Need Advice for HARDCORE Assassin

[drunkentyga]

hello!~ I'm trying to make a melee-HCL assassin..

so far i think i am going to go for:
Tiger Strike (20) - charge skill

Dragon Tail or Dragon Claw (20) - finisher

Weapon Block (10 with +skills)

BOS (10 with + skills)

Shadow Master (20) - for tank

Venom (20)

I have alot of items to work with: Nat's Set, bartucs, jades talon, and the other unique ones.. forgot name

i was plannin to use Nat's Set, and use perfect StringofEars for 45% DR. Also i was goin to use bartucs or jades talon as the 2nd claw.

please leave some suggestions for a Hardcore Assassin :)

[GenXCub]

If you're going for a kicker, don't use Nat's set. The boot's kick damage isn't very good. See if you can upgrade some Gore Riders or get some Shadow Dancers. Here's the difference between using Nat's set for Dragon Tail and Shadow Dancers (or any myrmidon greaves). I will assume you have level 30 TS and DT after +skills and 167 STR (for Shadow Dancer) and 100 Dex.

Nat's Set = 8,180 - 13,106 damage for a fully charged TS Dragon Tail

Myrmidon Greaves = 14,358 - 23,096

Besides, Shadow Dancers will help your venom and shadow.

Obviously don't put more than 1 in weapon block, unless you're going C/C (which I never do in Hardcore)

[BIGeyedBUG]

so far i think i am going to go for:
Tiger Strike (20) - charge skill

Dragon Tail or Dragon Claw (20) - finisher

Weapon Block (10 with +skills)

BOS (10 with + skills)

Shadow Master (20) - for tank

Venom (20)


Tiger Strike is almost certainly a waste with Dragon Claw. I would only use TS at all with a Dtailer, otherwise I think your points are much better spent elsewhere.

I think you'll need another source of area-damage if you go DC, and another kind of elemental damage if you go Dtail.

A 20-pt Shadow Master is nice, but if you want to build up another skill, I think you can get by with less points. I would aim for level 18 after +skills.

Hope that's useful.

[drunkentyga]

Tiger Strike is almost certainly a waste with Dragon Claw. I would only use TS at all with a Dtailer, otherwise I think your points are much better spent elsewhere.

I think you'll need another source of area-damage if you go DC, and another kind of elemental damage if you go Dtail.

A 20-pt Shadow Master is nice, but if you want to build up another skill, I think you can get by with less points. I would aim for level 18 after +skills.

Hope that's useful.

thnx for hte suggestions guys

so hmm.. i guess there are 2 ways i can go:

20 DTail + Elemental Damage?

20+Phoenix Strike + DC?

what ya guys think~?

[drunkentyga]

thnx for hte suggestions guys

so hmm.. i guess there are 2 ways i can go:

20 DTail + Elemental Damage?

20+Phoenix Strike + DC?

what ya guys think~?

Is Pheonix Strike any good in hell 1.10? never saw it in action yet.

hmm, also to be more specific on what i just wrote previously..:
1. 20 PS + 20 DTail + 17-18 SM + 20 Venom

2. 20 PS + 20 DC + 17 SM + 20 Venom

a new 3rd option i've been thinkin bout
3. 20 TS + 20 PS + 20 DC + 17 SM

whatcha think?

[Mr.Bogohossian]

nats set kick ***, i used nats claw and jade talon on switch for the resis. if you sacrifise speed for resis, you can use fade instead of burst of speed and use bartuc's instead of jade talon. either way work great. btw you might wanna try a Phoenix strike build, tigerstrike+tdalon dont work really well in hell, especially when handling groups.

My lvl 79 sin in hardcore
using full nats, 19/29/19 nats helm.
2/2/45 jade talon
13% strings
2 sin ammy 16 dex 11 resis all 20 mf.
raven/dwarf star(dstar is needed for explosions in hell)
perfect stregth dracul's

Skills are
20 Phoenix
20 Claw of thunder
20 fist of fire
1 pts into All blade skills, (blade fury/shield are wicked)
1 pt deathsentry
1 pt into all shadow skills.

I mainly use the 2nd lighint charge on Phoenix strike, damage is 3-5690. the first charge is 2000-2500, which is fire damage and only used against hell andy, since she has -50 fire resis. I do only act 1 runs, Tower/Pit/Andy.
if you do Ps, put puts into lighting and fire, not cold. If you dont put points into synergies, then dont bother using PS at all. PS owns in hell.

[drunkentyga]

cool thnx for the advice :)

what about SM? SM would be very useful in hell.. unless u have a sweet merc~ i suppose u use Holy-Freeze or Defense merc? yah i'm not sure if SM is good .. any help on whether i should max Venom for more dmg or SM?


skills:
20 PS
20 CoT
20 FoF
20 SM or Venom

[Mr.Bogohossian]

nah i was lazy so i got a full sazbi set barb merc, hes got sick life and attacks real fast. my shadow is lvl 13 after bonus.

[Tabini]

I am going to make a second HC assassin soon. In my limited experience in SC, Cobra Strike is worth putting some points in - not sure just how many yet. In Act4 normal, my level 28 assassin has a level 3 Cobra Strike and lvl 4 DTalon (she is primarily a shadow build).
I find that with a couple of tanks (my SW and/or party members) she has the time to build her charges...Cobra gives the effect of a full rejuv, which I can only assume is even more valuable in HC than it is in SC...
I like assassins - they seem less boring than some other characters - and unless ppl say I'm mistaken I plan to have most/all my sins put at least 3 pts into Cobra Strike. So far its been really useful.

[GenXCub]

If you use Tiger Strike, there's no reason to put more than 1 point in Cobra. +Skills helps it enough, IMO. In most cases, if you have a high enough Tiger Strike, you don't need CS at all since it does so much physical damage.

[Tabini]

Okay...the reason I have 3 pts in CS is two-fold - first, my +skill items are (so far) only for Shadow Disciplines; second, I use CS to completely refill my bulbs, not for hurting things...I never expect to use Cobra Strike and a finishing move alone.