PVM flashdancer - Pure kicksin ???

[cptain Usopp]

Hi, I'm planning on making my second Kickassassin, exclusively for PVM-purpose (bosses, baalruns and ubers).
The main reason is that i can finally afford a last wish :afro: . But i just can't decide wether to make a pure kicker or a lightn-trap/kick hybrid assassin.
My preference goes out to the hybrid, but i don't know if this is a viable build in hell (I can't find any decent guide or info regarding this build).
So my question is can i make a decent, strong hybrid with a W/S setup (using LW pb or ba) and an actII merc wielding an Infinity cv, or is it better to play a pure Kicksin (based on Janusjones' Warrior-monk-guide) for my purpose???
tnx in advance
Usopp

[Speedasin]

I don't see much of a point going with a pure kicker. Max Dtalon, 1 pt in Dflight, you're done. Put the rest in traps and shadow skills. I don't think venom for PvM is really worth it.

[bobofuzzlymunky]

I don't see much of a point going with a pure kicker. Max Dtalon, 1 pt in Dflight, you're done. Put the rest in traps and shadow skills. I don't think venom for PvM is really worth it.

you ARE kidding right? venom can reach over 2k with good prebuff gear. (thats over .4 seconds mind you)

to the OP- I absolutely ADORE kicksins, right up there with bowzons/smiters. ive never made a pvp kicksin, only pvm ones... this was the gear my most recent one used-

Guillames Face (Cham'd)
+2sin/allres/str/life ammy
Shael'd Stormlash (couldnt afford last wish)
AP Duress (50% bramble when casting venom)
Pheonix Monarch (redemption is a cute touch)
Credendum (str/dex/res)
2x 20str rings with some res/life/mana
Draculs (duh!)
210 Upped Gores
SWITCH- +3 shadow/enchant charges claw
+3 shadow/+2 venom claw


maxed dtalon/venom, rest in fade/wake of fire (for stun)/ BoS..etc...etc

did about 2k kick damage with 100cb and 33 static field, and prebuffed venom did about 1.8k. no skillers. absolutely wrecked bosses, only problem I had in trist was baal, his defense with chilling armor was massive, and kicks arent exactly known for huge ar, lol.

[cptain Usopp]

I don't see much of a point going with a pure kicker. Max Dtalon, 1 pt in Dflight, you're done. Put the rest in traps and shadow skills. I don't think venom for PvM is really worth it.

OK tnx, glad to hear that.

Now that i'm going the hybrid-route:

1) The classic question: wich armor to wear: nigma, coh or forti? I would say forti is out, cause it only benefits my shurikens and lacks the + skills that my traps really need. But can't choose between the enigma and coh.
2) For the shield is it best to use a SS or a spirit monarch?
3) Should i aim for 4 kicks (18 + skills) or more?
4) Is it best to make my last wish in a pb or a ba (attack speed vs shuriken dmg)?
5) And finally, is a holy freeze merc a good choice if i'm using death sentry (due to the shatterd corpses)?

tnx

[Speedasin]

OK tnx, glad to hear that.

Now that i'm going the hybrid-route:

1) The classic question: wich armor to wear: nigma, coh or forti? I would say forti is out, cause it only benefits my shurikens and lacks the + skills that my traps really need. But can't choose between the enigma and coh.
2) For the shield is it best to use a SS or a spirit monarch?
3) Should i aim for 4 kicks (18 + skills) or more?
4) Is it best to make my last wish in a pb or a ba (attack speed vs shuriken dmg)?
5) And finally, is a holy freeze merc a good choice if i'm using death sentry (due to the shatterd corpses)?

tnx

1. Enigma if you can get hit the dtalon bps, trap laying speed, and resists.
2. Both, depend on the situation.
3. I go with level 23 dtalon on my hybrids, but kicking air/missing is less prevelent in PvM from my experience so you could go higher, mainly to get better AR and slightly faster attacks.
4. PB -30 WS
5. I've always been told it is a no-no to use holy freeze merc because of the loss of corpses and DS is very useful so I'm going to say don't use it.

[cptain Usopp]

@ bobofuzzlymunky
tnx for the info, but i think i'm going to stick with the hybrid. Just wanted to know if this was a viable build worth trying. Maybe i'm going to put a few points in venom (or max it), just have to decide if this is worth sacrificing some lightn-trap dmg.
Also concerning the phoenix shield, i've read somewhere that this could give major lag when kicking, is this true??

@speedasin
tnx, you've helped alot. I think when using nigma it's best to use spirit shield for the fcr and otherwise the SS.

[Speedasin]

Yeah, you'll get more mileage out of the extra trap damage than the damage from venom applied to kicks. You canl put 1 in venom and let +skills handle the rest.

[ilkori]

http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=405240

This should help some.

[Lyrs]

A flash-dancer or Yoruichi, as I like to call her, would have to be a Martial Artist with mastery over her Lightning combat skills along with her traditional martial skills. She would utilize BoS for maximum movement speed and quick attacks with her lightning and martial skills.

[cptain Usopp]

http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=405240

This should help some.

:thumbsup: very nice guide, overlooked it when searching a build-guide for a flashdancer or Yoruichi (awesome name btw :oriental: ).

So I decided my gear set-up will be:
- Lw pb
- upped gores
- enigma ap
- shako or andariels (not sure about these 2)
- crafted blood gloves (have +2 ma, +6 cb; but hope on making one with +20 IAS)
- nosferatu coil
- SS, spirit or phoenix monarch (prob spirit)
- ravenfrost, dual leach ring and maras
- weapons on switch (2x bartucs untill i get some good trap-claws)

So with this setup I have +8 to ma skills (so i have to invest 15 pnts in dtalon to reach 5 kicks), 75-85 cb and more then enough lifeleach (prob a bit of overkill, 'cause of the lifetap from my lw). My only concerns are that i lack fhr and phys dam red. So any suggestions on my set-up are more then welcome.
tnx

[Silent Shaddow]

i didnt bother switching weapons to lay traps tbh, with spirit i was fine for dmg,
id go with CTA on switch at the least thats 4skills right there....

[HCKull]

So with this setup I have +8 to ma skills (so i have to invest 15 pnts in dtalon to reach 5 kicks),

Formula for kicks is 1+ lv/6 so:

level...........Kicks
23..............1+3 = 4
24..............1+4 = 5
30..............1+5 = 6
36..............1+6 = 7

[zejive]

:thumbsup: very nice guide, overlooked it when searching a build-guide for a flashdancer or Yoruichi (awesome name btw :oriental: ).

So I decided my gear set-up will be:
- Lw pb
- upped gores
- enigma ap
- shako or andariels (not sure about these 2)
- crafted blood gloves (have +2 ma, +6 cb; but hope on making one with +20 IAS)
- nosferatu coil
- SS, spirit or phoenix monarch (prob spirit)
- ravenfrost, dual leach ring and maras
- weapons on switch (2x bartucs untill i get some good trap-claws)

So with this setup I have +8 to ma skills (so i have to invest 15 pnts in dtalon to reach 5 kicks), 75-85 cb and more then enough lifeleach (prob a bit of overkill, 'cause of the lifetap from my lw). My only concerns are that i lack fhr and phys dam red. So any suggestions on my set-up are more then welcome.
tnx

Nice setup, but i would like to share my setup and my playing experience with you and hopefully help you brainstorm for a perfect setup for your playing style.

andariel (ias'ed)
maras
enigma
stormshield (ias'ed)
lw pb
raven frost
10fcr/ar/mana leech ring
magefist
arachnid
shadow dancer

on switch: cta and spirit

I'm more of a speed freak. Every kickers that i had, have 7/3 kicks (which is not necessary for pvm, 8/3 is good enough, especially for long kick sequence) and hence the 50 ias with -30wsm. I opted shadow dancer because i just happened to have them and didn't want to spend alot to get fhr trap skillers....the dex and 2shadow in return helps me to attain my max block and a lvl17 master with one point investment.

I have magefist on for the fcr and mana regen. Again i wanted speed, casting speed in this case, on my sin even when i'm on my LW/SS switch. Hence the 50 fcr at all time, and cta/spirit for 65 fcr breakpoint for far teleing (baal runs/key mfing/rushing). The some blocking on spirit and the minion stacking is good enough to guard myself during teles...I think high speed fcr is more critical in not getting hit during long random teles than the dr and full block with ss.

I did not want to max venom because i wanted to maximize my trap damage. 80% of the time i'll be using my cta switch for the +3 (and one more from bo) and lay traps. Ias from cta lets me kicks fast enough to inflict damage and leech some mana back.......i'm bascially too lazy to switch all the time since my traps are killing fast. I use LW/SS when i'm up against something that need me to have crushing blow/lifetap/DR/blocking (LIs, highlife monsters/bosses/ancients etc). Again, with infinity, 4 LS and 1 DS will kill all and fast most of the time.

Since I don't have open wound, I keep a small, low damage, long duration poison damage charm with me just incase if i'm up against something has anything that has good enough life regeneration that can challenge my traps and physical damage. Therefore, I didn't even have one point into venom for I was concerned if I can apply venom quick enough, due to its short duration. The 0.4 seconds will override the duration from my small charm too. But to be honest, there's nothing really out there that can regenerate life fast enough to give a kicker/trapper problem except for uber trist, and maybe a slight problem with diablo clone.

If u plan to uber with your sin u can swap in ias'ed guilame's, kira, and use ik belt and gaunlets for the resistance, and str/ias lost from andariel. Alternatively you can use wizzard spike + dracul + guilame's face. Small radius of life tap is nice against memphisto because you can keep the mages cloaked. And of course, swapping all trap skillers out for resist charms.

Phoenix is probably not very beneficial for this build....but having limitless mana can be very nice tho. Yes it provides more physical but then again, a kicker is not so much about physical damage. Your high crushing blow coupled with super fast speed will take things down fast and your ~1.4k physical damage from might aura is good enough. You can also kick first to bring bosses down to low health and then trap along to kill them. I personally would vote for max block and dr on SS but spirit can be good if you can have an ok DR and great defense...which can be achievable from a defiance merc.

Like what was suggested from silent shaddow, I agree that cta and spirit will be better than trap claws on switch for more life and mana.
Also, keep a weapon with amp or decrip in stash. Lawbringer runeword is handy especially against ancients with PI and/or iron skin and unbreakable LI. Should have invested fireblast :tongue:

[Zalcitabine]

If you go the hybrid-lightning route, i would place skill points in a trap synergy instead of venom.

If you want us to help you with your gear set-up you have to tell us what is your skill layout, mainly if you use fade or BoS.

EDIT: damn, didn't see there was a second page - time for bed i guess o_O

Zejive has alot of good points in his post although i consider a kicker/light trapper to be more of a melee than caster, so i would go with stuff like Stormshield and Thunder-god/String of Ear. Only FCR i would use would be on Fortitude - this is for PvM of course. Weapon? Stormlash (ber'ed) of course, the coolest weapon in the game :smiley:

Of course if you use Enigma you need some serious FCR unless you want an exercice in frustration. But using Enigma + traps i would go trap-only, just a personal preference. And use fireblast on immunes, like any PvM trapper build.

[Speedasin]

I just started playing again after a 6 month layoff. All my characters expired, I was fortunate enough to meet somebody who was quitting and he gave me a SoJ, Mara's, and Enigma.

Basically, the only character I created has been a kick/trapper since I've been back. I went WoF/Kicks...and it's for PvM. :P Also, I'm different than most hybrids in that I am going C/C.

My setup right now...at level 77, I'm at Act 3 Hell.

Helm: Shako
Armor: Enigma
Claw: 40% IAS Blade Talon (lol?)
Claw: Jade Talon
Belt: Sigon's
Gloves: Sigon's
Ring: SoJ
Ring: Manald Heal
Amulet: Mara's
Boots: Upped Gores
Charms: Low Assassin Torch, some low resist charms/fhr.

On switch: +3 shadow claw, +3 fade claw.

Once I find a decent trap claw with IAS, I'm going to Ber and Shael it, or maybe double Ber it. :)

I have about 1333 life, 400 mana, 600 WoF damage, 600-1k Dtalon damage, 75/58/75/65 resists, 73% fhr, 55% weapon block, 6.2k AR, 27% DR, 15% CB, and 00% FCR (lol). I do sometimes use Strength Claw and magefist but most of the time I don't.

The Sigons give me 30% more IAS, the Claws 40%, that is why I'm using them. I have a lot of tweaking to do...obviously, but she sure is fun.

[cptain Usopp]

@ Zejive. Tnx for the info man. This will be really helpfull.:azn: Think I'm going to drop the crafted gloves and use the magefists like u. On switch a spirit-shield and an fcr weapon (prob wizz) for the tele, spend all my wealth on my last wish, so there won't be a cta for a while :sad2:

Of course if you use Enigma you need some serious FCR unless you want an exercice in frustration. But using Enigma + traps i would go trap-only, just a personal preference. And use fireblast on immunes, like any PvM trapper build.
I really wan't to make a build around my last wish (would be a huge waste otherwise :tongue: ). And because i adore traps the most logic build seems a hybrid.

Got a last (maybe a bit of stupid) question. Its regarding the statpoints, more specific: how much points i should invest in strength.
According to what i've understood of Jrichards 'kicking basics'guide you get a reasonable boost in your kickdmg with some investment in strenght. Is this investment worth the loss of points in vitality? Or should i leave strenght at base and try to reach the req of my nigma with an anni, torch and maybe some str-charms??

tnx

[Speedasin]

No, never dump points in strength to pump up your kick damage. Don't even stock up on strength charms, most of the damage with dtalon comes from crushing blow, the extra damage you get from might is just gravy but you'll get far more out of your character in the long run investing elsewhere in vitality, and charms into resists, trap damage, fhr, etc.