Saturday, April 21, 2012

Hit Power Gloves

Hey fellow zons

I'm gonna craft some hit power gloves for my wws strafer but I'm wondering if I should use chain gloves or heavy bracers or even vambraces?|||unless you can't meet the strength requirements for vambraces, i don't think it'd make a huge difference between those 3.|||Well I'm hoping for a mana or life leech spawn and in that case would that add to the level req for vambraces?|||Why do you want to use vambraces? And is it really worth it?

the normal way people - I anyway - craft gloves is by shopping them at one of the vendors at lvl 69-ish and craft with that characters.

Vambraces are rare if they are even sold. And that little bit of extra defence isn't worth it.|||Why do you shop them and not just use one that you find randomly?|||because it's more interesting to have knowledge about the ilvl. And when you shop, you know the ilvl exactly.

It's not that big a deal, though it's easier. Else you need to have a high character or a only search high alvl places. Not that big a deal though I find shopping easier.

And when you shop them, you can buy them in large quantities. You buy them when you have found the runes. No need to hunt the gloves too.

Forinstance, you can trade rals for orts. And perfect saphires for other gems. etc.

It's more convenient and you really don't need the extra defence on the gloves.|||Hmm, ok. I have been searching the guide sticky for crafting info but I'm not seeing anything. Can you elaborate a bit on why you craft at level 69?|||Seems you must have missed it, anyway here's superdave's glove crafting guide, as linked from the sticky:

http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/s...d.php?t=348851|||Ok so if I am starting to understand...

The reason my hit power gloves I just crafted with 20% IAS and 3% Mana leech had a required level of 94 was because they also had Poison Nova charges. And the reason they had Poison Nova charges was because I crafted them with level 90+ chain gloves on a level 93 char.... right?

Or maybe I am way too tired to make sense of all this....|||IMO clvl 71 seems to be the ideal level to do the actual crafting with since A) it's the minimum lvl to guarantee 4 affixed and B) you minimize the chances of crafting items with ridiculous requirements by limiting the affix pool. As for the OP the quality of the input item doesn't exactly matter for the defense difference, what's important is knowing the ilvl of the item so you know which mods can spawn using the formula (0.5clvl+0.5ilvl = craft lvl)..

Myth's PvP Javazon Guide

This is an edited version of the guide I wrote in 2005 of my PvP javazon, I'm in the process of rebuilding it and didn't find any new guides that I liked so I thought I'd edit mine and share it with you guys. I'm Sorry, it used to be color coded and I might of screwed up some parts while removing the tags. I realize it might be hard to skim through the item section, but I have yet to think of a better way to list them without having to remove item stats.

Table of content

1.General playing style of this character.

2.Pros&Cons

3.Skill points distribution

4.Stat points distribution

5.Equipment

6.Dueling Strategies

7.Final Look

8.Misc Info

9.Conclusion

10.Credits&Disclaimer



1. The Javazon is pretty straight forward to play but requires practice to be truly good against every build. Obviously fighting at close range with charged strike is a way to play it, but you'll also have to be patient and snipe out most of your enemies with lightning fury. Being patient and know when and how to come in and go out of melee range is the key to a succesful javazon.

2.Pros of the Javazon

High damage

Good resists

Decent Dodge/Avoid/Evade

Max block

Very Flexible (Melee and Range)

Cons:

Lots of setups to switch to

Problems against Elemental druids

Costly Gear

3.Skill points distribution.

This can vary from preferences, but that's how mine is.

Max Charged Strike (Primary Skill)

Max Lightning Fury (Primary skill)

Max Power Strike

Max Lightning Bolt

5 into Evade

1 Dodge [Pre req]

1 Avoid [Pre req]

1 Jab [Pre req]

1 Poison Javelin [Pre req]

1 Plague Javelin [Pre req]

Rest into Lightning Strike (You should have 10 by level 90)



Reasons for the selection: You probably realized I listed 2 primary skills, the reason I did this is because depending on the matchup you might use one as primary and the other as secondary. I chose to Max Power Strike instead of Lightning Strike because I find it more useful. If you ever want to do REAL Melee (skill with AR and close combat) you have Power Strike. I chose Lightning bolt over Lightning Strike because I already have 2 close combat skills and don't need another one. I put 5 into Evade because I find it's the most useful of the 3 defensive skills (Dodge/Avoid/Evade) I am moving most of the time so Dodge and Avoid become useless since they require you to stand still or be attacking. Charged Strike and Lightning Fury are self-explanatory.

4.Stats

Strength: Enough for gear

Dexterity: Enough for Max block with your blocking shield.

Vitality: Everything you can spare, you need all the life you can get.

Energy: You don't need it for this build.



5.EquipmentThis character is the only one I played with that many setups, I have so many different items for every situation that it doesn't fit in my stash anymore.

Helm: Lots of choices here, basically there are 4 helms to use, but you can be original and use some others.

Shako, Overall great helm, I use it for most of my public dueling.

Defense: 98-141 (varies)

Required Strength: 50

Durability: 12

+2 To All Skills

+ (1.5 Per Character Level) 1-148 To Life (Based On Character Level)

+ (1.5 Per Character Level) 1-148 To Mana (Based On Character Level)

Damage Reduced By 10%


50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

+2 To All Attributes

08 Valkyrie Wing, nice against necros and other fast teleporting/running characters.

30% Faster Hit Recovery

30% Faster Cast rate

30% Faster Run/Walk

30% Increased Attack Speed


These mods are invaluable, this is the ONLY helm that gives you 3 VERY useful mods. WATCH OUT FOR DUPES!!!

Kira's Guardian, nice helm for stacking resists against hard hitting Sorcs and other Javazons.

Defense: 90-170 (varies)(Base Defense: 40-50)

Required Level: 77

Durability: 25

+50-120 Defense (varies)

+20% Faster Hit Recovery

Cannot Be Frozen

All Resistances +50-70 (varies)


Griffon's Eye, if you need more damage and some -Resists% to enemies. This is a damage helm.

Defense: 150-260 (varies)(Base Defense: 50-60)

Required Level: 76

Durability: 20

+100-200 Defense (varies)

+1 To All Skills

+25% Faster Cast Rate

-15-20% To Enemy Lightning Resistance (varies)

+10-15% To Lightning Skill Damage (varies)


Rare Circlets, Try to get one with some of these mods.

+2 Amazon Skills

+Resists

+Faster Run/Walk

+Life

Magic Damage Reduced by X ammount

Sockets



Amulet: There are 4 main Amulets I (or would if I had them) use.

Cat's eye, This is my All-around amulet, everything on it is useful.

Required Level: 50

30% Faster Run/Walk

20% Increased Attack Speed

+100 Defense Vs. Missiles

+100 Defense

+25 To Dexterity


Faster run/walk is always nice to have, with this you can go in and out of a fight with ease. I'm a speed freak so I like it when my characters hit high breakpoints. In my opinion, Speed>Damage. The +100 defense always help, less chances to get hit. The dexterity bonus is HUGE, helps ALOT when getting Max block.

Mara's Kaleidoscope, I use this against hard hitting elemental users, I don't use it often but it comes handy in some duels.

Required Level: 67

+2 To All Skill Levels

All Resistances +20-30 (varies)

+5 To All Attributes


The +2 Skill levels bonus adds to your damage/defense skills. Resists are key here, that's why I use it most of the time. Finally, +5 stats is always nice.

Crafted Amazon Amulet, I have yet to find a really good one, but if I had one I'd use it often. Look for these mods.

+Amazon Skills

+Resists

+Stats

+blocking % or +Run/Walk Speed

You can't have Blocking and Run/walk on the same amulet so it might be a good idea to find both types.



Body Armor: 3 Choices here, they all depend on the kind of character you duel.

Chains of Honor, I use this most of the time when dueling in public games, overall great armor.

+2 To All Skills

+200% Damage To Demons

+100% Damage To Undead

8% Life Stolen Per Hit

+70% Enhanced Defense

+20 To Strength

Replenish Life +7

All Resistances +65

Damage Reduced By 8%


25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

This is your main resistances boost. The +20 strength and 8% damage reduction are also very nice additional mods. The +2 all skills is always nice to have, boosts your Damage/Defense skills.

Enigma, This is for the fast teleporters and runners, use this when you don't need resists and want to flee attacks or catch someone.

+2 To All Skills

+45% Faster Run/Walk

+1 To Teleport

+750-775 Defense (varies)

+ (0.75 Per Character Level) +0-74 To Strength (Based On Character Level)

Increase Maximum Life 5%

Damage Reduced By 8%


+14 Life After Each Kill

15% Damage Taken Goes To Mana

+ (1 Per Character Level) +1-99% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based On Character Level)

Lots of great mods on this armor too, boosts your life and defense by a nice amount. Also this gives +2 skills, HUGE Run/Walk bonus and damage reduction of 8%.



Twitchthroe, this armor when upgraded is very nice, you won't use it often but it comes handy when Melee dueling ( Talking about real melee, use of Power Strike as your main attack) lots of nice mods on this.

Defense: 57-60 (varies)(Base Defense: 32-35)

Required Level: 16

Required Strength: 27

Durability: 32

+25 Defense

25% Increase chance of blocking

20% Faster Hit Recovery

20% Increased Attack Speed

+10 To Dexterity

+10 To Strength


When upgraded, this armor can have a maximum defense of 506, it's not alot but the mods on it are VERY nice. +Blocking % saves you lots of stats points, 20% Increased Attack Speed helps you reach a nice breakpoint and +10 strength and dexterity are always nice to have.



Weapons: Only 3 choices here, they're all javelins.

Titan's Revenge, try to get those Upgraded and ethereal if you can, it won't add to your lightning damage but will boost your physical damage by a nice amount.



Required Level: 42

Required Strength: 25

Required Dexterity: 109

Max Stack: 140

Base Weapon Speed: [-10]

(Amazon Only)

+150-200% Enhanced Damage (varies)

Adds 25-50 Damage

+2 To Amazon Skill Levels

5-9% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies)

30% Faster Run/Walk

+20 To Strength

+20 To Dexterity

Replenishes Quantity [1 in 3 sec.]

Increased Stack Size [60]

+2 To Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)


Everything on it is good, only thing missing is Increased Attack Speed. This gives a total of +4 to javelins skills which brings your lightning damage up by a good amount.



Thunderstrokes, Great Javelins, but I still prefer Titan's. Use this if you really need speed and damage. Also, try to get a pair of +4 Javelin Skills.

Throw Damage: (87-105) To (165-198) (126-151.5 Avg)

One-Hand Damage: (75-90) To (135-162) (105-126 Avg)

Required Level: 69

Required Strength: 107

Required Dexterity: 151

Base Weapon Speed: [-10]

Max Stack (80)

(Amazon Only)

+150-200% Enhanced Damage (varies)

Adds 1-511 Lightning Damage

15% Increased Attack Speed

-15% To Enemy Lightning Resistance


20% Chance To Cast Level 14 Lightning On Striking

+2-4 To Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only) (varies)

+3 To Lightning Bolt (Amazon Only)

Damage is the key on those Javs, I wouldn't use this as an all-around weapon.

Lancer's Matriarchal Javelin's of Quickness/Swiftness, You don't see many of these because they are EXTREMELY rare, but they are big damage dealers.

Stats you need on those:

+3 Javelin Skills (Magic prefix)

+1-3 Javelin Skills (Base mod)

30%-40% Increased Attack Speed (If using a 60/60 Shield, you can get away with the Swiftness suffix)

These are, in my opinion, the best Javazon vs Javazon weapon.



Shield: Lots of choices here, I'll try to give the most useful ones.

Stormshield, Overall great shield, I use it for most of my duels and this is my main shield when public dueling.

Defense: (136-504) - (151-519) (varies)(Base Defense: 133-148)

Required Level: 73

Required Strength: 156

Chance to Block: Ama/Asn/Bar: 72%

+ (3.75 Per Character Level) 3-371 Defense (Based On Character Level)

+25% Increased Chance Of Blocking

35% Faster Block Rate

Damage Reduced By 35%

Cold Resist +60%

Lightning Resist +25%

+30 To Strength


Attacker Takes Lightning Damage of 10

Indestructible

Great Mods, boosts your defense, resistances, strength and gives you a nice bonus of damage reduced by 35%!



Jeweler's Monarch of Deflecting, socketed with:

20/-20, Shield socketed with 5/-5 lightning facets, not a good choice in my opinion, you give up too much for these mods.

60/60, 60 Resists and 60% Increased Attack Speed. This shield is plain godly, you might not want to get this if you're not very rich. This can be used against casters and other high elemental damage dealer, but it's best suited for a CS vs CS Zon.



Moser's Blessed Circle[/COLOR], Great shield if you're on a budget.

Defense: 156-179 (varies)(Base Defense: 47-55)

Required Level: 31

Required Strength: 53

Chance to Block: Ama/Asn/Bar:62%

Durability: 64

+180-220% Enhanced Defense (varies)

+25% Increased Chance of Blocking

30% Faster Block Rate

All Resistances +25

Gem Sockets (2)


Decent mods, I'd use Stormshield over this for regular dueling though.



Gloves: Not too many choices here, mainly rare gloves.

Rare +2 Skill/20% IAS, I have 2 pairs, +2 Javelin skills with 20% Increased Attack Speed and other mods (Stats/Resistances) and a pair of +2 Passive skills with 20% Increased Attack Speed and once again, other mods such as stats and resistances.



+3 Skill/20% IAS Magics, Some people prefer these over rares, try to get +3 Javelin Skills and 20% Increased Attack Speed. Passive skills can also be used.



Rings: Again, not too many choices here, only 3 rings I can think of.



Raven Frost, Nice ring, gives Cannot be Frozen mod which is a must for PvP.

Required Level: 45

+150-250 To Attack Rating (varies)

Adds 15-45 Cold Damage, 4 sec. Duration (Normal)

Cannot Be Frozen

+15-20 To Dexterity (varies)

+40 To Mana

Cold Absorb 20%




Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band, Other nice ring, I don't use it alot though.

Required Level: 58

+1 To All Skill Levels

+ (0.5 Per Character Level) 0-49 To Life (Based On Character Level)


3-5% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies)

+50 Maximum Stamina

The +1 All Skills helps your damage and defensive skills, the life is always nice to have.



Rare Ring, if you can get your hands on a nice rare ring do it. Be sure to get most of these mods.

-Life

-Dexterity

-Strength

-Resistances

-Attack Rating

Belt: I don't change belt often because I don't feel the need too, but here are some options.

Thundergod's Vigor, Adds to your Lightning Fury and the +10% max lightning resists and +20 absorb are a must against other javazons and lightning users.

+160-200% Enhanced Defense (varies)

Adds 1-50 Lightning Damage

5% Chance To Cast Level 7 Fist Of The Heavens When Struck

+20 Lightning Absorb

10% To Maximum Lightning Resist

+20 To Strength

+20 To Vitality

+3 To Lightning Fury (Amazon Only)

+3 To Lightning Strike (Amazon Only)


This is my main belt.

Verdungo's Hearthy Cord, This belt should be used against melee mostly, only 3 great mods.

+90-140% Enhanced Defense (varies)

10% Faster Hit Recovery

+30-40 To Vitality (varies)


Replenish Life +10-13 (varies)

+100-120 Maximum Stamina (varies)

Damage Reduced By 10-15% (varies)

Adds to your life, gives more damage reduced by % and adds to your hit recovery.



Rare belt, you can try and get a nice rare belt, it might not be the best choice but I'll list it too. Try to get these mods.

-Faster Hit Recovery(24%)

-Strength(25+)

-Life

-Resistances



Boots: Mostly rare boots here.

Legit rares, No uniques/sets can be as good as a nice pair of rares for this build.

-Faster Run/Walk

-Faster Hit Recovery

-Stats

-Resistances



Aldur's Advance, These are the boots I use most of the time since I don't have some nice rare ones. They have huge Faster Run/Walk and nice bonus to life.

Defense: 39-47 (varies)

Required Level: 45

Required Strength: 95

Assassin Kick Damage: 37-64

Indestructible

40% Faster Run/Walk

+180 Maximum Stamina

10% Damage Taken Goes To Mana

Heal Stamina Plus +32%

+50 To Life

Fire Resist +40-50% (varies)




Switch: No real choices here, use Call to Arms (CTA) and a Spirit

Charms

10x Shimmering Small Charm of Vita

9x Harpoonist's Grand Charm of Vita

1x Annihilus

1x Hellfire Torch

This covers the equipment section, I'll list some setups I use in the dueling Strategies so you know what to use against

what character.



6.Dueling Strategies

1. Amazons

Bow: Easy fight, keep pushing them, trow some lightning furys at them and hope they start running back. They usually don't have much resists so sniping them or even CSing (DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT try to run and CS them, if they aren't too far and aren't shooting at you then you can try, but if they start spamming Guided Arrow you'll lose.) will take them down in a hit or two.

Equip: Against pure damage bowazons (3/20/20 builds) use DR% and R/W%, you don't need resists here and Run/Walk helps you dodge and run away from arrows. If you're fighting a poison bowazon (290 builds) equip Sandstorm Treks and go hunt them down, "Poison length reduced by %" is also helpful but don't sacrifice for it. If you have some, good, if you don't that's ok.

CS Zons: well, not to many strategies here, WALK to them and CS. Positioning is a major factor in CS vs CS, it's basically the same as Zealot positioning. (Get just in range to hit them and they might not be able to hit you)

Gear: Some of you might not agree with me here, but I feel my setup is better than the usual cookie cutter "damage" one.

Helm: Kira's or Griffon's Eye, depending on how much resistance you stacked. (Highest -Resists a Javazon can get and still be effective is 60)

Armor: Chains of Honor

Weapon1: Lancer's Matriarchal Javelin of Quickness (If your gloves don't have 20%IAS)

Weapon2: Thunderstrokes (If your gloves have 20%IAS)

Shield: Jewelers Shield of Deflecting with 4x 15%IAS/15%Res (Yes, VERY expensive)

Gloves: +2 Jav/Stats/Resists/IAS

Belt: Thundergod's Vigor

Boots: Stats/Resists Boots

Rings: Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band

Amulet: Crafted +2Skills/Life/Lightning Resists/Blocking%

This gives you INSANE Lightning resistances, you will not take much damage and you will still deal a decent amount.

Poison Javazons: Fight them like Bowazons, Dodge and Snipe. Remember they have a cooldown on Plague Javelin so it might give you some time to get in and hit with a CS or two.



2. Assassins

Traps: Easy fight if you know what you're doing, run around and dodge the traps, don't run in and try to CS, stay far away Dodge and Snipe. If she has too much resistances, let her burn her mana pool by running around and dodging, when you see her running out of mana (She will avoid casting traps too often and will Mb less.) THEN you can run in and CS. If you get stunned by Mb (which should not happen if you followed instructions I gave you), run BACK and not forward, Mb sends you backward, if you run away from her, the Mb will send you far away and she'll eventually stop casting and wait for you to come back.

Equip: Stack resists against them, most are fairly weak so you won't have too much problems.



Ghost Sin: They usually have insane resists so Sniping isn't your best choice, if they cast traps, run away and play like the trapper, they'll eventually run out of mana and stop casting Traps, use this at your advantage.

Bramble Sin: Stand Still and wait for them to WW, Shift+Click is your friend.

Equip: Use Sandstorm and some DR% here.



3.Barbarians

Concentrate: Easy fight, run to them and CS, you won't need more then CS hits to kill them.

WWBarbs: Slap on some DR Gear, be sure you have 75% Block and go fight them! If they use teleport your fight will be 10x easier, usually what I do is stand still and use Shift+Click. If they teleport, 99% of the time they will land RIGHT on you, hold shift and click, they're done. The smart ones will try to use range to their advantage, don't move and keep the Shift+Click, your javelins are range 3 too.

Singers: I never dueled those so I can't tell. Gear wise you should go Run/Walk + FHR.

Trowers: Play them like bowazons, you can get in and CS them since they don't have guided arrow.



4. Necromancers

Bone Necros: Slap on lot's of Run/Walk and Passive Skills. Play on the safe side, let them come to you and Snipe. They are like bowazons with much more resists and damage.

Poison Necros: Use Thunder God's and Snipe them. They are very easy to skill, usually takes 1 or 2 CS.

Summoners: They aren't seen often, but throw lightning furies on the minions and watch them die, when you feel it's safe jump in and CS the necro.

5.Paladins

Hammerdins: Most of them will teleport on you, I found a nice little trick that work wonders against them. First, stand still and wait for them to teleport, when you see them casting click South-West VERY CLOSE to your character, the hammers won't hit you at all and you can land in 2 or 3 CS. You might want to practice your timing with a friend for this one, it takes some time to get used to.

For the ones that don't use teleport, Snipe them and CS when you can get close enough or you feel comfortable doing so.

Zeal/Sacrifice: Hit them with CS, they are one-hit kills.

Smiters: I haven't dueled many but I duel them like Melee ones. You might wanna play on the safe side here, use DR and FHR.

FoHers: Use lots of Passive skills and Lightning resistances stack here and try to run in and CS them, when you see them casting STOP and wait for the FoH to land on you, you'll avoid it 50%+ of the time and if it ever hits you you won't take TOO much damage.

6.Druids

Melee: Not much to be said here, WALK to them and CS a bit, shouldn't take more than a few hits.

Wind: I found these to be pretty tough, they always keep me stunned and their Absorb shield is a real pain when they recast it. First thing to do is take care of the minions, snipe them with Lightning Strike and they should be gone. If the druid is offensive you might have some problems, I usually try to keep running around and dodge the tornados and snipe now and then until he's dead. If he's defensive I suggest you snipe him often, charge in and CS once he's low on HP (30% and less should be good) BE SURE TO HAVE AT LEAST 40% DAMAGE REDUCE AGAINST THEM!!! it is EXTREMELY important if you wanna survive a few hits. You should focus on +Javelin Skill stuff instead of +Passive for them, they tend to keep you dodge locked (mostly offensive druids) and it hurts.

Fire: I haven't fought many so I can't really tell. What I suggest is try to run up to them and CS while dodging the Volcanoes and Fissures. If the CS method isn't working (probably because you get knocked back by the boulders), run around and snipe him. Try to know when they're on cooldown and when they aren't this should help you dodge Volcanoes and Fissures. Remember, boulders have a range, if you stay out of it and snipe there isn't much they can do.

7.Sorceress

Lightning: Gear up with your CS vs CS setup and run up to them if you can, if you can't just snipe, they shouldn't do any real damage to you.

Cold: Those are a bit tricky, learn to predict where they will use Blizzard and when, if you can dodge Blizzard and the Frost Bolts you should win easily. Be sure to have a decent amount of resistances as those hurt badly. I suggest you use +Passive over +Javelin skills here.

Fire: Same as above mostly, except you need to be VERY good with the dodge. sniping is probably your only option seeing as every Fire sorc has 200% FCR these days. Again, stack +Passive so you can dodge/evade most of the fireballs/firebolts.



7.Final Look Will post some screenshots of mine when I finish building it. It might take a little while so if any of you have one built up, feel free to send me your screenshots.



8.Misc InfoI added the IAS and FHR Tables for you guys.



FHR Frames

0% 11

6% 10

13% 9

20% 8

32% 7

52% 6 *

86% 5

174% 4

600% 3

IAS Frames

0% 14

6% 13

16% 12

30% 11

52% 10 *

89% 9

*Minimum required with any equipment setup.

FCR Frames

0% 19

7% 18

14% 17

22% 16

32% 15

48% 14

68% 13

99% 12

152% 11

9.Conclusion I hope you liked this guide, and for you people who decide to create this char, I hope you enjoy your play time with it as much as I did! If you have any questions, feel free to post here or PM me.



10.Credits&Disclaimer This guide is the work of Myth (RPGForums.com/Diii.net) and was written and posted for RPGForums.com/diii.net

Please do not reproduce without permission from Myth. All Information taken was found from the following sites



The Arreat Summit

http://diablo2.ingame.de/tips/calcs/...p?lang=english - Weapon Speed Calculator.

Thanks to Raziel for his awesome guide layout (Helped me with mine :P)|||Looks like a well written guide, i'm surprised there isn't a single comment yet |||Just gonna write a comment then.... The only thing I thought of was to mention SoJs (the life on bk= Nonboable =Not that valuable) AND the FCR table for amazons.. even though it sucks. it is necessary when you duel Bone necros..

Mention the rare helm option...

Mention telesync too.|||You could list the breakpoints you reach (fhr, ias) + next ones.

Also what is your exact damage and stats? I know that "it depends", but I would like to know how much str you have put.

Im building a javazon now.

I would also say that 20life/5 resist all charms are better than ones with life; actually I wonder if 5resist isnt better than 20 life.|||Added rare circlet options and FCR breakpoints (Even though I don't think teleporting is such a good idea with a Javazon)


Quote:








Just gonna write a comment then.... The only thing I thought of was to mention SoJs (the life on bk= Nonboable =Not that valuable) AND the FCR table for amazons.. even though it sucks. it is necessary when you duel Bone necros..

Mention the rare helm option...

Mention telesync too.




The reason I didn't mention SoJs is because even though the life from BK is non-boable, 40+ life is still better than the mana you get from a SoJ (I really don't see why you would need that mana as I never had any problems with mine.)


Quote:








You could list the breakpoints you reach (fhr, ias) + next ones.

Also what is your exact damage and stats? I know that "it depends", but I would like to know how much str you have put.

Im building a javazon now.

I would also say that 20life/5 resist all charms are better than ones with life; actually I wonder if 5resist isnt better than 20 life.




The breakpoints I ALWAYS reach are marked with a * (52% FHR and IAS), no matter what equipment I put on, you NEED these 2. But I usually use a 89%FHR and 52% IAS for my all-around dueling.

I'd give you the exact number of STR/DEX I used to have, but sadly I lost the character (along with all the gear) when I quit playing D2 for a while.

The Shimmering Small Charms of Vita I listed happen to be 5%All / 20 Life SCs |||good post, thanks for hte guide|||Alright I didn't read too much into this, just a few questions I had in a brief skim

why 5 points into evade?

why is griffon's eye just a damage helm?

why aldur's? why is shadowstep not mentioned?|||I don't recall why I put 5 points in Evade, but I know I rebuilt this character a few times and this was the one I prefered. With good FHR you won't get Evade-locked so dodging a missile attack here and there was just a bonus for me.

I labeled Griffon's as a damage helm because that's all it gives you, damage. +100-200 Defense isn't what I call defensive.

I guess you could use Shadowdancers, but they aren't ideal. Aldur isn't ideal but it has good FRW% and fire resists which make them "okay" until you find that good pair of rare.|||the 4 extra points in evade should go into lightning strike.

Griffons should be the only helm a pvp java should use since the -resists is so extremely powerful

...shadow dancers have 30 fhr 30 frw and huge dex, Huge dex = more vit which is bo-able.

btw very unlikely you will hit 86fhr with your current charms, and 86 is the magical number, since it make fb sorcs and wind druids easy...unless they hit their max fhr/fcr bps.|||Why using aldur boots and no gore?? Thought gore were the best boots for javazons

Rly nice guide

All-round bowazon

Hi

I would like to make an allround bowazon, but can only find guides for specific places.

Can I make a pure strafer that can do it all? And which bow is THE BEST. Faith? BoTD?|||Ice maiden can stand her ground anywhere (strafe + frozen arrow). It only has minor problems with frenzytaurs, since they don't freeze. Most cold resist enemies will still freeze (lower duration though), so you can kill them with strafe after freezing. Leaves you with cold/phys immunes to deal with, but a 1 point fire arrow will work wonders.

Not the fastest killer, definately not good for area MF (since shattered courpses leave no loot), but it's an allround build.



About the best bow, that depends on your build. Faith is fast, BotD has good physical damage, Ice rw bow will give you extra cold damage and extra freeze time, (upped) Witchwild string will give deadly strike and amp, (the list goes on )...|||If youre gonna be that specific.. then for an all around bowa http://i41.tinypic.com/5fotw6.jpg might be the best.|||dont ever make BotD in a bow unless you want it for style. wind force and faith are the tops. there are many other choices that work though.


Quote:








Not the fastest killer, definately not good for area MF (since shattered courpses leave no loot), but it's an allround build.




wrong! this is a myth that i try to stamp out whenever i see it. i've used my fishy zon to run everything and i can say for a fact that i've killed many-a cow with FA, they drop loot whether they shatter or not.|||Quote:








dont ever make BotD in a bow unless you want it for style. wind force and faith are the tops. there are many other choices that work though.



wrong! this is a myth that i try to stamp out whenever i see it. i've used my fishy zon to run everything and i can say for a fact that i've killed many-a cow with FA, they drop loot whether they shatter or not.




I think those darn necros started this, since you cannot use CE on, or resurrect into skellies, a shattered corpse. That's probably where this rumor started.|||i say we blame the pallies, they wanted the corpses for redemption. i say they should just pot the lazy bastards! *shakes fist*|||I blame the greedy greedy Hork barbs, they just want to go through Cows after everyone else is gone and hork all the beef for second drops!!

Torches & Bows

Does the 5% chance to cast Firestorm apply to arrowstrikes? If I had a strafer, would each arrow have a 5% chance to cast firestorm?

Also, what's the damage on firestorm?|||Negligible, so don't worry about it.|||Yes, the chance to cast firestorm will be triggered by ranged attacks, including bowzons using strafe (however multi can only trigger it from center arrows).

As for damage:


Quote:








Roughly:

Phys Dmg/Frame: 0.6875 - 0.9375 (17.1875-23.4375 per second)

Fire Dmg/Frame: 1.875 - 2.28125 (46.875-57.03125 per second)

This is per cell. A player would probably be hit by 3 cells per second.




Firestorm caused more lag then it was worth in general and was a major factor in causing games to drop pre 1.13. Now that the chance to cast has been lowered (25% before but now 5%) I'm sure it'll be less of a problem but I haven't been playing too much lately so can't really tell. Before there was a period when you could rarely have 2 amazons spamming attacks while using torch in the same game without crashing it.|||The move from 25% to 5% has definitely reduced the number of crashes, but packed Baal games will still drop if I start strafing or multi'ing too often.|||Quote:








The move from 25% to 5% has definitely reduced the number of crashes, but packed Baal games will still drop if I start strafing or multi'ing too often.




i agree with everything lifted says and would add fury to the mix. the old game-dropping reasons are there, they're just 20% less likely to happen.|||80% less likely to happen, technically, they just happen on 20% fewer shots of your total

I actually like Firestorm on a strafer. It adds a noticeable bit of AoE damage, the physical gets a bonus on Amped monsters, and its some fire damage vs PI targets, especially big ones that get hit by many, many cells per proc|||It's too laggy for my taste, even if it adds a bit of damage, I still prefer to live without it.

The 5% seems a nice change, but on a Strafer that isn't much of difference, since the Amp from Atma's processes quite frequently at the same rate.|||Thanks for the input all!

I just traded for an Atma's, and combined with my new Windforce I'm able to go through the Chaos Sanc without any problems!

Frostmaiden effectiveness

Hey, I need some help from Amazon pros.

The Frostmaiden is the only build I haven't really tried, yet always wanted to.

I was thinking to build one this ladder, but I'm a little worried about her effectiveness in hell

I was planning to run river of fire/cs/wsk/pits/cows. How does it look in players 1 and players 8?

Equipment I have in mind:

Nightwing's Veil

Crescent Moon

Waterwalks boots/Wartravs

Razortail

+2/3 bow/20 IAS/goves

Ravenfrost/soj?

Ice gmb/mb

forti

merc (dunno here which is better):

insight/infinity act 2

faith act 1

Will she kill fast or will I have to always worry for mana and not dying? Or should I make a Gunslinger instead?

what fun factor would you give it (1-10)?

hlap plox|||Crescent Moon, I thought you meant the runeword at first, i was like huh?

There's a very thorough guide for frostmaiden in the stickies which includes gear advice. I'd go with a +3 Bow Skills amulet, you can get an Insight Might merc for mana, and you can get a dual leech ring instead of SoJ and be +2 skills ahead.|||Quote:








... +3 Bow Skills amulet...




no such thing.|||From the aforementioned "Ice Maiden" guide, a few lines about a "Faithful Frostmaiden":


Quote:








One gripe I have with Ice is it's lack of physical damage compared to Faith. Especially if made in a Mat. Bow for the faster speed. Both are competent Freezing Arrow cannons; where Ice has the better FA damage, Faith has the versatility of speed and higher physical damage of the arrows, as well as large the AR% bonus (300% on top of Penetrate and Fanaticism's AR%) to allow high chances to hit, and potentially higher +bow skills to keep Multishot and Magic Arrow as 1-point wonders yet still be high enough for end-game use. Actually, I prefer to have Multishot no higher than slvl 15, since the mana cost generally becomes detrimental to your upkeep as you get higher, and there's rarely cases when there's 15 or more monsters in a single group. Even then, with 100% pierce, you'll be hitting most of the monsters in any given mob more than once, so a high level Multi is not needed.

Contrary to your guide, I don't recommend placing your extra skill points into another Bow skill after Freezing Arrow+synergies and Strafe are maxed. Those points would be better served in maxing out Valkyrie IMO, as it lets you make use of three of the best tanks in the game; Valkyrie, Decoy, and your Mercenary. Maxed Valkyrie sends her life into the near-immune levels, especially if she's prebuffed with +passive skills at slvl 35 or above. She also makes for an OK supplementary damage source. Sure, slvl 17 is when she gets her War Pike, but when she's at slvl 35+ she makes it hurt.

Personally I'm a Faithful Frostmaiden Fanatic. I'm the type of guy who prefers a well-rounded character with 2 or more elements focused on to allow easy times with all monsters, regardless of immunity. Faith allows nearly the same numbers of Freezing Arrow damage, with almost twice the physical damage per arrow hit, as well as a greater chance to hit against all the monsters of Sanctuary (+300% AR and ITD versus just ITD alone). I also roll with a maxed Strafe, so she'll be just as potent as a pure Strafer as well. The best of both worlds, I suppose, just how I like it.




I'm entirely with Eilo. An FA strafer with Faith is a fantastic way to still play up the benefits of FA (with extraordinary AR) while also maintaining pretty great damage thanks to Strafe. I'm running a 7fpa one currently whose Strafe dmg is 1k-5.5k and whose FA dmg is 1.2k-6.4k plus 2.2k in cold damage (with a Might/Pride merc). That. Versus carrying an Ice: Strafe @ 900-2.6k and FA @ 1.2k-3.1k and 2.8k in cold damage with all other gear (and the merc) exactly the same.

It's a wonderful build that can run anything AND contribute positively to Baal runs with FA's freeze time.|||The Ice Matriarchal Bow Frostmaiden build is viable in hell, but it loses effectiveness in games with more than 3 players games fast.

Playing alone it is quite powerful, but contrary to the Blizzard Sorceress, it relies in DPS, not sheer numbers(although the blizz sorc DPS is insane).

I would advice, however, using a Mara's and Chains of Honour instead of Crescent Moon and Fortitude. If you can get a +2 Amazon amulet with better mods than Mara's, go for it. And go with Insight/Might merc. The build is expensive but fun.|||I'm not entirely sure why everyone's advocating Insight for a zon that relies on FA.

The mana regeneration offered by Insight isn't nearly enough to account for any rapid and consecutive usage of FA. In fact, as long as you've got mana leech somewhere, a single Strafe or MS into a pack of monsters would immediately do more for your blue globe than Insight. AND it frees up your merc to help with YOUR damage.

Infinity and Pride too expensive? Fine. Use Reaper's Toll! It's an incredible boost to your physical dmg, especially if you're not using Atma's.|||Quote:








I'm not entirely sure why everyone's advocating Insight for a zon that relies on FA.

The mana regeneration offered by Insight isn't nearly enough to account for any rapid and consecutive usage of FA. In fact, as long as you've got mana leech somewhere, a single Strafe or MS into a pack of monsters would immediately do more for your blue globe than Insight. AND it frees up your merc to help with YOUR damage.

Infinity and Pride too expensive? Fine. Use Reaper's Toll! It's an incredible boost to your physical dmg, especially if you're not using Atma's.




Mana regen also depends on your mana pool. There's a formula in the AS (under the basics section) that can tell you how much mana you regenerate per second. You can figure out how many attacks/seconds you do, how much mana per second you use, how much mana you need to regenerate, and what the base mana to get that kind of regen should be. Last patch I ran a full mageazon from an Insight without any leech. Insight CAN be a viable option, but as with all options, it all boils down to how you use it.

Also, if you're playing untwinked, what do you think you'll find first/easier, reapers or Insight? It's easily the most damaging budget weapon you can stick on a merc (210%ED, 45%CS). And ON TOP of that, you get the mana bonus, the dual heal bonus (only with prayer merc),... Why are people are so blinded by the aura they don't see the other very good bonusses?|||To your second point, Kardinaal, I agree. Insight is valuable for reasons apart from mana regeneration. However, for mana regeneration, it's not very valuable at all to a Frostmaiden not looking to invest points in energy. Consider the following:

If I have a Frostmaiden with a mana pool of 300, I'm naturally--i.e., just because I have 300 in the blue globe--regenerating 2.5 mana per second. If I'm using Insight (with slvl 17 Meditation) and have the same mana pool, I'm regenerating 20 mana per second. That's great.

Now, let's say that same Frostmaiden has a slvl 26 FA, and she can fire at an 8fpa rate. There are, typically, 25 frames per second, which means I can fire three arrows per second. At slvl 26, FA costs 21.5 mana. I'm depleting 64.5 mana per second, but only recovering 20/sec thanks to Insight

What is a help, however, is my mana leech, which, as you'll see, is really doing the bulk of my mana recovery work. Let's assume 3k in physical damage from a single arrow and 6% mana leech for the sake of this exercise. In hell, my mana leech is cut by two-thirds, so if in normal I'd take away 180 mana in that single arrow, I'm only really recovering 60. That seems fantastic...way better than anything Insight's Meditation could be doing for me. And if, because of physical resistances, natural monster leech drain numbers, or just lower physical damage, I only garner 15 mana on my next arrow, I'm still in a pretty good place because maybe that next shot also pierced and hit two other monsters.

So leech!|||Well, that's why I opted for the crescent moon.

But faith>ice for the frostmaiden? That's sad as ice seemed sooo sexy...|||Faith is faster, more physical damage (thus more leech). Ice offers more elemental damage and extra protection with the holy freeze aura. So once again there is no best bow, it's all about playing style. If you find yourself using mostly FA with the occasional strafe for leeching, I'm pretty shure Ice will be the faster killer (you'll need more leech though). If you just use FA for freezing, then strafe everything to death, faith will be better. Choose which will be your main skill, and get the bow that suits it best. Or get both and use weapon switch to alternate between them so you don't have to choose.

Fort armor advice

Ladder. Found a Lo with my strafezon today (and a Gul seconds later, dumb luck), so I'd like to make Fortitude armor. I have a superior Wire Fleece 14% ed, 13% max dur, 549 defense, no sockets. I'd need to use my last socket quest for the 4 sockets. I'm wondering if this would be an ideal armor to make Fortitude with? Would the max dur factor make it insanely expensive to repair? I use Demon Limb on switch already (10k+ to repair per charge) and have little in the way of GF or MF. So she doesn't collect much wealth. Current gear is WF, LoH, Stealskull, Gores, Duress, Ravenfrost, Credendum, rare ring....

Or should I just run the pits for a decent DS, AP, etc to cube for the sockets?|||I like Wire Fleece.

Unnecessary STR requirement compared to Archon Plate, the most popular light armour, but I like the looks.

Being Superior, the expenses will be HUGE to repair, but the Amazon won't be getting hit often, so this won't be a problem. I'd say, go for it.

My Strafer has a Forti and Faith bow. The extra gold in Faith helps in those expenses with lots to spare, I even have to gamble with her to spend the excess gold.|||I wouldnt make it in that. For me, its a 15ed that matters(for resale value, Im not planning on selling it, but you never know in the future )

And if you make it in a enhanched durability armor, the repair cost is gonna go skyhigh, so my advice is to make it in a 15ed Archon Plate or 15ed Dusk Shroud.|||because of insane rals drops, i wounder even care what armor you making any runewords, there's like 100% to find ral before your dura is 0.|||I also like the looks of Fleece. Best looking armor for a Zon IMO (splint mail family also looks good though if you like the shiny look).

And while Rals are common, I prefer the lazy route of just using non-excep armor and gold to repair. =)|||The skimpy armors definitely fit the sexy big-bosom style of zons better so Archons and other bigger armors that hide that are not the way to go|||http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Armor_Appearance

Archon looks downright ugly. I like Splint and Studded families the best, as I said above. Dusk looks a little too simple but at least it's not the horrorshow of Archon.|||Yeah I usually pick my armor for looks, rather than the extra ~20-40 point difference in base def. Light elite armors, of course. I have a 4os sup Wyrmhide ElSolDol waiting for me to get a Lo for it Last season her Fort was a GH, that was good for a shiny gold look. Too bad Scale Mail is heavy, I'd love to rock the all-black zon suit.

Mavinazon Socket Suggestions

Currently i have a maxed lvl 86 FA/Strafe Mavinazon which i really enjoy using and i was wondering what the best jewels would be to socket helm + armor + bow. I have read something about either adding IAS or ED jewels to both helm + armor and usually socketing the bow with a shael. I currently possess a few 15IAS jewels, some mid range ED jewels and 1 good 31ED/+13 max damage jewel. I want to increase the damge of stafe which is of course lacking with this build. Dexterity is over 350+ so thats not an issue. Is it worth it to use those jewels or is there a better solution? Advice and suggestions are appreciated.|||So, first question: can you afford a Faith bow? If you can get a Faith on your merc, you can hit 8fpa (or 7fpa if you use one of the IAS jewels in addition to Shael'ing the bow)...otherwise with Mavina's set--even with a Shael in the bow, 15IAS jewels in your helm and armor AND Cat's Eye--you're stuck at 9fpa.

For the biggest boost to your damage (and your attack speed), you could build as follows:

Shael the bow. IAS the helm/armor. Use that 31ED/+13 Max Dmg jewel in helm/armor. And give your merc some Faith (even slvl 12 Fanat would get you to 7fpa).|||Quote:








Use that 31ED/+13 Max Dmg jewel in helm/armor.




Nonono. Its a waste of a good jewel as ed/max is bugged in armor/helms/shields. (unless it was fixed in the last patch..?)|||Thanks for responding. I Forgot to add this is a SP character and use a might merc for support so ladder rune words are out. I do not use RWM either. Yeah i dont know the technical details of achieving fastest strafe speeds so thats good to know. Didnt know about that ED bug either. So it would be better to save those jewels and at least socket the bow and equip Cats Eye or Highlords Wrath?|||Since Faith is out, you can, at best, achieve 9fpa. Currently, if you're just running Mav's set, you've got 10fpa. Shael the bow and then go for Atma's Scarab (amp!) to increase dmg. If you haven't got Atma's, then go for Highlord's, I guess, as it'll at least offer more dmg than Cats Eye.|||I do have Atma's Scarab which i forgot about as an alternative. Just to clarify,

adding any sort of ED to helm+armor will have a negative effect because of an existing bug? Does that apply to all armor and helms as well currently? I guess i will at least shael the bow and switch to Atmas for now.|||After playing a Mav FA/Strafer for a long time I realised a few things;

1) Due to Mav's set using a Bow, Helm, and Gloves, the only way to get knockback is by socketing a Nef in the bow. I really don't think anything in the bow is as good as a Nef.

2) With a Nef in the bow you only have two options for hitting 9/3. You can put a 15ias jewel in the helm and another in the chest, or you can use highlords or cats eye as your amulet.

3) Your FA absolutely owns anything not CI, so I didn't think Cold Facets were worth it. If you want to gem your chest/helm for damage then a +15 Max Damage Jewel in each is the way to go.

4) War Travs are better than Gores. I prefer Travs on most Bowazons but it's a lot closer for the majority of builds. However the Mav set cripples your bows physical damage so that 15-25 adds a much much much larger % of physical damage for a Mav strafer than it does for regualr zons using Faith/WF/WWS/etc

I can't tell you what I ended up deciding was best because it was that long ago. If I remade her today I would think that Atma's is bleh seeing as though you have FA for PI's, so I would go Highlords + 15max jewel helm + 15max jewel chest + Travs.

Stuff about bugged Jewels;

It's been a while so I might be a tad off but iirc it's only jewels with +ED%/+Max that were bugged. I think Blizzard got sick of every zon being encouraged to use duped ED/Max jewels in 4soc 100life armor and 3soc helms as it further encouraged duping. Around 1.10? or so they hotfixed the jewels so that if placed in helms or chestplates they only gave 15max damage and ignored the other stat entirely. They definately still worked in weapons and 'plain' 15max or ED jewels work fine obviosuly. The bug was simply that if a jewel had Enhanced Dmage AND Max Damage on it then only one applied if placed in armor.

Again my details might be a bit off because this was aaages ago, but really all you need to know is that there's nothing wrong with using single-mod jewels in armor.
|||Thanks for all the input and explanations guys. I have been using Travs and Highlords Wrath so i guess nefing the bow and socketing max jewels sounds most ideal.