Introduction and javazon questions...

[InsertWittyName]

Introduction and javazon questions...

Hey everyone,

After lurking on these forums for years, I decided to finally sign up and say hello. I've been playing D2 on and off for (sadly) abt 4 years. Have played some pretty solid builds over that time, best being a 90 something skellimancer, as well as a meterob, trapsin, hammerdin, holy freeze pally. These forums have always been pretty useful :thumbup: i tend to quite a lot of mf and have found some good items, but now starting from scratch (i deleted d2 last time, determine "never to play the game again" :whistling:

IRL, i am a 22 yr old dude from Australia...but i act 12 as often as i can

Having restarted, I have been playing an untwinked javazon for a bit of a change who has currently reached hell act 1. i have been doing quite a lot of NM meph runs on abt 200 mf i think. build is:
20 CS
20 LF
1 in all passive

i have reached the stage where i am up against LIs and do not have an effective means to take them down. I have read several of the guides and was tossing up between a Pure fury, a PJ/LF or a fishyzon (FA). Ive found these goodies so far:

Witchwild String
Short Siege Bow
Two-Hand Damage: 33 to 78
Required Dexterity: 80
Required Strength: 65
Required Level: 39
Bow Class - Normal Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 59
Fingerprint: 0xced812eb
+160% Enhanced Damage
All Resistances +40
Fires Magic Arrows
2% Chance to cast Level 5 Amplify Damage on striking
73% Deadly Strike (Based on Character Level)
Socketed (2: 0 used)

Trang-Oul's Claws
Heavy Bracers
Defense: 74
Durability: 10 of 16
Required Strength: 58
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0xabc7a738
+30 Defense
Cold Resist +30%
20% Faster Cast Rate
+2 to Curses (Necromancer Only)
+25% to Poison Skill Damage

some questions:
1) Which build path would u recommend to follow? Is it enough to just get valk to 17 and fire away with normal attach on WWS? merc is struggling damagewise - hes using a meatscraper...or should i go for FA or PJ, and if so which?
2) I am currently using lore and rhyme, tals belt, and rest rares - res is becoming an issue. have found a shaftstop which merc is using. i havnt been able to find any decent armour for me, with any res, despite running meph. any ideas on what to do?
3) If i do go down the FA route, should i ditch the WWS for a rare +2 bow?
keep in mind this is self found, untwinked.

thanks for any help and looking fwd to seeing you all around the place!

 

[lAmebAdger]

Re: Introduction and javazon questions...

hi and welcome!

1) of your mentioned ones i recommend the fishy build, since you have a good bow, but actually i'd recommend a furyzon who uses jab and a decent spear to deal with LIs... for whether 17 valk and WWS are enough, it depends on what you mean with enough... if you mean fast and efficient, then probably no, if you mean gets you through the LI parts of the game in an ok'ish manner, i'd say yes (upgrade WWS asap for even more comfortable play)

2) stick nef lum into a two socket armour for smoke runeword, or if you have it, hel lum fal for lionheart runeword (too expensive for a non-melee char to bother, i'd say)... so pick smoke armour!

3) what stats does the rare have?

 

[Mir]

Re: Introduction and javazon questions...

Welcome to the forums! :wave:

1. I didn’t read the fishyzon guide so I can't recommend about that build, I have PJ/LF and the only disadvantage she have is against PI/LI monsters like gloams and the vipers in nihlathak temple this also make her slow baal runner because gloams spawn quite often in the throne, her killing speed against single monsters isn't good like pure lightning ama and I play twinked…
PJ/LF build leave enough points to max valk if u want so. IIRC valk get better equipment up till level 27 (rare amulet?) I prefer to max valk on my amazons but this is my play stile.
With FA as back-up skill u will have less immunity problems but I don’t know the skill distribution and how much spare skills u will have.

2. I see that u reached NM meph so I suggest doing few countess runs (or council runs) in order to get few mid-level runes, she can drop lum (very rare) or u can try and cube it, then u can make: Smoke
'NefLum'
+10 to Energy
+75% Enhanced Defense
+280 Defense vs. Missile
All Resistances +50
-1 to Light Radius
20% Faster Hit Recovery
Level 6 Weaken (18/18 Charges)

More options are: Ancients' Pledge (ral,ort,tal shield), 3Pdiamonds shield, armor with few resist jewels. Very interesting option is:
Peace
'ShaelThulAmn'
Cold Resist +30%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14
+2 to Amazon Skill Levels
+2 to Critical Strike
20% Faster Hit Recovery
2% Chance to cast Level 15 Valkyrie on striking
4% Chance to cast Level 5 Slow Missiles when struck

I didn't used this armor yet so I don’t know how good it is.
As for merc I suggest: honor (amn,el,ith,tir,sol) or strength (amn,tir), u can find their description in arreat summit. Make those RW's in the best polearm/spear u have.

3. FA amazons, like casters, benefit most from +skills, on the other hand WWS give huge resist boost, and this is hard to ignore when playing untwinked. IMO it will be better to use WWS until u can cover the resist loss. Unlike lAmebAdger suggested wink I don’t recommend upgrading WWS, the physical damage isn't so important with FA.

I hope this will help u and good luck with your new Amazon :thumbup:

EDIT: keep close attention to your wallet, and beware of the shin kickers

EDIT 2: I knew I forgot something…
Of course if u play with RWM u have options like insight (ral,tir,tal,sol polearm) and spirit shield (tal,thul,ort,amn) and ,as Dontdisagree said, harmony bow

 

[dontdisagree]

Re: Introduction and javazon questions...

If I were in your position (not sure whether to pick PJ or FA), I wouldnt spend the points on FA/ca or PJ/pj yet

1)I would primarily lure/run away from LI monster/mob
2)but if it's crucial to kill the LI monster/mob I would just use the (UNupgraded)WWS on switch and use normal attack(it will use slvl 20 magic arrow)
3)either that, or use Harmony "TirIthSolKo" and abuse the +valk, and 20 revives
I know I used Moon lords, succubus or vipers from Ancient's way, then used them to kill the Ancients on my zon(while I ran around with vigor and a heart of wolverine spirit(wisp projector unique ring)

4)Nadir "NefTir" helm might help you in running away from LI's ... Cloak of Shadow on gloams?


keep your options open
don't decide now whether you'll be a WSK LF/FA zon, or pure light cow runner, or non WSK LF/PJ zon. You might change your mind afterwards
finish questing first, and decide later on








if you go with LF/FA, yes, you should ditch the WWS for a +3 Matriarchal bow, and use Melody "ShaelKoNef"

LJ/PJ is pretty strong if you have lots of Javelin skillers. You can use Trang oul glove, or keep the +3 "lancer" glove
LF/FA is great at WSK, where LF/PJ is weak, since Gloams can spawn as "LI and PI"
LF/FA requires +skills, and +mana after each kill. You can't mana leech, and FA drains mana fast

don't upgrade the WWS. It's an exceptional, and turning it into an elite uses a mid-high rune.

Pure Lightning zon works with a weapon with Lower Resist charges to break immunities
or an "Infinity" for the super rich

btw, I wouldnt recommend the "Peace" armor
i think that armor got me killed on more than 1 occasion
It resummoned a valk on the monster I was attacking, and the monster my Valk was tanking went for me instead














Bottomline: dont spend points on PJ/pj or FA/ca yet
You can breeze through the LI in hell by using various methods(run, WWS, Harmony, Nadir)
You can always run, you can always use your WWS.
The only thing you're going to be investing on are Harmony and Nadir
Both very cheap and very useful runewords, not just for zons, but other chars as well

I believe these 2 runewords are a great investment for your future chars

Once you find out where you want to MF, then thats when you should spend points on the appropriate build for that area
FA/ca on wsk, lf/pj or pure light elsewhere

 

[Mir]

Re: Introduction and javazon questions...

btw, I wouldnt recommend the "Peace" armor
i think that armor got me killed on more than 1 occasion
It resummoned a valk on the monster I was attacking, and the monster my Valk was tanking went for me instead

:rolf: Yes I know this is not very safe mod, but it can save u skill points, especially if u don’t have points for valk but u still want to use it.

 

[Ugla]

Re: Introduction and javazon questions...

I put my vote against poison. The usefulness of LF/PJ hybrids beyond finishing the game is arguable - I can hardly think of an area where they would outperform the two other candidates.

The choice between pure lightning and LF/FA is your own. In SP (static maps), I stick with the former, because I can roll a nice WSK2 map, and there are better builds out there to run Mausoleum, Maggot's Lair and such :grin:

EDIT: get a better stick for your merc, and just jab through the game unless you find some sort of machine gun (e.g. Buriza) to use with normal attack. WWS may be useful against souls to bring their physical resistance down, allowing your merc to finish them off.

 

[lAmebAdger]

Re: Introduction and javazon questions...

Unlike lAmebAdger suggested wink I don’t recommend upgrading WWS, the physical damage isn't so important with FA.

you DO know, that at that point in the paragraph i was referring to the option of playing with 17valk and a normal attack with WWS which he also stated as a question, no?

other than that i have to concede to dontdisagree on the price issue since:

1.) i find upping an exceptional exceptionally expensive too

and 2.) i was told not to disagree...

, but 3.) more damage is moar! (leech, efficiency, dmg...)

, but 4.) he's probably right on making those bow RWs...

EDIT: what xxnothing said...

 

[xxnothing]

Re: Introduction and javazon questions...

I'll toss my vote in as well, against PJ. My favorite LF zon I've made so far was pure lightning with a point in Jab for LI monsters. I tried various different switch combos for Jab, Demon's Arch/Tiamat's, big two-handed spears, etc. In the end I simply found myself just jabbing with the titan's on my main switch. *shrug*.
If you go with a FA backup, and you have enough AR, I recommend high physical damage! FA eats mana like you wouldn't believe. It takes a fairly high amount of mana leech to keep it fueled. If you can send out a strafe now and then between FA volleys, and you have some mana leech, then Strafe should refill your blue pretty well.

WWS is a nice little bow, and I agree it's not critical that you up it... but I would. You get x amount of damage boost by upgrading it, which is in turn theoretically doubled when Amp triggers.

 

[InsertWittyName]

Re: Introduction and javazon questions...

Thanks for the replies all.

I switched the defiance merc with might and found a passable spear and thats been ok so far. not using that rare bow anymore, it didnt have much going for it but the +2 skills. merc needs abt 25 more str to use a hurty ogre axe i found today (hurty in the untwinked, ill take anything i can get sense!), so will level him up a bit then give him a 2 socket pamethyst helm. think that should be enough

got to countess and have done some runs, but no lum so far...

@ dontdisagree - good idea to wait. also, running away from LIs has been a key part of my strategy :smug:

@ xxnothing et al - ive decided against PJ - the gloam issue is a big one, and ive never been really big on the issue of standing around waiting for things to die :whistling:

almost up to pits where ill hopefully do a few hundred runs for itams

ps i also found this, from NM pindle (desperate times, desperate runs)::thumbup:
Lycander's Aim
Ceremonial Bow
Two-Hand Damage: 80 to 168
(Amazon Only)
Required Dexterity: 110
Required Strength: 73
Required Level: 42
Bow Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10+ Expansion
Item Level: 66
Fingerprint: 0x93eeefd2
+20 to Energy
+20 to Dexterity
+20% Enhanced Defense
+190% Enhanced Damage
+25 to Minimum Damage
+50 to Maximum Damage
8% Mana stolen per hit
+2 to Amazon Skill Levels
20% Increased Attack Speed
+2 to Bow and Crossbow Skills (Amazon Only)

 

[lAmebAdger]

Re: Introduction and javazon questions...

hey, that's a good bow, used it myself, i'll just quote something i think you'll find helpful with LA:

I've made a fishyzon- lighting/cold hybrid - with Lycanders aim and I find it really powerful. So if you have a decent javelin - or even without it - this definitely is a strong option.

The physical side is a bit weaker and it's not that fast. Though if you combine freezing arrow with strafe - freezing arrow being the important one - I believe this might be a strong option. It has decent damage with good mana leech and a bit of crushing blow - goblin toe - can help the physical side without relying on dexterity - just in case you are hardcore.

What I wouldn't do is focus in the physical side. It's good for freezing arrow, though I don't think it's as strong for strafe/multishot.
You could combine it with a fire skills. Yet I'm not sure how it would turn out. It looks good, though the fire side isn't that strong. Try reading the guide and get some more suggestions from other people.
http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=648019

 

[xxnothing]

Re: Introduction and javazon questions...

Lycander's Aim indeed is a very decent bow for an untwinked FA amazon! That's a nice find for you.