This is my D2R Guardian #9 (others reported here, mostly) -- and oh boy, what a build this is. Honestly haven't felt such a power level since making my first Infinity and taking a Javazon to the cow level many moons ago. In fact, this Assassin feels even more OP, since apart from the crazy damage she is also insanely tanky and has literally no issue with any single monster in the game due to her mix of damage types.
Playthrough was straight-forward, I'll keep it brief: After twinking her with the usual route (envy jewel stuff, WoF), we leveled at NM Eldritch and then Pindle to get to level 65 to use Enigma and Infinity Merc. After getting to lvl 75 from NM Baal, she switched to the Mosaic build. That was even stronger then anticipated so I decided to take her P8 all the way through Hell, first time I had a playthrough to Guardian like this. There was barely any flinching through P8 Hell either.
Here's a P8 Baal run with her Guardian setup, which is by no means optimized at all. Basically just what I equipped after switching to the Mosaic build.
Guardian gear, also shown in the vid:
Build: 20 Fade, 20 PS, 20 BoI, 20 CoT, 9 FoF, 4 Claw block. Dex for Runic, rest Vit.
Key stats: at lvl 87
IMO this could really be the top 1 area running build in the game. It is also super fun, Mosaics are pretty cheap to make, and it's HC viable (which was my biggest question mark). Sounds about right.
Also lots of room for customization. Up to this point I went for a safe HC route with max DR, high claw block, non-max FoF ... not sure that's all needed to that extent. Both gear and build are due for some min-maxing as well. First, I gotta reroll the Mosaics, as mine are below average. I'll do that after RFL. THen I'll probably pile up some MF on her and go with things like Shako, Arach, perhaps Chancies or Bloodfist with circlet setups, other boots etc. Also might play around with sundered charms fpr specific targets.
In terms of future plans, I plan to play her through the both RFL rounds. Targets like Cows, Arcane Sanctuary, Chaos, Pit etc are all very suitable for her (longer runs so charging up is no biggie, and lots of monsters, basically).
Obvious final note being obvious: If you haven't made this build yet, do it!
Playthrough was straight-forward, I'll keep it brief: After twinking her with the usual route (envy jewel stuff, WoF), we leveled at NM Eldritch and then Pindle to get to level 65 to use Enigma and Infinity Merc. After getting to lvl 75 from NM Baal, she switched to the Mosaic build. That was even stronger then anticipated so I decided to take her P8 all the way through Hell, first time I had a playthrough to Guardian like this. There was barely any flinching through P8 Hell either.
Here's a P8 Baal run with her Guardian setup, which is by no means optimized at all. Basically just what I equipped after switching to the Mosaic build.
Guardian gear, also shown in the vid:
- 2/20/19@ circlet
- Enigma
- 2/15 MA craft amulet
- Mosaic Runic +2 Phoenix Strike, +1 Dragon Flight
- Mosaic Suwayyah +3 Phoenix Strike, +2 Shadow Master
- Raven
- FCR ring
- Verdungo
- War Traveler
- Magefist
Build: 20 Fade, 20 PS, 20 BoI, 20 CoT, 9 FoF, 4 Claw block. Dex for Runic, rest Vit.
Key stats: at lvl 87
- 2.9k life, 400 mana
- 38k max dmg with PS charge 2
- max DR%
- 53% claw block
- 58-75 max res
IMO this could really be the top 1 area running build in the game. It is also super fun, Mosaics are pretty cheap to make, and it's HC viable (which was my biggest question mark). Sounds about right.
Also lots of room for customization. Up to this point I went for a safe HC route with max DR, high claw block, non-max FoF ... not sure that's all needed to that extent. Both gear and build are due for some min-maxing as well. First, I gotta reroll the Mosaics, as mine are below average. I'll do that after RFL. THen I'll probably pile up some MF on her and go with things like Shako, Arach, perhaps Chancies or Bloodfist with circlet setups, other boots etc. Also might play around with sundered charms fpr specific targets.
In terms of future plans, I plan to play her through the both RFL rounds. Targets like Cows, Arcane Sanctuary, Chaos, Pit etc are all very suitable for her (longer runs so charging up is no biggie, and lots of monsters, basically).
Obvious final note being obvious: If you haven't made this build yet, do it!
Last edited: