Uber Soloing Amazon

I've started an amazon in ladder (mostly for the socket quests) but was curious if there is a tried and true Uber-killing amazon?



From readin this melee (or melle as spelled there) guide, I gather that melee is the way to go, and that it can be pretty inexpensive (which is good )



I would like opinions and suggestions before I go about searching for gear, so heres what I was thinking:



20 Jab

20 Fend

20 Critical Strike

20 Penetrate

Should I avoid Dodge avoid and evade all together?



Enough Str, Dex for gear, Max Vita, same as every other build...



For equipment:



Guillames Helm (um'd or 15 IAS jewel'd?) Would an IAS jewel'd Stealskull be better at the loss of %CB?

Dracul's Grasp for the lifetap

'Trachery' Archon Plate for the for 45% IAS and Fade (Venom never hurt either)

Gore Rider boots, standard Ubertrist

Highlord's Wrath amulet for the IAS skill and light resist

2x Ravenfrosts



What weapon would you suggest? There are so many listed. A viperfork would be really fast with [-20] and 50% IAS on it, but low damage and no CB. If I could find an Eth War pillar I assume it would have over 1k damage which is really nice. A Hone Sudan would be nice with 45% CB, and I could up it but would still have low damage (unless I can find ethereal and it might be decent)



Would I be better suited to use a shield and Javelin, or just keep one on switch?



I have never played an amazon, so I'm sorry if these questions are stupid and its common sense among players



If anyone has experience, could you list your gear, skills and stats please?|||Amazon's among the worst chars for ubering...of course it IS possible, just much more of a challenge. Its a lot harder to keep your rez maxed as a zon, and a lot harder to hit with no autohit skill like Smite.

Perhaps most damning, though, is that there are no 1h runewords that Zons can use (they suffer a severe penalty when using any 1h weapon except daggers or javs), and they lose the benefit of a shield when using a spear runeword - and there arent that many good spear runewords, anyway, and none at all with the big CB rating you want for an Uberer.

Treachery is probably better suited as a prebuff with Smoke being your main worn armor for more rez, also.|||Good point about 'smoke', but I would lose 45% IAS there, and thats big. Maybe I'll just switch out for Smoke vs. Meph.



I thought zons could get insanely high AR for some reason.



Stone Raven has 30-50 Resist all, and 400-600 defense. It lacks any crushing blow (Gores and Guillames should give enough though) It's also got low-ish damage.



Perhaps I should just make a general PvM Amazon. Any suggestions? (limited budget)|||Melee Zon could never do trist with D/A/E.

And a 2-hander is a death sentence. They're strong, but ludicrously squishy like a vial of nitro balancing on a toothpick. If your lacking a faith merc your going to need a crapload of IAS for a decent enough jab if you intend on staying alive using lifetap. Trying to stay alive agaisnt frenzytaurs with no block is challenging enough.

So your mostly left with T stroke, Titans, and a shield. G-face and gores are enough CB for you, since jab is so fast.

Personally, I only like using botd for a 2-hander. Things like fort are too precious to give up for much needed IAS. Things like stoneraven aren't worth your time in hell.

Zons may have penetrate, but that doesn't mean your going to have a high AR. Even werewolves will need some +AR or a high DEX. Grand charms with high max damage AND 120+ AR are costly and rare.