Add more than 1 to shadow master?

[Hotshot]

Now I think it's pointless to 'trade' in a singleplayer forum. Moreover, it's amazingly easy to dupe stuff so I have no idea how items could retain any sort of value, but that's not why I'm here.

I'm playing an untwinked hardcore lightning trapper, soloing the game on /players 8. So far I'm around midway though Act 3 nightmare. My level 3 shadow master (+1 assassin skills, +1 shadow skills, lvl 1 base) is totally worthless for fighting anything, and is a pretty poor tank as well. I'm dual-clawed and very high vita'd, so I'm actually a lot better at tanking than my act 5 merc and my shadow master put together.

However, I don't think I can keep up with resists as well as my shadow master once (if) I get to hell, and pets aren't affected by the penalty. Does adding more points to it make it a better tank, or would it be better to add my spare points into fireblast instead?

[BeaverusIV]

You put 17 points into it to give it the best gear it can spawn with, hard points or after +skills is your choice.

[saracen85]

you can gamble for 2x shadow claws to provide +6 shadow skills on switch.

as to skill levels on sm, i think you can get by at level 11. at lvl13, you're only adding a rare ring. lvl17 only a rare amulet. best thing about her is that she can cast mind blast alongside you.

as for sw, iirc if you can get her to cast fade, she could be possibly elementally immune.

so, it's all about preference.

for more info;

http://www.mannm.org/d2library/faqtoids/minions_eng.html#swarr

[Gore Deity]

I'm about to face baal on Hell... and believe me, I'll do it with no hands...
ever since lvl30, the shadow has really been a decoy, perfect for the way the trapsin usually plays. you know shadow warrior only mimics your skills, but shadow master even has the skills that you don't, so just whistle and it's there... i'm serious about this. even if you're chased by a whole bunch of creeps or whatever, and you don't have time to mind-blast them, she will, haha. but don't let me get out of the subject.
you need a tank, right? well, shadow master is a tank that can do more than 2k damage, if you put enough points into her. she'll have more life points than you (probably). mine is above lvl20 and that's why i don't bother... you can look at these pictures and you'll see what I mean... just see where she's standing - on the first pic she's in that circle of chaos making that finishing move while i'm practically napping.

http://geocities.com/goredeity/salads/Chaos_shadow.jpg

on the second pic she "eats" 95 percent of mephy's attacks, no matter nightmare or hell, so you can relax LOL

http://geocities.com/goredeity/salads/Frying_pan.jpg

and of course, this one. Can I have some coffee please??? (You get the point, right?) LOL

http://geocities.com/goredeity/salads/can_i_have_some_coffee.jpg

[Hotshot]

saracen, thanks a lot for the info and link.

Gore, the difference is you already had equipment that added +skills, while I intentionally started from scratch. Mine's probably never going to have the tanking power of yours. Actually since I added some points to fade and claw block, I'll be a bit short on skillpoints, so I have to chose my points wisely. I think I'm going to try to get some decent +shadow equipment for prebuffing it, but I'll leave it at 1 for now. At 3 with skills, it's pretty much pointless at end-act bosses. So is my merc. I really have to rely on my own damage and tanking ability to kill them. :P

[Gore Deity]

good luck then... :) still, a trapper built like mine is now took me 2 years... I've tried a kicksin, a combo of kicksin and basic trapsin, a phantom, months and months of playing... so this is a normal character i can say. hell, no one can build a kick-as* character from the first attempt in D2! :) if you ever choose to make the ultimate tank out of her - heheh, yep she'll have Nova, Frost Nova, Amplify Damage, Terror, Hydra... just like the one you see up there. hope you have fun anyway! :)