| The Assassin |
| The assassin is one of the new classes in the Expansion - she also has a very intresting thing - her own weapon class. Only she can use the deadly claw weapons, and being a true assassin, can kung-fu enemies to antartica. General Use The Assassin is a bit of a mix between a caster and a meleer, not as strong as a barbarian, but also having strong talents in the casting area. The Assassin requires stratagies, not just charging in. Her traps give her formidable ranged powers, and her Shadow Disciplines allow her to become more deadly then ever before, and martial arts allow her to do incredible amounts of different damage. |
| Martial Arts |
| This is something totally unique, the ability to build up attacks and let them out. The martial arts section is broken up into two groups - Charge ups and Finishing moves. There are six charge up moves. For each one of those, you can do up to three "Charges". For instance, by using one strike, it may add +100% to damage, two strikes +200%, and three strikes +300%. But what do you do when you have them all charged up? Simple - either switch to a new charge up skill (you can have up to eighteen charges at one time!) or let it loose with a Dragon Finishing Move or a normal attack. What it does, is add all the benefits of the chargeups, + the benefits of the Dragon finishing move, into one, incredible attack. These make the Assassin able to charge right up, then let it all out on a unique, killing it in one shot. Pretty cool huh? Some charge ups, do different things for each charge up. For instance, Phonix strike (Level 30) charge 1 does a meteor, charge 2 does chain lightning, and charge 3 does a frozen orb. So its a choice which attack you use - and its not like charges are mana drainers either. The lowest mana one can take is "1" and the highest is only "4"!!. Four mana for a meteor, chain lightning, or a frozen orb! Thats not bad. Items an assassin should look for are Life / Mana stealing weapons, especially mana, these help the assassin regain mana directly after a charge up combo. Things that add + to speed and stamina. The trick with an assassin is to get in there, charge up, get out, choose a target, and let loose! Not so much in the lower levels, but by the time you hit nightmare, you want that. More to come soon |
| Traps |
| Traps are another assassin only thing - throwing one of these on the ground (or at a target for some of the lower level ones) does catasphrofic damage!!!. You basicly throw it, and if enemies either walk on it, or go near it, it shoots. Here are a few of these traps and how to use them Throwing potion - not too useful, but fun to use in low levels Charged Bolt Sentry - Again not too good, but fun to use Wake of Fire Sentry - VERY useful in confined areas at low levels, just go into some filled room of skelletons and mummies, let 5 of these loose, come back, nothings left. However not too useful at higher levels. Inferno Sentry - Not too good as a short range and long preparation for firing really hinders this Lightning Sentry - VERY useful against uniques or small groups, thrown four or five of these around, and run away and hear them fray. (I used these to kill diablo hehehe) Death Sentry - A very powerful attack, bad thing is only 5 charges but when you see what this can do its not a problem. A few bad things with traps are their high mana cost and their charges. That gives you a choice - have mana steal, lots of mana (and use potions), Mana regeneration, or Cobra strike (a charge up move that takes life and mana). Generally, most people use mana steal or Cobra strike in combernation with lots of mana. |
| Shadow Disciplenes |
| A few "must have" skills here, claw mastery is one, totally essential for an assassin. You have a few choices here, an assassin has a few things like paladin auras - Burst of Speed, Fade, and Venom. You can only have one of these active at a time, and each one lasts for a certain amount of time. A bit of a mix between howls and auras. Burst of Speed is the normal choice, however venom and fade are very useful, fade in hell difficulty and venom for plain hit damage. Also, an assassin can summon two Shadows - one who can use the two skills you have selected (quite intresting) and Shadow Master - who has access to ALL Assassin skills. These are very useful in single player, and still retain some value in multi. A few other skills are optional, but can be useful. |