 fhr sc in inventory

Skills

Are the same than c/c except you must use bos with w/s. Forget fade, you can't have both at the same time.

General dueling

All I say is: DONT CAMP!!! That is the easiest type of trap assassins ever. Although it may seem tempting when those traps guard you but they are only so effective.
_Teleport_ around much. Always mb mb trap trap mb mb mb trap trap mb. Get all over them.

Play corners. That way you get so much more range.

For more detailed strategies; I have them up there in hybrid guide.

Poor mans choice

w/s setup itself is already quite cheap (20 fcr amulet being the most expensive..) but here is alternate for c/c build


Weapons; Primary:
-30 wsm claws (runics, greater talons) with base skills according to your build (ls, wof, woi, mb, etc.) made into fury.

Weapons; Secondary:
second pair of -30 wsm claws. same skills but make this into chaos

Amulet: I'd go with 2 assassin 15+ fcr life/mana/all res amulet. str/dex is nice but I wouldn't bother unless I land on some _godly_

Armor: Enigma, not another word. dusk is nice because when faded, your assa looks like she wears a bikini ^_______^

Belt: Arachnid

Rings: Raven and fcr ring. Stats to look for in fcr ring are str/dex/life/mana/all res. of course, not all stats are possible ^___^

Helm:
2 Assassin skills 20 fcr 2 socket helm would be ideal. kewl adds would be: frw, life, mana, all resis.
What to socket? I'd go with 2 jahs, or 2 prubies, depending if you tvt alot (with your own bo, 2 jahs give more life but with barb giving bo, 2 prubies give more life)

Gloves: Bloodfists. Ias, fhr, life. What could go wrong?

Boots: Well now, you obviously have many choices. Marrowwalks are nice for pure stats. They also have mana regen and frw but being the highest str req piece of gear, I wouldn't consider these. Waterwalks are great choice. 15 dex, which will be definitely put to use along with 65 life. These boots also sport 20 frw and +5 max fire resis. My number one choice. Then there are sandstorm treks. Overall great boots with 15 vitality and 15 strength. But also, them being the highest str requiring piece of gear that's one stat wasted. If you somehow aren't willing to get 7 fhr jewels for claw, then these boots are the option to go with. 20 frw and 20 fhr being the awesome-maker here. The last but not the least of all boots are rare boots. There are certainly dupes that will blow any boot off but primary stats to look for are frw, fhr and triple resists.

Inventory
9 Trap skillers (duh) with maximum life possible (duh)
anni
torch (duh duh)
9 scs 20 life 5 all res (or single resis (cold/light))
1 sc 5 fhr 5 all (unless you use sandstorm treks, or rare boots with fhr)

Yeah, you got me, I copied it ^____^

Anyway, this is awesome since you won't be missing out on alot of damage, but will be saving loads because you don't have to buy expensive 2/3/2s.
You'll also have whirlwind to use. You can inflict ow on someone and still continue dishing out damage with traps. Or you get stunlocked? Easy, just whirlwind your way out.

This post was edited by The Rain on Mar 13 2007 12:49pm

Tables








* Modified WSM is WSM of the claw minus any IAS you have on the weapon. Modified WSM = WSM of claw - IAS on weapon.

Dragon Talon, Trap Placing and EIAS

EIAS stands for Effective Increased Attack Speed. Your amount of EIAS is found with this equation:

EIAS = skill_IAS – WSM +((120*equipment_IAS)/(120 + equipment_IAS))

Skill_IAS refers to the bonus given to attack speed by BoS or Fanaticism.This value is not affected by a diminishing returns formula as is equipment IAS.

Equipment_IAS. This refers to the IAS modifier you may have on your equipment. This means all of your equipment, weapon included. The only exception for assassins is when using the cross-class skill Whirlwind. Whirlwind only counts the IAS on your weapon. When we get into discussing whirlwind in particular, we'll talk more on that. Equipment IAS includes all types of IAS modifiers whether we are talking about Shael runes, jewels of Fervor, or magical suffixes on the item. IAS which is located on your equipment has to go through a diminishing returns formula. It does not directly affect your EIAS value. That diminishing returns formula is what is listed as the last part of the EIAS formula, the part in parentheses:

((120 * equipment_IAS)/(120 + equipment_IAS))

When using this forumula to figure how much EIAS a given amount of IAS will add to your setup, you must use the total amount of IAS on your equipment. You can't just take the amount of IAS you plan on adding, convert it to EIAS, and add it to the EIAS total. I see this mistake being made all the time when converting IAS to EIAS. Let me explain it a little better by using an example.

Let's say you have a setup using a 0 WSM weapon, no BoS, and you have 40 IAS on your equipment. Right now, you would have an EIAS value of:

EIAS = skill_IAS – WSM + ((120 * equipment_IAS)/( 120 + equipment_IAS))
EIAS = 0 – 0 +((120 * 40)/(120 + 40))
EIAS = 4800 / 160
EIAS = 30

So, we start out with EIAS of 30. Let's say we want to add two Shael runes to our weapon. That's an additional 40 IAS. The mistake gets made when players try to just convet that 40 additional IAS to EIAS and then add it to the 30 EIAS we started with. If we do that, we'll figure that the extra 40 IAS will add 30 more EIAS to our setup giving us a total of 60 EIAS. The reality is different. Here's what the total for EIAS would actually be:

EIAS = skill_IAS – WSM + ((120 * equipment_IAS)/( 120 + equipment_IAS))
EIAS = 0 – 0 +(( 120 * 80)/(120 + 80))
EIAS = 9600 / 200
EIAS = 48

That's quite a difference! Remember, in order to convert IAS to EIAS you need to add all your sources of IAS together and convert them just once. They cannot be converted separately.

We can also derive from this equation a means of converting EIAS to IAS. The equation for doing so is:

IAS = (120*EIAS)/(120-EIAS)

With that equation, we can figure out how much IAS we need to hit the next breakpoint providing we know how much EIAS we currently have. Just subtract the EIAS you have from the EIAS needed to hit the breakpoint and run it through the equation.







Claws + Trap Placing Explained

Many people have problems regarding trapping claws. Or maybe they're just dumb. Hope this makes it more clear.
WSM = Weapon speed modifier. It defines the base speed of the weapon.
Greater talons (the trapping claw that is most sought for) has a WSM of -30 which means it has 30 base ias.
Sadly, it doesn't exactly work out like that. WSM from both claws is averaged and treated as EIAS.

So, say you have 2 greater talons as claws. That would mean you have 2*30/2 EIAS (30). You'd be hitting 12 frames trap placing already without any ias.

Refer to the calculations above to calculate EIAS.

Thanks to

Zephiris aka Raptor for the hybrid build + alot other assassin info. He has helped me by far the most.
Xepolite for being awesome
Speederländer for his amazing guide which got me to assassins in the first place.
Monica for she helped me to screenshot stunning.
AzGuL^ for letting me use screenshots of his old assassin in the old guide.
http://e.domaindlx.com/JRichard/D2/aas22/ This site for amazing info of attack speeds.
http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=229326 This site for EIAS tables.