the appeal of gear-dependent builds

[Nightfish]

Do you mean "Tiger Strike / Dragon Tail"?

No. I meant what I said.

 

[wildjinn]

Do you mean "Tiger Strike / Dragon Tail"?

I'm sure he doesn't, but that works untwinked as well, although it can be a challenge.

edit: heh. didn't think you'd come back to a thread this many times, NF. Good to see you around, though.

 

[Nightfish]

edit: heh. didn't think you'd come back to a thread this many times, NF. Good to see you around, though.

Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with me, either. :teeth: Probably just because these very gear dependant guides have always annoyed me, too. It seemed to me that they were partly responsible for people thinking they can't beat the game without these things. Another thing that has sometimes annoyed me. A lot of people don't seem to experiment on their own.

 

[HBeachBabe]

Assassin: As with the Zon I'd always go for a maxed minion: Shadowmaster in this case. And all of my builds would use cloak of shadows. Awesome skill.

1) C/C - Tiger Strike / Dragon Claw build. (actually my first 1.10 char, made it with only one twinked bartuc's claw and nothing else)

my absolute favorite character to play, except I prefer a synergized PS to TS as a main attack skill

 

[Milamber]

Another thing that has sometimes annoyed me. A lot of people don't seem to experiment on their own.

What is this you speak of?

 

[BIGeyedBUG]

No. I meant what I said.

Do you actually use the two skills together? I don't see the point...especially not in 1.1 when skills points are so tight. Maybe you could elaborate?

Sorry for the partial hijack--I'm just really curious about this. PM me Nightfish, if you think it's more appropriate.

BeB

 

[Uzziah]

Do you actually use the two skills together? I don't see the point...especially not in 1.1 when skills points are so tight. Maybe you could elaborate?

Sorry for the partial hijack--I'm just really curious about this. PM me Nightfish, if you think it's more appropriate.

BeB

If I am not mistaken tiger strike/dragon claw is a purely physical build where as tiger strike/dragon tail is a 1/2 fire 1/2 physical build. dragon claw uses the charge ups on the first claw to make contact but not both claws. I see it as a cool combo of moves with a bit of phoenix strike it could be quite viable. Since there are a lot of fire immune enemies in Hell the purely physical could be more damaging especially with a wand on the switch to break physical immunes.

I also believe that this type of assassin would be playable untwinked. Too bad my to build list is full. 1 down 20 to go.

 

[nemar]

Just for kicks, could people list some of their favorite not-so-gear-dependent builds? The fishymancer comes immediately to mind, of course, but i'd like to know about some others. Trapsins seem like they'd do ok without super gear as well. And maybe Lightning Fury javazons (not quite sure tho). Others?

-FF

look at thread 3 way dance tourney.
rule :
- HC
- untwinked
- no unique item
- no runeword
- no green item
- only two skill branches
I don't know what you need more for not-so-gear-dependent builds

best chars (and players) are
Conqueror OfWolfAndMan (Druid - Summon/Elemental) lvl 75 - Act III Hell
Conqueror Vae_Victus (Necro - Summon/Curse) lvl 74 - Act II Hell
Destroyer Agent_Smith (Paladin - Off./Combat) lvl 67 - Act V NM
Conqueror Niobe (Amazon - Javelin/Passive) lvl 71 - Act V NM
Conqueror Trinity (Assassin - Trap/Passive) lvl 68/69 – Act V NM
Conqueror Rounart (Sorc - Cold/Lightning) lvl 75 - Act II Hell R.I.P – Duriel
Conqueror Sarah (Amazon - Bow/Passive) lvl 75 - Act I Hell
Guardian Nicesart (Amazon - Bow/Passive) lvl 83 - Finished
Guardian Parisart (Assassin – Martial Arts/Shadow) lvl 85 - Finished
Guardian Anton (Necro - Summon/Curse) lvl 86 - Finished
Guardian Shyla (Assassin - Trap/Shadow) lvl 86 - Finished

 

[Nightfish]

Do you actually use the two skills together? I don't see the point...especially not in 1.1 when skills points are so tight. Maybe you could elaborate?

Sorry for the partial hijack--I'm just really curious about this. PM me Nightfish, if you think it's more appropriate.

BeB

Of course I use them together, otherwise it wouldn't be a TS/DC build. I think my skill distribution (naming only the ones that I used) was something along the lines of:

20 Tiger Strike
1 Cobra Strike
1 Dragon Claw

20 Shadow Master
20 Claw Mastery (this could have been lower)
9 Weapon Block
4-5 Burst of Speed
10 Venom (this could have been higher)
1 Cloak of Shadows

I actually wrote a guide for her, back in 1.10s when everyone was whining how hard 1.10s is and that nobody can hope to solo hell. (or something like that.) Just to prove them wrong I made a guide about my underpowered assy. As I said, she was untwinked, safe for one bartuc's claw. And if I had know that NM meph can drop bartuc's I wouldn't have needed even that. But at that time I was still new to 1.10 and new again to d2.

The build is finished around level 80 and I did a lot of Hell Meph runs with her. Got my ethereal Reaper's Toll and 2 Shadow Killers with this lady.

No, this is *not* the strongest character I've played. It is *not* the best character to do MF runs with, but that's what I've got Macros for. I had a lot of fun playing her because the build is based more on finesse and my skill than on uber items or brute force.

It is sort of a pity that Dragon Claw still doesn't work as the description says, but at that time I didn't know and when I found out, I didn't care. An assassin with a shield looks terribly stupid and using 2 claws is cool. Always kill with panache and style, that's what I always say...

Hope that clarifies things, if not feel free to ask more, I'm on a posting spree right now.

edit: Oh, yeah, the items Neera the assassin used:

Helm: low end Rockstopper
Armor: Skin of the Vipermagi
Belt: Hwanin's
Boots: Goblin Toe
Ammy: 29% Chromatic
Gloves: LoH
Rings: Coral Ring of Fortune (28% LR, 24% MF) / Ravenfrost

Weapons: Early on: Bartuc's + crappy rare
From Hell Meph onwards: dual Shadow Killers (the frost novas going off all the time just looked so cool)

 

[BIGeyedBUG]

Of course I use them together, otherwise it wouldn't be a TS/DC build. I think my skill distribution (naming only the ones that I used) was something along the lines of:

20 Tiger Strike
1 Cobra Strike
1 Dragon Claw

20 Shadow Master
20 Claw Mastery (this could have been lower)
9 Weapon Block
4-5 Burst of Speed
10 Venom (this could have been higher)
1 Cloak of Shadows

I actually wrote a guide for her, back in 1.10s when everyone was whining how hard 1.10s is and that nobody can hope to solo hell. (or something like that.) Just to prove them wrong I made a guide about my underpowered assy. As I said, she was untwinked, safe for one bartuc's claw. And if I had know that NM meph can drop bartuc's I wouldn't have needed even that. But at that time I was still new to 1.10 and new again to d2.

The build is finished around level 80 and I did a lot of Hell Meph runs with her. Got my ethereal Reaper's Toll and 2 Shadow Killers with this lady.

No, this is *not* the strongest character I've played. It is *not* the best character to do MF runs with, but that's what I've got Macros for. I had a lot of fun playing her because the build is based more on finesse and my skill than on uber items or brute force.

edit: Oh, yeah, the items Neera the assassin used:

Helm: low end Rockstopper
Armor: Skin of the Vipermagi
Belt: Hwanin's
Boots: Goblin Toe
Ammy: 29% Chromatic
Gloves: LoH
Rings: Coral Ring of Fortune (28% LR, 24% MF) / Ravenfrost

Weapons: Early on: Bartuc's + crappy rare
From Hell Meph onwards: dual Shadow Killers (the frost novas going off all the time just looked so cool)

Ah, okay. I'd assumed you'd maxed both Tiger Strike and Dragon Claw. Maxed DC tends to do about the same damage over time as maxed TS + maxed DC. So in your build, DC is just a cheap way to have a decent finisher. My current CoT Assassin is using it much the same way. No Mindblast? Yikes.

And how many mf runs did you have to do to get TWO Shadow Killers and an eth Reaper's Toll? [/shakes head in amazement, disgusted that he has yet to find an elite claw or even a Bartuc's. Grrrr.]

An assassin with a shield looks terribly stupid and using 2 claws is cool. Always kill with panache and style, that's what I always say...

Agreed. :thumbsup:

 

[Nightfish]

Mind Blast? Pfft. I've always hated that skill. Takes much longer to get any sort of result than CoS, and whenever I really needed it, it let me down.

As for the MF runs... Dunno. Maybe 50-100, using about 280% MF. Took me much longer to get a non-ethereal reaper, though.