Java vs LI - dmg boost, or fishy?

So assuming a CF/LF javazon who can't afford Infinity/Griffs yet and prefers to deal with LIs with good ol' Jab instead of going all hybrid fishy, I was wondering if there were other easily achievable means of pumping phys dmg apart from the ones listed off the top of my head;

-Upped (eth if possible) Titans

-Lots of Crit Strike

-Might merc

-LoH

-Fort

-Some CB (Gores etc)

-Highlord's?

-Did I forget anything not ridiculously xpensive that would work?

Another question.. Even with lots of IAS, good res and some of those damage boosters above, would a few points in FA with a cheap Harmony STILL drop LIs faster? I'm essentially wondering if I should tweak gear or respec to fish... Any suggestions appreciated!|||I'm guessing, but I'll bet changing your equipment a bit and sticking them with titans will be far better than FA. Far.

I've done both ways and the fishy just blew my mind. Since both attacks are ranged they allow you to keep your distance and go with more offensive equipment. You don't really need anything other than +skills.

Any +2helm, spirit monarch, titans (non-eth so you can repair), tgods, torch and +2jav gloves puts you very comfortably past level 30 LF/CS/plague jav.|||Quote:








I've done both ways and the fishy just blew my mind.




+1 for fishy mind-blowing...

Respecs are cheap (or free for the first 3...), I say try a fishy for yourself. You'll never go back to jabbing


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Another question.. Even with lots of IAS, good res and some of those damage boosters above, would a few points in FA with a cheap Harmony STILL drop LIs faster? I'm essentially wondering if I should tweak gear or respec to fish... Any suggestions appreciated!




Would a few points in FA and cheap harmony drop them faster? Probably not.

But of course the fishy spec maxes FA and CA.

To me, the benefit of the fishy build isn't faster killing speed (although it does kill packs of LI's more quickly because of the AE), it's safety and MF. While you're wearing fort I'm wearing skullders with a topaz and getting 120+ MF. While you need CB on the gores, I'm fine with travs and more MF. I get to use a lot more MF, and also I get to FREEZE souls, and I get to fight at a distance. It's wonderful, especially against fanat enchanted packs of LI's and other nasties like that.

Also, fishyzon gear is dirt cheap. Bonus.

If you just prefer jab, I guess I can't blame you. But have you actually tried a fishy, or do you just think you prefer jab? |||Nope, never actually tried the fishy way yet which is why I was askin... I'm used to Jab and stuff so I was curious if it was actually worth trying different routes, which by the sounds of it is. I will definitely respec and give it a shot, worse that can happen is another respec. Thanks for the input!|||Just thought I'd post a quick update in case anyone's going through the same thing...

So I respec'd to Fishy and gave it a shot; granted, the best bow I got up to date for testing was Lycander's but I found FA really isn't much damage and hogs mana like a hole in the ground. Could definitely be an IAS issue (didn't lookup BPs yet) but that would just worsen the mana problem IMO. Some item tweaks eventually fixed that...

In the end FA definitely wins because of Freeze + AoE + Pierce, which also lets my merc do more work... though I did run into a few Cold/Light imunes so Jab + Might still has its uses and is far from obsolete.

Maybe I just expected too much damage-wise initially, but on second thought I guess it's more about safety and versatility than raw damage. +1 for Fishy then!