80 asn with 36 skill points left...

[jomontferrand]

Hello everyone! I'm new here and would like to ask all of you some questions...

Ok here is the deal, I manage to get full nat set a while ago, and decided to go with a MA phoenix strike assasin (as this build was the best for this set IMO). I knew right from the start that I would have 20 in phoenix strike and 20 in claws of thunder.

I knew that my finishing move would be dragon claw, but based on the guide I saw in here, I think he said to only put one point into it and let the +skills do the rest.

So that`s where I am right now, 36 unused points and don`t know where to invest. I know I will be reaching lvl 85 with no problem and this will give me 41 points, so potentially max 2 skills. I know that maxing blade of ice is like a waste, due to the low dmg increase it gets (and I read possible bug?). What should I do? Would venom be a good investment? I know it's a good skill, but considering most lightning immunes are also poison immune, (i.e. black souls) I held back. I think having a shadow master to lvl 17 would be nice (at lvl 10 right now with only one point). I considered either investing 20 in death sentry and adding to dragon claw, either 1 in blade fury + 20 in venom, or fists of fire + dragon claw, etc... many options, what would be best?

I guess my other question would be, is dragonclaw worth maxing?

here is my skill distribution:

1 point in every shadow discipline (except venom for now...)
20 claws of thunder
20 phoenix strike
1 tiger strike
1 dtalon
1 dragon claw
1 cobra strike
1 fists of fire
1 blades of ice

nothing in the trap section

gear setup:

Full nat
laying of hands
2 dwarf star ( I know... don't have anything better right now)
rare ammy (+1 asn skill, 18 all res, 60 life, 40ish mana, some other mod)
jade talon as second claw
verdungos (13%dr and 36 vit)

at lvl 80 my asn has all resist 73 (poison is at 75) and 43%dr (30% from full set and 13 from belt)and I have a weak anny with 12ish resists all.

[Naliworld]

I would work on increasing your Shadow skills for the moment. Maybe add a bit into WB and improve SM to slvl 17 after skills. Following that, consider working on FoF as a second synergy to deal with LIs. Venom I would work on last, because it doesn't do enough damage to be really called a dedicated elemental skill.

I wouldn't put more than 5 points into DS. Extra CE radius simply isn't worth the precious skillpoints(better yet if you shop for a +CE claw and save all the prereq. points). Same goes for DC, through +skills you should already have a decent amount of AR, you don't need the extra damage.

BF I wouldn't consider at all, the Odium simply lacks the mods to make BFury work well.

[jomontferrand]

I would work on increasing your Shadow skills for the moment. Maybe add a bit into WB and improve SM to slvl 17 after skills. Following that, consider working on FoF as a second synergy to deal with LIs. Venom I would work on last, because it doesn't do enough damage to be really called a dedicated elemental skill.

I wouldn't put more than 5 points into DS. Extra CE radius simply isn't worth the precious skillpoints(better yet if you shop for a +CE claw and save all the prereq. points). Same goes for DC, through +skills you should already have a decent amount of AR, you don't need the extra damage.

BF I wouldn't consider at all, the Odium simply lacks the mods to make BFury work well.

That might work out... thanks!

Only good thing about BF with the nat set, is the ITD mod on the claw... other than that you're pretty much right... I considered a gimmershred + tiamat, but quickly backed away from that plan, since I would lose too much stats bonuses..

One thing I didn't mention, was the merc. What kind of merc should I get? HF is always nice, but I want to make different. What would you suggest?

Thanks in advance!

[Naliworld]

The other Act2 Auras really aren't of any use to you, so I would suggest probably a Barb merc if you need the extra tanking or a Rogue merc if you happen to have a nice bow handy.

[ilkori]

Might, Defiance, and Blessed Aim are the others I'd consider (in that order) if you want to stick with A2. You can also use a Doom polearm on them if you want to do that. The might will increase your physical damage quite a bit, and he can actually do something on his own this way (since you have elemental covered).