How to improve further?

Hi! I've built quite a solid kicksin. She makes ubers constantly without dying, travincal council and cows ez. She has a great gear imo. I will attach a screen.
My gear is: Stormlash + Vex, Shako + Um, Stormshield + Um, Enigma, gore-riders, draculs, mara, string of ears, ravenfrost, bk5.
So, my question is what next? Improving charms? Which are particularly useful? Where should I go to?

 

Hi!

You may consider swiching:

• BK ring for some very good rare [life steal, mana steal (could place other rune in weapon), str, dex, resists, life, fcr];
• Shaco for COA - max physical damage reduction is capped at 50%, if one has more, it will be used under curse;
• Enigma for Templar's Might: +3 class skills, +1 Teleport, +20% FHR, +20 all stats, +20 all res, +cannot be frozen (could consider swiching raven to wisp, nature's, rare) OR Tyrael's Might (+2 all skills, + Teleport, +faster run/walk 15%, +20 all stats, +20 all res, +cannot be frozen, + rest in peace (no need for nature's peace at nihlathak), indestructible - some stats may vary!;
• String of ears for rare (24 FHR and bonuses) or verdungo;
• Gores (when not in UT) for rares (10 FHR, 30 FRW, resists) or Shadow Dancer (30 FHR, 30 FRW, 15-25 dex, 1-2 +shadow disciplines;
• Stormlash ... if You decide that Vex is not needed, could be changed to.. etheral, high ED, stormlash with Zod - I will be Your competition here, since I am loking for one (no luck, either with drop or chat);
• Small Charms: Poison (without life 451 psn dmg over 12 sec, with 175 psn dmg over 6 sec +20 life - those are maximum values, which can only appear on ilvl 88 small charms) +36 AR +20 Life or +36 AR +FHR 5% (+damage does not work with kicks), +20 Life +17 Mana or +20 Life +All res 5%.

Generally elemental damage does work with Dargon Talon, if You ever will think about PVP, above poison charms, You may consider getting a charm with cold damage, to punish all those who do not wear "Cannot be frozen" equipment. On the other hand, cold damage could make things harder in PVM; frozen monster's bodies will get shattered, so Your Death sentry's lightinings will not be able to explode them).

Assassins:

• FHR (anti-stun-lock) breakpoints are: 27, 48, 86
• FCR (faster tele): 27 42 65 102
• FBR (block animation speed - more blocks in a given time; if shield does not have this bonus, its usually not worth going for max block at all, bacause while in "block animation" character can not do anything else): 13 32 86

You could use barb with Boo all the time, drop CTA and wear Wizzardspike (50 fcr, 75 all res) + Spirit (25-35 FCR, 89-112 mana...) for smooth teleporting

For merc:
Head: COA / eth Andy;
Body: eth Forti / eth Duress / eth guardian angel (then Kira as a helm) - for UT could pre-buff with Treachery (best in low def armor);
Ring: ... depends on where he dies.. . If he does not, I woudl use Carrion Wind or rare;
Boots: eth Gore;
Gloves: Dracul's / Crafted (20 ias, crushing blow, stats - no cold damage spells) / Laying of Hands, Bloodfist;
Amulet: Highlord, Atma, Cat, Rising Sun;
Weapon: eth Infinity (Giant Tresher, Tresher, Great Poleaxe, Cryptic Axe) - would help with elemental damage, eth Obedience (Giant Tresher, Tresher, Great Poleaxe, Cryptic Axe) - cheap, can get w/o going to hell, damage wise it is stronger than Infinity!, eth Reapers Toll (casts Decrepify - will help with light damage from Death Sentry, slows enemy, it's great on bosses), eth Tomb Reaver (with right runes can beat Infinity and rival Obedience in damage), BOTD (Giant Tresher, Tresher, Great Poleaxe, Ghost Spear, Cryptic Axe, War Pike - since here merc can use spear we have more bases avaiable, I sorted them like this: IAS > RANGE > Damage)

When choosing armor for etheral bug for Your mercenary, if possible, go for Light armor:

• 3 sox all eth: Breast Plate (20 str), Light Plate (31), Curiass (55), Mage Plate (45);
• 4 sox all eth: Dusk (67 str / 49 lvl req), Wyrmhide (74 str / 50 lvl req), Scarab Husk (85 str / 51 lvl req), Wire Fleece (101 str / 53 lvl req), Great Hauberk (108 str / 56 lvl req), Archon Plate (93 str / 63 lvl req);

Medium and heavy ones will make him move slower.

While on official server getting heavy armor would be understndable - because of potentially higher defense; here You can get EVERY etheral amor with at last 2 sox to have 2037 (max) base defense. So movement speed wise it is better to use light armor and possibly lowest requirements. Using heavy or medium could be OK-ish only if they have high base ED%, or You dont have light armor at hand.

In conclusion, Eth Dusk has the same potential as Eth Sacred Armor, but does not make mercenary slower!

 

Thank you very much! Your suggestions are indeed very interesting.
Just a few quick comments:
Shako will probably stay. I hate Crown skin or most of other Helm skins (G-face would be another great option because of CB, but I don't like the skin). Maybe proper Tiara / Diadem would be nice, but I haven't seen anything as good as Shako so far. And yeah, I can Ber my Shako (in fact I did with other one) when I find elemental defense excessive.
Gore riders will probably stay. Because of CB and the highest kick damage possible. I haven't seen anything even close. Isn't it simply best in slot for kicksin? With this regards, what do you expect from Eth Stormlash btw? It has nothing to do with damage, only CB, static field and speed.
But otherwise I have a lot of material to think about

p.s. Or you meant not Stormlash but Stormshield? Yeah, here Eth would be cool.

 

Bonus points for style!

Dragon talon does not wear down weapons durability, but Blade Shield does, maybe Flurry and Flight too.. unless You are using those, You are safe even with etheral one.

To tell You the truth I dont know if (highly doubt tho) some rare claws wouldn't be better.
I have never found any good enough to compare.
Or maybe it woudl be usable only in flurry assassin.. or in ww as an off hand..

fast base ias,
bonus ias,
2 sox,
high ed,
damage and ar per level,
bonus for death sentry / fade / dragon flight (could save a few skill points),
and if paired with another claw weapon, then claw mastery and weapon block would start working.

I would love to get a pair of such to test it out and finally reach nirvana state of mind. .. It's the same with rare zerker axe, phase blade, matriarchal bow (this one wins in pvp in comparison with all or almost - im not sure about faith - unique and rune words bows) and javelins, soso orb 20 fcr, 2 soso, 3 mastery, 3 main skill, 2 sox, abundance of life, mana... .
It's the same with: What is better for Enchant, Monarch with 4 fire RBFs or Spirit - but this one is relatively easy to check.

 

I am trying to build other assa character actually with claws, and came to conclusion that claw weapon in game is trash Yeah, the best are those with ridiculously high AR based on char's level, but they are still pretty weak compared with other runewords fex. Furthermore claws have only 3 socs max, and basically the best you can get is Chaos for WW - still it has no damage or AR. Even further, assa with 2 claws have ridiculously slow normal attack speed, smth like 4 hits per second. You do need to use some ability to hit. Elemental damage are objectively bad in Hell and overcomplicated. Descent are Dragon Claw and DT (high AR, high damage output). And DT is just faster. So all I came with the claws is another kicksin but with Chaos runeword for some WW fun, which is still way less efficient that normal kicker with Stormlash and shield

 

the block is not cut with claws, so the shield is in vain at all
Sandstorm Trek boots here without Kick Damage options: 60-110
damage from Kick Damage according to the formula, that is, the higher the indicator of strength + dexterity, the higher the damage and bonuses with Gore Rider do not work at all more useful to wear Bartuc's Cut-Throat because of +20 To Strength +20 To Dexterity and Adds 25-50 Damage
Chains of Honor armor and no options at all, by the way 2 to skills is useful for traps too!
Dragon Claw is more effective than Whirlwind
Bartuc's Cut-Throat and Natalya's set will give a very good option if there are no good runes

 

Talking about super items. I usually farm Travincal council, it's my favorite. And I've got a lot of good stuff like Draculs, Stormshield, etc. But I've never seen smth really big like Tyrael's might or Griffon. Do I do smth wrong, do I need to change a location for higher items?
I don't like Baal and Diablo too much, because it is a very long run for just a couple of items from 1 boss. And I honestly don't understand why people farm Nihlathak, I did like 100-200 runs on him maybe all together and literally haven't seen anything valuable there at all...

 

Not for trapsin +40 ias +3 traps (or +2 assa) +3 light sentry +2 sox (either RBF or 15 ias + 15 all res).

There is.. not used Martial Arts skill tree for assassins, its not top-notch, but it is possible to clear whole - non uber / clone - content in game with it.
I did it once, just for the sake of doing it, with unique claws, Bartuc's + Jade Talon.

What's more I saw mele claw assassins in duels many times. It was either chaos and fury, or chaos and rare.
Kicksins in pvp were using Death's Web + trang oul gloves.

Anyway, if they go for poison, then either venom or poison charms - charms will lose a lot of their power if venom is active. Also .. I woudl consider if adding more than 1 skill into venom is worth it.
Personally (from experience with my pvp poison nova necro) I would stick with charms and poison dmg over time. Enemy will be constantly distracted by poison slowly eating his HP.

Oh, here we have two more rune words:

• Pattern (low lvl RW, for claws only).
• Plague (could be .. maybe.. usefull for poison oriented build)

3 socket weapon: Cham, Fal, Um

• 25% Chance to Cast Level 15 Poison Nova On Striking
• 20% Chance to Cast Level 12 Lower Resist When Struck (Shame its not while striking! Also... I wonder if this would stack, and which way, with 2 Plagues; 40% chance or 24lvl LR, or just 20%*100+20%*80=36%... or just plain 20%)
• Level 13-17 Cleansing Aura When Equipped (varies) (this aura lowers curse duration on user and party, together with Fade, corses should be nonexistent)
• +1-2 All Skills (cool way to make +5 Light Sentry claw, +5 Hammer/FOH Scepter, +5 Enchant orb.. but woudl that be worth a Cham?)
• +260-380% Damage to Demons (varies)
• -23% To Enemy Poison Resistance
• 0.3% (0-29.7) Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)
• Adds 5-30 Fire Damage
• 25% Chance of Open Wounds
• Freezes Target +3
• +10 to Strength

Necro could make an Iron Golem out of it, then Lower Resist woudl work together with Mercenary's Infinity. Since half of corpse explosion's damage is fire element based.. it would work - altho rather expensive for a golem which can disappear.

Other than that PVP WW sin with Plague in a fast claw as an off hand and Chaos in a slowest claw possible. If lucky and managed to hit enemy (inventory with Poison charms)... even more luck to trigger poison nova.. and even more for enemy to trigger lower resist upon himself.., then assa could win. It's like winning in a lottery.

IMO Plague is too expensive here to be usefull (unless someone finds a way to use it, which I can't see...). It is more expensive than Infinity, while less reliable and weaker in mele.
Would need either:

• exchange that Cham for Sur.. or even Lo (since weapons damage, when on merc, would be good only on demons), then it could, in a way, become an early alternative for Infinity;
• make Lower resist being cast upon striking. (rabies dudu, kick sin, poison ama, enchantress, frenzy elemental damage barb - Plague + Rift )

About claws being weak as a weapon .., rare claws are similar to other rare weapons, for other classes - super hard to get a good one.

• Scepter 10FCR, 2 pala, 3 hammer, 3 concentration, 2 sox,
• Claw 40IAS, 300ed, dmg/ar per level, 2 sox, skills. Now add two jewels 15 IAS and 40% ed each.

And uniques.. :
soso and java have it best here,
necro has leoric, death's web (altho one is not that great, other situational) and marrowwalk.
pala has zaka (which is good, but not best),
baba arreat,
dudu.. . I have never played mele dudu, I wonder if Jalal is being used..,
maybe assa really falls last here. Nevertheless asssa can not use a part of her skillset w/o claws, which makes her look worse in comparison.

Also about attack speed with claws... try searching: diablo 2 ias glich / ias bug / wms bug. It can be set to be "automated" if one playes a bit with weapons requirements.
And.. if You dont like how COA looks, .. maybe something more extreme - Giant Skull or Vamp Gaze?

All in all, mele assa is a niche character. Since 1.10 version top builds were casters: hammer, light soso, java, trap (not exacly casting herself), cold soso, ce necro, ele dudu.

Edit 1.
PS. For Tyrael, Templar, Griffon You do need to change location - monsters level needs to be 88 or higher, so Act 4 River of Flames, Chaos Sanctuary, Act 5 Worldstone, Throne of Destruction, Act 1 Pits (go back from Outer C... waypoint), Act 2 Ancient Tunnels (Lost City Waypoint), Act 2 Mausoleum (Cold Plains -> Burial Grounds -> Mausoleum).
Try killing all unique and champion monsters.
You can drop COA from council (but I am not sure if Tristram ones can drop it, I found in from councin near Mephisto).
Edit 2.
Check: http://forum.europebattle.net/threads/magic-find-tips-tricks-info.542775/

 

Again very interesting, thank You!
I will share my build for Dragon Claw assa in other topic soon. She can kill Ubers and Diablo Clone (both tested) and not die, but my kicksin just do it better and cleaner.
I also find Plague or Fury to be ridiculously expensive for what they offer. I mean, that Fury is like a joke, I would love to see CB there instead of this huge OW. And WW from Chaos is more like fun stuff only, yeah I do not die in cows, but neither I kill them fast. Moo-Moo farm takes forever. There is just no damage, even though I can boost WW AR to 12k.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 30, 2022, Original Post Date: Jan 30, 2022 ---

p.s. And yeah, I know that trapsin is a thing, but I am more interested in melee assa builds. I do use DS though, but only them.

 

Plague works very badly, except to use it with venom that would work like Grief but you shouldn’t spend runes on Plague with Whirlwind it works very badly and there is no damage at all

 

Can allow myself to buy TM but am not convinced in this yet...

I am assa, so definitely don't want monsters rest in peace, so no Tyrael's. And Templar's gives 3 to class skill which is cool, but enigma gives +2 to ALL skills including TP and BO and 45% speed bonus...
Also, is there a bug that other players can't see Templar's Might worn on your character? One guy showed it to me yesterday and his assa looked naked for me.

 

u talk about str bug doesnt matter if its tm or other item when u do it ur character looks naked

 

What this bug is? Any +str armor makes you char "naked"?

 

all u need to know is dont use and forget about it or one day u can die and regret for using this

 

Did not understand anything Was I proposed to buy bugged TM?

 

What do you think, is Templar's Might really an improvement from Enigma? There are some propositions on the market but I can't decide...

 

In my opinion, it is - in terms of defense. But in the end, You need to answer: "Do I need it?"

Templar's: Most important would be FHR, cannot be frozen and a socket, then resists, higher def and possibiliy of it being etheral (~6k def - but would require a Zod rune.. or not, if You have spares )
It would be easier to reach desired faster hit recovery breakpoin, and a socket gives a number of possibilities: ber - 8% damage reduction, um - 15 all res, shael - FHR 20%, or a jewel (ias, res, fhr, stats...)
If You dont care about FHR, and will keep wearing Raven Frost either way, then Enigma would be more usefull.

Enigma is better for magic find, gives a lot of strength, and has quite good defensive options too 8% dr (Ber), damage taken goes to mana 15% (ith)

 

Yeah, that's what I am thinking and cannot decide True, socketed armor with nofreeze is good and gives more options. But do I really want to change raven? - it's a great ring anyway. And magic find... Enigma is the only source of it for me currently. Don't want to change equipment every time I go farming...