Storm Crows Assassin

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Deathadvocat
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Storm Crows Assassin

Introduction

The Storm Crows assassin is a dexterity-based ranged build with decent sustain and the ability to play most content in the game (probably all, I haven't tried everything yet). It requires a fair bit of farming and good gear lategame, but will reward you with almost no skill switching, max block, avoid and decent damage. It started out as a variation of the Maelstrom Assassin but is now preferred by me because of it's ability to leech life and sustain much better like that.




Pros and Cons
Pros
    SSF build with moderate farming
    Good boss KIller
    Max-Block
    High Avoid Damage
    Almost no skill switching
    Auto-Targeting main skill (No running after teleport bosses)

Cons

    Mana is an issue early
    Transition from early to midgame can be a little rough
    Auto-Targeting main skill (No possibility to target against summoning bosses)




Skillplan

    1 Point for transition Skills
    Perfect Beeing MAX
    Way of the Spider REST
    Storm Crows MAX
    Maelstrom 1
    Wychwind 1
    Way of the Griphon MAX
    Way of the Phoenix MAX
    Purity MAX
    Tenacity MAX
    Endurance MAX
    Prismatic Cloak MAX
    Way of the Raven MAX

Put about 5 points into Storm Crows early and then put the remaining skill points there when the other goals are met. Putting too many points early will increase mana cost too much.




Attributes

    Strength - None
    Dexterity - All
    Vitality - None
    Energy - None

You will need to put points into Strength early and then respec when you get some uber-charms. Early I like to just split 50:50 between Strength and Dexterity.




Breakpoints

Attack Speed                         Hit Recovery

FPA - Attack Speed FPA - Hit Recovery
15 - 0 9 - 0
14 - 7 8 - 7
13 - 14 7 - 15
12 - 23 6 - 27
11 - 35 5 - 48
10 - 54 4 - 86
9 - 83 3 - 200
8 - 133





How to play

Most of the time you can just stand still and attack with Storm Crows. Don't try to target anything, just hold down Shift to attack. If monsters get close throw in the opposite direction, that will focus your knives on the closest enemy. If you face low-mobility monsters use Whychwind for high damage. If you see that your knives aren't hitting the right monsters you can switch to Maelstrom. As you max Dexterity Maelstrom will still do decent damage even though it's just a 1-pointer. It's hard to explain but you will get a hang of it pretty quickly. Also use the videos from the Uberquests section for reference.




Mercenary

I like to use an A2 Shapeshifter early to tank mobs, but lategame it isn't really useful at all. If you feel like using one look to the Mercenary Guide




Gear

Early Game
► Show Spoiler





Mid Game
► Show Spoiler





Late Game
► Show Spoiler





Ubers

All Ubers can be found on this Youtube Playlist.
It's only missing a few of the "Impossible" Ones, but I'm working on it ;)
Edited by Deathadvocat 1 year.
Siosilvar
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Forgot this in the approval queue for a couple of days, so here's a free bump for you.

I'm also pretty sure that speedcalc is wrong just like it is for javazon and your actual throwing frame is 7 FPA @ 86 IAS.
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Maxfox
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Love the storm crows girl, but I invest mostly in physical damage for better leech. Have a bit more than 300 avg dmg crafted balanced knife, maxed storm crows (and whychwind for higher magic damage from upgrade) and regenerate full hp orb in few throws. But I'm in the very beginning of all that ubers story, so may be I'm kinda wrong.
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Marco
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always nice to see assassin guides. some thoughts:

- No 1pt shadow refuge + max shadowrush? that's nearly capped %PR and lots of MS, which are some of the hardest stats to get on gear. May be worth at least a mention in the guide even as optional if you want to reduce skillswitching.
- Keep an eye on your fhr/fbr breakpoints (this is so much more true if you decide to use shadow ref too).
- I think there is no reason to skip ult - in your spec phase bomb is massive free pierce for 1pt against bossing, otherwise beacon 20% ms is surely worth it.
- This one depends on playstyle I guess but some extra pts in blink/domain are always handy.

ironsleet + ww is pretty hilarious in early ubers. Watching monsters walk right back into ww fields.
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magz_
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Good guide! Glad I never started my comprehensive I was working on :-D
couple questions!
1. Why no
Shadow Bite
Shadow Bite
Throwing Knives

'Phul'
Runeword Level: 110
+4 Storm Crows Projectiles
5% Chance to cast level 24 Hammertime on Kill
20% Combat Speeds
Adds 75-(160 to 180) Damage
Adds (200 to 300)-(400 to 500) Magic Damage
+(171 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
(5 to 10)% to All Attributes
+(100 to 200) to Life
? Is dawn that strong?
2. Any thoughts on using 2x
Killing Vector
Killing Vector
Cestus (Sacred)

One-Hand Damage: 41 to 43
(Assassin Only)
Required Level: 90
Required Dexterity: 349
Item Level: 1
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.13 per Dexterity)%
+(1 to 3) to Assassin Skill Levels
+(33 to 55) Spell Focus
(21 to 30)% Cast Speed
+(16 to 20)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(9 to 16) to Doom (Assassin Only)
+200 to Energy
Socketed (3)

Universal Law
(Assassin Psionic Set)
on switch +
Death Magnet
Death Magnet
Quilted Armor (Sacred)

Defense: 3264 to 3831
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 500
Item Level: 118
+(0 to 1) to Assassin Skill Levels
15% Cast Speed
+(11 to 16) to Doom (Assassin Only)
+(1001 to 1500) Defense
+(11 to 40) to all Attributes
Physical Resist 5%
Socketed (6)

Battle Devices
(Assassin Oskill Set)
with doom for extra damage? (Or Banish Crystal sword SU for ele storm crows), do you use any on switch at all?
3. Thoughts on
Wind Runner

Wind Runner
Boots

'SilElqSilGul'
Runeword Level: 100
+(0 to 1) to All Skills
50% Attack Speed
10% Movement Speed
Adds 25-68 Damage
250% Bonus to Attack Rating
(12 to 15)% Life stolen per Hit
+(171 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
?

4. not a question but if you do add a section for ele I recommend anything other than balanced knives. All 3 can hit the same FPA but Balanced requires much more IAS.
Istaryu
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Why would you use dawn for storm crows? You want high base dmg for storm crows or you are gonna do bad dmg. Shadow bite is the way to go as mentioned earlier. Because of that stacking amethysts and whatever runes for dex is probably better for the dex. And ewd is pretty much always a better mo than max dmg especially on this build that gets no free ewd from skills.
Deathadvocat
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Marco wrote:always nice to see assassin guides. some thoughts:

- No 1pt shadow refuge + max shadowrush? that's nearly capped %PR and lots of MS, which are some of the hardest stats to get on gear. May be worth at least a mention in the guide even as optional if you want to reduce skillswitching.
- Keep an eye on your fhr/fbr breakpoints (this is so much more true if you decide to use shadow ref too).
- I think there is no reason to skip ult - in your spec phase bomb is massive free pierce for 1pt against bossing, otherwise beacon 20% ms is surely worth it.
- This one depends on playstyle I guess but some extra pts in blink/domain are always handy.

ironsleet + ww is pretty hilarious in early ubers. Watching monsters walk right back into ww fields.


- I will try out shadow refuge. Honestly haven't seen any need for it so far. Got 48PR with just a good nat roll and other gear.
- Will look into ult, but same as above. No damage problems so far. Only ubers currently missing are Deimos, Laz, Samael and the new Scosglen Boss.
- In earlier versions I liked to put some points into blink and use it offensively, but I feel like it has too much competition from other skills at the moment.
Deathadvocat
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magz_ wrote:Good guide! Glad I never started my comprehensive I was working on :-D
couple questions!
1. Why no
Shadow Bite
Shadow Bite
Throwing Knives

'Phul'
Runeword Level: 110
+4 Storm Crows Projectiles
5% Chance to cast level 24 Hammertime on Kill
20% Combat Speeds
Adds 75-(160 to 180) Damage
Adds (200 to 300)-(400 to 500) Magic Damage
+(171 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
(5 to 10)% to All Attributes
+(100 to 200) to Life
? Is dawn that strong?
2. Any thoughts on using 2x
Killing Vector
Killing Vector
Cestus (Sacred)

One-Hand Damage: 41 to 43
(Assassin Only)
Required Level: 90
Required Dexterity: 349
Item Level: 1
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.13 per Dexterity)%
+(1 to 3) to Assassin Skill Levels
+(33 to 55) Spell Focus
(21 to 30)% Cast Speed
+(16 to 20)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(9 to 16) to Doom (Assassin Only)
+200 to Energy
Socketed (3)

Universal Law
(Assassin Psionic Set)
on switch +
Death Magnet
Death Magnet
Quilted Armor (Sacred)

Defense: 3264 to 3831
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 500
Item Level: 118
+(0 to 1) to Assassin Skill Levels
15% Cast Speed
+(11 to 16) to Doom (Assassin Only)
+(1001 to 1500) Defense
+(11 to 40) to all Attributes
Physical Resist 5%
Socketed (6)

Battle Devices
(Assassin Oskill Set)
with doom for extra damage? (Or Banish Crystal sword SU for ele storm crows), do you use any on switch at all?
3. Thoughts on
Wind Runner

Wind Runner
Boots

'SilElqSilGul'
Runeword Level: 100
+(0 to 1) to All Skills
50% Attack Speed
10% Movement Speed
Adds 25-68 Damage
250% Bonus to Attack Rating
(12 to 15)% Life stolen per Hit
+(171 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
?

4. not a question but if you do add a section for ele I recommend anything other than balanced knives. All 3 can hit the same FPA but Balanced requires much more IAS.


1. Honestly haven't thought about
Shadow Bite
Shadow Bite
Throwing Knives

'Phul'
Runeword Level: 110
+4 Storm Crows Projectiles
5% Chance to cast level 24 Hammertime on Kill
20% Combat Speeds
Adds 75-(160 to 180) Damage
Adds (200 to 300)-(400 to 500) Magic Damage
+(171 to 200)% Enhanced Damage
(5 to 10)% to All Attributes
+(100 to 200) to Life
so far. Dawn is a really strong choice with 75%aa and will help your maelstrom damage massively, which is really handy if you want to do things like Xazax. Also I'm not a huge fan of respeccing for certain ubers. Was looking for a build that can do everything without too many problems.

2. I even tried out maxing doom instead of 1 Way of the ..., but it really didn't do much. At the moment I'm not using any switch.

3.
Wind Runner

Wind Runner
Boots

'SilElqSilGul'
Runeword Level: 100
+(0 to 1) to All Skills
50% Attack Speed
10% Movement Speed
Adds 25-68 Damage
250% Bonus to Attack Rating
(12 to 15)% Life stolen per Hit
+(171 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
can be used and I tried it at first, but the damage bump wasn't really noticeable and extra tankiness is really much appreciated on a squishy build.

4. I'll look into it. IAS however is really not an issue, because 86 to reach max frames can be easily covered with charms. I think I'm currently sitting at 220% without even trying.
nodoubt0322
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Buff or rebalance assassin throwing knife set plz xd.
Never use that set.
I've played for 3 or 4 seasons of storm crow assassin as my first char when the ladder reset.
She can ssf do most stuff before 140.
T1 or T2 level imo if you play her right.
thysick
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NATASHA'S LEGACY......late game armor... Where i get that? /items says item not found.