Whirlwind Assassin

All about skills, stats, equipment of the Diablo 2 Whirlwind (WWsin) Assassin build

diablo 2 whirlwind assassin build
Art by Yisu Zhang

The Whirlwind Assassin or WWsin is an Assassin build that takes advantage of the Barbarian’s Whirlwind skill. She gains access to it by using the Chaos Runeword. This type of Assassin is designed mostly for PvP fights. However, it can be used in PvM as well.

The main disadvantage of this build is the short range of Claw weapons. It makes challenging the proper use of Whirlwind.

Whirlwind Assassin Skills

The build requires lvl 84, leaving you with 15 points to spend. Many players place them in Blade Shield or WeaponBlock

Martial Arts Tree

For PvP fights, you’ll need to acquire Dragon Flight in order to come close to your opponents. This skill’s prerequisites are Dragon Tail, Dragon Talon, and Dragon Claw. Dragon Flight can be useful for PvE too.

Shadow DisciplinesTree

  • Claw Mastery: It greatly increases your Whirlwind damage. Max out this one.
  • Psychic Hammer: It’s a prerequisite skill, so place one point here.
  • Burst of Speed: The increase in attack and movement speed is very useful for traveling long distances and evading projectiles.
  • Weapon Block: It’s a great aid to your sustainability. Don’t invest more than one point though.
  • Cloak of Shadows: It’s a very helpful tool for decreasing your enemies’ defense while protecting you at the same time. One point is enough though.
  • Fade: It provides sustainability as it protects you from magical attacks.
  • Shadow Warrior: A prerequisite skill for your Shadow Master. Place one point too.
  • Mind Blast: It’s a powerful crowd control spell, but there’s no reason to put more than 1 point.
  • Venom: You should max out this one because it grants a big boost to your damage, especially with many +Skills items.
  • Shadow Master: Max out your summon. It’s very effective at tanking and crowd controlling. Also, it provides some decent damage.

 

Traps

  • Fire Blast: It acts as a prerequisite skill. Place just a point.
  • Shock Web: Also a prerequisite.
  • Blade Sentinel: Invest a few points here as it adds extra damage alongside your Whirlwind. More points grant more blades (up to 5 blades)
  • Charged Bolt Sentry: Prerequisite
  • Wake of Fire: Prerequisite
  • Blade Fury: Prerequisite
  • Lightning Sentry: Prerequisite
  • Death Sentry: The Corpse Explosion effect of this Trap is helpful against large groups of monsters, especially for Physical Immunes.

Whirlwind Assassin Stats

  • Strength: Invest about 115-130 points here. They should be enough to equip your proper items.
  • Dexterity: Place enough points in order to equip your Claws.
  • Vitality: As the majority of the Assassin builds, place the rest of your points in this attribute.
  • Energy: Don’t waste any points in your mana pool.

Mercenary

The best possible choice is a defensive Mercenary (Act 2 – Nightmare) with Holy Freeze Aura. This way you can slow down tour enemies and hit them easier with Whirlwind.  If you prefer a more offensive setup, choose the offensive version of this mercenary with Might Aura to boost your damage output.