Introduction.
Stats.
Skills.
Ideal Gear.
Ideal Inventory.
Optional Gear for the "Not So Rich."
Gear to Keep in Chest.
Leveling Guide.
Dueling Strategies.
Conclusion.

INTRO:

I have been a big fan of the assassin ever since LOD was released. They have so many unique and powerful skills at their disposal, so I have spent most of my Diablo playing time testing all the various types of assassins. With the 1.10 version now upon us, it has been discovered that WW for an assassin is one of the most dominant skills they can now possess. Also, with the help of some powerful synergies, lightning sentry is now one of the most feared skills in PVP games.

So, why not get the best of both worlds and make a PVP Hybrid Trap / WW assassin? That is the point of this guide. I am not making it for you to completely copy it item for item, and skill for skill, but more to give you an idea of the direction you are heading. It is your build, and your character, so feel free to change a few things around if you feel you have found a better combination.

* The order of stat and skill distribution for leveling through the game is all listed at the bottom. I put it there for anybody who instead of getting rushed, is going to be playing the character right through.

STATS:

Strength: Enough strength to hold your heaviest item. This will be your Chaos Claw at 99 required strength.
Dexerity: Enough dexterity to hold your heaviest item. Again, most likely this will be your Chaos Claw at 99 dexerity.
Energy: Leave your energy at base. Later on, you won't need it at all.
Vitality: Everything left over goes here. Your goal is to get your vitaltiy well over 400 and, with the right gear, that is easily attainable.

* With the help of the gear you will be using, you will probably only need about 10-25 points in str, and about 10 points in dex, and the rest will be VIT. As you can see, you can quite easily acheive the 400+ vit.

* Make sure you do your stats considering what items will be staying on forever, and what items will have to be taken off from time to time. You will need 1 free ring hand to wear a Wisp projector, and you may even need a free amulet so you can use an angelic set. That is all up to you, but make sure you consider it before putting your stats in.

* Also, of course don't put your stats in until you put on your Annihilus. I recommend wearing str and dex charms in the equal amount of your annihilus's + stats, so you won't make a mistake and waste points.

SKILLS:

20 Lightning Sentry
5 Shock Web
5 Charged Bolt Sentry
20 Death Sentry

15 Claw mastery
15 Venom
10 Weapon Block

1 Fade
1 BOS
1 Cloak of Shadows
1 Mind Blast

* Remember when your doing your Weapon Block lvl, you get an extra point from Battle Command, so you actually need 1 less point to reach your ideal block rate... Example: On the weapon block, it will tell you what you have at your current lvl, and what block rate you will get at the next lvl. Make sure you stop when you see that the next lvl will be your ideal number. That way, after you bo yourself, you will get that lvl of block.

* When you have finished all those skill points, the final things to max are venom and claw mastery. You will have to lvl up around 90 or more to max them, but do your best to get them close. Venom is your primary damage, and claw mastery is your primary AR. You decide what you are weaker in, and max that one first. I did claw mastery first because I found my ar to be a little low. I did venom after, but it is still lvl 18, and when I get around to lvl'ing 2 more, I will max it.

* You MUST have dragon flight skill on your Chaos claw. That will save you 4 skill points on the tree. Since hybrid sins require so many points to do, this is vital.

* Having Mind blast on your claw will save you 1 more point.

IDEAL GEAR:

" BER " Shako
Enigma MagePlate
Verdungo's
Trang ouls Gloves
Rare boots with resists (duped boots work best for non ladder, or if your on ladder, find some rares with good light/fire resist)
2 x Raven Frost rings
1 x Mara's amulet

Chaos Claw
ETH Bartucs Claw

CTA and Lidless Wall on switch

* notice that the gear is similiar to a standard WW assassin except for the Enigma and Bartucs. The reason you use enigma and not bramble, and bartucs and not fury is basically so you can get the +4 Skill lvls they give you to boost up your trap damage. You can wear WW sin armor and claws if you want, but you will be sacrificing trap damage to do it, and in my opinion not worth it, since your traps make up at least half, if not more then half of the build. I have however seen some effective builds using a pure ww sin set up, and pure trap inventory.

* You will "BER" your shako so you can have base Fade lvl and still achieve Max DR%. Ber shako, verdungo's, and enigma with base lvl fade will give you 50% or more DR. If you don't have Ber rune for the shako, then you may have to put a few points in Fade to reach your Max DR. If you don't know, for each point you have in fade, you recieve a hidden bonus of 1% Damage reduced.

* The reason you have Mage plate for your enigma is so you can have as close to base str as possible. My Hybrid sin has less then 10 points in STR and DEX due to the gear I wear. Annihilus + shako + mara's + raven frost + imp shanks duped boots + enigma all add up to all the str and dex I need.

* Remember, find a Chaos Claw with Dragon flight on it. Mind blast, shadow master, cloak of shadows, blade fury, blade shield would also be benificial extra skills to have.

You will need max resists in hell when dueling casters:

30% from anya quests
10-20% from annihilus charm
20-30% from mara's
55% from fade
the remaining will have to come from boots, and charms.

* You may choose to wear Eth Jade talon claws which would help your resists get up there without having to wear resist sc's in inv. Note though, if you do that, you will lose 2 trap skills that you gained with bartucs.

IDEAL INVENTORY:

1 x Annihilus Small Charm
10 x Trap Grand Charms
9 x 3/20/20 Small Charms

* If your lacking resists after you cast Fade, then you can wear some sc's to bring you to 75% max in hell. For those using duped boots, or boots with high resists, this won't be necessary, but if your boots have no resists, you will have to swap some max/ar/life sc's for resist sc's. You can also choose to wear 9 or maybe even 8 Trap gc's and thrown some resist Grand charms in their place. There easy to take on and off depending on who your dueling

* you use 10 trap gc's because you want your trap damage to reach about 5K.

* you can experiment around with what amount of trap gc's and shadow gc's to use, but after much testing, I found that after about lvl 85 when all skills are done, you are better off boosting your trap damage as much as possible.

* You can also use life / Ar sc's instead of the duped 3/20/20's, or just life sc's. You will lose the AR, but with a demon limb enchant, you should still be able to acheive a reasonable AR.

* I know many people still like to play as legit as possible, so please if you don't like the duped 3/20/20's or the duped boots, just replace them with the best legit items you can find. I personally use the dupes, but thats just me. The guide and the build in no way requires dupes to be effective. Sharp or steel sc's are almost as good, and with some patience and luck, you can easily find a nice pair of resist boots that are legit

OPTIONAL GEAR FOR THE NOT SO RICH:

* please note that as someone who can afford most of the good stuff, I don't spend a lot of time researching lower level items. If you have something that you think will be a good replacement for something I have said, or if I have missed anything, just go ahead and use it. I probably missed it not because its bad, but just because I haven't done much lower item research. Use what you can until you get the higher end items I have mentioned pls

Helms:

Shako is the best, and its also very cheap to buy, so I won't mention any others here

Armors:

Nats armor - a good second choice if you can socket it with 3 poison facets. Bear in mind that perfect facets are expensive, so it might be better to just get enigma.

COH - 2 skills, 8% DR, 20 str, and lots of resists. Its not a bad choice, however since it costs roughly the same as enigma, your better off just getting enigma

ViperMagi - This won't help your WW out at all, but it will add some nice benifits to your traps. 1 skill, fast cast, and resists.

Lionheart runeword - I always give it a mention because for low lvl runes, you get a lot of benifit. All stats, life plus nice resists.

Belts:

String of ears - You can get your 15% DR from this belt if you can't afford verdungo's.

Arachnid sash - If your not dueling melee characters, then you can use spider sash for the +1 skill lvl, and the fast cast.

Gloves:

Trang ouls are cheap, and by far the best so no need to mention others. 25% poison skill damage, and fast cast to help your mind blasting speed. Very nice gloves

Boots:

Gore riders - if you don't need the resists from the rare boots, then these are your best choice. Open wounds and deadly strike to help your WW damage

Sandstorm treks - ok boots, but not as good as the others. fast run, fast hit, str and vit, these will help you out

Waterwalks - again, not that great, but they will do just fine. Dex and big life with fast run.

Rings:

Low mod raven spirals are cheap and the still the best, so just stick with these. You will need the Dex and AR forsure

Angelic ring - A reasonable option, but remember to get the AR bonus, you need to wear the amulet, and that means you have to take off mara's. Probably not worth it...

Amulet:

Highlords - 1 skill, 20% ias to help your trap casting speed, light resist, and lots of deadly strike to help your WW damage. Not as good as mara's, but not bad...

Metal grid - if your ladder and can't get mara's, this is a good choice. Big resists and lots of AR.

Claws:

ETH Jade Talon - You will lose 2 trap skills, but you gain a lot of resists, so this may be a good second choice if you can't get eth bartucs.

Bartucs - if you can't get eth bartucs, or eth jade's, then use normal bartucs.

Jade talon - again, if you can't get eth ones, then normal ones will work also

Fury - I see no reason to use this, since its more expensive then eth tucs, but actually for a hybrid, there not as good.

GEAR TO KEEP IN CHEST:

* The number 1 most important extra item you need is Demon Limb. You won't be using angelic rings to boost your AR, so you will need to enchant yourself all the time to reach a reasonable Attack rating. I recommend you put a HEL rune in your demon limb if you don't have the str to equip it to enchant yourself.

* Wisp projector Ring. Its always good to keep 1 wisp ring to help you in duels vs lightning casters. I don't support the idea of putting on full absorb so you can't be hurt, so I like to limit the absorb to 1 item only. Wisp is the best choice given only 1 item

* 9 x 11% lightning resist charms. This is not required, but if your in a one on one duel with an FOH paladin, its a good idea to replace your bottom row of small charms with light resist charms, to stack up your light resists well above the 75% max in hell. It only takes a few seconds to put them on so its worth having them. You can easily take out foh'ers without these, but its a nice back up to have them in case the paladin is using absorb and is tanking your Traps.

* 9 x 11% cold resist charms. Same reason as above, except these are for one on one duels with Blizzard sorc's. They can peirce over 230% of your resists, so its a good idea to stack some up if your having trouble beating them. Again, you will beat bliz sorc's without these, but its only a back up if your having trouble. If you do support my 1 absorb item only rule, which many don't, but if you do, then remember to take off 1 of your raven frosts, because absorbing 40% of the sorc's damage may be considered BM.

LEVELING GUIDE FOR GETTING FROM LVL 1 - 80+:

Most people when making PVP characters just get rushed, and leech off baal runs so they don't waste any points. If that is what your plan is, then ignore this section. Here is a quick guide to help you get through the game if your not planning to leech.

For stats, its simple. Put every single point you have into Vitality until lvl 60. After that, you will want to save up your points, so by the time you hit lvl 70 to put on your annihilus and melee gear, you will have enough str and dex to wear it all without wasting any points at all. You will only need about 10 or so str and dex to do this, and after you can wear everything, then the remaining points from then on will be going into VIT.

Since your not going to be using any str at all with this build, your going to have to get yourself str charms in the amount of 45. That, added to the 20 str you start with will allow you to wear sigon set which has a str req of 65. You can wear sigon set effectively until well into the 40's or 50's. Since your a trapper to begin with, you will be getting use to staying away from monsters and using your mind blast. Defense won't matter much.

Put points in shock web as soon as you get it available to you, and use that until you can get Charged bolt sentry. Use charged bolt sentry until lvl 24 when you get lightning sentry. Use lightning sentry from then on. You can put as many points as you want in shock web and charged bolt sentry up to 10 in each because you will eventually be doing that anyway. They are both strong skills, and will allow you to hit lvl 24 really quickly. Faster then most other characters.

Once you can get lightning sentry, put points in that until its maxed out. You will basically be playing as a trapper until hell difficulty, because you won't be able to wear your WW gear until later on anyway.

At lvl 29 you can put on 2 sojs, which will help your trap damage, and give you more mana also. While your leveling through the game, you can be switching out the peices of sigon set for other caster gear that is better, such as viper magi armor, or shako helm, or anything that you can use without adding any str or dex. If you check the arreat summit, they list every item in the game, and I suggest you check out the normal and exceptional items from there to determine what you can wear at what lvl, and with str req of less then 65.

Once you hit lvl 70, you can throw on your annihilus and all your melee gear and you can play from then on as a hybrid. You will use traps mainly, but when you encounter lightning immune guys, go ahead and use your WW. You will also be using death sentry, which is a very valuable skill when you encounter lightning immune chars. Throw down 5 sentries and then start WW'ing guys. Once you get a few bodies on the ground, the corpse explosion will clear the rest for you.

The last things to put your skill points into is claw mastery, venom, and weapon block. I suggest doing both claw mastery and venom equally at the same time, because you will need both the AR and poison damage once you start using WW as an attack. Do your weapon block last, right before your ready to start your dueling.

This hybrid is quite effective in pvm, so you won't have any trouble making it through the game. There fun too, so enjoy it. Having 2 totally different attacks at your disposal is really cool. You can be getting use to your hot keys while you play through the game, so by the time your ready for PVP, you will have it down pretty good.

Of course, she's a killer in PVP.

DUELING STRATEGIES:

Here is the part you are all waiting for. Who will you beat with your hybrid sin? How will you do it? what strategy will you use and what gear should you wear? Its all here.

I have dueled every build type in the game, so I can pass on what I have learned to all of you who want to try this exiting build.

Bear in mind the info below is based on ELITE characters. These are the best of the best, not your average public game dueler.

Also, all details are based on the assumption that a maximum of 1 absorb item is being used by you or your opponent. It is not worth mentioning what to do if the guy has full lightning absorb on. In that case, your left with just WW tactics, and you will figure that out all on your own.

*** I don't use mind blast very often, so you won't see it much in my guide. It is however a skill in the game, and if you want, you can use it at will. I personally don't use it much, because I think WW is also so dominant, but if you have to, use it.

vs ALL SORC'S

easy duel - Set 5 traps around the area, and then go hunt them. They will be avoiding your traps by teleporting away from you, so just chase them on foot and when you see an opening, Dragon flight them and then Try to get a WW in. You can also set 1 trap after your dragon flight and try to get a mind blast lock on them. Sorc's are very afraid of trappers, so they tend to do more teleporting then attacking, which will be in your favour. Since you block over half their spells, don't be afriad to tank a hit or 2 to get a mind blast lock, or another dragon flight / WW combo.

vs WIND DRUIDS:

easy duel - Since the druid has to be right next to you to hit you, make sure you have traps around you at all times. You can set traps in the direction of the druid while walking towards them. Once they are on your screen, cast cloak of shadows. That will blind any summons he has, including the bear, and they won't attack you much at all. Then, just walk up and start WW'ing. You will have a trap or 2 hitting them also, and since they have to stand still to cast tornado, it will hit them a lot. The combination of 1 or 2 traps, and your WW is too much for even the best windy to handle.

vs MELEE DRUIDS:

easy duel - Set a few traps and Tank them. You can use mind blast for a certain kill, but its a little cheap to mind blast melee characters so try to avoid that. Just trade WW's with them and the traps in the back ground will assist your damage a lot. There is nothing at all they can do to you

vs FIRE DRUIDS:

easy duel - Set a few traps and basically hunt them with your WW. Once you see them, set 1 trap and then dragon flight / WW them. The ww and single trap will take them out faster then they can get you. Fire druids don't dish much damage, so don't be afraid to tank them.

vs SUMMON DRUIDS:

easy duel - cast cloak of shadows on them and you will have them. summons don't attack anything that is out of a very short range when they are blinded, so you will have the freedom to just stand back and trap them till their dead. If your cloak wears off, cast it again and they will once again stop attacking you.

vs BOWAZONS:

medium duel - Don't underestimate them. Play a cautious game with them, putting traps at the very edge of the screen in the direction they are. Most times it will hit them just once, cause bowazons are always on the move. Use a teleport once or twice to close the distance quickly on them. Once you have them on your screen, you have some choices. keep with the traps and use mind blast, or dragon flight / WW them. Either way, they will die pretty fast. I call it a medium duel because although you will win, they will also hit you. There isn't much way to get around that. Guided arrows will be following you and hitting you, as well as the spam of multi shot they do. You will have enough life though to get close to them to finish them off before they get you. But again, be cautious.

vs JAVAZONS:

easy duel - They will have to come right at you to hit you. Lay a few traps and trade WW's with them. You can use a wisp if you want, but I find its never necessary. They will hit you on average only once before they die, which isn't nearly enough to do significant damage. Tank them and you will win every time.

vs FOH PALLY'S:

medium duel - You can switch out your bottom row of small charms for the 9 x 11% light resist sc's if you want. Also, throw on that wisp. You will basically be WW'ing them with assistance from your traps in the back ground. The reason I call it a medium duel, and not an easy duel is because without angelic set, your ww won't hit as much as you would like it to. It will take a good 10 or 15 seconds to kill them, and there is no doubt at all they will hit you at least once or twice. If your having trouble, then just mind blast thier ass and there is nothign they can do. I personally don't cause you can easily get them with traps and WW, but do what you have to do

vs ZEALOTS:

easy duel - just like the other melee types, just set a few traps and trade WW's with them. Tank them to give them false hope, but your traps will shell them from the back ground and its over pretty quick

vs SMITERS:

easy duel - smiters are a great pvp character, but trappers are the one type of character I think they fear most. Same deal, set traps and tank. If life tap casts on you, then just mind blast them back and set a few more traps.

vs CHARGERS:

easy duel - again, melee chars just have to get too close. Make sure you have some traps set, and just wait for them to come at you. When they do, WW right through them, or you can WW in the opposite direction they are attacking from. That means they will be charging you while your WW'ing and they will get hit every time.

vs HAMMERDINS:

easy duel - Much like the smiters, hammerdins are a formidable pvp character. Not for the trapper / ww sin however. Set a few traps and when they teleport next to you to throw a hammer storm, WW striaght downwards away from them. You won't hit as much as if you were a pure WW'er, but you will get enough hits to hurt them. Your traps will finish them off from a distance. Remember, hammerdins can only hit you if they are directly below you. Hammers spam out of the top left of their character no matter what direction they are facing. Stay out of that area and you will never get hit.

vs SHOCKADINS:

easy duel - Standard melee duel. Set a few traps and dragon flight / WW combo them till their dead. You have a wisp in chest if you really need it, but not likely that you will.

vs NON WW BARBS:

easy duel - Traps and mind blast will keep them away till their dead, but if you don't want to mind blast, then go ahead and trade WW's with their attacks. You will hit them enough to let your poison damage do the work. What your WW lacks in power, your traps more then make up for it. Try to have your traps bunched together in the same line as you are WW'ing. That means, if your ww'ing from the top of the screen downwards, then then up again, have your traps either at the top of the screen or the bottom. There is nothing worse then having your traps at the sides, because they won't hit a moving target. If you have them in the same line, your fine.

vs WW BARBS:

medium duel - This duel can be a challenge, because barbs have such high life and defense, that your WW won't be very effective. Your going to have to trade WW's with the barb, but make sure you have 5 traps set out in the same line as the two of you are WW'ing. See above for a description on the line of the traps. Another good tactic is to have the traps in a very tight bunch right under your feet. That way, when you start to trade WW's with him, he will be in the right line to start with, and they should hit him the entire duel. If you notice he is beating you, try to back away and set some more traps. Remember, you can always fall back on the trusty Mind blast, but only if you need it

vs WARCRY BARBS:

easy duel - Since war cry barbs rely on the stun effect of their shouts to kill you, keep WW'ing. WW is uninteruptable, so as long as you stay ww'ing you will be fine. Keep your 5 traps out and they will die really fast. Remember they have to stand still to cast it, and when they do, you've got em.

vs POISON NECRO'S:

easy duel - they have to be quite near you to hit you with poison nova, so when they do, don't mess around here. Set 5 traps and mind blast them. Don't be brave, poison nova hurts because you won't have stacked poison resist. When they lower your resists, it will hurt ya. When they are about half dead from traps, Dragon flight them and WW to finish them off. If they teleport away, follow them with Dragon flights. Let your poison damage do the work.

vs BONE NECRO'S:

hard duel - I give bone necro's the hard duel rating because lets face it, they are amazingly strong pvp'ers. Don't underestimate them or you will die. Fortunetely you have 2 means of attack to defeat them. Walk towards them casting traps in their direction. Hopefully a few of them hit. If they aren't hitting because the necro is teleporting to far away, use your teleport also. Teleport once to close the gap, and quickly mind blast them. Once you have a nice lock on them, Dragon flight / WW. When they teleport away, set traps and repeat the whole process. You will win, but take your time and if you see a wall of bone spirits coming your way, don't be afraid to run or teleport away and regroup. Bone necro's are counting on you to be too agressive and walk into their bone spirits that are coming from off the screen. Be patient and cautious and you will win.

vs TRAPPERS:

hard duel - Their traps will be about twice as strong as yours. This means in order to win, you are going to have to melee them. Throw on that wisp ring, because no doubt he is wearing one vs you. Set your 5 traps and then run a semi-circle around the trapper looking for an opening to do a dragon flight / WW. As long as your on the move, you won't get hit by his traps. And make sure you stay off his screen, because as a pure trapper, he is going to be trying to get a mind blast lock on you. Thats what they do, so make sure your off his screen. If he does get a mind blast lock, then just WW off the screen in the other direction, regroup, and go back for more. You can WW through mind blast quite easily.

vs WW SINS:

hard duel - They will most likely have a wisp ring on, so your traps won't destroy them fast enough to avoid being hit. You will be hit. Remember though, you know what he is going to do, so use it to your advantage. You know that he will run in a semi-circle around your traps avoiding them, and when he gets a chance, he will flight you. Make sure you are standing in the middle of your traps, and as soon as he dragon flights you, WW his ass. If you have 5 traps set out, tank him. Trade WW's back and forth. You should come out on top, but if your losing that type of battle, then go to plan B. Side step him when he ww's, and use mind blast when needed. As long as you have 5 traps laid out, you can afford to be aggressive.

Conclusion:

I don't play diablo as much as I used to, so if you have any questions, it may take me a day or two to answer them. Also, this is just a guide, don't look at it as something to copy word for word. Use your imagination and if you want to experiment with different gear, charms, skills, or tactics, feel free to do so.

I find trap / WW hybrids to be the most fun PVP character I have ever used, and also the most dominant. In an absorb free tournament, I can't think of a character type that would beat it. Bone necro's and WW barbs are going to be your toughest match ups, much like they are for a pure WW'er. But with the added trap to your skills, you will beat them more then they get you.

* Its also a lot of fun to challenge certain people who are talking $!@% to you, to a duel with one or the other. Say to them, i'm so confident I can beat you, I will let you choose the method I kill you wtih.

What do you want, me to play all traps, or all melee? You choose, but either way your going to die...

It would be great if this guide met the requirements to get a sticky in the top assassin section. Lets see what people think, and maybe if the feedback is good, dabeerman, you can sticky it for me... thx

Enjoy everyone.