This is my first char on Hell Unleashed so I kinda built it like I would back in D2 Vanilla...

Lvl 46 in River of Flame

Current Stats (Have 15 unused):
Str: 80
Dext: 50
Vit: 135
Energy: 30

I heard that in HU, you can keep Str/Dext to minimum and still be OK?

Skills:
20 Dclaw
10 Claw Mastery
2 Fade
1 in Everything Else: BoS, CoS, Venom, Shadows x2, Blade Shield, Death Sentry.

From here, I don't know what would be good.. Max Venom? Max Death Sentry?

for a melee sin, i would suggest putting more skill into fade, perhaps a base 10 if your build can afford. each point in fade is 1% damage reduction encase you didnt know.

my advice would be
max fade
venom
d-claw
claw mastry

make chaos claw and ww things

If you really want to make a DClaw sin, I wouldn't bother with Venom. The returns aren't gear without a very focused gear set-up. And it works best w/ WW, and I assume you want to make a DClaw sin, not a Whirlwind Sin.

Anyway, I've never made a pure DClaw sin before, but I assume the build would be similar to this:

Max Dragon Claw (what a surprise)
Max Claw Mastery
Max Fade
And then it's really up to you. I'd probably max Death Sentry for an AoE skill. That with an A1 Merc should mop up trash pretty well.

I've heard of people maxing Cloak of Shadows for the defense boost, but I don't know how viable that would be. You do have the extra points end-game though, so if you think a defense boost will be beneficial, go for it I guess.

Also your stats are fine. 80/50 will allow you to wear some pretty beefy gear without much +Str. I wouldn't suggest putting anymore into Str/Dex though. On SC, I usually only go 40/30 at the very most and even then I consider that kind of high.

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A Lannister always pays his debts.

Thanks for suggestions and yeah I want a dclaw not a WW. I think I will add a bit to death sentry but not maxed. Anyone tried Blade Shield? It seems way better than Vanilla

Guys, dont you like tiger strike ?

My suggestion:
Max tiger
Max dclaw
1 cobra
Max fade
Max Clawmastery
1 pt to the rest of shadow discs.
1 pt into death sentry
rest into a shadow.
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stats ( base ) :
40-50 str
40-50 dex
all vita
6 energy
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The drawback about bladeshield is that will consume your wpn durability rly , rly fast. Go for it if you like it though ( also 1 pt ).

♥

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"I am who I am. Your approval isn't needed"

This. All the Dclaw damage in the world isn't going to matter without a strong charge-up skill, and since you're (probably) going for max physical damage, Tiger Strike is a good bet. However, you may chose to go an elemental route if you fear phys immunes. Fists of Fire is probably the best bet, saves you a couple points (as opposed to getting Phoenix and having to synergize it).

Oh, except I'd probably go with 10 energy cuz I hate when stats don't end in a 5 or 0

Why are you two advocating TigerStrike? Is it only for use with DragonTail? I agree those two skills work very well together, but TStrike and DClaw do not.

e.g. Level 20 skills (3300%ED 4th charge TigerStrike, 880%ED DClaw)
TStrike = 3x0%ED + 3300%ED = 3300%ED
DClaw = 3x880%ED + 880%ED = 3520%ED
Both = 3x0%ED + (3300+880)%ED = 4180%ED (but costs 40 skill points).

Considering that TigerStrike is putting all your faith into that last hit not being blocked or something, I think DClaw really offers a lot more for the 20 points used.

Perhaps just keep the 20 points you'd have used on TStrike as unspend points. If you notice an area where your build is really weak (like needing a tank to help you and your merc, or figuring that DeathSentry is so awsome that it needs 10 more points) then toss them there.

As for Bladeshield, I totally agree with Tony about weapon durabliity. It's also quite a shock when you're used to your DClaw damage and then you realize that all that %ED isn't transfered to BShield (your shield does your regular attack dmg with a little extra due to the skill itself).

Cloak of Shadows does give a very high defence boost (one of the highest in the game), but the 60 second timer makes it too short to cast and ignore. You basically need to enter every battle with it freshly cast, so that you can be confident it won't run out 1/2 way through, but waiting for it would get annoying. Against trash, it's AI-messing properties are noticed much more than the Defence. Those AI-messing properties mess with BShield too, since fewer critters will swarm you. Shadow Warrior is an excellent tank to use to spam CoShadows when you can not. When you cast SWarrior, and if she needs to run to the battle (like 1/5 the screen distance) then she will automatically cast whatever skill you have on right click (You can get her to cast about 3 skills very quickly and consistently this way, so maybe Fade, CoS, and BShield).

Would you suggest, then, that a Dclaw assassin not bother maxing a charge-up skill, but simply use Dclaw as a single-target tactic the whole game?

I've never made an assassin with the aim of ONLY using Dclaw (back in 1.09, I used it as my charge release but that's a totally different story).

Yeah, pretty much. Boring as hell eh? That's why mine never got out of Norm. Strong as heck in many ways, but without a decent duration Cloak of Shadows (First time I made one, a maxed Cloak lasted 4 minutes), she just wasn't novel enough for my enjoyment. She's pretty much like Fury druids or Concentration barbs (melee attacks with only phys dmg), but without the life buffs.

Donno what happens when the hit is blocked, but when missing, charges of tstrike are not lost, so you can simply strike again till the powerful release, and charge again .

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"I am who I am. Your approval isn't needed"

i made a d claw sin
She has 2 eth zod-ed ber-ed killers doing buffed up 23k dmg with merc(beast-might) auras with each claws .
i maxed dclaw, claw mastery, cloak of shadow, 10 to block 10 to venom 10 to fade and i planning to max fade or venom
i realized shes not a dmg dealer class .. shhe is a tank at most.( each claw with 2 ber s = 16%cb)
with cloak and other buffs she can reach 160-170k armor, thanks to claw block shes like the best tank atm.
With fade u have curse reduction so basicly ur undefeatabel, also dont forget the hidden dmg reduction. With shadow skillers u will reach even better stats, i have only 2 atm.
items to get in my advice is full mancers set .. a nice war eth mine is around 4900 def. metalgrid amu or amu for the boss, rings with hp str ll ml rez or absorb for the situation. Shes boring as hell, i left Hu for 2 month 2 lvls befour she could use the eth killers .. so u can imagine how much i got bored of her if i could left just befour that. Now she is finishes and only good for helping out friends if they need a tank. Think it through if u want such an expensive char who is not rly as fun as other chars.

Hope this helps u decide.

Hmm lol any recommendations on chars that more fun then? I always liked trapper in Vanilla or non-assassin is fine too

this is what i did on mine:

50 str/dex
??? vitality
5 energy

20 dclaw (duh)
20 mastery
20 venom
20 CoS
10 Dsentry
5 clawblock
1pt wonders (shadows, pre-reqs etc)

first maxed dclaw and then the 10pts sentry to fly thru acts... sentry is a good and fun trasher.

dont need to get more than 1pt fade or the others... such a waste, but if u want u can do 10 fade 10 cos... up to you.

CoS works as an amp for venom and gives you sick defense... venom gets rly good later on game; You also need 1pt blade shield, it does a great combo with venom and CoS, plus leech mana/life for your attacks and survivality.

with this build i have:

6.2k life no BO - no oak
120k defense with FA
70% block
over the top of dr
14-17k damage (max fps)
47k attack rating
etc.

pretty kickass bosskiller, and with sentry and a 9k dmg merc i eat thru the acts.

the funniest of all that ur claw gona break every 20-30 mins until u get ur hands on ethernal-indestructible claws.

... go town, and repair

... go cube , and smith-rune

30 minutes... isnt that enough to, at least, take a deep, fresh virtual-breath?

♥

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"I am who I am. Your approval isn't needed"

I made a new lightning trapper instead.. with lots of -enemy light res and +light dmg (since traps gain from +% light dmg unlike Vanilla). This should be fun.

I am playing a dragonclaw assa too.

But i was wondering if i should go for phoenix (meteor) or venom.
Venom is "nice" but to me it seems the dmg is kinda low - although it is dealt very fast.
Should i chose fire or poison?

I have one of each, my wwsin uses venom, if i prebuff i can get to around 10k venom damage with 4 skillers and 50% poison skill damage so the actual damage is around 15k or 30k dps (ish). I generaly take my poison skill% equip off and use a more melee friendly setup so actual damage with propper equip is around 12k.

My meteorsin was a real blast to play, probs one of the most fun builds I have played. You can stack a ton of meteors since you only need the first charge and death sentry clears screens very quickly. Heres a vid of her before i stripped her equip for my other one. Both are viable, but I prefered the meteorsin for the fun factor personally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YEDB-P1PMQ

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I think i would prefer the one with venom.
It sounds like it really is a superb boss killer.
Dclaw+bladeshield+venom means lots of dmg on single target and in addition i can leech life through claws and bladeshield.
And the combination of venom + CoS + very fast attack speed should cause some dmg.
Venom delivers all its dmg in 0,5 sec + poison resi down + x hits per second means venom fucking up the enemy while i deal additional phys dmg.

How does CoS work on bosses? I know it doesn't "blind" em, but the -xx poison works right?

What kind of merc should i chose? I play hardcore, don't really wanna die you know...? Therefore i think i will also put some more points into fade?

death sentry needs like 6 skill points to reach it and another one to aquire it... - is that worth it?? Shouldn't i invest in defensive stuff?

the -res on CoS will not work on bosses. death sentry is your main trash clearing skill. max fade if only for the dr%.

Stacking 15-20 meteors on a boss with 10k average dps (not including the actual hit from the meteor) is 150-200k a sec. alot more than venom

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Ok, but that are 40 skillpoints :/.
Then i would have to skill phoenix 20 and that fireskill 20, so i would have to not use/max dragonclaw?
And when i max CoS i get lots of def for harcore so it would be kind of logic to skill venom?
Venom is only thought to support my Dclaw attack, with which i can leech the whole fight from boss - whereas with phoenix + finisher i could not leech that much?
Shouldn't i be kinda "quick" killing bosses with Dclaw + cb ? (I would not have to rely on Venom for the killing?)
Security comes first for me, but i know when it takes me to long to kill a boss that will also lead to death...!
Don't know what to do really...! Someone plz convince me of a good skilling .

def has deminishing returns, bdly. if you have about 100k def and something has a 10% chance to hit you. you can raise it to 200k def and only drop the enemys chance to hit by a few%. clawblock is what keeps you safe. I use dclaw with phoenix strike. skills are.

20 phoenix, fists of fire, fade, claw mastery (ar to charge and release). the only way venom is good is with ALOT of skill chrms and caster equip. if you want to make a tank then you cant use caster equip really so your venom damage will be terrible. at least with phoenix, its on the same tree as your dclaw attack so +martial arts equip helps both damages out.

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how many skillpoints into dclaw?
how many into clawblock?

1 clawblock, i would max dclaw if its gonna be your main damage skill. if not then remaining points (10 or so) mainly for the ar

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You sure i deliver more dmg when i have to charge phoenix and then use dclaw instead of constantly hitting with dclaw supported by venom and blade shield?

Could it be that this build requires kinda good equip?

its only the first charge so every second attack drops a meteor that deals about 25k damage and 10k average dps.

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Hm, im not convinced by that meteor stuff!
I want to attack with Dclaw and i want to be best prepared fighting bosses.
As I'm playing hardcore atm i just know i will max:
Dclaw
Fade

If i can't get that last Death Sentry via an item (is it possible? a claw?) Then i will probably invest like few points in it.

What parts of CoS do work on bosses? It consists of:
+ %def
- % enemy poison res.
- % enemy def
- "blinds" target

I'm confused. I even don't know if it is worth putting points into claw mastery, if i compare what i get from it with a point in dclaw its only a little bit of dmg and ar.
I'm thinking about blade shield, as it is leeching life for me from the enemy, which sounds very usefull.

Any advice from someone who plays a kind of "pure" dclaw-sin would be very nice.

CoS on bosses will only boost your def. DClaw gives Critical Strike also. Blade shield won't help for bosses... good for regular monsters

Ok - so CoS is still worth investing!
What about Claw-block? How many in there? Is it worth 20?
I didn't mean blade shield to kill bosses but to leech life constantly for me while killing the boss with dclaw.

you only need 1 in claw block.

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Im kinda lost - where to put all my skillpoints then -.-?
I can't see any other good def measures to invest...?
Those shadowwarriors and stuff is way to weak to help anyhow against a boss.

as long as you max fade on the shadow tree you are ok. You might wanna buff a shadow and put CoS on leftclick to alow her to spam it repeatedly to keep enemys AI fucked up. I usualy just max death sentry to get a really big radius (14 yards pretty easily) and that will clear screens in no time for you. Just depends how you wanna spread your points out. There are many ways to build a sin, there are alot of variations that work well. Just depends what you want from her.

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i play pure dclaw sin and posted few screens back... my sin its pretty kickass and nasty ask the sc crew that know me. pretty invincible.... she also eats sammy for breakfast with np and no milk also. (havent ever tried baal with her tho, cuz dont play too much)

Yeah i read your post few times and i prefer your assa-skilling most.
Who is Sammy? What is np (no problem?) and "no milk" -.-?

Sammy = Samhain, optional boss that you can find in Act V through a cave in the Ancient's Way. He's lvl 60 in normal. If you do decide to go after him, be prepared for a rather long trip down there.

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It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
-William Ernest Henley

hehe xD "np"="no problem" and with "no milk" i was making joke of how rude my sin is to have a breakfast without it....

and sammy got already explained by the other guy ^^ he is maybe harder than baal.

here with goreriders to have have 10% cb... once i get eth shadow killers (ber zod ber) ill switch to shadowdancers for more def and ar


here with sadowdancers