Abominae wrote:
5 in weapon block is a no-no, it's really a one point wonder. Also, end-game your claws give a massive boost to the shadow discipline tree so anything past a point is really a waste.
I can agree with everything abominae mentioned, but this i dont completely agree with. Weapon block is a lot better than regular block because of 2 things:
1) it doesnt rely on level or dexterity.
2) it can block more than a shield can in the way that it blocks some skills (i forget which off the top of my head but i think its some of the missile skills)
http://strategy.diabloii.net/news.php?i ... mental_attapparently here is a pretty accurate list of skills that are blockable by claw block.
Why is it ok to have more than one point in it? I would think for blocking any melee attacks, ranged attacks, and all those listed skills you would want the highest amount of block. 75% is the cap here but is only achievable at level 60 which is a huge stretch (maxed and godly gear and full charms inventory is probably the only way). lvl 50 is a high goal but gives you 73% weapon block. yea it suffers from diminishing returns, but the difference in survivability for even a few % is huge. Most sins should be able to max fade and weapon block and not really worry about skills. you get 113 in total.
If you shoot for high end gear, meaning shadowkillers on both hands, you get 12 to claw block. add in maybe another 8 for the rest of the gear and youre at about 20 to shadow skills. Now it can fluctuate higher or lower, it all depends on what you have or going to have gear wise. a level 21 (1 point in claw mastery +20 skills) is 67%. A level 30 is 70%, and a level 40 is 72%. Youll want to be between 70 and 72%, 67% is too low. if you think you can get 30 or more to shadow skills on gear alone, then go ahead and 1 point it like abominae suggested. make note, however, that if you one point it and wait for gear to boost it, you could be suffering in normal and nightmare from a low weapon block. Remember, this game isnt only about hell act5. Im not saying maxing it is necessary and im not saying abom is wrong, but putting a few points wont hurt your build at all. It mainly depends on your gear and how high you want it, but like i said above about how it blocks more than just melee attacks, you may want it at 70% or more.
i usually 5 point it and try to get to skill level 40 (+35 skills) with gear. Level 50 with 5 points is i think possible, but like i said, it would need you to get all the hell unique charms, a full inventory of gcs (which is like 20 from gcs and 6 from the unique charms), and then another 19-20 from gear. thats usually why i stick with level 40 as my goal. 5 skill points in there, 20 in fade is 25 points. you are left with 88 skill points left to max 4 skills basically. cloak of shadows is a 1 pointer (you get tons of defense from other skills eventually, and even cloak's defense bonus is huge), shadows if you want (im not a fan), and then either go kicker, elemental MA sin, melee clawsin, bladesin, or trapper.
abom is right about the stats... even high-end claws only require i think 100str and dext, which is easily gear attainable even at base 5str and 5dext. with a sin thats getting in close, youll want to put as much as you can into vitality...she will need to survive without a life buff until you manage to get BO from ondals/cta and/or increased stamina from war runeword.
my main point im trying to get across (sorry for the long response) is that, even though it may not be necessary, its ok to dump a few into weapon block because of how good it is. it wont be a point waster.