Kick assa questions

[sort-vampyr]

Hi, I'm making a kick assa for a multiplayer grup (3 players, one fire sorc, one ? and my assa)

I'm going for the claw/shield
I've decided to max tigerstrike, dragon tail, shadow master and to put a few points in fade.

questions:

some says that shadow master should only get a few points... why?

is it a mistake to leave BoS alone and go for fade instead ?

where should i put my spare skill points (claw mastery for more AR or Phonix strike + ? synergy)

ect tips ?

AND DON'T TELL ME TO LOOK AT THE CHAR BUILD !

[C Elegans]

Hi and welcome to the D2 forum!

I would not recommend you to max Shadow Master, it's a waste of skill points. Even more so since you are going to play in a party. One point is usually sufficient even in solo play, the rest you get from +skills.

Put one point each in Fade and BoS, and check the IAS table how many points you need in BoS for your weapon of choice. 1 point in CoS is very useful, as well as one point in Mindblast.

After you have maxed TS and DT, you have to decide what other skills to use. I personally think the TS/DT build suits best with Phoenix Strike and a maxed synergy of choice, but you can also combine it with Venom or make it trapper hybrid.

And please do look at the character build I have written for a Tiger Strike/Dragon Tail assa It includes stats allocation and equipment suggestions too.
http://www.gamebanshee.com/forums/di...tml#post599535

[sort-vampyr]

Originally Posted by C Elegans

...think the TS/DT build suits best with Phoenix Strike and a maxed synergy of choice...

but it does matter WHICH synergy i choose. (correct me if I'm wrong--->) fx. the synergy list says: Blades of Ice: +10% Cold Damage Per Level. If i choose Blades of ice as the synergy the +10% Cold Damage Per Level only applies if i use charge 3: chaos ice bolts. It dosn't ad any cold damage (or any other damage) if i use the 1-2 charge!

so my next question is: Is it better to boost, lets say 3 charge instead of 1&2? (or any other for that matter). When I look at the skill I see that 2 charge does more damage than 1 charge (and my guts tell it hits more of those meat balls of diablo's :P ) But something tells me that eventhough 3 charge does very little damage compared to the others, it might hit more monsters than the others. Does it? (and what about cold duration... long enough to be an advantage?)

[sort-vampyr]

Originally Posted by C Elegans

...and check the IAS table how many points you need in BoS for your weapon of choice...

I know what an IAS table is (eventhough I'm not yet sure if I can understand it...)

the main problem is... where the #### am i to find a IAS table ?

gimme link plzz

[C Elegans]

Originally Posted by sort-vampyr

Is it better to boost, lets say 3 charge instead of 1&2? (or any other for that matter).

It does matter which synergy you boost, I prefer lightning because it's a lot of damage. The damage you get from cold is nothing, it's the freeze duration that matters and in my opinion, it's quite enough with what you get from 1 points and +skills on your items. Your party members however may appreciated an increased cold lenght if you have nobody else who does cold damage in your party.

No, I don't think cold hits more monsters than the others, not that I have noticed anyway.

Regarding IAS, it's a bit complicated for assas since they have both the weapon speed, the IAS on items, BoS and the particular type of attack to consider. You can find IAS tables here:
IAS Tables (most recent) - Diablo 2 Forums

And if you can't read those tables, here is a quick calculator, partly in English, partly in German:
Weapon Speed Calculator

[sort-vampyr]

thx for the help :P