abarlament said:
So, going with the WWS Strafezon guide:
89 str or so
100 vit
base ene
rest in dex
That works for Javazons/Hybrids too, right?
Works for me.
abarlament said:
Anyways, as for equipment:
Vamp Gaze/Stealskull
Crow Caw
Bloodfist/Cleglaws, maybe craft some with my higher lvl chars
Sandstorm Trek/Waterwalk
Moser's with 2 Pdiamonds?
Jewelry as found
WWS
Titan's
Yea?
Let's see. First thing I try to look at is the 90 IAS - for endgame, that is, 60 for 9/3 strafe, 65 for 9 frame normal, is usually OK through NM. With the listed gear, you are at 40 (dual Shael WWS) + 15 CrowCaw + 10 Stealskull gets you to 65 - 25 short of the desired 90. Fervor the armor and stealskull, and you are there.
If it were me, I would go with a different gear set up. But I play mostly SP, too, and so I know how hard it can be to get all of the uber items that all of the guides keep talking about. The major reason I would go with different gear is because I don't have half the gear you mention. Still, I have had some success trading for some items on the SP trading forum here, mainly pgems for crafting. Also, I play SP, so I don't play oversafe, though I do hate to die. And my philosphy with this kind of build is that it is a ranged attacker, so no need to worry too much with defense, hp, or resists. My hybrid likes to bob and weave. Some suggestions...
In general, when shoppping for/keeping +skill tree items, I look for + passives and + jav but not + bow. The reason is that the extra point to strafe is only going to give you, what +5% off weapon ED. + passives is going to boost your AR, chance to pierce, chance to dodge/avoid/evade, critical strike, and buff your decoy and valk. If you use Slow missles and Inner sight, their better too. + Javelins gives you about 30-40 more max lightning damage and an extra bolt.
Armor: CrowCaw gives 15 IAS and 15 dex, but it's heavy, so you move a little slower. Can be kinda hard to position yourself. You might be better off with one of the lighter + skills armor like Skin of the Viper, Spirit Shroud, Que-Hagens, even Silks, socketed with a 15 IAS jewel. I have never been really impressed with OW, maybe because I only tested it at lower levels. Oh, and the reason for the + skills is the big boost to LF and all of the passives. The reasonable runewords don't have IAS but do have other nice goodies. Lionheart is all around great, and Smoke if resists stink.
Helm: Stealskull is nice because of the 10 IAS and dual leach. I'd give Vamp Gaze to my might merc if I ever had one. Also nice are helms with monster flee, KB, or slow, like Blackhorns, Giant skull, Face of Horrors, or Howl tusk. Another good idea is +skills helms for the boost to passives and LF. Lore is a good runeword, tarnhelm, peasant crown would also work. The advantage of the uniques is that you can stick a fervor in them. You could also gamble a nice rare/magic circlet with +skills (which is why I pick-up and sell everything).
Gloves: Check out superdave's excellent glove crafting guide stickied at the top of this forum. Main thing is KB and IAS. Cleglaws are great, but most of my glove decisions seem to come down to needing IAS. Rares with IAS and +skills or dex or res are an option, as are Sander's and Laying of Hands (my personal favorite). Another really nice option is Sigons gloves, coupled with another piece, which gives 30 IAS and 10 % life leech (The leech is also why my merc's usually wear Sigs helm/armor through NM). Death's gloves and belt do the same, but I can't stand the 8 spaces on the belt.
Boots: The ideal in my opinion is War Travelers becasue the +damage on them is added to the weapon before the multiplication by dex, off weapon ED, and +dam to undead/demons. Other good ones are the ones you mention, as well as Sigon's to double up with the gloves for the LL.
Shield: Mosers is a safety shield to me with resists and blocking. But with all your dex, you should be at max block with just about anything. Since I am using LF with this, I go with +skills like Sigon's or Lidless. Another nice option available in 1.11 is Splendor: Eth-Lum gives +1 skills, GF, MF, mana regen, more. Right now I am running with a Pdiamond Sigon's.
Jewelry: This is where I usually get my leech. I used Manald Heal until I found a +skill mana leech Magic amulet (I ID all magic and rare ammy's and circlets, and all rare rings). You really have to go with what you can scrounge, and most of my gambling is done on rings and ammys. Also a good place for AR, some +min/max damage (remember it's added BEFORE multiplication by off weapon ED), resists, and maybe some stats, life, or mana. Ideal is Ravenfrost - CBF, 100-200 AR and 10-20 dex (which equals 10-20% ED) and some cold damage/chill time.
Titan's and WWS: Up the WWS if you have the runes - it really helps. And until you can use Titan's, try imbuing Ama Javs or even crafting them. Replinish mod is my favorite. When I am in a bad situation and I need the block, I actually throw the javs for physical damage.
I am sure there are some things that I have left out. Oh yeah, I play more for viability, so I use life and fine and cold damage charms. You can get by with leech in the 3-5% range in Hell if you are hitting hard enough. Besides, that's what pots are for. The cold damage from charms is not huge, but they add their chill times, so 4 small charms will give 4 sec chill norm, 2 in NM, 1 in hell.
Good luck,
DudSpud
Edit: There are two new armor runewords to consider:
Treachery - Body Armour
ShaelThulLem
25% chance to cast level 15 Venom on Striking
5% chance to cast level 15 Fade when Struck
+2 to Assasin skills
45% Increased Attack Speed
20% Faster Hit Recovery
+30% Cold Resist
50% Extra gold from monsters
Kinda pricey for the Lem, but could solve some AR issues and more gold means more chances at better gambled rings/ammys/circlets.
Peace - Body Armour
ShaelThulAmn
2% chance to cast level 15 Valkyrie on Striking
4% chance to cast level 5 Slow Missiles when Struck
+2 to Amazon skills
+2 to Critical Strike (all classes)
20% Faster Hit Recovery
+30% Resist Cold
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
Nice for the runes, and the +skills helps the passives and LF, but I wonder if the chance to override my 17+ valk wouldn't get annoying - I usually get my valk to 17, but always find/shop +3 passives gloves, circlet that I keep in the stash to make her even higher. And no IAS. Still, I think I'll have to give it a try (I over strengthed my current gal, so maybe on the re-build)
On the topic of armor, once-upped Twitch is nice for the IAS and you can socket it.
On the topic of runewords, there are some nice "Ladder Only" ones that can be had if you are willing to mod your game - check page 5 or so of the SP forum for how to do this. The only draw back to this is that some (many?) SPF trade forum people won't want to trade with you. There are a couple of good leveling bows (Edge, which I always used when I gambled on ladder because it reduces preices by 15%, and Harmony) and some nice, relatively cheap polearms you can make for your merc. I haven't thought much about this option as I am almost exclusively "legit" SP now, but it is something you may want to consider.
One thing I didn't mention is decoy. I hot key this and use it a lot, especially for the elemental archers. She Dodges/evades the same as you, so the +passives helps her three times, and it usually lasts long enough to let the valk or merc get between you and the archers, and those danged A5 quill rats. And it slows the Ancients a bit. Give it a try.