Making a Melee Assassin

Good afternoon friends!

I am currently working on making an Assassin currently level 103 and was hoping that Claw or Polearm builds are worth trying. I kind of like to try different builds than the most popular at the time and don't mind if it isn't the current best for the class. I really want some melee characters to use since I've got 2 caster classes already. So far I am using Twin Fang strike as my main attack for my Clawsin. I have both full sets of Witchhunter and The Snake Pit. Twin Fang damage seems to be doing pretty decent on Hell difficulty so far. I had a few questions about assassins before I make any major changes.

Has anyone tried Twin Fang strike Clawsin? If so, did you have a problem with having very low health? Is there the ability to block with 2 claws like on D2? Is it possible to invest in Dex instead of Energy dumping like most builds? Also, I tried Polearm build and it seem feel a bit odd as well. If they aren't good at the moment will they be improved in future updates? If these 2 types of builds aren't worth going for I may try to just go with Trapsin to continue my progress on assassin.

Any tips or comments will be appreciated.

Zedethar wrote:Has anyone tried Twin Fang strike Clawsin?

Yes, it's really not great in the current state of the game.

Zedethar wrote:If so, did you have a problem with having very low health?]

Yes, you can solve it with charms and items like

Trophy Hunter

Trophy Hunter
(Trophy Set)

The Conqueror
Idol of Fortune

Set Bonus with complete set:
Medals of Honor
(Based on Trophies)
+10 Life after each Kill
+1% Physical Resist
+5% Magic Find
+25 to Mana
+50 to Life

Zedethar wrote:Is there the ability to block with 2 claws like on D2?

Yes, there is look at the last passive located in the trap tree. you will have to sacrifice quite a few points however it is easy block with good life sustain.

Zedethar wrote:Is it possible to invest in Dex instead of Energy dumping like most builds?

Yes, if you look at twin fang it scales with both dex and energy.

In general twin fang is a skill that is very hard to build around currently as there is not a lot of good item synergy for it unfortunately. Both twin fang and naginata sins are definitely not something that's beginner friendly.

Update:

After several tries on Melee assassin I have not been able to find a stable enough build to continue past Hell/Uber content. Twin Fang was very promising but i felt i was lacking other things in terms of survival. Also I see only Trapsins get the weapon block skill later on in their tree which i was really looking forward to trying. The Polearm build seemed really cool but I had trouble using Blade barrier as a AoE dmg skill.

I will not try melee assassin for now unless they get some updates. Is there also a Psionic build that is working or does everyone use Throwing Assassin at this time? I've heard people say Maelstrom so I may try that but i have to get the rest of the Set gear to try Psionic and Throwing.

Thanks for the help guys

Zedethar wrote:Update:

After several tries on Melee assassin I have not been able to find a stable enough build to continue past Hell/Uber content. Twin Fang was very promising but i felt i was lacking other things in terms of survival. Also I see only Trapsins get the weapon block skill later on in their tree which i was really looking forward to trying. The Polearm build seemed really cool but I had trouble using Blade barrier as a AoE dmg skill.

I will not try melee assassin for now unless they get some updates. Is there also a Psionic build that is working or does everyone use Throwing Assassin at this time? I've heard people say Maelstrom so I may try that but i have to get the rest of the Set gear to try Psionic and Throwing.

Thanks for the help guys

I think melee assassin is quite good, clawsin better at bossing (Noctule and Batstrike) and Nagisin at farming (zero skill timer Hades Gate). Requires a lot of skill switching and transition to mid-game can be a bit tough. If you want easy/lazy assassin Maelstrom is indeed good. Psionic is kinda meh, it can get strong but I personally just don't like the spells.

Zedethar wrote:Update:

After several tries on Melee assassin I have not been able to find a stable enough build to continue past Hell/Uber content. Twin Fang was very promising but i felt i was lacking other things in terms of survival. Also I see only Trapsins get the weapon block skill later on in their tree which i was really looking forward to trying. The Polearm build seemed really cool but I had trouble using Blade barrier as a AoE dmg skill.

I will not try melee assassin for now unless they get some updates. Is there also a Psionic build that is working or does everyone use Throwing Assassin at this time? I've heard people say Maelstrom so I may try that but i have to get the rest of the Set gear to try Psionic and Throwing.

Thanks for the help guys

Twin Fang sucks. Noctule clawsin with clawblock claps booty. Nagisin claps booty (use hades gate for aoe). Maelstrom claps booty. Psionic sin has been in the dumpster ever since lightning arena nerf, hopefully they get some love in patch 1.6.

Assassin in general is not very noob friendly, so even with meta sin builds you may not find the success you are hoping for. From what I've gathered from your posts, you are not only building incorrectly, but playing incorrectly as well. I'm not trying to be a dick, but writing off "melee sin" in general after your limited experience is a bit naive. That being said, keep experimenting, I'm sure you will find something that clicks soon enough!

Thanks for the info guys, and don't worry i will make a couple more attempts on melee in future. I just had to take a break for a bit from trying. I keep trying to make Twin Fang work but maybe thats what i should drop for now.

I wanted to try Noctule but haven't tested much. Doesn't it require an insane amount of points in Trap tree to attain claw block? Like 15 points per trap skill?

Zedethar wrote:Thanks for the info guys, and don't worry i will make a couple more attempts on melee in future. I just had to take a break for a bit from trying. I keep trying to make Twin Fang work but maybe thats what i should drop for now.

I wanted to try Noctule but haven't tested much. Doesn't it require an insane amount of points in Trap tree to attain claw block? Like 15 points per trap skill?

yes, but honestly there are not many skills worth maxing as a noctule clawsin anyways and clawblock is huge since it also blocks spells.

Also, I've never seen a twin fang strike assa work beyond lvl120. I've never even seen a TFS assassin farm fauzt which is the bare minimum you should expect from any half decent build

Apparently some of you guys didn't read 1.6 notes.

Claw block has been nerfed. You can no longer take Artifice Mastery if you have any points into Claw skills.

RIP the dream.

Maphyr wrote:Apparently some of you guys didn't read 1.6 notes.

There were no patch notes a week ago.

I never got to try that claw-block, was it really that good? I know it blocks spells too but for that block to work you need to stand still, and standing still whacking harder bosses is suicide. To me assassin naturally moves and blinks around.

That new buff Anathema seems... interesting. So now it's time to try ele-based clawer. Bonus to IED could be higher though, maybe on higher lvls and enough elemtal dmgs it add ups.

Jampula wrote:
Maphyr wrote:Apparently some of you guys didn't read 1.6 notes.

There were no patch notes a week ago.

I never got to try that claw-block, was it really that good? I know it blocks spells too but for that block to work you need to stand still, and standing still whacking harder bosses is suicide. To me assassin naturally moves and blinks around.

That new buff Anathema seems... interesting. So now it's time to try ele-based clawer. Bonus to IED could be higher though, maybe on higher lvls and enough elemtal dmgs it add ups.

Yes it was really that good. There was a reason why people invested so many points to get it and a reason why claw sin was a top tier laby farmer.