Claw Assassin; can it work and some questions?

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Mangler
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I've been looking at a build based around
Shadowsabre
Shadowsabre
Crystal Sword (Sacred)

Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 510
Item Level: 105
Innate Cold Damage:
(45.0% of Dexterity)
Crucify: +14% Magic Damage per Base Level
50% Hit Recovery
Adds 125-250 Fire Damage
Adds 125-250 Lightning Damage
Adds 160-250 Cold Damage
-20% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
+(15 to 25) to Crucify (Assassin Only)
Fire Absorb 5%
Lightning Absorb 5%
Cold Absorb 5%
+4 Life on Striking
Socketed (6)
. I know it's not strictly a claw build as such, but it is a melee 1H assassin using the only skill that doesn't specify a weapon type - Crucify.

When I started using the sword at 101 it was worse than the elemental T4 claw I was using up to then. But phase bomb may not be the best choice of uber skill (there may not be a good choice) and mana was an issue.

I may try it again after a few levels - it needs more mana from charms to work better because level 70 Crucify (25 Crucify skill, 25 sword, 20 from +skills) uses a fair bit of mana. Using the claw it does melt most content and survives easily with some life on melee attack.
Siosilvar
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Shadowsabre is a meme. 8 frame attacks with a one-handed weapon is awful in a vacuum, let alone when claws give you 5 frames. Compare to Starhawk, which has like 3x the damage built in, on a class with 5 frame attacks, and wasn't better than the physical counterpart until this season when elemental weapons got massive gear support.
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Mangler
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Possibly... but if you kill something in one hit then it doesn't matter how many attacks you can do in a second.

This can operate at a skill level over 70 and shoots 8-16 homing missiles, so you may be right but I'm not convinced. I'm wondering what might have been in the mind of the person who designed that weapon.
Siosilvar
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Does skill level 70 give you 60% more total damage over what you can get from a claw? Because that's how much you need to make up for with the attack speed difference.
Gotuso
Dark Huntress
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MrIdegen wrote:
Hey,

In my understanding, Anathema is increasing your damage quite a bit so it would not hurt maxing it out as you have the free points. Can consider maxing the passive for Shadow refugee for the movement speed buff or anything you like. It is pretty much open ground as very few players play clawsin and even fewer are farming with it, as she is a fragile little thing with small aoe.

You actually have plenty of options. You can grab a
Dreamweaver
Dreamweaver
Wrist Blade (Sacred)

(Assassin Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 341
Item Level: 105
Innate Lightning Damage:
(52.0% of Dexterity)
Queen of Blades: +2500 Lightning Damage to Blade Mines
+(4 to 6) to Assassin Skill Levels
Adds 160-250 Lightning Damage
-(15 to 25)% to Enemy Fire Resistance
-(15 to 25)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
+100 to Strength
+100 to Vitality
Maximum Fire Resist +1%
Maximum Lightning Resist +1%
Socketed (3)
and go for more Queen of blade projectiles while farming, however if you take that, it would be great to get some procs on striking like
Lilith's Temptation
Lilith's Temptation
Plated Belt (Sacred)

Defense: (3680 - 4089) to (4031 - 4479)
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 105
3% Chance to cast level 2 Time Strike on Striking
+(170 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
-100 to Life
(60 to 100)% Magic Find
Requirements -100%
Socketed (2)
and any other is welcome to proc off from Queen of Blades' projectiles.

Phys damage mitigation can be tackled by getting
Zayl's Temptation
Zayl's Temptation
Bladed Shield (Sacred)

Defense: (2035 - 2181) to (2430 - 2604)
Chance to Block: 5%
(Assassin Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity:
1100
Item Level: 120
Regens 15% Life Over 5 Seconds Upon Taking Weapon Damage
+(4 to 6) to Assassin Skill Levels
1% Base Block Chance
-(11 to 15)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
Slow Target (15 to 25)%
+(180 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
Maximum Elemental Resists +1%
Maximum Block Chance +10%
Requirements +100%
Socketed (6)


Other suggestions had been equally shot in the beginning of this thread like :

Hellfire Plate

Hellfire Plate
Body Armors

'IgnJahGurRhal'
Runeword Level: 115
+1% Innate Elemental Damage per 250 Strength and Dexterity
15% Chance to cast level 9 Life Spark on Melee Attack
20% Attack Speed
+250 Fire Damage
-(11 to 15)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
+(171 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
Maximum Life +(3 to 5)%
Maximum Elemental Resists +(1 to 2)%
Fire Resist +(10 to 20)%
Lightning Resist +(10 to 20)%
Cold Resist +(10 to 20)%
Poison Resist +(10 to 20)%
Physical Resist (7 to 10)%
Scorched Earth

Scorched Earth
Assassin Shields

'IgnTahaUn'
Runeword Level: 110
+25 Fire Damage per 100 Dexterity
10% Chance to cast level 59 Pentagram on Melee Attack
1% Base Block Chance
30% Block Speed
-(10 to 15)% to Enemy Fire Resistance
-(10 to 15)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
-(10 to 15)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
-(10 to 15)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
Weapon Physical Damage -150%
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
+(41 to 50) to all Attributes
Maximum Fire Resist +1%
Elemental Resists +(15 to 25)%
Bad Mood
Bad Mood
Ring

Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
-20% Cast Speed
Adds 50-100 Fire Damage
Adds 50-100 Lightning Damage
Adds 50-100 Cold Damage
-(5 to 20)% to Enemy Fire Resistance
-(5 to 20)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
-(5 to 20)% to Enemy Cold Resistance


As for the crafted claw, if you stick to a Wrist blade, you can get a good one yourself, with high added lightning damage, +skills and Life spark on hit, however if you are playing it in trade league, it is pretty cheap to grab the above mentioned one.

Honestly, you will be slow at farming even with good gear because of the low AOE, but it can be done. Batstrike summoner may be clunky, actually it really is, however as a clawsin that is your strongest option right now.

Cheers


Yeah you're right, as I'm progressing further the small AOE of Noctule is becoming a problem. Would be really nice if the bats would fly away in a circle, kinda like the first hit from Batstrike.

As for the free points, I'm actually thinking of maxing Shadow Refuge. Not just for the physical resistance but also because it gives -enemy resistance with Blackjade's Legacy. Seems better then Tenacity in a lot of situations.

Interesting that Queen of Blades makes use of procs! Will keep my eye out if I see any good items to make it work.

Thanks for the items suggestions. I guess farming runes will be the next aim for this character.

As for the Batstrike summoner build; it looks really cool on paper and I even have a Zular Khan's Tempest to go with it. But man, hitting precisely twice with a claw is really awkward and I just don't like the style.

felixcatto wrote:Hm, i am also at 120. But i use pure physical claw build. No set, just rw's, and few t4 uniqs. Judgement day was hard, but doable. Quov Tsin - moderate. Tran Athulua is easy, but i think i just have more defense then you. Duncraig also not hard, but necromorbs, man, they are so annoying, seems they have high phys res, and what is much worse, they run from you!!! Now i just ignore them, seems need to hire lightning merc or switch to another build to kill them effectively.

Also noticed that farming is not for clawsin. Noctule and Crucify really has low AOE, but what is more annoying is running enemies such as skeletons in K3K or necromorbs. Running for every such mob and trying to kill it with Noctule is just :face-palm: :D


I feel your pain on mobs running away. I just try to ignore them these days and plow on :D. Interesting that you're going for the physical build. I assume your skill build is similar except Shadow Dancer instead of Anathema? What claw are you using?
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Ekital
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Siosilvar wrote:Shadowsabre is a meme. 8 frame attacks with a one-handed weapon is awful in a vacuum, let alone when claws give you 5 frames. Compare to Starhawk, which has like 3x the damage built in, on a class with 5 frame attacks, and wasn't better than the physical counterpart until this season when elemental weapons got massive gear support.


It's a meme if you're using it on sin. Not a meme on quite a few builds.
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Mangler
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Siosilvar wrote:Does skill level 70 give you 60% more total damage over what you can get from a claw? Because that's how much you need to make up for with the attack speed difference.

You're ignoring half of what I wrote - that plus damage multiplied by 8-16 homing missiles may work.

Not sure your maths is right btw.
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Mangler
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Ekital wrote:
Siosilvar wrote:Shadowsabre is a meme. 8 frame attacks with a one-handed weapon is awful in a vacuum, let alone when claws give you 5 frames. Compare to Starhawk, which has like 3x the damage built in, on a class with 5 frame attacks, and wasn't better than the physical counterpart until this season when elemental weapons got massive gear support.


It's a meme if you're using it on sin. Not a meme on quite a few builds.

Which builds are they? (I'm genuinely asking btw)

It seems strange for the devs to create it with 15-25 to Crucify only if you're an assassin (and 14% extra magic damage to Crucify)... and expect people to use it in some other build.

It's possible that they just create random items, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Or maybe it's a leftover from some previous patch where it worked well - and they haven't re-thought it yet.
Siosilvar
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Captcha wrote:
Siosilvar wrote:Does skill level 70 give you 60% more total damage over what you can get from a claw? Because that's how much you need to make up for with the attack speed difference.

You're ignoring half of what I wrote - that plus damage multiplied by 8-16 homing missiles may work.

Not sure your maths is right btw.


8 frames. 3.125 attacks per second.

5 frames. 5 attacks per second. 60% more than with 8 fpa.

You can't just multiply it out by 8-16 homing missiles because you can also use Crucify with a claw and get the same extra shards. It all divides out, so it's all about whether or not you actually get enough raw damage with Shadowsabre to make up for the attack speed difference (not even accounting for getting interrupted on later frames of your attack because it's longer) and I've yet to see a build that can.
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Gotuso wrote:I feel your pain on mobs running away. I just try to ignore them these days and plow on :D. Interesting that you're going for the physical build. I assume your skill build is similar except Shadow Dancer instead of Anathema? What claw are you using?

Yep, build is pretty similar. But i tried to use bats as a tanks, because there is not so much mandatory skills for phys clawsin. Maxing way of griffin/phoenix? I am not sure is it worth it? With some script bats are easy to summon, they tank lots of dmg and your attacks are interrupted less often. But it costs me some space on gear, because i need at least +100% SummonLife and 75% SummonResists, and in some cases bats are useless. So also not sure about them, but will continue to test it.

About claw that i am using - Hail rw, https://tsw.vn.cz/char/lionsPaw