MachineOfaDream
Diabloii.Net Member
Ok, I've been a very succcessful long-lived ASN player the last two seasons. I only ever died once as a trapper and it was this season when I had MF gear on her instead of safety gear and i was still exceptionally poor. I finished last season #2 on the ASN ladder and I'm #1 right now. This char is very viable. I do solo hell baals all the time no prob. It takes me a little while cause I have no MH, but I am rarely in danger. Conviction gloams aren't even an issue. With Conviction on me I am still maxed; fade is an awesome skill. The assassin also has the best blocking in the game if you do it right. Here are my beliefs and pointers. I won't come back here to debate any of this as I know my girl is super durable and very powerful and useful.
-Max all the lightning traps.
-Split the remaining points between fade and claw block. These are two of the best skills for safety in the whole game.
-Some may say you're wasting points with claw blocking, but first of all it needs no dex to modify it. With the right gear you'll get it to a set 60-61% and it blocks really quickly and can block magic attacks like doll explosions and bone spirits. Most importantly, using dual claws allows you to potentially make up for any skills "wasted" because you can get so many skills on claws. It may take a long time, but it's nice once you get a pair that's +2 all skills and +3 lightning sentry.
-You don't need points in fire traps to kill immunes. You can usually make use of the CE on the Death Sentry, and the level 1 fire bomb with +skills actually will kill gloams in hell with no extra points in it. Maybe not in an 8 player game, but last season at +20 all skills I could take down gloams no prob with it. This season it's slower but still kills. Everyone should be able to handle making a beefy merc, too. Anyway, as said before, if you pay attention to resists and use fade, gloams should be a joke...
-The shadow master is horrible. It does as it pleases and converts monsters all the time. I hate that skill and I would not stand for my shadow using it. Conversion is annoying and can mess you up big time. How nice is it when you're trying to CE some monsters and half of them don't die cause they were converted at the time? The master is a no-no in baal runs for this reason, and if you are powerful enough, completely unneccessary anywhere else. The shadow warrior is much better. The warrior can be coaxed into doing what YOU want it to, and with only 1 point in it it will successfull tank nearly anything in the game if you know how to coax it into fading. Tip: Cast it with monsters in the area and have fade set. It will 90% of the time just cast fade right away. I put one into warrior.
-A requirment for the warrior is cloack of shadows. This is an amazing skill and should be used all the time. You can only cast it once every 20 seconds, so keep that in mind. It blinds all enemies on screen, basically. Gloams will stop shooting and so will witches. Exceptionally good for baal runs. The ASN a great char to crash throne TPs because of this skill and because you could block it if the TP had dolls blowing up on it. Doesn't mean you shouldn't have BO on you though..
-Consider putting an LR wand on switch. It could take away the immunities of gloams and help you solo baal.
-lightning damage items are a waste on the trapper. Go for +skills to get more damage. I'm 99% sure that the traps don't actually benefit from them either, despite what the display says. The display puts what the damage would be if your ASN could shoot the chain lightning. The trap counts as a minion, and all those bonuses vanish on the actual trap.
-I would use +all skill over +traps because fade and blocking are sooo important to being as safe as possible. You could do just fine with only +traps, but if you're doing things like hell baal runs, I wouldn't compromise my safety.
-fade has a hidden +1% dmg reduction for every point it has. This is not a synergy so it's not just for every point you put in it as far as I know. I've never seen any evidence to believe the contrary, wheras with the +dmg issue, people have told me they tested it on open games using +999% dmg facets...
-Shock web is a good skill. Toss it onto the minion spawn point along with the traps. It's also great on bosses. Most normal enemies will be too fast for it to be worthwhile, though.
-Don't pump energy. No more than 100 in str. Even less in dex. Your gear should give you enough str/dex/mana. You may be chugging pots early on, but it's much worse to regret wasting points later on.
-Fast cast does nothing for the ASN. How fast you throw traps is affected by IAS. Claws are always pretty fast, unless you use a war fist. Try to make sure your fastest claw is the one throwing. It's not a big deal at all, though...
That's all I can think of. As for cheap gear to stick on her if you're poor, use the disciple set , 2 bartuc's (or buy +2 claws in shop) and Raven/Dwarf rings.
Hope this helps...
-Max all the lightning traps.
-Split the remaining points between fade and claw block. These are two of the best skills for safety in the whole game.
-Some may say you're wasting points with claw blocking, but first of all it needs no dex to modify it. With the right gear you'll get it to a set 60-61% and it blocks really quickly and can block magic attacks like doll explosions and bone spirits. Most importantly, using dual claws allows you to potentially make up for any skills "wasted" because you can get so many skills on claws. It may take a long time, but it's nice once you get a pair that's +2 all skills and +3 lightning sentry.
-You don't need points in fire traps to kill immunes. You can usually make use of the CE on the Death Sentry, and the level 1 fire bomb with +skills actually will kill gloams in hell with no extra points in it. Maybe not in an 8 player game, but last season at +20 all skills I could take down gloams no prob with it. This season it's slower but still kills. Everyone should be able to handle making a beefy merc, too. Anyway, as said before, if you pay attention to resists and use fade, gloams should be a joke...
-The shadow master is horrible. It does as it pleases and converts monsters all the time. I hate that skill and I would not stand for my shadow using it. Conversion is annoying and can mess you up big time. How nice is it when you're trying to CE some monsters and half of them don't die cause they were converted at the time? The master is a no-no in baal runs for this reason, and if you are powerful enough, completely unneccessary anywhere else. The shadow warrior is much better. The warrior can be coaxed into doing what YOU want it to, and with only 1 point in it it will successfull tank nearly anything in the game if you know how to coax it into fading. Tip: Cast it with monsters in the area and have fade set. It will 90% of the time just cast fade right away. I put one into warrior.
-A requirment for the warrior is cloack of shadows. This is an amazing skill and should be used all the time. You can only cast it once every 20 seconds, so keep that in mind. It blinds all enemies on screen, basically. Gloams will stop shooting and so will witches. Exceptionally good for baal runs. The ASN a great char to crash throne TPs because of this skill and because you could block it if the TP had dolls blowing up on it. Doesn't mean you shouldn't have BO on you though..
-Consider putting an LR wand on switch. It could take away the immunities of gloams and help you solo baal.
-lightning damage items are a waste on the trapper. Go for +skills to get more damage. I'm 99% sure that the traps don't actually benefit from them either, despite what the display says. The display puts what the damage would be if your ASN could shoot the chain lightning. The trap counts as a minion, and all those bonuses vanish on the actual trap.
-I would use +all skill over +traps because fade and blocking are sooo important to being as safe as possible. You could do just fine with only +traps, but if you're doing things like hell baal runs, I wouldn't compromise my safety.
-fade has a hidden +1% dmg reduction for every point it has. This is not a synergy so it's not just for every point you put in it as far as I know. I've never seen any evidence to believe the contrary, wheras with the +dmg issue, people have told me they tested it on open games using +999% dmg facets...
-Shock web is a good skill. Toss it onto the minion spawn point along with the traps. It's also great on bosses. Most normal enemies will be too fast for it to be worthwhile, though.
-Don't pump energy. No more than 100 in str. Even less in dex. Your gear should give you enough str/dex/mana. You may be chugging pots early on, but it's much worse to regret wasting points later on.
-Fast cast does nothing for the ASN. How fast you throw traps is affected by IAS. Claws are always pretty fast, unless you use a war fist. Try to make sure your fastest claw is the one throwing. It's not a big deal at all, though...
That's all I can think of. As for cheap gear to stick on her if you're poor, use the disciple set , 2 bartuc's (or buy +2 claws in shop) and Raven/Dwarf rings.
Hope this helps...
