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tidus2005 · Posted 2003-02-08, 11:46 AM in reply to tidus2005's post "Assassin guide?"

1. Choose the Claw

When planning your assassin out, it is important to know first which claw you plan on using for this assassin. The commonly used Bartuc's Cut-throat adds quite a bit of Dexterity and Strength, along with AR and is extremely easy to achieve maximum attack speed (7 frames) with. Then, there is the Cruel claw, which can be much stronger than a Bartuc's Cut Throat, but is often much more difficult to achieve max frames with, and also does not come with innate +skills, +AR%, +dual stats; which can greatly effect the gear that you choose to use.

1A. Bartuc's

When using Bartuc's, you will normally only require a base level 2 Burst of Speed [BoS], which can conserve a lot of skill points. You also get a Strength and Dexterity bonus of 20/20, which can thusly lower the amount of base Strength and Dexterity points you allocate, leaving you with more points to put into vitality. Bartuc's also adds some +skills (which add ED and AR to your attacks via skill bonuses), and also has an innate +20% AR. Generally when assassin's use Bartucs, they focus more on life bonuses and AR, rather than damage. Bartuc's also allows you to use different styles of gear for when dueling other classes and when resistances are important.

1B. Cruel Claw

When using a Cruel claw, you will normally require a lot more levels in BoS (Anywhere from 16 points with mods, to 10 points with mods, and a lowest possible of 3 points with mods. However, if you use 3 points you will require a lot of gear sacrifices to achieve max frames). Cruel claws will also require more base stat points in both Strength and Dexterity than Bartucs, and you will commonly end up with less life and (potentially) less AR, but will be able to achieve a much higher damage rating depending on the quality of the Cruel you find.

1C. Shadow Claws

One thing that should be noted about obtaining max FPS with a cruel claw, however, is the possible use of Shadow Claws. Shadow claws are magical claws that have the magical prefix of "shadow" which add +3 to assassin's shadow discipline skills. When using two of these claws in your secondary weapon switch, you receive a +6 skill levels bonus to BoS, and are then able to cast BoS with a +6 level curve, and then switch back to your normal weapon/shield combo and retain the benefits granted from the shadow claws. Shadow claws also help to boost your shadow master's level prior to casting, and just like with BoS, the bonuses will remain active for the duration of the spell even after you have removed the claws or switched weapons.

For more on IAS and BoS and reaching maximum attack speeds (7fps); Fuzzbox has provided us with an easy to use chart located here.

If for some reason you need to calculate the IAS/BoS levels yourself, you can go here.

If you need to get the base speeds for some of the elite claws, you can go here.

2. Skills

Being an MA sin, you will not be adding more than 1 point to any of the skill sin the Trap skill tree, however, it is common practice to place at least a few points in this tree in order to use Death Sentry against monsters, and Wake of Fire against other players (though, not for damage). If for some reason you add more than 1 point base to any of the trap skills, you are technically no longer a pure Martial Artist -- you have become a hybrid assassin.

For those wishing to create their own builds, I recommend Chippy Dip's page for planning out characters. The page can be found here.

2A. Stunner Assassin

This is the common MA (Martial Art) Assassin setup. Some assassins tend to max out Dragon Flight, though it is the consensus of many veteran assassins that DF is not a good investment for more than 1 point, though it still extremely useful as a PvP skill at level 1 when used properly.

Max :
Tiger Strike (20)

Claw Mastery (20)
Shadow Master (20)
Mind Blast (20)

Points needed :
Cobra Strike (1)
Burst of Speed (6) [See note below about BoS]
Mind blast (1)
Death Sentry (1)
Wake of Fire (1)

Pre-requisites (11)
101 points total.

This build can be completed with all skills at their above levels by clvl 90, after all skill quests have been completed.

NOTE: When using Bartucs, you will only require a base level 2 BoS in order to achieve maximum frame rate without the use of Shadow Claws. When using a Cruel Scissors Suwayyah, or Cruel Suwayyah, you will need ether level 16 BoS with 30% IAS. Level 10 BoS with 40% IAS. Level 3 BoS with 70% IAS.

It is recommended to max Mind Blast last, and concentrate mainly on your Claw Mastery and Tiger Strike skills. The object of this build is to use your base level 1 traps in conjunction with high level mind blast to "stun-lock" your opponents. Traps, while in PvM, will not re-stun monsters continuously that are effected by mind blast. However, other players that are hit by mind blast will perform a stun animation after almost ANY type or amount of damage hits them. Once mind blast hits a target, the target will display white flashy swirlie "stun" animations above their head. During this time while the "stun duration" is active, a trap (regardless of damage) will cause the target to perform a "hit recovery animation", which will interrupt all movements and almost all forms attacks (not those that are uninterruptible, such as a Barb's Whirlwind). The reason why Mind Blast is maxed is because there is a duration timer on the amount of time that the "swirlie" animations remain active on a target. And the duration of the "stun" will start at 2 second and gain .2 seconds per skill level (or 1 second for every 5 points). Be mindful though, raising the skill level does not effect the amount of time a player is "stuck" in their hit recovery animation in any way. Raising the skill level only makes the timer last longer, and thusly a player will have the swirlies on their head for a longer period of time.

2B. Elementalist Stunner

Some assassins choose to use Claws of Thunder rather than Tiger Strike. More about CoT can be viewed below.

Max :
Claws of Thunder (20)

Claw Mastery (20)
Shadow Master (20)

Points needed :
Cobra Strike (1)
Burst of Speed (11) [See note below on BoS]
Mind blast (15)
Death Sentry (1)
Wake of Fire (1)

Pre-requisites (13)
101 points total.

This build can be completed by character level 90 with all skills at their above levels.

NOTE: This build is not recommended to be used by a Cruel Claw assassin, as it would require a level 19 BoS and 80% IAS, or level 14 BoS with 90% IAS. However for the Bartuc's sin, this build requires a level 11 BoS with 30% IAS (base level 9).

This build utilizes the skill Claws of Thunder (CoT) rather than Tiger Strike. Claws of Thunder is a highly effective martial art skill that grants the user uninterruptability. It is the opinion of some assassins that the elemental claw attacks (Fists of Fire [FoF], CoT, Blades of Ice [BoI] -- the three on the left hand side of the martial tree) were meant only to be used while dual wielding claws. The reason is because they are uninterruptible (like dragon claw), they swing both claws instead of one while C/C (like DC), they receive a speed penalty when attacking (which occurs when using Dragon Claw [DC]/CoT/FoF/BoI), and possibly based on information they have either obtained from Blizzard or from the MPQ files. Regardless, some assassins choose to use this skill versus other classes, because in regards to other assassin's it is generally considered not a fair skill, but against other classes it can be very useful and seen as relatively fair. The reason why Burst of Speed (BoS) requires a much higher level than in the other builds, is because (as was stated) there is a speed penalty that your frame rate receives when using an elemental claw skill. Claws of thunder is mostly chosen over Fists of Fire and Blades of Ice because it has a much higher damage out-put than the other two skills, and a much larger Attack Rating (AR) bonus. The general strategy of this build often resembles the stunner and the assassin will commonly raise MB in order to stun, then use the claw skill against immobilized opponents.

NOTE: Elemental skills are generally banned from use in Sin vs. Sin duels, though they can be effective vs. other classes.

3. Choose your Armor

3A. Cookie-Cutter Bartuc's

This is the basic setup for an assassin that wishes to duel other classes and be viable for duels outside the Assassin (sin) vs. sin dueling community. Common builds used by most assassins dueling in either public games or against other character classes normally resemble this setup, with small variations depending on gear and playing style.

A Storm Shield (SSh) will require 133 Strength to ware when it is socketed with -15% requirements. Without the -15% requirements, it will require 156 Strength to equip. The object of this build is to get as much natural Strength and Dexterity from items as possible, in order to lower their base stats and poor as much excess points into Vitality as possible.

Gear

Weapon : Bartuc's cut-throat [U. Greater talons] (preferably ethereal with zod)
Helm : Vampiregaze [U. Grim helm] (Can be socketed with Jah, Shael, Um, or ED%/Max damage jewel)
Armor : Shaftstop [U. Mesh armor] (See helm socket placement)
Shield : Stormshield [U. Monarch] (Um, 40% ED/15Max damage, 40ED%/-15% jewel, 40ED%/15%IAS jewel)

Belt : Thungergod's Vigor [U. War belt]
Boots : Imp Shanks [R. Rare boots] (+18 strength, resistance, FHR, other mods)
Gloves : Immortal King's Forge [S. War gauntlets]
Ring 1 : Raven Spiral [Rare Ring, dual leech, resistance, dexterity, and other mods - non duped]
Ring 2 : Raven Frost [U. Ring - non duped]
Amulet : Mara's Kaleidoscope [U Amulet]

Stats Base

Strength : Min. 67 (+83 Strength from mods = 150) Max. 73 (+mods = 156)
Dexterity : Min. 90 (+78 Dexterity from mods = 168) Max. 144 (+mods = 222)
Vitality : Remaining points (+25 from mods)
Energy: None

SSh. (Storm Shield) has a +30 Strength bonus, but is not applied until after you equip it, therefore the bonus does not count. If we did count it, you could potentially body pop. You'll notice that the different between minimum and maximum base Strength mods is the difference of only 6 points (18 life in terms of Vitality). For this reason, it is not entirely necessary for you to add a -% requirement jewel into your Storm Shield and may wish to instead add an ED/Max damage or ED/IAS jewel. This gear set is not suited for particularly high damage, and is suited mainly for resistances and life, thusly it is not ideal to use this in Sin vs. Sin matches, but instead vs. other classes.

The reason why these Dexterity figures are done like this is because of your effective shield blocking with SSh, which is directly related to Dexterity. Storm can be worn at the lowest possible level of 73.

So, in order to get max blocking with Storm at clvl 73 you need approximately 168 Dexterity with mods to achieve 75% blocking.

However, as you level you will usually need to distribute about 2 points into dexterity per clvl from level 73 and up.

The amount of dexterity you require for max blocking on a clvl 99 sin is 222 with mods. For more information on blocking, you can go to Spirea's.

The reason Energy is left at base is because there is not much need for mana while you are pure MA. The great thing about this build is that the Assassin gains 3 life points for every vitality point, and with this setup can achieve anywhere from 1,500 life to over 2,000 life depending on charms and runes.

3B. Ideal Armor with Cruel Claw

This build may be far more expensive, but it is good to keep it in mind because it is much more highly effective vs. melee classes and in sin vs. sin duels than the regular Cookie-cutter build.

Gear

Weapon : Cruel Scissors Suwayyah of Evisceration [or quickness] (Socket this with Zod if it is ethereal. Second socket should receive either a ED%/IAS jewel or Shael rune -- if quickness is second mod, you may wish to consider ED/max)
Helm : Vampiregaze [U. Grim helm] (socketed with Ber rune)
Armor : 160/60max damage [Archon Plate (preferably of the whale)] (Can be socketed with four 40%ed/15max jewels, or replace one with a Cham rune or 40%ED/15%IAS jewel)

Belt : String of Ears [U. Demonhide Sash]
Gloves : Rares or Crafted gloves recommended (Should come with 3% life leech, 20% IAS, and other mods)
Ring 1 : Raven Frost [U. Ring Non duped] (replace this with rare or crafted if you use Cham in armor)
Ring 2 : 11% life leech ring (Crafted ring with mods)

See above outline for all un-mentioned items.

The key to this build is to obtain 75% damage reduction (DR) without using Shaft Stop (SSt). Socketing a version 1.09 Vampiregaze with a Ber rune is common practice. As an alternative, if you can get a version 1.08 vampire gaze, it will come with 25% DR which is enough to cap you out in PvP without the use of a Ber rune.

Stats Base

Strength : Min. 123 (+10 strength from mods = 133) -- Max. 146 (+mods = 156)
Dexterity : Min. 110 (+58 Dexterity from mods = 168) Max. 164 (+mods = 222)
Vitality : Remaining points (+10 from mods)
Energy: None

Some assassins opt to add a Ber into their vampire gazes and swap their Thundergod's Vigor with String of Ears (15% DR). This allows them to change their armor at will. Some assassin's will use 4 socketed armor with ED%/Max damage jewels (potentially either 4 of them, or 3 of them with cham) this is most commonly done with Archon Plate, and sometimes "Jewelers Archon Plate of the Whale". Some assassin's use Arkaine's Valor [U. Balrog Skin], in order to gain it's benefits of vitality, +skills, and 30% FHR. Another alternative to Balrog and ed/max is to use the runeword "Lionheart", which grants massive stat bonuses, resistance bonus, and other mods including a small damage bonus. The Lionheart armor grants more life than valor because you are able to lower your base STR and DEXTERITY by a substantial amount, however it grants far less damage than either valor or ed/max. If you use Lionheart, you will gain 25 strength and 15 dexterity, thusly you can add 40 more points into vitality and less points into strength/dexterity. The dexterity listed above is based under the assumption that the primary ring is Raven Frost. If you opt to use Cham in your armor, you may need to adjust your dexterity when switching this ring for another life leech ring (by 20 points, normally).

These alternatives are generally better in the long run for sin vs. sin duels, however are also much more expensive and not recommended to be used vs. elemental damage users, such as sorceresses. You should also keep in mind that when using a Cruel Claw you will need to adjust for the IAS requirements, and may not be able to use IK's gloves (you may need 20% IAS gloves) thusly losing 20 strength and 20 dexterity. If you do plan on using a Cruel Claw, note that it is possible to use ED%/IAS% jewels rather than ED%/max damage jewels (however, it is not recommended). Obviously sacrificing a lot of vitality in order to obtain damage, however the damage out-put can increase quite substantially. This build often also requires a few more points in BoS as it normally would, depending on what mods your claw has, and what you socket into it.

1. With "of Quickness" and cat's eye, you can use a level 10 BoS. 2. With "of Quickness", cat's eye, and 20% IAS in your gloves, you can use a level 5 BoS. 3. With "of Quickness", cat's eye, 20% IAS in your gloves, and ED/IAS jewel in your claw you can use a level 3 BoS.
--
1. With "of Evisceration", cat's eye, and an ED/IAS jewel in you claw, you will need a level 13 BoS. 2. With "of Evisceration", cat's eye, and 20% IAS gloves, you will need a level 10 BoS. 3. With "of Evisceration", cat's eye, ED/IAS jewel in your claw and another ED/IAS jewel in your armor, you can use a level 7 BoS. 4. With "of Evisceration", cat's eye, 20% IAS gloves, and 2 ED/IAS jewels (one in armor and one in claw), you can use a level 3 BoS.

Again, for more information on IAS/BoS, you can view Fuzzbox's IAS tables

4. Important Assassin Information

4.A Hit Recovery
The hit recovery speeds for the assassin are as follows :
0% Faster hit recovery : 6 frames
20% Faster hit recovery : 5 frames
63% Faster hit recovery : 4 frames
200% Faster hit recovery : 3 frames

It is common for assassin's to try and achieve a 4 frame hit recovery speed. Most assassin's that use Bartuc's have the benefit for 30% FHR (faster hit recovery) from the claw itself. Players will have to decide on how to achieve the extra 33% in order to get that 4 frame break point (BP). They will often use small charms of balance that add 5% FHR, or grand charms that commonly have another prefix bonus along with the suffix that grants 12% FHR. There is also the possibility of a Shael rune in armor/helm which grants 20% FHR per rune. Imp Shanks come with 20% FHR. Wearing Arkaines Valor will grant the wearer an innate bonus of 30% FHR. Blood Fists are also popular gloves to use because they grant the user an IAS bonus along with the 30% FHR bonus. Rockstopper is a popular assassin helm because it adds 10% P-DR (physical damage reduction), multiple resistances, and 30% FHR with other mods.

4B. Block Speeds

Block speed - Frames per block
-10% - 4 frame blocking
-05% - 4 frame blocking
00% - 3 frame blocking
05% - 3 frame blocking
10% - 3 frame blocking
15% - 3 frame blocking
20% - 3 frame blocking
25% - 3 frame blocking
30% - 3 frame blocking
35% - 2 frame blocking
40% - 2 frame blocking
45% - 2 frame blocking
50% - 2 frame blocking
55% - 2 frame blocking
60% - 2 frame blocking
65% - 2 frame blocking
70% - 2 frame blocking
75% - 2 frame blocking

(Note from author : This chart is by no means correct)

It is the consensus of most veteran assassins that Storm Shield does not require a Shael rune in order to obtain the next BP in block speed because it comes with an innate 35% FBR (faster block rate) bonus. However, some argue that it does make a difference in the speed of which an assassin will block while using Storm Shield. Some argue that regardless of the speed, it is still better to socket the storm with either resistances or damage modifiers, rather than block speeds. It is up to the user to decide what works best for you.

4C. Mind Blast

Mind Blast (MB) starts at a 2 second stun duration and causes physical damage. MB gains .2 seconds of stun duration per level, and will literally be doubled in duration by level 11, and tripled in duration by level 21 (gaining 1 second for every 5 points). MB works similarly to the Paladin's Smite skill, which activates a "stun duration" on the targets head. Monsters will be temporarily immobilized by this skill, however it effects players somewhat differently. On players, MB causes a "stun duration" which takes the appearance of little white flashy "swirlies" above the player-target head, while these "swirlies" are activated on a player-target, the target will be forced to perform a "stun animation" sequence (which is what a hit-recovery frame is), which is what occurs when the player receives a large amount of damage, whenever the target is hit by ANY amount of damage from ANY source so long as the "swirlies" are still active. This means, that when a player is hit for any amount of damage while under the effects of MB, they will automatically perform a hit recovery animation which will interrupt any and all movements/attacks that are not un-interruptible. Uninterruptible attacks, such as a barbarian's whirlwind skill are not effected by stun (hit recovery) while being used.

The level of MB does not affect the amount of frames a player will perform during the hit recovery animation, it only effects the "duration" that the "swirlies" will be active on a player. The hit recovery frames a player performs is only affected by the player's own personal FHR speed.

4D. Dragon Flight

Dragon Flight (DF) is an extremely useful skill to use while in PvP. It automatically teleports the assassin to a targeted object with a kick (like the sorceress' teleport skill, but targetable only on hostile targets). This skill, however, is not a very powerful one, and even when maxed will do negligible damage. The amount of damage that a maxed DF does uncharged (without Tiger Strike [TS] charges) is about 1/4th to 1/3rd of the damage you would normally do with a single uncharged claw attack (meaning it's weaker than a regular claw attack). When a max DF is fully charged with a max TS (3 charges of Tiger Strike), it still only does about the same amount of damage as a normal uncharged claw attack would do (meaning it's 1/3rd as strong as a fully-charged normal claw attack). It is the consensus of most veteran assassins that DF should not be maxed because when releasing TS with a normal claw attack, you will almost always do far more damage than releasing the TS charges with any level of DF. Still DF is very useful as a teleportation skill and is mainly used to close the distance between the assassin and a target, it is also used to much success in conjunction with Shadow Master (SM) because the SM will automatically teleport with the assassin when she performs a DF.

However, DF is bugged and it should be noted as to what type of bugs occur when using it. For one thing, targets that are moving fast in a southward direction (running south) will usually not be hit by DF, this is due to a bug in the programming. DF will also auto-target minions and monsters, thusly when an assassin targets a player that is standing next to a minion or monster, DF will often automatically select the minion or monster rather than the target that the assassin is selecting -- this is not a bug, but rather the way that DF is programmed. In example, if an assassin targets an amazon that has either a Decoy or Valkyrie cast near herself, then the assassin will almost always auto-target the Decoy or Valkyrie with DF rather than the amazon.

Dragon Flight when used in conjunction with SM is bugged in another separate way as well; when the assassin uses DF, the SM will automatically be teleported along with the assassin and land in the exact location that the assassin lands. However, this is a stacking/priority bug that occurs when this does, and ranged (projectile) attacks that auto-target such as the amazon's Guided Arrow skill and the necromancers Bone Spirit skill will pass directly through both the assassin and the shadow (hitting neither), so long as both the SM and the assassin stay in the same location on top of one another. For this reason, amazon's and necromancers will often not cast their minions when dueling Trap-based assassins because the assassin can (and usually will) intentionally target the minion in order to force the minion and the SM to stand stationary and duel one another, while the assassin is able to also stand still and cast MB/Traps at the opponent while purposely taking advantage of the stacking/priority bug and avoid all auto-targeting projectiles (though, non-autotarget skills such as the amazon's Multi Shot or the sorceress's nova skill will still hit).

4E. Claw Mastery

Claw Mastery (CM) is bugged in two different ways. The first is that CM calculates the damage and attack rating (AR) bonus incorrectly (or perhaps differently) than what is displayed on the skill screen. What actually occurs is that the actual damage bonus is modified to match the listed AR bonus of that level (meaning you actually receive a 10% damage bonus, if your listed AR bonus is 10%, rather than the listed 4% damage per level). It is also bugged in a way that it allows the assassin to always cause Critical Strike with every attack while using a claw-class weapon (effectively granting the assassin 100% critical strike while wielding a claw). For this reason, assassin's that use claws have no reason to use the Deadly Strike special modifier, because deadly strike and critical strike do not stack or combine in any way, and critical strike will over-ride the effects of deadly strike (meaning critical strike will cause you to do 2x physical damage, but deadly strike will not further increase that damage in any way). Some veteran assassin users believe that this is actually not a bug at all, and Blizzard intended for the assassin to always have critical strike, however it is not known whether this is true or not.

4F. Burst of Speed

Burst of Speed (BoS) is also currently bugged. However, unlike other bugs, this one reacts very differently. The bug has been fixed on battle.net with a server-side patch, however the bug still remains active in the Diablo2 coding (mpq) on your own system. Like CM, BoS calculates the bonuses incorrectly, and will add attack speed at a rate of the Run/Walk (r/w) bonus +5. In other words, a Level 9 BoS displays that it adds 51% r/w bonus and 44% Attack Speed bonus, however, client side the bug makes it so that you actually receive a 51% r/w bonus and a 56% attack speed bonus (51% +5). As explained before, though, this bug occurs only client-side (on your own computer, and not b.net) and not on the battle.net server. Thusly, while playing on battle.net your assassin may appear to be attacking much faster than it actually is server-side (on the battle.net server) and in the eyes of other players. So, it is important to keep this in mind, and to calculate your BoS/IAS rates the correct way without using the BoS bug calculation, because while on your computer you may appear to be attacking very fast, you are actually attacking much slower.

4G. Elemental Attacks

Elemental Attacks are the three skills that are on the left side of the Martial Art (MA) skill tree, and are Fists of Fire, Claws of Thunder, and Blades of Ice (FoF, CoT, and BoI respectively). There are a few bugs that occur when using these skills due to the way that they are programmed. First, these skills were meant to only be used while dual-wielding claw class weapons, the same way that Weapon Block and Dragon Claw (WB and DC respectively) are. When you equip two claw-class weapons and use any of the three elementals, you will see the assassin swing both claws at once rather than just one. Because of this, they also receive a speed penalty the same way that DC does. Also, they receive an uninterruptability (cannot be stunned) feature that is also present when using DC. However, unlike DC, these elemental skills are actually active for use while the assassin is wielding only one claw. When using the elementals wielding one claw and a shield. The assassin will perform a "thrust" motion during elemental attacks rather than a "swing" motion which is seen when using TS, Cobra Strike (CS), or Phoenix Strike (PS), which also supports the idea that these attacks were not meant to be used while equipped C/S (claw/shield).

Many assassin users find the use of these skills to be bad-mannered (BM) in assassin vs. assassin duels due to the uninterruptability feature, which negates the use of FHR, however many other assassins argue that these skills are still very useful and almost necessary when dueling against other classes aside from the assassin.

Secondly, there is another bug that occurs with FoF and BoI due to the way that they are programmed. The second and third charges of both FoF and BoI activate what is called a "splash damage" (SD) feature that will cause damage to any target within the Area of Effect (AoE). However, when releasing the charges to these skills at charge numbers 2 or 3, your claw does not actually connect with the target at all, instead only the SD hits the target, along with any other targets within the AoE. The reason why they appear to do your claw damage when releasing them is because your claw damage is actually calculated into the SD, meaning any targets within the AoE, including the target that the skill was released on, will be hit by both your claw damage and the added elemental damage from the skill itself. Because of this, it is possible to use both FoF and BoI at the same time and cause your claw damage to be released twice at the same time along with the SD. In other words, your claw damage, elemental damage from gear/charms, and the added elemental damage from the individual skills will hit any target within the AoE twice, rather than once.

There is also another bug connected with this, where it actually occurs when releasing the skills with a kick. Unlike when releasing with a claw, the kick will actually hit the target, however the SD will still release your claw damage and elemental damage to all targets in the AoE. For this reason, some assassins put only 1 point in FoF and BoI in order to take advantage of this bug in PvM. They charge 2 or 3 charges of both skills and release the skills with a level 1 kick skill (such as dragon talon or dragon flight), and the result is their claw and elemental damage hitting all targets twice in the AoE, such as a small group of cows. It should also be noticed that while the release does actually calculate AR (meaning the release can miss), the SD however does not. This means while the actual release will sometimes miss, the SD will always hit no matter what, so long as the target is within the AoE. Elemental attacks receive a +25 EIAS speed penalty when used (regardless of whether you're C/S or C/C), and thusly should be used when calculating specific BoS/IAS equations and tailoring your build.

For a more in depth look at Assassins, or if you have any questions not covered/answered in this guide, please refer to the Assassin FAQ.

5. In-Depth Strategies

For specific questions concerning Player vs. Player (PvP) in general, please refer to the PvP FAQ.

The assassin, being one of the characters that was introduced to Diablo2 only after the expansion was released, is a relatively new character class even though the expansion set has been out for some time now. New builds and strategies are emerging every day, and we are constantly finding out new information about the assassin and the way the game works all the time. That said, this strategy section is by no means final, but the intent of it is to help you get a good idea on how to use your assassin, and to convey a few good tip's that most veterans use.

5A. Basic Strategies

Your primary skills will be Tiger Strike (TS or Tiger) and Cobra Strike (CS or Cobra). Think of those two skills as an input/output type interface, or perhaps if you'd prefer; a yin-yang type balance. Your Tiger will be used to cause a very large jolt of physical damage, usually about 3 to 4 times the amount you would normally do with a regular claw attack. Thusly, it is an output of life, causing damage. Conversely, your Cobra will be the input skill that will cause a huge surge of life to be returned to the assassin (along with mana at charges #2 and #3). In other words, your Cobra will be there to keep you alive and your Tiger will be there to make sure your opponents die.

Shadow Master is probably one of the very best (if not the best) minion skill in D2X. They can not be leeched from (meaning life leech mods from gear and skills do not work when attacking a Shadow), have the second highest damage output than any other minion, use nearly all of the assassin's skills at their own skill level divided by 2 + 1 (meaning a level 20 shadow will use it's own skills at level 11), and more importantly they are relatively intelligent. Your shadow master should be cast and remain active at all times, if it for some reason dies you should always immediately re-cast it, as they provide crucial protection, distractions, and can provide amazingly good damage support. However, your main goal in any duel will be to use Mind Blast (MB) effectively with low level traps.