assasin guide
Q: What kind of equipment does my Shadow spawn with?
A: SWarriors get all their bonuses at level one
- Magical Blade Talon on their left hand
- Magical Cestus on their right hand
- Magical version of the your own armor's base item (e.g. if you wore a Spirit Shroud, they would spawn with a magical version of Ghost Armor)
- Magical version of your own helm's base item
At level 1, SMs spawn with
- Superior Suwayyah/War Fist/Scissors Suwayyah on their right hand
- Superior Battle Cestus/Runic Talon on their left hand
- Superior version of your own armor's base item
At level 5, SMs spawn with
- Superior Bramble Mitts/Vambraces/Orge Gauntlets
At level 6, SMs spawn with
- Magical version of your own armor's base item
- Magical version of your own helm's base item
- Magical Bramble Mitts/Vambraces/Orge Gauntlets
- Magical Suwayyah/War Fist/Scissors Suwayyah on their right hand
- Magical Battle Cestus/Runic Talon on their left hand
At level 9, SMs spawn with
- Magical right ring
At level 11, SMs spawn with
- Rare version of your own armor's base item
- Rare version of your own helm's base item
- Rare right ring
- Rare Bramble Mitts/Vambraces/Orge Gauntlets
- Rare Suwayyah/War Fist/Scissors Suwayyah on their right hand
- Rare Battle Cestus/Runic Talon on their left hand
At level 13, SMs spawn with
- Rare left ring
At level 17, SMs spawn with
- Rare amulet
So, all in all, a maxed out (item-wise) SM would spawn with
- Rare version of your own armor's base item
- Rare version of your own helm's base item
- Rare left ring
- Rare right ring
- Rare amulet
- Rare Bramble Mitts/Vambraces/Orge Gauntlets
- Rare Suwayyah/War Fist/Scissors Suwayyah on their right hand
- Rare Battle Cestus/Runic Talon on their left hand
The level of equipment a Shadow can spawn with is 24 + 3/level of Shadow at time of casting.
Note: Both SMs and SWarriors do not spawn with Belts, Shields and Boots at any level.
Q: Do Shadows benefit from synergies?
A: Yes, but in a strange way. Shadows do not appear to have a synergy cap of 20 points, as per other classes, but continue to gain synergy bonuses even after slvl 20, assuming the Assassin has +skills that will boost that level above 20(potentially allowing the Shadow to do more damage with a certain skill than the Assassin herself, or at least matching it). However, to gain the synergy bonuses of a certain skill, it must choose to use that skill (for example, a Shadow would need to use Fists of Fire before getting Fists of Fire's synergy bonuses on PS's Meteor. The same principle works with Lightning Traps, for example). Note: Once that particular Shadow dies (or you re-cast it), it has to "re-learn" all its synergies.
While it's possible to get a Shadow to do more damage with a Lightning Trap than yourself, it often becomes a trying exercise in order to get your Shadow to use the skill you want it to (given how fickle the Shadow AI is). It's easier to control which skill a Shadow Warriors uses, but it gets difficult keeping even a high level SWarrior alive in Hell.
As an example to illustrate how a Shadow might do damage with her skills:
Assuming the Assassin has:
20 LS (+20 skills)
20 DS (+20 skills)
20 CBS (+20 skills)
20 SWeb (+20 skills)
20 SWarrior (+11 skills)
LS damage/bolt: 4485 avg.
As synergy bonuses stretch beyond slvl 20(for the Shadow), the Shadow would use (according to the formula in the previous FAQ):
31 LS
31 DS
31 CBS
31 SWeb
LS damage/bolt: 4244 avg.
