D2R Season 9: Rift Assassin Build Guide

Ben Author

Created - 25.12.2024 Updated - 27.12.2024

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Diablo II: Resurrected has been balanced to the point that even builds considered off-meta can obliterate enemies really well, especially with enough investment in gear.

The D2R build we are going to talk about today is off-meta by this current ladder season’s standards, but it is by no means a slouch as it’s capable of demolishing enemies quickly without a hitch.

If you are interested in playing the Assassin Class in Diablo II: Resurrected, we highly recommend that you check this build out. This is our guide for the Rift Assassin build in D2R Season 9!

Why Choose the Rift Assassin?

Assassin builds in D2R are often quite popular due to the said class’ sheer speed at killing monsters with ease. The Dragon Talon, one of the most often-used skills in the Assassin’s repertoire, deals relatively good damage when properly enhanced. However, it does have one issue—it only hits one target at a time.

To address that, the D2R Rift Assassin (or “Riftsin” for short) uses the aptly named Rift runeword. This allows the Assassin the ability to unleash Frozen Orbs at a pretty rapid rate by using only this runeword in conjunction with Dragon Talon.

Dragon Talon is the preferred ability to use for the Rift runeword because it is one of the fastest skills in the game as far as multiple hits go. At level 30, you can initiate six kicks in quick succession. This is possible by putting martial arts “skillers” in your inventory.

Now, you might think that Rift is placed on a claw because that is the typical weapon wielded by Assassins in Diablo II: Resurrected. But, that is actually not the case. Instead of a claw, you will use a War Scepter as the base for a couple of reasons.

First, claw weapons in D2R cannot roll more than three sockets. You need a weapon with several sockets because you will place the Hel, Ko, Lem, and Gul runes into it to form the Rift runeword.

Second, the War Scepter has low stat requirements and a -10 base attack speed. This weapon makes it easier for you to reach higher IAS breakpoints with only a considerable investment in items that grant increased attack speed.

It is important to note that the Rift’s Frozen Orb is cast “on attack” and not “on striking.” What is the difference? Well, “on attack” is a mechanic that basically means that the skill (Frozen Orb in this context) activates even if you do not hit the enemy with your attacks. This is true as long as you are trying to hit a particular target, which means that the Frozen Orb does not get cast when there is no monster in sight.

With how fast the Dragon Talon is, you can see the screen being populated by Frozen Orbs in no time! This solves the long-time conundrum of kicksins in D2R only being able to hit one or two enemies for lack of a better AoE ability (unless heavy investment in traps is made).

Another thing that you have to remember is that Deadly Strike does not work with Dragon Talon. Although not being able to utilize Deadly Strike is a bit of a bummer for other D2R builds, this is no problem for the Riftsin because most of its damage comes from the Rift runeword.

Playstyle

Activate all of your buffs, especially Fade and Burst of Speed. Run around the map and drop a few Lightning Sentries and a couple of Death Sentries whenever you encounter groups of monsters. Then, follow that up with a Dragon Flight to instantly teleport yourself to a nearby target and spam Dragon Talon to proc Frozen Orb from Rift.

Summon your Shadow Master minion to provide additional damage and cover whenever there are plenty of monsters on the screen. Using Dragon Flight also repositions your Shadow Master if it decides to run around on its own.

Stats

• Strength: Enough to wear gear
• Dexterity: Enough to wear gear (or at least 75% block chance on Hardcore)
• Vitality: Spend the rest of the points here
• Energy: None

In terms of the build’s performance, the D2R Riftsin is a reliable uber keys farmer because of its impressive damage output and map-clearing potential.

For strength, you might want to put enough to reach 156 STR. This is to give you the ability to wield a couple of very strong shields in the endgame. The War Scepter and its upgrades require a substantial amount of strength as well.

Dexterity is important in Hardcore because you want to achieve at least a 75% chance to block attacks. Otherwise, allocate however many points on DEX that you need to wear your other pieces of gear.

Any points you have left must be spent on Vitality to make the Rift Assassin Build in Diablo II: Resurrected Season 9 sturdy.

Skills

• 20 points on Dragon Talon
• 20 points on Lightning Sentry
• 20 points on Death Sentry
• 20 points on Venom
• Put 1 point on the following skills:
  • Fire Blast
  • Shock Web
  • Charge Bolt Sentry
  • Blade Sentinel
  • Claw Mastery
  • Psychic Hammer
  • Burst of Speed
  • Weapon Block
  • Cloak of Shadows
  • Fade
  • Shadow Warrior
  • Shadow Master

Our version of the Rift Assassin for Diablo II: Resurrected Season 9 is built like a hybrid trapper because we feel that its damage output surpasses pure kicksins and trappers.

Having said that, maxing out Dragon Talon is necessary to achieve six kicks with enough “+ to Level of Skills” items.

Lightning Sentry and Death Sentry should both be laid on the ground. Since there is a five-trap limit in this game, the best way to maximize damage on the Riftsin is to set up several Lightning Sentries and one Death Sentry to cap it off.

You are probably confused as to why 20 points are allocated to Venom. When used, the said skill adds poison damage to your kicks, which takes care of monsters that are immune to lightning, cold, or physical damage.

If you do not like to invest that many points in Venom, you can freely spend it on other skill synergies as you see fit. For instance, Fire Blast increases the number of times the Death Sentry fires its projectiles, so you could improve that if you want to.

Aside from that, you can put at least two more points on Shadow Master if you want a trusty companion that can survive even in Hell Difficulty. The choice of where to put the remaining skill points is entirely up to you.

Breakpoints

When it comes to D2R breakpoints, the Rift Assassin only cares about IAS (Increased Attack Speed). This is because the build can destroy monsters so easily that none of them have a chance to land an attack!

Having said that, since you are going to use a War Scepter (which has a base weapon speed of -10), you only need 44% IAS to achieve the ideal 7 FPA (frames per attack) breakpoint. This presupposes that you have Burst of Speed set at level 1. Of course, the higher the level of BoS, the fewer IAS items you need to achieve the said breakpoint.

For context, the lower the FPA value is, the better the outcome will be in terms of how quickly you can initiate your kicks.

If you want to learn about breakpoints, you can head to our Assassin breakpoints guide for more information.

Rift Assassin Gear Recommendations

The bulk of the damage of this build comes from the Frozen Orb procs from the Rift runeword. As such, you want to increase cold skill damage wherever possible. Items that reduce the cold resistance of enemies are also nice for the Riftsin.

In addition, you want to put as many skiller items as possible to achieve the six-kick Dragon Talon. Once the Dragon Talon reaches level 30, you can focus on other important things, such as raising your resistances, amplifying cold damage, etc.

Helmet

The Nightwing’s Veil is the quintessential helmet for the Rift Assassin. When socketed with a Rainbow Facet: Cold jewel, you can increase the cold skill damage bonus of this unique helmet by up to 20%!

Defensively, the slight cold absorb bonus of the Nightwing’s Veil allows you to heal a bit of HP when you receive cold damage from the enemy. This is assuming that your cold resistance is capped at 75%.

Body Armor

Considered by many Diablo II: Resurrected players as the best budget armor for the mid-game, the Lionheart is pretty good for the Rift Assassin. The bonus attributes give you an easier time to satisfy stat requirements on your other pieces of gear.

The Lionheart also provides a good boost in all-resists, which helps you survive in Nightmare and early Hell Difficulty. And oh, it gives you a 50-point boost to HP as well. Given the relatively low HP of the Assassin class in D2R, this is a welcome addition indeed.

Even though the Archon Plate provides better base defenses, you might want to use a three-socketed Ring Mail so that you can equip Lionheart as early as level 41.

Chains of Honor is a very popular D2R runeword because of its +2 skills, 65% resistances, and 200% increased damage against demons. Although you cannot benefit from the third bonus, the first two are pretty helpful when playing the Rift Assassin.

On top of that, the 20 STR allows you to spend that many points on vitality to increase your health pool considerably. The slight damage reduction and a 25% increase in Magic Find are nice extras, particularly for farming uber bosses in the endgame.

Fortitude is a good alternative to Chains of Honor for the Riftsin. Faster Cast Rate is not a particularly important breakpoint for the Rift Assassin in Diablo II: Resurrected, but it does help with pre-buffing Fade and Burst of Speed (aka BOS).

Take note that the Enhanced Damage provided to you by Fortitude only applies to Dragon Talon hits and not from Frozen Orb. Still, the insane 300% ED does affect how much life and mana you can leech from your enemies.

Weapon

The only weapon that makes this build work is a War Scepter with the Rift runeword on it. This thing grants a 16% chance to cast a level 21 Frozen Orb on attack. As previously mentioned, “on attack” is better than “on striking” because you don’t necessarily have to hit an enemy with your Dragon Talon for it to proc.

If you are curious as to how devastating the level 21 FO is, it deals 276-291 cold damage, which is amplified by -% enemy cold resistance and increased cold skill damage modifiers.

Keep in mind that this build cannot function without this runeword. So, if you want to get your hands on it without having to farm the necessary runes yourself, then head to our D2R store to obtain Rift and more!

Shield

When you look at the first shield we’re going to talk about in this D2R build guide, you might assume that there’s nothing special about it. However, upon closer inspection, you will find that the Head Hunter’s Glory (HHG) contains three open sockets, which is the most in a unique shield in Diablo II: Resurrected.

The three sockets enable you to insert a few Cold Facet jewels for a maximum of 15% cold skill damage and -15% to enemy cold resistance. Furthermore, the Head Hunter’s Glory has a base block chance of 45% when wielded by the Assassin, so a bit more DEX is needed to achieve the ideal 75% chance to block attacks.

Although this unique shield requires you to be at level 75 to use, the HHG is a solid choice for a Riftsin on a budget!

If wielding shield runewords is more your thing, then we highly recommend the Phoenix runeword. When the Vex, Vex, Lo, and Jah runes are socketed into a shield, it turns into a potent D2R item that provides you with good defenses and sustainability. The latter is achieved by using the Redemption Aura, which allows you to consume nearby corpses to recover life and mana.

Moreover, the Rift Assassin’s AoE clear ability is further enhanced by Phoenix’s level 22 Firestorm. This activates when kicking enemies with Dragon Talon. The Firestorm caused a cast delay that prevented you from using any skills for 0.6 seconds in the past. However, this has been removed since Patch 2.4, so the Firestorm proc no longer interferes with Rift.

In terms of defenses, this grants extra protection against missile attacks. Are you facing enemies that fire projectiles at you? They will not be a problem at all when you have the Phoenix shield equipped!

If you want to play the D2R Rift Assassin in Hardcore, then using the Stormshield is highly encouraged. This unique shield already grants a 72% chance to block right off the bat, so you only need a slight increase in DEX to attain the 75% block chance.

In addition, the Stormshield reduces the physical damage you take by 35%, which is unheard of from any shield (or any item for that matter) in Diablo II: Resurrected. If you can squeeze a rune into it, go for the Um Rune for that 22% all-resists.

Weapon Swap

• Call to Arms: Useful for pre-buffing the Rift Assassin. Aim to get a Call to Arms Crystal Sword or Flail with +6 Battle Orders (aka BO) for maximum benefit.
• Spirit: A perfect complement to CTA due to its 35% FCR and +2 to skills. Make sure to wield this alongside Call to Arms so that you gain a huge increase in both life and mana from Battle Orders.

Gloves

This Diablo II: Resurrected build can be classified as a PvM Assassin because it is quite proficient at killing most enemies in the game (with the exception of overpowered D2R builds, that is).

That said, the items we’ve mentioned for the Rift Assassin so far do not provide any attack speed bonuses whatsoever. You still need to have a bit of IAS somehow, which is why Laying of Hands (LoH) is an incredible pair of gloves you can use on this build.

For the Riftsin, in particular, you only need the 20% increased attack speed and 50% fire resistance. Everything else is not that useful since this build cannot take advantage of the 350% damage against demons anyway.

The absolute BiS gloves for the Riftsin is Dracul’s Grasp. While this build cannot take advantage of Deadly Strike, it can inflict Open Wounds on enemies, making them suffer from damage over time.

Additionally, Dracul’s Grasp grants the user a slight chance of cursing monsters with a level 10 Lifetap. This is great for the Rift Assassin, especially because this build can unleash multiple kicks at a rapid pace, making life recovery woes a thing of the past.

Now, if you are going to wear Dracul’s Grasp, you have to make up for the loss in IAS somewhere to attain that 7 FPA Dragon Talon. Fortunately, you don’t need plenty of increased attack speed bonuses because you have a high-level Burst of Speed in the endgame.

Boots

Crushing Blow is a helpful damage mechanic in Diablo II: Resurrected that takes full advantage of the Riftsin’s insanely fast kicks. With CB, you can effectively take a considerable chunk of the enemy’s life even prior to the Frozen Orb procs! That is the main reason why the Goblin Toe is the perfect item for this slot.

These unique boots provide you with a flat 25% chance to land a Crushing Blow. Although that might not seem much on the surface, you have to remember that the Dragon Talon can unleash several kicks in quick succession. The innate fast attack speed of the skill is enough to reliably affect enemies with Crushing Blow!

It is also useful if you upgrade the Goblin Toe twice by using a Horadric Cube Recipe. When fully upgraded to a pair of Mirrored Boots, the said item provides 123 base defense (178 defense if Ethereal).

You may have noticed that the Goblin Toe, even with its upgraded version, does not provide any bonuses to FRW (Faster Run/Walk Speed). If this bothers you, there is a suitable replacement for it in the form of the Gore Rider.

The Gore Rider provides a hefty 30% FRW boost, so running around the map is significantly faster just by wearing it. Besides that, these boots grant a 15% chance of Crushing Blow and a 10% chance of Open Wounds, so you get two for the price of one!

While the Gore Rider is upgradable, we don’t recommend it for the Rift Assassin. This is because the upgraded boots require 208 STR to equip, so unless you’re comfortable spending that many points on the said attribute, wear the Gore Rider as is.

Amulet

Items that raise the level of skills are quite helpful on this D2R Assassin build. That said, Highlord’s Wrath actually satisfies two requirements here. First, the amulet’s “+1 to skills” enables you to initiate more kicks with Dragon Talon. Second, this amulet provides a 20% increased attack speed, which alleviates the need for LoH on the gloves slot, especially when trying to achieve the highest IAS breakpoint.

If you are okay with a six-kick Dragon Talon, then The Cat’s Eye is better. Although you lose the +1 skills of Highlord’s Wrath, what you get in return is a sizable boost in FRW and DEX. The latter is useful for the Riftsin considering that dexterity improves block chance.

Did you know that you can enhance Dragon Talon so much that you can execute seven or even eight kicks? For that to be possible, you have to put as many items with “+2 to skills” as you can. You can start with a well-rolled Mara’s Kaleidoscope, which can roll up to 30% all-resists as well.

Rings

The Rift Assassin is one of the best builds in terms of farming keys for uber runs in Diablo II: Resurrected. Sure, damage is not an issue here. But do you know what can prevent this build from being the best out there? Getting frozen!

A simple way to rectify that is by using the Raven Frost in one of your ring slots. Aside from being immune to freeze, this unique ring gives you up to 20 DEX, effectively contributing to your increased chance to block attacks.

When you have Fortitude as your body armor, you can take great advantage of a ring with life and mana leech. While you’re at it, grab a rare ring that also contains a bonus to attack rating. Being able to land kicks on the enemy successfully allows for a more consistent life/mana recovery through leech, so getting your attack rating to a considerable level is a good rule of thumb for the Rift Assassin.

Belt

As we have said many times already, damage is not a problem with the Riftstin. Her ability to proc Frozen Orb very frequently is enough to obliterate whatever monster comes her way.

Now, what can be an issue for this D2R build is its survivability in the endgame. Defenses are a primary concern if you want the Riftsin to go against the uber bosses without fear. That’s why the Thundergod’s Vigor is a suitable belt for this build.

Wait, isn’t “TGods” only good for lightning-based skills like Lightning Fury? Yes, you’re right to some extent. However, what makes Thundergod’s Vigor useful here is that it has 200% Enhanced Defense, +20 lightning absorb, and +20 to both strength and vitality.

String of Ears is another strong defensive option for the Rift Assassin. It can roll up to 180% Enhanced Defense and 8% life leech. Once you are in Hell Difficulty, you will find that the magic damage reduction given by the String of Ears is useful in helping you survive.

If you want to achieve the higher-level Dragon Talon, the Arachnid Mesh should be your go-to item for the belt slot. This thing is best known for its +1 to skills, though the Riftsin can benefit from Arachnid Mesh’s 20% FCR and 5% increased maximum mana as well.

Charms

• Annihilus: +20 attributes is a must to get a higher block chance. +1 to skills is a no-brainer.
• Hellfire Torch: Get one that specifically states “+3 to Assassin Skill Levels.”
• Gheed’s Fortune: Only reliable source of MF for the Rift Assassin D2R build.
• Small Charms: FRW, Life, Mana.
• Grand Charms: +1 to Shadow/Martial Arts skills, Attack Rating, Life.

Mercenary

Frozen Orb is your primary damage dealer for the Rift Assassin build in Diablo II: Resurrected. As such, you want to weaken your enemies’ resistance to cold damage, and one way of doing that is by utilizing Infinity’s Conviction Aura.

Infinity is a D2R runeword that is popular in endgame builds that deal elemental damage. The reason is that the wielder of this runeword activates a level 12 Conviction Aura, which reduces monster elemental resistance by 85%.

The thing is, you don’t even have to equip Infinity yourself. Have an Act 2 Mercenary use it so that he can crush enemies with the runeword’s 325% Enhanced Damage and 40% CB. Infinity also has a unique property that prevents monsters from regenerating HP, ensuring that your Dragon Talon and Frozen Orb will eliminate them without issues!

Some Riftsin users swear by the use of Treachery as their body armor of choice. While it certainly is handy due to the bonuses it provides, we don’t recommend it for this build because it can override the Fade and Venom buffs that you have. If you don’t have enough skillers to raise the level of these buffs beyond level 15, then sure, Treachery is a viable option.

Whatever the case may be, body armor with the Treachery runeword on it is always great for Act 2 Mercenaries. The insane 45% IAS is enough to make your hireling delete monsters from the game quickly and efficiently.

It is without a doubt that Andariel’s Visage is the most popular helmet for mercenaries in Diablo II: Resurrected. However, there is a suitable replacement for it in the form of the Vampire Gaze.

Aside from its life and mana leech, Vampire Gaze gives your mercenary extra damage mitigation from physical and magical attacks. Besides that, this enables the desert hireling to shatter the minions of Hell thanks to its added cold damage.

Here is the ideal gear for the Act 2 Mercenary, Riftsin edition:

• Weapon: Infinity (preferably on an Ethereal Thresher/Giant Thresher).
• Body Armor: Treachery.
• Helmet: Vampire Gaze.

Tips and Strategies

• Put More Points on Fire Blast: If the idea of placing two different traps for maximum damage bothers you, then you can remove points from Lightning Sentry (except for one) and put them on Fire Blast instead. Doing so will make the Death Sentry fire more shots every three levels of FB. This changes the playstyle of the build by a bit in that you now set up three Death Sentries and do a lot of kicking shortly after.
• Shock Web to Improve Lightning Sentry: The Riftsin can place five traps in total on the battlefield at a time. About four Lightning Sentries can be deployed to unleash multiple lightning bolts in a short span. Leave the last trap for the Death Sentry so that nearby corpses are exploded for maximum mayhem. Now, Shock Web greatly increases the damage of Lightning Sentry by 18% per level. If you want to lean heavily on Lightning Sentry, put one hard point on Death Sentry and the rest of your skills points are to be allocated to Shock Web.
• How to Unlock More Kicks with Dragon Talon: While kicking enemies using a level 30 Dragon Talon is already pretty awesome, you can take things up a notch by achieving seven or eight kicks in total! How is that possible? You’ll need to raise the level of Dragon Talon to 36 if you want to kick seven times with this skill. If you want to achieve the mythical eight-kick Dragon Talon, aim for level 42. You need to invest in more “+ to skills” items to pull this off, which may be quite expensive depending on the economy.
• Hire an Act 2 Mercenary with Might Aura: The desert hireling can have different auras enabled depending on the type you choose. Might Aura, in particular, amplifies the damage of both Dragon Talon and Frozen Orb, so it makes sense to hire the appropriate mercenary for the job, doesn't it?
• Don’t Forget Attack Rating: While the bulk of the damage of this build comes from Rift’s Frozen Orb, attack rating is still essential because you want Dragon Talon to leech life and mana from your enemies. You can increase your attack rating via charms and rings. If you need an even bigger boost, hire an Act 2 Mercenary with Blessed Aim as their aura.

Final Thoughts

The Rift Assassin is a hybrid PvM build in Diablo II: Resurrected Season 9 that kills enemies with deadly kicks and frequent Frozen Orb procs. Although this is an off-meta character based on current ladder season standards, we’d argue that this build deserves more attention than what the community is giving it.

It should go without saying that this build cannot function without the Rift runeword on hand. If you want to try this build out but you’re not particularly fond of the idea of farming the necessary runes from scratch, then go to our D2R store right now to get exclusive discounts!

PROS

• The Riftsin can output different damage types, making monster immunities less of an issue.
• Rift runeword is inexpensive and pretty accessible.
• Reliable uber keys farmer.

CONS

• Low life leech early on.
• Clear speed is slower in P8 difficulty compared to other D2R builds.
• Rift runeword is mandatory, so the build cannot function without it.