It's Here at Last: Updated PvP Guide
Thyiad’s been nice enough to host a PDF version of this guide on her site, which you might find easier to read through.
1. Introduction
1.1. Purpose of the Guide
1.2. PvP Rulesets
2. Breakpoints and Game Mechanics
2.1. Faster Hit Recovery (FHR)
2.2. Faster Cast Rate (FCR)
2.3. Energy Shield
2.4. Miscellaneous
3. Build Guides
3.1. Amazon
3.1.1. Bowazon Guide
3.1.2. GA/Poison Hybridzon
3.2. Assassin
3.3. Barbarian
3.4. Druid
3.4.1. Fury/Rabies
3.4.2. Wind Druid
3.5. Necromancer
3.5.1. Bone Necromancer
3.5.2. Poison Necromancer
3.6. Paladin
3.6.1. PvP Vindicator
3.6.2. Hammerdin
3.7. Sorceress
3.7.1. Fire Sorc
3.7.2. Blizzard Sorceress Guide
4. Non-Class Specific Information
4.1. Absorb, Max Resist Items, Resistance Stacking and Damage Reduction Order
4.2. Counters to specific builds
4.3. FFA and Team Duels
5. FAQ
6. Conclusion
Appendix
Links to other PvP guides
GM Rules
List of Abbreviations
(Copy the section title of interest and paste into your browser’s search bar to skip to a specific section)
[FONT="]1. Introduction[/FONT]
[FONT="] 1.1. Purpose of the Guide[/FONT]
Whilst Sint’s old PvP guide (http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=507437) was great when it was first written, a lot of things have changed since then, both on the SPF and in game. The general wealth of the SPF has increased greatly, to the extent that items that were once very rare to come across, such as Grief, are now regarded as being much easier to obtain. This guide will attempt to provide an updated version of Sint’s original guide. The rule set most commonly used will be discussed, a summary of some of the more important game mechanics aspects will be presented, with some indication of their significance. The build guides section outlines some of the more common builds that tend to be used in PvP games in general, followed by various information about absorb, general counters to builds, and a short discussion on team and FFA duelling. A lot of this information is already available in other forums, particularly the PvP forum and the Stats forum, but various points have been adapted so that they’re more applicable to the SPF, rather than Battle.net.
Obviously I couldn’t write something of this size on my own, I had some help from a few of the other members here:
Liquid_Evil – Druid guides and FAQ
Maxicek – Assassin guides and FAQ
Zhao_Yue – Bowazon and Blizzard sorc guides
Jingizu – Hybridzon guide
Bassano – Poison necro guide
Sequana/Denton – Smiter guide
Essojay – Team and FFA section
[FONT="] 1.2. PvP Rulesets[/FONT]
The rules most commonly used nowadays are intended to prevent inherent imbalances in classes becoming too dominant and leading to too many one sided matches. Obviously this doesn’t always occur, and it is still possible to completely negate attacks under these rules, but in general if it’s just a standard game don’t stack and absorb someone to the point that their damage becomes insignificant. Save that sort of thing for tournaments. They’re fairly comparable to what’s being regarded as GM in public games on Battle.net, with a couple of exceptions, the main ones being the bans on Decrepify, Bone Prison and recasting Cyclone and Bone Armour.
No potions (except mana potions), mercs, wells, or shrines.
No recasting Cyclone and Bone Armour.
No minions that cannot be summoned in town with the exception of Decoy.
No Holy Freeze, Decrepify, Slow Missiles, or Bone Prison.
No mass slow (>10%), no mass poison from items (>200), no mass replenish (>25).
No curse charges (this includes Slow Missiles). Chance to cast is acceptable.
No over absorb. Limit 2 items per element with the standard ban on Rising Sun and Black Oak.
Mana potions are allowed for all characters except ES based sorcs
The old GM rules are hardly ever used anymore, but are given in the appendix for completeness.
[FONT="]2. Breakpoints and Game Mechanics[/FONT]
[FONT="] 2.1. Faster Hit Recovery (FHR) [/FONT]
When your character takes a certain amount of damage (one twelfth of their maximum life), or is hit by attacks with the stun effect, they are put into hit recovery. Examples of attacks that always stun are Mind Blast and Smite, you can tell if they’re influencing you by the swirly icon that appears above your head when they hit. One other skill to watch out for is Leap, which knocks you back as well as putting you into hit recovery. The breakpoints for all classes are given in the table below (taken from http://strategy.diii.net/news.php?id=551#General Breakpoints)
As the table shows, some classes will have a much tougher time against characters that use attacks that stun, particularly Sorceresses and human Druids. With some builds FHR is much more of a concern than others, most builds with uninterruptible attacks, such as WW Barbs, can get away with less FHR than other builds.
[FONT="] 2.2. Faster Cast Rate (FCR) [/FONT]
FCR determines your characters casting speed. As with FHR there are certain breakpoints that will affect this.
In general it’s advisable to aim for one of the top 2 breakpoints for each class if any of your main skills are dependent on cast rate.
[FONT="] 2.3. Energy Shield[/FONT]
Energy Shield is much more commonly seen on sorceresses in PvP than in PvM. The main reason for this is that mana burn monsters will drain mana very quickly when they hit, leaving you very vulnerable, though it also takes away skill points from synergies, lowering damage. The actual damage done to your character will also tend to be lower. The usefulness of energy shield for a particular build will depend on stat distribution, skills used, and the equipment available. It is also necessary to bear in mind that if you do use ES then you are no longer allowed to use mana potions, though with a well planned build this shouldn’t be a huge issue.
There are several cases where it is almost certainly worth using ES on a new build. The first is if you’re planning on not using any blocking at all, which in general, should really only be done on 200 FCR sorcs. It is possible to build a 105 FCR no block sorc, but you will be more vulnerable to physical damage without the extra speed. Another case would be if you’re likely to have spare skill points left over after finishing off your main skills, though this is only really common for Fire sorcs.
Energy Shield has a synergy, Telekinesis, which has the effect of reducing the amount of mana lost per point of damage taken. This reduction is equal to 1/16th of a point, or 0.0625, per level. With no points in telekinesis each point of damage that ES protects against would remove 2 mana. With 20 skill points in telekinesis only 0.75 mana will be drained for each point of damage taken. Points in ES itself will simply increase the percentage of the damage that gets diverted to mana and its duration. It is also important to remember that the mana loss is calculated before resistances are applied, so elemental attacks can be a considerable problem.
The actual formulae used to calculate damage to life and mana, taken from soepgroente’s ES FAQ (http://strategy.diii.net/news.php?id=564) are given below:
Damage to life = InitialDamage*(W/100)*(1-X/100)*(1-Z/100)
W = PvP penalty (for most, if not all attacks 17%)
X = % resistance (or damage reduction in case of a physical attack))
Z = % energy shield
Fill in zero if you have zero resistance or block or damage reduction.
For example if you take 12 000 damage hit from a fire ball when duelling another sorceress with maxed telekinesis, resistances and 95% (max) energy shield:
Damage to life = 12 000*0,17*(1-0,75)*(1-0)*(1-0,95) = 25,5 life lost
For damage to mana another formula can be used:
Damage to mana = Damage*(2 – 0,0625x)*(W/100)
x = slvl telekinesis
W = pvp penalty
Take the same example as above, with the fire ball hitting:
Damage to mana = 12 000*(2-0,0625*20)*(0,17) = 1530 mana lost
Points in telekinesis will generally have a better effect than points in ES, due to the way these damage formulae work, as even a large mana pool will quickly be drained if you take 2 or 3 damaging hits in quick succession. Maxing telekinesis first, before putting any points in ES is a good general method to use, though working out how many points to put in ES is more difficult, as it depends on how much damage you’re willing to sacrifice for more survivability. An 80% ES is a good minimum to aim for if you use limited prebuffing (ES Ormus and a +9 Memory staff). 95%, the maximum, takes a level 40 ES, which requires either a sizeable skill point investment, or a lot of prebuffing, which quickly becomes tedious to do every time you need to recast it.
One final point about ES is that it does not protect against poison damage and OW in any way, which when you also account for the fact that ES sorcs will almost always have lower life than non-ES builds, can lead to serious problems against particular builds, mainly Assassins.
2.4. Miscellaneous
Blocking
The chance to block an attack can be calculated using the formula below:
Final blocking = (Blocking – (Dexterity – 15))/(Character level × 2)
The base blocking on all shields will be different for each class, with Paladins having the highest probabilities, and Sorceresses, Necromancers and Druids having the lowest. The “Blocking” term in the formula is the sum of both the blocking inherent to the shield, and any other bonuses, such as Holy Shield. These are not capped at 75%, unlike the final chance to block. When running your chance to block is reduced to one-third of its normal value.
Chance to hit
The chance to hit can be calculated from:
Final CtH = 2 × (AR/(AR + DR)) × (Alvl/(Alvl + Dlvl)) × 100
Alvl = Attacker’s character level
Dlvl = Defender’s character level
AR = Attacker’s attack rating
DR = Defender’s defence
The level dependent part of the formula is the main reason that AR dependent characters often have to be levelled up further than casters, otherwise there is a noticeable drop in the chances of hitting. Most caster’s defence rating is negligible for a well built melee character, though cold sorcs using Chilling Armour can hit 5,000 with certain items. Paladin’s can reach very high defence values, often well over 20,000, so if your attack skills are not autohit skills it is often useful to use the Enchant from Demon Limb, as well as the Angelic amulet/ring. Hsaru’s boots and belt will also give a big AR boost. One other point to remember is that when running this calculation is completely ignored.
Run/Walk Speed
Unlike for cast speed and hit recovery there are no breakpoints for run and walk speeds. Skill based run/walk speed bonuses do not suffer from diminishing returns, but item based faster run/walk does. There are also penalties associated with using medium and heavy armour/shields, of 5% and 10% respectively. Like skill based FRW these are not subject to diminishing returns.
Deadly Strike, Crushing Blow and Open Wounds
These are grouped together as they all produce a certain effect when an attack hits. Deadly strike will make an attack do double damage, though this is not cumulative with critical strike from masteries. The chance of doing double damage is:
Chance to do double damage = 100 × (1 – ((1 – DS/100) × (1 – CS/100)))
DS = Total percentage chance to cause deadly strike
CS = Total percentage chance to cause critical strike
Crushing blow will remove a percentage of a player’s life when it hits, against other players this is 1/10th of their current life with a melee weapon, and 1/20th of their life with a ranged weapon. It’s not as useful in PvP as in PvM due to life totals being lower, and damage being higher, though for high life characters, such as Barbarians it can be helpful, as 1/10th of their life can sometimes be over 400 hit points.
Open wounds causes negative life regeneration when it is triggered, the amount of which depends on the attacker’s level and the type of target. In the case of interest here (character level 61+), the formula is:
Damage per frame = ((45 × Clvl – 1319)/256) × K
K = 0.25 for melee attacks, and 0.125 for ranged attacks
The duration of OW itself is 200 frames, or 8 seconds
For example, if a level 90 character triggers OW with a melee attack:
Damage per frame = (4050 – 1319)/256 × 0.25 = 2.67
Damage per second = 2.67 × 25 = 66.67
Total damage = 66.67 × 8 = 533.4
Most HLD characters are likely to be in at least their high 80s, with most melee or ranged builds including some form of OW, so it is important to plan for it, particularly with a low life build, such as a full ES sorc, or a bowazon. It’s very useful for builds that rely on melee attacks, but which have relatively low actual damage outputs, such as Ghosts. It can also be useful to swap an item for one that has a high OW chance when facing an ES sorc with a very strong energy shield.
[FONT="]3. Build Guides[/FONT]
[FONT="] 3.1. Amazon[/FONT]
[FONT="]3.1.1. Bowazon Guide[/FONT]
The Bowazon is a long ranged physical damage dealer, capable of dealing pain to opponents from afar, but less effective in close combat. One of the easier builds to play offensively, her Guided Arrow just needs to be shot in the general direction of the enemy and the arrow can home in on them. She is not as effective in 1v1 or FFA as other builds, but her real asset is in teams, where she can be boosted and protected by teammates, while supplying long range offence. She favours FRW to close in, sidestep or avoid an enemy as she does not utilize teleport. Besides attacking with a bow, she can switch to her javelin/shield for more offensive and defensive options.
Damage or Life?
This is you personal preference, as you may choose to put more points into vitality for more life, or into dexterity for more damage. I feel that a Bowazon is not meant to tank and needs to deal a decent amount of damage hence I would aim for a set amount of life, perhaps 800-1000 then put the rest into dexterity. Putting points into dexterity is especially important if you do not have a Fortitude Armour.
Skill Points
Guided Arrow (20) – Your main attack.
Critical Strike (20) – Your additional source of damage for both you arrows and javelins.
Dodge, Avoid and Evade (10+ each) – Allows you to avoid attacks, be aware of diminishing returns at higher levels. Try to achieve at least 50% in each of the 3 skills.
Multishot (1 or 8+) – Less powerful than Guided Arrow, but covers a much greater area. Useful when you are trying to hit fast moving players and you want to cover a general area. If you do choose to use this skill have at least 8 points for a decent coverage.
Strafe (1+) – Great against teleporting casters with no or low block, as the fast attack of Strafe added with knockback can stun them. You gain an additional shot every fourth level.
Decoy and Valkyrie (1) – Useful to be barriers against enemy projectiles.
Penetrate (1) – Helps AR with Jab, Strafe and Multishot.
Jab (1) – Useful for close combat.
Lightning Bolt (1) – This skill converts you javelin damage to 3/4 lightning damage and makes it ignore target defence and block. Not as strong as Lighting Fury but more effective when the target has low lightning resist and high block.
Lightning Fury (1) – This skill grants your javelin ignore target defence but is still blockable. Useful against charging Paladins and Barbarians. Also can be used to clear minions.
Status Points
Strength – 156 for Stormshield
Dexterity – Rest of your points here for max damage, or enough for max block with Stormshield if going for vitality build, or points to your discretion to attain a certain middle ground for life.
Vitality – Dependent on you decision on dexterity.
Energy – None.
Equipment
Your bow is your most important piece of equipment and depending on what type you choose, you should plan the rest of your gear around it.
Elite bows come in 4 base speeds:
10 – Crusader Bow, Hydra Bow, Grand Matron Bow
5 – Spider Bow
0 – Shadow Bow, Diamond Bow, Ward Bow
-10 – Blade Bow, Great Bow, MatriarchalBow
Increased Attack Speed
If you choose a 10 base speed bow, you want to achieve at least +86% IAS from gear for a 9 frame Guided Arrow, 0 base speed bow +105% IAS for 8 frame and -10 base speed bow +75% IAS for 8 frame.
Some bows to consider:
Eaglehorn Crusader Bow – A bow with very good damage and shouldn’t be expansive to acquire. However it lacks IAS so you’d need to make it up from equipment or socketing.
Windforce Hydra Bow – The most damaging bow you can acquire barring a ‘Faith’ bow. It has the knockback mod and includes 20% IAS so it saves you some equipment choices. However it is a bit more expensive.
Lysander’s Aim Grand Matron Bow – Provides decent damage however you need to use runes to upgrade.
Witchwild String Diamond Bow – Has % chance to cast Amplify Damage, scaling Deadly Strike, resistance and 2 sockets. Amp is fun when it goes off and 2 sockets gives you flexibility (Nef for Knockback, Shaels for IAS, etc). You can also use the points that would have gone into Critical Strike to another skill since Critical and Deadly are calculated separately. However the bow damage itself is low and you need to spend runes to upgrade it.
Widowmaker Ward – Decent damage, Deadly Strike and +Guided Arrow. However I think there are better choices.
Harmony MatriarchalBow (or Blade Bow or Great Bow) – A personal favourite of mine, it sports good damage and the Vigor aura for increased mobility at a relatively cheap price. However no IAS so it needs to be made up in equipment.
Passion Matriarchal Bow (or Blade Bow or Great Bow) – Provides decent damage with IAS at a cheap price. You could also use the HoW charges if you with, but you’d lose it when you switch to javelins.
Other Notes on Equipment
Knockback is essential on a Bowazon build, as when your arrows or javelins hit, your opponent has a 50% chance of being pushed back, giving you a bit of extra time to either continue your attack or reposition yourself.
Besides IAS, the other important things you should look for on your gear are items with Faster Run/Walk, damage or life. I would suggest to try to get at least get 120% FRW on you javelin switch. In terms of faster hit recovery, I would suggest at least the 20% FHR breakpoint.
Also, Bowazons tend to find obtaining resistances difficult, unless they make big sacrifices in their equipment and charms. I would suggest prioritizing, focusing on physical defence and lighting resistance first, as they are the most common types of attacks you face. You may keep extra gear/charms in your stash for fire or poison resistance.
Gear Choices
Helm
Valkyrie Wing – A useful helm to meet breakpoints. A common socketing choice is a 15% IAS jewel.
Harlequin Crest – Has 10% Damage Reduce and the +Life/Mana is very useful especially if you character is not receiving Battle Orders.
Andariel’s Visage – Used mainly for its 20% IAS. It also has massive poison resistance.
Giant Skull – The knockback mod allows you to wear different gloves if you bow does not have it. You have the option of socketing the helm with IAS jewels, however acquiring one might be pricey, especially one with 2 sockets.
Amulet
Cat’s Eye - +Dex, FRW and IAS the perfect Amulet for this build.
Highlander’s Wraith - +Deadly Strike, Lightning Resistance and IAS this is also a good amulet.
Atma’s Scarab – If you don’t need IAS from you amulet, you can consider this for the chance to cast Amplify Damage. It also has great poison resistance for poison users.
Weapon Switch
Titan’s Revenge and Stormshield – I can’t really suggest any alternative weapon switches as this is used by all bowazon builds, rich or poor. Titan’s have good damage, +Str/Dex and the ever important FRW mod. If you can afford it, upgrade them so you javelins do more damage. You can socket you shield with an Eld Rune to save dexterity for max block, or a nice –requirements jewel to save on strength.
Armour
Treachery Runeword - +45% IAS gives you a massive boost in reaching the next IAS breakpoint. Also gives 20% FHR and a small damage boost with Venom.
Duress Runeword – An option if you choose to include Open Wounds in your build, but keep in mind it is only half effective with ranged attacks. Also sports +40% FHR, a small bit of ED% and resistances.
Twitchthroe – Superb armour armour with +FHR, +IAS, +strength/dexterity. If you choose a vitality build, the +25% blocking saves you a good amount of dexterity.
Lionheart Runeword – A decent armoured providing stats across the board. Also provides some +ED% and resistances.
Fortitude – The ultimate armour for a Bowazon, it’s +300% ED makes her much more dangerous.
Gloves
Crafted Hitpower Gloves – Used mainly to get the knockback mod. Try to craft some with IAS.
Dracul’s Grasp – If you have Knockback from another sources consider this with Open Wounds and +strength, but also chance to cast Life Tap.
Bloodfist – A good alternative, with FHR, life, some IAS and +min damage.
Belt
Nosferatu’s Coil – Used for its IAS and +strength.
Crafted Blood Belt – A good one can give a nice boost to life and Open Wounds
Verdungo’s Hearty Cord – Provides Damage Reduce % if needed and also a healthy boost to vitality.
Thundergod’s Vigor – Used mainly against opponents who use lighting based attacks.
Rings
Ravenfrost – An important source of Cannot Be Frozen, and also dexterity and mana. I would suggest wearing a pair of these.
Dwarfstar – Has a nice boost to life and fire absorb.
Rare Ring – Look for one with +str/+dex, life/mana. But good ones are usually a bit expensive and it would probably be easier to get a Ravenfrost instead.
Boots
War Travellers – The +Damage on these boots help on low damage bows. Also provides some vitality and strength.
Waterwalks – Provides a healthy dose of life and dexterity.
Gore Riders – Small boost damage with +Deadly Strike and Open Wounds
Aldur’s Boots – Fast boots with +40% FRW, life and fire resistance.
Charms
Can be used to fill the holes that your gear couldn’t cover whether its life, FRW, damage or resistance. If you are looking for damage charms, I would suggest to go for Grand Charms with +Max damage ranging from 8-10, which shouldn’t be too expensive. Duel modded charms (+Max and life) are much better, but much more pricy.
Versus Strategies
Generally you should be continuously moving, both to avoid opponents or their projectiles and to position yourself for a better shot, unless you are confident of you position in which you can continuous launch arrows at your opponent. Ideally you want to use your range to your advantage and keep your opponent approximately 1 screen away from you.
However, be aware that Guided arrow can hit from 2-3 screens away, so feel free to snipe from a distance if you feel your opponent is in that general area. If you have life or mana leech, check for the red/blue swirls when you are firing your arrows, as they indicate you are hitting your opponent and you can continue to fire away.
Remember to get your javelin switch up when physical damage dealers are close by or about to attack. You have the option of switching to walk, whereby your block is increased to 75%, but mobility is greatly reduced.
Here are some tips on common builds you see in the moor.
Whirlwind Barbarian
Non-teleporting ones are not bad. They have to close the distance to attack so when they are running at you, fire at the red x on the minimap. When they appear on you screen keep firing, but be ready to switch to you Javelin/Shield switch. When he’s close to you, he’ll most likely start WWing at you and you need to switch weapons. Try to sidestep him and throw Lightning Furies at him. If you find you have some distance between you two because he did a long whirl or you managed to run away, switch back to your bow and fire away.
Teleporting Barbarians are much more difficult because they can close in much quicker with teleport. It’s very difficult to escape their screen as they teleport to you, but if you do manage to escape and he’s playing catch up, definitely switch back to bow to let a few arrows fly. Use the same strategy as above, but be ready to switch to your javelin switch much earlier. You’ll be using your shield switch much more in close combat, unless you are confident he is stuck in a long whirl and you can squeeze off a shot or 2.
Bone Necromancer
If Bone Spirits are homing in on you, keep moving and fire shots every few steps. Also remember to zigzag if he’s trying to hit you with Bone Spear. Try to constantly keep some arrows out, to ensure he’s pressured and discouraged from spamming in one spot. Avoid contact with his Clay Golem at all cost, he can slow your attack speed and run speed to a snail’s pace, which is a death sentence to you.
Fireball/Lightning Sorceress
Keep your Decoy and Valkyrie to create additional obstacles from their projectiles. If they are tying to shoot at you from long range, constantly move to avoid being a stationary target. If they are charging in to hit you up close, try to anticipate their teleport pattern and let your arrows fly in that general direction. If they are close by, run away in a zigzag patter to make yourself harder to hit and periodically shoot a Guided Arrow or 2 to place a little pressure on them. If they have no/low block, utilize Strafe when they are on your screen.
Blizzard Sorceress
Try to keep him off you screen as he’s probably trying to drop a blizzard on you, which will kill you in 1-2 hits. If he is close, move erratically to make yourself a harder target to hit. It’s a tough fight as she often has Chilling Armour that can negate you Arrows and the dreaded namelock means imminent death for you.
Hammerdin
The key here is to keep moving (preferably in a South or Southwest direction) and not be trapped in his hammerfield. You have the advantage here because you outrange him. No need to switch to your javelins; just stop and shoot every few steps.
Smiter
Make sure you are surrounded by puddles and other obstacles as he’s more likely to desync charge in to try to get some hits. When he’s close by, switch to your javelins and run away from him, flinging Lightning Furies as he is charging at you. Avoid letting him push you into a wall or obstacle as he can switch to Smite and entrap you by constantly smiting you.
Ghost Assassin
Treat like a WW Barb but get ready to break Mind Blast stun by rapidly switch weapons. Try to get some distance between you if you can.
Trap Assassin
If the assassin is just sitting in his traps, use your superior range to snipe him from afar. However if she is aggressive and is chasing you, your main goal here is to try to keep him off screen to prevent him from Mind Blasting you. You also need to keep constantly moving to avoid any traps that are nearby. If you do find yourself stunned, rapidly weapon switch to break any locks he tries to do.
Wind Druid
Non-teleporting ones are easy as you can just out run their short ranged Tornadoes while sniping from afar.
However ones that teleport are pretty much impossible. The reason for this is because the combination of Hurricane, 5 Crows and Spirit Wolfs put you in dodge/block lock if your opponent teleports on top of you. Best thing to do is to keep moving so it’s hard for him to jump on top of you. Have you javelin switch on if he’s close by. You can try to rid him of his wolves and oak with Multishot or Lightning Fury, and if you do, hit him with Guided Arrow before he resummons his minions.
Bowazon
You have the choice of keeping your distance or closing in. If you choose to keep your space, make sure your Valkyrie and Decoy is up and be aware of obstacles you can hid behind. This goes down to who can snipe who first. If you chose to be more aggressive, switch to you javelin switch and run up to your opponent (not directly) and either throw Lightning Furies at him or chase him to Jab.
As an example of one of the harder types of opponent to beat, this video shows how to deal with a fast teleporting caster, in this case a bone necro (taken from TienJe’s hybrid amazon guide here: http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=573409):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68UynO-POFw
[FONT="]3.1.2. GA/Poison Hybridzon[/FONT]
INTRO
If you want to make a PvP amazon, you have several choices. A Bowazon is a relatively expensive build if you want to make her really effective. Pure javazons are seldom seen nowadays, they are usually a little bithybridised, using guided arrow as a finishing and tactical attack. There is a very nice guide for this build written by Liquid_Evil http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=346563.
The build that is presented here is a real hybrid, having spread points into all three skill trees, dispensing decent physical and poison damage. This amazon has strong guided arrow attack capable of dealing a lot of damage from afar, together with a useful multiple shot covering the Moor witharrows. After weapon switch she is able to fill the air with poison clouds that are hard to avoid and difficult to survive without proper gear.
STATS
Strength - enough to wear equipment as usual, you will need 156 with Titan’s on switch, which means a maximum of 136 hard points.
Dexterity - 250+ being a hybrid that is trying to do good bow damage, otherwise at least enough for max block with Stormshield.
Vitality - aim for 1.2k+ life with equipment.
Energy - nothing.
SKILLS
Bow and crossbow skills
GA 20
Multiple shot 1-20
Strafe 0-1
Passive skills
Critical strike 1+
D/A/E 1+
Penetrate 1
Pierce 1
Valkyrie 1
Javelin skills
Poison javelin 20
Plague javelin 20
Lightning fury 1
Jab 0-1
SKILLS INFO
Guided arrow - one of the main attacks, maxing it is obvious.
Multiple shot - even with one hard point in penetrate and some AR charms you should have at least 3k attack rating, however I recommend getting over 4k, which ensures a chance to hit opponents of equal level with 1k defence 80% of the time. Don’t expect to hit high defence characters too often, but it should work against casters. Add enough points for 5-10 arrows or more if you use it often and like it. This skill is generally useful against low defence characters and for killing minions.
Strafe - could be useful in some duels either for block locking or for delivering damage/OW/knockback quickly to low/no block characters on your screen. Only a backup or situational attack, keep in mind that strafe depends on AR like multiple shot, so don’t use it against barbs, paladins etc. It has a 4 frame next delay to hit the same target, so with 3 fpa strafe you could hit your opponent every six frames (still much faster than 8 fpa GA).
Critical strike - 50% chance of doing double damage should be fine. If you are using witchwild string, less points are sufficient. If you have spare points, put them here up to 65% chance, after that the diminishing returns are almost unacceptable.
D/A/E - 12/7/12 after +skills means 50% chance. Don’t take these numbers too strictly and add as much points as you want, everything above 40% is nice. Combined with full DR and max block on switch, your amazon could be respectable opponent for physical attackers. You could have problem with D/A/E/block lock when facing fast attacking chars. You can’t shorten thelength of these passive skills, they always take 8 frames.
Valkyrie - useful in many duels, adding more than one point is a waste for this build, the points are better spent elsewhere.
Jab, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Fury - utility skills, will be discussed in strategy section.
Poison and plague javelin - these skills do comparable damage, but they differ a lot in poison length and timer. Poison javelin is almost spammable (2x slower than throw), which makes it a better skill for actually poisoning something - you can fill the air with poison clouds, but the poison damage lasts for a long time (typically one minute). Plague javelin‘s effect is much shorter (around 15 seconds), being a better skill at first glance, but has a long timer from a PvP point of view (100 frames) and travels slower, which makes it relatively difficult to hit someone with it.
IMPORTANT: In hell difficulty, where the duels take place, the poison length duration is 100% longer, which means that your poison skills do double the listed damage (over a longer period). For example, poison javelin’s poison damage does not apply for listed 13 seconds, but for 26 seconds, thus doubling the listed damage. Moreover, the poison length reduction on opponents gear subtracts the listed %, but from the original duration. That means that if your opponent takes Death’s Gloves with 75% poison length reduction and is hit by poison javelin, the poison length will be 26 - (0.75 x 13) = 16 seconds. Your opponent could take two sources of PLR (combination of Death’s gloves and Iratha’s amulet gives shorten the poison duration by 150%, that means it will last 50% of the original listed time).
In the table below I have listed an example of the real average PvP damage your opponent will receive from your poison skills and how long does it take.
Being a poison char, you have to understand how the poison works, especially what will happen when your opponent is hit repeatedly by your poison cloud. Generally speaking, there are two possibilities. Either the new source of poison damage has lower bite rate, in which case nothing will happen and the older poison damage and duration will not be overridden. Or, the new source has higher bite rate and will override the old one and reset the timer. Example - you have poison javelin doing 18175-19869 poison damage over 58 seconds. You hit an opponent, let’s say the game randomly chooses 19000 damage roll. Your opponent is poisoned and takes damage. If you hit him again 10 seconds later, the game rolls either lower damage and nothing will happen - the older 19k damage will last for the rest 48 seconds. But if the new roll has higher bite rate, the poison damage will be overridden and opponent will start to take newly calculated damage for newly started 58 seconds.
What does it mean for us PvP-wise? Once you hit an opponent with poison or plague javelin, you can’t multiply the current damage taken. You can only override it, but it depends on the damage roll. Also, plague javelin has a higher bite rate than poison javelin, so you can always override poison javelin by plague, but not override plague by poison. That could be handy if you fight an enemy that is hard to hit by plague javelin - hit him with poison javelin, he will think “now I can’t be poisoned again” and starts to play more offensively giving you better chance of hitting him with the faster killing plague javelin.
GEAR
What to look for on your equipment:
IAS - firing GAs fast is really essential. Don’t sacrifice a lot to get 8 fpa, however, it is the recommended breakpoint.
FRW - you will be hunted in almost every duel, aim for 120+% on javelin switch.
+ skills - being a hybrid, you will benefit quite a lot from + skills, not only do they increase your poison damage, but your passive skills too. Keep in mind that you don’t have enough hard points to have the passives at really high levels.
Knockback - knockback is a must, don’t forget it’s banned in good manner duels though. Knockback on bow is fine (Windforce), but on gloves it allows you to use it with LF and lightning bolt, which is good from tactical reasons.
FHR - aim for at least 8 frames, that’s 20% FHR, next breakpoints are 32 and 52 (7 and 6 frames).
Stats, life - of course, the more the better.
Resists - depends on opponent, sometimes it’s better to rely on a good damage setup with gemmed monarch on switch.
Open wounds - sometimes overestimated, for our build the damage it makes is not as good, you already have a good damaging bow switch and a lot of poison damage. Make sure you have some when facing defensive playing characters and ES sorceresses. If you have a relatively weak bow switch you could get a lot of OW, less points in bow skills, and play more like a javazon with GA backup.
Javelin
Titan’s Revenge - best choice, I would not use anything else. It’s awesome not only for its skill bonuses and stats, but there’s the 30 FRW mod that is very useful too. Upping is possible, although not necessary, it will help you only with jab, the physical part of poison skills, and LF (fortitude users would like the increased damage).
Shield
Stormshield - self explanatory. Socket it with a PDiamond, poison facet or nice jewel (-requirements, resist, etc.). Putting a Shael in it is useless, you would still block at 3 frames.
Spirit - against opponents where you don’t need block and DR, you could use it, two skills would increase your poison damage and you would get nice FHR bonus, some resists and life too.
Faceted monarch – You’re unlikely to need extra poison damage, but if you find yourself having trouble, then it could be worth trying.
Resist shield if necessary (gemmed monarch, Sanctuary).
Bow
Bow choice is very important. You are a bow/poison hybrid, not a 1 point GA backup javazon. You should not settle for a weak bow switch. Getting the recommended 8 fpa means you will be limited not only by the base bow speed, but by other equipment as well. I will add total off-weapon IAS needed for 8 fpa in parenthesis.
Upped Witchwild String (2x Shael, 65 IAS) - easy to find, with very high deadly strike and decent damage, 40 resist all could help too.
Harmony Matriarchal bow (75 IAS) - up to 275% ED, +3 bow skills and Vigor aura (36 Skill FRW). Very cheap and very universal.
Windforce (Shael, 110 IAS) - huge damage, but slow. However, the damage output is so good that I would play at 9 fpa speed with windforce (50 off-weapon IAS).
Rare bow - look for 300+ ED and good speed. Not easy to find, but could be very nice.
Faith - extremely hard to obtain, dream of all bowazons, could reach fabulous 7 fpa and fire arrows amazingly fast. Good luck getting Jah, but if you have one lying around, this bow is a great choice.
Armour
Even if you are poor, you could pick some easy obtainable armour like Crow Caw, Duriel’s Shell, Treachery, Duress or even Skin of the Vipermagi. They will work well, the choice is yours and depends quite a lot on other gear, if you need IAS, OW, resists…
Fortitude - the best possible armour for this build is Fortitude, which makes your arrows highly damaging projectiles - the guided arrow skill ED is somewhere above 100%, Fortitude adds 300% more… Should I say more? Only drawback is the lack of IAS which influences the pick of helm, gloves, belt, and amulet.
Bramble, Chains of Honor - expensive armours that enhance the javelin side of your build. But I suppose that if you can afford CoH, you can afford Fortitude as well which is imho better.
Helm
I recommend choosing a helm that offers some +skills, because they are easy to find and have good stats anyway. Sockets could be filled with IAS jewel, Shael, poison facet or some tasty rare jewel.
Valkyrie Wing - often forgotten, but offers two skills, 20 FHR and 20 FRW.
1.07 Valkyrie Wing - better for a pure bowazon, but still a very good choice.
Andariel’s Visage - two skills, strength bonus and up to 35% IAS - could be handy.
Shako - one of the best all around PvP helmets.
Rare - it’s hard to find one better than helms mentioned above, but could be godly, try to get one with two skills, FRW, two sockets, etc.
Gloves
Gloves, especially rares and crafts are a very important piece of equipment. Not only could they could help you to reach your demanded IAS or get knockback, but they could offer passive or javelin skills, stats, resists and life.
Uniques and sets are not that good. If you are tempted by Trang Oul’s gloves, you could try them, but even magical 2 java/IAS are better for this build.
Belt
Verdungo’s - classic PvP belt and doesn’t need further explanation.
Rare - could be very nice, look for life, FHR, OW, resists… Don’t count the strength from the belt when planning stats allocation, in some cases you will probably be forced to switch it.
Other common choices are Thundergod’s to cover lightning damage, Nosferatu for IAS and strength, or Mavina’s belt for another 20% FRW (1.07 version has 40% FRW).
Boots
War Traveller or Gore Rider’s - the main difference between them is added damage versus OW. Having strong poison attack, I would vote for raw damage.
Rare boots - finding godly tri resist boots is almost impossible, but getting 30 FRW/10FHR and two 30+ resists pair is easier.
Amulet
If you need IAS, pick Cat’s Eye or Highlord’s. Otherwise use Mara’s or Cat’s Eye again (yes, the FRW is awesome).
Rings
Two Ravens could never hurt, but being a hybrid, you could benefit from Raven/BKWB combo. Other rings should be used according to opponents (Wisp, Dwarf, etc.).
Inventory
Balance your FHR, FRW, + passive or +javelin skills, AR, damage. Resist charms against casters, if you need them. There is no “must have” in inventory for this build. If you have already covered everything and don’t know what to add, I would recommend damage/AR charms with life as second mod.
DUELING STRATEGIES
AMAZONS
Bowazon
Hard duel. She will try not to come close to you, so the opportunity of poisoning her is low, her goal is to force you to fight as a bowazon. In that case, she usually has better GA damage and better passive skills. Don’t go into a pure bow matchup if you don’t have much better equipment. Try to switch to the shield and get closer to her. If she is OW based and her damage is not so high, you could try to charge her and hit with poison javelin, LF, or even jab, if she is that slow. When she runs away, fire GAs after her.
Javazon
Dedicated poison amazons will usually have twice your poison damage, which means that even with Death’s gloves you will go down to 1 hp if hit. Get yourself the poison resist elsewhere, wear your favourite rare/crafted gloves instead, and shoot her to death. Be a bowazon in this duel, run fast, predict her moves and keep yourdistance. Of course throw some poison javelins, she would be probably hunting and following you. Pure lightning amazons are not seen often nowadays, but keep in mind that their CS could be very deadly, even with Thundergod’s the damage is very respectable. The main danger comes from “far casting”, a glitch in the game that enables throwing CS (by switching from throw to CS while namelocking an enemy). Fights against this amazon are not so hard, use the same strategy as with poison javazon.
ASSASSINS
Trapsin
Play defensively, run a lot, throw poison javelins in the direction they approach from, spam MS when you see them on the minimap. When you see a trap on the ground, run away in a spiral, not straight away, to give the lightning a lower chance of hitting you. Try to poison her and get some OW source. If she has teleport, she will get close and start mindblasting and trap laying.
WWsin
Easier than a ww barb, she has less life and not as good damage. Get good poison resist and PLR, stay in plague javelin cloud, walk, and fire GAs. When she teleports/dflies on you, start the same tactics like against whirlwind barbarian.
BARBARIAN
Barbarians have very large life pool so it’s hard to bring them down with poison if they are prepared and have 75% resist and some source of PLR. They have extremely good physical damage, 50% DR and max block are necessary.
Whirlwind
Very strong build. If you meet a good one, you will probably lose. When you see him on the mini-map, spam GA in his direction and run away. Teleporting barb will come close to you fast, when he enters your screen, start to walk instead of run, switch to javelin and don’t run away. Just after that he usually teleports right on you and starts ww. Use shift jab when he is on you, jab is uninterruptable and he has no block, so it gives you the opportunity to deliver some damage. You have good chance of releasing plague javelin when he is wwing from you. If he doesn’t have good resists and PLR, the poison WOULD hurt a lot. Don’t bother with more poison skills when he is poisoned and start “bowazon strategy”. After being whirlwinded over, you have a very short time to step aside, switch weapons and fire one or two arrows. Or you could hit him with LF or bolt, which knockbacks and stuns for a while. Rinse and repeat, if you are not already dead. If he is skilled enough and makes short triangles around you, you have quite a hard time due to dodge/block lock. Don’t even try to use a bow and try to kill him with poison, jab and fury.
Wolfbarb
Don’t let him come close to you, he usually attacks very fast and easily gets you into dodge/block lock. Do not use valk and decoy, he would charge up feral rage. Just spam GAs from distance and try to poison him. You should have the upper hand, you are afast moving ranged attacker. Fill the air with poison javelins and run, wait until he is on low life and finish with GAs.
DRUIDS
Windy
Askilled teleporting windy with max block is one of the toughest opponents you could meet. The best strategy you could choose is to predict where he is teleporting, poisoning him, killing Oak Sage, running, killing recasted Oak Sage (it’s immune to poison on hell) again and again and when he is on low life finishing him with GA. That could work if he doesn’t have good resist and PLR, otherwise you will probably die first.
Fury/Rabies or Fire Claws/Rabies
The tactic is quite simple. Don’t get poisoned, their damage will probably be capable of killing you. Use a running strategy with throwing poison javelins behind you and firing GAs. Don’t forget not to use Valk/Decoy, they are good target for charging feral rage and could pass on Rabies to you if they are infected.
NECROMANCERS
Bone
If you meet one with teleport and max block, it will be a very hard duel. Offensive necros will teleport close to you, trying to get you to hit recovery with teeth and finish with spears. Run from them, change directions, throw poison javelins and fire GAs if you have some time between running from spirits. Poisoning him and running is the key. Teeth can trigger hit recovery and clay golem will slow you. GAs can be blocked and absorbed by astrong bone armour. Not easy. Defensive playing boners are not such a threat, you have faster attack with bigger range, just keep moving and try to avoid running into invisible spirits.
Poison
If you have stacked resists (calculate with 100+), it will give you a good chance. Move a lot, try to stay in your poison clouds and spam GA and MS.
PALADINS
Smiter
These guys are very dangerous. They desync and charge a lot, trying to get close to you and finish with smite. Use your bow only if they are far away from you. Don’t stop running or they might land a smite. In particular, Grief and Fortitude users could easily kill you in a second. But even if they play with Oath or Redeemer their charge damage is deadly if they hit you with your bow out. Try to find terrain that does not give them a direct line of attack towards you. Use your minions. If you meet a really good and strong smiter, prepare to die often.
V/T and T/V
Again, not easy duels, try not to get namelocked and be charged/smited to death. Run a lot, use your poison skills in directions where he is coming, profit from terrain, use valk and decoy. Make sure you have full resist and some absorb too (monarch socketed with four perfect topazes to counter conviction is nice, but you lose block and DR, so choose shield according to your opponent’s playstyle).
Hammerdin
Not as hard as expected, if they are pure hammerdins and don’t use charge, try to stay in your own plague javelin poison cloud and fire GAs. When he teleports on you and gets poisoned, start moving to avoid hammers. If he charges, don’t use your bow much when he is near. Take your time, try to poison him repeatedly and fire GAs when it’s possible.
SORCERESSES
There are two main types of sorc from your point of view - with and without ES. It is almost impossible to kill ES sorc only with GA. Fortunately, you have poison damage which is a no no for them (ES doesn’t absorb poison damage), and they will do anything just to keep distance from your poison clouds. Get some OW, good resists and use poison javelin a lot.
Blizzard sorc
If you decide to overstack, it will cost you a lot of changes in equipment, but after that you’ll be able to survive a few blizzards. In that case play defensively, move a lot and try to get her with poison. I would personally not do it and would rely on my luck (that would be usually one hit KO duels for you). Either she will teleport in circles around casting blizzard on you. Play aggressively and fast, avoid running into blizzard and fire MS and GA. Or she will teleport right on you and try to kill you with ice blast, in that case use the same strategy as against fireball and lightning.
Fireball sorc
Very fast moving and attacking, poisoning her will not be easy. With Hotspur and Dwarf Star, even a fully synergized lvl 40+ fireball should do 200-250 damage, so you could survive several of them. Play as a bowazon, that means running zig zag from her and firing one or two GAs every turn. Occasionally change for plague javelin.
Lightning sorc
Same strategy as with fireball, she has similar type of projectile that could be dodged by moving fast and changing directions.
[FONT="] 3.2. Assassin[/FONT]
Introduction
PvP Assassins come in many shapes and forms, particularly at the higher end of the budget. But they all have one thing in common - the Mind Blast + Trap stun sequence. Some builds will invest only a single point in each of these, but all the PvP assassins have these two skills at the core.
Trap laying speed is determined by your attack speed, the rate you Mind Blast is determined by Faster Cast Rate. So, unlike many other PvP builds, you have to balance both. When you add Faster Hit Recovery and resistances into the mix, there is a lot to balance when building an Assassin. I'll try to keep the numbers to a minimum, but it is an important part of all assassin builds, so you can't skip it.
The Trap Assassin
A trapper is one of the cheapest PvP builds to get started with. All the equipment is easily farmed from Hell Mephisto, shopped, gambled or traded for a few perfect gems. At the basic level, they are a more defensive character, sitting in a trap field waiting for their prey, like a spider in a web. If you have the mobility of Enigma, they open up to a much more aggressive play style.
Skills
Lightning Sentry - The primary source of damage for a trapper, you will be putting 20 points into this skill and all of its three synergies. Top end damage will be about 11K per shot. 9-10K is a more reasonable number to achieve without extremely rare claws, or for a weapon shield setup.
Wake of Fire - This trap fires faster that LS. It is shorter range, but covers a wider area, making it very effective for getting the initial stun-lock before they get hit with the lightning. One point here is very useful.
Mind Blast - Probably the skill you will use more than any other. Some of the BNet guides will advise two points in this. This is because when teleporting (Enigma) the Shadow Master is constrained and will do little else other than Mind Blast. If you max this skill, it is almost like having it on automatic. Two points is supposed to make sure she uses the skill more due to the way SM "learns" skills. For non-teleporting trappers one point is required as a minimum.
Weapon Block - Unlike shield blocking, this only works when attacking or standing still. It does however have the ability to block Blessed Hammers, Meteors, Smite, Fireballs - almost any spell or attack. For a teleporting build this is ideal - it works when teleporting, mind blasting, trapping so you have the benefit almost all of the time. For a non-teleporting build I think it is less useful. The time you spend attacking or standing still compared to moving is small, so most of the time you have no block. More on this in the equipment section. One point in any case.
Fade / Burst of Speed - You can have only one of these active at any time. For all builds both have their uses. Which one you use most of the time will depend on opponent and equipment. Check you equipment bonuses before investing more than one point into either of these.
Shadow Master - A useful distraction and sometime auto mind blaster, only a single point is needed for PvP. Even maxing her won’t allow her to survive more than one or two hits from another player so don't waste the points.
So the basic skill layout looks like this:
Traps
1 Fire Blast
1 Wake of Fire
0 Wake of Inferno
0 Blade Sentinel
0 Blade Fury
0 Blade Shield
20 Shock Web
20 Charged Bolt Sentry
20 Lightning Sentry
20 Death Sentry
Shadow Disciplines
1 Claw Mastery
1 Weapon Block
1 Psychic Hammer
1 Burst of Speed
1 Cloak of Shadows
1 Shadow Warrior
1 Fade
1 Shadow Master
1 Mind Blast
0 Venom
Martial Arts - Nothing required here
Well that gives a total of 91 skill points, which means the basic build is finished at level 80 with all quests done. I recommend that you level to 90, which gives you an extra 10 skill points to spend.
Suggestions for Spare Skill Points
- A few points into Fade may be useful if you need more resists, or Burst of Speed if you think you need more mobility. However, given the +skills you are likely to have on your equipment, chances are you will be hitting the point when adding more points starts to have only a minor benefit.
- Mind Blast. More points mean a longer stun length. This is my preference for spare skill points.
- Fire Blast. This will help a lot whilst levelling, you may want to consider this if you are building this character as more of a PvP capable PvM character. If you are fortunate enough to own an Enigma, this can be useful as a second source of damage and stun. Teleport on top of a stunned enemy and blast them at short range. (I'm not suggesting that you try to bomb people on the corners of the screen) It doesn't count as one of your five traps, so they can also be hit by the lightning at the same time. It also fires much faster than either WoF or LS.
There are two types of trapper:
Weapon + Shield (W/S)
As I have already mentioned, weapon block is reduced to zero when walking or running. Shield block is at full effectiveness when walking and 25% when running. Against barbarians and bowazons, this build is much stronger defensively. The downside is that it isn't possible to get as much damage as the dual claw build. You will also have a smaller life pool due to the higher investment in strength and dexterity. Both Fade and BoS builds are possible, depending on the equipment. Given the stat point investment for W/S builds, you will be able to use two claws if you want to against a specific opponent.
Stat Targets - W/S
Strength - Enough for gear - Typically 156 for the Stormshield
Dexterity - Enough for maximum block with a Stormshield
Vitality - Everything else
Energy - Nothing
Faster Hit Recovery (FHR) - 48% minimum (5 frames), 86% (4 frames) if you can.
Faster Cast Rate (FCR) - 65% (11 frames) minimum, 102% (10 frames) should be achievable with this setup.
Increased Attack Speed (IAS) - Enough for 9 Frame trap laying. Use the Latest German Weapon Speed Calculator by Titanseal or the table below. Burst of Speed level is in the left column, the Weapon Speed Modifier (WSM) across the top. Read across to find how much additional IAS you need to hit the 9 frame trap laying limit. If you are using Fade, BoS lvl = 0.
Resists - 75% resistance to all elements, not counting the 30% resist all that you get for rescuing Anya. You don't need this all the time, but you need to have the equipment available to get the resists to counter the elements that you are facing.
Weapon Choices
'Spirit' Phase Blade [WSM -30] - A Spirit Phase Blade is pretty much the only weapon that a W/S trapper can use to hit the fastest trap laying speed and still use Fade. With 55FHR, up to 35FCR and +2 skills, it is quite a nice weapon for a trapper.
'Heart of the Oak' Flail [WSM -10] - 30-40% resist all, 40% FCR and +3 skills makes this one of the best, if not the best, weapons for a W/S trapper. Due to the low speed of a Flail, this is a Burst of Speed only weapon though and the Vex required may be out of some peoples price ranges.
Wizardspike [WSM -20] - 50% FCR and 75% resist all gives you a lot more flexibility in the rest of your equipment, but offers no offensive power.
Shield
I'm only going to recommend one shield here, it has to be a Stormshield for the decent blocking and 35% Damage Reduction. Socket with an 'Eld' rune to reduce the dexterity requirement for max block, or a perfect diamond if you prefer. Investing the strength for a Stormshield also allows you to use a 'Spirit' Monarch or 4 Perfect Gemmed Monarch against non-physical opponents. If you don't like the look of the strength requirement on a Stormshield, the Claw Claw build may be better suited to you.
Claw Claw (C/C)
It is much easier to get higher damage and a larger life pool with this variant. But, due to the limitations of Weapon Block discussed in the skills section, this variant is much weaker defensively if you are not teleporting.
Stat Targets - C/C
Strength - Enough for gear
Dexterity - Enough for gear
Vitality - Everything else
Energy - Nothing
Faster Hit Recovery (FHR) - 48% minimum (5 frames), 86% (4 frames) if you can.
Faster Cast Rate (FCR) - 65% (11 frames)
Increased Attack Speed (IAS) - Enough for 9 Frame trap laying. Use the Latest German Weapon Speed Calculator by Titanseal or the table above.
Resists - 75% resistance to all elements, see notes above.
Weapons
The great thing about weapons for a trapper is that you can shop them from Hell Anya (next to the red portal in Harrogath). As a minimum you are looking for +2 Assassin Skill or +3 Trap Blade Talons [WSM -20] or preferably Greater Talons [WSM -30]. Be warned, any claw much better that a Cunning Greater Talon will take many hours of shopping. You need to average the WSM of your chosen claws when using the table above. IAS from claws only counts in the claw above the gloves.
Magical claws can get two sockets from Larzuk. Socket the primary claw (the one above the gloves) with Shaels / Jewels of Fervour until you hit the maximum trap laying speed. Socket the off hand claw (above the boots) with resistance jewels, either single element or resist all if you have them.
If you are having trouble getting enough FHR, Bartuc's Cut Throat is a reasonable choice for one or both of the claws, but with only +2 to all Assassin skills it can be a little weak offensively.
Which is best?
Both can be played very effectively so it is difficult to say which is best. If you are having trouble getting a full set of 10 skillers, I recommend the Claw Claw build. If you have 10 skillers and a Call to Arms, you may want to consider the Weapon Shield route. For Enigma owners, both are good choices.
General Equipment Selection
Helm
If you can find or trade for a circlet with 20FCR and +2 Skills, that is the top choice. A magical (blue) circlet with two sockets from Larzuk is often even better than a rare in this case.
Other rare circlets with +2 skills, stats and resists are also worth considering. Of the uniques, Harlequin Crest is nice for the +2 skills, damage reduction and life / mana boost, or Kira's Guardian if you need the resists.
Socket with a Jewel of Fervour if you need the IAS or a Shael if you need the FHR. After that runes for resistance or even a perfect ruby for the life are good choices.
Armour
Enigma.
OK, this isn't a BNet guide, so there are other options here. Skin of the Vipermagi for the FCR and resists is probably the best choice, 'Stealth' runeword is also a possibility. Socketing options are the same as for the helm.
Gloves
Trang Oul's claws are normally the best bet for the 20FCR and the 30% cold resistance. Magefists are viable. If you don't need the FCR (probably because you are using Vipermagi +20FCR Circlet + Arachnid Mesh), Bloodfist are a great choice for the 30FHR, life and 10IAS.
Belt
Arachnid Mesh by far the best choice here for the +1 Skills and 20FCR. You could use Verdungo's or a rare / crafted belt if you don't need the FCR.
Boots
Sandstorm Trek for the stats and 20FHR are probably the pick of the uniques for the C/C build. Rares are probably your best choice here though. Look for FRW, FHR and resists. If you can't find any decent rares, Aldur's Advance or Natalya's Soul are also good choices. If you are going for the W/S build, that nice chunk of strength on the Stormshield will allow you to equip Shadow Dancers. The FHR, dexterity bonus and +2 shadow skills are great, but they do lack resists.
Amulet
Mara's Kaleidoscope is a good all round choice. It can be beaten by a good rare, especially if it has 10FCR. A crafted casted Amulet is the high budget choice, with a potential 20FCR. You could use The Cat's Eye if you are in serious need of FRW, but I think it will leave you lacking elsewhere.
Rings
If you are running, one ring should be a Ravenfrost, unless you know your opponents will not be doing any cold damage. If you need more FCR, rings are a good place to get it. Look for rares with FCR, mana, resists etc. Stones of Jordan or Bul Kathos' Wedding Band good choices if you don't need the FCR or Cannot Be Frozen.
Weapon Switch
If you can afford one, 'Call to Arms' with a Spirit Shield or Lidless Wall is the obvious choice. If you can't, use two claws with +3 to Shadow Disciplines to pre-buff BoS / Fade etc.
Charms
Do your best to get hold of as many Entrapping Grand Charms, hopefully a full set of ten. Plain ones are fairly readily available, the better ones are in quite a lot of demand. Use the other slots for FHR, FRW or resists as you need them.
Stash
As you have to balance so many things on an Assassin, it can be difficult to switch out equipment to counter specific builds without compromising something else. For a W/S trapper, the usual selection of shields should be in the stash. For C/C trappers Kira's Guardian is useful to boost resists, but be careful if you are normally getting FCR on the circlet. Other standard counters like Dwarf Stars, Nokozan Relic, Death's Gloves, Thundergods's Vigor can also be considered.
Strategy
Stunlocking
As already mentioned, the most important thing about the trapper is the mind blast + trap stun sequence. The basic theory goes like this:
1. You have Mind Blast and your trap hot keyed to you right mouse button. Let's say mind blast is 'C' and trap is 'V'.
2. Keeping your opponent as far away from you as possible, try to click directly on them with the right mouse button and keep it held down. If you do this correctly you will see little swirly marks above their head (swirlies) and their life bar will be visible at the top of your screen. This is called namelocking.
3. Without lifting the right mouse button, switch skills and lay a trap. This will be right under their feet. As long as they have the swirlies above their head, any damage they take will put them into hit recovery.
4. Even if they manage to wriggle off your screen, as long as their life bar is visible at the top of your screen you can trap and mind blast them.
5. Alternate between MB and trap until they are dead.
Sounds simple doesn't it? Well the theory is easy, but putting it into practice is much more difficult. Getting the initial namelock isn't easy. You opponent isn't going to stand still and let you MB them, and you have to avoid their attack at the same time.
Note: It is possible, and for some builds easy, to get out of mind blast. More on this is the class specific strategies.
One of the problems that you can have with the basic sequence above is that Lightning Sentry takes a while to fire - 33 frame for the initial shot. Assuming you MB, trap, MB, given you trap laying speed and FCR, you have 11+9 frame between mind blasts - if they take no damage from traps and have decent FCR, they will escape.
This is where Wake of Fire comes in. Although it has a longer initial delay (40 frames) it fires at a much quicker rate (WoF = 17 Frames, LS = 30 frames) and over a wider area. So if you find yourself out of your trap field, laying a WoF and following with a Mind Blast can often be a good strategy. In this case the stun sequence becomes:
1. Lay Wake of Fire near the opponent.
2. Mindblast and hopefully namelock
3. Lightning Sentry, MB, LS, MB...
If you are a low budget trapper, you shouldn't be too far from your trap field, so the opponent should be within range of five traps anyway. In this case the WoF stun sequence isn't needed as much, but is very applicable to Enigma users.
Placing Traps
If you are not wearing Enigma, you need to try to keep in range of your five traps at all times. This means your enemy has to risk getting hit by five lightning blasts if he wants to get close. And the enemies that are most dangerous to you will want to get close.
With a trap laying speed of 9FPA, it takes almost two seconds to lay all five traps. Bear this in mind when you move from your trap field. Walk your traps towards your enemy, making sure that you are in range of at least 2-3 traps at any one time. If you are running, getting caught without traps out is likely to be certain death.
Try to keep your enemy to the north of you, i.e. in the top half of the screen. Due to the life bulbs etc there is more screen in this direction, giving you better range. Most enemies will be trying to do the same thing to you though.
Trap the corners of the screen. This can give you fantastic range, potentially better than most ranged characters. Try to keep the traps between you and the enemy. Again, this increases your range and means that anyone wanting to get close will have to move through the firing traps to get to you.
If you are facing an aggressive opponent, be patient and let them come to you. Choose your ground well. The marshy puddles on the map can be a useful barrier against charging Paladins, walls can stop you opponents circling around you. Sometimes you will need space to run.
If you are teleporting, remember that you can't place traps as quickly as a sorc or bone necro can fire at you. Pressure with Mind Blast. Try to force opponents into a pre-laid trap field with MB. Drop traps at screen corners to maximise your range. Know which opponents to pressure and which to play more defensively.
Class Specific Strategies
I'm assuming worst case opponents here - For the most part this means that they have enigma and are teleporting. Obviously this doesn't apply to the Amazons or Shapeshifters
Amazon - Bowazon
Play aggressively, circle in and go for the namelock as soon as you can. Keep the pressure on, you may have to take a few arrows in the process, but once you get the lock with MB the amazons relatively poor FHR and dodge animations will make it game over fairly quickly. WoF is great for the initial trap as its wide area of effect makes the first hit easier. Shadow Master should be kept out as an extra target for those arrows to lock on to. Keeping your distance is a recipe for slowly getting your life whittled away by Guided Arrows.
Assassin - Trapper
I hate trap vs. trap duels. With all those lightning bolts coming from all directions, it can get very confusing. Knowing which bolts are yours and which are your opponents is a nightmare. Try to get the best position with your opponent at the top of your screen. Try to get a range advantage by trapping the screen corners. This is a battle to see who can namelock better.
Assassin - Ghost
Keep your distance. Most ghosts will have a much higher level mind blast than you and will be trying to stunlock you with Wake of Fire. Don't let them get close enough. WoF has a short range, so use the superior range of LS against them. Keep moving and try to keep your traps between you and your opponent. Mind Blast is of limited use here as they can whirl out of it.
Barbarian - Whirlwind (BvC or BvA)
One of the toughest opponents for a trapper, if not the toughest. If you are a C/C build, this opponent will make you wish you went W/S. Fight them in much the same way as a Ghost. Distance is the key. They can Leap on the spot to knock you out of your trap field and WW through your mind blasts. Make them move through your traps to get to you. They are likely to try and circle around you to avoid trap blasts, so a good choice of ground may be useful. Probably the toughest duel for a trapper and not one you should expect to win.
Druid - Wind
Druids have poor FHR in human form, making them very vulnerable to mind blast. Use it liberally. This is one of the easier duels for a trapper. Keep track of where they are, try to avoid getting telestomped. If you MB the edges of the screen and keep good trap position you will come off on top.
Druid - Werewolf (and Wolfbarbs)
These guys have to come at you on foot. They will have very high FRW to close the distance quickly. They will want to charge up Feral Rage to move even quicker, don't use Shadow Master here. With BoS you are quicker than a wolf, as long as they are not in a Feral Rage. Keep your distance, as soon as they appear on your screen drop back.
Necromancer - Bone
This is one of the fights where you need to be aggressive. Fade will not help you, so use Burst of Speed and chase him down. Keep moving and circle around your opponent, you should be able to out run bone spirits. This also makes hitting with a bone spear more difficult. Re-cast Shadow Master if you have to, she will draw Bone Spirits away from you. Necros have poor FHR, so once you get a MB and namelock it will be difficult for them to escape.
Necromancer - Poison
If they aren't teleporting they are easily outranged. In any case, don't let them any closer than the edge of your screen. If they are teleporting, this is a much tougher duel. Keep some distance, try to predict where they are coming from and mind blast like crazy. Try to fight on ground that gives you an advantage, like closer to a wall.
Paladin - Smiter
Another tough duel for a trapper. Laying your trap field near a marshy area is a good tactic as it will stop them charging as they try to get close to you. Keep your distance again, try to make them move through the trap field to get to you. It is possible for them to charge out of MB too.
Paladin - Hammerdin
Set a trap field and keep the traps between you and them. An aggressive hammerdin will try and charge or teleport in close and cast some hammers. Avoid the initial charge and go for mind blast and namelock at the edge of your screen when they stop to cast. Remember they can charge out of MB though. As with the smiter, picking a marshy bit of ground helps here.
Defensive hammerdins will sit back in a hammer field and wait for you to come to them. Hammers are cast at only a short range, but they can hang around for a long time. Be careful not to run into one. If they are cast when you are off screen they can become invisible. You can see the patch of light for each hammer, but not the hammer itself. Keep well away, walk your traps towards them. You have a huge range advantage, fry them from a distance.
Sorceress
Don't chase them down as this is a recipe for running into something nasty like a fireball. Let them come and spam MB at the edges of the screen. Once you manage to hit them with a MB, and even better if you get the namelock, it should be over fairly quickly.
This video’s of a Trapper against a Bone Necro, and many of the techniques should be applicable to other matchups too. Keep an eye on the skill switches and the timing of when they occur:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr-uXlIqMJo
Trapper Variants
So you remember those spare skill points we had at level 90? If you put them into Venom, you can make a hybrid. Putting the spare points into Venom, the skill allocation at level 90 looks like this:
Traps
1 Fire Blast
1 Wake of Fire
20 Shock Web
20 Charged Bolt Sentry
20 Lightning Sentry
20 Death Sentry
Shadow Disciplines
10 Venom
1 point in all the other Shadow Disciplines (9 Total)
A more typical skill allocation for a Hybrid goes like this:
Traps
1 Fire Blast
1 Wake of Fire
10 Shock Web
20 Charged Bolt Sentry
20 Lightning Sentry
20 Death Sentry
Shadow Disciplines
20 Venom
1 point in all the other Shadow Disciplines (9 Total)
A hybrid normally refers to a Whirlwind Trap Assassin, but I'll discuss bow hybrids briefly too.
PvP WW Trap Hybrid by Happy_Assassin
As you have the ranged damage of traps, this build actually works quite nicely without Enigma. It is, like a pure trapper, still essentially a defensive build though.
As you may have seen from the strategy section above, most of the builds that are dangerous to a trapper are the ones that get close. Whirlwind gives you a short range attack. And the really great thing in that Weapon Block works during Whirlwind. So instead of running away and being vulnerable you can whirl away and have a decent chance of blocking Tornados, Bone Spears, Poison Novas and Smites. Nice eh? The downside is a drop in trap damage - 6K is a good figure for a WW/Trap hybrid.
The guide pretty much lays out the equipment for you, but armour choices need some discussion.
Skin of the Vipermagi - The resists, FCR and skill point makes this one of the best choices. The 30FCR opens up the helm and a ring slot, which makes gear choices much easier. Socket with a Shael for FHR, or an IAS jewel if you need it. If you need neither, socket for resists or life.
Fortitude - At first glance, this seems like the perfect armour, if you can afford it. Resists, Life, FCR all help the build. Lack of offensive power is the biggest problem. With no + skills it helps neither the WW or traps. The ED is largely redundant - The low base damage on most claws means it doesn't add that much. WW Assassins kill with Venom and Open Wounds, not physical damage. If you have some high damage claws though, it could work on some kind of physical damage hybrid.
Natalya's Shadow - If you want to raise your WW damage, socket this with 3x Poison Facets. The +2 Shadow Disciplines, life and poison resistance is nice too. This is a heavy armour though, so it will slow down your run/walk speed.
Getting good claws - both as a base type for Chaos and for the primary claw - is possibly more difficult than getting the runes for this build. For what mods to look for and where to get them, have a read of Shuko-Jutsu - The Art Of The Claw by maxicek.
The Ama-Sin (Bow Assassin) by BigChief
Using the Guided Arrow skill from Widowmaker with Venom gives a long range secondary attack. Personally I am not 100% convinced that a pure trapper is not a stronger option. In my opinion this approach give two weaker long range attacks and leaves the problem of strong close range attackers like Smiters unsolved. I have seen the build played well in SP PvP though.
A few additional comments:
- You will need to use burst of speed to hit the fastest attack speed with the bow.
- The author of the guide does not mention faster cast rate, you still want to get 65FCR as discussed in the trapper guide above.
High Budget Builds
When it comes to Assassins, by high budget we are talking about Enigma, Chaos, Call to Arms and a nice set of charms. The claws are very rare and very seldom come up for trade - anyone that has spent the hours shopping to find a +2 Assassin, +3LS claw is unlikely to part with it.
PvP WW Ghost Guide by TienJe
The Ghost Assassin has a high level fade for resistances and damage reduction and venom & mind blast with the Whirlwind skill from 'Chaos' runeword to lock down and kill opponents. A great guide with huge amounts of detail. If you are considering trying a build based on this guide without Enigma - Don't.
PvP Trapper Guide by TienJe
If you have been through the guide above, this guide will lay out the details of a high budget pure trapper guide for you.
PvP Kicksin Guide by wizAdept
Kickers are not the easiest build PvP, but if you want to try it, this is probably the best guide. Once more, don't try it without Enigma though.
PvP WW Trap Hybrid by Happy_Assassin
This build can be made without Enigma as discussed above, but having the ability to teleport opens up a whole new dimension to the gameplay.
[FONT="] 3.3. Barbarian[/FONT]
Whilst barbarians are very viable for PvP I just didn’t feel that I could write a guide that would be useful for people without just regurgitating all the existing guides to them, and without also aiming it towards a battle.net audience. A BvC also needs some very expensive items to really shine. Teleport amulets can replace Enigma to some extent, but the weapons and charms can also be hard to acquire. Here are a couple of PvP guides that you might find useful though. They also go into far more detail than would be possible here.
http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=666078
http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=260648
[FONT="] 3.4. Druid[/FONT]
[FONT="]3.4.1. Fury/Rabies[/FONT]
I. Introduction
If you have a love for shape shifting characters, this is perhaps the most formidable option. A Fury/Rabies wolf brings to the table an enormous amount of hit points, superb FHR, and the power that comes with utilizing dual attacks.
II. Stats
Strength- Just enough to equip your end game gear.
Dexterity- Enough for max block. (With no block, you leave yourself too vulnerable to a large chunk of the duelling population. If you’re certain you’ll only be fighting casters and won’t need block, then feel free to forsake it.)
Vitality- All the spare stat points should be placed in this area.
Energy- Zip. Zero. Nada.
III. Skills
1 Werewolf (if you level your character into the mid 90’s, additional points should be spent here)
20 Lycanthropy
20 Rabies
20 Poison Creeper
20 Fury
20 Oak (this gets maxed last)
1 Raven
1 Spirit Wolf
1 Feral Rage
IV. Formulas
Faster Hit Recovery Breakpoints
%FHR Needed/Frames
20% 5
42% 4
86% 3
To deal damage ourselves, we must make sure we are recovering from our opponents attacks as quickly as possible. This isn’t as hard as it sounds as werewolves have the best faster hit recovery in the game. Make sure you are hitting the 4 frame breakpoint with at least 42% FHR.
V. Gear Selection
HELMS
Jalal’s Mane- This helm has +skills, +resists, +strength, an attack rating boost, and 30% FHR. Socket it with a Shael for an immediate 4 frame FHR. If you can reach the breakpoint without the Shael, consider a Perfect Ruby or an added life boost.
Cerebus’ Bite- Comparable +skills, a nice attack rating boost, and a very nice 33% open wounds mod. If you can make up the FHR and resists you’ll lose from Jalal’s, then this is a nice alternative helm.
Rare Circlet- Look for +Druid skills, FRW, and resists. This helm can be useful against teleporters.
WEAPONS (1 HAND)
“Grief” Phase Blade- My personal favourite. Insane damage and good speed.
Death Cleaver s/ Shael- If you can’t net a “Grief” then this is a nice unique option.
“Oath” Scourge- Nice speed and damage, but the first options are superior.
Ethereal Baranar’s Star s/ Shael- Great AR boost, +stats, some decent elemental damage, and 5 frame Fury, what more could you want? You can use a non-ethereal one if you don’t like replacing your primary weapon that will lose durability as you duel, just remember to socket it with a Shael to hit that breakpoint. The physical damage difference between the regular and the ethereal is 129-159 and 192-237 respectively.
WEAPONS (2 HAND)
Tomb Reaver- Socket it with 2 IAS jewels and an Eth rune or Ruby jewel. It gives a pocket full of resists and is range 4 and incredibly fast.
ARMOUR
“Fortitude” Light Armour- This will increase your damage considerably and supplies you with a good chunk of resists.
“Enigma” Light Armour- Skills, strength, and most importantly, FRW. If you have one, it has a place in your arsenal.
“Duress” Light Armour- Decent resists, 40% FHR, 15% crushing blow, and a juicy 33% chance of open wounds.
BELTS
Verdungo’s Hearty Cord- 10-15% PDR, minor FHR, and a good life boost. The perfect belt.
Rare/crafted belt- Something with +life, resists, +stats, (OW if crafted), and FHR.
GLOVES
Dracul’s Grasp- 5% ctc Life Tap can make or break a duel, so I definitely advocate their use.
Trang Oul’s Claws- 25% Poison skill damage to increase your Rabies, a great set of cheap gloves.
Bloodfist- 30% FHR and +life make these normal gloves good enough for end game.
Cleglaw’s Claws- These are good if you’re having trouble with Smiters though they are considered fairly BM. Ask opponent before using them.
BOOTS
Gore Riders- The only pair of boots in the game with deadly strike, open wounds, and crushing blow mods. Tie all that to the 30% FRW they offer and you are looking at some darn nice boots.
SHIELDS
Stormshield- This is about the only shield I recommend. It has a much needed 35% PDR and great block rate. Get it. You can Shael it to hit the next blocking recovery breakpoint.
RINGS
Ravenfrost- Cold absorb, 15-20 dexterity, and a nice AR boost. What’s not to love? Use at least one.
Rare/crafted ring- Something with +life, +resists, and +stats. If you can’t get a good one, use another Ravenfrost.
AMULETS
Highlord’s Wrath- +1 skill, some lightning resist, and scaling deadly strike. This will help your effective Fury damage.
Cat’s Eye- +25 dexterity and 30% FRW. If you are finding yourself running too slow in certain match-ups, one of these might be the answer.
CHARMS
FRW charms- These cannot be neglected as you rely on quick foot speed to catch characters to deliver damage. They are much less important against melee characters, but keystone to successful caster killing.
+1 Shapeshifting (Spiritual) Skill Grand Charms- They will boost your AR, your life, your Fury damage, and your Rabies damage. Get some.
Steel Grand Charms- If your Attack Rating is poor, a few of these might be the answer.
Small charms- Look for mods like +life, +AR, and +resists. Maybe a FHR or two will be needed to hit a desired breakpoint.
WEAPON SWITCH
Death’s Web or x6 Poison Facet Phaser, and x4 Poison Facet Monarch should be your end game aspiration. A Demonlimb to prebuff with Enchant and a “Call to Arms” should have a home in your stash as well.
VI. General Knowledge & Strategy
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/8462/pvpwolf1.jpg
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/6219/pvpwolf2.jpg
·This often works because I feel most players are caught offguard and don't have the reflexes to muster an attack in the time it takes two characters to pass one another going in opposite directions (and as a werewolf, you'll usually have a better-than-average FRW). Also, while your opponents are running, their defence means nothing and their block is reduced, leaving them more vulnerable to your AR-based attacks.
VII. Conclusion
Why should you use this build over another?
I would never go as far as to say it was overpowered, but a Fury/Rabies wolf is very competitive, and with good gear can handle almost any character in 1v1 matchups. This character also shines in free-for-all styled duels in which your Rabies is transferred from player to player even after your death. To top it all off, this character comes with a surplus of style points for anyone brave enough to take up the pelt and howl at the moon.
Thyiad’s been nice enough to host a PDF version of this guide on her site, which you might find easier to read through.
1. Introduction
1.1. Purpose of the Guide
1.2. PvP Rulesets
2. Breakpoints and Game Mechanics
2.1. Faster Hit Recovery (FHR)
2.2. Faster Cast Rate (FCR)
2.3. Energy Shield
2.4. Miscellaneous
3. Build Guides
3.1. Amazon
3.1.1. Bowazon Guide
3.1.2. GA/Poison Hybridzon
3.2. Assassin
3.3. Barbarian
3.4. Druid
3.4.1. Fury/Rabies
3.4.2. Wind Druid
3.5. Necromancer
3.5.1. Bone Necromancer
3.5.2. Poison Necromancer
3.6. Paladin
3.6.1. PvP Vindicator
3.6.2. Hammerdin
3.7. Sorceress
3.7.1. Fire Sorc
3.7.2. Blizzard Sorceress Guide
4. Non-Class Specific Information
4.1. Absorb, Max Resist Items, Resistance Stacking and Damage Reduction Order
4.2. Counters to specific builds
4.3. FFA and Team Duels
5. FAQ
6. Conclusion
Appendix
Links to other PvP guides
GM Rules
List of Abbreviations
(Copy the section title of interest and paste into your browser’s search bar to skip to a specific section)
[FONT="]1. Introduction[/FONT]
[FONT="] 1.1. Purpose of the Guide[/FONT]
Whilst Sint’s old PvP guide (http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=507437) was great when it was first written, a lot of things have changed since then, both on the SPF and in game. The general wealth of the SPF has increased greatly, to the extent that items that were once very rare to come across, such as Grief, are now regarded as being much easier to obtain. This guide will attempt to provide an updated version of Sint’s original guide. The rule set most commonly used will be discussed, a summary of some of the more important game mechanics aspects will be presented, with some indication of their significance. The build guides section outlines some of the more common builds that tend to be used in PvP games in general, followed by various information about absorb, general counters to builds, and a short discussion on team and FFA duelling. A lot of this information is already available in other forums, particularly the PvP forum and the Stats forum, but various points have been adapted so that they’re more applicable to the SPF, rather than Battle.net.
Obviously I couldn’t write something of this size on my own, I had some help from a few of the other members here:
Liquid_Evil – Druid guides and FAQ
Maxicek – Assassin guides and FAQ
Zhao_Yue – Bowazon and Blizzard sorc guides
Jingizu – Hybridzon guide
Bassano – Poison necro guide
Sequana/Denton – Smiter guide
Essojay – Team and FFA section
[FONT="] 1.2. PvP Rulesets[/FONT]
The rules most commonly used nowadays are intended to prevent inherent imbalances in classes becoming too dominant and leading to too many one sided matches. Obviously this doesn’t always occur, and it is still possible to completely negate attacks under these rules, but in general if it’s just a standard game don’t stack and absorb someone to the point that their damage becomes insignificant. Save that sort of thing for tournaments. They’re fairly comparable to what’s being regarded as GM in public games on Battle.net, with a couple of exceptions, the main ones being the bans on Decrepify, Bone Prison and recasting Cyclone and Bone Armour.
No potions (except mana potions), mercs, wells, or shrines.
No recasting Cyclone and Bone Armour.
No minions that cannot be summoned in town with the exception of Decoy.
No Holy Freeze, Decrepify, Slow Missiles, or Bone Prison.
No mass slow (>10%), no mass poison from items (>200), no mass replenish (>25).
No curse charges (this includes Slow Missiles). Chance to cast is acceptable.
No over absorb. Limit 2 items per element with the standard ban on Rising Sun and Black Oak.
Mana potions are allowed for all characters except ES based sorcs
The old GM rules are hardly ever used anymore, but are given in the appendix for completeness.
[FONT="]2. Breakpoints and Game Mechanics[/FONT]
[FONT="] 2.1. Faster Hit Recovery (FHR) [/FONT]
When your character takes a certain amount of damage (one twelfth of their maximum life), or is hit by attacks with the stun effect, they are put into hit recovery. Examples of attacks that always stun are Mind Blast and Smite, you can tell if they’re influencing you by the swirly icon that appears above your head when they hit. One other skill to watch out for is Leap, which knocks you back as well as putting you into hit recovery. The breakpoints for all classes are given in the table below (taken from http://strategy.diii.net/news.php?id=551#General Breakpoints)
Code:
[B]Character Weapon Hit Recovery Frames[/B]
[B] 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2[/B]
[B]Amazon All[/B] 0 6 13 20 32 52 86 174 600
[B]Assassin All[/B] 0 7 15 27 48 86 200
[B]Barbarian All[/B] 0 7 15 27 48 86 200
[B]Druid, human[/B]
[B] 1-handed swinging weapons*[/B] 0 3 7 13 19 29 42 63 99 174 456
[B] Other weapons[/B] 0 5 10 16 26 39 56 86 152 377
[B]Druid, werebear All[/B] 0 5 10 16 24 37 54 86 152 360
[B]Druid, werewolf All[/B] 0 9 20 42 86 280
[B]Necromancer All[/B] 0 5 10 16 26 39 56 86 152 377
[B]Paladin[/B]
[B] Spears and staves[/B] 0 3 7 13 20 32 48 75 120 280
[B] Other weapons[/B] 0 7 15 27 48 86 200
[B]Sorceress All[/B] 0 5 9 14 20 30 42 60 86 142 280
[FONT="] 2.2. Faster Cast Rate (FCR) [/FONT]
FCR determines your characters casting speed. As with FHR there are certain breakpoints that will affect this.
Code:
[B]Frames Amazon Assassin Druid Human Druid WW Druid WB Pal/Nec Barb/Sorc Sorc Light/CL[/B]
[B]19[/B] 0 0
[B]18[/B] 7 0 7
[B]17[/B] 14 4 15
[B]16[/B] 22 0 10 0 0 23
[B]15[/B] 32 8 19 6 7 0 37
[B]14[/B] 48 16 30 14 15 9 52
[B]13[/B] 68 27 46 26 26 18 0 78
[B]12[/B] 99 42 68 40 40 30 9 117
[B]11[/B] 152 65 99 60 63 48 20 194
[B]10[/B] 102 163 95 99 75 37
[B]9[/B] 174 157 163 125 63
[B]8[/B] 105
[B]7[/B] 200
[FONT="] 2.3. Energy Shield[/FONT]
Energy Shield is much more commonly seen on sorceresses in PvP than in PvM. The main reason for this is that mana burn monsters will drain mana very quickly when they hit, leaving you very vulnerable, though it also takes away skill points from synergies, lowering damage. The actual damage done to your character will also tend to be lower. The usefulness of energy shield for a particular build will depend on stat distribution, skills used, and the equipment available. It is also necessary to bear in mind that if you do use ES then you are no longer allowed to use mana potions, though with a well planned build this shouldn’t be a huge issue.
There are several cases where it is almost certainly worth using ES on a new build. The first is if you’re planning on not using any blocking at all, which in general, should really only be done on 200 FCR sorcs. It is possible to build a 105 FCR no block sorc, but you will be more vulnerable to physical damage without the extra speed. Another case would be if you’re likely to have spare skill points left over after finishing off your main skills, though this is only really common for Fire sorcs.
Energy Shield has a synergy, Telekinesis, which has the effect of reducing the amount of mana lost per point of damage taken. This reduction is equal to 1/16th of a point, or 0.0625, per level. With no points in telekinesis each point of damage that ES protects against would remove 2 mana. With 20 skill points in telekinesis only 0.75 mana will be drained for each point of damage taken. Points in ES itself will simply increase the percentage of the damage that gets diverted to mana and its duration. It is also important to remember that the mana loss is calculated before resistances are applied, so elemental attacks can be a considerable problem.
The actual formulae used to calculate damage to life and mana, taken from soepgroente’s ES FAQ (http://strategy.diii.net/news.php?id=564) are given below:
Damage to life = InitialDamage*(W/100)*(1-X/100)*(1-Z/100)
W = PvP penalty (for most, if not all attacks 17%)
X = % resistance (or damage reduction in case of a physical attack))
Z = % energy shield
Fill in zero if you have zero resistance or block or damage reduction.
For example if you take 12 000 damage hit from a fire ball when duelling another sorceress with maxed telekinesis, resistances and 95% (max) energy shield:
Damage to life = 12 000*0,17*(1-0,75)*(1-0)*(1-0,95) = 25,5 life lost
For damage to mana another formula can be used:
Damage to mana = Damage*(2 – 0,0625x)*(W/100)
x = slvl telekinesis
W = pvp penalty
Take the same example as above, with the fire ball hitting:
Damage to mana = 12 000*(2-0,0625*20)*(0,17) = 1530 mana lost
Points in telekinesis will generally have a better effect than points in ES, due to the way these damage formulae work, as even a large mana pool will quickly be drained if you take 2 or 3 damaging hits in quick succession. Maxing telekinesis first, before putting any points in ES is a good general method to use, though working out how many points to put in ES is more difficult, as it depends on how much damage you’re willing to sacrifice for more survivability. An 80% ES is a good minimum to aim for if you use limited prebuffing (ES Ormus and a +9 Memory staff). 95%, the maximum, takes a level 40 ES, which requires either a sizeable skill point investment, or a lot of prebuffing, which quickly becomes tedious to do every time you need to recast it.
One final point about ES is that it does not protect against poison damage and OW in any way, which when you also account for the fact that ES sorcs will almost always have lower life than non-ES builds, can lead to serious problems against particular builds, mainly Assassins.
2.4. Miscellaneous
Blocking
The chance to block an attack can be calculated using the formula below:
Final blocking = (Blocking – (Dexterity – 15))/(Character level × 2)
The base blocking on all shields will be different for each class, with Paladins having the highest probabilities, and Sorceresses, Necromancers and Druids having the lowest. The “Blocking” term in the formula is the sum of both the blocking inherent to the shield, and any other bonuses, such as Holy Shield. These are not capped at 75%, unlike the final chance to block. When running your chance to block is reduced to one-third of its normal value.
Chance to hit
The chance to hit can be calculated from:
Final CtH = 2 × (AR/(AR + DR)) × (Alvl/(Alvl + Dlvl)) × 100
Alvl = Attacker’s character level
Dlvl = Defender’s character level
AR = Attacker’s attack rating
DR = Defender’s defence
The level dependent part of the formula is the main reason that AR dependent characters often have to be levelled up further than casters, otherwise there is a noticeable drop in the chances of hitting. Most caster’s defence rating is negligible for a well built melee character, though cold sorcs using Chilling Armour can hit 5,000 with certain items. Paladin’s can reach very high defence values, often well over 20,000, so if your attack skills are not autohit skills it is often useful to use the Enchant from Demon Limb, as well as the Angelic amulet/ring. Hsaru’s boots and belt will also give a big AR boost. One other point to remember is that when running this calculation is completely ignored.
Run/Walk Speed
Unlike for cast speed and hit recovery there are no breakpoints for run and walk speeds. Skill based run/walk speed bonuses do not suffer from diminishing returns, but item based faster run/walk does. There are also penalties associated with using medium and heavy armour/shields, of 5% and 10% respectively. Like skill based FRW these are not subject to diminishing returns.
Deadly Strike, Crushing Blow and Open Wounds
These are grouped together as they all produce a certain effect when an attack hits. Deadly strike will make an attack do double damage, though this is not cumulative with critical strike from masteries. The chance of doing double damage is:
Chance to do double damage = 100 × (1 – ((1 – DS/100) × (1 – CS/100)))
DS = Total percentage chance to cause deadly strike
CS = Total percentage chance to cause critical strike
Crushing blow will remove a percentage of a player’s life when it hits, against other players this is 1/10th of their current life with a melee weapon, and 1/20th of their life with a ranged weapon. It’s not as useful in PvP as in PvM due to life totals being lower, and damage being higher, though for high life characters, such as Barbarians it can be helpful, as 1/10th of their life can sometimes be over 400 hit points.
Open wounds causes negative life regeneration when it is triggered, the amount of which depends on the attacker’s level and the type of target. In the case of interest here (character level 61+), the formula is:
Damage per frame = ((45 × Clvl – 1319)/256) × K
K = 0.25 for melee attacks, and 0.125 for ranged attacks
The duration of OW itself is 200 frames, or 8 seconds
For example, if a level 90 character triggers OW with a melee attack:
Damage per frame = (4050 – 1319)/256 × 0.25 = 2.67
Damage per second = 2.67 × 25 = 66.67
Total damage = 66.67 × 8 = 533.4
Most HLD characters are likely to be in at least their high 80s, with most melee or ranged builds including some form of OW, so it is important to plan for it, particularly with a low life build, such as a full ES sorc, or a bowazon. It’s very useful for builds that rely on melee attacks, but which have relatively low actual damage outputs, such as Ghosts. It can also be useful to swap an item for one that has a high OW chance when facing an ES sorc with a very strong energy shield.
[FONT="]3. Build Guides[/FONT]
[FONT="] 3.1. Amazon[/FONT]
[FONT="]3.1.1. Bowazon Guide[/FONT]
The Bowazon is a long ranged physical damage dealer, capable of dealing pain to opponents from afar, but less effective in close combat. One of the easier builds to play offensively, her Guided Arrow just needs to be shot in the general direction of the enemy and the arrow can home in on them. She is not as effective in 1v1 or FFA as other builds, but her real asset is in teams, where she can be boosted and protected by teammates, while supplying long range offence. She favours FRW to close in, sidestep or avoid an enemy as she does not utilize teleport. Besides attacking with a bow, she can switch to her javelin/shield for more offensive and defensive options.
Damage or Life?
This is you personal preference, as you may choose to put more points into vitality for more life, or into dexterity for more damage. I feel that a Bowazon is not meant to tank and needs to deal a decent amount of damage hence I would aim for a set amount of life, perhaps 800-1000 then put the rest into dexterity. Putting points into dexterity is especially important if you do not have a Fortitude Armour.
Skill Points
Guided Arrow (20) – Your main attack.
Critical Strike (20) – Your additional source of damage for both you arrows and javelins.
Dodge, Avoid and Evade (10+ each) – Allows you to avoid attacks, be aware of diminishing returns at higher levels. Try to achieve at least 50% in each of the 3 skills.
Multishot (1 or 8+) – Less powerful than Guided Arrow, but covers a much greater area. Useful when you are trying to hit fast moving players and you want to cover a general area. If you do choose to use this skill have at least 8 points for a decent coverage.
Strafe (1+) – Great against teleporting casters with no or low block, as the fast attack of Strafe added with knockback can stun them. You gain an additional shot every fourth level.
Decoy and Valkyrie (1) – Useful to be barriers against enemy projectiles.
Penetrate (1) – Helps AR with Jab, Strafe and Multishot.
Jab (1) – Useful for close combat.
Lightning Bolt (1) – This skill converts you javelin damage to 3/4 lightning damage and makes it ignore target defence and block. Not as strong as Lighting Fury but more effective when the target has low lightning resist and high block.
Lightning Fury (1) – This skill grants your javelin ignore target defence but is still blockable. Useful against charging Paladins and Barbarians. Also can be used to clear minions.
Status Points
Strength – 156 for Stormshield
Dexterity – Rest of your points here for max damage, or enough for max block with Stormshield if going for vitality build, or points to your discretion to attain a certain middle ground for life.
Vitality – Dependent on you decision on dexterity.
Energy – None.
Equipment
Your bow is your most important piece of equipment and depending on what type you choose, you should plan the rest of your gear around it.
Elite bows come in 4 base speeds:
10 – Crusader Bow, Hydra Bow, Grand Matron Bow
5 – Spider Bow
0 – Shadow Bow, Diamond Bow, Ward Bow
-10 – Blade Bow, Great Bow, MatriarchalBow
Increased Attack Speed
If you choose a 10 base speed bow, you want to achieve at least +86% IAS from gear for a 9 frame Guided Arrow, 0 base speed bow +105% IAS for 8 frame and -10 base speed bow +75% IAS for 8 frame.
Some bows to consider:
Eaglehorn Crusader Bow – A bow with very good damage and shouldn’t be expansive to acquire. However it lacks IAS so you’d need to make it up from equipment or socketing.
Windforce Hydra Bow – The most damaging bow you can acquire barring a ‘Faith’ bow. It has the knockback mod and includes 20% IAS so it saves you some equipment choices. However it is a bit more expensive.
Lysander’s Aim Grand Matron Bow – Provides decent damage however you need to use runes to upgrade.
Witchwild String Diamond Bow – Has % chance to cast Amplify Damage, scaling Deadly Strike, resistance and 2 sockets. Amp is fun when it goes off and 2 sockets gives you flexibility (Nef for Knockback, Shaels for IAS, etc). You can also use the points that would have gone into Critical Strike to another skill since Critical and Deadly are calculated separately. However the bow damage itself is low and you need to spend runes to upgrade it.
Widowmaker Ward – Decent damage, Deadly Strike and +Guided Arrow. However I think there are better choices.
Harmony MatriarchalBow (or Blade Bow or Great Bow) – A personal favourite of mine, it sports good damage and the Vigor aura for increased mobility at a relatively cheap price. However no IAS so it needs to be made up in equipment.
Passion Matriarchal Bow (or Blade Bow or Great Bow) – Provides decent damage with IAS at a cheap price. You could also use the HoW charges if you with, but you’d lose it when you switch to javelins.
Other Notes on Equipment
Knockback is essential on a Bowazon build, as when your arrows or javelins hit, your opponent has a 50% chance of being pushed back, giving you a bit of extra time to either continue your attack or reposition yourself.
Besides IAS, the other important things you should look for on your gear are items with Faster Run/Walk, damage or life. I would suggest to try to get at least get 120% FRW on you javelin switch. In terms of faster hit recovery, I would suggest at least the 20% FHR breakpoint.
Also, Bowazons tend to find obtaining resistances difficult, unless they make big sacrifices in their equipment and charms. I would suggest prioritizing, focusing on physical defence and lighting resistance first, as they are the most common types of attacks you face. You may keep extra gear/charms in your stash for fire or poison resistance.
Gear Choices
Helm
Valkyrie Wing – A useful helm to meet breakpoints. A common socketing choice is a 15% IAS jewel.
Harlequin Crest – Has 10% Damage Reduce and the +Life/Mana is very useful especially if you character is not receiving Battle Orders.
Andariel’s Visage – Used mainly for its 20% IAS. It also has massive poison resistance.
Giant Skull – The knockback mod allows you to wear different gloves if you bow does not have it. You have the option of socketing the helm with IAS jewels, however acquiring one might be pricey, especially one with 2 sockets.
Amulet
Cat’s Eye - +Dex, FRW and IAS the perfect Amulet for this build.
Highlander’s Wraith - +Deadly Strike, Lightning Resistance and IAS this is also a good amulet.
Atma’s Scarab – If you don’t need IAS from you amulet, you can consider this for the chance to cast Amplify Damage. It also has great poison resistance for poison users.
Weapon Switch
Titan’s Revenge and Stormshield – I can’t really suggest any alternative weapon switches as this is used by all bowazon builds, rich or poor. Titan’s have good damage, +Str/Dex and the ever important FRW mod. If you can afford it, upgrade them so you javelins do more damage. You can socket you shield with an Eld Rune to save dexterity for max block, or a nice –requirements jewel to save on strength.
Armour
Treachery Runeword - +45% IAS gives you a massive boost in reaching the next IAS breakpoint. Also gives 20% FHR and a small damage boost with Venom.
Duress Runeword – An option if you choose to include Open Wounds in your build, but keep in mind it is only half effective with ranged attacks. Also sports +40% FHR, a small bit of ED% and resistances.
Twitchthroe – Superb armour armour with +FHR, +IAS, +strength/dexterity. If you choose a vitality build, the +25% blocking saves you a good amount of dexterity.
Lionheart Runeword – A decent armoured providing stats across the board. Also provides some +ED% and resistances.
Fortitude – The ultimate armour for a Bowazon, it’s +300% ED makes her much more dangerous.
Gloves
Crafted Hitpower Gloves – Used mainly to get the knockback mod. Try to craft some with IAS.
Dracul’s Grasp – If you have Knockback from another sources consider this with Open Wounds and +strength, but also chance to cast Life Tap.
Bloodfist – A good alternative, with FHR, life, some IAS and +min damage.
Belt
Nosferatu’s Coil – Used for its IAS and +strength.
Crafted Blood Belt – A good one can give a nice boost to life and Open Wounds
Verdungo’s Hearty Cord – Provides Damage Reduce % if needed and also a healthy boost to vitality.
Thundergod’s Vigor – Used mainly against opponents who use lighting based attacks.
Rings
Ravenfrost – An important source of Cannot Be Frozen, and also dexterity and mana. I would suggest wearing a pair of these.
Dwarfstar – Has a nice boost to life and fire absorb.
Rare Ring – Look for one with +str/+dex, life/mana. But good ones are usually a bit expensive and it would probably be easier to get a Ravenfrost instead.
Boots
War Travellers – The +Damage on these boots help on low damage bows. Also provides some vitality and strength.
Waterwalks – Provides a healthy dose of life and dexterity.
Gore Riders – Small boost damage with +Deadly Strike and Open Wounds
Aldur’s Boots – Fast boots with +40% FRW, life and fire resistance.
Charms
Can be used to fill the holes that your gear couldn’t cover whether its life, FRW, damage or resistance. If you are looking for damage charms, I would suggest to go for Grand Charms with +Max damage ranging from 8-10, which shouldn’t be too expensive. Duel modded charms (+Max and life) are much better, but much more pricy.
Versus Strategies
Generally you should be continuously moving, both to avoid opponents or their projectiles and to position yourself for a better shot, unless you are confident of you position in which you can continuous launch arrows at your opponent. Ideally you want to use your range to your advantage and keep your opponent approximately 1 screen away from you.
However, be aware that Guided arrow can hit from 2-3 screens away, so feel free to snipe from a distance if you feel your opponent is in that general area. If you have life or mana leech, check for the red/blue swirls when you are firing your arrows, as they indicate you are hitting your opponent and you can continue to fire away.
Remember to get your javelin switch up when physical damage dealers are close by or about to attack. You have the option of switching to walk, whereby your block is increased to 75%, but mobility is greatly reduced.
Here are some tips on common builds you see in the moor.
Whirlwind Barbarian
Non-teleporting ones are not bad. They have to close the distance to attack so when they are running at you, fire at the red x on the minimap. When they appear on you screen keep firing, but be ready to switch to you Javelin/Shield switch. When he’s close to you, he’ll most likely start WWing at you and you need to switch weapons. Try to sidestep him and throw Lightning Furies at him. If you find you have some distance between you two because he did a long whirl or you managed to run away, switch back to your bow and fire away.
Teleporting Barbarians are much more difficult because they can close in much quicker with teleport. It’s very difficult to escape their screen as they teleport to you, but if you do manage to escape and he’s playing catch up, definitely switch back to bow to let a few arrows fly. Use the same strategy as above, but be ready to switch to your javelin switch much earlier. You’ll be using your shield switch much more in close combat, unless you are confident he is stuck in a long whirl and you can squeeze off a shot or 2.
Bone Necromancer
If Bone Spirits are homing in on you, keep moving and fire shots every few steps. Also remember to zigzag if he’s trying to hit you with Bone Spear. Try to constantly keep some arrows out, to ensure he’s pressured and discouraged from spamming in one spot. Avoid contact with his Clay Golem at all cost, he can slow your attack speed and run speed to a snail’s pace, which is a death sentence to you.
Fireball/Lightning Sorceress
Keep your Decoy and Valkyrie to create additional obstacles from their projectiles. If they are tying to shoot at you from long range, constantly move to avoid being a stationary target. If they are charging in to hit you up close, try to anticipate their teleport pattern and let your arrows fly in that general direction. If they are close by, run away in a zigzag patter to make yourself harder to hit and periodically shoot a Guided Arrow or 2 to place a little pressure on them. If they have no/low block, utilize Strafe when they are on your screen.
Blizzard Sorceress
Try to keep him off you screen as he’s probably trying to drop a blizzard on you, which will kill you in 1-2 hits. If he is close, move erratically to make yourself a harder target to hit. It’s a tough fight as she often has Chilling Armour that can negate you Arrows and the dreaded namelock means imminent death for you.
Hammerdin
The key here is to keep moving (preferably in a South or Southwest direction) and not be trapped in his hammerfield. You have the advantage here because you outrange him. No need to switch to your javelins; just stop and shoot every few steps.
Smiter
Make sure you are surrounded by puddles and other obstacles as he’s more likely to desync charge in to try to get some hits. When he’s close by, switch to your javelins and run away from him, flinging Lightning Furies as he is charging at you. Avoid letting him push you into a wall or obstacle as he can switch to Smite and entrap you by constantly smiting you.
Ghost Assassin
Treat like a WW Barb but get ready to break Mind Blast stun by rapidly switch weapons. Try to get some distance between you if you can.
Trap Assassin
If the assassin is just sitting in his traps, use your superior range to snipe him from afar. However if she is aggressive and is chasing you, your main goal here is to try to keep him off screen to prevent him from Mind Blasting you. You also need to keep constantly moving to avoid any traps that are nearby. If you do find yourself stunned, rapidly weapon switch to break any locks he tries to do.
Wind Druid
Non-teleporting ones are easy as you can just out run their short ranged Tornadoes while sniping from afar.
However ones that teleport are pretty much impossible. The reason for this is because the combination of Hurricane, 5 Crows and Spirit Wolfs put you in dodge/block lock if your opponent teleports on top of you. Best thing to do is to keep moving so it’s hard for him to jump on top of you. Have you javelin switch on if he’s close by. You can try to rid him of his wolves and oak with Multishot or Lightning Fury, and if you do, hit him with Guided Arrow before he resummons his minions.
Bowazon
You have the choice of keeping your distance or closing in. If you choose to keep your space, make sure your Valkyrie and Decoy is up and be aware of obstacles you can hid behind. This goes down to who can snipe who first. If you chose to be more aggressive, switch to you javelin switch and run up to your opponent (not directly) and either throw Lightning Furies at him or chase him to Jab.
As an example of one of the harder types of opponent to beat, this video shows how to deal with a fast teleporting caster, in this case a bone necro (taken from TienJe’s hybrid amazon guide here: http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=573409):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68UynO-POFw
[FONT="]3.1.2. GA/Poison Hybridzon[/FONT]
INTRO
If you want to make a PvP amazon, you have several choices. A Bowazon is a relatively expensive build if you want to make her really effective. Pure javazons are seldom seen nowadays, they are usually a little bithybridised, using guided arrow as a finishing and tactical attack. There is a very nice guide for this build written by Liquid_Evil http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=346563.
The build that is presented here is a real hybrid, having spread points into all three skill trees, dispensing decent physical and poison damage. This amazon has strong guided arrow attack capable of dealing a lot of damage from afar, together with a useful multiple shot covering the Moor witharrows. After weapon switch she is able to fill the air with poison clouds that are hard to avoid and difficult to survive without proper gear.
STATS
Strength - enough to wear equipment as usual, you will need 156 with Titan’s on switch, which means a maximum of 136 hard points.
Dexterity - 250+ being a hybrid that is trying to do good bow damage, otherwise at least enough for max block with Stormshield.
Vitality - aim for 1.2k+ life with equipment.
Energy - nothing.
SKILLS
Bow and crossbow skills
GA 20
Multiple shot 1-20
Strafe 0-1
Passive skills
Critical strike 1+
D/A/E 1+
Penetrate 1
Pierce 1
Valkyrie 1
Javelin skills
Poison javelin 20
Plague javelin 20
Lightning fury 1
Jab 0-1
SKILLS INFO
Guided arrow - one of the main attacks, maxing it is obvious.
Multiple shot - even with one hard point in penetrate and some AR charms you should have at least 3k attack rating, however I recommend getting over 4k, which ensures a chance to hit opponents of equal level with 1k defence 80% of the time. Don’t expect to hit high defence characters too often, but it should work against casters. Add enough points for 5-10 arrows or more if you use it often and like it. This skill is generally useful against low defence characters and for killing minions.
Strafe - could be useful in some duels either for block locking or for delivering damage/OW/knockback quickly to low/no block characters on your screen. Only a backup or situational attack, keep in mind that strafe depends on AR like multiple shot, so don’t use it against barbs, paladins etc. It has a 4 frame next delay to hit the same target, so with 3 fpa strafe you could hit your opponent every six frames (still much faster than 8 fpa GA).
Critical strike - 50% chance of doing double damage should be fine. If you are using witchwild string, less points are sufficient. If you have spare points, put them here up to 65% chance, after that the diminishing returns are almost unacceptable.
D/A/E - 12/7/12 after +skills means 50% chance. Don’t take these numbers too strictly and add as much points as you want, everything above 40% is nice. Combined with full DR and max block on switch, your amazon could be respectable opponent for physical attackers. You could have problem with D/A/E/block lock when facing fast attacking chars. You can’t shorten thelength of these passive skills, they always take 8 frames.
Valkyrie - useful in many duels, adding more than one point is a waste for this build, the points are better spent elsewhere.
Jab, Lightning Bolt, Lightning Fury - utility skills, will be discussed in strategy section.
Poison and plague javelin - these skills do comparable damage, but they differ a lot in poison length and timer. Poison javelin is almost spammable (2x slower than throw), which makes it a better skill for actually poisoning something - you can fill the air with poison clouds, but the poison damage lasts for a long time (typically one minute). Plague javelin‘s effect is much shorter (around 15 seconds), being a better skill at first glance, but has a long timer from a PvP point of view (100 frames) and travels slower, which makes it relatively difficult to hit someone with it.
IMPORTANT: In hell difficulty, where the duels take place, the poison length duration is 100% longer, which means that your poison skills do double the listed damage (over a longer period). For example, poison javelin’s poison damage does not apply for listed 13 seconds, but for 26 seconds, thus doubling the listed damage. Moreover, the poison length reduction on opponents gear subtracts the listed %, but from the original duration. That means that if your opponent takes Death’s Gloves with 75% poison length reduction and is hit by poison javelin, the poison length will be 26 - (0.75 x 13) = 16 seconds. Your opponent could take two sources of PLR (combination of Death’s gloves and Iratha’s amulet gives shorten the poison duration by 150%, that means it will last 50% of the original listed time).
In the table below I have listed an example of the real average PvP damage your opponent will receive from your poison skills and how long does it take.
Code:
75% resist 75% resist 0% resist
75% PLR 0% PLR 0% PLR
Lvl 26 poison javelin 1010 life (72 sec.) 1596 life (116 sec.) 6384 life (116 sec.)
Lvl 26 plague javelin 709 life (16 sec.) 1171 life (26 sec.) 4684 life (26 sec.)
What does it mean for us PvP-wise? Once you hit an opponent with poison or plague javelin, you can’t multiply the current damage taken. You can only override it, but it depends on the damage roll. Also, plague javelin has a higher bite rate than poison javelin, so you can always override poison javelin by plague, but not override plague by poison. That could be handy if you fight an enemy that is hard to hit by plague javelin - hit him with poison javelin, he will think “now I can’t be poisoned again” and starts to play more offensively giving you better chance of hitting him with the faster killing plague javelin.
GEAR
What to look for on your equipment:
IAS - firing GAs fast is really essential. Don’t sacrifice a lot to get 8 fpa, however, it is the recommended breakpoint.
FRW - you will be hunted in almost every duel, aim for 120+% on javelin switch.
+ skills - being a hybrid, you will benefit quite a lot from + skills, not only do they increase your poison damage, but your passive skills too. Keep in mind that you don’t have enough hard points to have the passives at really high levels.
Knockback - knockback is a must, don’t forget it’s banned in good manner duels though. Knockback on bow is fine (Windforce), but on gloves it allows you to use it with LF and lightning bolt, which is good from tactical reasons.
FHR - aim for at least 8 frames, that’s 20% FHR, next breakpoints are 32 and 52 (7 and 6 frames).
Stats, life - of course, the more the better.
Resists - depends on opponent, sometimes it’s better to rely on a good damage setup with gemmed monarch on switch.
Open wounds - sometimes overestimated, for our build the damage it makes is not as good, you already have a good damaging bow switch and a lot of poison damage. Make sure you have some when facing defensive playing characters and ES sorceresses. If you have a relatively weak bow switch you could get a lot of OW, less points in bow skills, and play more like a javazon with GA backup.
Javelin
Titan’s Revenge - best choice, I would not use anything else. It’s awesome not only for its skill bonuses and stats, but there’s the 30 FRW mod that is very useful too. Upping is possible, although not necessary, it will help you only with jab, the physical part of poison skills, and LF (fortitude users would like the increased damage).
Shield
Stormshield - self explanatory. Socket it with a PDiamond, poison facet or nice jewel (-requirements, resist, etc.). Putting a Shael in it is useless, you would still block at 3 frames.
Spirit - against opponents where you don’t need block and DR, you could use it, two skills would increase your poison damage and you would get nice FHR bonus, some resists and life too.
Faceted monarch – You’re unlikely to need extra poison damage, but if you find yourself having trouble, then it could be worth trying.
Resist shield if necessary (gemmed monarch, Sanctuary).
Bow
Bow choice is very important. You are a bow/poison hybrid, not a 1 point GA backup javazon. You should not settle for a weak bow switch. Getting the recommended 8 fpa means you will be limited not only by the base bow speed, but by other equipment as well. I will add total off-weapon IAS needed for 8 fpa in parenthesis.
Upped Witchwild String (2x Shael, 65 IAS) - easy to find, with very high deadly strike and decent damage, 40 resist all could help too.
Harmony Matriarchal bow (75 IAS) - up to 275% ED, +3 bow skills and Vigor aura (36 Skill FRW). Very cheap and very universal.
Windforce (Shael, 110 IAS) - huge damage, but slow. However, the damage output is so good that I would play at 9 fpa speed with windforce (50 off-weapon IAS).
Rare bow - look for 300+ ED and good speed. Not easy to find, but could be very nice.
Faith - extremely hard to obtain, dream of all bowazons, could reach fabulous 7 fpa and fire arrows amazingly fast. Good luck getting Jah, but if you have one lying around, this bow is a great choice.
Armour
Even if you are poor, you could pick some easy obtainable armour like Crow Caw, Duriel’s Shell, Treachery, Duress or even Skin of the Vipermagi. They will work well, the choice is yours and depends quite a lot on other gear, if you need IAS, OW, resists…
Fortitude - the best possible armour for this build is Fortitude, which makes your arrows highly damaging projectiles - the guided arrow skill ED is somewhere above 100%, Fortitude adds 300% more… Should I say more? Only drawback is the lack of IAS which influences the pick of helm, gloves, belt, and amulet.
Bramble, Chains of Honor - expensive armours that enhance the javelin side of your build. But I suppose that if you can afford CoH, you can afford Fortitude as well which is imho better.
Helm
I recommend choosing a helm that offers some +skills, because they are easy to find and have good stats anyway. Sockets could be filled with IAS jewel, Shael, poison facet or some tasty rare jewel.
Valkyrie Wing - often forgotten, but offers two skills, 20 FHR and 20 FRW.
1.07 Valkyrie Wing - better for a pure bowazon, but still a very good choice.
Andariel’s Visage - two skills, strength bonus and up to 35% IAS - could be handy.
Shako - one of the best all around PvP helmets.
Rare - it’s hard to find one better than helms mentioned above, but could be godly, try to get one with two skills, FRW, two sockets, etc.
Gloves
Gloves, especially rares and crafts are a very important piece of equipment. Not only could they could help you to reach your demanded IAS or get knockback, but they could offer passive or javelin skills, stats, resists and life.
Uniques and sets are not that good. If you are tempted by Trang Oul’s gloves, you could try them, but even magical 2 java/IAS are better for this build.
Belt
Verdungo’s - classic PvP belt and doesn’t need further explanation.
Rare - could be very nice, look for life, FHR, OW, resists… Don’t count the strength from the belt when planning stats allocation, in some cases you will probably be forced to switch it.
Other common choices are Thundergod’s to cover lightning damage, Nosferatu for IAS and strength, or Mavina’s belt for another 20% FRW (1.07 version has 40% FRW).
Boots
War Traveller or Gore Rider’s - the main difference between them is added damage versus OW. Having strong poison attack, I would vote for raw damage.
Rare boots - finding godly tri resist boots is almost impossible, but getting 30 FRW/10FHR and two 30+ resists pair is easier.
Amulet
If you need IAS, pick Cat’s Eye or Highlord’s. Otherwise use Mara’s or Cat’s Eye again (yes, the FRW is awesome).
Rings
Two Ravens could never hurt, but being a hybrid, you could benefit from Raven/BKWB combo. Other rings should be used according to opponents (Wisp, Dwarf, etc.).
Inventory
Balance your FHR, FRW, + passive or +javelin skills, AR, damage. Resist charms against casters, if you need them. There is no “must have” in inventory for this build. If you have already covered everything and don’t know what to add, I would recommend damage/AR charms with life as second mod.
DUELING STRATEGIES
AMAZONS
Bowazon
Hard duel. She will try not to come close to you, so the opportunity of poisoning her is low, her goal is to force you to fight as a bowazon. In that case, she usually has better GA damage and better passive skills. Don’t go into a pure bow matchup if you don’t have much better equipment. Try to switch to the shield and get closer to her. If she is OW based and her damage is not so high, you could try to charge her and hit with poison javelin, LF, or even jab, if she is that slow. When she runs away, fire GAs after her.
Javazon
Dedicated poison amazons will usually have twice your poison damage, which means that even with Death’s gloves you will go down to 1 hp if hit. Get yourself the poison resist elsewhere, wear your favourite rare/crafted gloves instead, and shoot her to death. Be a bowazon in this duel, run fast, predict her moves and keep yourdistance. Of course throw some poison javelins, she would be probably hunting and following you. Pure lightning amazons are not seen often nowadays, but keep in mind that their CS could be very deadly, even with Thundergod’s the damage is very respectable. The main danger comes from “far casting”, a glitch in the game that enables throwing CS (by switching from throw to CS while namelocking an enemy). Fights against this amazon are not so hard, use the same strategy as with poison javazon.
ASSASSINS
Trapsin
Play defensively, run a lot, throw poison javelins in the direction they approach from, spam MS when you see them on the minimap. When you see a trap on the ground, run away in a spiral, not straight away, to give the lightning a lower chance of hitting you. Try to poison her and get some OW source. If she has teleport, she will get close and start mindblasting and trap laying.
WWsin
Easier than a ww barb, she has less life and not as good damage. Get good poison resist and PLR, stay in plague javelin cloud, walk, and fire GAs. When she teleports/dflies on you, start the same tactics like against whirlwind barbarian.
BARBARIAN
Barbarians have very large life pool so it’s hard to bring them down with poison if they are prepared and have 75% resist and some source of PLR. They have extremely good physical damage, 50% DR and max block are necessary.
Whirlwind
Very strong build. If you meet a good one, you will probably lose. When you see him on the mini-map, spam GA in his direction and run away. Teleporting barb will come close to you fast, when he enters your screen, start to walk instead of run, switch to javelin and don’t run away. Just after that he usually teleports right on you and starts ww. Use shift jab when he is on you, jab is uninterruptable and he has no block, so it gives you the opportunity to deliver some damage. You have good chance of releasing plague javelin when he is wwing from you. If he doesn’t have good resists and PLR, the poison WOULD hurt a lot. Don’t bother with more poison skills when he is poisoned and start “bowazon strategy”. After being whirlwinded over, you have a very short time to step aside, switch weapons and fire one or two arrows. Or you could hit him with LF or bolt, which knockbacks and stuns for a while. Rinse and repeat, if you are not already dead. If he is skilled enough and makes short triangles around you, you have quite a hard time due to dodge/block lock. Don’t even try to use a bow and try to kill him with poison, jab and fury.
Wolfbarb
Don’t let him come close to you, he usually attacks very fast and easily gets you into dodge/block lock. Do not use valk and decoy, he would charge up feral rage. Just spam GAs from distance and try to poison him. You should have the upper hand, you are afast moving ranged attacker. Fill the air with poison javelins and run, wait until he is on low life and finish with GAs.
DRUIDS
Windy
Askilled teleporting windy with max block is one of the toughest opponents you could meet. The best strategy you could choose is to predict where he is teleporting, poisoning him, killing Oak Sage, running, killing recasted Oak Sage (it’s immune to poison on hell) again and again and when he is on low life finishing him with GA. That could work if he doesn’t have good resist and PLR, otherwise you will probably die first.
Fury/Rabies or Fire Claws/Rabies
The tactic is quite simple. Don’t get poisoned, their damage will probably be capable of killing you. Use a running strategy with throwing poison javelins behind you and firing GAs. Don’t forget not to use Valk/Decoy, they are good target for charging feral rage and could pass on Rabies to you if they are infected.
NECROMANCERS
Bone
If you meet one with teleport and max block, it will be a very hard duel. Offensive necros will teleport close to you, trying to get you to hit recovery with teeth and finish with spears. Run from them, change directions, throw poison javelins and fire GAs if you have some time between running from spirits. Poisoning him and running is the key. Teeth can trigger hit recovery and clay golem will slow you. GAs can be blocked and absorbed by astrong bone armour. Not easy. Defensive playing boners are not such a threat, you have faster attack with bigger range, just keep moving and try to avoid running into invisible spirits.
Poison
If you have stacked resists (calculate with 100+), it will give you a good chance. Move a lot, try to stay in your poison clouds and spam GA and MS.
PALADINS
Smiter
These guys are very dangerous. They desync and charge a lot, trying to get close to you and finish with smite. Use your bow only if they are far away from you. Don’t stop running or they might land a smite. In particular, Grief and Fortitude users could easily kill you in a second. But even if they play with Oath or Redeemer their charge damage is deadly if they hit you with your bow out. Try to find terrain that does not give them a direct line of attack towards you. Use your minions. If you meet a really good and strong smiter, prepare to die often.
V/T and T/V
Again, not easy duels, try not to get namelocked and be charged/smited to death. Run a lot, use your poison skills in directions where he is coming, profit from terrain, use valk and decoy. Make sure you have full resist and some absorb too (monarch socketed with four perfect topazes to counter conviction is nice, but you lose block and DR, so choose shield according to your opponent’s playstyle).
Hammerdin
Not as hard as expected, if they are pure hammerdins and don’t use charge, try to stay in your own plague javelin poison cloud and fire GAs. When he teleports on you and gets poisoned, start moving to avoid hammers. If he charges, don’t use your bow much when he is near. Take your time, try to poison him repeatedly and fire GAs when it’s possible.
SORCERESSES
There are two main types of sorc from your point of view - with and without ES. It is almost impossible to kill ES sorc only with GA. Fortunately, you have poison damage which is a no no for them (ES doesn’t absorb poison damage), and they will do anything just to keep distance from your poison clouds. Get some OW, good resists and use poison javelin a lot.
Blizzard sorc
If you decide to overstack, it will cost you a lot of changes in equipment, but after that you’ll be able to survive a few blizzards. In that case play defensively, move a lot and try to get her with poison. I would personally not do it and would rely on my luck (that would be usually one hit KO duels for you). Either she will teleport in circles around casting blizzard on you. Play aggressively and fast, avoid running into blizzard and fire MS and GA. Or she will teleport right on you and try to kill you with ice blast, in that case use the same strategy as against fireball and lightning.
Fireball sorc
Very fast moving and attacking, poisoning her will not be easy. With Hotspur and Dwarf Star, even a fully synergized lvl 40+ fireball should do 200-250 damage, so you could survive several of them. Play as a bowazon, that means running zig zag from her and firing one or two GAs every turn. Occasionally change for plague javelin.
Lightning sorc
Same strategy as with fireball, she has similar type of projectile that could be dodged by moving fast and changing directions.
[FONT="] 3.2. Assassin[/FONT]
Introduction
PvP Assassins come in many shapes and forms, particularly at the higher end of the budget. But they all have one thing in common - the Mind Blast + Trap stun sequence. Some builds will invest only a single point in each of these, but all the PvP assassins have these two skills at the core.
Trap laying speed is determined by your attack speed, the rate you Mind Blast is determined by Faster Cast Rate. So, unlike many other PvP builds, you have to balance both. When you add Faster Hit Recovery and resistances into the mix, there is a lot to balance when building an Assassin. I'll try to keep the numbers to a minimum, but it is an important part of all assassin builds, so you can't skip it.
The Trap Assassin
A trapper is one of the cheapest PvP builds to get started with. All the equipment is easily farmed from Hell Mephisto, shopped, gambled or traded for a few perfect gems. At the basic level, they are a more defensive character, sitting in a trap field waiting for their prey, like a spider in a web. If you have the mobility of Enigma, they open up to a much more aggressive play style.
Skills
Lightning Sentry - The primary source of damage for a trapper, you will be putting 20 points into this skill and all of its three synergies. Top end damage will be about 11K per shot. 9-10K is a more reasonable number to achieve without extremely rare claws, or for a weapon shield setup.
Wake of Fire - This trap fires faster that LS. It is shorter range, but covers a wider area, making it very effective for getting the initial stun-lock before they get hit with the lightning. One point here is very useful.
Mind Blast - Probably the skill you will use more than any other. Some of the BNet guides will advise two points in this. This is because when teleporting (Enigma) the Shadow Master is constrained and will do little else other than Mind Blast. If you max this skill, it is almost like having it on automatic. Two points is supposed to make sure she uses the skill more due to the way SM "learns" skills. For non-teleporting trappers one point is required as a minimum.
Weapon Block - Unlike shield blocking, this only works when attacking or standing still. It does however have the ability to block Blessed Hammers, Meteors, Smite, Fireballs - almost any spell or attack. For a teleporting build this is ideal - it works when teleporting, mind blasting, trapping so you have the benefit almost all of the time. For a non-teleporting build I think it is less useful. The time you spend attacking or standing still compared to moving is small, so most of the time you have no block. More on this in the equipment section. One point in any case.
Fade / Burst of Speed - You can have only one of these active at any time. For all builds both have their uses. Which one you use most of the time will depend on opponent and equipment. Check you equipment bonuses before investing more than one point into either of these.
Shadow Master - A useful distraction and sometime auto mind blaster, only a single point is needed for PvP. Even maxing her won’t allow her to survive more than one or two hits from another player so don't waste the points.
So the basic skill layout looks like this:
Traps
1 Fire Blast
1 Wake of Fire
0 Wake of Inferno
0 Blade Sentinel
0 Blade Fury
0 Blade Shield
20 Shock Web
20 Charged Bolt Sentry
20 Lightning Sentry
20 Death Sentry
Shadow Disciplines
1 Claw Mastery
1 Weapon Block
1 Psychic Hammer
1 Burst of Speed
1 Cloak of Shadows
1 Shadow Warrior
1 Fade
1 Shadow Master
1 Mind Blast
0 Venom
Martial Arts - Nothing required here
Well that gives a total of 91 skill points, which means the basic build is finished at level 80 with all quests done. I recommend that you level to 90, which gives you an extra 10 skill points to spend.
Suggestions for Spare Skill Points
- A few points into Fade may be useful if you need more resists, or Burst of Speed if you think you need more mobility. However, given the +skills you are likely to have on your equipment, chances are you will be hitting the point when adding more points starts to have only a minor benefit.
- Mind Blast. More points mean a longer stun length. This is my preference for spare skill points.
- Fire Blast. This will help a lot whilst levelling, you may want to consider this if you are building this character as more of a PvP capable PvM character. If you are fortunate enough to own an Enigma, this can be useful as a second source of damage and stun. Teleport on top of a stunned enemy and blast them at short range. (I'm not suggesting that you try to bomb people on the corners of the screen) It doesn't count as one of your five traps, so they can also be hit by the lightning at the same time. It also fires much faster than either WoF or LS.
There are two types of trapper:
Weapon + Shield (W/S)
As I have already mentioned, weapon block is reduced to zero when walking or running. Shield block is at full effectiveness when walking and 25% when running. Against barbarians and bowazons, this build is much stronger defensively. The downside is that it isn't possible to get as much damage as the dual claw build. You will also have a smaller life pool due to the higher investment in strength and dexterity. Both Fade and BoS builds are possible, depending on the equipment. Given the stat point investment for W/S builds, you will be able to use two claws if you want to against a specific opponent.
Stat Targets - W/S
Strength - Enough for gear - Typically 156 for the Stormshield
Dexterity - Enough for maximum block with a Stormshield
Vitality - Everything else
Energy - Nothing
Faster Hit Recovery (FHR) - 48% minimum (5 frames), 86% (4 frames) if you can.
Faster Cast Rate (FCR) - 65% (11 frames) minimum, 102% (10 frames) should be achievable with this setup.
Increased Attack Speed (IAS) - Enough for 9 Frame trap laying. Use the Latest German Weapon Speed Calculator by Titanseal or the table below. Burst of Speed level is in the left column, the Weapon Speed Modifier (WSM) across the top. Read across to find how much additional IAS you need to hit the 9 frame trap laying limit. If you are using Fade, BoS lvl = 0.
Code:
[B]BoS Lvl Weapon Speed Modified[/B]
[B] -30 -25 -20 -15 -10[/B]
[B]0[/B] 42 52 63 75 89
[B]1[/B] 11 18 24 32 40
[B]2[/B] 5 10 16 23 30
[B]3[/B] 0 6 11 18 24
[B]4[/B] 0 3 8 14 20
[B]5[/B] 0 0 5 10 16
[B]6[/B] 0 0 3 8 14
[B]7[/B] 0 0 0 6 11
[B]8[/B] 0 0 0 5 10
[B]9[/B] 0 0 0 3 8
[B]10[/B] 0 0 0 2 7
[B]11[/B] 0 0 0 0 6
[B]12[/B] 0 0 0 0 5
[B]13[/B] 0 0 0 0 4
[B]14[/B] 0 0 0 0 3
[B]15[/B] 0 0 0 0 2
[B]16[/B] 0 0 0 0 0
[B]17[/B] 0 0 0 0 0
[B]18[/B] 0 0 0 0 0
[B]19[/B] 0 0 0 0 0
[B]20[/B] 0 0 0 0 0
Weapon Choices
'Spirit' Phase Blade [WSM -30] - A Spirit Phase Blade is pretty much the only weapon that a W/S trapper can use to hit the fastest trap laying speed and still use Fade. With 55FHR, up to 35FCR and +2 skills, it is quite a nice weapon for a trapper.
'Heart of the Oak' Flail [WSM -10] - 30-40% resist all, 40% FCR and +3 skills makes this one of the best, if not the best, weapons for a W/S trapper. Due to the low speed of a Flail, this is a Burst of Speed only weapon though and the Vex required may be out of some peoples price ranges.
Wizardspike [WSM -20] - 50% FCR and 75% resist all gives you a lot more flexibility in the rest of your equipment, but offers no offensive power.
Shield
I'm only going to recommend one shield here, it has to be a Stormshield for the decent blocking and 35% Damage Reduction. Socket with an 'Eld' rune to reduce the dexterity requirement for max block, or a perfect diamond if you prefer. Investing the strength for a Stormshield also allows you to use a 'Spirit' Monarch or 4 Perfect Gemmed Monarch against non-physical opponents. If you don't like the look of the strength requirement on a Stormshield, the Claw Claw build may be better suited to you.
Claw Claw (C/C)
It is much easier to get higher damage and a larger life pool with this variant. But, due to the limitations of Weapon Block discussed in the skills section, this variant is much weaker defensively if you are not teleporting.
Stat Targets - C/C
Strength - Enough for gear
Dexterity - Enough for gear
Vitality - Everything else
Energy - Nothing
Faster Hit Recovery (FHR) - 48% minimum (5 frames), 86% (4 frames) if you can.
Faster Cast Rate (FCR) - 65% (11 frames)
Increased Attack Speed (IAS) - Enough for 9 Frame trap laying. Use the Latest German Weapon Speed Calculator by Titanseal or the table above.
Resists - 75% resistance to all elements, see notes above.
Weapons
The great thing about weapons for a trapper is that you can shop them from Hell Anya (next to the red portal in Harrogath). As a minimum you are looking for +2 Assassin Skill or +3 Trap Blade Talons [WSM -20] or preferably Greater Talons [WSM -30]. Be warned, any claw much better that a Cunning Greater Talon will take many hours of shopping. You need to average the WSM of your chosen claws when using the table above. IAS from claws only counts in the claw above the gloves.
Magical claws can get two sockets from Larzuk. Socket the primary claw (the one above the gloves) with Shaels / Jewels of Fervour until you hit the maximum trap laying speed. Socket the off hand claw (above the boots) with resistance jewels, either single element or resist all if you have them.
If you are having trouble getting enough FHR, Bartuc's Cut Throat is a reasonable choice for one or both of the claws, but with only +2 to all Assassin skills it can be a little weak offensively.
Which is best?
Both can be played very effectively so it is difficult to say which is best. If you are having trouble getting a full set of 10 skillers, I recommend the Claw Claw build. If you have 10 skillers and a Call to Arms, you may want to consider the Weapon Shield route. For Enigma owners, both are good choices.
General Equipment Selection
Helm
If you can find or trade for a circlet with 20FCR and +2 Skills, that is the top choice. A magical (blue) circlet with two sockets from Larzuk is often even better than a rare in this case.
Other rare circlets with +2 skills, stats and resists are also worth considering. Of the uniques, Harlequin Crest is nice for the +2 skills, damage reduction and life / mana boost, or Kira's Guardian if you need the resists.
Socket with a Jewel of Fervour if you need the IAS or a Shael if you need the FHR. After that runes for resistance or even a perfect ruby for the life are good choices.
Armour
Enigma.
OK, this isn't a BNet guide, so there are other options here. Skin of the Vipermagi for the FCR and resists is probably the best choice, 'Stealth' runeword is also a possibility. Socketing options are the same as for the helm.
Gloves
Trang Oul's claws are normally the best bet for the 20FCR and the 30% cold resistance. Magefists are viable. If you don't need the FCR (probably because you are using Vipermagi +20FCR Circlet + Arachnid Mesh), Bloodfist are a great choice for the 30FHR, life and 10IAS.
Belt
Arachnid Mesh by far the best choice here for the +1 Skills and 20FCR. You could use Verdungo's or a rare / crafted belt if you don't need the FCR.
Boots
Sandstorm Trek for the stats and 20FHR are probably the pick of the uniques for the C/C build. Rares are probably your best choice here though. Look for FRW, FHR and resists. If you can't find any decent rares, Aldur's Advance or Natalya's Soul are also good choices. If you are going for the W/S build, that nice chunk of strength on the Stormshield will allow you to equip Shadow Dancers. The FHR, dexterity bonus and +2 shadow skills are great, but they do lack resists.
Amulet
Mara's Kaleidoscope is a good all round choice. It can be beaten by a good rare, especially if it has 10FCR. A crafted casted Amulet is the high budget choice, with a potential 20FCR. You could use The Cat's Eye if you are in serious need of FRW, but I think it will leave you lacking elsewhere.
Rings
If you are running, one ring should be a Ravenfrost, unless you know your opponents will not be doing any cold damage. If you need more FCR, rings are a good place to get it. Look for rares with FCR, mana, resists etc. Stones of Jordan or Bul Kathos' Wedding Band good choices if you don't need the FCR or Cannot Be Frozen.
Weapon Switch
If you can afford one, 'Call to Arms' with a Spirit Shield or Lidless Wall is the obvious choice. If you can't, use two claws with +3 to Shadow Disciplines to pre-buff BoS / Fade etc.
Charms
Do your best to get hold of as many Entrapping Grand Charms, hopefully a full set of ten. Plain ones are fairly readily available, the better ones are in quite a lot of demand. Use the other slots for FHR, FRW or resists as you need them.
Stash
As you have to balance so many things on an Assassin, it can be difficult to switch out equipment to counter specific builds without compromising something else. For a W/S trapper, the usual selection of shields should be in the stash. For C/C trappers Kira's Guardian is useful to boost resists, but be careful if you are normally getting FCR on the circlet. Other standard counters like Dwarf Stars, Nokozan Relic, Death's Gloves, Thundergods's Vigor can also be considered.
Strategy
Stunlocking
As already mentioned, the most important thing about the trapper is the mind blast + trap stun sequence. The basic theory goes like this:
1. You have Mind Blast and your trap hot keyed to you right mouse button. Let's say mind blast is 'C' and trap is 'V'.
2. Keeping your opponent as far away from you as possible, try to click directly on them with the right mouse button and keep it held down. If you do this correctly you will see little swirly marks above their head (swirlies) and their life bar will be visible at the top of your screen. This is called namelocking.
3. Without lifting the right mouse button, switch skills and lay a trap. This will be right under their feet. As long as they have the swirlies above their head, any damage they take will put them into hit recovery.
4. Even if they manage to wriggle off your screen, as long as their life bar is visible at the top of your screen you can trap and mind blast them.
5. Alternate between MB and trap until they are dead.
Sounds simple doesn't it? Well the theory is easy, but putting it into practice is much more difficult. Getting the initial namelock isn't easy. You opponent isn't going to stand still and let you MB them, and you have to avoid their attack at the same time.
Note: It is possible, and for some builds easy, to get out of mind blast. More on this is the class specific strategies.
One of the problems that you can have with the basic sequence above is that Lightning Sentry takes a while to fire - 33 frame for the initial shot. Assuming you MB, trap, MB, given you trap laying speed and FCR, you have 11+9 frame between mind blasts - if they take no damage from traps and have decent FCR, they will escape.
This is where Wake of Fire comes in. Although it has a longer initial delay (40 frames) it fires at a much quicker rate (WoF = 17 Frames, LS = 30 frames) and over a wider area. So if you find yourself out of your trap field, laying a WoF and following with a Mind Blast can often be a good strategy. In this case the stun sequence becomes:
1. Lay Wake of Fire near the opponent.
2. Mindblast and hopefully namelock
3. Lightning Sentry, MB, LS, MB...
If you are a low budget trapper, you shouldn't be too far from your trap field, so the opponent should be within range of five traps anyway. In this case the WoF stun sequence isn't needed as much, but is very applicable to Enigma users.
Placing Traps
If you are not wearing Enigma, you need to try to keep in range of your five traps at all times. This means your enemy has to risk getting hit by five lightning blasts if he wants to get close. And the enemies that are most dangerous to you will want to get close.
With a trap laying speed of 9FPA, it takes almost two seconds to lay all five traps. Bear this in mind when you move from your trap field. Walk your traps towards your enemy, making sure that you are in range of at least 2-3 traps at any one time. If you are running, getting caught without traps out is likely to be certain death.
Try to keep your enemy to the north of you, i.e. in the top half of the screen. Due to the life bulbs etc there is more screen in this direction, giving you better range. Most enemies will be trying to do the same thing to you though.
Trap the corners of the screen. This can give you fantastic range, potentially better than most ranged characters. Try to keep the traps between you and the enemy. Again, this increases your range and means that anyone wanting to get close will have to move through the firing traps to get to you.
If you are facing an aggressive opponent, be patient and let them come to you. Choose your ground well. The marshy puddles on the map can be a useful barrier against charging Paladins, walls can stop you opponents circling around you. Sometimes you will need space to run.
If you are teleporting, remember that you can't place traps as quickly as a sorc or bone necro can fire at you. Pressure with Mind Blast. Try to force opponents into a pre-laid trap field with MB. Drop traps at screen corners to maximise your range. Know which opponents to pressure and which to play more defensively.
Class Specific Strategies
I'm assuming worst case opponents here - For the most part this means that they have enigma and are teleporting. Obviously this doesn't apply to the Amazons or Shapeshifters
Amazon - Bowazon
Play aggressively, circle in and go for the namelock as soon as you can. Keep the pressure on, you may have to take a few arrows in the process, but once you get the lock with MB the amazons relatively poor FHR and dodge animations will make it game over fairly quickly. WoF is great for the initial trap as its wide area of effect makes the first hit easier. Shadow Master should be kept out as an extra target for those arrows to lock on to. Keeping your distance is a recipe for slowly getting your life whittled away by Guided Arrows.
Assassin - Trapper
I hate trap vs. trap duels. With all those lightning bolts coming from all directions, it can get very confusing. Knowing which bolts are yours and which are your opponents is a nightmare. Try to get the best position with your opponent at the top of your screen. Try to get a range advantage by trapping the screen corners. This is a battle to see who can namelock better.
Assassin - Ghost
Keep your distance. Most ghosts will have a much higher level mind blast than you and will be trying to stunlock you with Wake of Fire. Don't let them get close enough. WoF has a short range, so use the superior range of LS against them. Keep moving and try to keep your traps between you and your opponent. Mind Blast is of limited use here as they can whirl out of it.
Barbarian - Whirlwind (BvC or BvA)
One of the toughest opponents for a trapper, if not the toughest. If you are a C/C build, this opponent will make you wish you went W/S. Fight them in much the same way as a Ghost. Distance is the key. They can Leap on the spot to knock you out of your trap field and WW through your mind blasts. Make them move through your traps to get to you. They are likely to try and circle around you to avoid trap blasts, so a good choice of ground may be useful. Probably the toughest duel for a trapper and not one you should expect to win.
Druid - Wind
Druids have poor FHR in human form, making them very vulnerable to mind blast. Use it liberally. This is one of the easier duels for a trapper. Keep track of where they are, try to avoid getting telestomped. If you MB the edges of the screen and keep good trap position you will come off on top.
Druid - Werewolf (and Wolfbarbs)
These guys have to come at you on foot. They will have very high FRW to close the distance quickly. They will want to charge up Feral Rage to move even quicker, don't use Shadow Master here. With BoS you are quicker than a wolf, as long as they are not in a Feral Rage. Keep your distance, as soon as they appear on your screen drop back.
Necromancer - Bone
This is one of the fights where you need to be aggressive. Fade will not help you, so use Burst of Speed and chase him down. Keep moving and circle around your opponent, you should be able to out run bone spirits. This also makes hitting with a bone spear more difficult. Re-cast Shadow Master if you have to, she will draw Bone Spirits away from you. Necros have poor FHR, so once you get a MB and namelock it will be difficult for them to escape.
Necromancer - Poison
If they aren't teleporting they are easily outranged. In any case, don't let them any closer than the edge of your screen. If they are teleporting, this is a much tougher duel. Keep some distance, try to predict where they are coming from and mind blast like crazy. Try to fight on ground that gives you an advantage, like closer to a wall.
Paladin - Smiter
Another tough duel for a trapper. Laying your trap field near a marshy area is a good tactic as it will stop them charging as they try to get close to you. Keep your distance again, try to make them move through the trap field to get to you. It is possible for them to charge out of MB too.
Paladin - Hammerdin
Set a trap field and keep the traps between you and them. An aggressive hammerdin will try and charge or teleport in close and cast some hammers. Avoid the initial charge and go for mind blast and namelock at the edge of your screen when they stop to cast. Remember they can charge out of MB though. As with the smiter, picking a marshy bit of ground helps here.
Defensive hammerdins will sit back in a hammer field and wait for you to come to them. Hammers are cast at only a short range, but they can hang around for a long time. Be careful not to run into one. If they are cast when you are off screen they can become invisible. You can see the patch of light for each hammer, but not the hammer itself. Keep well away, walk your traps towards them. You have a huge range advantage, fry them from a distance.
Sorceress
Don't chase them down as this is a recipe for running into something nasty like a fireball. Let them come and spam MB at the edges of the screen. Once you manage to hit them with a MB, and even better if you get the namelock, it should be over fairly quickly.
This video’s of a Trapper against a Bone Necro, and many of the techniques should be applicable to other matchups too. Keep an eye on the skill switches and the timing of when they occur:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr-uXlIqMJo
Trapper Variants
So you remember those spare skill points we had at level 90? If you put them into Venom, you can make a hybrid. Putting the spare points into Venom, the skill allocation at level 90 looks like this:
Traps
1 Fire Blast
1 Wake of Fire
20 Shock Web
20 Charged Bolt Sentry
20 Lightning Sentry
20 Death Sentry
Shadow Disciplines
10 Venom
1 point in all the other Shadow Disciplines (9 Total)
A more typical skill allocation for a Hybrid goes like this:
Traps
1 Fire Blast
1 Wake of Fire
10 Shock Web
20 Charged Bolt Sentry
20 Lightning Sentry
20 Death Sentry
Shadow Disciplines
20 Venom
1 point in all the other Shadow Disciplines (9 Total)
A hybrid normally refers to a Whirlwind Trap Assassin, but I'll discuss bow hybrids briefly too.
PvP WW Trap Hybrid by Happy_Assassin
As you have the ranged damage of traps, this build actually works quite nicely without Enigma. It is, like a pure trapper, still essentially a defensive build though.
As you may have seen from the strategy section above, most of the builds that are dangerous to a trapper are the ones that get close. Whirlwind gives you a short range attack. And the really great thing in that Weapon Block works during Whirlwind. So instead of running away and being vulnerable you can whirl away and have a decent chance of blocking Tornados, Bone Spears, Poison Novas and Smites. Nice eh? The downside is a drop in trap damage - 6K is a good figure for a WW/Trap hybrid.
The guide pretty much lays out the equipment for you, but armour choices need some discussion.
Skin of the Vipermagi - The resists, FCR and skill point makes this one of the best choices. The 30FCR opens up the helm and a ring slot, which makes gear choices much easier. Socket with a Shael for FHR, or an IAS jewel if you need it. If you need neither, socket for resists or life.
Fortitude - At first glance, this seems like the perfect armour, if you can afford it. Resists, Life, FCR all help the build. Lack of offensive power is the biggest problem. With no + skills it helps neither the WW or traps. The ED is largely redundant - The low base damage on most claws means it doesn't add that much. WW Assassins kill with Venom and Open Wounds, not physical damage. If you have some high damage claws though, it could work on some kind of physical damage hybrid.
Natalya's Shadow - If you want to raise your WW damage, socket this with 3x Poison Facets. The +2 Shadow Disciplines, life and poison resistance is nice too. This is a heavy armour though, so it will slow down your run/walk speed.
Getting good claws - both as a base type for Chaos and for the primary claw - is possibly more difficult than getting the runes for this build. For what mods to look for and where to get them, have a read of Shuko-Jutsu - The Art Of The Claw by maxicek.
The Ama-Sin (Bow Assassin) by BigChief
Using the Guided Arrow skill from Widowmaker with Venom gives a long range secondary attack. Personally I am not 100% convinced that a pure trapper is not a stronger option. In my opinion this approach give two weaker long range attacks and leaves the problem of strong close range attackers like Smiters unsolved. I have seen the build played well in SP PvP though.
A few additional comments:
- You will need to use burst of speed to hit the fastest attack speed with the bow.
- The author of the guide does not mention faster cast rate, you still want to get 65FCR as discussed in the trapper guide above.
High Budget Builds
When it comes to Assassins, by high budget we are talking about Enigma, Chaos, Call to Arms and a nice set of charms. The claws are very rare and very seldom come up for trade - anyone that has spent the hours shopping to find a +2 Assassin, +3LS claw is unlikely to part with it.
PvP WW Ghost Guide by TienJe
The Ghost Assassin has a high level fade for resistances and damage reduction and venom & mind blast with the Whirlwind skill from 'Chaos' runeword to lock down and kill opponents. A great guide with huge amounts of detail. If you are considering trying a build based on this guide without Enigma - Don't.
PvP Trapper Guide by TienJe
If you have been through the guide above, this guide will lay out the details of a high budget pure trapper guide for you.
PvP Kicksin Guide by wizAdept
Kickers are not the easiest build PvP, but if you want to try it, this is probably the best guide. Once more, don't try it without Enigma though.
PvP WW Trap Hybrid by Happy_Assassin
This build can be made without Enigma as discussed above, but having the ability to teleport opens up a whole new dimension to the gameplay.
[FONT="] 3.3. Barbarian[/FONT]
Whilst barbarians are very viable for PvP I just didn’t feel that I could write a guide that would be useful for people without just regurgitating all the existing guides to them, and without also aiming it towards a battle.net audience. A BvC also needs some very expensive items to really shine. Teleport amulets can replace Enigma to some extent, but the weapons and charms can also be hard to acquire. Here are a couple of PvP guides that you might find useful though. They also go into far more detail than would be possible here.
http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=666078
http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=260648
[FONT="] 3.4. Druid[/FONT]
[FONT="]3.4.1. Fury/Rabies[/FONT]
I. Introduction
If you have a love for shape shifting characters, this is perhaps the most formidable option. A Fury/Rabies wolf brings to the table an enormous amount of hit points, superb FHR, and the power that comes with utilizing dual attacks.
II. Stats
Strength- Just enough to equip your end game gear.
Dexterity- Enough for max block. (With no block, you leave yourself too vulnerable to a large chunk of the duelling population. If you’re certain you’ll only be fighting casters and won’t need block, then feel free to forsake it.)
Vitality- All the spare stat points should be placed in this area.
Energy- Zip. Zero. Nada.
III. Skills
1 Werewolf (if you level your character into the mid 90’s, additional points should be spent here)
20 Lycanthropy
20 Rabies
20 Poison Creeper
20 Fury
20 Oak (this gets maxed last)
1 Raven
1 Spirit Wolf
1 Feral Rage
IV. Formulas
Faster Hit Recovery Breakpoints
%FHR Needed/Frames
20% 5
42% 4
86% 3
To deal damage ourselves, we must make sure we are recovering from our opponents attacks as quickly as possible. This isn’t as hard as it sounds as werewolves have the best faster hit recovery in the game. Make sure you are hitting the 4 frame breakpoint with at least 42% FHR.
V. Gear Selection
HELMS
Jalal’s Mane- This helm has +skills, +resists, +strength, an attack rating boost, and 30% FHR. Socket it with a Shael for an immediate 4 frame FHR. If you can reach the breakpoint without the Shael, consider a Perfect Ruby or an added life boost.
Cerebus’ Bite- Comparable +skills, a nice attack rating boost, and a very nice 33% open wounds mod. If you can make up the FHR and resists you’ll lose from Jalal’s, then this is a nice alternative helm.
Rare Circlet- Look for +Druid skills, FRW, and resists. This helm can be useful against teleporters.
WEAPONS (1 HAND)
“Grief” Phase Blade- My personal favourite. Insane damage and good speed.
Death Cleaver s/ Shael- If you can’t net a “Grief” then this is a nice unique option.
“Oath” Scourge- Nice speed and damage, but the first options are superior.
Ethereal Baranar’s Star s/ Shael- Great AR boost, +stats, some decent elemental damage, and 5 frame Fury, what more could you want? You can use a non-ethereal one if you don’t like replacing your primary weapon that will lose durability as you duel, just remember to socket it with a Shael to hit that breakpoint. The physical damage difference between the regular and the ethereal is 129-159 and 192-237 respectively.
WEAPONS (2 HAND)
Tomb Reaver- Socket it with 2 IAS jewels and an Eth rune or Ruby jewel. It gives a pocket full of resists and is range 4 and incredibly fast.
ARMOUR
“Fortitude” Light Armour- This will increase your damage considerably and supplies you with a good chunk of resists.
“Enigma” Light Armour- Skills, strength, and most importantly, FRW. If you have one, it has a place in your arsenal.
“Duress” Light Armour- Decent resists, 40% FHR, 15% crushing blow, and a juicy 33% chance of open wounds.
BELTS
Verdungo’s Hearty Cord- 10-15% PDR, minor FHR, and a good life boost. The perfect belt.
Rare/crafted belt- Something with +life, resists, +stats, (OW if crafted), and FHR.
GLOVES
Dracul’s Grasp- 5% ctc Life Tap can make or break a duel, so I definitely advocate their use.
Trang Oul’s Claws- 25% Poison skill damage to increase your Rabies, a great set of cheap gloves.
Bloodfist- 30% FHR and +life make these normal gloves good enough for end game.
Cleglaw’s Claws- These are good if you’re having trouble with Smiters though they are considered fairly BM. Ask opponent before using them.
BOOTS
Gore Riders- The only pair of boots in the game with deadly strike, open wounds, and crushing blow mods. Tie all that to the 30% FRW they offer and you are looking at some darn nice boots.
SHIELDS
Stormshield- This is about the only shield I recommend. It has a much needed 35% PDR and great block rate. Get it. You can Shael it to hit the next blocking recovery breakpoint.
RINGS
Ravenfrost- Cold absorb, 15-20 dexterity, and a nice AR boost. What’s not to love? Use at least one.
Rare/crafted ring- Something with +life, +resists, and +stats. If you can’t get a good one, use another Ravenfrost.
AMULETS
Highlord’s Wrath- +1 skill, some lightning resist, and scaling deadly strike. This will help your effective Fury damage.
Cat’s Eye- +25 dexterity and 30% FRW. If you are finding yourself running too slow in certain match-ups, one of these might be the answer.
CHARMS
FRW charms- These cannot be neglected as you rely on quick foot speed to catch characters to deliver damage. They are much less important against melee characters, but keystone to successful caster killing.
+1 Shapeshifting (Spiritual) Skill Grand Charms- They will boost your AR, your life, your Fury damage, and your Rabies damage. Get some.
Steel Grand Charms- If your Attack Rating is poor, a few of these might be the answer.
Small charms- Look for mods like +life, +AR, and +resists. Maybe a FHR or two will be needed to hit a desired breakpoint.
WEAPON SWITCH
Death’s Web or x6 Poison Facet Phaser, and x4 Poison Facet Monarch should be your end game aspiration. A Demonlimb to prebuff with Enchant and a “Call to Arms” should have a home in your stash as well.
VI. General Knowledge & Strategy
- After you have infected someone with Rabies with your main gear, if you hit the ‘w’ key, the added %enh poison damage and -ePR of your weapon switch will be taken into account and will hurt your infected opponent more. You only need to weapon switch for a moment before returning to your main gear to finish the rest of the duel. I highly recommend doing this. Here is a wonderful thread describing how Rabies works:
- For duelling melee opponents, make sure you have close to 50% PDR (and with Stormshield and Verdungos/SoE, you should), a decent attack rating (with Steel Grand Charms and, if allowed, a Demon Limb prebuff) and your 75% block. Walk, rather than run, whenever possible and pick and choose the best angles of attack. Smiters are terribly hard on werewolves and certain whirlwind barbs can be as well.
- For duelling caster opponents, make sure you have an appropriate amount of resists in the right element(s) and a good deal of FRW. If you can’t catch them, you can’t kill them. A 2-hand weapon for better range is also advisable.
- Use Trang-Oul’s gloves against quick teleporters because a hard-hitting Rabies bite is more important than a potential Life Tap cast because you won’t be able to hit them often.
- Here’s a link to PvP wereform basics that every Fury/Rabies player should know. Familiarize yourself with the range of your weapon and shift clicking Fury:
- You’re bound to the ground and your opponent knows this. But just because you cannot teleport, don’t think that you can’t still surprise your opponent. Pile on the FRW, zigzag, change your run patterns, and do whatever it takes to keep them guessing. Running at them in a straight line (repeatedly) usually doesn’t bode well for you.
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/8462/pvpwolf1.jpg
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/6219/pvpwolf2.jpg
·This often works because I feel most players are caught offguard and don't have the reflexes to muster an attack in the time it takes two characters to pass one another going in opposite directions (and as a werewolf, you'll usually have a better-than-average FRW). Also, while your opponents are running, their defence means nothing and their block is reduced, leaving them more vulnerable to your AR-based attacks.
- Unlike other poison damage sources, Rabies kills. Most opponents know this (and if they don’t, it usually doesn’t take too long to figure out after a couple of duels where it’s used), so unless they’re outfitted with max poison resist and PLR gear, opponents—casters in particular—generally play pretty defensively (at least before they are poisoned).
VII. Conclusion
Why should you use this build over another?
I would never go as far as to say it was overpowered, but a Fury/Rabies wolf is very competitive, and with good gear can handle almost any character in 1v1 matchups. This character also shines in free-for-all styled duels in which your Rabies is transferred from player to player even after your death. To top it all off, this character comes with a surplus of style points for anyone brave enough to take up the pelt and howl at the moon.
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