User blog:Breywood/My First Kicksin Makes it Through Nightmare

With the Ladders so short now, I'm limiting myself to two new builds a ladder. Aside from my builder, a Summoner Necromancer and a Frenzy Barbarian, I decided for the first time to play a kicksin. Yes, you read that right, my first.

In normal, with some Cathan's pieces and a full Cleglaws set, she was a faceroll. Not familiar with the term? Just roll your face on the keyboard, she's that powerful. Andariel in less than twenty seconds. Mephisto in less than a minute. Baal in less than two. I used Burst of Speed, a single point in Cobra Strike and Dragon Talon and she literally blew through normal. Then again, I find with any melee character with a full Cleglaws can usually blow right through Normal.

Ok, so Normal doesn't matter? Fine. Nightmare.

Add a pair of Goblin Toes, Szabi's Mental Sheath and a pair of rare gloves with +2 to Martial Arts. It was some trouble, but nothing severe. Maxed out Dragon Talon, added some other one-pointers like Shadow Warrior, Fade and Venom. She was good until about mid-nightmare

Then I begin to discover what area my Assassin is weak in. Attack Rating. I used to have characters that compensated for that. Barbarians have Weapon Mastery. My Paladins, who are never anything but Avengers, have plenty of hit probability because they run around with a Conviciton aura. The Shifter Druids I build use Heart fo the Wolverine as opposed to Oak Sage. But with this Kicksin, there's only so much you can get out of leeching with a kick, and I find charge up skills to be of use. And if you can't hit, you can't get charge-ups. I also found mobs to be a problem, and without a lot of Faster Hit Recovery and not a lot of hitting, she's a ragdoll.

I make a Rhyme with this nice superior Heater, and a Blade Talon Claw becomes Strength so I can still get a Crushing Blow in 50% of the time. Late Nightmare, I upgrade the Goblin Toes to Battle Boots. I get a belt with 24% Faster Hit Recovery which replaces my old Sigon's, and a Light Plate with nice Lightning Resistances and some FHR. Last, I change the skill gloves for Bloodfists.

Now, to test that all out.