Dragon Talon Assassin (Kicksin) Build for Diablo 2 Resurrected

The Kicksin is a hybrid Assassin build that balances the use of melee attacks and Traps, making her less gear-dependant than othre melee builds and play through the game with relatively little resistance. The array of options available to the Assassin for crowd control and damage makes her a great contender for newer players.

You can check the viability of this build in PvM by consulting our PvM Tier List.

The following section shows the default skill build for the Kicksin. For a detailed breakdown of all core and optional skills as well as the recommended order for allocating skill points, refer to the Skills page of this guide.

1. 1 point to all prerequisites
2. 20 points to Dragon Talon — Main single-target damage skill, required
3. 20 points to Venom — Big damage boost, required
4. 1 point to Dragon Flight — Useful for teleporting and repositioning Mercenary, required
5. 1 point to Cloak of Shadows — Useful for crowd control, required
6. 1 point to Mind Blast — Useful for crowd control, required
7. 1 point to Burst of Speed — Buffs movement and attack speed, required
8. 1 point to Fade — Buffs damage reduction and Resistances, required

Strength	Dexterity	Vitality	Energy
Enough for gear; around 150	Enough for gear, generally none	Everything else	None

You can read more details about the Stats and Attribute requirements for this build on our Skills page.

The following section shows some of the most important Items for the Kicksin. For a detailed per-slot breakdown of all Kicksin items and alternative builds, refer to the Gear page of this guide.

• Weapon: Stormlash
• Weapon Swap: Call to Arms and Spirit
• Shield: Stormshield or Sanctuary
• Body Armor: Chains of Honor
• Helm: Guillaume's Face
• Gloves: Laying of Hands
• Boots: Upped Gore Rider
• Belt: Verdungo's Hearty Cord
• Ring 1: Raven Frost
• Ring 2: The Stone of Jordan or Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
• Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope
• Charm 1: Assassin Hellfire Torch
• Charm 2: Annihilus
• Charm 3: 9x Trap Skiller Grand Charms with Life or enough % Faster Hit Recovery to hit 86%
• Charm 4: 10 Small Charms with Life, Resistances, Mana, or Faster Hit Recovery, depending on needs

We also have a video guide that goes over the build, if you prefer that instead of or in addition to our written guide.

In Diablo 2, stats that affect action speed (known as frames) for attacking, casting, blocking, and recovering from a hit can almost never be taken literally. For example, gaining 10% Increased Attack Speed from an item will not necessarily translate into 10% faster attacks. To achieve faster actions, certain breakpoints must be reached, which vary for every class. The tables below list how much of a given stat is required to actually improve the action speed of the class for the stated action.

Hit Recovery Breakpoints
Frames to perform action	9	8	7	6	5	4	3
Faster Hit Recovery required to reach frame	0%	7%	15%	27%	48%	86%	200%

Faster Cast Rate Breakpoints
Frames to perform action	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9
Faster Cast Rate required to reach frame	0%	8%	16%	27%	42%	65%	102%	174%

Faster Block Rate Breakpoints
Frames to perform action	5	4	3	2
Faster Block Rate required to reach frame	0%	13%	32%	86%

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.

• Weapon: Ethereal Infinity
• Body Armor: Ethereal Fortitude
• Helm: Andariel's Visage socketed with a Ral Rune

The following section features a generic Kicker Assassin early leveling guide.

1. 4 Points to Dragon Talon
2. 1 Point to Claw Mastery at Level 5
3. 5 Points to Burst of Speed at Level 6-10
4. All Remaining Points to Dragon Talon until maxed out

For more comprehensive leveling advice, please refer to our Assassin Fastest Leveling Build.