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Fire Blast Assassin Guide

Last Updated: March 2nd 2024

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When you have the sudden urge to throw firecrackers at your enemies in real life (don't do that) the Fire Blast Assassin is here to be your outlet.

This Level 1 Skill can be a powerful tool to snipe Elite monsters and allows for a great amount of Magic Find on low player counts! It also destroys The Secret Cow Level nearly as fast as a fully geared Lightning Fury Amazon.

Fire Blast is unique because it gains synergy bonuses from both Lightning and Fire Damage Skills despite only being Fire Damage itself. This grants a lot of flexibility in the Skill choices. After 1 Skill Point in death sentry you can fill out any synergy to increase the Fire Blast damage! lightning sentry is a great choice to deal with Immune to Fire monsters.

Ideal Standard Setup
Ideal Standard Setup

Fire Blast

Burst of Speed

Teleport

Death Sentry

This build guide assumes you have a Character at Level 75 before transitioning to it. It follows the progression of our Assassin Leveling Guide and our General Leveling Strategies to reach Level 75.

Very Flexible ✔
Beginner Friendly ✔
Engaging Playstyle ✔
Immunities Are Not A Problem ✔

❌ Not A Starter Build
❌ Relies On High Tier Items
❌ Not A Great Act Boss Farmer

❌ Weak Against High Life Targets


Sunder Charm Setup

Patch 2.5 introduces a new way of breaking Immunities: Sunder Charms. Any enemy that would be Immune to your damage type is insted reduced to 95% Resistance, before any other Resistance reductions apply. (e.g. Conviction, Lower Resist) The Charm also reduces YOUR Resistance against the sundered damage type! Check out our post on Sunder Charms to learn more about these new Charms. The following setup uses Flame Rift, allowing you to farm anywhere you want.

Sunder Charm Setup
Sunder Charm Setup

Gear Changes

To optimize this Sunder Charm we need as much -% Enemy Fire Resistance as possible. Equip Phoenix Monarch and Flickering Flame for up to -43% Enemy Fire Resistance.

Flickering Flame also counteracts the negative effect of Flame Rift.

Terror Zones

The new Terror Zone mechanic combined with Sunder Charms open up a wide range of farmable areas. The following list highlights the best and worst Terror Zones for this build on the Starter setup. With the Sunder Charm Setup, more Terror Zones become accessible. Learn more about Terror Zones here and see how they stack up in our Terror Zone Tier List.

Best

Frigid Highlands - Bosses, ONLY KILL Eldritch the Rectifier
Tal Rasha's Tombs - High Density, Many Elite Groups, SKIP Tombs with Burning Dead
Stony Tomb ONLY - High Density, Many Elite Groups, No Immunities
Flayer Jungle + Flayer Dungeon - High Density, Many Elite Groups, SKIP Shamans
Burial Grounds + Crypt + Mausoleum - No Immunities

Worst

Chaos Sanctuary - Immunities
Worldstone Keep + Throne of Destruction - Immunities, High Elemental Damage, Tanky enemies
Act 2 Sewers - Immunities
River of Flame + City of the Damned - Immunities, Tanky enemies
Travincal - Immunities, Tanky enemies, High Elemental Damage

Skills

Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Burst of Speed
2. Cloak of Shadows
3. Mind Blast
4. Death Sentry

Optional 1 Skill Point use:
1. Shadow Warrior
2. Shadow Master

Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Fire Blast
2. Lightning Sentry
3. Charged Bolt Sentry
4. Shock Web
5. Wake of Fire
6. Wake of Inferno (Remaining Skill Points)

Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression

Damage

Utility

Attributes

Note: This section provides you with the standard Stat Point allocation. Build Variants can require a different allocation!

Strength

Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength to equip all of your gear. Take into account how much Strength your gear provides when equipped.

Dexterity

Allocate enough Stat Points into Dexterity to equip all of your gear. Take into account how much Dexterity your gear provides when equipped.

Vitality

Allocate any remaining Stat Points into Vitality after meeting Strength, Dexterity and Energy requirements.

Energy

Don't allocate any Stat Points into Energy. This build gets enough Mana from gear, buffs, Charms, and Mana Potions.

Essentials

Gear Options

Farming Spots

Mercenary

Playstyle

Breakpoints

Hardcore

Build Variants

Starter
Standard
Damage
Hardcore

Setup

This setup consists of easily farmable or shoppable items. Prioritizing +x to Skills is important to increase your damage output as much as possible. lore and Spirit Crystal Sword do the trick early on. You can also shop for some +x to Traps Claws at Anya in Act 5 Nightmare or Hell.
Shop for +20% Increased Attack Speed Gloves to reach a decent Trap laying speed in combination with burst of speed.
Rhyme provides some quality of life with the Cannot Be Frozen stat. Fill up your remaining gear with Resistances. A Belt and Boots can be shopped in Nightmare and smoke is easy to farm from the Countess.

Mercenary

The Mercenary deals with enemies Immune to your damage sources. Equip him with Resistances, Life, and an Insight Partizan to make him fairly durable and increase your Mana Regeneration. bulwark is a great option for Damage Reduction and Life stolen per hit!

Skills

Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Burst of Speed
2. Cloak of Shadows
3. Mind Blast
4. Death Sentry

Optional 1 Skill Point use:
1. Shadow Warrior
2. Shadow Master

Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Fire Blast
2. Lightning Sentry
3. Charged Bolt Sentry
4. Shock Web

Attributes

Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength and Dexterity to wear your gear. Put remaining points into Vitality.

Setup

The Fire Blast Assassin achieves a fine balance between high mobility, damage and high Magic Find.

A Crafted Caster Amulet with 12+% Faster Cast Rate allows us to use The Stone of Jordan in one of our Ring slots. Use a Rare Ring if you don't have access to that Crafted Caster Amulet. It is important to reach the 102% Faster Cast Rate Breakpoint.

Flickering Flame is a massive boost to your damage. It also counteracts the negative effect of flame rift. Simply replace 3 Shimmering Small Charms of Good Luck for it to farm areas containing Immune to Fire monsters.

Phoenix Monarch is not absolutely necessary. A Spirit Monarch does the trick and allows for more customization in the Ring slots, Nagelrings become an option here.

Mercenary

An Act 2 Mercenary equipped with Infinity Thresher is essential for the success of this build. Andariel's Visage and Fortitude Sacred Armor make the Mercenary is virtually immortal and provide him with significant Physical Damage.

Skills

Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Burst of Speed
2. Cloak of Shadows
3. Mind Blast
4. Death Sentry

Optional 1 Skill Point use:
1. Shadow Warrior
2. Shadow Master

Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Fire Blast
2. Lightning Sentry
3. Charged Bolt Sentry
4. Shock Web
5. Wake of Fire
6. Wake of Inferno (Remaining Skill Points)

Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression

Attributes

Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength and Dexterity to wear your gear. Put remaining points into Vitality.

Setup

The Fire Blast Assassin can achieve incredible amounts of damage - if you don't know what to do with your currency / time anymore. At its peak, this variant can keep up with the Lightning Fury Amazon in The Secret Cow Level on /players 8!
Equip 2 Claws with +6 to fire blast and high +x% Increased Attack Speed instead of heart of the oak. Ideally, they are in a superfast base. This reduces the achievable Cast Rate Breakpoint from 102% to 65% (+1 Frame per cast). Depending on your Claw Bases you need Shael Runes in them to keep up the maximum Trap Laying Speed. Any remaining slot is filled with Rainbow Facet. Use Fade to cap out your Resistances and fill your inventory with Entrapping Grand Charm of Vita to maximize your damage.
Flickering Flame is a massive boost to your damage. It also counteracts the negative effect of flame rift. Simply replace a Entrapping Grand Charm of Vita for it to farm areas containing Immune to Fire monsters.

Mercenary

An Act 2 Mercenary equipped with Infinity Thresher is essential for the success of this build. Andariel's Visage and Fortitude Sacred Armor make the Mercenary is virtually immortal and provide him with significant Physical Damage.

Skills

Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Fade
2. Cloak of Shadows
3. Mind Blast
4. Death Sentry

Optional 1 Skill Point use:
1. Shadow Warrior
2. Shadow Master
3. Weapon Block (If Claws don't have it)

Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Fire Blast
2. Lightning Sentry
3. Charged Bolt Sentry
4. Shock Web
5. Wake of Fire
6. Wake of Inferno (Remaining Skill Points)

Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression

Attributes

Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength and Dexterity to wear your gear. Put remaining points into Vitality.

Setup

The only difference in the Hardcore variant is the Shield and increase to our Dexterity. We exchange Phoenix Monarch for Stormshield to gain % Damage Reduction and Chance to Block.
Flickering Flame is a massive boost to your damage. It also counteracts the negative effect of flame rift. Simply replace a Entrapping Grand Charm of Vita for it to farm areas containing Immune to Fire monsters.

Mercenary

An Act 2 Mercenary equipped with Infinity Thresher is essential for the success of this build. Andariel's Visage and Fortitude Sacred Armor make the Mercenary is virtually immortal and provide him with significant Physical Damage.

Skills

Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills:
1. Burst of Speed
2. Cloak of Shadows
3. Mind Blast
4. Death Sentry

Optional 1 Skill Point use:
1. Shadow Warrior
2. Shadow Master

Max out the following Skills in this order:
1. Fire Blast
2. Lightning Sentry
3. Charged Bolt Sentry
4. Shock Web
5. Wake of Fire
6. Wake of Inferno (Remaining Skill Points)

Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression

Attributes

Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength to wear your gear and Dexterity to reach 75% Chance to Block. Put remaining points into Vitality.

Mechanics

Death Sentry

Teleport

Summary

  • Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength and Dexterity to equip your gear. Put remaining points into Vitality.
  • Blow up boss monsters with Fire Blast and use Death Sentry for collateral damage. Lightning Sentry deals with Immune to Fire monsters.
  • Position your Mercenary close to enemies you are fighting to apply his Conviction Aura.
  • Pre-Buff yourself in this order: 2xBattle Command, Battle Orders and Burst of Speed, orFade
  • Make sure to refresh your buffs whenever they run out!

The Fire Blast Assassin is a unique take for a Trapsin. Making use of a Skill you can aim yourself feels very rewarding when executed well. Enjoy this engaging Magic Find build!

Credits

Written by Teo1904
Reviewed by Lexyu, MacroBioBoi

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