Guardian PureLFury - Cow Runner

[Thomh]

Guardian PureLFury - Cow Runner

It`s been a while since I`ve done a write-up on my characters. Because time spent writing about D2 is time spent not playing D2.
I present to you PureLFury. If it isn`t obvious to you guys this is a pure lightning Amazon, and the name was chosen wisely It`s practical, at least.

[highlight]The boring stats:[/highlight]

Guardian PureLFury

LCS (note that I actually cheated here, I forgot to take a screenie of LCS when killing Baal and she`s gained two levels from Cow killing since then. In addition I used a 15res@ GC and 11 ruby SC which isn`t showed in the LCS picture)

Stats\with gear

Level: 84
Strength: 136/163
Dexterity: 94/136
Vitality: 265/294
Energy: 15/22

Other stats:

Block: 33% with Spirit (soooooo slow)
FR/W: 66
FHR: 55
IAS: 20
FCR: 59

Skills:

1 in each of the passives.

Jab: 1/23
Power Strike: 2/24
Poison Javelin: 1/23
Lightning Bolt: 20/42
Charged Strike: 20/42
Plague Javelin: 1/23
Lightning Strike: 20/42
Lightning Fury: 20/42

Gear:

Harlequin Crest Shako "UM"
Skin of The Vipermagi 30res@
Mara`s Kaleidoscope 28res@
Titan`s Revenge
Spirit Monarch
Silkweave
Razortail
2x BK Wedding Band
Crafted Blood Gloves with 20%IAS, +2 Jav skills and useless other mods

Switch Weapon: "Harmony" Great Bow

Readouts of equipment

Spoiler

Skin of the Vipermagi
Serpentskin Armor
Defense: 279
Durability: 23 of 24
Required Level: 29
Required Strength: 43
Fingerprint: 0xd9891f45
Item Level: 57
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
+30% Faster Cast Rate
+120% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +30
Magic Damage Reduced by 12

Razortail
Sharkskin Belt
Defense: 107
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 32
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0xb113d134
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Piercing Attack
+10 to Maximum Damage
+150% Enhanced Defense
+15 Defense
+15 to Dexterity
Attacker Takes Damage of (Based on Character Level) 84

Silkweave
Mesh Boots
Defense: 116
Durability: 16 of 16
Required Level: 36
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0x66202558
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+30% Faster Run/Walk
+158% Enhanced Defense
+200 Defense vs. Missile
Increase Maximum Mana 10%
+5 to Mana after each Kill

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0xe4fd3317
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
5% Life stolen per hit
+42 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+50 Maximum Stamina

Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
Ring
Required Level: 58
Fingerprint: 0x43310a47
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to All Skills
5% Life stolen per hit
+42 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+50 Maximum Stamina

Harlequin Crest
Shako
Defense: 129
Durability: 10 of 12
Required Level: 62
Required Strength: 50
Fingerprint: 0x9aadae4f
Item Level: 94
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
All Stats +2
+126 to Life (Based on Character Level)
+126 to Mana (Based on Character Level)
All Resistances +15
Damage Reduced by 10%
50% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
1 Sockets (1 used)
Socketed: Um Rune

Shadow Hold
Sharkskin Gloves
Defense: 100
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Level: 65
Required Strength: 20
Fingerprint: 0xcf85c0ad
Item Level: 93
Version: Expansion 1.10+
5% Chance to cast level 3 Frost Nova when struck
+2 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)
+20% Increased Attack Speed
2% Life stolen per hit
6% Chance of Crushing Blow
+150% Enhanced Defense
+11 to Life

Mara's Kaleidoscope
Amulet
Required Level: 67
Fingerprint: 0x9c8694fb
Item Level: 87
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
All Stats +5
All Resistances +28

Titan's Revenge
Ceremonial Javelin
Throw Damage: 78 - 211
One Hand Damage: 78 - 154
Quantity: 76
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 25
Required Dexterity: 109
Fingerprint: 0x9ee60e67
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)
+2 to Amazon Skill Levels
+30% Faster Run/Walk
199% Enhanced Damage
Adds 25 - 50 Damage
5% Life stolen per hit
+20 to Strength
+20 to Dexterity
Increased Stack Size
Replenishes quantity

Spirit
Monarch
TalThulOrtAmn
Defense: 141
Chance to Block: 0
Durability: 85 of 86
Required Level: 54
Required Strength: 156
Fingerprint: 0x5d44404
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+2 to All Skills
+29% Faster Cast Rate
+55% Faster Hit Recovery
+250 Defense vs. Missile
+22 to Vitality
+103 to Mana
Cold Resist +35%
Lightning Resist +35%
Poison Resist +35%
+7 Magic Absorb
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Thul Rune
Socketed: Ort Rune
Socketed: Amn Rune

Harmony
Superior Great Bow
TirIthSolKo
Two Hand Damage: 47 - 176
Durability: 35 of 36
Required Level: 51
Required Strength: 121
Required Dexterity: 107
Fingerprint: 0xc13abc73
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 10 Vigor Aura When Equipped
222% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
+9 to Maximum Damage
Adds 55 - 160 Fire Damage
Adds 55 - 160 Lightning Damage
Adds 55 - 160 Cold Damage Over 3 Secs (84 Frames)
+4 to Valkyrie
+10 to Dexterity
Regenerate Mana 20%
+2 to Mana after each Kill
+2 to Light Radius
Level 20 Revive (25/25 Charges)
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Tir Rune
Socketed: Ith Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune
Socketed: Ko Rune

Inventory: 7 SKillers (some plain and some with suffixes) and resistance SCs

Readouts:

Spoiler

Harpoonist's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x5d2ed506
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)
+28 to Life

Harpoonist's Grand Charm of Craftmanship
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x92aacd53
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)
+1 to Maximum Damage

Harpoonist's Grand Charm of Fire
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xf1fa3f1d
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)
Adds 1 - 3 Fire Damage

Harpoonist's Grand Charm of Sustenance
Grand Charm
Required Level: 53
Fingerprint: 0xa3c4bb12
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)
+35 to Life

Harpoonist's Grand Charm of Frost
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x9bfbc9f0
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)
Adds 1 - 2 Cold Damage Over 1 Secs (25 Frames)

Harpoonist's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0x1aea42d3
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)

Harpoonist's Grand Charm
Grand Charm
Required Level: 42
Fingerprint: 0xea00b63c
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+1 to Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)

Shimmering Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0x24113410
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +4

Shimmering Small Charm
Small Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0x6d7cfaa2
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
All Resistances +4

Shimmering Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 25
Fingerprint: 0x1c136f68
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+13 to Life
All Resistances +4

Amber Small Charm of Inertia
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0x55a84a8
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3% Faster Run/Walk
Lightning Resist +10%

Amber Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0xf6d5ec7d
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+13 to Life
Lightning Resist +10%

Ruby Small Charm of Inertia
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0x486c0d60
Item Level: 80
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+3% Faster Run/Walk
Fire Resist +10%

Ruby Small Charm of Sustenance
Small Charm
Required Level: 32
Fingerprint: 0x8dadd2e
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+11 to Life
Fire Resist +11%

Two charms used when doing the WSK:

Spoiler

Shimmering Grand Charm of Sustenance 
Grand Charm 
Required Level: 27 
Fingerprint: 0x7c2cbdf8 
Item Level: 88 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
+21 to Life 
All Resistances +15

Ruby Small Charm of Fortune 
Small Charm 
Required Level: 32 
Fingerprint: 0x833c2557 
Item Level: 88 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
Fire Resist +11% 
4% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Mercenary: Act2 Defensive with Eth Insight GPA, Vampire Gaze and Duriel`s Shell

Spoiler

Duriel's Shell
Cuirass
Defense: 714
Durability: 37 of 150
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 65
Fingerprint: 0xeb5eefa7
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
+200% Enhanced Defense
+105 Defense (Based on Character Level)
+15 to Strength
+84 to Life (Based on Character Level)
Cold Resist +30%
All Resistances +20
Cannot Be Frozen
+100 Maximum Durability


Vampire Gaze
Grim Helm
Defense: 252
Durability: 36 of 40
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 58
Fingerprint: 0x9cea3d56
Item Level: 88
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Adds 6 - 22 Cold Damage Over 4 Secs (100 Frames)
8% Mana stolen per hit
6% Life stolen per hit
+100% Enhanced Defense
15% Slower Stamina Drain
Damage Reduced by 15%
Magic Damage Reduced by 13


Insight
Great Poleaxe
RalTirTalSol
Two Hand Damage: 241 - 640
Durability: 28 of 28
Required Level: 63
Required Strength: 169
Required Dexterity: 89
Fingerprint: 0xf81c282c
Item Level: 85
Version: Expansion 1.10+
Level 13 Meditation Aura When Equipped
+35% Faster Cast Rate
237% Enhanced Damage
+9 to Minimum Damage
187% Bonus to Attack Rating
Adds 5 - 30 Fire Damage
Adds 75 Poison Damage Over 5 Secs (125 Frames)
+2 to Critical Strike
All Stats +5
+2 to Mana after each Kill
23% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
Ethereal
4 Sockets (4 used)
Socketed: Ral Rune
Socketed: Tir Rune
Socketed: Tal Rune
Socketed: Sol Rune

If you paid a lot of attention when looking at the stats, you can probably tell that I didn`t exactly plan this build very well.
I wanted the option to swap between Stormshield, Spirit, 4os Monarch with Facets and a ton of other shields and that was as far as my planning went Basically I was bored this Saturday evening and just started a character, at least I have an explanation for the terrible stat placement.
The reason to make her is pretty clear, I wanted a Cow runner just to see if it is any fun.


[highlight] Normal and Nightmare Questing[/highlight]

She was twinked to the teeth and unsurprisingly Lightning Fury and Charged Strike owned Normal and Nightmare after the envy stuff had carried me through the first 17 levels.
Hell was where the "fun" started.

[highlight]Hell Questing[/highlight]
The first two acts was quite easy, as the LIs were not strong enough to give my merc troubles. The Maggot Lair lvl 1 had a pretty nice layout, but lvl 2 more than made up for it with this. Somehow the beetle died, I have no idea how and it took quite a while, but it died.
Act3 was surprisingly easy even though there are tons of LIs there. Titan`s Revenge deals a decent amount of physical damage and with the pierce the little buggers rested in peace quite quickly.
Act4 was terrible, though. Luckily it`s all outdoors, so the Harmony switch came in handy. Especially City of The Damned was a thrill with Dark Familiars, Damned and Abyss Knights (all LI). All of these have low hit points, so the merc could handle them easily enough, but I`m much too impatient for that so I just used Harmony and ran straight through everything. None of those monsters hit especially hard anyways, so it didn`t feel that dangerous.
It makes me feel alive
Act5 was heaven and hell rolled into one. As is usually the case with single-element characters, any area with strong monsters immune to your attacks are horrible, while everything else is a cake walk. I met Gloams by the Frozen River. Gloams isn`t so bad, but these were Conviction, Cold Enchanted and every other horrible thing. I`m used to dodging the lightning, but poor Emilio wasn`t very good at it.
In the end I just gave up and ran right past the gloams with one finger on Rejuv-button all the time. It worked beautifully! On the way back we had to do the same thing. The same procedure was used in the Ancient`s Way, were a ton of unique and Champion Hell Lords made Emilio`s life miserable.
Other than Madawc taking forever to kill, Ancient`s were easily taken care of on the first try. No Gloams in the WSK=dead Baal.

[highlight]Thoughts[/highlight]

-I have killed cows less than ten times, but it seems pretty solid. I`m not super impressed at all, but I haven`t tried to optimalize her yet and there will be some gear changes. So far she`s running without a merc, and mana isn`t really a problem. 2-3 mana pots every run doesn`t kill my run times. Nice to have one more target to MF for white, greys and runes, at least.

-D/E/A is a little annoying sometimes when they interrupt your attack, but not much more annoying than blocking. Still, I think I could have shaved off four skill points and played a little more careful.

-Valkyrie is one horrible little summon. She is slow, not-spammable, does very little damage and makes an annoying sound when she dies. I ran most of the time without her and used Decoy a lot more.

-It`s not that hard to get through the game with a single-element build (that can`t teleport, much easier for sorcs obviously) if you have a strong mercenary.

-Cows are fun to kill, but I have a lot of problems sifting through the drops trying to find useful stuff. Any help here would be appreciated.

-I hate that I shift-clicked a couple of extra points into strength

[highlight]Finds[/highlight]

Not much, a 18 dex Raven Frost is the only thing that comes to mind. She did find this in the NM Flayer Jungle too

Ribcracker 
Quarterstaff 
Two Hand Damage: 72 - 202 
Durability: 116 of 116 
Required Level: 31 
Required Strength: 15 
Fingerprint: 0xfed28379 
Item Level: 53 
Version: Expansion 1.10+ 
+50% Increased Attack Speed 
+50% Faster Hit Recovery 
253% Enhanced Damage 
Adds 30 - 65 Damage 
50% Chance of Crushing Blow 
+100% Enhanced Defense 
+100 Defense 
+15 to Dexterity 
+100 Maximum Durability 
Ethereal

The Hellforges were good, at least.

NM and Hell

[highlight]Future Plans[/highlight]

Too many. A ton of characters that won`t get a write-up (Rebuild of my fishymancer, max block Blizz sorc to compare with non-block, rebuild of my Hammerdin) and a couple of builds with names of forumites here I also need to build a couple of real Pit runners, so far everything has been dissappointing there.

Have fun, guys:wave:

 

[Raskah]

Re: Guardian PureLFury - Cow Runner

Congratulations for the Guardian!

I also have a LF amazon (softcore) and I enjoy the cow runs that I do at /p3, at higher settings things get a bit slow...

Just some thoughts. IMHO for cows runs, the most important thing is -eLR. Thunderstroke and griffons (I'm still missing this piece, using shako right now) are good pieces for this build. For shield I'm using a 3os Headhunter Glory with only one perfect light facet (still waiting for the other two to drop). Still I don't have skillers, I have a few but I don't use them since I like having the space to pick up the drops.
About the drops, I never had problems picking up the goodies... :whistling:
I also ditched the merc. It make things easier when hearding cows, unless you have infinity...

Good luck!

 

[Anaesthesia]

Re: Guardian PureLFury - Cow Runner

Masterfully done, hero! (Apologies to Cain and L_E)

Looking at your LCS makes me want to try a fully-synergized LFant myself, though +22 Jav skills may be a little out of reach.

time spent writing about D2 is time spent not playing D2.

Ain't it the truth. :crazyeyes:

I present to you PureLFury. If it isn`t obvious to you guys this is a pure lightning Amazon, and the name was chosen wisely It`s practical, at least.

A wonderful way to name your characters if you ask me. :whistling:

Act5...

Interesting tangent: it appears you had the exact opposite experience with the LFant than I did. (I didn't go pure LF, but I'm sure the gameplay was similar; Throw jav, collect items, throw jav, collect items... :wink: )

Good to hear you had an easier time with the Ancients and Baal. What are you planning for the crazy gear from his quest drop?

-Valkyrie is one horrible little summon. She is slow, not-spammable, does very little damage and makes an annoying sound when she dies. I ran most of the time without her and used Decoy a lot more.

Blasphemy! OK, so you didn't have 20 points to drop here, and she's worse than useless for cow runs, but give her a chance if you ever go bow or hybrid. She outclasses the merc as a meat-shield (2,500 life FTW), and when she starts swinging a War Pike (at slvl 17 IIRC) her damage is more than sufficient.

-Cows are fun to kill, but I have a lot of problems sifting through the drops trying to find useful stuff. Any help here would be appreciated.

Says the guy who just did 25,000+ LK runs...

I also need to build a couple of real Pit runners, so far everything has been dissappointing there.

I would be remiss if I didn't strongly suggest a bow/jav hybridzon here. People seem to go LF/FA, as I assume it's far more efficient and deadly, but do not underestimate the importance of looking cool (ie. going with Strafe and passives rather than FA and synergies) when your primary attack is as powerful as an LFant's.

 

[Liquid_Evil]

Re: Guardian PureLFury - Cow Runner

Masterfull--I guess that's already covered.

Nice write-up for what looks to be a pretty solid character. Some of those skillers are pretty sechsay and who wouldn't love dual 5% BK rings? Good luck with your future projects, and I always liked Poison Nova 'cros for Pit runs in case you were still on the fence regarding a fun build for that purpose.

 

[NagisaFurukawa]

Re: Guardian PureLFury - Cow Runner

I'd congratulate you on your lovely Guardian, but what's with these charms which are NOT ilvl 80?! Weak! . Seriously though, nice character, and hope you have a blast frying some cows.

I'll just give a healthy +1 to Raskah's comment on -%ELR, although between the FRW and the replenish (and the requirements you haven't built for, ), Titan's is almost certainly better.

 

[maareek]

Re: Guardian PureLFury - Cow Runner

Congrats on the guardian.

Fully agree with LE about a PNova necro for Pit running. On that subject, you don't have a good Pit runner? Did you have a deeds I missed out on? (Possible, I've been a little streaky on keeping up with the forum lately.) I thought you used a barb in the MFO that was pretty solid (or maybe it wasn't so great but the Team Bruteforce spirit made it work).

Strafers are pretty common Pit runners, but I have no experience with them; WW barbs can be really good if geared properly; Trappers can probably do well and hammerdins can get the job done, as well. My favorites are the poisonmancer, the WW barb and Blova (Nova/FO would probably work, too). Don't know that I'd like the thought of taking Blova into the Pits in HC, though.

 

[RIP]

Re: Guardian PureLFury - Cow Runner

Congrats :thumbsup:

Very well done my friend, and very nice write-up :thumbsup:

My first ever Guardian long time ago was also pure LFzon, and she found for me even my first HR (LO -in Flayer Jungle), so hopefully Yours will share her luck :thumbsup:

As for questing, from what i remember, it was exactly same way which You've already described - cake walk or horror :whistling:And i know Your feelings, facing Convicted gloams in Hell with character, which could not cause them almost any damage, is one of the scarriest moments in D2...

As for Cow area gear, i'm not experienced runner here, but replenishing quantity on Titans is probably much more important mode then -eLR on Thunderstrokes (I personaly do believe, that most important mod here is 100% pierce)...Strokes are, of course, much better against any Act Boss or huge monster, CHS for the win...

Anyway congrats again, and good luck in Moo Moo farm :thumbsup:

 

[Grisu]

Re: Guardian PureLFury - Cow Runner

Congratulations on one of your two guardians you did in two days :shocked: !!

Very nice and tidy write-up, I liked it About the picking up and speeding up: I really don't know. The last time I did cow runs was in 1.09...and the world was different back then. But Griffon's for sure seems like a good choice! :thumbsup:

Now go get that Zod!

 

[UllaV]

Re: Guardian PureLFury - Cow Runner

Congrats on fast guardian.

I can't even imagine that i could do that in two days. It takes me two days to play one act

Ulla

 

[Thomh]

Re: Guardian PureLFury - Cow Runner

Thanks for the responses everyone

@Raskah: I tested Thunderstroke a little bit yesterday, and it was a noticeable difference in kill speed. The problem was that I had to ditch skillers and the BKs to meet the requirements and I ran out of Javelins very fast. Griffon`s will be found in the pits in the near future (I hope), but your advice about lowering the player settings was a real gem. /p5 was much, much better and I have a pretty easy time sifting through the drops.

@Anaesthesia: It was only the Ancient`s way and Frozen River that were difficult. Hell Lords are a pain since their physical resistance is too high for my merc to kill them fast, and his tanking abilities against them was pretty bad. The Valkyrie will never be used again, I can promise you that Ok, maybe if I go hybrid and have 20 spare points. The Baal drop was left on the ground for the people of Harrogath to use.

@L_E and Mareek: No, I haven`t lost my IKWhirler, he is still going strong and my highest level character, but he just can`t compare with a Blizz sorc in the tunnels by a long shot. I would like to have a pit runner that wasn`t working at half the speed at least. I`ve been reluctant to start a poison necro since I lack the stupid belt, but I think it`s time to quest one through and see how he fares. He does have one gigantic advantage; he will not share equipment with any of my other runners so he won`t be terrible to lose. He will be very well equipped other than that belt and DWeb, so he should be pretty strong. Truth to be told I have 6 Pit runners, but they are all so fragile against the mighty archers that I`m very uncomfortable running without CtA (which I did lose, btw) About the BKs, they are indeed nice. The LL was actually pretty efficient when LF pierced and kept my life bulb full nearly all the time.

@Nagisa: My h4x are weak, sorry:wink: Maybe I should try to make a pure ilvl80 character, there are some rares with that ilvl in my stashes as well.

@RIP and Grisu: I would take 8 Bers instead, thanks Always a pleasure seeing you guys around.

@UllaV: The gear certainly had a lot to do with the speedy progress. I`m generally playing really fast and skipping a lot of monsters, but it comes at a price. 7 deeds and counting so far 6 of those deeds was with terrible characters which had some, but not incredible, wealth on them, but my Blizz sorc was a big pain to lose (especially the charms, my precious).

 

[Ziggyzug]

Re: Guardian PureLFury - Cow Runner

Gratz on the guardian.

That's a lot of LF synergaztion! If you ever get the chance, a level 20+ valk with 20 in decoy will probably change your mind on the usefulness of Valkyrie.

 

[RIP]

Re: Guardian PureLFury - Cow Runner

Gratz on the guardian.

That's a lot of LF synergaztion! If you ever get the chance, a level 20+ valk with 20 in decoy will probably change your mind on the usefulness of Valkyrie.

If You are reffering to untwincked play (and single pass, etc), then yes...Otherwise every skillpoint spent here is just waste...

 

[Ziggyzug]

Re: Guardian PureLFury - Cow Runner

If You are reffering to untwincked play (and single pass, etc), then yes...Otherwise every skillpoint spent here is just waste...

Aye, that may be the case. But I believe there's also a matter of play style involved too. Personally I enjoy having two ginormous damage sinks I can plop down on the screen anywhere if I get into trouble or I want to reposition things.


Sorry for the OT.