Hell Claws for HC Untwinked Single Pass Phoenix Strikerder=0>

[MercMan]

Hi Guys-

I'm looking for your thoughts on what claws I can reasonably expect for my HC untwinked single pass phoenix striker to use for questing through Hell. I don't want to shop myself to death so I am just curious what some of the more experienced assassin players would see as reasonable for the build.

Thanks for the feedback

MercMan

[Mungojerry]

bartucs from nm meph? been awhile since i played PS.

[jiansonz]

@Mungojerry: you can't count on particular uniques with single pass play.


Gambled Blade/Greater Talons (upgrade the former) with Fool's mod and/or ITD, some IAS. Secondary claw can be a shopped Kenshi's claw. Relevant staffmods are nice but hard to get in combo of the other goodies.

For act boss fights, I recommed a 'Strength' claw.

[Shagsbeard]

I thought the whole point of "single pass" was to break the "what can I resonably expect" question. Better question is "How do I deal with not being able to expect anything?" In single pass you should gamble items... certainly. Don't forget you can craft items too, in particular the boot recipies as rare boots with resists are sometimes the best boots to use. Don't shun blue claws... and blue gloves. Some of these can have quite good mods for your assassin even though a regular player would typically be able to find items which would beat them. Take note of which items are getting old and need upgrades. When you start falling behind (and you will), focus on selling everything and anything to get funds to gamble. It's a very fun playstyle... but it does get frustrating.

[thefranklin]

The OP is asking us what we think he/she should shop. Jainsonz's answer is great. Shooting for a 2 socket piercing greater talons for playing around, and a fools and/or strength for bosses. One other suggestion would be to keep something of vileness around for PMH.

[Maltatai]

A three socket claw for "Malice" can be a useful backup when facing fire enchanted baddies or generally nasty meleers that you want to minimize contact with. The reduced monster defence mod may even become useful against bosses, who knows? Other than that, I second the suggestions of Prevent Monster Heal and Ignores Targets Defence or massive attack rating.

[zaphodbrx]

If you want to shop claws be warned it's tedious and boring. I once shopped for two hours without any result and gave up. I suppose Hell Anya is the best place for them (hop in and out of portal ) but that is in mid Act5 hell so you might as well go ahead and finish the game at that point. Not sure what kind of claws Nightmare Anya gives.

One of my first characters was an untwinked phoenix striker. I used a 'malice' claw with +3 phoenix strike nearly the whole game until late Act 5 when I found a Bartucs ( just before the ancients quest ).

[pharphis]

The claws available should only be dependent on your clvl, so NM shouldn't be any different than hell if you're at the same level. Of course, I don't know what clvl you need to be for some of this better stuff.

[maxicek]

There is a big section on shopping in my claw guide. All clvls etc are explained.