Someone tell me i can still make a fun pvm fury/kicker!

[bakatrader]

So i lost a 20/20 paladin torch today.
Alas all my dreams of using that beast zerker and fort armour are gone
So i wanted to use blade fury (coz shurikens r cool) and dtalon (for bosses).

Here's my gear i'm stuck with now.
Helm: Guillaumes
Ammy: No idea, maybe Cat's Eye?
Armour: Vipermagi, probably upgrade to duress.
Weapon: Fleshripper
Shield: Stormshield (self-found!)
Belt: Ik belt
Boots: Probably upped gores in the long-term.
Gloves: Magnus skin
Ring1: Ravenfrost
Ring2: either another raven or a dual leech ring

Anyhow, this is for pvm of course.
I'm worried that my blade fury damage is going to be very very tiny using a fleshripper. I can get around this if i use a might merc, however then my ar will suck (no ba merc).
I really want to use blade fury, but i expect it to be competant in hell mode. I already have a trapsin, so i don't think i want to go traps/kicker.
Any suggestions? Can u deal decent blade fury damage without the high-end runewords?

[ilkori]

A couple things. Even if you don't plan on being a trapper, Death Sentry should be on every full fleshed PvM Assassin build. On a kick/bf build, I would max it for the CE range.

Your equipment list looks good. The only modifications I would make are: Get resists from your ammy and use Burst of Speed (or use Highlords/Cats Eye if you insist on Fade). Magnus Skin isn't very good. Use 20 IAS Blood crafts (upgrade to Draculs grasp). For your second ring, I'd go for leech.

I don't know what you consider "decent" damage, but I actually deal with almost everything by kicking and Death Sentry. Blade Fury is usually how I handle very difficult situations or Mana Burn monsters. Frankly, a "Black" flail works well enough in Hell most of the time (it's what I used). Nearly all of your damage is from Crushing Blow. The last little bit is the only place weapon damage needs to affect anything. Worse case scenario you can just put an Obedience (or other big stick) on your merc and let him have-at for the kill shot.

[bakatrader]

Thanks ilkori

Currently i have 1 pt in death sentry, might max it and/or invest in fire blast for more shots. Not sure if it's worth the skill points, any suggestions anyone?

I prefer to use fade to hit max res and get to 50% dr, so i'll probably go for cats eye (highlords is a tad pricy and the ds doesn't work with kicks).
Currently i'm using saracen's chance for some stats and res while i collect more gear.

Funnily enuff i'm using full orphan's set while i wait to lvl to use stormshield etc. I'll eventually opt out magnus skin for drac's depending on my luck with hellforge. If not blood crafts seem like a pretty good idea.

I'm also torn between which to upgrade first: gloves, armour (viper to duress) .
Also does cresent moon zerker/pb/cryptic sword > fleshripper or vice versa?

Thanks for the help in advance

And just to note: so far in nm it's been really fun.... the idea of turning any weapon into a missile weapon with no ammo worries is really cool. Kicks also seem to be working a treat altho like the kicker guide says, can't be too suicidal like a zealot. Not sure how blades will work in hell diff tho.... will c how it goes with the fancy dagger.