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Dragon Tail

The Dragon Tail guide

Written by MrLlamaSC for Icy Veins, shown here with his permission. Read the original on Icy Veins· Skills and items link to their pages.

›Introduction

The Dragon Tail Assassin is a high Physical and Fire Damage build utilizing Dragon Tail and Blades of Ice to clear any area in the game. With Mosaic it gains even more power than ever before seen by the Assassin in Diablo 2: Resurrected!

›Martial Arts Assassin Skill Build

  • 1 point to all prerequisites

  • 20 points to Dragon Tail — Main Damage Skill/Finisher, required

  • 20 points to Tiger Strike — Charge Up Skill, required

  • 20 points to Cobra Strike — Charge Up Skill, required

  • 20 points to Blades of Ice — Charge Up Skill, required

  • 1 point to Dragon Flight — Useful for teleporting and repositioning Mercenary, required

  • 1 point to Cloak of Shadows — Useful for crowd control, required

  • 1 point to Mind Blast — Useful for crowd control, required

  • 1 point to Burst of Speed — Buffs movement and attack speed, required

  • 1 point to Fade — Buffs damage reduction and Resistances, required

  • 1 point to Weapon Block — If running two claws, make sure to place a single point into this skill, optional

›Martial Arts Assassin Stats Discussion

The following section discusses how many attribute points should be allocated to each of the primary stats.

How much Strength Does a Martial Arts Assassin Need?

Enough for gear — For a Martial Arts Assassin using a Spirit or Phoenix Monarch, this will be 156 Strength as that is usually the highest Strength requirement for commonly used gear. If choosing to use another shield or claws with lower Strength requirements, then just adjust your Strength to that value. This number always changes based on the gear you are using, though, so make sure to always double check the requirements for each piece of gear you have as well as how much Strength each piece will provide once equipped.

How much Dexterity Does a Martial Arts Assassin Need?

Enough for Gear — Dexterity is great for increasing Block Chance, but if you are not planning on investing points to max that out, it is often not worth taking any additional Dexterity, as the return on Attack Rating and Defense is very low.

3.2.1. How much Vitality Does a Martial Arts Assassin Need?

Everything else into Vitality — 250+ Vitality. Every excess attribute point should be allocated to Vitality, as long as you can meet the Strength requirements of your items by the time you wish to equip them. If trying to achieve maximum chance to block, you can allocate your attribute points to a mix of Vitality and Dexterity while leveling to maximise your survivability. An approximate 5:3 ratio of Vitality to Dexterity should keep both your Life and chance to blockat a reasonable level until you reach your Dexterity target.

3.2.2. How much Energy Does a Martial Arts Assassin Need?

Nothing — Allocating attribute points to Energy in a final build is universally considered sub-par for almost every character due to the widespread availability of Mana Potions. While leveling, if you find yourself struggling with Mana you can allocate a few points to Energy that you can then remove with a respec later on.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MrLlamaSC is a professional twitch broadcaster that has been streaming since 2014. His content focuses on Diablo 2 where he speedruns, creates guides, completes crazy challenges, and more! With roughly 30,000 hours in the game he is a D2 Master and has great knowledge of so many areas in the game.

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›Dragon Tail Assassin Mercenary

You can either hire a Defensive ( Holy Freeze) or Offensive ( Might) Desert Guard Mercenary in Act 2, Nightmare difficulty, depending on whether you want to slow monsters for added safety or improve the overall damage of your Mercenary.