Psionic Assassin Lab 10, Sam and deimoss viable

[Enigma]

Intro:
Ola, if you haven't met me my name is Rhys, i'm a long time median player. I enjoy pushing builds to their limits content wise and I only play builds I expect to be able to push into Lab 10 comfortably. This is the first guide i've written; so any feedback is welcome.

Psionic Assassin has long been a favourite build of mine playstyle wise, but it just wasn't end game viable until 2.5; previously struggling once it entered Lab 7.

Unfortunately i'm writing this after I've finished the season so i've had my character stripped of gear by friends who are still playing. Here is the not armory though: https://median-xl.com/char/Chopstick

I'm gonna write this guide so a new player can follow from start to finish so I will put everything behind spoilers to make it a little more user-friendly for experienced players. Pls give advice on formatting.

If you're a pro and just want to see the end game setup to smash content, just skip the spoilers to the end game section.

2.5 seemed like the perfect time to push the build for a few reasons:
- Magic spell damage characters are typically out of favour, making some of the more important items more accessible and cheaper in trading.
- BIG damage buff due to the last cognition bonus being reworked to now add 15% magic pierce as well as the buff to magic/phys damage in labs.
- Assassin gaining a massive avoid buff in labs 7+: from ~30% to 60%.

This build utilises Mind ripple, Singularity and Shuriken Flurry as it's main weapons.

[b]Pro's/Con's:

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Pros:
- Sensatonal boss and phoboss killer in end game: 30 second phoboss in T10, 60-90 second deimoss.
- Very tanky for a caster due to multiple synergistic survivability layers matched by very few builds (good life regen, fantastic avoid, good leech from bloodbath: 3% of HP per kill).
- Fun AF.
- Can push content very well: Deimoss 60%-100% is difficult due to how bad a barb spawn is for us but everything else; including nithogur as doable.
- Decent clear speed but not amazing.
- Lots of season long growth due to attainable corruptions (I actually had decent 0 corruptions this season and hit 150 easily).
- Lots of move speed (I fkn love move speed).
- Assassin is the best (IMO) leveler in the game (may have been superseded by zon this season though).
- Requires minimal UMO's.
- Witch farmer as you get ~20% magic res to go with your high regen and avoid in end game.
- Nothing in Lab 10 can kill you if you play half decently.


Con's:
- An end game spec (Scolsglen+) only. This isnt an issue for me but some people like to play the same spec throughout and psionic is clunky early-mid game.
- I couldn't do Deimoss 90-100%.
- Clears slower than the fastest clear builds.
- Not the most new player friendly. However, i'd encourage new players to not be dismayed as the build is quite strong if you follow the guide and don't mind transitioning into your end game build later in the piece.
- Not very SSFable as it requires multiple SSU's for psionic spec: If you're happy to stay in mid game spec for longer it IS SSFable as the mid game spec is completely and easily SSF.
- End game armor requires Breath of thurmaturgyx4-5

Early Game A1 normal to A2 NM (1-70):

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One of the simplest characters to level with almost no need to stop and fuck around farming AC's or TU's.

You do need to stagger your honorifics though as you wont have enough gold to make all 3 at once.

Gear: Required level in brackets.

Step 1: Keep the first grey wrist blade you buy/find for your early game weapon. You will likely get one in the blood moor. It MUST be wrist blade base as you want the inate lightning damage.

Eld runewrist blade (8) -> TU3 wrist bladex2 (39)-> T4 (48)
Belt: Eth (15) -> honorific
Boots: Whatever you find ->honorific (I make these asap)
Gloves: El rune gloves (6) -> TU2 chain gloves or gauntlets (whichever you find) -> honorific Gloves (make these last)
Armor: Akara's robe (any)
Helm: Tal circlet
Jewely: (whatever)
Honorifics: MO Resists, Then FHR, then dex + whatever you need.

Skills:
1 in Noctule ASAP
1 in Blink
Dump points into Way of the gryphon until maxed with only a few exceptions:
- As soon as you can put 1 in shadow refuge, do it.
- Melee devotion around lvl 8
- Max shadow rush ASAP
- Meditation IF you're having mana issues
- 1 in perfect being at 20.
That's it!
Once gryphon is maxed:
Max Perfect being
1 in Anathema and way of the phoenix when you can.
All remaining points in Anathema. No other skills required.

All stats in dex

Pick up and keep Lum and Ko.

You play this spec until you find a Sacred Wrist Blade and some shrines to craft your next claw which is anything that rolls Death star. The second you have death star. Shimmering shrine is best but any will do at first.

Early game 2: Nightmare A3 onwards (70-100):

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The second you have a Death star claw; respec.
Death star is a very powerful early game build. It uses a casted poison projectile that scales off + skills and your poison damage added to weapon ONLY. This makes it very easy to build around as you have innate Way of the spider. It also doesnt require energy so you get to max vitality

You want, generally in this order:
+ skills
Pierce
+ sin skills

Gear:
Crafted Wrist Blade (Needs wrist blade because IED base can roll + 4 all skills, other claws cannot.) x2 or a claw with an assassin shield.
- Can roll 20-36 to Death star so keep rolling new claws to replace your old ones. You really only care about the death star level with + skills, + sin skills and Poison pierce being a bonus.
Body armor:

Lumen Arcana

Lumen Arcana
Body Armors
'Ith'
Runeword Level: 18
+1 to All Skills
-(3 to 8)% to Enemy Fire Resistance
-(3 to 8)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
-(3 to 8)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
-(3 to 8)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(25 to 50)% Enhanced Defense
+2 to Light Radius

Gloves:

Kali

Kali
Gloves
'LumKo'
Runeword Level: 48
15% Chance to cast level 13 Seal of Fire on Kill
+2 to All Skills
+15% to Summoned Minion Resistances
-214 Defense
5% to Strength
Maximum Fire Resist +4%
Fire Resist +25%

Belt: Honorific ->

Viper Skin

Viper Skin
Belt (Sacred)
Defense: (2860 - 3204) to (3036 - 3402)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 385
Item Level: 115
30% Attack Speed
(51 to 75)% Bonus to Attack Rating
-(11 to 20)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
Slow Target (3 to 8)%
+(141 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
Requirements -33%
Socketed (2)

Astrogha's Moon
(Wyrd Set)

Boots: Honorific ->

Darkling

Darkling
Heavy Boots (Sacred)
Defense: (1677 - 1879) to (1776 - 1989)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 550
Item Level: 115
+(0 to 1) to All Skills
(15 to 45)% Movement Speed
(7 to 12)% Life stolen per Hit
+(6 to 15)% to Poison Spell Damage
-(6 to 15)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(141 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
-100 to Life
Socketed (4)

Astrogha's Moon
(Wyrd Set)

Helm:

Honor

Honor
Helms
'Tal'
Runeword Level: 20
7% Movement Speed
+7% to Spell Damage
Elemental Resists +7%
Poison Length Reduced by (10 to 15)%
-7% to All Vendor Prices

circlet ->

Crown of the Black Rose

Crown of the Black Rose
Diadem (Sacred)
Defense: 870 to 983
Required Level: 110
Required Dexterity: 524
Item Level: 105
Orb Effects Applied to this Item are Doubled
+(2 to 3) to All Skills
+(20 to 30)% to Poison Spell Damage
-(10 to 15)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(14 to 20) to Black Lotus Strike
+(90 to 150) Life Regenerated per Second
Maximum Poison Resist +(2 to 3)%
(25 to 50)% Bonus to Defense
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (4)

Rings: + 1 skills with poison pierce
Amulet:

Angel of Death

Angel of Death
Amulet
Required Level: 90
Item Level: 123
2% Chance to cast level 33 Punisher Bolt on Striking
+(0 to 2) to All Skills
+(11 to 30)% to Poison Spell Damage
-(6 to 15)% to Enemy Poison Resistance

Astrogha's Moon
(Wyrd Set)

MO's/Sockets: Whatever you need to hit your resies, and speed breakpoints (Use the speed calculator in the tools section of the forum)

Skills: In order
Meditation 3
Max way of the spider
Max shadow rush
1 in beacon
Max Perfect being
Max Prismatic cloak
Pinnacle: Remainder in multiples of 4

Stats:
Str and dex to use gear. Rest vitality

This build will carry you to scolsglen with very minimal changes; which I mention next.

Early-Mid (100-135):

Now it's just tuning up your death star build.

Most 125 bosses are difficult as death star however. There are 2 options to solve this:
a) Infected roots relic ASAP.
b) Start to accumulate psionic gear to respec for bosses.

Personally, I just leveled to 135 first which gave me time to accumulate psionic base gear via trading. Then when I respec'd psionic I did all my 125 charms before hitting scols. But infected roots relic is more efficient if you are able to snag one.

Gear:
Crafted Wrist Blade + Another or a crafted sin shield: Just keep making better ones.
Body armor:

Lumen Arcana

Lumen Arcana
Body Armors
'Ith'
Runeword Level: 18
+1 to All Skills
-(3 to 8)% to Enemy Fire Resistance
-(3 to 8)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
-(3 to 8)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
-(3 to 8)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(25 to 50)% Enhanced Defense
+2 to Light Radius

->

Thelema

Thelema
Body Armors
'LewIuHel'
Runeword Level: 110
+4 to All Skills
55% Cast Speed
+(80 to 95)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(200 to 250)% to Summoned Minion Attack Rating
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
+(120 to 150) to Vitality
15% to Vitality
+(101 to 125) Mana when Struck by an Enemy

->

The Awakening

The Awakening
Full Plate Mail (Sacred)
Defense: 11673 to 14304
Required Level: 130
Required Strength: 690
Item Level: 130
Ethereal
When Cubed with The Sleep, Enables an Additional Awakening
(The Armor will be Disenchanted by the Recipe)
5% Chance to cast level 50 Banish on Death Blow
+(1 to 4) to All Skills
50% Combat Speeds
-(31 to 35)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
+200% Enhanced Defense
+25 Maximum Stamina
Magic Resist +5%
Socketed (6)

(awakening not required; just best).
Gloves:

Kali

Kali
Gloves
'LumKo'
Runeword Level: 48
15% Chance to cast level 13 Seal of Fire on Kill
+2 to All Skills
+15% to Summoned Minion Resistances
-214 Defense
5% to Strength
Maximum Fire Resist +4%
Fire Resist +25%

->

Lorekeeper

Lorekeeper
Light Gauntlets (Sacred)
Defense: (1018 - 1179) to (1159 - 1342)
Required Level: 80
Required Strength: 300
Item Level: 120
+3 to All Skills
20% Combat Speeds
+(5 to 10) to Firedance
+(90 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana +(40 to 60)%
Requirements -50%
Socketed (4)

Belt:

Viper Skin

Viper Skin
Belt (Sacred)
Defense: (2860 - 3204) to (3036 - 3402)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 385
Item Level: 115
30% Attack Speed
(51 to 75)% Bonus to Attack Rating
-(11 to 20)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
Slow Target (3 to 8)%
+(141 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
Requirements -33%
Socketed (2)

Astrogha's Moon
(Wyrd Set)

High roll
Boots:

Darkling

Darkling
Heavy Boots (Sacred)
Defense: (1677 - 1879) to (1776 - 1989)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 550
Item Level: 115
+(0 to 1) to All Skills
(15 to 45)% Movement Speed
(7 to 12)% Life stolen per Hit
+(6 to 15)% to Poison Spell Damage
-(6 to 15)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(141 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
-100 to Life
Socketed (4)

Astrogha's Moon
(Wyrd Set)

High roll
Helm:

Crown of the Black Rose

Crown of the Black Rose
Diadem (Sacred)
Defense: 870 to 983
Required Level: 110
Required Dexterity: 524
Item Level: 105
Orb Effects Applied to this Item are Doubled
+(2 to 3) to All Skills
+(20 to 30)% to Poison Spell Damage
-(10 to 15)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(14 to 20) to Black Lotus Strike
+(90 to 150) Life Regenerated per Second
Maximum Poison Resist +(2 to 3)%
(25 to 50)% Bonus to Defense
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (4)

High roll
Rings: + 1 skills with poison pierce
Amulet:

Angel of Death

Angel of Death
Amulet
Required Level: 90
Item Level: 123
2% Chance to cast level 33 Punisher Bolt on Striking
+(0 to 2) to All Skills
+(11 to 30)% to Poison Spell Damage
-(6 to 15)% to Enemy Poison Resistance

Astrogha's Moon
(Wyrd Set)

High roll
MO's/Sockets: Whatever you need to hit your resies, and speed breakpoints (Use the speed calculator in the tools section of the forum); then poison runes for pierce as needed to hit 145 pierce for bosses or 135 pierce for pre scolsglen farming.

Skills: In order
Meditation 3
Max way of the spider
Max shadow rush
1 in beacon
Max Perfect being
Max Prismatic cloak
Pinnacle 24
Remainder into anything that gives cognition till cognition 100 (massive survivability buff with Blood bath up permanenetly).
Once cognition is 100, choose whatever masteries you want: I did Life and potions

Stats:
Str and dex to use gear. Rest vitality

Mid game (Scolsglen and early labs):

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Now we get towards the business end. You can either get infected roots relic and keep using the Death star build or respec to psionic when ready.

Due to how amazing a farmer death star is, I would respec to psionic only after acquiring, at minimum (item codes below in end game section), the following items: Lamha, Black Masquerade, Mind rake, Sagitarius or a crafted Magic damage shield or collector or Ohn/Un rune for shield, vizjereis necklace, 2x 1 skill phys spell damage rings, Treachery, 2 sin skills crafted boots or clockwork slippers SU, shamanka or 2x bloodlust crafted claws (wrist blades only).

For skill/stat distribution on psionic respec see below.

End Game (Lab 6+, Sam Deimoss):[/b]

Time for the cash value of the build!

Requirements for Lab 9+:
90% max res F/L/C
14k life (I had 18k at the end)
Highest FCR breakpoint
86 (but preferably 200) FHR.
No block speed as Ligeia nerfs your block rate so you can't get block locked.
Phoboss switch gear; You can do phoboss T10 with only 92% max cold but it's ideal to switch into 96.
60% phys res (Hooray shadow refuge).
55% avoid (Labs 7+ pierce your avoid by 5)

Gear:

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Weapon:

Mind Rake

Mind Rake
Claws (Sacred)
One-Hand Damage: 42 to 44
(Assassin Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 400
Item Level: 120
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.13 per Dexterity)%
10% Chance to cast level 60 Doom on Death Blow
+(3 to 5) to Assassin Skill Levels
-50% Cast Speed
+(51 to 70)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
Regenerate Mana +33%
Physical Damage Reduced by 50
+100 Life after each Kill
1% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (3)

Offhand: Sagitarius ->

Ligeia

Ligeia
Assassin Shields
'OhnUn'
Runeword Level: 115
+6 Life per Cognition
+4 to Assassin Skill Levels
-4% Base Block Chance
50% Hit Recovery
+(20 to 30)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+150% Enhanced Defense
+5000 Defense
(7 to 10)% to All Attributes
+(130 to 150) to Energy
Elemental Resists +(20 to 25)%
Physical Resist 5%

.

The Collector

The Collector
Bone Shield (Sacred)
Defense: 965 to 1119
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 110
Required Dexterity: 527
Item Level: 120
Gematria
(Bonus for each Socketed Great/Elemental Rune)
+1 to All Skills
+10 Life after each Kill
+25% Bonus to Defense
+8% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
Orb Effects Applied to this Item are Doubled
Socketed (6)

and Crafted shields are ok but Ligeia is so much better than everything else in labs, giving you about 2k life, great resists buff and just great stats all round. I made mine with Zann esu light/fire in the sockets and you can remake it later for corrupting.
Bossing: 2x Sagittarius claws. Only high rolls worthwhile.
Helm:

Black Masquerade

Black Masquerade
Bone Helm (Sacred)
Defense: (2420 - 2904) to (2622 - 3147)
Required Level: 80
Item Level: 120
+100 Spell Focus
+100% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(150 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
+200 Life Regenerated per Second
Physical Resist (0 to 10)%
Requirements -100%
Socketed (4)

Phys res roll is irrelevant.
Body Armor:

Robe of Steel

Robe of Steel
Full Plate Mail (Sacred)
Defense: (6692 - 7471) to (8202 - 9156)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 469
Item Level: 105
+(11 to 20)% Bonus to Spell Focus
25% Cast Speed
+(21 to 30)% to Spell Damage
+(115 to 140)% Enhanced Defense
+100 to Strength
+100 to Energy
Elemental Resists +20%
+250 Life after each Demon Kill
50% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -33%
Socketed (6)

-> Enchanted, multibless crafted Armor (full details on making this complicated armor below).
Gloves:

Lamha Na Draoithe

Lamha Na Draoithe
Gauntlets (Sacred)
Defense: (1339 - 1506) to (1567 - 1763)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 625
Item Level: 120
+2 to All Skills
+150 Spell Focus
30% Cast Speed
+(16 to 20)% to Spell Damage
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
+75 to Strength
-100 to Life
Elemental Resists +15%
Socketed (4)

Just like every other character
Boots: Enchanted Crafted boots: + 2 skills with 1-2 +max res rolls (Not poison, it's useless). Anything else is a bonus but flat life is a top roll. You can eventually start rerolling these with extra shrines for corruption.
Belt:

Treachery

Treachery
Belts
'ArcPhul'
Runeword Level: 110
+1 to All Skills
+(5 to 10)% Bonus to Spell Focus
10% Hit Recovery
+(15 to 20)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(12 to 15) to Singularity
(15 to 20)% to Energy
+(150 to 250) to Mana
Physical Resist 5%
+(100 to 200) Life when Struck by an Enemy

Arguably the best belt in the game although angelic touch probably deserves the mantle. This belt gives you one of the best boss killing skills in the game with literally all the stats you want and it's easy to make. It rolls super wide so only corrupt good rolls. The life when struck mod synergises incredibly well with our exceptional life regen and avoid.
Rings:

Adrenaline Rush

Adrenaline Rush
Ring
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
+1 to All Skills
40% Combat Speeds
40% Movement Speed
Maximum Elemental Resists +1%

x2. Nothing comes close. Even a +1 skill PMSD ring with +1 max res corrupted is worse as the movement speed is very powerful for us. The combat speeds is super useful too because it's very helpful to hit the 200 fhr breakpoint and we need a lot of FCR to counteract Mind Rake's penalty.
Amuler:

Vizjerei's Necklace

Vizjerei's Necklace
Amulet
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 105
+(1 to 3) to All Skills
+(20 to 30)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
(10 to 20)% to Energy
Maximum Mana +10%
+(25 to 50) Life after each Kill

Switch weps: +8 blood lust clawx2 or just get a

Shamanka

Shamanka
Long Staff (Sacred)
Two-Hand Damage: 56 to 58
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 203
Item Level: 105
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
+(3 to 6) to Sorceress Skill Levels
45% Cast Speed
45% Hit Recovery
+(21 to 25)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(21 to 25)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(21 to 25)% to Poison Spell Damage
+(6 to 16) to Bloodlust
Maximum Life +(10 to 13)%
Fire Resist +(50 to 70)%
Lightning Resist +(50 to 70)%
Socketed (4)

If you lab in a group and someone else has bloodlust you can use a creative option like

Despondence

Despondence
Despondence
Voidforged Staff
Two-Hand Damage: 13 to 16
Required Level: 125
Item Level: 110
Despair
Nearby Enemies: -10% Elemental and Magic Resistances
20 Yard Radius
+30% to Spell Damage
+1 to Vindicate
+20 to Voidstar
+(600 to 1000) to Life
Lightning Resist -100%

MO's:

Invisible

Invisible
Mystic Orb

Right-Click to Apply
12% Block Speed
12% Hit Recovery
1% Chance to Avoid Damage
+10 Required Level

on every slot, 5x shop PMSD MO's on all armor slots. Remainder of space can be filled with

Lodestone

Lodestone
Mystic Orb

Right-Click to Apply
+5% to Spell Damage
Requirements +10%
+10 Required Level

. Jewelry get's PMSD, resists if you need a particular one, then apple of discord. Weapons get 2x Uldisian's spirit, 2x Orb of annihilation then shops PMSD orbs.

Sockets:
-

Zann Esu's Stone

Zann Esu's Stone
Jewel
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 115
Can be Inserted into Socketed Items
5% Cast Speed
+3% to Spell Damage
Maximum [Random Elemental] Resist +1%

to max F/L/C res (ignore poison)
- 10+ Crafted 4%PMSD + flat life jewels. With SF or FCR if you need them for to hit your break points early, but you'll end up replacing with flat lifers. I ended up needing 1-2 flat lifers with SF and then the remainder were vit% and flat life.
- 1x arkenstone.
- Having 2-3 lotteried zanns with allow you to get into Lab 9+ comfortably without needing to MO resists on anything.
- You need to be clever with your sockets to maximise your phoboss switch and get max value in general. The body armor requires crafted jewels (6x) to keep the level requirement low and Black Masquerade has a nice lvl 80 requirement so we want crafted jewels in there also. This meant that my crafted boots got some zanns. I put my arkenstone in crafted boots also as they did not change in my phoboss switch gear but you could choose to have a second boot pair rather than second Lamhas like me.

Phoboss:
I had a second set of Lamha's and a sagittarius. I had 5x zann esu cold + 1 Onyx in my switch items (can just use onyx x4 and 2 zanns), which dropped my fire/light max res to 89%, you could have 87% F/L and it is a cake walk. Make sure your phob switch gear doesnt involve your F/L/C res dropping considerably under 260 or he will rail you. Keep cold at 260+.

THE Armor:
Step 1: Sacred rare quilted armor
Step 2: Cube it with 1 rare amulet and 1 rare ring to make it Ilvl1
Step 3: Get lot's of Enchanted shrines and corrupting crystals
Step 4: acquire a few

Breath of Thaumaturgy

Breath of Thaumaturgy
Occult Effigy

Cube Reagent
Cube with a Blessed Crafted/Rare Weapon/Armor to Add Bonus
Item can be blessed Again
+25 Required Level

and Oil of intensityx4
Step 5: Craft!:
- As your crafted jewels will be ~lvl 63 required it means required level under 63 is not a virtue; having an extra blessing isn't worth losing 6 real sockets for trash.
- required level < 75 means you can Quad bless this armor and sigilx2 it to fit an invisible UMO in end game.
- I rolled until I got a good roll then corrupted; if the corruption bricked, I kept going until I was satisfied.
- My requirements for corrupting were: < Lvl75 req, +2 skills, 10%+ PMSD OR <Lvl75 req, high roll PMSD, 20%vit + life/MF.
Best corruptions are: +1 max res, 10% all attributes, +movement speed. I would only stop if I made one of the first 2. But it isnt unreasonable to make one armor with plans to replace it later.
- Intensity oil enchanted shrine bless x4, using breath of thurmaturgy. No MO's until it's max blessed and has space for an Invisible.

Charms/Relics:

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2x Yshari sleep- this one is a mother fugger.
3/3/3/x kabraxis.
Get trophies/ max roll charms only as you need them; remember a handful drop in labs, we don't need pierce and defence is useless to us due to pinnacle.
Laz trophy is high yield but you can play without it.
Large life/mana wormhole.
Umbaru: Vit/Energy (I made 4 this season and all were trash so stats arent a problem even with sigils)
Relics: Shurikan flurry, Shadow refuge, Singularity. Vessel's are ok for some bosses but nowhere near as good as singularity of shuriken for most or for clearing. Shadow refuge is the best by a mile and you should never not use it. You cannot prebuff vessels and have them work when you're not wearing sagittarius.

Skills:

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Skills breakdown into 2 sections. Pre cognition 150 and Post cognition 150. (post is around Character level 143 IIRC).
Hit Cognition 125 ASAP (always keep shadowrush maxed and your mana viable.

Post cognition 150 is simplest:
Max shadow rush, pinnacle, shuriken, mind ripple, doom, perfect being, prismatic: Then dump whatever to hit cognition 150.
1 in refuge , blink and meditation.
Remaining points in the potion mastery; it's very strong with our avoid.

Pre cog 150 is more complicated. My commandments for maximising it, in order, are:
- Though shalt always have shadow rush maxed
- Thoust Mana shall always be unproblematic; 1-3 in meditation.
- Thou shall have 125 cognition ASAP while following the above rules
- Prior to 125 cognition being available and between cognition 125-150; thou shall use specialization to maximum Pinnacle, shuriken and mind ripple instead of mediocre masteries.
- Thou only will acquire other masteries once at cognition 150.

Stats:

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2k-2.1k Energy
Everything else in Vit
Early on you may need dex or str for gear but not once you start accruing charms.

Play style gems:

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- Singularity can be used to take space by dropping it between you and enemies as you approach them; they get put into hit recovery mode as they pass through it.
- Don't eat colossal tunneller avalanches, they're dangerous. We're assassins and while we can face tank most stuff we are supposed to be skillful so move around a bit when these buggers are in town
- Barb will kill you if you stand still in high labs, fight by singularitying ahead of you, moving onto the centre of it so he tele stomps, then moving away if he hits you hard. You will find windows to cast shurikens amidst this and his low life will quickly vanish. Keep refuge up.
- Be wary of Garbhad; he isn;t a problem but if you let your life get too low and there's too much fire you can die.
- Phoboss: Stand in his face and blast him with shurikens and singularity; he melts.
- Deimoss: Singularity rails her. Shuriken is good only if you're standing on her, otherwise the totems take too many and ripple is better. Kill anything she summons ASAP so you dont get stuck if she drops a barb with them.
- Deimoss 60%: I chose the lighning boy, teleport lockout and speed: IIRC this is bottom right, top left, top middle.
- Sam: I didnt get around to doing him this season but he was easy on Psi sin before she got good. 2x sagi's, max fire/cold res, other vessel relic and spam shurikens. Singularity him before teleporting away when he jumps on your head (Same for any other stomping bosses with cooldowns)
- Azmodan (in labs): Don't stand still if he casts fortress, it actually smacks, just mind ripple/singu from a distance and he dies fast.
- Everything else is cake
- Witch: Shift click cast shurikens and stand still in an open space, singularity on yourself everytime cooldown runs out, cast doom if she runs away.
- Laz: Lol, you're an assassin; max speed gear, 25%slow gear and watch a vid first. OR just buy the charm if you don't like the fight.

Any questions: Just ask!

[PeterHatEater]

Great guide man. Really unique and underappreciated build.

Respect that you played magic in a ladder of physical builds.

Looking forward to playing next season with ya.

[midknight]

Great guide thanks for sharing. Its nice to see someone share a guide that has different build transitions as I think this is the way most of the top players play. Small note you can buy a wrist blade at gheeds or charsi at level 1 for even more zoom.

[racerx]

9 pt energize makes psi storm a nice panic button heal. you end up using the points anyways for 150 cog

cheap phoboss swap is stareyes with onyx. moon crystals if you need to make up the fcr.

im assuming you use shadow ref relic for the regen? i think when i played it last on sc i went with shuriken/vessel of retribution/blood fury

what was your top end ripple damage with that massive crafted chest? iirc mine was around 75k

[Enigma]

9 pt energize makes psi storm a nice panic button heal. you end up using the points anyways for 150 cog

cheap phoboss swap is stareyes with onyx. moon crystals if you need to make up the fcr.

im assuming you use shadow ref relic for the regen? i think when i played it last on sc i went with shuriken/vessel of retribution/blood fury

what was your top end ripple damage with that massive crafted chest? iirc mine was around 75k

Yea I had my points in energize but found I never use it. I found Bloodbaths healing is so big that it pushed you to move forward and kill for sustain.

Stareyes work but I wanted to max out damage so I rolled with lamha+sagi to keep my SF capped. In truth, phobss is so easy for this build it doesnt matter; I didnt even use phoboss switch gear on T8.

Yea, the life regen on refuge is too busted to not use it IMO; I tend to build for survivability first in labs and I was TANKY. I had vessel relic but didn't rate it, especially as I found mind rake to be very superior to sagi. I also found, surprisingly, that singularity relic was really strong; both in that boss killing is the most dangerous times and it speeds it up and also that I used singularity a lot while clearing for crowd control and the extra damage was killing/FHR locking mobs more.

I'm not sure what my end damage was tbh, I should have snapshotted it. Similar I guess but I built for survivability; No blood fury and used invisible over lodestone to cap avoid in high labs.

[Enigma]

9 pt energize makes psi storm a nice panic button heal. you end up using the points anyways for 150 cog

cheap phoboss swap is stareyes with onyx. moon crystals if you need to make up the fcr.

im assuming you use shadow ref relic for the regen? i think when i played it last on sc i went with shuriken/vessel of retribution/blood fury

what was your top end ripple damage with that massive crafted chest? iirc mine was around 75k

Yea I had my points in energize but found I never use it. I found Bloodbaths healing is so big that it pushed you to move forward and kill for sustain.

Stareyes work but I wanted to max out damage so I rolled with lamha+sagi to keep my SF capped. In truth, phobss is so easy for this build it doesnt matter; I didnt even use phoboss switch gear on T8.

Yea, the life regen on refuge is too busted to not use it IMO; I tend to build for survivability first in labs and I was TANKY. I had vessel relic but didn't rate it, especially as I found mind rake to be very superior to sagi. I also found, surprisingly, that singularity relic was really strong; both in that boss killing is the most dangerous times and it speeds it up and also that I used singularity a lot while clearing for crowd control and the extra damage was killing/FHR locking mobs more.

I'm not sure what my end damage was tbh, I should have snapshotted it. Similar I guess but I built for survivability; No blood fury and used invisible over lodestone to cap avoid in high labs.

Great guide thanks for sharing. Its nice to see someone share a guide that has different build transitions as I think this is the way most of the top players play. Small note you can buy a wrist blade at gheeds or charsi at level 1 for even more zoom.

Ah yes, I couldnt remember if I did or not. Ty.

[Enigma]

Intro:
Ola, if you haven't met me my name is Rhys, i'm a long time median player. I enjoy pushing builds to their limits content wise and I only play builds I expect to be able to push into Lab 10 comfortably. This is the first guide i've written; so any feedback is welcome.

Psionic Assassin has long been a favourite build of mine playstyle wise, but it just wasn't end game viable until 2.5; previously struggling once it entered Lab 7.

Unfortunately i'm writing this after I've finished the season so i've had my character stripped of gear by friends who are still playing. Here is the not armory though: https://median-xl.com/char/Chopstick

I'm gonna write this guide so a new player can follow from start to finish so I will put everything behind spoilers to make it a little more user-friendly for experienced players. Pls give advice on formatting.

If you're a pro and just want to see the end game setup to smash content, just skip the spoilers to the end game section.

2.5 seemed like the perfect time to push the build for a few reasons:
- Magic spell damage characters are typically out of favour, making some of the more important items more accessible and cheaper in trading.
- BIG damage buff due to the last cognition bonus being reworked to now add 15% magic pierce as well as the buff to magic/phys damage in labs.
- Assassin gaining a massive avoid buff in labs 7+: from ~30% to 60%.

This build utilises Mind ripple, Singularity and Shuriken Flurry as it's main weapons.

Pro's/Con's:

► Show Spoiler

Pros:
- Sensatonal boss and phoboss killer in end game: 30 second phoboss in T10, 60-90 second deimoss.
- Very tanky for a caster due to multiple synergistic survivability layers matched by very few builds (good life regen, fantastic avoid, good leech from bloodbath: 3% of HP per kill).
- Fun AF.
- Can push content very well: Deimoss 60%-100% is difficult due to how bad a barb spawn is for us but everything else; including nithogur as doable.
- Decent clear speed but not amazing.
- Lots of season long growth due to attainable corruptions (I actually had decent 0 corruptions this season and hit 150 easily).
- Lots of move speed (I fkn love move speed).
- Assassin is the best (IMO) leveler in the game (may have been superseded by zon this season though).
- Requires minimal UMO's.
- Witch farmer as you get ~20% magic res to go with your high regen and avoid in end game.
- Nothing in Lab 10 can kill you if you play half decently.


Con's:
- An end game spec (Scolsglen+) only. This isnt an issue for me but some people like to play the same spec throughout and psionic is clunky early-mid game.
- I couldn't do Deimoss 90-100%.
- Clears slower than the fastest clear builds.
- Not the most new player friendly. However, i'd encourage new players to not be dismayed as the build is quite strong if you follow the guide and don't mind transitioning into your end game build later in the piece.
- Not very SSFable as it requires multiple SSU's for psionic spec: If you're happy to stay in mid game spec for longer it IS SSFable as the mid game spec is completely and easily SSF.
- End game armor requires Breath of thurmaturgyx4-5

Early Game A1 normal to A2 NM (1-70):

► Show Spoiler

One of the simplest characters to level with almost no need to stop and fuck around farming AC's or TU's.

You do need to stagger your honorifics though as you wont have enough gold to make all 3 at once.

Gear: Required level in brackets.

Step 1: Buy a grey wrist blade from Gheed. It MUST be wrist blade base as you want the inate lightning damage.

Eld runewrist blade (8) -> TU3 wrist bladex2 (39)-> T4 (48)
Belt: Eth (15) -> honorific
Boots: Whatever you find ->honorific (I make these asap)
Gloves: El rune gloves (6) -> TU2 chain gloves or gauntlets (whichever you find) -> honorific Gloves (make these last)
Armor: Akara's robe (any)
Helm: Tal circlet
Jewely: (whatever)
Honorifics: MO Resists, Then FHR, then dex + whatever you need.

Skills:
1 in Noctule ASAP
1 in Blink
Dump points into Way of the gryphon until maxed with only a few exceptions:
- As soon as you can put 1 in shadow refuge, do it.
- Melee devotion around lvl 8
- Max shadow rush ASAP
- Meditation IF you're having mana issues
- 1 in perfect being at 20.
That's it!
Once gryphon is maxed:
Max Perfect being
1 in Anathema and way of the phoenix when you can.
All remaining points in Anathema. No other skills required.

All stats in dex

Pick up and keep Lum and Ko.

You play this spec until you find a Sacred Wrist Blade and some shrines to craft your next claw which is anything that rolls Death star. The second you have death star. Shimmering shrine is best but any will do at first.

Early game 2: Nightmare A3 onwards (70-100):

► Show Spoiler

The second you have a Death star claw; respec.
Death star is a very powerful early game build. It uses a casted poison projectile that scales off + skills and your poison damage added to weapon ONLY. This makes it very easy to build around as you have innate Way of the spider. It also doesnt require energy so you get to max vitality

You want, generally in this order:
+ skills
Pierce
+ sin skills

Gear:
Crafted Wrist Blade (Needs wrist blade because IED base can roll + 4 all skills, other claws cannot.) x2 or a claw with an assassin shield.
- Can roll 20-36 to Death star so keep rolling new claws to replace your old ones. You really only care about the death star level with + skills, + sin skills and Poison pierce being a bonus.
Body armor:

Lumen Arcana

Lumen Arcana
Body Armors
'Ith'
Runeword Level: 18
+1 to All Skills
-(3 to 8)% to Enemy Fire Resistance
-(3 to 8)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
-(3 to 8)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
-(3 to 8)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(25 to 50)% Enhanced Defense
+2 to Light Radius

Gloves:

Kali

Kali
Gloves
'LumKo'
Runeword Level: 48
15% Chance to cast level 13 Seal of Fire on Kill
+2 to All Skills
+15% to Summoned Minion Resistances
-214 Defense
5% to Strength
Maximum Fire Resist +4%
Fire Resist +25%

Belt: Honorific ->

Viper Skin

Viper Skin
Belt (Sacred)
Defense: (2860 - 3204) to (3036 - 3402)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 385
Item Level: 115
30% Attack Speed
(51 to 75)% Bonus to Attack Rating
-(11 to 20)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
Slow Target (3 to 8)%
+(141 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
Requirements -33%
Socketed (2)

Astrogha's Moon
(Wyrd Set)

Boots: Honorific ->

Darkling

Darkling
Heavy Boots (Sacred)
Defense: (1677 - 1879) to (1776 - 1989)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 550
Item Level: 115
+(0 to 1) to All Skills
(15 to 45)% Movement Speed
(7 to 12)% Life stolen per Hit
+(6 to 15)% to Poison Spell Damage
-(6 to 15)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(141 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
-100 to Life
Socketed (4)

Astrogha's Moon
(Wyrd Set)

Helm:

Honor

Honor
Helms
'Tal'
Runeword Level: 20
7% Movement Speed
+7% to Spell Damage
Elemental Resists +7%
Poison Length Reduced by (10 to 15)%
-7% to All Vendor Prices

circlet ->

Crown of the Black Rose

Crown of the Black Rose
Diadem (Sacred)
Defense: 870 to 983
Required Level: 110
Required Dexterity: 524
Item Level: 105
Orb Effects Applied to this Item are Doubled
+(2 to 3) to All Skills
+(20 to 30)% to Poison Spell Damage
-(10 to 15)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(14 to 20) to Black Lotus Strike
+(90 to 150) Life Regenerated per Second
Maximum Poison Resist +(2 to 3)%
(25 to 50)% Bonus to Defense
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (4)

Rings: + 1 skills with poison pierce
Amulet:

Angel of Death

Angel of Death
Amulet
Required Level: 90
Item Level: 123
2% Chance to cast level 33 Punisher Bolt on Striking
+(0 to 2) to All Skills
+(11 to 30)% to Poison Spell Damage
-(6 to 15)% to Enemy Poison Resistance

Astrogha's Moon
(Wyrd Set)

MO's/Sockets: Whatever you need to hit your resies, and speed breakpoints (Use the speed calculator in the tools section of the forum)

Skills: In order
Meditation 3
Max way of the spider
Max shadow rush
1 in beacon
Max Perfect being
Max Prismatic cloak
Pinnacle: Remainder in multiples of 4

Stats:
Str and dex to use gear. Rest vitality

This build will carry you to scolsglen with very minimal changes; which I mention next.

Early-Mid (100-135):

Now it's just tuning up your death star build.

Most 125 bosses are difficult as death star however. There are 2 options to solve this:
a) Infected roots relic ASAP.
b) Start to accumulate psionic gear to respec for bosses.

Personally, I just leveled to 135 first which gave me time to accumulate psionic base gear via trading. Then when I respec'd psionic I did all my 125 charms before hitting scols. But infected roots relic is more efficient if you are able to snag one.

Gear:
Crafted Wrist Blade + Another or a crafted sin shield: Just keep making better ones.
Body armor:

Lumen Arcana

Lumen Arcana
Body Armors
'Ith'
Runeword Level: 18
+1 to All Skills
-(3 to 8)% to Enemy Fire Resistance
-(3 to 8)% to Enemy Lightning Resistance
-(3 to 8)% to Enemy Cold Resistance
-(3 to 8)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(25 to 50)% Enhanced Defense
+2 to Light Radius

->

Thelema

Thelema
Body Armors
'LewIuHel'
Runeword Level: 110
+4 to All Skills
55% Cast Speed
+(80 to 95)% to Summoned Minion Damage
+(200 to 250)% to Summoned Minion Attack Rating
+(172 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
+(120 to 150) to Vitality
15% to Vitality
+(101 to 125) Mana when Struck by an Enemy

->

The Awakening

The Awakening
Full Plate Mail (Sacred)
Defense: 11673 to 14304
Required Level: 130
Required Strength: 690
Item Level: 130
Ethereal
When Cubed with The Sleep, Enables an Additional Awakening
(The Armor will be Disenchanted by the Recipe)
5% Chance to cast level 50 Banish on Death Blow
+(1 to 4) to All Skills
50% Combat Speeds
-(31 to 35)% to Enemy Elemental Resistances
+200% Enhanced Defense
+25 Maximum Stamina
Magic Resist +5%
Socketed (6)

(awakening not required; just best).
Gloves:

Kali

Kali
Gloves
'LumKo'
Runeword Level: 48
15% Chance to cast level 13 Seal of Fire on Kill
+2 to All Skills
+15% to Summoned Minion Resistances
-214 Defense
5% to Strength
Maximum Fire Resist +4%
Fire Resist +25%

->

Lorekeeper

Lorekeeper
Light Gauntlets (Sacred)
Defense: (1018 - 1179) to (1159 - 1342)
Required Level: 80
Required Strength: 300
Item Level: 120
+3 to All Skills
20% Combat Speeds
+(5 to 10) to Firedance
+(90 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
Regenerate Mana +(40 to 60)%
Requirements -50%
Socketed (4)

Belt:

Viper Skin

Viper Skin
Belt (Sacred)
Defense: (2860 - 3204) to (3036 - 3402)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 385
Item Level: 115
30% Attack Speed
(51 to 75)% Bonus to Attack Rating
-(11 to 20)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
Slow Target (3 to 8)%
+(141 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
Requirements -33%
Socketed (2)

Astrogha's Moon
(Wyrd Set)

High roll
Boots:

Darkling

Darkling
Heavy Boots (Sacred)
Defense: (1677 - 1879) to (1776 - 1989)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 550
Item Level: 115
+(0 to 1) to All Skills
(15 to 45)% Movement Speed
(7 to 12)% Life stolen per Hit
+(6 to 15)% to Poison Spell Damage
-(6 to 15)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(141 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
-100 to Life
Socketed (4)

Astrogha's Moon
(Wyrd Set)

High roll
Helm:

Crown of the Black Rose

Crown of the Black Rose
Diadem (Sacred)
Defense: 870 to 983
Required Level: 110
Required Dexterity: 524
Item Level: 105
Orb Effects Applied to this Item are Doubled
+(2 to 3) to All Skills
+(20 to 30)% to Poison Spell Damage
-(10 to 15)% to Enemy Poison Resistance
+(14 to 20) to Black Lotus Strike
+(90 to 150) Life Regenerated per Second
Maximum Poison Resist +(2 to 3)%
(25 to 50)% Bonus to Defense
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (4)

High roll
Rings: + 1 skills with poison pierce
Amulet:

Angel of Death

Angel of Death
Amulet
Required Level: 90
Item Level: 123
2% Chance to cast level 33 Punisher Bolt on Striking
+(0 to 2) to All Skills
+(11 to 30)% to Poison Spell Damage
-(6 to 15)% to Enemy Poison Resistance

Astrogha's Moon
(Wyrd Set)

High roll
MO's/Sockets: Whatever you need to hit your resies, and speed breakpoints (Use the speed calculator in the tools section of the forum); then poison runes for pierce as needed to hit 145 pierce for bosses or 135 pierce for pre scolsglen farming.

Skills: In order
Meditation 3
Max way of the spider
Max shadow rush
1 in beacon
Max Perfect being
Max Prismatic cloak
Pinnacle 24
Remainder into anything that gives cognition till cognition 100 (massive survivability buff with Blood bath up permanenetly).
Once cognition is 100, choose whatever masteries you want: I did Life and potions

Stats:
Str and dex to use gear. Rest vitality

Mid game (Scolsglen and early labs):

► Show Spoiler

Now we get towards the business end. You can either get infected roots relic and keep using the Death star build or respec to psionic when ready.

Due to how amazing a farmer death star is, I would respec to psionic only after acquiring, at minimum (item codes below in end game section), the following items: Lamha, Black Masquerade, Mind rake, Sagitarius or a crafted Magic damage shield or collector or Ohn/Un rune for shield, vizjereis necklace, 2x 1 skill phys spell damage rings, Treachery, 2 sin skills crafted boots or clockwork slippers SU, shamanka or 2x bloodlust crafted claws (wrist blades only).

For skill/stat distribution on psionic respec see below.

End Game (Lab 6+, Sam Deimoss):[/b]

Time for the cash value of the build!

Requirements for Lab 9+:
90% max res F/L/C
14k life (I had 18k at the end)
Highest FCR breakpoint
86 (but preferably 200) FHR.
No block speed as Ligeia nerfs your block rate so you can't get block locked.
Phoboss switch gear; You can do phoboss T10 with only 92% max cold but it's ideal to switch into 96.
60% phys res (Hooray shadow refuge).
55% avoid (Labs 7+ pierce your avoid by 5)

Gear:

► Show Spoiler

Weapon:

Mind Rake

Mind Rake
Claws (Sacred)
One-Hand Damage: 42 to 44
(Assassin Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 400
Item Level: 120
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.13 per Dexterity)%
10% Chance to cast level 60 Doom on Death Blow
+(3 to 5) to Assassin Skill Levels
-50% Cast Speed
+(51 to 70)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
Regenerate Mana +33%
Physical Damage Reduced by 50
+100 Life after each Kill
1% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (3)

Offhand: Sagitarius ->

Ligeia

Ligeia
Assassin Shields
'OhnUn'
Runeword Level: 115
+6 Life per Cognition
+4 to Assassin Skill Levels
-4% Base Block Chance
50% Hit Recovery
+(20 to 30)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+150% Enhanced Defense
+5000 Defense
(7 to 10)% to All Attributes
+(130 to 150) to Energy
Elemental Resists +(20 to 25)%
Physical Resist 5%

.

The Collector

The Collector
Bone Shield (Sacred)
Defense: 965 to 1119
Chance to Block: Class%
Required Level: 110
Required Dexterity: 527
Item Level: 120
Gematria
(Bonus for each Socketed Great/Elemental Rune)
+1 to All Skills
+10 Life after each Kill
+25% Bonus to Defense
+8% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
Orb Effects Applied to this Item are Doubled
Socketed (6)

and Crafted shields are ok but Ligeia is so much better than everything else in labs, giving you about 2k life, great resists buff and just great stats all round. I made mine with Zann esu light/fire in the sockets and you can remake it later for corrupting.
Bossing: 2x Sagittarius claws. Only high rolls worthwhile.
Helm:

Black Masquerade

Black Masquerade
Bone Helm (Sacred)
Defense: (2420 - 2904) to (2622 - 3147)
Required Level: 80
Item Level: 120
+100 Spell Focus
+100% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(150 to 200)% Enhanced Defense
+200 Life Regenerated per Second
Physical Resist (0 to 10)%
Requirements -100%
Socketed (4)

Phys res roll is irrelevant.
Body Armor:

Robe of Steel

Robe of Steel
Full Plate Mail (Sacred)
Defense: (6692 - 7471) to (8202 - 9156)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 469
Item Level: 105
+(11 to 20)% Bonus to Spell Focus
25% Cast Speed
+(21 to 30)% to Spell Damage
+(115 to 140)% Enhanced Defense
+100 to Strength
+100 to Energy
Elemental Resists +20%
+250 Life after each Demon Kill
50% Bonus to Defense
Requirements -33%
Socketed (6)

-> Enchanted, multibless crafted Armor (full details on making this complicated armor below).
Gloves:

Lamha Na Draoithe

Lamha Na Draoithe
Gauntlets (Sacred)
Defense: (1339 - 1506) to (1567 - 1763)
Required Level: 100
Required Strength: 625
Item Level: 120
+2 to All Skills
+150 Spell Focus
30% Cast Speed
+(16 to 20)% to Spell Damage
+(140 to 170)% Enhanced Defense
+75 to Strength
-100 to Life
Elemental Resists +15%
Socketed (4)

Just like every other character
Boots: Enchanted Crafted boots: + 2 skills with 1-2 +max res rolls (Not poison, it's useless). Anything else is a bonus but flat life is a top roll. You can eventually start rerolling these with extra shrines for corruption.
Belt:

Treachery

Treachery
Belts
'ArcPhul'
Runeword Level: 110
+1 to All Skills
+(5 to 10)% Bonus to Spell Focus
10% Hit Recovery
+(15 to 20)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
+(12 to 15) to Singularity
(15 to 20)% to Energy
+(150 to 250) to Mana
Physical Resist 5%
+(100 to 200) Life when Struck by an Enemy

Arguably the best belt in the game although angelic touch probably deserves the mantle. This belt gives you one of the best boss killing skills in the game with literally all the stats you want and it's easy to make. It rolls super wide so only corrupt good rolls. The life when struck mod synergises incredibly well with our exceptional life regen and avoid.
Rings:

Adrenaline Rush

Adrenaline Rush
Ring
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 120
+1 to All Skills
40% Combat Speeds
40% Movement Speed
Maximum Elemental Resists +1%

x2. Nothing comes close. Even a +1 skill PMSD ring with +1 max res corrupted is worse as the movement speed is very powerful for us. The combat speeds is super useful too because it's very helpful to hit the 200 fhr breakpoint and we need a lot of FCR to counteract Mind Rake's penalty.
Amuler:

Vizjerei's Necklace

Vizjerei's Necklace
Amulet
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 105
+(1 to 3) to All Skills
+(20 to 30)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
(10 to 20)% to Energy
Maximum Mana +10%
+(25 to 50) Life after each Kill

Switch weps: +8 blood lust clawx2 or just get a

Shamanka

Shamanka
Long Staff (Sacred)
Two-Hand Damage: 56 to 58
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 203
Item Level: 105
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.15 per Dexterity)%
+(3 to 6) to Sorceress Skill Levels
45% Cast Speed
45% Hit Recovery
+(21 to 25)% to Fire Spell Damage
+(21 to 25)% to Cold Spell Damage
+(21 to 25)% to Poison Spell Damage
+(6 to 16) to Bloodlust
Maximum Life +(10 to 13)%
Fire Resist +(50 to 70)%
Lightning Resist +(50 to 70)%
Socketed (4)

If you lab in a group and someone else has bloodlust you can use a creative option like

Despondence

Despondence
Despondence
Voidforged Staff
Two-Hand Damage: 13 to 16
Required Level: 125
Item Level: 110
Despair
Nearby Enemies: -10% Elemental and Magic Resistances
20 Yard Radius
+30% to Spell Damage
+1 to Vindicate
+20 to Voidstar
+(600 to 1000) to Life
Lightning Resist -100%

MO's:

Invisible

Invisible
Mystic Orb

Right-Click to Apply
12% Block Speed
12% Hit Recovery
1% Chance to Avoid Damage
+10 Required Level

on every slot, 5x shop PMSD MO's on all armor slots. Remainder of space can be filled with

Lodestone

Lodestone
Mystic Orb

Right-Click to Apply
+5% to Spell Damage
Requirements +10%
+10 Required Level

. Jewelry get's PMSD, resists if you need a particular one, then apple of discord. Weapons get 2x Uldisian's spirit, 2x Orb of annihilation then shops PMSD orbs.

Sockets:
-

Zann Esu's Stone

Zann Esu's Stone
Jewel
Required Level: 100
Item Level: 115
Can be Inserted into Socketed Items
5% Cast Speed
+3% to Spell Damage
Maximum [Random Elemental] Resist +1%

to max F/L/C res (ignore poison)
- 10+ Crafted 4%PMSD + flat life jewels. With SF or FCR if you need them for to hit your break points early, but you'll end up replacing with flat lifers. I ended up needing 1-2 flat lifers with SF and then the remainder were vit% and flat life.
- 1x arkenstone.
- Having 2-3 lotteried zanns with allow you to get into Lab 9+ comfortably without needing to MO resists on anything.
- You need to be clever with your sockets to maximise your phoboss switch and get max value in general. The body armor requires crafted jewels (6x) to keep the level requirement low and Black Masquerade has a nice lvl 80 requirement so we want crafted jewels in there also. This meant that my crafted boots got some zanns. I put my arkenstone in crafted boots also as they did not change in my phoboss switch gear but you could choose to have a second boot pair rather than second Lamhas like me.

Phoboss:
I had a second set of Lamha's and a sagittarius. I had 5x zann esu cold + 1 Onyx in my switch items (can just use onyx x4 and 2 zanns), which dropped my fire/light max res to 89%, you could have 87% F/L and it is a cake walk. Make sure your phob switch gear doesnt involve your F/L/C res dropping considerably under 260 or he will rail you. Keep cold at 260+.

THE Armor:
Step 1: Sacred rare quilted armor
Step 2: Cube it with 1 rare amulet and 1 rare ring to make it Ilvl1
Step 3: Get lot's of Enchanted shrines and corrupting crystals
Step 4: acquire a few

Breath of Thaumaturgy

Breath of Thaumaturgy
Occult Effigy

Cube Reagent
Cube with a Blessed Crafted/Rare Weapon/Armor to Add Bonus
Item can be blessed Again
+25 Required Level

and Oil of intensityx4
Step 5: Craft!:
- As your crafted jewels will be ~lvl 63 required it means required level under 63 is not a virtue; having an extra blessing isn't worth losing 6 real sockets for trash.
- required level < 75 means you can Quad bless this armor and sigilx2 it to fit an invisible UMO in end game.
- I rolled until I got a good roll then corrupted; if the corruption bricked, I kept going until I was satisfied.
- My requirements for corrupting were: < Lvl75 req, +2 skills, 10%+ PMSD OR <Lvl75 req, high roll PMSD, 20%vit + life/MF.
Best corruptions are: +1 max res, 10% all attributes, +movement speed. I would only stop if I made one of the first 2. But it isnt unreasonable to make one armor with plans to replace it later.
- Intensity oil enchanted shrine bless x4, using breath of thurmaturgy. No MO's until it's max blessed and has space for an Invisible.

Charms/Relics:

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2x Yshari sleep- this one is a mother fugger.
3/3/3/x kabraxis.
Get trophies/ max roll charms only as you need them; remember a handful drop in labs, we don't need pierce and defence is useless to us due to pinnacle.
Laz trophy is high yield but you can play without it.
Large life/mana wormhole.
Umbaru: Vit/Energy (I made 4 this season and all were trash so stats arent a problem even with sigils)
Relics: Shurikan flurry, Shadow refuge, Singularity. Vessel's are ok for some bosses but nowhere near as good as singularity of shuriken for most or for clearing. Shadow refuge is the best by a mile and you should never not use it. You cannot prebuff vessels and have them work when you're not wearing sagittarius.

Skills:

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Skills breakdown into 2 sections. Pre cognition 150 and Post cognition 150. (post is around Character level 143 IIRC).
Hit Cognition 125 ASAP (always keep shadowrush maxed and your mana viable.

Post cognition 150 is simplest:
Max shadow rush, pinnacle, shuriken, mind ripple, doom, perfect being, prismatic: Then dump whatever to hit cognition 150.
1 in refuge , blink and meditation.
Remaining points in the potion mastery; it's very strong with our avoid.

Pre cog 150 is more complicated. My commandments for maximising it, in order, are:
- Though shalt always have shadow rush maxed
- Thoust Mana shall always be unproblematic; 1-3 in meditation.
- Thou shall have 125 cognition ASAP while following the above rules
- Prior to 125 cognition being available and between cognition 125-150; thou shall use specialization to maximum Pinnacle, shuriken and mind ripple instead of mediocre masteries.
- Thou only will acquire other masteries once at cognition 150.

Stats:

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2k-2.1k Energy
Everything else in Vit
Early on you may need dex or str for gear but not once you start accruing charms.

Play style gems:

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- Singularity can be used to take space by dropping it between you and enemies as you approach them; they get put into hit recovery mode as they pass through it.
- Don't eat colossal tunneller avalanches, they're dangerous. We're assassins and while we can face tank most stuff we are supposed to be skillful so move around a bit when these buggers are in town
- Barb will kill you if you stand still in high labs, fight by singularitying ahead of you, moving onto the centre of it so he tele stomps, then moving away if he hits you hard. You will find windows to cast shurikens amidst this and his low life will quickly vanish. Keep refuge up.
- Be wary of Garbhad; he isn;t a problem but if you let your life get too low and there's too much fire you can die.
- Phoboss: Stand in his face and blast him with shurikens and singularity; he melts.
- Deimoss: Singularity rails her. Shuriken is good only if you're standing on her, otherwise the totems take too many and ripple is better. Kill anything she summons ASAP so you dont get stuck if she drops a barb with them.
- Deimoss 60%: I chose the lighning boy, teleport lockout and speed: IIRC this is bottom right, top left, top middle.
- Sam: I didnt get around to doing him this season but he was easy on Psi sin before she got good. 2x sagi's, max fire/cold res, other vessel relic and spam shurikens. Singularity him before teleporting away when he jumps on your head (Same for any other stomping bosses with cooldowns)
- Azmodan (in labs): Don't stand still if he casts fortress, it actually smacks, just mind ripple/singu from a distance and he dies fast.
- Everything else is cake
- Witch: Shift click cast shurikens and stand still in an open space, singularity on yourself everytime cooldown runs out, cast doom if she runs away.
- Laz: Lol, you're an assassin; max speed gear, 25%slow gear and watch a vid first. OR just buy the charm if you don't like the fight.

Any questions: Just ask!

[mortimer_85]

I know that a good rolled

Mind Rake

Mind Rake
Claws (Sacred)
One-Hand Damage: 42 to 44
(Assassin Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 400
Item Level: 120
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.13 per Dexterity)%
10% Chance to cast level 60 Doom on Death Blow
+(3 to 5) to Assassin Skill Levels
-50% Cast Speed
+(51 to 70)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
Regenerate Mana +33%
Physical Damage Reduced by 50
+100 Life after each Kill
1% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (3)

can't be beat by anytihng else damage wise but have you ever tried/considered a gg crafted Claw as main weapon?
4sk, 40 pmsd would be main affixes and 40aa/10%, cnbf, flat HP, 100 Laek are really nice additions then you get shrien modifiers on top.
I think a gg craft can come close in performance and when rolled with cnbf you free up one socket and avoid the big cast rate penalty that might bring at least one other ring slot into the mix.

[Enigma]

I know that a good rolled

Mind Rake

Mind Rake
Claws (Sacred)
One-Hand Damage: 42 to 44
(Assassin Only)
Required Level: 100
Required Dexterity: 400
Item Level: 120
Dexterity Damage Bonus: (0.13 per Dexterity)%
10% Chance to cast level 60 Doom on Death Blow
+(3 to 5) to Assassin Skill Levels
-50% Cast Speed
+(51 to 70)% to Physical/Magic Spell Damage
Regenerate Mana +33%
Physical Damage Reduced by 50
+100 Life after each Kill
1% Reanimate as: Random Monster
Socketed (3)

can't be beat by anytihng else damage wise but have you ever tried/considered a gg crafted Claw as main weapon?
4sk, 40 pmsd would be main affixes and 40aa/10%, cnbf, flat HP, 100 Laek are really nice additions then you get shrien modifiers on top.
I think a gg craft can come close in performance and when rolled with cnbf you free up one socket and avoid the big cast rate penalty that might bring at least one other ring slot into the mix.

It might be theoretically possible but i'm not even sure it's relevant unless you roll a massive corrupt on a ring as 15%PMSD + other rare ring mods are pretty mediocre when you have 700%PMSD already. The +1max from adrenaline is already better than rare rings mods + the MO space IMO. Movement speed is also strong. Also, it's easier to upgrade to +2 skill adrenalines than to get big corrupts on rings.

Main issue though is you'd have to roll a 1 in 100k claw and you're already so overworked on your shrines as it is due to BIS being a craft in boots and armor. (I rolled ~ 300 shrines for an end game armor and still settled for a decent but not incredible one; +2skill 20%vit failed corrupt). My boots were +1 skill, +2 max res's, +life, meaningless corrupt, so extra shrines could upgrade those too.

[Theologist]

How hard is to craft a sin claw with Death Star oskill? I have used like 150 shrines (1500 charges, damn) and still found nothing.