An overview of the balance changes made to Assassin skills in Patch 2.4 in Diablo 2 Resurrected.

Martial Arts¶

The Trap Assassin has long been the preferred build for Assassins, as Martial Arts simply lacked crowd control and raw damage to compete. That being the case, Martial Arts has seen a significant increase in damage and utility, in the latter case due to the fact that finishers now only consume one charge instead of all three. This makes gameplay more frenetic and less deliberate, but more importantly it allows the Martial Arts Assassin to perform a full-charge finisher every other attack, rather than every fourth attack. These changes might not be enough to allow the Martial Arts Assassin to compete with, say, the Blizzard Sorceress or the Blessed Hammer Paladin, but the Martial Arts Assassin is far more viable than it used to be.

Fist of Fire

• Attack Rating bonus increased from +15% to +25% baseline, and from +7% to +10% per level

Claws of Thunder

• Attack Rating bonus increased from +15% to +25% baseline, and from +7% to +10% per level

Blades of Ice

• Attack Rating bonus increased from +15% to +25% baseline, and from +7% to +10% per level

Tiger Strike

• Attack Rating bonus increased from +15% to +25% baseline, and from +7% to +10% per level

Cobra Strike

• Attack Rating bonus increased from +15% to +25% baseline, and from +7% to +10% per level

Phoenix Strike

• Attack Rating bonus increased from +15% to +25% baseline, and from +7% to +10% per level

Dragon Talon

• Now consumes only 1 of each Martial Arts charge when cast
• Now always hits the target only if the Assassin has any Martial Arts charges

Dragon Claw

• Now consumes only 1 of each Martial Arts charge when cast
• Now always hits the target only if the Assassin has any Martial Arts charges
• Damage bonus per level increased from 5% to 15%

Dragon Tail

• Now consumes only 1 of each Martial Arts charge when cast
• Now always hits the target only if the Assassin has any Martial Arts charges
• Damage bonus per level increased from 10% to 20%

Dragon Flight

• Now consumes only 1 of each Martial Arts charge when cast
• Now guarantee hits the target only if the Assassin has any Martial Arts charges
• Casting Delay removed
• Damage bonus per level increased from 25% to 35%

Shadow Disciplines¶

Not a whole lot of changes to Shadow Disciplines, as these were largely already pretty potent and useful.

Fade

• Tooltip updated to now show the physical damage resist reduction

Venom

• Buff Duration scaling per level changed from 4 seconds to 12 seconds (matching Burst of Speed and Fade)

Shadow Warrior

• Casting Delay reduced from 6 seconds to 0.6 seconds
• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Shadow Master

• Casting Delay reduced from 6 seconds to 0.6 seconds
• Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
• Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Traps¶

Traps have long been the go-to skill tree for the Assassin, which effectively turns the Assassin into a caster, albeit one who can’t directly target enemies, and one whose skills aren’t affected by cast rate. Still, it gives the Assassin some much-needed crowd control, and Lightning Sentry is quite potent. The changes to this tree were pretty significant, as Lightning Sentry no longer recieves its standard +12% damage/level synergy bonus from Death Sentry, but its existing synergy bonuses (Charged Bolt Sentry and Shock Web) were both increased by +6%, making it a wash.

While Lightning Sentry is still the damage king, fire traps are now somewhat more competitive with Wake of Inferno dealing respectable damage and Wake of Fire having impressive AoE if somewhat mediocre damage output. Of course, one needs to keep in mind how ubiquitous fire resistance/immunity in Hell difficulty is, which will take the edge off any fire damage you deal.

Finally, Death Sentry no longer gives synergy bonuses to any other skill save for Lightning Sentry and Fire Blast, which removes the need for most builds to max the skill. Since the most appealing part of its effect is its Corpse Explosion, investing in it is still worthwhile for most trap builds, but you’re not obligated to max it anymore.

Shock Web
Removed synergy from Death Sentry skill
Charged Bolt Sentry synergy increased from +11% to +17%
Lightning Sentry synergy increased from +11% to +17%
Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay

Charged Bolt Sentry
Removed synergy from Death Sentry skill
Fire Blast synergy increased from +6% to +9%
Lightning Sentry synergy increased from +6% to +9%

Lightning Sentry
Removed synergy from Death Sentry skill
Shock Web synergy increased from +12% to +18%
Charged Bolt Sentry synergy increased from +12% to +18%

Fire Blast
Removed synergy from Death Sentry skill
Shock Web synergy increased from +9% to +11%
Charged Bolt Sentry synergy increased from +9% to +11%
Wake of Fire synergy increased from +9% to +11%
Lightning Sentry synergy increased from +9% to +11%
Wake of Inferno Sentry synergy increased from +9% to +11%

Wake of Fire
Fire Blast synergy increased from +8% to +10%
Wake of Inferno synergy increased from +8% to +10%

Wake of Inferno
Removed synergy from Death Sentry
Fire Blast synergy increased from +10% to +18%
Wake of Fire synergy increased from +7% to +18%
Added yards calculation to the Wake of Inferno tooltip

Blade Sentinel
Casting Delay reduced from 2 seconds to 1 second
Casting Delay will no longer share its cooldown with other skills that have Casting Delays
Tooltip updated to now display Casting Delay
Missile speed increased by 20%
Weapon Damage increased from 37% to 75%
Blade Fury synergy added: +10% Damage per level
Blade Shield synergy added: +10% Damage per level

Blade Fury
Blade Sentinel synergy added: +10% Damage per level
Blade Shield synergy added: +10% Damage per level
Attack rating increased by 10% per level

Blade Shield
Duration baseline value increased from 20 seconds to 120 seconds (matching Burst of Speed and Fade)
Duration scaling per level increased from 5 seconds to 12 seconds (matching Burst of Speed and Fade)
Weapon Damage increased from 25% to 75%
Blade Sentinel synergy added: +10% Damage per level
Blade Fury synergy added: +10% Damage per level
Tooltip updated to now display Radius