Assassin Levelling Guide - D2R 2.6

Assassin Levelling Guide

This guide will take you through an efficient method to level your Assassin and complete the game on Hell difficulty.  There are various approaches to levelling and the method will change depending on your situation (for example if you have been rushed, you will level differently), this guide presents a method for playing through the game yourself and levelling the traditional way.  We will also discuss an efficient way of allocating your skill points and useful items to collect / farm along the way.

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Normal Difficulty

The Assassin’s levelling build focuses on fire damage traps and we can commence with the build straight away.  Our main spell will be the Wake of Fire trap (available at Level 12), however this receives bonus damage from Fire Blast which is available from Level 2 onwards.  Fire Blast deals really high early game damage and we can place all of our points here minus 2 which should be saved for Claw Mastery and Burst of Speed at Level 6.  Wake of Fire is available at Level 12 and is a huge power spike when available, by the time you reach this you should also have 9 points in Fire Blast which will also deal a good amount of damage.  Place all of your available points into Wake of Fire from this point onwards as this will be our main damage dealer.  This build is very smooth and one of the fastest ways to progress through the game with any character.  The mechanic of traps means that they auto target and deal damage to enemies, so we can lay traps and continue running through the game as they lay waste to monsters behind us.  The damage from the traps scale extremely well all the way through Normal difficulty and parts of Nightmare.

For your stat points, the general rule is to put enough points into Strength and Dexterity for the equipment you need to use then spend the remainder into Vitality.

In Act 1 the best place to gain early experience is in the Forgotten Tower beneath the Black Marsh.  Each level in the tower has at least 1 Champion or Elite pack, so you will find a minimum of 5 packs and the Countess herself on level 5 making it very efficient.  Killing the Countess also provides us with early rune drops and there are some very strong low level Runewords that we can target for the Assassin.  You will need to farm Countess until you find a Tal and an Eth rune to make the Runeword “Stealth” (Tal Eth) in a 2 socketed armour (you will find one of these as you play, and if you don’t Charsi sells them).  The Faster Cast Rate from “Stealth” doesn’t affect your trap laying speed (this is controlled by Attack Speed) however the Faster Run Walk is an excellent utility stat, combined with Burst of Speed this allows you to kite enemies very effectively.  I would also recommend farming a Tir and a Ral rune to make “Leaf” in a 2 socketed Staff (any staff will do, this will either drop on your way to Countess or you can purchase from Akara).  “Leaf” seems like a Sorceress Runeword, however the +3 to Fire Skills is generic and applies to our Fire traps which is a huge boost so early in the game.

When you fight Andariel in Act 1 drink 5-6 Antidote potions before engaging, these provide a passive boost to your poison resistance.  Similarly, when fighting Duriel in Act 2 drink 5-6 Thawing potions which has the same affect on your cold resistance.  Continue working your way through the game with the above build and you will have an easy run all the way through Normal difficulty.  In Act 4 you will encounter the Grand Vizier of Chaos in the Chaos Sanctuary who is immune to fire, to kill you will need to purchase an Act 2 Mercenary and equip him with a high damage Polearm purchased from Act 4.  More experienced players should purchase a staff with Teleport charges from Ormus in Act 3 (you will likely need to reset his items by going in and out of town, however this should not take more than 15 minutes) and have this on your item swap to allow for quick progression through the game.

Once you have worked your way through Normal difficulty you can start doing Baalruns to gain experience and prepare yourself for Nightmare difficulty.  You should ensure you reach level 40 as a minimum before entering Nightmare, this can be done either playing solo or with a group.

Nightmare Difficulty

The Wake of Fire build makes short work of Acts 1 and 2 and also progresses very smoothly through Act 3 up to Travincal.  At this point we will start to encounter more monsters that are immune to fire and it is time to reset our stat and skill points to concentrate on lightning damage instead.  Our main damage dealer will be Lightning Sentry and you should put as many points as possible into here, whilst also gaining Burst of Speed and Mind Blast from the Shadow Disciplines tree.  You will also need a single point in Death Sentry but the remainder of your points can then be spent in the Lightning Sentry’s synergies to boost damage.  The build will require the use of a Wand with Lower Resist charges, this can be purchased from a wand vendor in Nightmare (this will require resetting the shop a few times to purchase).  This will be important as we progress through the game as it significantly boosts our damage, and also removes lightning immunity from monsters – which there will be plenty of in Hell!  Have this wand equipped on your weapon switch for quick swapping between and casting.

There are 3 Runewords that we need to make for our new build – “Spirit” (Tal Thul Ort Amn), “Ancient’s Pledge” (Ral Ort Tal) and “Lore” (Ort Sol).  Once you reach the Countess you will want to farm her until you gain all of the required runes.  Make the spirit in a Long / Broad / Crystal Sword, a base can be found in Normal difficulty cows and the Act 5 Quest 1 reward to gain 4 sockets.  Make “Ancient’s Pledge” in either a 3 socketed Large Shield or Kite Shield, both of which can be purchased in Act 2 Normal.  The Sword and Shield combination will replace the “Leaf” staff which is no longer useful to us.  Lore can be made in any 2 socketed helmet, it really doesn’t matter which one you use.  Another useful Runeword is “Insight” (Ral Tir Tal Sol) which we can make in a 4 socketed Polearm (farmed in Normal Cows) and give this to an Act 2 Mercenary, providing him with the Meditation aura and sustaining our mana.

When you finish Nightmare Difficulty, you will want to do more Baalruns and reach a minimum level of 60 before progressing into Hell.

Hell Difficulty

The Hell playthrough can be quite difficult on the Assassin as you will encounter plenty of monsters that are immune to lightning damage.  Casting Lower Resist on them will remove the immunity most of the time, however some will still have it (these are referred to as “hard immunes”).  In this case I would recommend ignoring them and moving on, or if you have to kill them protect your mercenary and allow him to do damage.  With Mind Blast you can convert enemies to fight alongside the Assassin for a short period of time, this is really useful as it provides a meat shield to protect you.  Cast Lower Resist on the pack of enemies, then lay 5 Lightning Sentry traps.  As soon as 2-3 monsters have been killed, lay 2 Death Sentry traps to cast Corpse Explosion and watch them fall.

The most efficient farming location for the Assassin is Hell difficulty Cows.  Cows have very high amounts of life, which scales with Corpse Explosion from Death Sentry.  Make sure you round up large packs and get a few kills first, then watch the Death Sentry destroy everything!