Diablo II: Lord of Destruction/Assassin

Chapter 2: Assassin Strategies
"Schooled in the martial arts, her mind and body are deadly weapons."

Like a mimic, the assassin can be fashioned into a character that resembles any of the other character classes. An assassin specializing in traps may keep her distance like a sorceress; an assassin focusing in martial arts may battle like a barbarian; and an assassin who has learned shadow master may let her minion assist her like a druid or necromancer. Yet her speed, cloaking ability, and finishing moves give the assassin her own special flavor. Her trap-setting skills and ability to damage crowds of foes also make the assassin a valuable asset in groups of adventurers.

Assassin Initial Attributes
Strength: 20 Dexterity: 20 Vitality: 20 Energy: 25

Assassin Attributes
Thanks to her nimbleness, stealth skill, and traps, the assassin does not need to focus on defense to the extent that paladins and barbarians must. None of her skills take tremendous amounts of mana, and quite a few skills generate effects that last a long time; for example, burst of speed lasts for a couple of minutes, and shadow warriors stay alive until they are slain.

An assassin character specializing in traps and martial arts will want to put more points into the energy attribute than one who relies on stealth or summoning. Trapping can often be done from a safe vantage point, allowing for the peaceful quaffing of a mana potion, while martial arts assassins need mana in the thick of a fight--thus, it is especially important for these hand-to-hand masters to have plenty of available energy.

Assassins may choose to wield a weapon and a shield or two weapons--almost always, two claw-class weapons. The choice should be based on your style of play. A player who is tired of dying or who is playing hardcore will likely wish to emphasize defense and will therefore tend to use shields. A player who runs more risks to become a slaying machine will likely opt for a pair of claw-based weapons.


 * TIP: Although a dual-weapon assassin may learn a skill that allows her to block, this skill's benefits are easily attained by a decent blocking shield.

Assassin Initial Equipment

 * Weapon: Katar
 * Armor: Buckler

Fashioning a Powerful Assassin
The assassin's wide range of abilities allow her to become almost anything she likes, from a raging melee fighter defended by spinning blades to a more standoffish spell caster to a hit-and-run poisoner. If you attempt to create an assassin who is well-rounded in all of these areas, however, you will likely find the higher skill levels (nightmare and hell) quite difficult.

An assassin character should be focused in one of the three main skill types--martial arts, shadow disciplines, and traps--and should then be semiproficient in one of the other two. This will put her in a specific role, whether fighting alone or in a group, while giving her the option of approaching certain tough situations in an alternative way.

For example, an assassin who is highly proficient at martial arts will spend most of her time charging her attacks and releasing finishing move spells on large groups of creatures--but there will be times when a few traps, or a shadow warrior, will make it easier for her to stay alive. An assassin who is a master of traps will be called on to soften up crowds of enemies but should have some weapon mastery to help polish off the survivors.

Martial arts are the best route for players who thrive on excitement and who enjoy the challenge of mastering the back-and-forth mouse clicks that the martial arts require. Players who prefer to strike first and mop up later will likely enjoy the trapping skills, which allow for this kind of approach. And some players will dive into the role of the assassin, learning to cloak, backstab with poison, and control the minds of enemies.

In any case, an assassin character will be best served not by being a jack-of-all-trades, but by specializing in one field, while keeping a second as a weaker but viable option. The makeup of the other players in her group, should the assassin player opt to join one, will affect your decision as to which skill to specialize in.

Assassin Weapons
In stark opposition to the barbarian, whose skill tree lets him specialize in any of six weapon classes, the assassin can gain special mastery in only one class: the claw-class weapons. Many of the assassin's martial arts and shadow disciplines rely on her wielding one or two sets of claw-class weapons. For these reasons, it is a rare assassin who will not use a weapon of this type.

Every assassin must decide whether to wield two sets of claw-class weapons or to wield just one with a shield. An assassin player who is gung ho and daring will be more likely to go without a shield, while a more patient and careful assassin will opt for the safety of a shield. Hardcore players may wish to go the latter route, giving the nod to defense rather than offense.


 * TIP: Some assassin players who have chosen to focus on martial arts skills like to go without a weapon, using their quick fists to charge up their devastating finishing moves rapidly. Certain claw-class weapons carry a speed bonus, however, which can make them as fast as (but more damaging than) plain old fists. The appeal of going weaponless may override such considerations, however!

The assassin may learn the weapon block skill, which gives her some safety when she fights with a pair of claw-class weapons and no shield. But most good shields provide quite a bit more blocking ability at no cost to skill points, especially for an assassin with high dexterity.

Several of the assassin's skills can rightly be considered weaponry, especially the blade skills. Her level-30 blade skill, blade shield, has a name that sounds defensive, but this skill offers quite an attacking bonus, especially against enemy melee.

Fighting Enchanted Monsters and Bosses
An assassin's tactics in all-out brawls with the game's toughest foes depend on what development path her character has pursued.

The right trap will do great amounts of damage not only to the swarm of minions surrounding enchanted monsters, but also to the enchanted boss itself. A trap assassin can often dispatch an entire enchanted monster group using traps alone, if she has a mana potion or two along. Many enchanted monsters are located behind closed doors in caves, temples, and the like; look for glowing lights on the floor behind closed doors, and set some traps on the far side of the door (hover the cursor over the door until "Closed Door" appears, and then release the trap). Watch for it to activate, and watch for signs of corpses appearing.


 * TIP: Traps also work quite well against bosses, who can often be lured mindlessly into a waiting group of five. Test your traps against your most powerful enemies to see which ones do the most damage; some bosses are immune to or protected against certain kinds of damage.

If you have the ability to summon a shadow warrior or shadow master, use her to distract an enchanted monster or boss, while you use the assassin's quickness to dart in and out of danger. An assassin at full health (with reasonably high resistance percentages) can take a wallop from just about any monster in the game, giving you time to recover and dash away if a boss turns from your summoned partner to face you.

An assassin who is talented in martial arts can dispatch the minions of most enchanted monsters easily enough, but area-effect finishing moves are not as efficient once the battle turns to the enchanted monster itself. Against a single foe, it is usually best to turn to finishing moves, which specifically do damage against a single opponent (or steal life and mana from the foe).