Melee - Phoenix Striker ver. 1.0 - Part 2 - Phoenix-Hawk




Extra Options:

Blade Fury:
Now Blade Fury can be a rather handy skill with the right properties helping out, the idea of it in these builds is to help out with the critters you'd rather not get too close too and help out with the Oblivion Knights when they cast Iron Maiden so while helpful you will not be using it too often most of the time. What you'll want is one high damage claw (a ethereal Suwayyah or Scissors Suwayyah Chaos claw would be ideal) in your left weapon slot then your second claw would have Blade Fury on it so you don't actually have to invest the points. There are a few other ways to make your Blade Fury set but this would be the easiest for this type of build. Socketing in an Um rune for Open Wounds and/or a Mal for Prevent Monster Heal in the claw in your left weapon slot wouldn't be a bad idea if you can do it.

Lower Resist:
This would be an especially good option for those builds just working around elemental damage (the E variant builds) as it will make the damage you do more useful. What you can do is to get a wand, dagger or stave that has charges of the necromancer skill Lower Resist. This will bring your target's resistance down some thereby increasing your damage but would still not help with those immune to that element (I think). It is also possible to get this on a helmet so you could use something else for your second weapon set and always have Lower Resist available.




Dual Claw or Claw & Shield?:
Here I would really have to say that dual claw is the way to go. With the three single element charge ups you actually get an attack speed penalty when using one claw while you get an attack speed bonus with two and each attack could get you two charges, one per swipe. If you want to use Natalya's Odium you could then increase your attack speed with kicks and any claw attack other than a normal attacks by dropping a claw with a faster than 0 base attack speed in your second weapon slot. Two claws means you can get more skill bonuses and as this is a skill based build more skill bonuses means more damage. Weapon Block can block at least some elemental attacks and the few extra points you may put in that skill can be made up by the skill bonuses you get from the extra claw. Then unless you try to wade into a group you can get by with lower blocking chances just fine by using Cloak of Shadows, Mind Blast your shadow and merc to limit the number of attackers going after you at once.

Now if you do go with the claw and shield option you would likely want to just work with Phoenix Strike for your elemental charge up skill as you actually get an attack speed penalty with the three one element charge ups when using just the one claw. Using a shield and enough dexterity to keep your blocking level high will then let you deal with a group at once more easily so you can inflict damage on more targets at once more easily. But if you're using Dragon Talon for physical damage you will not be able to put in enough dexterity to keep your blocking up so you then would not be blocking much.




Gear:
As a skill based build skill bonus items will be important but since you need to enter melee range to use those skills you'll also need a good defence level, high resistance levels and damage reduction. Getting all that can be done through Natalya's Odium (Nat's set) or a combination of various rune word items, uniques, set items and so forth. Good gloves here could be rare or crafted ones with Martial Arts bonuses and speed bonuses plus perhaps some resistance, leeching or other things as well. For boots upgraded Gore Riders would be pretty good if you're using Dragon Talon or standard ones if you're not then Shadow Dancers would also be good if you're not kicking. Claws could be the tricky part here as far as gear and present various options. Items that slow, blind or other such things would be a big help here. Items that add cold damage or freeze your target would help but if you want to use Death Sentry may result in no corpses, with these builds though that will not be as big of an issue most of the time as you can use other skills to spread damage over an area.

For claws if you're just using elemental skills or adding Dragon Talon for physical damage you could try to pick up some Greater Talons or Runic Talons with +skills. Bartuc's Cut-Throat would be one option another would be one of those two claw types with +2 to all and +1 to +3 to Phoenix Strike and two other useful skills if you're lucky. The claw could then come with Increased Attack Speed on it and if it's a rare claw you may even get two sockets as well. Now Bartuc's Cut-Throat are good claws but if you use low damage claws then the Iron Maiden curse will not have too much effect on you plus it is possible to get more skill bonuses to Phoenix strike as well as up to two others and Increased Attack Speed bonuses that way than with Bartuc's Cut-Throat. If using a claw and shield one of those types of claws or two of them if using two claws plus 60% Increased Attack Speed on the claw in the left weapon slot and/or other items would have you attacking at top speed or almost top speed with all your skills so you could then use Fade rather than Burst of Speed. If you want to use claws for physical damage as well then Bartuc's Cut-Throat or one of those plus the claw from Nat's set if using the full set would be good claw choices. Then if you're having resistance troubles and can get a Jade Talon claw that could be added to the mix as well with any of those build types. If not using Nat's set you could work around two weapon sets if you want to add physical damage with claws, one set could be for elemental or just Phoenix Strike charge ups while the second for physical damage. This option would be easier if you can't find those better claws then would just switch to one or the other depending on the type of critters you have to deal with and the resistances/immunities they have.



Your Merc:

Act II mercs seem about the best choice here as you should be able to throw around a good bit of damage and range mercs will be constantly pulled into melee range resulting in frequent deaths. The defensive mercs from Normal (Defiance) and Nightmare (Holy Freeze) would work well but you'll need to spend a good while leveling the one from Nightmare before he can be too useful, with you in there with him along with a shadow keeping him alive shouldn't be too hard most of the time though. The Offensive merc from Nightmare (Might) wouldn't be too bad either if you are adding a physical damage skill into the mix, especially if you play with other physical damage melee players. If you can pull it off though a Defiance or Might merc with a Doom rune word polearm would work out very well as then you'd either be more protected or do more damage with your physical attacks and monsters will be moving at 50% of their usual speed making them easier to deal with. A Holy Freeze merc with Breath of the Dying would be another good choice as then he can do some good damage and is slowing critters down by about 50% or a bit more once you level him enough. Although with the Holy Freeze merc he won't be doing anything to add to you directly and he won't get Holy Freeze much higher than level 12 without +skill items anyhow.

• See the "Tips for Solo Melee Fighting", "General Play Tips", "Finishing Moves" and "Assassin Attack Speed Notes & Reference" posts for tips, notes and ideas.
  
• So you can inflict damage on more targets at once Mind Blast may be more useful in shorter fights at times since then critters will be grouped together while attacking each other so you can get more at once with the area effect of your skills. In longer fights or in other cases you could start with Mind Blast then use Cloak of Shadows so once Mind Blast wears off they will stay grouped then you could alternate between the two as needed to keep the group together while you attack those on the outside or charge up on the stragglers. If you can get Cloak of Shadows up early though you could get them while they are still standing as one pack which is how all groups start.
  
• Charging not just Phoenix Strike but the single element charge up skills you're boosting would not be a bad idea if you want to put out more damage at once. Just be careful not to loose charges while charging other skills and you should use two claws when charging those skills as versus normal attacks with just one claw you actually get an attack speed penalty while with two you get an attack speed bonus and can get two charges per attack.
  
• Always try to get the critter raising minions from the dead early so as to reduce the length of your fights.
  
• For builds working around the elemental skills more an item with Lower Resist charges could be a huge help as it can raise the damage effect of all your elemental attacks by some 31%-41% (haven't see any items with above level 3 Lower Resist on it but they may exist). These could be purchased from merchants selling wands rather easily in Nightmare and Hell likely even Normal with enough trips as their item level is not that high on wands plus there are often many wands available. You could also get it on daggers, helmets and staves, except for staves all items have the same item level requirement, on staves it is 72 while other it is 36.