Lvl 9 Tiger Strike Assassin. (LLD)

I am Kody! Read on!
~Intro~
So. you were all happy in your little normal game, lvling up and owning with your level 32. A lvl 9 sin comes in and preceds to kill you with little floaty orbs around her almost instantly.... wtf? Yep, that was a tiger strike sin. This build is pretty straight forward and "cookie cutter" if you will. Regardless, this character has the potential to be an amazing combatant in any fight.

These can be easily made and very effective, so it's a good beginner build to try.

-What is a Tiger Strike Assassin?-
A tiger strike assassin is exactly what the name says. This build utilizes the skill Tiger Strike to deal massive damage, commonly over 1000 on release. How can a lvl 9 hit for so much damage? Because the move tiger strike is a charge-up skill. Each time you successfully land a hit with this skill, a "charge" is counted in the form of an encircling orb around your character. With each charge that is gained (to a maximum of 3 charges), the damage your character does increases by a certain percentage, which increases as skill points are added. The way you "release" the attack, is to charge up with the move tiger strike, and then use your normal attack to channel the extremely damaging attack. Once you charge up, the orb charges will stay with you for a certain amount of time until you release the attack (roughly six to eight seconds.)


*Basic Char info everyone should know*
Here will be a few things you should know. A new lvl 1 assassin starts with these stats.

Lvl 1 Assassin
Str: 20
Dex: 20
Vit: 20
Energy: 25
Life: 50
Mana: 25

Here are a few breakpoints for the assassin that you should know as well.

Fhr (faster hit recovery) Breakpoints:
0% fhr = 9 frames.
7% fhr = 8 frames.
15% fhr = 7 frames.
27% fhr = 6 frames.
48% fhr = 5 frames.
86% fhr = 4 frames.
200% fhr = 3 frames.

Fbr (faster block rate) Breakpoints:
0% fbr = 5 frames.
13% fbr = 4 frames.
32% fbr = 3 frames.
86% fbr = 2 frames.
600% fbr = 1 frame.

The bolded breakpoints are the ones we will be aiming to hit in this guide. You can make do with more or less as you see fit, but these are common breakpoints. The reason it is important to hit these breakpoints, is because diablo ii runs in a thing called frames per second. Diablo ii runs in 25 frames per a second in fact (fps), which means that the image on your screen is reimprinted 25 times each second. So that means if your hitting the 48% fhr breakpoint, its taking you five frames (or 1/5th of a second) to recover froma hit. This is important so that your not stuck forever in the recovery animation from repeated attacks.


~Equipment~
Now this section of the guide will deal with equipment. What i list first will be for those who can afford the higher priced gear for maxium potential. I will list a poor mans version farther down. It's important to note that for best results you MUST have some form of max damage jewels to be dishing out the truly heavy hits. An effective low level dueling tg sin can still be made without them, but will not be nearly as effective.


Jewels to watch out for: Jewels with 9-14 maximum damage are the optimal choice, but you can get by with less. Jewels with good AR, replenish life, Damage to mana, or -15% require are nice ones to hang onto as well. Enhanced Damage jewels can be extremely effective as well, but be sure you know of the armor glitch. If an armor (including helms) has ED as well as plus to Maximum or Minimum damage, the ED will apply to the opposite mod. Good resistances never go shunned on jewels either more on that later.


Helm: The optimal choice would be a 3 socket mask with 3x 14 max dmg jewels with other mods. You can get by with less however. 9 to max dmg jewels are cheaper, and just about as effective. Either way, a 3os mask full of max damage jewels is the way to go. If you can get some maxers with some replenish life that is a good way to go. This will help us achieve that 1k plus damage.


Armor: Now there are a couple things you can do here. If you are going all out on this character, get four max damage jewels with -15% require and socket them in an ancient armor. This is a good way to get higher defense and damage, while still having an armor with a feasible strength requirement. If you don't wanna ship out for the -15% maxers, go with a 3os Breast Plate or Light plate and fill it with plain max damage jewels or some with other mods. The damage difference isn't too great, but noticeable after all is said and done.


Weapon: You can go a lot of different ways on this. In my opinion, you are best off finding a pair of nice rare Blade Talons. Mods to look for are AR, ED, etc. Socket them with a nice -15% requirement max damg jewel to get that str down and you are good to go. A second option is to find some non magical Blade Talons and put 3 max damage jewels in them. You can get higher damage this way, but if you find a nice rare pair you can come out on top. Either way, you will want some form of Blade Talons because they are the fastest claw type available to a lvl 9 assassin while still retaining some form of damage. With burst of speed and Blade Talons you can have some decent attack speed. You really should put some form of -15% require jewel in them to lower the stat requirements.


Weapon Switch: Sadly, once your opponent realizes you arent the average level nine character, they will run back to town for all they are worth. You are a melee character, so it can be difficult to get that final killing hit in. Solution? Put a ranged weapon on switch. I would suggest using a good rare eth javalin with a shield so you can mow them down when they try to run. Another good option is to get a 3 socketed composite bow on switch. The attack speed isn't too bad, so you won't be firing slow as hell. I suggest putting 3x 20 psn damg over 2 seconds jewels in this bow (why waste maxers?) since you will only be using it to finish them off most of the time. In this way you can basically snipe them off when they try to run. There is a delay of course between when you shoot and when the arrow reaches them (or jav) so try to shoot ahead in the path they are running.


Shield: THE absolute best choice in my opinion is a unique shield called Pelta Lunata. With a base 45% chance to block and additions to str, vit, and energy, it is the optimal choice. This will also hit our fbr hitpoint for us. Stick a maxer in it and you are good to go. An alternative would be to find a bone shield of deflecting. It has high block % and can spawn with good mods. Either way stick some max jewels in em.


Gloves: You will want to get a pair of Bloodfists here. Yes, bloodfist. They are often overlooked, but why would you shun them? They come with perfect mods for a low level melee dueler! Ias, fhr, and a hefty bonus to life.


Amulet: There isn't really a must have unique amulet for a lvl 9 character. Your best bet is to find a nice magical/rare amulet with mods like str/AR/dex/life replenish/etc. I use a 13 AR/4 str/17 Stamina/10 psn resist/damage reduced by 1 ammy, but as long as your getting some kind of useful mod off it, don't worry too much.


Rings: I suggest using 2x Nagelrings for the huge AR bonus. If you can find good rare rings with higher AR and useful mods, use those; but nagels work perfectly fine. Try to get some with over 70 Ar.


Belt: Really only one choice here, which is Deaths sash. It has the invaluable cannot be frozen mod which will save you so much frustration. If you can find a rare belt with this mod and other within lvl 9 requirements, feel free to switch it out. Cannot be frozen is a MUST.


Boots: Hsarus' boots are a good choice. They have 20% frw as well as fire resist. If you find some rare boots with better mods you like, swap those out. As always, look for mods like life replenish/AR/Dex/Str/etc.


Charms: you will need at least one grand charm with the 12% fhr mod to hit the breakpoint coupled with bloodfists. This is very important. The rest of your charms should have mods such as life (max for lvl 9 lc are 15 to life) mana, resists, str, dex, etc. I farm normal and Nightmare cows for my low level charms, works great. Sewers in act 2 also seem to drop pretty frequently. Just keep at it.

(If you are really doing well in your finances and are serious about making a lld tg sin, i would make alternative gear with max damage jewels with resist to certain elements. In this way you could have a max dmg setup for resisting any element thrown at you. Useful for higher lvl sorcs who wanna fight you. Not at all needed (i don't have separate gear switches purely for elements) but it is an options)

you MUST have some form of max damage jewels to be dishing out the truly heavy hits. An effective low level dueling tg sin can still be made without them, but will not be nearly as effective.

*Poor Man's Equipment*
Now this section of the guide will deal with equipment. What i list first will be for those who can afford the higher priced gear for maxium potential. I will list a poor mans version farther down. It's important to note that for best results


Helm: If you can't afford the maxers, there are still good choices. Biggons cap is always a great secondary helm option, with many helpful mods. Socket it with a flawed rubie for life or flawed skull for life replenish and you have a pretty nice helm. Other options include 3 socket masks with either 3 flawed rubies or skulls.


Armor: A 3 socket breast plate with either flawed rubies or skulls does well here if you can't afford the maxers. Another cheap alternative is a unique armor called Greyform, which has some resists, dex, and life leech.


Weapon: Some good claws you find will work. Some cheap rare claws can spawn with some good mods but not break your back in cost.


Weapon Switch: A composite bow with 3x flawed emeralds works basically the same as the jeweled version. Nice for picking off those pesky runners


Shield: Pelta Lunata isn't particularly expensive, but it is pretty rare. Took me a while to get a hold of one. If you can't get one, try to find a bone shield with increased block % or faster block rate. You could socket it with some flawed diamonds to get some extra resist if you want.


Gloves: Still try to get bloodfists. They are pretty cheap and common, so should still be affordable even to the poor man.


Amulet: Again, just try to find an ammy with AR/Str/Dex/etc. You will need some ar so your attacks will connect.


Rings: I suggest using 2x Nagelrings for the huge AR bonus. If you can find good rare rings with higher AR and useful mods, use those; but nagels work perfectly fine. Try to get some with over 70 Ar. Nagels are extremely cheap and effective. Use em.


Belt: Deaths sash is very cheap and not very hard to get. The cbf mod is needed. Get this.


Boots: Just like above, Hsarus' is a good way to go. Very cheap yet effective.


Charms: You will still want to get at least one plain 12% fhr grand charm. A lot of ppl just throw them away so it shouldnt be hard to find one. Rest fill up with random lifers u find and other useful charms. I farm normal and Nightmare cows for my low level charms, works great. Sewers in act 2 also seem to drop pretty frequently. Just keep at it.


~Stat and Skill Allocation~
Now you don't HAVE to have been rushed to hell with all important quests to make an effective llder, but it definitely does make a difference. For this section we will assume you have been rushed to hell getting all skill and stat quests.

So, with a full rush and lvling up to 9, we have 55 stat points to work with. Use them wisely.

-Stats: I really shouldn't have to post stats. Unless your branching off on some different build completely, stats are 99.9% the same for all builds.

Str: Enough for gear. -_- i know, that gets said so many freaking times. But its true. You really should be hitting high on this if you followed the guide. Try to keep under 50
Dex: Enough for max block. Shouldnt have to go higher than 50.
Vit: ALL extra points. Life is important. A well geared lvl 9 sin can get over 500 life (including charms)
Energy: Gayest attribute ever? yep. Nothing.


-Skills:Alright, leveling up to 9 and hitting all skill quests gives us 20 skill points to use.

Tiger Strike: 9 of course. That will max it for our level. This is the tg sins main attack and allows for massive damage.

Burst of Speed: 4 points here. This will give us an increase in walk/run speed by 39% and an increased attack speed of 34% that will last for 156 seconds. This is important because it allows to catch our prey and hit the attack speed breakpoint. (As stated by others, you can use a hel'd sigons on switch and use it to cast burst of speed, meaning you would only need 3 points to achieve the breakpoint, thus allowing another for claw mastery).

Claw Mastery: All extra go here. This is a very useful skill because it (passively) increases your claw damage, attack rating, and chance of performing a deadly strike (double damage).


*Dueling Strategies and general information*
There isn't too much in the way of strategy when you duel with this character. Basically just use tiger strike to charge up on them, then release for huge hits in damage. Pray they use a merc, because most mercs at these levels are nothing more than meat shields with no real way of harming you- perfect for charing up on. Tiger strike their merc once or twice then release on them. You can also use random monsters to charge up on, then release on the player, but many people condone this as bad mannered.

You can also use a merc if you choose. Some people you duel with will not like mercs however, so be respectful and always ask if they are cool with it. If they are, i would suggest getting an act 3 merc. If the other player is not wearing a cannot be frozen modded item, and you get a cold act 3 merc, you can seriously tip the battle in your favor if they are slowed by cold. Put a bunch of flawed rubie gear on your merc to give him tons of life.

-Class specific strategies-

Necromancers: More often than not, there are only 2 types of necs you will be facing. Bone necs, or summon necs.

Bone necs: Now if it is a non llding bone necromancer, expect to easily win, as they have most likely not maximized their damage with bone skills or gear. If it is another lld, be cautious and do your best to dodge their attacks. BoS comes in handy here with the increased r/w. Recasting their bone shield is usually considered bm, but people will do it. Your damage should be enough to punch right through it.

Summon necs: Unexpectedly, i find summoners to be more difficult than bone necromancers. If they are below level twenty or so, their army is usually not developed enough to cause major problems, just charge off the summons then release on the nec. If he tries to run, switch to secondary weapon and snipe him down. Higher level summoners can be a bit of a problem once you get trapped within the mass of skeletons. Just try not to get in the middle of the mob and take out singular skeletons at a time until the necro is uncovered enough to attack.


Amazons: Bow Zons: Non lld bow zons are a joke. Seriously. They will almost always be doing literally no damage. Run up and claw the hell out of them, or shoot them with your bow/java if they run non stop. Should be easy. True LLD zons can be a serious problem. Good ones can match you in damage and spam guided arrows like there is no tomorrow. With your BoS you should be able to out run them, so just play defensive and take openings when you get them. A hard match up since they will be dodging a lot of your attacks. At least they don't block em

Jab/charged strike: Most are easy and don't know what the heck they are doing. With your 75% block it will be hard to touch you. (don't forget that walking instead of running does not incur as great of a penalty on blocking) Just claw them. Lvl 9 lld jab zons can be extremely hard however. If you are faced with an equally wealthy lld jab zon who knows what she is doing, expect to lose most of these duels. They are that good. With max bock, plus dodge and critical strike, they can do massive damage very quick, without taking much of their own. A lot of them will be dex glitched, so be careful. If it ever looks like they are standing away from you doing nothing, they are most likely throwing poisoned javas at you in actuality. Due to the dex glitch, the javas will be invisible...O.O i know..just be careful, never stop moving.


Druids: Shapeshifters: I have yet to fight a shapeshifting druid under lvl 30 who could kill my sin. I'm sure a person could make a godly low lvl dueling one, but i have not faced one yet, or ever had trouble with them. Make sure you are walking so ur block penalty is not as much, then charge and release.

Windy/Fissure druids: You don't really have to worry about windy druids until they hit lvl 30 and start getting the goodies. Not to big of a problem especially with the cannot be frozen mod on deaths sash. Now fissure druids can be extremely tough, even at level 18. If its a pub one who has not optimized his character, he shouldn't be to hard. Just walk around the fissure and charge/release, or fire from afar to avoid damg all together. Should go down quickly. LLD fissure druids now, will put up a fight. You can die quicker than you would believe if you are standing in their fissure without realizing it. Again, try to run around the hot spot and attack from their front, or stay afar and shoot them. They can be hard if you are not careful.

Summon druids: Pretty easy for the most part. Just charge off minions and release on druid.


Sorcs: I haven't faced many tough low level sorcs, but they do exist. Watch out for lvl 18 charged bolt sorcs (they get honorable mentions since i got completely owned by one the other day >_>). They will most likely have a staff on switch to shiver armor with and then have good equip that boosts their skills on regular attack. Don't let them tele on you and unleash their fury, because all of the little bolts will hit you and kill you faster than you can blink. Try to stay at a distance, since the bolts travel slowly. Run in for a quick claw or two when you can, or else shoot them.

Low ice sorcs tend to not be much trouble. With the cannot be frozen mod you don't loose any speed and sorcs in general tend to have low defense. Run up and claw her till she dies. Should have to many problems.

Fball sorcs can sometimes cause problems. They usually die easy enough, but fireball, even from a low level, can start taking down your life pretty quick. If they sit there and spam at you, just shoot them a few times and try to get them to chase you. Try to get in a few good charges and release if you can. They usually aren't too bad, but be wary around them.

Barbs: Double swing/berserk/double throw barbs can be difficult. A lot of them won't know what they are doing and will just spam at you. You can either dodge them and run in for a quick hit, or shoot from afar and wait for their jav to run out. Double swing/berserk barbs usually hit often due to huge ar. Not much you can do here but go toe to toe with them.

WW barbs: These can sometimes be tough, but the average pub ww barb will have such terrible ar that you can just stand there blocking and own him. LLD ww barbs will be sure to have a lot of ar tho and do damaging hits. If they are truely geared out, you pretty much won't be winning. I mean, after all, your lvl 9 and they are lvl 30. If they are just as wealthy as you, your pretty much gonna lose to a high LLD'r.


Paladins: Ugh. I hate paladins. They are very dominant in LLD'ing and can be some of your toughest fights. They don't usually have huge AR, but lets face it. Your lvl 9 and your def in most cases will be under 200. They are pretty much gonna hit you. Pray that you block. Chargers are tough, especially if they are desynching. They do huge, instant damage if they connect. Try to make them charge at you in terrain full of holes, houses, or obstacles. This will impede them and force them to stop and change their charge direction.

If you are fighting a zealer, just go toe to toe. If you run he will switch to charge (since most have at least one point to chase) and spear you through the gut. A lot of these are hard.

I haven't really seen many LLD smiter pallies. The few i have fought have been good though. Smite cannot be blocked by your shield, so every smite they do is pretty much going to connect. ON top of that they stun. Make sure your hitting that fhr breakpoint so you can get a few good hits in too. Hope you send them into hit recovery animation so u can get some strings of hits in.

Public low level hammerdins usually arent much of a problem. Just make sure you are never on top of them (where hammers spawn at) and wait for their mana to start hurting, then just pop in a few good charge/release moves. LLD hammerdins know what they are doing for the most part, and will try to always keep you on that top spot, whether through chargeing or whatever. Don't let them lead you there and be careful of invisible hammers, which happens after they have been out for a few seconds. Never ever follow them anywhere. If they are leading you somewhere, you can bet its into a field of hamers.

Other Assassins: Trappers will for the most part spam and run, spam and run. Most of these traps won't do enough damage to flat out kill you, but if they have you chasing them through traps, your health will slowly go down until you die. Don't let them lead you anywhere. Stay back and tease them with your ranged weapon until they chase you, and try to keep out of range of their traps. Try to anticipate where they are running too.

Other Tiger Strike sins: Not much to say. fighting yourself basically.

Kicksins don't generally do a lot of damage, but their power comes from the extremely quick attacks and the stun it gets you in from repeated kicks. Try not to get stuck in this "kick trap". Make sure you have a lot of fhr, and try to catch them off gaurd with your claws.



~Ways you can fight~
There are many different ways you can go about fighting with your sin. If you are serious about your LLD'er and want to make a name with your character, refrain from getting known as a pker or a bmer. Stick to duel games where people are actually dueling. Don't crash games and pk.

If you could care less about your image, use a mule character to scout for games like "tomb runs" or "kill andy plox". These games usually take some time to complete and there is a good chance you can find the people and pk them. Most people will laugh in your face when you join and hostile them, since your level nine. As soon as you own the level 30 in their party though, their "lol" turns to "wtf?". You will be accused of hacking on a daily basis. Get over it. You know you arent hacking. Many people can't get around the fact that low level characters can be tailored to become killing machines. Many ppl will attribute their deaths to "lag" and "hacks". Many will bring in lvl 90's when you kill their lvl 20 with ur lvl 9. I usually just leave when that happens. No point in sticking around.

Generally, try to be respectful in duels and not a jackass. Don't use pots at ALL unless you and the enemy have agreed on them. Do not naked kill them, town gaurd, steal gold, or trash talk them, unless they try it on you. In a duel game, if the other guy is potting after we stated no pots, i preceed to nk the fuck out of him and take all his gold. Nothing makes me angrier than potting and town running. Never run to town. Gayest thing you can do. If you start a fight, finish it. Period.

Thanks and ending notes!!
I've tried my best to create an extremely detailed and helpful guide for all who wish to pursue a level nine Tiger Strike assassin. I know there is a lot of text, but i tried to make it more spaced out so its nto one big clump. If you guys see any mistakes or things i can improve upon in this guide, please don't hesitate to send me some feedback. Always looking to improve so that this can be fully up to date and help people.I really hoped you enjoyed it (if you managed to read it all) and i would appreciate your comments.