Some Assassin Questions...

[Sorceress Zahra]

I have some questions that I didn't find answered using the Search option...

1. When using a simple Shadow, what determines the skills and skill lvls she uses?

2. How do I get descent Claw weapons? Is there something that imporves my gambling ability so I'm not spending tens of thousands to find something even remotely descent?

3. I like using Claws, but is there a good secondary weapon for an Assassin? (I use a Martial Artist).

4. I'm having trouble using my charge skills - not every hit that lands charges, and I have a difficult time discharging using Dragon or regular moves. Especially problematic - Cobra strike. When I need to refill Health, it just doesn't work like it used to (in 1.07).

5. Did anyone ever determine the difference between the Khral-Harzek and the Viz-jaqtaar? (I probably misspelled those) And whose orders Natalia was awaiting?

I'm sure I'll have more... Thanks in advance!

[Speedwrath]

Meh, I wouldn't consider myself an expert yet, but while nobody comes, I'll share my experience:

1. Shadow Warriors use only the skills you have on your display at the moment. If you switch these while she is active, she will start using those instead. For example, if on your left skill slot you have Cloak of Shadows, and on the right you have Tiger Strike, then she will only use Cloak of Shadows and Tiger Strike. Now if you switch to Dragon Tail on the left, she will start to use Dragon Tail instead of Tiger Strike. As for the skill levels here, I'm not exactly sure. I think the slvls of her skills will be the same as yours, since she really IS only using your skills, and she can't use anything you don't have.

The Shadow Master is more complicated. She uses ALL Assassins skills, regardless of whether or not you have put skills in them. So she'll eventually end up casting Death Sentry even when you have 0 trap skills. As for what skill levels they're at, I think they increase slightly the more points the Shadow Master has. However, the skills you actually HAVE put points into will be stronger. For example, if you max Lightning Sentry, your Shadow Master will use a stronger Lightning Sentry.
One thing I noticed, is that Shadow Masters spawn as certain types. There is a type that will cast Mind Blast and other Shadow skills more often, there is one that will lay traps more often (yay!) and there is the Martial Arts Shadow, which sticks to MA skills.

2. The only way to improve gambling chances is using a high level character, and this only proves the chances of the claw being rare and unique. If you want claws, you should try Anya, since she has some very good claws sometimes. Other than that, you should try trading. Bartuc's are ridiculously low priced these days. I saw someone get one for 5 pgems the other day.

3. A secondary weapon... well I suppose if you can manage to fit in a BotD Berserker Axe in there, and get enough IAS to get the break point, then you COULD use that instead to charge your Tiger Strikes. :p But claws just look cooler.
There's also bows... people like bows... with Venom. Other than that, can't think of anything else an Assassin would like to use except a HotO Flail as a trap assassin.

4. One reason why charges don't land is lag. It gets annoying sometimes. The other reason is that you don't actually hit them because of their defence. Now I don't know about you, but Cobra Strike works wonders for me, even with 1 point.
But bare in mind that in Hell, leech is drastically reduced, so you will NOT be leeching as much there. Also, some monsters will not let you leech from them. As a general rule, I think, "If they're juicy, then I can leech." That is why skeletons don't leech and those little poison corpse thingies in Act 2, leech - they're juicy inside.

5. Meh I not the proper one to ask about to D2 stories, etc, anything not game related, although I do find it interesting. :p

[ilkori]

1) Both shadows cast at (shadow lvl)/3 + (your slvl)/2 for their skills. The AI is tweaky on both of them, but works as Speedwrath said.

2) If you want good claws, it is usually best to trade for them. The odds of finding them are rare, and even worse if you are gambling. Hell Cows is one of the better places to MF for them if you are determined on getting decent rares. Otherwise, I'd consider Nat's set claw, Bartucs, Jade Talon, Chaos runeword, Fury runeword, or one of the other uniques to be your best bet.

3) What kind of Martial Artist? A kicking build or a pure Tiger Strike/Death Sentry build are the only places that usually get much use out of non-claw weapons.

4) How's your chance to hit? Also, Leech was severely nerfed in 1.10.

5) No idea, I'm waiting for some orders myself. See you in Act 5.

[newerest]

"If they're juicy, then I can leech." That is why skeletons don't leech and those little poison corpse thingies in Act 2, leech - they're juicy inside.
sorry for the spam but, the only way I know if I can leech off a monster is from this...I don't know how we came up with it ;O

[BIGeyedBUG]

It is possible to gamble decent claws, depending on your time and how high your standards are. Claws are relatively cheap to gamble fortunately. OTOH, it can be very tedious gambling for a specific type of Hell-worthy claws. Early on though, it's easy.

Physical resistance, individual monster leech penalties, and the difficulty penalty all impact leech quite a bit. I still find a 1 point and +skills Cobra useful on the right targets if my physical damage is decent.

[Sorceress Zahra]

Thank you Speedwrath and ilkori, I think I know a bit more about the Shadows. I did finally see her using my equipped skills - all but one. She never seems to take advantage of Burst of Speed, though she's slow. Anyone know why?

By "trading" for claws, everyone means using the trading setup here on the diabloii.net, right? How does this work?

Right now, my Assassin focuses on claw-skill martial arts, her favorite being the doulbe-claw rend (Dragon Talon?). She's working up her kicks in the Dragon category with Dragon Tail being her secondary finishing-move, but right now she's powerful enough that she rarely needs it as Dragon Talon suffices for even the toughies.

Bow as a secondary... What about thrown weapons? I could see an Assassin throwing darts from the corners while using Cloak of Shadows... I guess I'll use whatever work with high dex, since that's what I'm working up with her.

My attack rating must be pretty low, since my Shadow has trouble landing blows as well. My Rogue has trouble landing shots, too, and they're usually pretty good (she's my level, too). Can't recall off-hand what my Dex or AR is, though - sorry. I'm higher in level than normal for my place in the game. I'm lvl 21 and I'm in the Halls of the Dead in Normal. I keep re-doing places to gain more points to put in martial arts and Dex hoping to up my AR enough to land blows. Those I do land, though, so serious dmg. One blow takes out toughies like the desert bosses (Radament took 2).

Right now, I just sit back and collect loot while my small army (Shadow and Rogue) take out the demons. I'll take out the bosses, just so I don't get bored.

Oh, one last thing... If my Shadow is a copy of me, does she have my MF and gold find abilities? (Does what she kill drop the same magic items and gold as if I killed it?)

Thanks to all who educate me!
-Zahra