1: Make Next Hit Delay separate for each skill/effect (similar to the recent change making Casting Delay per a spell instead of universal). While not a direct skill change, it greatly impacts the Assassin for Next Hit Delay on one skill to negate the attack of a different skill. The most egregious harm is to Shock Web, which is worse than useless in combination with other traps because of Next Hit Delay. Note that for Claws of Thunder and Phoenix Strike each charge level effect should have their own separate Next Hit Delay counter.
2: Psychic Hammer does pathetic damage. Double the damage increase (for both Magic and Physical) per a point in Psychic Hammer (ie Add 3 damage per point instead of the current 1.5 damage per point). That would result in Level 56 Psychic Hammer doing approximately 520-640 damage (half physical and half magic). Compare this to level 54 Holy Bolt that does 838-956 magic damage (also piercing but limited to Undead and Demons). Then also give Psychic Hammer a synergy of +50% damage per a point in Mind Blast (comparable to the +50% damage increase Holy Bolt gets from Fist of the Heavens).
3: Mind Blast: At level 50 Mind Blast does 336-346 Physical Damage. Give Mind Blast a synergy of +10% damage per a point in Psychic Hammer. That should result in a level 50 Mind Blast doing ~1008-1038 Physical Damage with max synergies.
These two changes would create a caster Assassin, using Mind Blast against groups and Psychic Hammer against single targets. It would not be overpowered, with a clear speed well below that of a FofH Paladin. However, it would be a lot safer due to the Stun and Knockback effects and might be attractive to Hardcore players. More importantly it would create an entirely new build type and playstyle for the Assassin class.
4: Dragon Flight should have a way to reduce the frame rate. Increased Attack Speed, Faster Cast, or heck even Faster Run Walk. Just give me some way to get faster than the current 23 frames per a Dragon Flight. Any of the three actually could be argued for. It’s an attack, it’s almost spell like, and it’s a kick. Hey, maybe Dragon Tail and Dragon Talon ought to be based on Faster Run Walk instead of IAS, be kind of interesting. But the main thing is that there has to be a way to get the frame rate of Dragon Flight down. Maybe even consider halving the starting frame rate of Dragon Flight.
5: For Dragon Tail, allow the kick damage to be transformed into Fire damage before immunities/resistances are applied. Thus, Physical Immunes would still negate the fire damage from a Tiger Strike charge, but not the fire damage from the kick damage. That would allow Dragon Tail Assassins to always have a way around Physical Immunes like you would expect.
6: A major quality of life improvement for Martial Arts, remove the timer on charges dissipating without triggering them. They should last until you use them, or until you enter town.
The next set of suggestions are about giving the Assassin more Attack Rating, as that is holding back numerous builds.
7: Give both Burst of Speed and Fade a synergy from Cloak of Shadows, adding +20 Attack Rating per a point in Cloak of Shadows. That will be +400 AR when fully synergized. Not a plus percentage AR, but flat AR. The Assassin has a few ways to increase % AR, but not many ways to get flat +AR. This is perfectly flavorful, as you would expect skills like Fade or Burst of Speed to have an increased chance to hit when used by an Assassin skilled at hiding in the shadows.
8: Give Venom a synergy from Cloak of Shadows, adding +15% Attack Rating per a point in Cloak of Shadows. That is 300% AR when fully synergized. One of the reasons Enchant is so useful is because it gives Attack Rating. You can’t stack Fade and Burst of Speed, but you can stack those with Venom. Since the AR isn’t inherent but comes from synergies that means only the Assassin can benefit from this. Alternatively, if you want Venom AR to benefit other classes with Venom charges you should make the +%AR something that is inherent to the skill (like Enchant).
9: Give Burst of Speed a synergy from Tiger Strike of +25 AR. Again, flat AR, so +500 AR with 20 points in Tiger Strike. Tiger Strike seems like it has a flavorful synergy with Burst of Speed, and this is an alternative to using Cloak of Shadows.
10: Give Fade a synergy from Phoenix Strike of +25 AR. Again, flat AR, so +500 AR with 20 points in Phoenix Strike. Phoenix Strike seems like it has a flavorful synergy with Fade as they are both have a connection to element damage, and this is an alternative to using Cloak of Shadows to increase chance to hit.
11: Give Venom a synergy from Cobra Strike of +15 AR, +5% Life Steal, and +5% Mana Steal. Flat AR, so a total of +300 AR, 100% Life steal, and 100% Mana Steal with 20 points in Cobra Strike. Makes sense that Venom would get a synergy from Cobra Strike, life steal and mana steal being more flavorful, but still including some AR.
12: Give Fist of Fire, Claws of Thunder, and Blades of Ice a synergy of +15 AR and Damage +5 from Claw Mastery. Again, flat AR, and flat damage as well. With 20 points in Claw Mastery that would be +300 AR and Damage +100; will help with chance to hit on those charge up skills, and also adds some damage to the charge up strike. This is a natural synergy since these skills all require the use of Claws (compared to Tiger, Phoenix, and Cobra which do not).
13: Allow Cloak of Shadows minus Enemy Defense to effect Bosses at 50% effectiveness (eg instead of -90% enemy defense it gives bosses -45% defense). Also, allow Cloak of Shadows to be recast during its duration.
All of these changes will help the Assassin hit more often, helping the Blade Fury build as well as all the Martial Arts builds. Because Tiger Strike, Cobra Strike, and Phoenix Strike do not require claws I gave them a few additional ways to add AR, while the claw only Martial Arts I went ahead and linked to Claw Mastery. There are obviously still some additional improvements needed around damage and crowd control for Martial Arts, but hopefully this will help deal with the Chance to Hit issues.
14: Make the synergies for Fists of Fire and Blades of Ice from Phoenix Strike grant +0.2 yards radius per a point in addition to the damage increase, that will make the max radius 8 yards. Currently Claws of Thunder has significantly better synergy with Phoenix Strike because it has Nova on the second charge granting better range than the other two and more damage. This brings things more into line giving them all similar range, with Claws of Thunder having the highest damage but not as consistent damage, Fists of Fire having high consistent damage, and Blades of Ice having significant crowd control with Freeze/Chill.
15: Give Claw Mastery synergies from Fists of Fire, Claws of Thunder, and Blades of Ice of +5% Fire/Lightning/Cold Damage respectively. Basically 20 points in each of the respective Martial Arts doubles your claw damage, but in the appropriate damage type. It gives your charging attacks more damage for the claw focused Martial Arts.
16: Cobra Strike is much weaker than all the other Martial Arts due to the lack of additional damage and no area of effect. Increase the +AR% per point to 25% (ie 500% +AR at level 20). Add Poison damage to the Cobra Strike attack, probably starting around 20 Poison damage over 0.4 seconds, and increasing to around 300 over 0.4 seconds at level 20 with diminishing returns. Add 1% Chance of Open Wounds per a point to the first charge. Add a curse on striking of Drain Life -10 and Drain Mana -10 to the second charge with a duration of one second, increasing duration by one second for every point in Cobra Strike. Replace the Life and Mana steal on the third charge with Poison Nova, scaling up in damage at the same rate Poison Nova (without synergies) on the Necromancer does. Add a synergy from Venom that increases Poison damage by 10%, Chance of Open Wounds by 2%, and Drain Life/Mana by -2 per point. That should result in a Martial Art charge that focuses on damage over time rather than burst damage. It will still be rather niche I think, but might be useful with slower attack speed weapons, and maybe combined with a high damage finisher (like Dragon Flight).
17: Add elemental damage to the charge up attacks from Phoenix Strike. Perhaps as synergies from the various elemental claw charge up skills. Say +5% Fire/Lightning/Cold damage per a point in Fists of Fire, Claws of Thunder, and Baldes of Ice respectively. Also give +5% magic damage per a point in Dragon Flight. That would allow your charge up attacks on Pheonix strike to do elemental damage in addition to the damage dealt from releasing the charges.
18: Add a radius to the basic Tiger Strike charge up attack, I’d suggest as a synergy of +0.1 radius per point in Dragon Tail. Basically, the force of your blow is sending out a radius of physical damage as you charge up Tiger Strike (similar to Leap Attack).
Now let’s work on the finishers.
19: Give Dragon Claw a synergy from Weapon Block of +20% Defense per a point. Thus, a max of +400% Defense when using Dragon Claw (similar to Concentrate defense bonus on the Barbarian).
20: Give Weapon Block a synergy of +1.8% Faster Block Rate per a point in Dragon Claw. (This gives a max of +36% Faster Block Rate with 20 points in Dragon Claw, important for break points).
Weapon Block and Dragon Claw are the only two skills that require dual wielding claws so they ought to have some synergies. The addition of these two synergies will make Dragon Claw the defensive finisher of choice.
21: Give Dragon Tail and Dragon Flight a synergy of +20 AR per a point in Dragon Talon.
22: Give Dragon Talon and Dragon Flight a synergy of +0.1 radius per a point in Dragon Tail.
23: Give Dragon Talon and Dragon Tail a synergy of +5% Magic Damage per a point in Dragon Flight.
That would allow for pure Kicker builds that focus on kicks without using the other Martial Arts, while the bonuses of the charges are still valuable enough to make it a real tradeoff between the different build types. Now on to the Trap tree.
24: Reduce the Next Hit Delay on Blade Sentinel to 5 frames (down from the current 25 frames hit delay). Remove the casting delay (as a trap you already have limits on how many you can have out). Replace the +10% damage synergy per a point in Blade Fury with +10% damage synergy from Cloak of Shadows. Update the tooltip to accurately display the amount of Attack Rating you get from the skill.
25: On Blade Fury replace the +10% damage synergy per a point in Blade Sentinel with +10% damage synergy from Cloak of Shadows. Allow the Attack Rating from Claw Mastery to apply to Blade Fury (if wielding claws). Allow Blade Fury to apply Chance to Pierce, (maybe at 50% effectiveness?)
26: On Blade Shield add +10% Attack Rating per a point (like on Blade Fury). Make the mana cost a fixed 30 mana. Use the range on the players weapon instead of range 0 and remove the false “Radius: 4 yards” from the tooltip. Add +0.5% chance of blocking per a point in Blade Shield. Add +1% Faster Block Rate per a point in Blade Shield. Remove Damage +X (ie Grief) from effecting Blade Shield. Add the damage and attack rating on the second claw to the damage of Blade Shield. Attacker Takes Damage on a shield should be added to damage before ED is applied.
Blade Shield ought to have some defensive bonuses, with this you could forgo the damage synergies and just use Blade Shield as a defensive bonus. The range on the weapon is actually balanced for this version of Blade Shield and gives meaningful equipment choices. You can choose to use a range 4 two handed weapon, and forgo the benefits of block, or you can use a one-handed range 2 weapon with a shield, or you can dual wield claws for more damage to go with weapon block but that means range 1, or you can use a Wizardspike for the faster cast but have range 0 (like the current version). Removed Grief effecting Blade Shield though, because that is too powerful at range 2, but really, the skill is so much more viable this way I think it’s a worthy sacrifice.
The changes to Blade Sentinel should make it viable and shifting synergies from Blade Fury and Blade Sentinel to Cloak of Shadows means each skill can be its own build and Cloak of Shadows synergizes well with either while also being a matching flavor for the Bladesin.
27: Reduce the Next Hit Delay on Shock Web to 10 frames (instead of the current 25). Add a stun effect to Shock Web, with a 0.16 second stun length duration. That’s 2/5 the next hit delay at 10 frames (0.4 seconds), so a monster would be hit by this skill, be stunned for four frames, and then move for six frames and if it hasn’t left the Shock Web range be stunned again for four frames, ect (assuming of course that the enemy is not Lightning Immune). This would create a purpose for Shock Web, to serve as a way of creating “dangerous terrain” to slow enemies and achieve crowd control. It fits the visuals, the name, and gives this skill a purpose for a trapper.
28: Charged Bolt Sentry should inflict a level 1 Weaken curse on any monster it hits (but only on that specific Monster, it does not cast Level 1 Weaken). It should also Reduce Enemy Lightning Resistance by -X% per Hit, with X equal to 0.1% per point in Charged Bolt Sentry. This way Charged Bolt can serve either to support friendly melee or provide a way to pierce enemy Lightning Resistance.
29: Wake of Inferno should inflict Y% Chance Hit Causes Monster to Flee, and a Reduce Enemy Fire Resistance by -X% per Hit. With Y equal to 2% per a point in Wake of Inferno, and X equal to 0.1% per a point in Wake of Inferno. That gives Wake of Inferno a purpose, first as crowd control to herd monsters (you could place Inferno traps in a ring to keep monsters constantly fleeing), and to pierce enemy fire resistance, giving Fire Trap Assassins a way to natively deal with high enemy Fire Resistance.
That ought to give the three elemental traps rarely used a purpose.
30: Shadow Warrior and Shadow Master have a lot of complexity in how they currently work. One major problem is that they shared the same trap pool as the player. I suggest that it be simplified so that Shadow Warrior always summons a Martial Arts focused Shadow, while Shadow Master always summons a Trap focused Shadow. That way you can choose between a frontline defense (useful to a trapper) and a back line support.
For those who like complexity (I’m one of them), let the complexity be in the details of how the Shadows skill trees are filled out. That way those who don’t want to think about the more complex things can have a simple choice, while those that want to delve into complexity can do so if they want. Specifically, I suggest the following:
The point distribution of the Shadow Skill Trees ought to be controlled by the point distribution of the player, and then follow certain logic. Feel free to skip the next bit if you are not interested in the details.
Details on Shadow Skill distribution
For the Shadow Warrior, it starts with whatever points the player has put into the Shadow Disciplines and Marital Art Trees (excluding the two shadows), plus (((Shadow Warrior level) * (the number of hard points in the Trap Tree)/40) + Shadow Warrior level + Shadow Master level) points distributed by an algorithm that first raises a Martial Arts Finisher to 20 points, then raises a Martial Arts Charge to 20 points, followed by a Shadow Discipline (determined by the Finisher) raised to 20 points, followed by a Shadow Discipline (determined by the Charge) raised to 20 points, followed by a synergy (determined by the Charge) raised to 20 points, followed by a random distribution of any remaining points. Let’s give a concrete example:
A Level 98 Assassin with 100 points invested in the Trap Tree, 1 point each in Claw Mastery, Burst of Speed, Fade, Psychic Hammer, Cloak of Shadows, Mind Blast, Weapon Block, Shadow Warrior, and Shadow Master, with +13 All Skills (or All Assassin Skills), and +6 to Shadow Warrior (I assume from staff mods on claws).
The summoned Shadow Warrior will start with 1 point each in Claw Mastery, Burst of Speed, Fade, Psychic Hammer, Cloak of Shadows, Mind Blast, and Weapon Block. And gets (20*100/40) +20 +14, or 84 points to distribute by the algorithm.
First the algorithm chooses a finisher between Dragon Talon, Dragon Claw, Dragon Tail, and Dragon Flight. Optionally we could put something in the algorithm to always choose Dragon Claw if the player is wearing dual claws, and never choose Dragon Claw if the player does not dual wield claws. (I think this would be a good option and suggest that the Shadow be equipped with what you have in your right and left hands, but this is not necessary if people don’t like it). It raises that finisher to level 20, leaving 64 points left to distribute, so moves to the next step. (Prerequisites are ignored for the Shadow skill distribution).
It chooses a Martial Arts Charge skill, with the limitation that if the finisher is Dragon Tail it never chooses Fists of Fire, Claws of Thunder, Blades of Ice, or Phoenix Strike as the Charge skill (because these skills don’t work well with Dragon Tail). Optionally we could include a check to see if the player is wielding a claw, and if not, exclude Fist of Fire, Claws of Thunder, and Blades of Ice. (Needed if the players hand equipment is given to the Shadow). It raises the chosen Martial Art Charge skill to 20, leaving 44 points to distribute moving to the next step.
If the Finisher is Dragon Claw, the algorithm raises Weapon Block to level 20, leaving 25 points to distribute. If the Finisher is something else it skips this step, leaving 44 points to distribute. Either way there are points left so it moves to the next step of choosing a Shadow Discipline based on the Charge Skill.
If the Charge Skill is Tiger Strike the algorithm raises Burst of Speed to level 20 leaving 6 to 25 points to distribute (depending on whether Dragon Claw is the Finisher). If the Charge Skill is Cobra Strike the algorithm raises Venom to level 20 leaving 5 to 24 points to distribute (depending on whether Dragon Claw is the Finisher). If the Charge Skill is Phoenix Strike the algorithm raises Fade to level 20 leaving 6 to 25 points to distribute (depending on whether Dragon Claw is the Finisher). If the Charge Skill is Fist of Fire, Claws of Thunder, or Blades of Ice the algorithm raises Claw Mastery to level 20 leaving 6 to 25 points to distribute (depending on whether Dragon Claw is the Finisher).
Still having points to distribute, the algorithm chooses a synergy based on the Charge skill. If the Charge skill is Phoenix Strike, if distributes points among Fists of Fire, Claws of Thunder, and Blades of Ice until either all points are distributed, or all three synergies have reached level 20. (With between 5 and 25 points left, in this example all points all will be expended and the algorithm ends). If the Charge Skill is Fist of Fire, Claws of Thunder, or Blades of Ice, Phoenix Strike is raised till either points run out or Phoenix Strike is level 20). In this example, that means either zero, 4, or 5 points remain. If the Charge Skill is Tiger Strike or Cobra Strike the algorithm skips this step (leaving 5 to 25 points remaining).
Remaining points are distributed in the following priority (to a max of 20 points): Cloak of Shadows, Claw Mastery (if the Shadow is wielding a claw), Weapon Block (if the Shadow is dual wielding claws), Fade (unless Burst of Speed is already at level 20), Venom, Dragon Flight, Dragon Talon, Psychic Hammer. That should use up any possible additional points no matter the build, but as a safety measure, any points beyond this point will be distributed to Cloak of Shadows (pushing it above level 20).
Notice that no points will be put into Mind Blast unless the player has put points there (that way those who don’t want to deal with converted monsters don’t have to, but if you are using it the Shadow will have it too). This should result in a nice Martial Arts Shadow to support a Trapper. Of course, if you are a Martial Arts user, and you cast a Shadow Warrior, then your Shadow Warrior will have your Martial Arts and Shadow Discipline point distribution with points equal to the sum of your Shadow Warrior and Shadow Master to distribute (assuming no points in the Trap Tree). That could let you summon a rather powerful Shadow that is a similar build as you are.
Or maybe you want to summon a trap assassin to support you, then you cast Shadow Master. Let’s give a concrete example:
A Level 99 Assassin with 64 points invested in the Martial Arts Tree, 1 point each in Claw Mastery, Burst of Speed, Psychic Hammer, Cloak of Shadows, Mind Blast, Shadow Warrior, and Shadow Master, 20 points in Fade, 18 points in Weapon Block with +13 All Skills (or All Assassin Skills), and +6 to Shadow Master (I assume from staff mods on claws).
For the Shadow Master, it starts with whatever points the player has put into the Shadow Disciplines and Trap Trees (excluding the two shadows), plus (((Shadow Master level) * (the number of hard points in the Martial Arts Tree)/40) + Shadow Warrior level + Shadow Master level) points distributed by an algorithm. In the above example that would be (20*64/40) +14 +20 which equals 66 points to distribute.
The algorithm will then randomly choose between Wake of Fire, Lightning Sentry, or Blade Fury and raise that skill to level 20, in this example leaving 46 points to distribute.
If the skill chosen was Wake of Fire, then remaining points will be spent on Wake of Inferno, Fire Blast, Fade, Shock Web, Cloak of Shadows, Weapon Block (if the Shadow is dual wielding claws), Psychic Hammer, and Dragon Flight. Raising each to 20 points in that order of priority. If there are still points remaining after this, raise Cloak of Shadows above level 20 until all points are distributed. In the example given this would result in 20 points put into Wake of Fire, 20 points put into Wake of Inferno, 20 points put into Fire Blast, 0 points into Fade (it’s already at 20), and 6 points into Shock Web. Resulting in a decent Fire Trap Shadow.
If the skill chosen was Lightning Sentry, then remaining points will be spent on Charged Bolt Sentry, Shock Web, Fire Blast, Fade, Cloak of Shadows, Weapon Block (if the Shadow is dual wielding claws), Psychic Hammer, and Dragon Flight. Raising each to 20 points in that order of priority. If there are still points remaining after this, raise Cloak of Shadows above level 20 until all points are distributed. In the example given this would result in 20 points put into Lightning Sentry, 20 points put into Charged Bolt Sentry, 20 points put into Shock Web, and 6 points put into Fire Blast. Resulting in a decent Lightning Trap Shadow.
If the skill chosen was Blade Fury, then remaining points will be spent on Cloak of Shadows, Blade Shield, Fade, Weapon Block (if the Shadow is dual wielding claws), Psychic Hammer, Dragon Flight, Shock Web, and Fire Blast. Raising each to 20 points in that order of priority. If there are still points remaining after this, raise Fire Blast above level 20 until all points are distributed. In the example given this would result in 20 points put into Blade Fury, 19 points put into Cloak of Shadows (it already has 1 point), and 7 points put into Blade Shield. Resulting in a decent Blade Fury Shadow.
This complexity would allow the player to have some measure of control over how powerful and what kind of Shadow he summons. With even a build based around making the Shadow as powerful as possible. Let’s say a level 93 Assassin, with 0 points invested in the Martial Arts or Traps Tree, 1 point each in Claw Mastery, Burst of Speed, Cloak of Shadows, and Weapon Block, 20 points in Fade, Mind Blast, Psychic Hammer, Shadow Warrior and Shadow Master, with enough +Shadow Skills to reach level 56 Shadow Warrior, and level 56 Shadow Master.
You summon a Shadow Master, and it would start with 1 point each in Claw Mastery, Burst of Speed, Cloak of Shadows, and Weapon Block, and 20 points in Fade, Mind Blast, Psychic Hammer, with 112 points to distribute. Let’s say you get Lighting Sentry as your primary trap, according the algorithm you get 20 points in Lighting Sentry, Charged Bolt Sentry, Shock Web, Fire Blast, 0 in Fade (already at 20), 19 in Cloak of Shadows (already at 1), and 13 in Weapon Block (taking the Shadow up to 14). Making a very powerful Lighting Shadow.
Or you summon a Shadow Warrior, and you could get 20 points in Dragon Talon, 20 in Phoenix Strike, 0 in Fade (already at 20), 20 in Fist of Fire, Claws of Thunder, and Blades of Ice, leaving 12 to go into Cloak of Shadows (bringing it to level 13), giving you a powerful fully synergized Phoenix Strike Shadow.
Of course, I expect that this isn’t actually that good of a strategy (despite being able to get way more skill points in your shadow than you have yourself) just because Shadow AI is likely to be inferior to your own skill, but hey, it could be a challenge build.
All of these changes would greatly diversify the viable Assassin builds, and support very different playstyles. Which is fun! And I think sometimes we forget that is the main purpose of the game to give us fun things to try out and do.