Blade Fury question

[FrenziedOnuris]

I'm having some fun with a blade fury sin on hardcore single player. I'm not too sure how to spend my next skill points. So I have two questions:

1) Does Claw mastery improve blade fury damage when wielding a claw class weapon? Does the critical strike apply?

2) If the answer to 1) is yes, would venom be more useful than claw mastery or no?

I'd like a few opinions. Thanks in advance :thumbsup:

[stephan]

1) Yes and yes.

2) There is not really any reason to not get both if you have a good claw.

Having said that, I'd only use claws on a BF-sin if I was untwinked and even then I'd be careful with putting points in CM. If you find a really nice weapon of a non-claw type the points in CM are wasted.

[FrenziedOnuris]

Thanks Stephan :) I would get both. But there's one issue. I put 20 into blade fury. And now I'm thinking maybe I should have put one point in it maybe. But I don't regret it too bad because that extra 80 or so physical damage might be better than say poison. The other points, I put 20 into fade and 20 into shadow master. Ya what you say is true. Since I'm playing single player I might never find a good claw. That's why I'm being careful how to proceed. Thus far not putting points into CM gave me versitility with the choice of weapon. And being in single player I might need to keep that versitility and just the best I can find. So far I never used a claw, because I never found a decent one, instead I'm using a nice eth axe I found. What do you mean by "untwinked"?

Right now I'm on lvl 64, and just entering hell. I'm thinking of giving myself more time by getting one point in death sentry for better crowd control (since shadow master rarely casts it, she's quite decent with mind control though..sometimes even taking over dudes with it :P) and by then I might see what weapons I get from hell andy. By then hopfully I'll make a decision.

By the way I tried many characters in hardcore single player, this sin is the best so far. Bone necro did quite well too. Elemental sucked, trapsin got me kinda far but then got stuck due to imunes, not so strong of a merc, and having not the best of equipment.

[FrenziedOnuris]

Actually another quick final question. Should I craft a knockback glove or a crushing blow glove?

[Nimbostratus]

Eek, maxing Blade Fury was a waste; it's a 1-point wonder.

"Untwinked" means not having items found by other characters readily available for that character. (so of course, "twinked" means having access to better items from other characters)

Now, I'd recommend you gaining a few more levels before taking on Hell. It's usually best to enter Hell around level 75 or so. Especially important for a Fury 'sin since Blade Fury does use AR (despite the character screen not mentioning it), and thus your chance to hit is dependent on your level vs the monsters' level.

As for the gloves, do you have CB available anywhere else on your character? And knockback only comes on weapons and gloves (and two unique helmets).


EDIT: For the skill choices, Venom would help vs physical immunes, while Claw Mastery could help with AR problems (check your normal attack to see your AR for blade fury).

[BIGeyedBUG]

They both have their advantages, and they both have their problems. But if it was choice between Venom and CM, most of the time I'd take Venom. And your situation sounds like one of those times.

There's a few different reasons, but the main one is that Venom keeps your options open. The sad truth is, it takes a very, very good claw to beat something as simple as the Black runeword, and there are even better non-claw weapons than that.

[FrenziedOnuris]

Ya max blade fury was not the best idea. I don't mind the damage. It might be better than using CM and going for venom or vice versa. But it uses almost 4 mana per blade instead of 1. And like you said...I have a problem hitting monsters in hell. I have a tone of mana steal but I'm not hitting and using potions like crazy. So I actually went back to nightmare to gain levels like you said i should :) I don't have knockback or cb anywhere except on gloves, I crafted a 10% cb glove with 2% mana steal some life some cold res and some extra defense. It's not too bad.

Ohhhh I just checked out black rune word. Oh my. Has 40% cb and knockback!!! And 140% ed...drool. That's sweeet! I don't think I'd get as much as 140% ed alone from CM, aside from the critical strike bonus...but hey this has 40% cb! and...I could find an eth wep...I doubt I could find a good claw, and eth and all that. Hmm so I should go with venom right?

[BIGeyedBUG]

Ohhhh I just checked out black rune word. Oh my. Has 40% cb and knockback!!! And 140% ed...drool. That's sweeet! I don't think I'd get as much as 140% ed alone from CM, aside from the critical strike bonus...but hey this has 40% cb! and...I could find an eth wep...I doubt I could find a good claw, and eth and all that. Hmm so I should go with venom right?

Yah, and Black won't go in a claw.

[FrenziedOnuris]

I know. I'll clarify what I was blabbing there lol. I said black is cool and I probably wouldn't find a claw that's got 140% ed the way black rune word does. And cb is better than critical strike anyway isn't it? And even if i found a claw that's 140% ed the way black rune word has it, I could put black inside an eth wep whereas if I found a good claw most likely it wouldn't be eth. So no point in CM I guess. But most importantly, I think I'll go with "keeping my options open" like you said. Who knows what I'll find later on maybe I'll end up using something wierd, like etheral edge or something lol whatever I find.

Thanks for all ur help girls/guys.

[BIGeyedBUG]

And cb is better than critical strike anyway isn't it?

In this case, yes. DS is only going to come out to about 20% extra damage over time. You'll get some enhanced damage on top of that, but since it's off-weapon and working off of a claw's low base damage, it's not terribly impressive.

The %AR boost of CM is a bigger loss, but there's a very good chance that the flat AR bonus of Black will give you better numbers anyway. Of course the disadvantage there (or for any runeword) is that you can't slap an eth in it.

But long story short, 40% CB + KB + a little on-weapon ED = good times untwinked.