For diablo fans, two of the biggest hopes for patch 1.13 were that useless skills and skill trees would be adjusted and bugs would be fixed. In regard to the assassin, this patch has been mostly a disappointment, but perhaps by voicing our dissatisfaction and desires changes to the class can be made in this or future patches.
For this post, I have attempted to compile information from the official battle.net forums. Supplemental to this is information acquired over the past ten years from sites and forums across the internet and the opinions and conclusions garnered from assassin players (including myself) over the years.
[Note: If you encounter an error while reading this, or know of bugs or issues I have not mentioned, please don't hesitate to correct me and I will amend or add to this post.]
The format of this post will be to go through each skill, tree by tree, and identify (when applicable) the bugs, the issues, and recommendationsfor the skill. Items preceded with 5 red asterisk (*****) are issues especially important to the assassin community as evidenced by 10 or more posts on the topic. The Martial Arts The martial arts, arguably the "defining tree" of the assassin, is woefully inept. Though builds that invest heavily into the martial arts are often cited as the most fun to play, (with very few exceptions) they cannot compete with other classes in pvm or pvp ability.If there is one message to be taken from this entire post, it is this: assassin players would like this tree to be made viable.
Dragon Talon
There is a bug that sometimes you will not kick when you have clicked the skill. This may be caused by the fact that "client skill-triggering validation does not check if you're already in PLRMODE_KICK."
The formula to determine whether or not dragon talon knocks back an opponent contains errors. Apparently dragon talon was not meant to knockback indiscriminately.
Kick Damage, (though most assassins would say the damage is relatively fair and balanced and too low if anything) is not calculated correctly. Evidently it receives a double bonus from strength when it shouldn't.
Some players find that dragon talon's knockback is counter productive in pvm play.As such, they would suggest that knockback be removed. However it is valuable in pvp. Perhaps the knockback could be removed for pvm only. (Builds that use Claws of Thunder and depend on knockback to get around the next delay could use Dragon Tail.)
*****The dragon claw skill is not working as intended. The skill description indicates that charge up bonuses should be applied to both claw attacks. This has never (to my knowledge) been the case.
It has been suggested that Dragaon Claw should have a synergy with Claw Mastery. (Further increasing damage dealt by Dragon Claw with points invested in Claw Mastery.)
An increase to the radius of damage would be welcome.
Dragon Flight often abbreviated Df.
Dragon Flight and the Shadows share cooldowns, and not evenly. When you cast Dragon Flight, Shadow Master and Shadow Warrior share the cooldown and you are unable to use Dragon Flight or a Shadow for 1 second. However, when you cast Shadow Master or Shadow Warrior, you are unable to cast Dragon flight or another Shadow for approximately 7 seconds.
Many Players Still lament the loss of 1.09 Dragon Flight capabilities. (It had a longer cooldown but also a longer range of 2 screens as opposed to one.)
+%Skill damage (as from facets) does not work with the third charge.
*****To make this skill more appealing, increase the damage and/or improve it by other means *see suggestions.
Claws of Thunder often abbreviated CoT
+%Skill damage (as from facets) does not work with the second or third charges.
Because of the next delay, opponents that are hit by the nova of claws of thunder will not be damaged by other effects in the immediate vicinity. Though this issue can be countered somewhat with knockback, it does reduce the overall effectiveness of the skill.
*****To make this skill more appealing, remove or dramatically decrease the Next Delay on the second and third charges, increase the damage, and/or improve it by other means *see suggestions.
Blades of Ice
No known bugs or issues.
*****To make this skill more appealing, increase the damage and/or improve it by other means *see suggestions.
Phoenix Strike
+%Skill damage (as from facets) does not work with the first, second, or third charge
*****To make this skill more appealing, remove or dramatically decrease the Next Delay on the second and third charges, increase the damage, and/or improve it by other means *see suggestions.
*****General Suggestions to make the Martial Arts charge-up skills more viable. (Note that some suggestions are mutually exclusive):
If the mechanics and speed remains the same,dramatically increase the damage of all elemental charge ups.
Make it so that hard points invested in the elemental martial arts reduce enemy resistance to the applicable element
For instance:
Give Fists of Fire a +2% -enemy fire resistance per hard skill point invested, this is both applied to the attack itself and when releasing charges.
Make it so that each charge is subtracted in turn.
As a General Rule, Charge up skills should be changed from 1.2.3 STRIKE! to 1.2.3. strike! strike! strike! there are 3 orbs circling me why cant I use that charge up 3 times?
Dramatically increase the duration that the charge-ups remain around the assassin before release.
Make it so the charges have a fixed (longer) duration and the bonuses are applied to finishing moves for as long as the charges are present.
Dramatically increase the speed of the charge up attacks (for instance, dual claw elemental charge ups with a current max speed of 5 fpa could be changed to a max of 3 or 2 fpa).
Restore the uninterruptability of elemental charge-ups.
Add a passive immobilization ability to charge-ups for PvP with heavy investment in the martial arts. (yea right rukia :P)
The Shadow Disciplines While there are a few bugs, these utility skills make the assassin an extremely versatile and fun class.
Psychic Hammer
This skill is basically worthless in PvM, and has very few PvP applications (ironmans and bone necros with 1 life).
For Psychic Hammer to be more useful in PvM its damage must be DRAMATICALLY increased. Some players have suggested that Psychic Hammer be synergized with mind blast.
There are two major issues with the cooldown. Firstly, the skill does not appear red (indicating that you cannot use it) when the cooldown is in effect. Secondly, the cooldown lasts for the duration of the skill. This second issue makes it actually detrimental to have the skill at high level for PvM; a capable assassin will almost never be in the same area for the duration of the skill, yet the skill cannot be casted in the new area and on new mobs until it has expired in the previous area.
It would be really great if Cloak of Shadows did not overwrite curses.
A set cooldown duration (unlinked with skill level) would be really cool.
Mind Blast sometimes abbreviated Mb (which can be "max block" also)
Mind blasting certain PvM enemies can drop the game. This can also occur when Mind Blast is used in conjunction with excessive use of Wake of Fire in PvP.
It would be lovely if we could attack converted mobs.
Claw Mastery
The attack rating bonus does not apply to Blade Fury. (intended?)
Weapon Block
The chance to block granted by Weapon Block is negated while walking or running. (intended?)
It would be nice if weapon block functioned while walking/running with reduced effectiveness. (Or at full effectiveness while walking as with shields.)
The Shadow Warrior is supposed to mimic the skills on your left and right click. However, she will only do so if she is at certain distances from an opponent. Because of this she often favors normal attack. She is also fond of walking into objects (pathing issues).
(repeat) Dragon Flight and the Shadows share cooldowns, and not evenly. When you cast Dragon Flight, Shadow Master and Shadow Warrior share the cooldown and you are unable to use Dragon Flight or a Shadow for 1 second. However, when you cast Shadow Master or Shadow Warrior, you are unable to cast Dragon flight or another Shadow for approximately 7 seconds.
(repeat) Dragon Flight and the Shadows share cooldowns, and not evenly. When you cast Dragon Flight, Shadow Master and Shadow Warrior share the cooldown and you are unable to use Dragon Flight or a Shadow for 1 second. However, when you cast Shadow Master or Shadow Warrior, you are unable to cast Dragon flight or another Shadow for approximately 7 seconds.
The damage reduction capability of Fade is not listed in the description. Although it could be argued that when it says "resist all" that includes physical resistance, the amount of damage reduce granted is equal to the skill level rather than the amount of resistances listed in the description.
(LOW PRIORITY ISSUE) Fade reduces shrine duration the same way that it reduces curses.
Venom reduces the effectiveness of external poison damage (like poison damage charms).
Traps While lightning traps are effective in PvM and PvP, the fire traps and the blade skills could use some attention.
Blade Sentinel
I have never seen nor heard of anyone using blade sentinel for anything other than entertainment (or as a somewhat novel way to guard a corpse).
*****To make this skill viable the damage needs to be hugely increased and the cooldown needs to be decreased. Also remove or dramatically decrease the Next Delay on this skill.
Blade Fury
Number one issue with this skill is the time it takes the assassin to assume the position.
(repeat) The attack rating bonus granted by Claw Mastery does not apply to Blade Fury. (intended?)
*****Along with quickening, changing or removing the casting animation, other buffs would be welcome. These could include increasing the damage of Blade Fury, adding a bonus to attack rating based on skill level, or decreasing the frames per attack (thereby increasing the speed that the blades are fired).
An increase to the the speed that the blades are fired based on skill level has also been suggested.
The duration of Blade Shield is short and many special magic effects (open wounds, crushing blow, etc) can no longer be applied by it.
Increasing the duration and the percentage of weapon damage that is applied would go a long way towards making this skill more attractive. Allowing more things to be delivered by the blades would also help.
Synergies with blade fury and sentinel could be used to increase duration, attack rating, or damage. Alternately, synergies with the other traps, fire and lightning, could add fire or lightning damage to the blade skills.
Fire Blast
No known bugs or issues.
Wake of Fire often abbreviated WoF or Wake
The fire traps use turrets that must turn before they fire. The turning motion results in a delay before the traps fire.
Due to next delay issues a second WoF trap placed equal distance from a first will do no damage to a target.
*****To make this skill more appealing, remove or decrease the Next Delay. Damage increases also never hurt. (Fire skills are disadvantaged in PvM due to the many fire immunes encountered in hell, and in PvP due to items like hotspurs and dwarf stars.)
Wake of Inferno sometimes abbreviated WoI
This skill has problems hitting moving targets. This is explained as "pathing issues" or by its having a "thin missile".
This skill also has a misleading animation. (It does not cover the area indicated by the graphic.)
*****Wake of Inferno should be altered in how it fires, or its damage needs to be dramatically increased to compensate for its limitations. (It has also been suggested that tree positions of Wake of Inferno and Wake of Fire be switched so that Wake of Fire is the higher damage trap.)
Shock Web
Next delay makes using this skill disadvantageous when used with other traps, and the damage is not good enough for it to be used alone.
To make this skill usable, remove or dramatically decrease the Next Delay on this skill and increase the damage. (If this is done, the skill should be made to disappear upon entering a Town Portal as it can currently be used to PK.)
Charged Bolt Sentry
This skill is used almost exclusively as a synergy to lightning sentry and nothing more. Lightning Sentry does more damage (and the focused damage works well with the corpse explosions from death sentry for PvE) and Wake of Fire blankets better for PvP stunlocking.
As it is currently, putting points to Charged Bolt sentry just increases the damage, and putting points to Shock Web increases the number of bolts fired (with 11 charged bolts fired at Shock Web level 20). The skill could be more fun if increasing Charged Bolt Sentry level increased the number of bolts released per sentry. Alternately a damage increase could improve this skill.
Lightning Sentry sometimes abbreviated ls
No known bugs or issues.
Death Sentry often abreviated ds
Some maintain that since Corpse Explosion received a buff, so should Death Sentry.
(LOW PRIORITY ISSUE) As with barbarians using whirlwind, leveling up while whirlwinding will result in a state where all skills are red, the player is stuck in one spot, and the player cannot die (remains at 1 life).
TLDR (too long, didn't read) Summary Version There are bugs with the following skills:
Dragon Talon (2 bugs: bug with damage calculation, and bug with knockback determination.)
Dragon Claw (does not apply charge up bonuses to 2 hits as the description implies)
Dragon Flight (shared timer with Shadow Warrior and Shadow Master)
Fists of Fire (+%Skill damage does not work with the third charge.)
Claws of Thunder (+%Skill damage does not work with the second or third charges.)
Phoenix Strike (+%Skill damage does not work with the first, second, or third charge.)
Cloak of Shadows (2 bugs: cooldown problems and a bug when used while doing the Ancients)
Venom (Using it reduces the effectiveness of external poison damage.)
Wake of Inferno (This skill cannot hit moving targets.)
Of these, fixing Dragon Claw, Dragon Flight, Cloak of Shadows, and Wake of Inferno would probably get the most appreciation.
The following skills are imbalanced compared to the other assassin skills and the skills of other classes.
Dragon Tail
Fists of Fire
Claws of Thunder
Blades of Ice
Phoenix Strike
Psychic Hammer
Blade Sentinel
Blade Fury
Blade Shield
Wake of Fire
Wake of Inferno
Of these, any improvements would be appreciated, however improving the Martial Arts might get the most support. There is a section for suggestions (colored in darker blue) for doing so. (There are also suggestions for improving the Blade skills and Fire trap skills, but these are indicated in lighter blue following the skill.)
Assassin players would appreciate new runeword or unique claws as long as they were well thought out.
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they'll never see me coming.. life is a sequence of tragedies, inconsistent only by fleeting, elusive moments of pleasure,
serving only to ensure absolute vulnerability to the pain of their inevitable absence.
TLDR (too long, didn't read) Version There are bugs with the following skills:
Dragon Talon (2 bugs: bug with damage calculation, and bug with knockback determination.)
Dragon Claw (does not apply charge up bonuses to 2 hits as the description implies)
Dragon Flight (shared timer with Shadow Warrior and Shadow Master)
Fists of Fire (+%Skill damage does not work with the third charge.)
Claws of Thunder (+%Skill damage does not work with the second or third charges.)
Phoenix Strike (+%Skill damage does not work with the first, second, or third charge.)
Cloak of Shadows (2 bugs: cooldown problems and a bug when used while doing the Ancients)
Venom (Using it reduces the effectiveness of external poison damage.)
Wake of Inferno (This skill cannot hit moving targets.)
Of these, fixing Dragon Claw, Dragon Flight, Cloak of Shadows, and Wake of Inferno would probably get the most appreciation.
The following skills are imbalanced compared to the other assassin skills and the skills of other classes.
Dragon Tail
Fists of Fire
Claws of Thunder
Blades of Ice
Phoenix Strike
Psychic Hammer
Blade Sentinel
Blade Fury
Blade Shield
Wake of Fire
Wake of Inferno
Of these, any improvements would be appreciated, however improving the Martial Arts might get the most support. There is a section for suggestions (colored in darker blue) for doing so. (There are also suggestions for improving the Blade skills and Fire trap skills, but these are indicated in lighter blue following the skill.)
Assassin players would appreciate new runeword or unique claws as long as they were well thought out.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
they'll never see me coming.. life is a sequence of tragedies, inconsistent only by fleeting, elusive moments of pleasure,
serving only to ensure absolute vulnerability to the pain of their inevitable absence.
i'll confirm that the ancients bug still exists. game crashes (i only know of this in single player.) when you cast cloak of shadows, no matter the mods they spawn with.
i'll confirm that the ancients bug still exists. game crashes (i only know of this in single player.) when you cast cloak of shadows, no matter the mods they spawn with.
i tried it in single player and couldn't get it to happen in hell, but the quest was already completed.
i'll try it in normal and nm and in each difficulty with the quest open rather than completed.
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they'll never see me coming.. life is a sequence of tragedies, inconsistent only by fleeting, elusive moments of pleasure,
serving only to ensure absolute vulnerability to the pain of their inevitable absence.
i tried it in single player and couldn't get it to happen in hell, but the quest was already completed.
i'll try it in normal and nm and in each difficulty with the quest open rather than completed.
i was also in /players8 mode that could have something to do with it. requires testing i guess
i also remember it's not instant. you gotta fight them for a while with cloak active for it to give you the error. i usually had time to kill 1 or 2 before it happened. it gives you a minor rollback.
i was just expecting it to work the first time i casted it.
i've crashed ancients twice now in single player hell (without players 8) on characters with and without the quest open.
it usually happened on the third cast, though that could just be incidental.
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they'll never see me coming.. life is a sequence of tragedies, inconsistent only by fleeting, elusive moments of pleasure,
serving only to ensure absolute vulnerability to the pain of their inevitable absence.
Wow if they fixed those things I would consider making an Assasin lol
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www.myspace.com/mpotatoes for all your Trans Siberian Orchestra listening pleasure
If you want to arrange it
This world you can change it
If we could somehow make this
Christmas thing last
By helping a neighbor
Or even a stranger
And to know who needs help
You need only just ask
Building an assassin has always been viable, (not just for being one of the coolest characters). These corrections would make assassins outrageous.
Personally, they're still no match for sorcs
Dragon Flight (shared with Shadow Warrior and Shadow Master)
Fists of Fire
Claws of Thunder
Venom
Wake of Inferno
Phoenix Strike
Cloak of Shadows (2 bugs: cooldown and Ancients)
Of these, fixing Dragon Claw, Dragon Flight, and Cloak of Shadows would probably get the most appreciation.
The following skills are imbalanced compared to the other skills and the skills of other classes.
Dragon Claw
Dragon Tail
Fists of Fire
Claws of Thunder
Blades of Ice
Phoenix Strike
Psychic Hammer
Blade Sentinel
Blade Fury
Blade Shield
Wake of Fire
Wake of Inferno
Of these, any improvements would be appreciated, however improving the Martial Arts might get the most support.
There is a section for suggestions (colored in darker blue) for doing so.
(There are also suggestions for improving the Blade skills and Fire trap skills, but these are indicated in lighter blue following the skill.)
Assassin players would appreciate new runeword or unique claws as long as they were well thought out.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
they'll never see me coming.. life is a sequence of tragedies, inconsistent only by fleeting, elusive moments of pleasure,
serving only to ensure absolute vulnerability to the pain of their inevitable absence.
Building an assassin has always been viable, (not just for being one of the coolest characters). These corrections would make assassins outrageous.
Personally, they're still no match for sorcs
When it comes to dueling though, I've always felt that two classes should go at it melee style. I really hate dueling Sorcs.
they'll never see me coming..
life is a sequence of tragedies, inconsistent only by fleeting, elusive moments of pleasure,
serving only to ensure absolute vulnerability to the pain of their inevitable absence.
There are bugs with the following skills:
Of these, fixing Dragon Claw, Dragon Flight, Cloak of Shadows, and Wake of Inferno would probably get the most appreciation.
The following skills are imbalanced compared to the other assassin skills and the skills of other classes.
Of these, any improvements would be appreciated, however improving the Martial Arts might get the most support. There is a section for suggestions (colored in darker blue) for doing so. (There are also suggestions for improving the Blade skills and Fire trap skills, but these are indicated in lighter blue following the skill.)
Assassin players would appreciate new runeword or unique claws as long as they were well thought out.
they'll never see me coming..
life is a sequence of tragedies, inconsistent only by fleeting, elusive moments of pleasure,
serving only to ensure absolute vulnerability to the pain of their inevitable absence.
Edit~ Got it.
That's a pretty comprehensive list x.X
i tried it in single player and couldn't get it to happen in hell, but the quest was already completed.
i'll try it in normal and nm and in each difficulty with the quest open rather than completed.
they'll never see me coming..
life is a sequence of tragedies, inconsistent only by fleeting, elusive moments of pleasure,
serving only to ensure absolute vulnerability to the pain of their inevitable absence.
i was also in /players8 mode that could have something to do with it. requires testing i guess
i also remember it's not instant. you gotta fight them for a while with cloak active for it to give you the error. i usually had time to kill 1 or 2 before it happened. it gives you a minor rollback.
i was just expecting it to work the first time i casted it.
i've crashed ancients twice now in single player hell (without players 8) on characters with and without the quest open.
it usually happened on the third cast, though that could just be incidental.
they'll never see me coming..
life is a sequence of tragedies, inconsistent only by fleeting, elusive moments of pleasure,
serving only to ensure absolute vulnerability to the pain of their inevitable absence.
If you want to arrange it
This world you can change it
If we could somehow make this
Christmas thing last
By helping a neighbor
Or even a stranger
And to know who needs help
You need only just ask
Personally, they're still no match for sorcs
There are bugs with the following skills:
Of these, fixing Dragon Claw, Dragon Flight, and Cloak of Shadows would probably get the most appreciation.
The following skills are imbalanced compared to the other skills and the skills of other classes.
Of these, any improvements would be appreciated, however improving the Martial Arts might get the most support.
There is a section for suggestions (colored in darker blue) for doing so.
(There are also suggestions for improving the Blade skills and Fire trap skills, but these are indicated in lighter blue following the skill.)
Assassin players would appreciate new runeword or unique claws as long as they were well thought out.
they'll never see me coming..
life is a sequence of tragedies, inconsistent only by fleeting, elusive moments of pleasure,
serving only to ensure absolute vulnerability to the pain of their inevitable absence.
Siaynoq's Playthroughs