[DEAD][Guardian][HC Sept][Diary]Frida, a targeted bowazon that rolled javazon...

Babyhell

Well-known member
Jan 22, 2019
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Hey guys!

Hereby is announced the birth of a new HC baby, Frida! She had been my first runneress in @Vang 's Random Tournament, and by succeeding is now a part of my HC Sept.

For sure I'll give a follow up in the Random Tournament thread, but here is her dedicated character thread to be used for self theorycrafting (big word for my little thoughts about build and gearing).

Shortcuts
Random skills and gear rolled
Thoughts, gear found and evolution:
Theorycrafting
Welcome!
YLpFIFRl.jpg
 
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Random skills and gear rolled

Starting status
Courtesy of @Vildecor

Forever Skills
Fend
Charged Strike
Jab -> Ice arrow (initial reroll)

Normal Skills
Poison Javelin
Decoy
Guided Arrow
Poison Javelin -> Immolation Arrow
Pierce

Weapons
Long Battle Bow
Long War Bow -> Long Bow (initial reroll)
Stag Bow
Maiden Javelin

Armor
Medium Armor
Cap
Small Shield
Light Gauntlets
Boots -> Heavy boots (initial reroll)
Light Belt

Normal strategy
Grab Critical Strike and Penetrate as prereqs of Pierce, go hard on Charged Strike asap, using Poison javelin in the meantime.
Lvl 2 Critical Strike
Lvl 3 Jab
Lvl 4-5 keep points (2)
Lvl 6 Akara reward Power Strike
Lvl 6-17 Poison javelin -> 12pts total
Lvl 17 Lightning bolt (1 kept point left)
Lvl 18 Penetrate (0 kept point left)
Lvl 18-37 Charged Strike - maxed
Remaining : getting Decoy, maxing Poison javelin

Nightmare reroll
Courtesy of GENEROUS @Vildecor
Forever Skills
Fend
Charged Strike
Jab -> Ice arrow (initial reroll)
Lightning Fury (locked from NM skills)

Nightmare Skills
Cold Arrow
Fend -> Inner Sight
Charged Strike -> Freezing Arrow
Exploding Arrow

This set of roll is really good...what would you need more? Pierce maybe, but it is not mandatory - let's hope for it in Hell!


Targeted NM start at clvl 50/55
It gives 49/54+4 skill points, let's see how to use them well at start.

At lvl 53 with 56 skill points total, it allows, counting all prerequisites (only three useless points in jab and poison skills):
- 15 Charged Strike,
- 15 Lightning Fury,
- 15 Freezing Arrow,
- 5 Cold Arrow,
- 1 Jab,
- 1 Power Strike,
- 1 Lightning bolt,
- 1 Poison javelin,
- 1 Plague javelin,
- 1 Ice arrow.

A 20/20/20/10 skilling could be targeted by the end of Act 4 NM at clvl 69, being a reasonable goal. The route may be getting 10 points in CA, then alternating between the three others skills +1/+1/+1. Afterwards, each point should go into CA until Hell skill rolls.

Hell reroll
Forever Skills
Fend
Charged Strike
Jab -> Ice arrow (initial reroll)
Lightning Fury (locked from NM skills)

Hell skills
Lightning Fury -> Power Strike
Avoid
Fend -> Decoy
Critical Strike

Another lightning synergy, and Decoy is back in the game. Avoid should be avoided, Critical Strike could be ignored more or less - it would help with ML if I find a good base.

In terms of points, at clvl 76+8 skills points from quests (83 total), it could go that way:
- 20 Charged Strike,
- 20 Lightning Fury,
- 15 Power Strike,
- 1 Jab,
- 1 Lightning bolt,
- 1 Poison javelin,
- 1 Plague javelin,
- 13+ Decoy,
- 1 Inner Sight,
- 1 Slow Missile,
- 1 Cold Arrow,
- 8 Ice arrow (11 with Kuko for 4s freeze/1s in Hell).
 
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Normal chapter
Thoughts
Forever skills are not only against bow use, but heavily melee oriented. Hopefully, Fend and Charged Strike are really strong attacks, hopefully a synergy can come for CS for hell - Fend, on his side, can't really be used due to available weaponry. But it implies relying only on javelins, and that's a really hard point when you think about making a bowie...

For non permanent skills, Decoy is clearly the one I do hesitate to add to the forever list: this is hardcore, and well Pierce shouldn't be that useful for melee in the end...
Immolation arrow shouldn't be great either in Hell, Guided arrow is not Strafe.
Only poison javelin can be efficient enough at start, but with limited rerolls, the path is small to be balanced enough to complete Normal mode. But still it is Normal, so almost anything can be done.

Gear found and evolution
Until a useful Amazon javelin drops I'll be stuck to starting gear... well we will see what RNG will do for us!

Summary to be updated using story posts when chapter is complete.
 
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Nightmare chapter
Thoughts
Lightning Fury!!! Locked as forever skill - by itself and as a Charged Strike synergy.

Beside, I will have access to a fully synergisable (?) Freezing Arrow, and with Kuko Shakaku, it will hit hard and have some pierce.

No more poison, nor even passive - Inner Sight, not that great, and probably not a 1 point wonder.

So after a melee Normal playthrough, I will probably have some cool dual elements amazon. I bet this will be easier than Hell, by itself and by the existing combo...Hell may be much harder as it is not probable to get those skills again - really close to be the best Hell situation.

Well let's have a fun NM playthrough, hoping for Titan's and/or Razortail. Additional charms from Normal LK combined with gambled gloves/boots do address an almost max res for all elements. Maybe the 2os War hat should be a Lore runeword instead of the PTopazed Cap, leaving MF for skill, mana and LRES...we will see!

Gear found and evolution
Summary to be updated using story posts.
 
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Hell chapter
Thoughts
Another lightning synergy, and Decoy is back in the game. Avoid has been avoided, Critical Strike got two hard points, and now at clvl 82, RoF waypoint, Decoy is maxed - I chose to because it is so powerful, I couldn't get to that point without it, and it allows running Hell LK pretty safely - on p3 so the merc isn't dying too often, but still.

I guess it was kinda golden roll, Freezing arrow instead of Avoid would have been diamond, add Pierce instead of Critical Strike definitely platinum.

Given the synergies, Lightning immunes are my plague. So Gulzar the Defiance merc left his place to Leharas the Holy Freeze one, so we get some more safety and cold damage.

The NM LK running allowed the max block build given the resistances, so they could be maintained at 75 on shield switch (PDiamond'ed Whistan's Guard). Soon, max block will unlock Matriarchal javelins (151 dex), so things are setting up pretty nicely.

The tough CS and Diablo fight will be the main concern, so there will be some time invested in LK, in order to get somehow top gear. The Pits p1 could be ran too in order to find bases/upgrades, I felt it cooler to handle than the Tunnels.

The Lore Shako is for now used by the merc, but it is my main option to replace the MF war hat I do wear.

Gear found and evolution
For now, most of the gear used comes from NM. The upgrades were for the merc, with an eth Thresher Obedience available, and some ethereal Ornate plate bases, one ebugged with 949 def 4os. 3os would have been perfect at this stage, but it can make a Stone base whatsoever.

On the bad luck side, Frida was an ethereal roll close to find her Razortail, and the merc's life leech issues had been stressed by the Pits and Arcane Sanctuary Crown of Thieves drops (10 and 12 life leech... that can't be used due to tournament ruling - in fact his only options are the weapon or a Chain of Honor runeword, that hurts either for Insight or for the required Ber rune).

I hesitated on this part... let's be positive!
 
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Sounds like a fun, but challengig build!

Thoughts on game progress:

1. Since you get to respec completely after Normal, you shouldn't wast thoughts on how your skill choice in Normal affects NM. This is convenient, because there are a lot of skills which shine in normal but lack power in later difficulties (e.g. Power Strike, which is a forever skill for my Amazon).

2. As Maiden Javelin is your only Spear-type weapon, I would vote against Fend and in favour of Charged Strike. Although the exceptional version can drop in late Normal IIRC (qlvl 35), the damage just isn't enough, especially since you don't have access to OP runewords in Maiden Javelins.

3. Charged Strike is a great skill and its mana cost actually quite ok. Think about equipping your Act II merc with an Insight as soon as you have the runes for it if you run out of mana quickly. Lacking synergies is tough though.

4. Ice Arrow looks like a good single target skill for normal. For later difficulties though...You can hope to score Freezing Arrow and have that one fully synergized :)

5. Even without synergies, you should be able to complete Normal. Then you get access to 5 probably new skills. Even if Decoy looks tempting, Valkyrie would be even better and synergies to your main attacks probably, too. So I wouldn't lock any skill right now, because that way, you'll get 5 chances on better skills in NM instead of only 4 and still have the option to lock a skill for Hell.

Best of luck!

P.S.:

Oh, and:
6. REMEMBER TO REPAIR YOUR STARTING STACK OF JAVELINS IN TIME! 🤪
The throwing damage is very tempting at the beginning of Normal until you have access to other weapons and/or skills. But if you use up your last Javelin, the stack is gone and you have to wait till Act III to have a chance that Maiden Javelins drop (maybe even late Act II, but that is a stretch to hope for...)
 
Excellent advice @Grisu!

I had also originally thought to utilize a lot of Fend for normal, but I just don't think the damage will be there until I can find a decent weapon. I'll probably be pumping more into Power Strike with te rest going into Lightning Strike.

And also remember, any bad luck you have on your playthrough, you can totally blame on me and the rolls I gave you! :p
 
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The Stealth runes quest
Lvl 14.5.
After getting the Outer cloister waypoint, I decided to run the Countess a bit to get the Tal Eth runes needed, maybe two sets for the merc (#Checked).
knEAdoXl.jpg


Alongside, she dropped upgrades on shield and belt, even for the shield after the Cleglaw's find in the Underground passage, bringing the last needed Eth also.
80gRRt8l.jpg
7GYqrrNl.jpg

wN7Dsxml.jpg


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yKo0mFIl.jpg

Still wearing neither gloves nor armor, waiting for a 2os medium one...will push to 15 at Countess then it will be time to move whatever will be the status.

But already, she was kind to drop the needed runes.

For now Poison javelin is doing good damage alongside with merc, but mainly playing p1 so it's not that accurate. At least it does the job for now!

Let's see what will bring the next session!
 
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Last session story here in Random Tournament thread.

Skillwise, stopped Poison javelin and started to unlock path to Decoy. As a consequence only one skill point left saved for Penetrate, another will be saved on lvl 17 for Decoy, and on lvl 18 and on it will be Charged Strike pumping.

For stat points, 10 points kept, I have to think about the gear I want to use soon. At least a pair of Light Gauntlets, so I will have to put 45 in Strength - as she is at 36, it is covered. But long term goal armor shall be checked too with what can be available in the coming acts. It could be reasonable to target 51 for Splint mail early, then 70 for Gothic plate in Act 4/5 Normal, 100 for an ancient armor in Nightmare, and setting am all time max limit at 131 with Diamond mail in Hell.

Will probably run Andy until lvl 18 hoping for some jewelry goodies, then get back to questing and getting the cube(!).
 
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Theorycrafting: working around gear Str/Dex req
Medium body armors

Rich (BB code):
Difficulty/Act nb | Armor base    | Str req | Clvl | Points available
Normal Act 1      | Ring mail     |      36 |   16 |  10
Normal Act 2      | Splint mail   |      51 |   17 |   0
Normal Act 4+     | Gothic plate  |      70 |   30 |  45+ 5 (L.E. Tome Norm)
NM Act ?          | Ancient armor |     100 |   55 | 140+ 5 (L.E. Tome Norm)
Hell Act ?        | Diamond mail  |     131 |   75 | 210+10 (L.E. Tome Norm+NM)
Light gauntlets
Maximum targeted will be Battle gauntlets, with a Str req of 88, which is covered at NM entrance (the Crusaders have 151 Str req).

Small shield
For Luna, Str req is 100, which is covered at NM entrance.

Heavy boots
For Scarabshell boots, Str req is 91, which is covered at NM entrance.

Belt
For Vampirefang's belt, Str req is 50, which is largely covered.

Cap
For Shako, Str req is 50 - largely covered.

Weapons
As it stands, the only melee weapons available are the Maiden javelins. The reqs are as follows:
Rich (BB code):
Difficulty/Act nb | Weapon base         | Str/Dex req
Normal Act 2-/3   | Maiden javelin      |  33/ 47
Normal Act 4-/5   | Ceremonial javelin  |  25/109
NM Act 5-/Hell    | Matriarchal javelin | 107/151
Strength req are largely covered, except for a potential GG Matriarchal jav drop late NM, which is not that far to be covered anyway.
Dexterity will go high on the other hand, so there will be much to invest in...it should be targeted alongside with max block.

There, having Small shield can help if Whistan's are found - it will be definitely worth it to farm for it. Let's hope for a Normal Baal drop or it could be farmed in NM amongst uniques/Super Uniques anyway - it shouldn't be the hardest piece to get!
 
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Theorycrafting: stats progression targets
Road to NM
Goal is to jump in NM while able to use Ancient armor and Ceremonial javelin, with a nice enough amount of life - enough to level in Normal, then push before entering NM.

Targets table
So in the end targets are the following ones, based upon armor strength reqs evolution, ceremonial javelin availability in late Normal, and targeted levels to allow their use:
Rich (BB code):
                Str Dex Vit
Bases            20  25  20
Lvl 20           51  47  62
Lvl 21-26            +2  +3
[State]  lvl 26  51  59  80
Lvl 27           +4      +1
Lvl 28-30        +5
[Fixed] ~lvl 30  70  59  86 (+5vita L.E. tome)
Lvl 31-45            +2  +3
[State]  lvl 45  70  89 131
Lvl 46-49            +5
[Fixed] ~lvl 49  70 109 131
Which lvl 109Dex? 49, before Str up
Lvl 50-55        +5
[Fixed] ~lvl 55 100 109 131
Lvl 56+ full vita if pushing more until NM jump: as it stands, it will bring 511 base hp at lvl 55, lvl 61 required to get over 600 (613).
 
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Before Act 4
This act will be a hard one, and much resistances are needed, at the very least lightning and fire, so the higher we have them, the easiest the survival will be.

Current status after Mephisto
uH9cpDml.jpg

For now, only the poison res is high - gear and charms. The cold res is from a ring, and the lightning from a small charm.

The other charms are mainly low life and damage ones, so they can be replaced by resistances ones without much impact.

The shield is a rare with low deflection and FHR mods. Even if really nice, using a 2os one for resistances can be mandatory. For now, I only have diamonds, but level can allow Pdiamonds - only crafting diamonds are to be found. For the base, a Small shield has to be used, as Round ones will not be available before Act 5 Normal at best.

Other gear pieces can be upgraded quite easily, but as it is all based on RNG, finding rares, and good ones, the best bet could be Mephisto running - which is planned until lvl 27.

However, the other needed materials are gems and charms. The two best places for that I know about are LK superchests and the Council.

Normal LK capabilities
For safety i'll put a buck on LK. After checking the ilvl of area, if I didn't make a mistake, it should drop ilvl 22 items/charms (see here). Based upon this other site, the resistances mods available are:
  • SC: up to 8-9 single res, no all res
  • LC: up to 8-10 single res, 3-5 all res
  • GC: up to 21-25 single res, 8-12 all res
For possible luck, available suffixes are those ones:
  • SC: 11-15 life, 3-5MF
  • LC: 11-15 life
  • GC: 16-20 life

It is definitely possible to get some cool tools already. Finding combos of single res SC/GC for Fire and Lightning can add 29-34 on best affixes, a 12 allres GC would be endgame capable. Alongside, gems could be crafted up to Pgems or close, so it wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Goals
2os Small shield socketed with Pdiamonds
+38 allres
Charms for single resistances
+29 Fire/Lightning res
Already available res
6 Lightning sc
14 Cold ring
74 Poison from various sources, including a 7 PRES GC

Added up, all of this would put resistances at:
  • FRES 67
  • LRES 73
  • CRES 52
  • PRES 112
Conclusion
At evidence, PRES GCs could be exchanged for other res ones, and CRES charms should also be found along the way.

I will follow this strategy to build up the resistances before Act 4, and try to survive to CS and defeat Diablo!
 
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Normal LK - an allres quest
Current resistances state including finds
Inventory management
In inventory, I keep a TP book and the Cube.

I'd like to keep 4x4 free inventory space, but having space dead in HC isn't that useful...I'll try to stay at 2x4, we will see!

So it allows 18 charm spaces (4x3 and 6x1) for the first option, and 26 charm spaces (6x3 and 8x1) for the second one.

In the end, everything can be maxed using 4 Gc and 2 Sc. It even leaves some room for 4 Sc, pretty nice ending!
Also I could use 2 Sc instead of a Gc for CRES, but the juicy 39GF is quite an improvement for 1x1!

Gemwise, alongside with the 2Pdiamonds, could craft 2Ptopazes, 2PSapphires, 1PAmethyst, 1PRuby, 1PEmerald, 1PSkull.

Available gear & charms
So let's detail all available resistances below:
The shield
Code:
Gemmed Small Shield
Small Shield
Defense: 9
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 18
Required Strength: 22
Fingerprint: 0xf211326f
Item Level: 11
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +38
2 Sockets (2 used)
Socketed: Perfect Diamond
Socketed: Perfect Diamond

(Note: Gc 10@ counted once for spaces in Fire section)
Fire 77 (91 available), 3x1 1x3 1x3*, maxed using 1x1 1x3 1x3*
  • Small shield 38@
  • Gc 10@
  • Gc 22 +5 life
  • Sc 7 +1 Strength
  • Sc 7 +1-2 fire damage
  • Sc 7
Cold 78 (85 available), 1x1 1x3, maxed using 1x3 (+1x3*)
  • Small shield 38@
  • Gc 10@
  • Ring1 14
  • Gc 16 +GF
  • Sc 7
Lightning 75 (88 available), 3x1 1x3, maxed using 1x1 1x3 (+1x3*)
  • Small shield 38@
  • Gc 10@
  • Sc 6 +GF
  • Gc 21 +5 Strength
  • Sc 7
  • Sc 6
Poison 97 (152), 2x1 3x3, maxed using 0x
  • Small shield 38@
  • Gc 10@
  • Stealth armor 30
  • Ring2 19
  • Gc 7
  • Gc 18
  • Gc 18 +FHR
  • Sc 6 +psn damage
  • Sc 6 +9life
Resistance charms
Code:
Shimmering Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0xac4d56c1
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +10

Garnet Grand Charm of Life
Grand Charm
Required Level: 15
Fingerprint: 0x5c74bb9a
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5 to Life
Fire Resist +22%

Russet Small Charm of Strength
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0xb98da1d7
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Strength
Fire Resist +7%

Russet Small Charm of Flame
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0xefeaebae
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 1 - 2 Fire Damage
Fire Resist +7%

Russet Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0xd5f35d0d
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Fire Resist +7%

Viridian Small Charm of Blight
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0x1ad394b9
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 6 Poison Damage Over 3 Secs (75 Frames)
Poison Resist +6%

Viridian Small Charm of Life
Small Charm
Required Level: 14
Fingerprint: 0xd547e3db
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+9 to Life
Poison Resist +6%

Viridian Grand Charm of Balance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 7
Fingerprint: 0xdf787cc2
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+12% Faster Hit Recovery
Poison Resist +18%

Coral Grand Charm of Strength
Grand Charm
Required Level: 15
Fingerprint: 0x8fe19bf7
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+5 to Strength
Lightning Resist +21%

Ocher Small Charm of Shock
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0xe2132999
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 1 - 6 Lightning Damage
Lightning Resist +7%

Ocher Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0xd4d64327
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Lightning Resist +6%

Lapis Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 10
Fingerprint: 0xbe0b8036
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Cold Resist +7%

Lapis Grand Charm of Greed
Grand Charm
Required Level: 14
Fingerprint: 0x10a135fb
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Cold Resist +16%
39% Extra Gold from Monsters

Other charms
Code:
Lizard's Large Charm of Life
Large Charm
Required Level: 9
Fingerprint: 0xfac006f0
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+14 to Life
+4 to Mana

Snake's Grand Charm of Life
Grand Charm
Required Level: 14
Fingerprint: 0xae78a9b6
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+20 to Life
+24 to Mana

Fine Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 16
Fingerprint: 0x67849920
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+6 to Maximum Damage
+27 to Attack Rating

Fine Grand Charm of Inertia
Grand Charm
Required Level: 16
Fingerprint: 0x5b85d8f6
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+7% Faster Run/Walk
+5 to Maximum Damage
+25 to Attack Rating

Small Charm of Life
Small Charm
Required Level: 14
Fingerprint: 0x3af230ea
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+10 to Life

Other goodies
Code:
Rainbow Amulet of Might
Amulet
Required Level: 15
Fingerprint: 0x399ee198
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+4 to Strength
All Resistances +11

Rainbow Amulet of the Sentinel
Amulet
Required Level: 15
Fingerprint: 0x77ca02
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +8
Magic Damage Reduced by 2

Natural Amulet of the Tiger
Amulet
Required Level: 15
Fingerprint: 0x975fa13b
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Elemental Skills (Druid Only)
+30 to Life

Acrobatic Amulet of Fortune
Amulet
Required Level: 15
Fingerprint: 0xa150e4bd
Item Level: 22
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Passive and Magic Skills (Amazon Only)
21% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
 
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Building MF
Cap

As i had no real time tonight, i shopped a bit in order to replace my 2 chipped rubies cap. Quickly Charsi delivered two Mechanic's, one with poison length reduction :)
XLPYPVAl.jpg

GN6Oysql.jpg


This way i could put in use the two PTopazes crafted from LK, bringing her MF up.
gRCskjrl.jpg

All res at 75!

Gloves
14MF on a gambled rare one.

Boots
12MF rare ones, with 51GF, 31FRES and 30FRW!

Shield
25MF from a Rhyme Round shield.

Amulet
Using a +1 Passive skills and 21MF LK find.
No passive skill in Nightmare: using a 24MF one for now.
Upgrade from WSK NM: 10allres/33MF magic amulet.

Rings
Using two rares, one with 9MF/80AR/4LL/19PRES/10FCR and another with 10MF/79AR/1life/14CRES.
 
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