By Omg's decree: Matriarch Skuld, Shadow Knight

[VoX Dei]

Matriarch Skuld, Shadow Knight

Name

There are at least three different Skulds in Norse Mythology: a Norn, a Valkyrie, and a Princess (popular name no doubt as no Viking man could ever resist a girl named Skuld ). This girl is named after the half-Elven Princess Skuld, who was well versed in the dark arts being able to resurrect her slain berserker warriors in the midst of battle.

Concept

The present build draws heavily from TopHatCat64’s Belladona and winmar’s Hypatia Shadow Knight Mat write-ups. A Shadow Knight is basically a ‘Passion’ Assassin with a skill point allocation strongly biased towards Shadow Disciplines that uses Zeal as a quick crushing blow and poison delivery method. The build is finished with a lot of spare skill points leaving a lot of room for customization. Equipment-wise the build is naturally melee oriented with less room for customization. For instance, using a 1-hander ‘Passion’ is a must, because it grants the main skill Zeal while taking advantage of the fact that Assassins are among the select few classes with the fastest 1-hand Zeal speed (4 fpa). Additionally, their block speed is only second to Paladins using Holy Shield. Berserk, on the other hand, is usually neglected by Shadow Knights, because their physical damage output isn’t so hot. However, Assassins have the second fastest 1-hand Berserk speed (8 fpa)*1 and this effectively makes them the uncontested top choice when it comes to build around both Zeal and Berserk from a 1-hander ‘Passion’. That said, and keeping true to the build theme, I’ve also tried to get a decent Berserk going. That meant using the hardest hitting 1-hander available coupled with a high level Burst of Speed, lots of Deadly Strike and off-weapon ED%, and a healthy strength investment. My final weapon choice was a Legendary Mallet, because it is the only 1-hander that belongs to the Hammer class (Hammers get +10% Stat Bonus damage from strength). Since she uses a shield, I’ve opted to follow an unusual max block semi-titan attribute point allocation.

Note: *1 = Amazons have the fastest 1-hand Berserk (7 fpa), however their awful block speed with swinging weapons completely ruins this advantage :/

Stats

LCS

65% IAS*2 => 4 frames Zeal / 8 frames Berserk / 9 frames Death Sentry
lvl 4 Zeal => 5 Hits
61% Deadly Strike
57% Crushing Blow
10% Open Wounds
25% FCR => 14 frames Cloak of Shadows and Mind Blast
86% FHR => 4 frames Hit Recovery
30% FRW*2 => 9,44 yards per sec Run Speed
35% FBR => 3 frames Blocking Rate
75% Blocking
50% DR

Note: *2 = using Burst of Speed

Skills

Shadow Disciplines: 62

20 (26*3): Venom, Shadow Master
15 (21*3): Burst of Speed
1 (4): Claw Mastery, Psychic Hammer, Weapon Block, Cloak of Shadows, Fade, Shadow Warrior, Mind Blast

Traps: 32

20 (23): Death Sentry
7+ (10): Lightning Sentry
3 (6): Fire Blast
1 (4): Shock Web, Charged Bolt Sentry

Martial Arts: 0

0skills / Charges

23 Enchant
5 (11*3) Battle Command, Battle Orders
1 (4) Zeal, Berserk

Note: *3 = on switch

Equipment

Weapon: ‘Passion’ Legendary Mallet +14% ED, +2 AR
Shield: Stormshield (Um)
Helm: Guillaume’s Face (40% ED/+5 Str)
Armor: ‘Fortitude’ AP
Belt: Verdungo 15/39
Gloves: Death Fist Sharskin Gloves
Boots: Gore Rider Myrmidon Greaves
Amulet: Highlord’s Wrath
Ring 1: Raven Frost 20/240
Ring 2: Bul-Kathos 5%
Switch: ‘CtA’ + ‘Spirit’
Prebuff: Demonlimb
Charms: dual mod focused on max damage, ar, life, resists (especially fire and poison), and fhr

Mercenary: Mighty Vikhyat

Weapon: Ethereal Reaper’s Toll (Amn)
Helm: Guillaume’s Face (Um)
Armor: eBugged ‘Treachery’ Great Hauberk

Build Summary

Skuld exceeded by far the best expectations I had for her during the planning stage: She revealed herself a thoroughly enjoyable, fast, safe, and versatile killer.

Finds

4os 211% ED Gris Caddy, 12@ res/+12 max jool, +1 P&B /+3 max skiller, and a Lem rune

Special Thanks

TopHatCat64 and winmar, both for build inspiration.

Thank you for reading

Cheers,
VoX Dei

[omgwtfbbqpwned]

Congrats. Pleasant-ro-read write-up and awesome character concepts as usual. Your LCS numbers are insane. No deaths?

I really like how you've laid out your build in such a simple yet detailed way, particularly the coded box after the LCS subheading. I'm sure SPFers will be quite happy upon stumbling this thread if they are looking for some guidance.

[Vang]

Nice write up, and I may have to somehow copy that use of a Legendary Mallet as it is something I've wanted to use for quite a while.

[Crazy Runner Guy]

Slick build. Did you ever consider using Shadow skillers and/or Trang's gloves to boost Venom damage?

[VoX Dei]

Thanks for the comments guys.

@ omg: I recall 2 deaths: /p8 NM cursed Hephaesto, and /p3 Hell WSK3.

@ Vang: I was very pleased with the LM damage output. It was cheap to repair too (~1k gold per durability point).

@ CRG: I needed all the charm slots to fix ar, life, res, and add max damage. I needed 20% ias and some ml% from the gloves slot so I had to discard using Trang's gloves.

PS: Lesson learned today: One should always click refresh before posting after returning from a smoke

[Doctor Clock]

Very nice. 2-3k Zeal at 4FPA + Death Sentry...my pally zealot feels inadequate now. I may have to make one of these.

[maareek]

Any build that shows that paladins aren't even the best users of their skills makes me very happy ( pala lovers) and this char makes me very happy indeed! Awesome job!

Love that she found a Gris' caddy; It's always nice when D2 rewards a great character with a sweet reward.

I think I would have been tempted to go with the Faith Rogue to handle the IAS, Fade to handle the resists and Lance Guard for extra damage, but that's probably inferior to your build in overall utility. Would be awfully sexy, though. ^_^

[HappeningKT]

Awesome mat.Congratulations on the mat and double thumbsup for the finds. Interesting choice of legendary mallet.Hmmm..... so assassins can reach 7 fpa with berserk, can they even with 2 handers, if so I'll be happy to start one.Any mf plans with his lady?
btw I suppose she is a 1.11 mat, right?

[bcoe]

Very cool character and writeup. Makes me tempted to build one... Maybe with a scourge passion. Hmmmm...

I haven't played D2 in a week (temporarily computerless) and threads like this make it even more painful... New one should be here in a week or so, by then I'll have the shakes...

[Greebo]

A very interesting character and a good write-up. Congrats!

Questions:
(1) %ED damage jewel in a helm? I thought these were not supposed to work (from jewels only). Or was it fixed at some point?

(2) How was your typical playstyle? BoS, CoS, DS, Zeal, rinse repeat? Or did you not even have to bother with CoS? Have you ssed Mind Blast at all?

(3) Did you end up using Berserk for anything? Or just for showing off in your post ?

(4) Where does this all life come from? I see 59 vitality, 'Fortitude' and 'CtA'. Is that enough for 1.2k? Or did you have a lot of +Life charms?

(5) Not a question, but a remark. I love those gloves. Congrats on crafting them. GG!

Again, grats on a Mat!
--Greebo