Best Asn for HC? Your thoughts...

[smithaliscious]

Recently started playing HC after years of SC, and it is amazing! I've never played an assassin before; therefore, I want to play an assassin, but which build to attempt? None of the guides are branded as HC builds, and I'm afraid I don't have the patience to read through each of them to find out for myself. So I'm taking the short route!

What do you think is the best Assassin build for HC, and why?

[BAMFSpecialOps]

I would say a trapper would be a good place to start on HC and get to know the skills of the assassin. With traps you can stay out of the fray let your merc and shadow take the beatings, have LS to deal heavy lighting dmg, FB for LI's, DS to help clear out rooms, and mindblast to keep everything under some control.

[MYK]

A trapsin variation will certainly get you through Nightmare. In Hell mode your playing skills will come through a bit more and the weak will perish...

The Basic Trapsin Build is Maxed FireBlast, Lightning Sentry and Death Sentry. One point in BoS, Fade, Mind Blast, Cloak of Shadows.

From there you can:
Add more Trap damage; Get a castable shadow; Learn how to kick.

Each time I've made a trapsin I've went for the most damage and relied on Mind Blast and CoS to keep me out of trouble. Lately, though, I've been wishing for a Shadow Warrior to help with the tanking...

[AlexanderM]

I'm playing a hardcore assassin, and like the other posters suggest, a trapsin would probably be the way to go. My build is shaping up to have 10 in Fade, 20 in Lightning Sentry, 20 in Death Sentry, 20 in Venom, 20 in Shadow Master, 1 in Blade Fury, 1 in Cloak of Shadows. Not sure if I should leave venom at 10 and put the rest toward more trap damage, or not. I figure it would take a lightning, physical, and poison immune to totally stop me, and that's assuming there's no corpses for the death sentry to explode (50% fire).

Fade has kept me alive and well, and Blade Fury supplements the traps nicely while keeping a good distance from the action. If it weren't for the Cloak of Shadows bug crashing my game, I'd probably be playing her right now.

[AlexanderM]

Bah, dropped connection, sorry for the double post.

[BAMFSpecialOps]

Monster flee/knockback could work out nicely on a weapon switch, if any monsters start to get close hit them with a few blades and watch them run or get thrown back into your traps. A holy freeze merc for even more crowd control. AlexanderM I might leave venom at 10 and get some points into fireblast, it can start to do some nice dmg and has some nice range on it.

[AlexanderM]

Thanks for the suggestion BAMFSpecialOps! On a side note, I finally went back to my assassin and took on normal Baal (my first hardcore character to do so). I acutally got Woestave (unique Halberd with 50% Chance Of Open Wounds, Slows Target By 50% -50 To Monster Defense Per Hit, and Prevent Monster Heal) in Worldstone Keep level 3, and had it in my stash. Baal kept killing off my shadow and almost got my mercenary too, a barrage of blades with Woestave on and he slowed to a crawl, couldn't teleport or cast Vile Effigy. Low damage as it's 2-handed, but my traps and tanks were there to poke at him.

Here's to good timing!

[BAMFSpecialOps]

Toss that baby on your merc! Holy freeze + slow = picknick.

[voraginous]

I think I'm making a kick or KT for my first untwinked, HC sin. dumping points into death sentry and kick for now. still deciding on other traps, whether to max shadow warrior/master or to go venom or not

[Nyii]

I really enjoy my kicker in HC, standard build -

20 in Dragon Talon
20 in Venom
20 in Shadow Master
1 in Burst of Speed
1 in Fade
1 in Cloak of Shadows
1 in Mind Blast
1 in Blade Fury (for Iron Maiden in Chaos Sanctuary)
1 in Dragon Flight
1+ in Death Sentry

Then with all the extra points, pump up the skills you enjoy, be it traps or whatever is fun for you...

[lumpor]

I think a shadow is a must for any assasin build. I've also had alot of success using psychic hammer with a trapper

[voraginous]

Ive been pumping death sentry so far and im ~47. so its 12 talon, 20 sentry, 1 pt in basically everything in the shadow tree, plus 1 TS and CS from when i didnt know i was gonna be a kicker :whistling:

I really enjoy my kicker in HC, standard build -

20 in Dragon Talon
20 in Venom
20 in Shadow Master
1 in Burst of Speed
1 in Fade
1 in Cloak of Shadows
1 in Mind Blast
1 in Blade Fury (for Iron Maiden in Chaos Sanctuary)
1 in Dragon Flight
1+ in Death Sentry

Then with all the extra points, pump up the skills you enjoy, be it traps or whatever is fun for you...

is this viable? every time i see a orb/blizz sorc or fishymancer i wonder if i made a mistake making a sin. the others are just so much more powerful its like i cant keep up with my friends. if im in melee i risk dying right? and i dont have CB or static yet, and i cant really mf for that stuff

i just hate feeling like im not pulling my weight or i gotta defend my build all the time

[BAMFSpecialOps]

Lean more into traps, and rely on them to do most of your killing. Use dtalon to take out bosses/LI's when you feel safe enough to get close enough to do some kicks.

[Nyii]

What do you need to defend? If everyone is having fun whats the problem? :yes:

[Nyii]

Also keep in mind that if you can prevent a death by the use of CoS or MB... it will not matter what build you use - they should be happy you are there.