Melee Assassin Guide (as requested in Sorc Setup thread)
 

HandOfHeaven's New Melee Assassin Guide

Here is a melee assassin build I came up with. I think my stat distribution should be better, but here goes. Oh and the main skills are Dragon Claw and Phoenix Strike. ENJOY!
ITEMS:
Helm: Crown of Ages (I would socket with an UM and IST/Topaz): Delirium
Armor: Chains of Honor; Enigma; Shaftstop
Ammy: Mara’s Kaleidoscope (of course)
Rings: Bul Kathos’ Wedding Band and Stone of Jordan
Boots: Shadow Dancer
Gloves: Soul Drainers
Belt: Arachnid Mesh
Weapon Combo’s
Eth Bartuc’s Cutthroat (upgraded) and Shadow Killer
Jade Talon and Shadow Killer
2x Chaos Scissors Suwayyahs (if you must ww)

Skills:
20 Claw Mastery
20 Phoenix Strike
20 Dragon Claw
5 Venom
5 Shadow Master
5 Fists of Fire
5 Claws of Thunder
5 Blades of Ice
1 Psychic Hammer, 1 Cloak of Shadows, 1 Mind Blast, 1 Weapon Block, 1 Cobra Strike, 1 Dragon Tail, 1 Tiger Strike, 1 Dragon Flight, 1 Burst of Speed, 1 Fade, 1 Dragon Talon
You will have used 96 skill points for this, so it is going to be around a lvl84 when completed (if all skill quests are completed). I suggest the rest of the points go into Venom or Shadow Master.
Sort of winging it from here, but whatever.
Stats:

Strength: 180
Dexterity: 165
Vitality: 145
Energy: 100
(This is at lvl 99)

You will be using Phoenix Strike as your main skill, and with all the leach in this build, I don’t believe you will run out of mana that fast. And the Dragon Claw is your right-click attack. Remember to renew Venom and you Shadow Master once in awhile, as the venom adds 200-300 at the skill levels and the master is a good ally. I Advise an Act II Might Merc with Doom (for double aura; Holy Freeze and Might), Leviathin, Shako.

Thanks, HandOfHeaven.

Please Comment on this build.

Good stuff, cool beans...
I would of put it all into blade fury, DUH..

Please read thread title, MELEE. You are entitled to your opinion though I guess...

Now I have no excuse not to build one. I do have a few questions though. Why not Nat's set? For the Gloves I would think Drac's would be a better choice? I mean it is invaluable to my zelaot. Once the curse hits theres almost no way I can die (except if im completely surrounded by listers' friends). Also I noticed you omitted any Cannot be Frozen items. I usually endup having a raven frost as one of my rings on every melee build. For the belt, why Arachs? Verdungos would suit a melee character better right? Anyways, thanks for the build dude. Ill try it out and let you know how I do.

Personally, this is what I would be looking at for equipment (off the top of my head):
Helm: Vampire Gaze
Armor: 'Enigma'
Left Hand: Eth Upgraded 'Tucs
Right Hand: 'Chaos' Runics
Gloves: Dracul's Grasp
Belt: String of Ears
Boots: Shadow Dancer
Ring1:Bul Kathos' Wedding Band or Crafted Life Leech ring.
Ring2: Raven Frost.
Amulet: Highlord's Wrath

Your build doesn't look too bad. When I get a little more time, I'll see about thoroughly researching a melee Assassin and see what I come up with. :)

nice build but its really veryimportant to use antyfrozen items(sorry couldn´t find one) and i think 100 on energy is to much for an melee char
MFG

LMAO Aracnid for a melee assassin?! Omfg that is the most newb thing I have ever heard....

Yeah, I just made this build up in about 15 minutes. As for Nats, if you were using Chaos and wanted to ww it would slow it down greatly with the slowness of Nat's Mark. I guess Verdungo would be a better choice, for a second there I might've thought it was a person lacking mana.You might think of putting a Cham in the Crown of Ages instead of an IST. I have Soul Drainers in there for the high dual leech.