Assassin Stating / itemization

[KataL]

Hello everyone,

first off all i'm very much enjoying this mod, so thanks to everyone involved in development for all the hard work
secondly i have a problem that someone more experienced then me might be able to answer. I've tried to google the problem and searched the forum but found nothing even remotely helpful on the subject.
I am, as the title suggests, interested in trying the assassin after i've made it to nightmare on rogue and sorcerer.
The problem im facing with this class really start with lvl 2 already as i am just very uncertain how to stat her. (sure i could just not spend any points until lvl 20+ but that doesnt really solve the problem does it ?)

on sorceror i dumped everything into magic which makes perfect sense.. magic is my only ressource and my healthpool and i get physical resistance from manashield aswell.

on rogue i dumped everything into dexterity which also makes perfect sense as it bolsters her damage with bows, scales her class abilities and i guess the lack of physical dmg reduction is just something u have to live with on rogue (range should solve that problem mostly though) and the extra dex helps to avoid the odd hit or two with a relatively high AC.

assassin on the other hand is just straight up wierd. or atleast i dont know enough about the class/game to make a good judgement call.

maleficent strike and fanaticism both scale on dex. Yet dex gives me (besides hit/critchange and some AC) no other benefits.
So statwise i'm uncertain weither to ignore ability synergies and go ALL strength (buffs dmg and scales physical resitance)
or try to find some "sweetspot" on dex first and dump all the rest in str.
i cant see a "all dex" assassin really working too well unless u can somehow ignore physical resitance all together (which sounds like a horrible idea) and make up for lack of "raw" dmg by scaling critdmg on items because your critchance will no doubt be high.

Am i missing something ? Or am i missinformed ? i really dont know how to work this out.


Thanks in advance to anyone with more experienceo n this matter then me, that's willing to share knowledge.

[DacianDraco]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

The answer is of course all DEX, i don't know you'd think STR would be better since the benefits are less than the ones from DEX and STR doesn't boost your skill either. For all classes the focus is on what synergises with your skills, it's ok to have some stray points into something else but it's not really needed. If you are worried about STR req for armor know that any character can get around 400 AC with ease by wearing rare/crafted Grand Crown (Tier 2 Crown), Archon Plate (tier 2 Plate Mail) and a Plated Blet or Battle Belt (Tier 2 Heavy Belt), of course you should equip jewelry first that gives +All Attributes or some +STR at least, preferably both. And even most uniq/set items can be worn by all classes, i mean what an Assassin (or other class) would likely use won't require you to spend pts in STR. Also crafting recipes for Assassin give +STR and +DEX, so again no need to actually spend pts in STR, and her last crafting recipes give +max resist too so another defensive buff, there's no question that she has the best recipes that balance bonus to dmg and def, downside is you have to find them first. Overall AC is not be best for defense anyway, all uniq and boss monsters deal elemental dmg and life leech and -DFE is what keeps melee characters alive, +life will also help the Assassin most, since she has so little, but since your physical dmg is really good you can keep your life full as long as you keep hitting and have life leech.

PS: I don't think Assassin was the best choice to start learning how melee characters behave, you will die a lot and it's a very frustrating character to level compared to others, for ex the Barbarian gets more life, his overall speed is borderline uncontrollable and his skills don't cost mana, and the Warrior can charge, hit several characters to leach more targets and gets extra affixes from wearing a shield, so both deal well with big packs of mobs. But the Assassin is a slower moving and relies on hit and run tactics more, at end game she does most dmg for sure but is frail compared to other melee characters, and not having hand-me-downs from other melee characters also makes starting with her harder. I'd say she is most gear dependent to keep alive while leveling, so be prepared to have a hard time with her.

[KataL]

Thanks for the fast response.

sorcerer is in hell now. diablo dropped occulus lvl req. 41 xD i was 35 at the time wtf ?

anyways.. i understand the importance of class skill synergy. all dex just sounded strange for melee, because i thought i would deal no damage but i guess i am just quite missinformed about how the stats affect the classes (differently?) seems assassin gets physical resistance from dex aswell. i tried a dex potion and it went up 3%. strenght potion on the other hand seemed to have little effect at all. So i will definetly try to go as "all dex" as i can, just like rogue.

Im also fully aware that assassin will underperform for quite a while. I just think its more interesting to play then warrior/barbarian which seems very straight forward.

Besides i already have a sorcerer and rogue. So nothing will beat those 2 at efficiency anyway.

Thanks again.

[DacianDraco]

As far as i can tell physical resistance is linked to AC and the body armor type, probably formula differs from class to class, but how it actually works we don't know. As for how attributes affect the characters i've tried to figure it out and put the info in the docs http://awake.diablo1.eu.org/diablo-1-hd ... t1211.html For Assassin same value of STR or DEX gives same base dmg, but DEX gives crit chance while STR gives crit dmg, and a better chance to crit often and essentially keep the enemy stunlocked is more viable imo then crit less and deal more dmg when you do. And what i'm tring to say with this is if STR did not synergize with Barbarian/Warrior skills then DEX would have been the better option over STR since it's also defensive while being more offensive, it gives a bit of AC and to hit chance too while giving same base dmg as STR, even thou with a higher crit chance from DEX you would do more often high dmg than with the crit dmg from STR, that would happen less cause you have less chance to crit. Also crit dmg affixes are found in high % value while crit chance is a low % value, so easier to get high crit dmg than to get high crit chance from items.

[Kazvall]

Is it true that if I already have a unique or set item in my stash, another of the same version will not drop? Since I've been hording my items, my drops have gotten a lot better.

[DacianDraco]

No, the qlvl matters in determining drops and it's in relation with dungeon lvl or monster lvl and your character lvl and difficulty, not sure how exactly but i've asked the modder and right now he's away, so still waiting for an answer. So far the qlvl has been updated for items here on site and we'll eventually know the exact increase and when all items can start dropping.

[Kazvall]

All I'm saying is before when I would salvage low level uniques and sets, I'm constantly get them as drops again. Now that I've been collecting items in my trade stash, I have yet to get a double of what I already have...

It feels, to me, like it selects the lowest version of something you don't have a lot of times. I could be wrong of course. But, 30+ uniques later and I have not gotten a double.

[DacianDraco]

You've leveled enough or progressed enough in game that those items you had drop before can't drop anymore, since their qlvl is too low, and naturally you can only get new stuff. I have the game code for items and there is no such formula that selects anything, the game just doesn't know what you have in your stash.

[Kazvall]

You'll have to excuse me, as I only play Tchernobog. Perhaps that is where the confusion comes from.

In tcherno, I routinely get low level uniques and sets in Hell Difficulty.

[DacianDraco]

Well i don't know about the differences between the two builds but in Belzebub i have all uniq/set items except 2 items, and it's not like set/uniq items stop dropping just because i already have them, i've even had same item drop twice on the same dungeon level. And if memory serves me right somewhere in Torment over clvl 50 you should again experience a surge in new drops you couldn't get before, generally the top items from end game sets and uniqs, i remember that's when i started to complete my collection, and i had somewhere over 100 MF but below 200 MF and on occasion i've also used the player X command to get better drops.

[Kazvall]

Sadly, there is no Torment in Tcherno. Which I can live with. It's still the best Diablo 1 mod out at the moment.

[KataL]

Thanks again for the info.

Yes in that regard putting a lot of effort into getting your dex to rediculousness makes sense.. its also nice to know that any str is a good alternative top flat out critdmg on gear.. and i suppose the more dex you have the more valuable extra critdmg becomes..

cant wait to get her into some serious levels.. rounding things up in hell on the sorcerer atm.. assassin is lvl 27 and just made it into the early nightmare. been a breeze so far, but i can see why it can get tricky on assassin, as you've mentioned.. the aoe stun really helps though.. can't wait for the teleport skill.. manuals teleport spell is just too mana intensive to use often.

[KataL]

Wait! did i get this right ?

Narcosis cooldown DECREASES wit characterlevel ? but the duration remains the same ? so that means at high levels you can pretty much "aoe permastun" ? (except unique and boss monsters no doubt)

[DacianDraco]

Duration increases, and cooldown decreases, but you can't get to values of permastun, i think roughly 1 sec is the cooldown larger than the duration at max level.