Fire Trapsins are a less common Assassin build, but do have a lot of damage potential and high levels of survivability. The build is also one of the fastest of all characters in progressing through the game and levelling up. The main skill is the Wake of Fire trap which releases “V” shaped infernos in rapid succession burning all enemies it passes through.
The Wake of Fire damage can be supplemented by the Fire Blast skill and also the Death Sentry trap, which uses the Necromancer’s Corpse Explosion skill on dead enemies to inflict huge amounts of area damage.
This build his historically not been very viable given the large amounts of Fire Immune monsters in Hell difficulty, however with the introduction of the Flame Rift sunder charm this is no longer an issue. Fire Trapsins have very high survivability as there is no need to engage in melee combat, and we can sit back and watch monsters fall to our traps – we can also summon a Shadow Master for extra protection, and confuse monsters to fight along by our side with the Mind Blast ability.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
Cons:
Skill Tree
Martial Arts:
Shadow Disciplines:
Traps:
The above skill point allocation will take you to level 82, beyond this place points into either Burst of Speed (Softcore) or Fade (Hardcore).
Levelling
The Assassin class benefits from one of the fastest levelling builds available in the game, particularly for the Fire Trapsin who uses all of the early game spells in the end game build. 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.
Nightmare becomes more difficult from Act 4 onwards where monsters begin to build Fire Resistance, this can be negated somewhat by purchasing a wand with Lower Resist charges and casting this on enemies to boost trap damage. In Hell there will be lots of fire immune monsters that we cannot kill (unless your Mercenary has strong gear) until we gain either the Fire Rift sunder charm or “Infinity” Runeword for our Mercenary – until you get one of these D2R Ladder Items I would recommend not engaging these Fire Immunes and skipping them.
Early Game
This section is intended to showcase an item build that is achievable after completing the game and you are ready to start farming Hell. Most of these items are easily obtained and is a good starting base to be able to farm specific zones through hell. Some of the runes and items may require repeat farming of the Countess or Andariel / Mephisto however they are all common and should not take a long period of time.
Helm: “Lore” (Ort Sol) / Peasant Crown
Amulet: +X to Assassin Skills / Life + All Resistances/
Weapon #1: “Spirit” Runeword (Tal Thul Ort Amn)
Shield: “Ancient’s Pledge” Runeword (Ral Ort Tal)
Weapon Switch; Magic wand with Lower Resist Curse charges
Armor: “Treachery” (Shael Thul Lem) / Skin of the Viper Magi
Gloves: Bloodfist Heavy Gloves / Death’s Gloves
Belt: Utility Belt (Life / Resistances) / Death’s Belt
Rings Utility Rings (Life / Resistances)
Boots Rare Boots with Faster Run Walk and Resistances
Inventory: Life / Resistance Charms
Mercenary: Act 2 Desert Mercenary with “Might” Aura and “Insight” Runeword (Ral Tir Tal Sol)
An alternative option for the early game is to try and obtain the full Natalya’s Set, which is the class specific set for Assassins. It is relatively cheap but provides great bonuses from obtaining the full set which help this build.
The Death’s set is not often seen and is very easy to get hold of, the 2 item bonus we receive from the Gloves and Belt is +30% Increased Attack Speed and +15 All Resistances which is huge for an early game build – especially from 2 cheap and easy to obtain items.
Early game farm locations are similar to most other non-teleport builds, and I would recommend focusing your attention in The Secret Cow Level which is a high density area and known for dropping high runes. If you intend to farm this area I would recommend obtaining the Death Sentry skill in the Trap tree. Death Sentry casts Corpse Explosion on corpses which deals Physical and Fire damage equal to a portion of the monsters life, Hell Bovine have large amounts of life so this works to our advantage. Round up large groups of Cows and lay down 5x Wake of Fire traps, as soon as 2 – 3 Cows die cast 2x Death Sentry traps to cast Corpse Explosion and watch the full pack die extremely fast!
End Game
The End game build is expensive however a lot of fun and one that is not often seen, making you stand out from the crowd! The build hits the 10 frame Faster Cast Rate breakpoint (102%) making it very mobile and able to host baalruns for levelling.
Helm: “Flickering Flame” Runeword (Nef Pul Vex)
Amulet: Mara’s Kaleidoscope
Weapon #1: “Heart of the Oak” Runeword (Ko Vex Pul Thul)
Shield: “Spirit” Runeword (Tal Thul Ort Amn)
Weapon Swap: “Call to Arms” Runeword (Amn Mal Ral Ist Ohm) and “Spirit” Shield (Tal Thul Ort Amn)
Armor: “Enigma” Runeword (Jah Ith Ber)
Gloves: Trang Oul’s Claws
Rings: 2x Stone of Jordan or Bul Kathos’ Wedding Band
Belt: Arachnids Mesh
Boots: Rare Boots with 30 Faster Run / Walk, 10 Faster Hit Recovery, Cold, Fire and Lightning Resistances
Inventory: 7x Grand Charms with + Trap Skills and + Life
1x Flame Rift Sunder Charm
9x Small Charms with Life and Resistances
Annihilus Small Charm
Assassin Hellfire Torch Large Charm
1x Horadric Cube
Mercenary: Act 2 Desert Mercenary with “Might” Aura and “Infinity” Runeword (Ber Mal Ber Ist), ethereal “Fortitude” (El Sol Dol Lo) and Andariel’s Visage with an Increased Attack Speed and Fire Resistance Jewel.
Stats
Strength: Enough to wear your gear
Dexterity: Enough to wear your gear
Vitality: The remainder of your points should be put here
Energy: None
Hardcore
Fire Trap Assassin is a viable option for Hardcore. With a few minor changes to gear set up and stat distribution you can still achieve a great amount of success with a low chance of death. The first change is to swap shields. The unique Monarch Stormshield is the best in slot option, boasting an incredible Chance to Block, extremely good Damage Reduction along with nice Defence, Strength bonus and some added Resistance. Having The Skill Fade up at all times, your resistances to all elements will be maxed and with a high amount of Damage Reduction from Fade and Stormshield.
Your stat allocation will change slightly as you will need to add more points into Dexterity to reach a 75% chance to block. You will drop a Faster Cast Rate frame from losing your “Spirit” shield, and we’ll need to make up 25% from a Caster Amulet + Assassin Skills and Faster Cast Rate rings (1 or 2 depending on how much Faster Cast Rate is on your Amulet).
Playstyle
The Playstyle for an Assassins in general relies on timing of your skills, both the laying of traps and the casting of supplementary skills.
You will want to pre buff yourself and your Mercenary with Battle Command for the extra skill followed by Battle Orders to increase both your life and mana pool. If you are playing Softcore cast the Burst of Speed skill, if you’re Hardcore then make sure you cast Fade. We use the Teleport skill from “Enigma” to move around the map and search for Unique / Champion packs or bosses to kill. The end game build is effective in killing both Bosses and general monsters, so whichever farming location you prefer you can target. Cast 5x Wake of Fire Traps immediately and make sure your Mercenary is getting into the action to ensure the Conviction aura is applied to the monsters.
Against bosses you can cast Fire Blast alongside your traps (which are surprisingly strong!) to boost your damage. If you’re fighting big packs of monsters and need some extra protection cast Mind Blast on a few to confuse them and make them fight along by your side, acting as a meat shield and protecting you. Also against larger packs once you notice 2 – 3 monsters die, cast 2x Death Sentry traps for the Corpse Explosion spell to be cast on their bodies and deal large amounts of area damage. Fire traps cast their spells very quickly and therefore expire in a short space of time, monitor them and as soon as you see or think they’re about to expire cast some more.
Ubers
Assassins are a popular choice for fighting Diablo Clone and Ubers, it is possible with alterations to the skill point allocation however if you intend to fight Ubers with an Assassin I would recommend making a specific build for it as “hybrids” are difficult to master. Below is an option for a Hybrid build using the Dragon Talon Martial Arts skill (you will need quite a few points here!).
As with any Uber build, we want to maximise our % chance of Crushing Blow as this will deal the most damage to the Ubers. My recommendation for the gear is to swap out the helmet for Guillaume’s Face (high % Crushing Blow), our belt for String of Ears, our gloves for Dracul’s Grasp (% chance to cast Life Tap), weapons for Fleshripper (everything you want for fighting Ubers) and Stormshield and boots for upgraded Gore Riders. If your attack rating is low, you can also use a Ring and Amulet from the Angelic set for a huge boost.
The process is simple – cast all your prebuffs including Fade (very important!), isolate the Ubers then begin kicking them with Dragon Talon. Dragon Talon is not guaranteed to hit which is why it is important to gain a high Attack Rating (and therefore a high skill level in Dragon Talon), but with the gear recommended above you should have enough. Life Tap will be cast within a few hits which provides a huge amount of life steal and will sustain you through the fight. Watch them fall and pick up your new shiny Hellfire Torch! If you'd rather skip farming or levelling you can quickly Buy D2 Resurrected Runes at our store.
Article From: Fire Trap Assassin D2R Build Guide
