Are you looking for relaxing gameplay, massive damage output and no danger to your Character? Look no further than this beginner-friendly Lightning Sentry Assassin guide! The Lightning Sentry / Death Sentry Assassin, aka Trapsin is THE staple build for starting an Assassin. Lay down Traps from a distance, and watch them attack enemies even while off-screen. It doesn't get much easier than that! With 3 damage types in total (Lightning, Fire, Physical) she can handle anything. The Trapsin can quickly plow through massive monster groups using 2 different sentries. Create a domino effect by killing the first few monsters with Lightning Sentry, then Death Sentry’s Corpse Explosion deals with the rest. Her high mobility through Burst of Speed and Teleport make the Trapsin a real joy to play.
Path 2.6: Traps now apply -x% Enemy Resistances, which finally elevates the Lightning Sentry Assassin to the next level.
Very Tanky ✔ High Mobility ✔ Low Complexity ✔ Beginner Friendly ✔ Low Entry Budget Option ✔
❌ Lightning Immunities ❌ Best in Slot is expensive ❌ Build Up Time For Damage ❌ Bad Act Boss Farmer Early On ❌ Requires Infinity For High Damage
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 instead 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 Crack of the Heavens, allowing you to farm anywhere you want.
Sunder Charm Setup
Sunder Charm Setup
Gear Changes
With Patch 2.6, Traps finally apply -x% Enemy Lightning Resistances from your gear. Using Infinity, Griffon's Eye, Crescent Moon, and a Monarch with 4 Facets brings enemy Lightning Resistance down to -2. This is a massive upgrade from the +78% Lightning Resist before!
Counteract the Resistance penalty from Crack of the Heavens by equipping Shimmering Small Charm of Vita, and a pair of high Resistance Rare Boots cap out your Resistances. Use Fade to cover the rest.
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 or Budget 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.
Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills: 1. Burst of Speed 2. Fade 3. Cloak of Shadows 4. Mindblast 5. death sentry 6. Weapon Block
Max out the following Skills in this order: 1. Lightning Sentry 2. Shock Web 3. Charged Bolt Sentry 4. Death Sentry 5. fire blast
Remaining Skill Points are put into Weapon Block, wake of fire, or the optional Shadow Master.
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Use the Scroll Bar to see Skill Point Progression
Damage Skills
Lightning Sentry* is the primary Damage Skill of this build. The Assassin lays down a Trap that shoots a piercing Lightning Bolt in the direction of its closest target, dealing Lightning Damage to every monster in its path. You can have a total of 5 Traps active at a time.
Death Sentry* complements the damage of Lightning Sentry by using Corpse Explosion. It causes nearby corpses to explode, dealing Fire and PhysicalDamage.
Fire Blast* deals Fire Damage in an area around the projectile when it lands. Use this to kill monsters Immune toLightning and Physical Damage.
Mindblast* stuns enemies in a small square area around your cursor and has a % chance to convert enemies hit. Converted enemies fight alongside you for a short period of time.
Cloak of Shadows* can be a real lifesaver. For a period of time, the area around the Assassin becomes extremely dark and blinds enemies. This drastically decreases their aggro range and Defense.
Weapon Block* provides an alternative way to block attacks when dual-wielding Claws.
Shadow Master* randomly uses Skills (even those unallocated by your Character) from the Assassin's Skill Tree. Warning: The Shadow Master shares your limit of 5 active Traps and can replace your own traps with weaker ones.
Teleport* relocates you to any available space at your cursor, crossing over any gaps or walls. It can be used to travel long distances quickly and reposition during combat.
* Faster Cast Rate Skills (FCR) * Skills that do NOT utilize either FCR or IAS
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
While every Stat in the Desirable Stats While every Stat in the Desirable Stats column is useful for this build, we highlighted the Priority Stats in Teal, so you can easily identify the Most Important Stats on them.
Hover over any Item to see a pop-out with the full Item description.
Gear/Base Notes: Any Items with specialized or niche uses have a superscript that refers here. 1) Greater Talons and Greater Claws are the best bases due to their low requirements. 2) Weapon Block requires you to dual wield Claws. 3) Phase Blade is the fastest base you can build Crescent Moon in.
Slot
Item Options
Desirable Stats
Weapon
Cunning Greater Talons of Quickness1 (2x Rainbow Facet) Cunning Greater Talons of Quickness1 (2x Rainbow Facet) Crescent Moon3 Heart of the Oak Flail1 Wizardspike Bartuc's Cut-Throat Suicide Branch Spirit Crystal Sword Plague Greater Talons
+x to All Skills +x to Trap Skills [Assassin Only] + to Assassin Skills +x% Increased Attack Speed +x% Faster Cast Rate +x% Faster Hit Recovery +x to Lightning Sentry [Assassin Only] +x to Death Sentry[Assassin Only] +x to fade [Assassin Only] +x to Weapon Block [Assassin Only]2 -x% to Enemy Lightning Resistance All Resistances +x Socketed [x]
Off-Hand
Cunning Greater Talons of Quickness1 (Jewel + Jewel) Cunning Greater Talons of Quickness1 (2x Rainbow Facet) Jeweler's Monarch of Deflecting (4x Rainbow Facet) Gemmed Monarch (4x Rainbow Facet) Plague Greater Talons1 Spirit Monarch Stormshield Rhyme Bone Shield Lidless Wall
+x to All Skills +x to Trap Skills [Assassin Only] + to Assassin Skills +x% Increased Attack Speed +x% Faster Cast Rate +x% Faster Hit Recovery +x to Lightning Sentry [Assassin Only] +x to Death Sentry[Assassin Only] +x to Weapon Block [Assassin Only]2 -x% to Enemy Lightning Resistance Elemental Resist +x% All Resistances +x Damage Reduced by x% Cannot Be Frozen Socketed [x]
Weapon-Swap
Call to Arms Crystal Sword Crescent Moon Wand of Lower Resistance Battle Staff of Teleportation
-x% to Enemy Lightning Resistance +x to All Skills +x to battlecommand +x to battleorders Level x Lower Resist [x/x Charges] Level x Teleport [x/x Charges]
-x% to Enemy Lightning Resistance +x to All Skills
Helmets
Griffon's Eye (Rainbow Facet) Cunning Circlet of the Magus Rare Circlet Rare Circlet Harlequin Crest Crown of Ages Lore Cap Tarnhelm Peasant Crown Rockstopper Ground Temper Hearth
+x to All Skills +x to Trap Skills [Assassin Only] +x to Assassin Skills +x% Faster Run/Walk +x% Faster Cast Rate -x% to Enemy Lightning Resistance +x to Strength +x to Dexterity +x Life Elemental Resist +x% All Resistances +x Damage Reduced by x% Socketed [x]
Body Armor
Enigma Mage Plate Treachery Smoke Studded Leather Skin of the Vipermagi Skullder's Ire Stealth
+x to All Skills +x to Assassin Skills +x% Faster Run/Walk +x% Increased Attack Speed +x% Faster Cast Rate +x to Strength +x Life Elemental Resist +x% All Resistances +x x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items Socketed [x]
Gloves
Magefist Trang-Oul's Claws Chance Guards Cobalt Heavy Gloves of Alacrity
Arachnid Mesh Goldwrap String of Ears Verdungo's Hearty Cord Garnet Belt of the Squid
+x to All Skills +x% Faster Cast Rate +x% Increased Attack Speed +x Life Damage Reduced by x% x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Boots
Aldur's Advance War Traveler Waterwalk Natalya's Soul Sandstorm Trek
+x% Faster Run/Walk +x% Faster Hit Recovery +x Life Elemental Resist +x%
Amulets
Mara's Kaleidoscope Amulet Cunning Amulet of the Whale Cunning Amulet of the Apprentice Caster Crafted Amulet Caster Crafted Amulet Rare Amulet
+x to All Skills +x to Trap Skills [Assassin Only] +x to Assassin Skills +x% Faster Cast Rate +x to Strength +x to Dexterity +x Life Elemental Resist +x% All Resistances +x x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Rings
The Stone of Jordan Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band Nagelring Fortuitous Ring of Fortune Rare Ring
+x to All Skills +x% Faster Cast Rate +x to Strength +x to Dexterity +x Life Elemental Resist +x% All Resistances +x x% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Charms
Entrapping Grand Charm of Vita Lapis Grand Charm of Life Ruby Large Charm Shimmering Small Charm of Vita Ruby Small Charm of Good Luck Sapphire Small Charm of Good Luck Small Charm of Sustenance
+1 to Traps (Assassin) Grand Charm + Life + xx% Faster Hit Recovery + xx % Faster Run / Walk + Maximum Damage Elemental Resist +xx% +x to Attribute
Unique Charms
Crack of the Heavens gheed's fortune Annihilus Hellfire Torch
Monsters Lightning Immunity is sundered +xx to all Attributes All Resistances +xx
Farming Spots
The areas below are efficient farming locations that make use of the build’s strengths. Other farming spots might not be as effective due to immunities or bad layouts. These areas are strong without a Sunder Charm.
Anything that has a ✔ in the "Starter" column can be farmed with the Starter Variant.
Your Mercenary serves an incredibly important role to the overall success of your build. They can be a front line tank, provide a pivotal Aura, and/or deal Physical Damage to kill enemies with Immunity to your Skill set.
Act 2 Desert Mercenary
The Act 2 Desert Mercenary is hired from Greiz. He can be equipped with a Spear or a Polearm, a Body Armor and a Helmet. Every Act 2 Mercenary has access to an Aura and uses Jab as his base Attack. The Aura activates once the Mercenary has engaged in combat and remains active between traveling to and from town. The Auras available are based on what difficulty you hire the Mercenary from.
Holy Freeze Infinity
Holy Freeze Infinity
Infinity, Holy Freeze
Use a Desert Mercenary with Holy Freeze Aura for its powerful Crowd Control. A Mercenary with Might Aura isn’t used, since we don’t rely on his damage or benefit from the Physical Damage increase. Equip him with Infinity to reduce enemy Resistances and Defense with Conviction Aura, drastically boosting damage. This Aura is also capable of breaking some Immunities.
Mercenary Gear Options
Your Mercenary needs maximum Resistances, Life Leech, a high damage Weapon, and high Defense and/or Damage Reduction to stay alive reliably. Cannot Be Frozen is also a great stat for maintaining Mercenary DPS and leech. Ethereal gear is preferred since it doesn't lose durability.
Slot
Early-Game
Mid-Game
End-Game
Weapon
Insight
Insight
Infinity Plague
Body Armor
Smoke Lionheart Rockfleece
Treachery Duress Shaftstop Duriel's Shell
Fortitude Treachery
Helmet
Bulwark Undead Crown Temper Ground Cure
Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest Vampire Gaze Crown of Thieves Stealskull Kira's Guardian Rockstopper
Andariel's Visage Vampire Gaze
The Mercenary is hard to keep alive until you have the minimum gear recommended in this guide. Remember you can drag Healing Potions onto the portrait, or shift + 1/2/3/4 to directly feed them a Healing Potion from your Belt. The Mercenary also gains bonus Resistances from Thawing Potions and Antidote Potions.
If your Mercenary dies in battle, you can revive them from any of the Mercenary NPCs in each Act. This does come with an increasing cost, capping at 50,000 Gold. Keep that in mind and decide if the Mercenary is currently worth the cost.
Playstyle
General
Buff yourself with Burst of Speed and run to the farming location of your choice. Keep it up at all times!
If skilled, summon your Shadow Master. It acts as a meat shield and uses random Skills from the Assassin's Skill Tree. Alternatively, you can summon it as a decoy to get out of scary situations.
For High Density farming
Cast up to 5 Lightning Sentrys stacked on top of each other, so they all attack in the same direction to focus damage. As soon as the first 1-2 enemies are dead, cast 1-2 Death Sentrys for their Corpse Explosion.
If you are overwhelmed by the sheer amount of enemies, use Mindblast to Stun and potentially convert close up monsters to redirect aggro. Against ranged monsters, lead with Cloak of Shadows to blind enemies in range, reducing the amount of ranged attacks they use.
For Single Target farming
To deal maximum damage, put 5 Lightning Sentrys on top of your target. Moving enemies have a higher chance to be hit when closer to your Traps.
Use Fire Blast for additional damage after setting up your traps.
Note for Baal Waves
Only cast 4 Lightning Sentrys on a side or behind the waves spawn location and 1 Death Sentry far enough away, so it doesn't use its Lightning Skill. This way the 4 Lightning Sentry can target down a monster from the waves and Death Sentry starts casting Corpse Explosion right away. This preserves all of its attacks for Corpse Explosion.
Immunities
Before you have access to Infinity you rely on Lower Resist from Wand of Lower Resistance to break monsters Immune to Lightning.
crack of the heavens sets the Resistances of Immune to Lightning monster to 95%. With Patch 2.6, -x% Enemy Lightning Resistance now applies to targets hit by your traps. Maximize this stat to deal as much damage as you can.
You also have access to fire blast which deals Fire Damage. Use it to kill anything that isn't Immune to Fire as well.
A reasonably equipped Mercenary and Death Sentry bring Physical Damage to the table, which can deal with anything Immune to both Fire and Lightning. This could take a few seconds, so consider whether it is worth to wait for the kill or to press on to the next enemies.
Late-Game
Start runs by buffing yourself with Battle Command 2 times and afterward with Battle Orders from Call to Arms Flail.
Switch to the Weapon Swap with the most +x to Skills for Burst of Speed and cast it.
Position your Mercenary close to monsters you’re currently fighting to apply his Conviction Aura.
[MIN-MAX Tech] - Immediately after you cast your Lightning Sentry Traps swap to Crescent Moon to reduce monster's Lightning Resistance and increase your Lightning Damage as much as possible. Stay on that swap until your traps killed everything around you or run out of hits (unlikely). Check the Damage Setup below for more details!
Breakpoints
Breakpoints in Diablo 2 are the minimum values required to reduce the frames of an action. Below are the important breakpoints considered for this build. For more information on the mechanics involved, check out our in-depth Resource: Breakpoints.
Faster Cast Rate (FCR)
Faster Cast Rate (FCR) speeds up your casting animation for spells. Aim for at least the 102% FCR Breakpoint. Note: FCR only controls the animation speed of the Character, and not any internal Cooldowns spells have.
Frames
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
FCR
0
8
16
27
42
65
102
174
Increased Attack Speed (IAS)
This build relies solely on Increased Attack Speed (IAS) from Burst of Speed for faster trap setting animations.
Faster Block Rate (FBR) increases survivability. Aim for at least the 32% FBR Breakpoint on Hardcore.
Frames
5
4
3
2
1
FBR
0
13
32
86
600
Hardcore
For all Hardcore gameplay, your primary concern is increasing your Resistances, Damage Reduction, Chance to Block and Maximum Life. This can mean sacrificing overall power level for a more secure playstyle.
This build can become Hardcore viable with key changes to the Skills, Stat Point allocation, and items. Review the changes below before building this character, as they may differ significantly from the normal build.
Stat Point changes
Put enough Stat Points into Dexterity to reach 75% Chance to Block.
Item changes
Equip a Stormshield with an Eld Rune for maximum Chance to Block and Reduced Damage by x%.
Hit +65% Faster Cast Rate with Magefist, Arachnid Mesh, a +20% Faster CastRare Circlet, and a +10% Faster Cast Rate Amulet.
If no +6 toLightning Sentry claws are available, use Heart of the Oak Flail instead to reach the Breakpoint at +102% Faster Cast Rate.
1 Ber Rune in your Helmet gets you to Reduced Damage by 50%.
Build Variants
Starter
Standard
Mobility
Magic Find
Damage
Hardcore
Setup
Not much is needed to start off the Lightning Sentry Assassin. You are pretty much set with a Bone Wand of Lower Resistance (obtainable from Drognan in Act 2 Nightmare) to break Lightning Immunes. Apart from this, look for items that give you additional Skill Points, Increased Attack Speed and Stats like Life and Resistances. The gear setup on the right represents realistic gear obtained and used in the Assassin Leveling Guide.Temper, Ground, and hearth are great helmet options to improve either your Cold, Fire or Lightning resistances. hearth even provides Cannot Be Frozen which is important to maintain our Trap-laying speed.
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.
Skills
Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills: 1. Burst of Speed 2. Cloak of Shadows 3. Mindblast
Max out the following Skills in this order: 1. Lightning Sentry 2. Death Sentry 3. Shock Web 4. Charged Bolt Sentry
Attributes
Allocate enough Stat Points into Strength to wear your gear. Put remaining points into Vitality.
Setup
We sacrifice a single Cast Rate Breakpoint, to dual wield Claws with +6 to Lightning Sentry for a significant damage increase. These Claws are shoppable at Anya in Nightmare or Hell, Act 5. You'll have a 50/50 chance to get 2 Sockets at Larzuk using his Quest reward. With Patch 2.6, -x% Enemy Lightning Resistance applies to your Trap attacks. Use Griffon's Eye and place as many Rainbow Facets as possible in your gear's sockets. Balance your Resistances with Fade, Rare Boots, and Charms. With Griffon's Eye, Arachnid Mesh, and Magefist we easily reach the 65% Faster Cast Rate Breakpoint.
Mercenary
The Lightning Sentry Assassin requires a Mercenary with Infinity Thresher to be fully functional. With Fortitude Sacred Armor and Andariel's Visage he is capable of killing anything Immune to your Traps.
Skills
Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills: 1. Burst of Speed 2. Fade 3. Cloak of Shadows 4. Mindblast 5. death sentry 6. Weapon Block
Max out the following Skills in this order: 1. Lightning Sentry 2. Shock Web 3. Charged Bolt Sentry 4. Death Sentry 5. fire blast
Remaining Skill Points are put into Weapon Block, wake of fire, or the optional Shadow Master.
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
This variant is built around maximum mobility while sacrificing as little damage as possible. Enigma Mage Plate is a staple part of all variants, providing us with Teleport. To hit the Breakpoint at 102% Faster Cast Rate, use the combination of a Griffon's Eye, a Caster Crafted Amulet with at least 5% FCR, a Spirit Monarch with at least +32% Faster Cast Rate, Magefist, and Arachnid Mesh. Capping out your Resistances might is difficult here. Balance them out with Resistance Charms, the Doom Touch Ring, Mara's Kaleidoscope and Rare Boots.
Mercenary
The Lightning Sentry Assassin requires a Mercenary with Infinity Thresher to be fully functional. With Fortitude Sacred Armor and Andariel's Visage he is capable of killing anything Immune to your Traps.
Skills
Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills: 1. Burst of Speed 2. Fade 3. Cloak of Shadows 4. Mindblast 5. death sentry
Max out the following Skills in this order: 1. Lightning Sentry 2. Shock Web 3. Charged Bolt Sentry 4. Death Sentry 5. fire blast
Remaining Skill Points are put into wake of fire, or the optional Shadow Master.
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
This variant combines the mobility of +102% Faster Cast Rate, decent damage, and as much Magic Find as possible to farm recommended areas. Use Entrapping Grand Charm of Vita over Magic Find Small Charms in high player count scenarios. Use Heart of the Oak Flail, Spirit Monarch, an Amulet with +10% Faster Cast Rate, and Arachnid Mesh to reach the Breakpoint at 102% Faster Cast Rate. Equip War Traveler, Fortuitous Ring of Fortune, Chance Guards, and Harlequin Crest for optimal Magic Find. If you lack damage with it, stick with Griffon's Eye.
Mercenary
The Lightning Sentry Assassin requires a Mercenary with Infinity Thresher to be fully functional. With Fortitude Sacred Armor and Andariel's Visage he is capable of killing anything Immune to your Traps.
Skills
Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills: 1. Burst of Speed 2. Fade 3. Cloak of Shadows 4. Mindblast 5. death sentry
Max out the following Skills in this order: 1. Lightning Sentry 2. Shock Web 3. Charged Bolt Sentry 4. Death Sentry 5. fire blast
Remaining Skill Points are put into wake of fire, or the optional Shadow Master.
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 Damage variant of the Lightning Sentry Assassin sacrifices the survivability of battle orders for the ultimate min-max damage against Immune to Lightning monsters. Replace the call to arms setup with Crescent Moon + 4 Rainbow Facet Monarch setup. Lay your traps on the main Weapon Swap (dual Claws) and switch to your secondary Weapon Swap when all 5 lightning sentry traps are active. This setup requires you to use fade for Resistances, so make sure you have enough Attack Speed Jewels in your Claws to reach the highest possible Attack Speed Breakpoint!
Mercenary
The Lightning Sentry Assassin requires a Mercenary with Infinity Thresher to be fully functional. With Fortitude Sacred Armor and Andariel's Visage he is capable of killing anything Immune to your Traps.
Skills
Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills: 1. Burst of Speed 2. Cloak of Shadows 3. Mindblast 4. death sentry
Max out the following Skills in this order: 1. Lightning Sentry 2. Shock Web 3. Charged Bolt Sentry 4. Fireblast 5. wake of fire 6. wake of inferno
Remaining Skill Points are put into Weapon Block or the optional Shadow Master.
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
This variant provides the maximum survivability while sacrificing as little damage as possible. It is based on the Standard variant and simply uses a Stormshield with an Eld Rune to give easy access to the maximum Chance to Block and Damage Reduced by 43%. If you want to reach the Breakpoint at +102% Faster Cast Rate, or don't have access to the +6 to Traps Claws, you can exchange them for Heart of the Oak Flail.
Mercenary
The Lightning Sentry Assassin requires a Mercenary with Infinity Thresher to be fully functional. With Fortitude Sacred Armor and Andariel's Visage he is capable of killing anything Immune to your Traps.
Skills
Put 1 Skill Point into each of the following Skills: 1. Burst of Speed 2. Cloak of Shadows 3. Mindblast 4. death sentry
Max out the following Skills in this order: 1. Lightning Sentry 2. Shock Web 3. Charged Bolt Sentry 4. Fireblast 5. wake of fire 6. wake of inferno
Remaining Skill Points are put into Weapon Block or the optional Shadow Master.
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
Lightning Sentry
Lightning Sentry shoots beams of Lightning that act similar to the Skill Lightning of the Sorceress:
Monsters are pierced.
Travels in a straight line.
Every monster on the travel path takes Lightning Damage.
Lightning Sentry shoots up to 10 times at a rate of 31 Frames per cast (Every 1.24 seconds) before they expire. This rate cannot be influenced.
They only target monsters that are in the line of sight of the Assassin.
Uses Attack Speed Breakpoints - Not Cast Rate!
The Missile range (range of the Lightning beam) increases with each "slvl" (Soft Points, meaning every + Skill Point from gear or actual Skill Levels):
Formula (in Frames): 8 + 2 * slvl Example: Skill Level is 22 (20 from maxing the Skill and +2 from gear) 8 + 2 * 22 = 52
The initial target must be within its Awareness Range of 16 2/3 yards.
The Synergies only apply to the maximum Lightning Damage. This means the minimum damage always is 1.
Death Sentry
Death Sentry is in the unique situation, in which in combines 2 Skills (Lightning Sentry and Corpse Explosion). Both Skill effects have certain conditions in which they occur and use up remaining shots from the maximum shot count. This means that a Death Sentry with a maximum of 7 Shots can use, for example, 5 x Lightning and 2x Corpse Explosion).
Base amount of available shots is 5, which can be increased by putting Skill Points into Fire Blast. Every 3rd Skill Point, Death Sentry gain +1 shot to a maximum of 11 (with Fire Blast Base Skill Level 18).
The Lightning Sentry part will only be used, if there are no corpses in the sentries' awareness range (10 2/3 yards).
The lightning beam behaves exactly as Lightning Sentry:
Monsters are pierced.
Travels in a straight line.
Every monster on the travel path takes Lightning Damage.
Death Sentry shoots at a rate of 31 Frames per cast (Every 1.24 seconds) before they expire. This rate cannot be influenced.
The Corpse Explosion is used when there are corpses within its Awareness Range (10 2/3 yards) with the following mechanics:
Death Sentry shoots at a rate of 31 Frames per cast (Every 1.24 seconds) before they expire. This rate cannot be influenced.
The Corpse Explosion is weaker than its Necromancer counterpart, dealing only 40 - 80% of the monster's regular base Life.
Damage does not increase with higher player count.
Its damage is split into 50% Physical Damage and 50% Fire Damage.
When the corpse's Monster Level > Character Level the damage is multiplied by Character Level / Monster Level.
Within the Area of Effect, the damage is always afflicted. It cannot be blocked by any means.
Burst of Speed
Cannot be active together with Fade
If cast a second time, the second instance always overwrites the initial buff, even if it is a lower Skill Level at the second cast.
The 3 variables (Duration, +% Walk/Run Speed and +xx% Increased Attack Speed) scale with the Skill Level (slvl).
Teleport instantly moves you to a selected square on the visible screen in which you can stand. The game tries to place you within a small radius around your cursor, even if it would be impeded normally.
Teleport is not obstructed by walls or other impediments, but can fail if your cursor is not completely passed those impediments when cast. Your Mercenary and Minions are teleported with you, Traps are not.
Certain Minions in large quantities can become “stuck” in position after teleporting. Move away from that position to give them the chance to spread out.
You can “extend” the visible screen by opening UI-windows like the Inventory or the Character screen. Continuously cast Teleport and drag your mouse to the edge of your screen.
The Mana cost of Teleport decreases with additional Skill Levels down to 1 Mana per cast.
You can use “ESC” to open the menu in single player to pause the game after a Teleport to determine if you are safe.
Summary
Place 5x Lightning Sentry on a single spot to focus fire on a target. After the target dies, place 1-2 Death Sentrys to blow up the surrounding monsters with the corpse.
Attacks from Traps now benefit from -x% Enemy Lightning Resistance on your gear! Use Crescent Moon, and Griffon's Eye!
Position your Mercenary close to enemies for the Conviction Aura.
Use Fire Blast for Lightning and Physical Immune monsters.
Keep up Burst of Speed at all times.
Use Fade instead of Burst of Speed if you want to cap Resistances and Physical Damage Reduction.
Cloak of Shadows and Mindblast are great sources of Crowd Control.
We hope you enjoy this build! A mix of extremely high safety and Crowd Control awaits you. With a total of 3 damage types you can deal with almost everything the game throws at you!
Good luck!
Credits
Written by Teo1904 Reviewed by MacroBioBoi and Lexyu
