Need advice: Poison/LF Javazon

[smloeffelholz]

I found a 195/9 Titan's Revenge a while ago, and I am finally getting around to making a javazon. Since I don't have an infinity polearm, I always try to make my builds at least dual element. I have never tried the poison/LF combo before, but it seems viable. Still, I am looking for some advice on the build, so here is my plan.

20 points each into:
Poison Javelin
Plague Javelin
Lightning fury
Valkyrie

1 point into prereqs, Jab, Critical Strike, Penetrate, and Pierce.
The rest of my points will probably go into Decoy to boost the Valkyrie.

Stats:
Strength - enough for gear
Dex - considering enough for max block, but I don't have the best shield for this, advice appreciated
Vit - as many points as I can spare
Energy - base

Equipment:
This is where I am looking for the most advice, because I don't have all of the items that I would like.

Helm: Shako - always a good base, and boosted skills/mana/life is helpful
Amulet: Maras - skills and resists to help survivability, also considered Highlord's Wrath for IAS
Weapon: Titan's Revenge - pretty cookie cutter
Shield: Not sure, perhaps Spirit for skills/resists, I don't have a Stormshield so that option is out
Armor: This is where I am really lost, perhaps upped Vipermagi. I considered Peace runeword, but I don't want a lvl 15 Valk to proc over my lvl 30.
Belt: Razortail - It seems like 100% pierce should be a goal for this build
Gloves: Trang's gloves to boost poison damage? I also have rare 20% IAS +1 Jav with other mods and blue +3 Jav gloves
Boots: War Trav for solid boosts and MF or Silkweave if mana becomes an issue too often
Rings: 1x SoJ, then Raven Frost of AR/CBF or rare AR/leech ring

I planned to pump the poison skills first, as resists don't become much of an issue until A4-5 Nightmare. Extra points to get Valkyrie up and running, then max LF before poison immunes become too much of an issue.

Any advice on the build or equipment are appreciated. Even if you suggest equipment I don't have, it should give me an idea of what mods I am looking for. Thanks.

 

[Delsy]

I would put 20 points into Charged Strike, for bosses, smaller monster groups etc. Also, poison skills are a little underwhelming/difficult to play, they need patience.

 

[Maltatai]

Treachery armor? Venom and poison javelins can kill a great deal of creatures with just one cast. I find it hilarious to throw once and retreat to see them sicken to their inevitable green end.* Poison skills are really fun in my opinion, can absolutely recommend them.

*See Episode 32 for those wishing an explanation of the relation between venom and poison/plague javelin:
https://www.purediablo.com/forums/threads/the-misadventures-of-two-untwinked-javazons.847133/page-4

What are your goals with the character? Beat hell untwinked? Magic finding? What mercenary will you use (if any?) and how much do you care about supporting him or her?
Personally I always value survivability and damage reduction a lot because I tend to play underpowered builds and always hardcore. If you play softcore that is obviously not as important, for example. I wrote a longer post about damage reduction and tactics in this thread if you are interested, thinking that javelineers can make great use of that;

https://www.purediablo.com/forums/threads/guardian-askungen-the-green-amazon.867045/

Smoke is a very priceworthy choice of armor, easy to get by gathering io runes from the nightmare countess if nothing else. The weakening charges will benefit the whole party, effectively adding 33% damage reduction unless you are using another curse. The resistances are substantial too.

I would also recommend a more defensive belt like String of Ears or Thundergods Vigor. Among the monsters that will be resistant to both your main attacks are the ever slimy black souls, and since the battle against them will likely be prolonged you will want some damage reduction against their lightning. Speaking of that, a Prudence armor is not too bad either if you find a Mal rune, especially if you use another curse and don't want the weaken charges from Smoke.

Gamble and craft gloves, you can get godly results with a bit of luck. If you want to be on the safer side, slow and knock away enemies with Cleglaws pincers.

Make sure to include some open wounds or prevent monster heal, it is always worth having in hell.

 

[maxicek]

+1 for skipping Valk and going for CS instead.

 

[BKC]

20 cs 20 LF melts through litterally every boss out there combine that with poison javs and you are very versatile in your killing options. Take a merc with some CB and maybe even a reapers and you will start laughing all the way

i would not go max block but then again im a former gauss player (hardcore online) who never went for max block and always for max vita

 

[T72on1]

Another one advocating skipping Valk (but using and putting points into Decoy), going for CS and LF, and going for max vita not max block.

 

[JoeBruce1]

Do you all advocate no valk more to skip dodge/evade/avoid, or because you think those 15-20 skill points are better invested elsewhere? I am making a LF/poison zon too, and I'm still debating if I want to skip the valk or not.

And I agree: Decoy should be used by any and all amazons, barring some weird tourny restrictions.

 

[ioupain]

I went with the following:

JAVELIN + SPEAR SKILLS:
20 Lightning Fury
20 Charged Strike
20 Poison Javelin
20 Plague Javelin
1 Jab
1 Power Strike
1 Lightning Bolt

Sub-Total: 83

BOW + CROSSBOW SKILLS:
0

Sub-Total: 0

PASSIVE + MAGIC SKILLS:
1 Valkyrie
1 Dodge
1 Avoid
1 Evade
1 Inner Sight
1 Critical Strike
1 Slow Missiles
1 Penetrate
1 Decoy
1 Pierce

Sub-Total: 10

---
Grand Total: 93

Level at which build complete: 93 – 11 = 82

 

[crawlingdeadman1]

I made a build that I absolutely loved. My thoughts are here.

 

[smloeffelholz]

What are your goals with the character? Beat hell untwinked? Magic finding? What mercenary will you use (if any?) and how much do you care about supporting him or her?

This character is just for fun and will be played SC. Once she is a higher level, I might respec her to pure lightning so that she can easily run cows. If she is really fun to play, I'll probably just keep her. She will be twinked since I have a few items that I want to try out. I plan to use an A2 merc with Guillams/Reapers/Treachery, probably might aura since there are some poison/light immunes in hell that are going to be awful without the ability to deal physical damage.

After reading the thread, I am convinced that CS is a better use of points than Valk. I still think one point in all passives is a worthy investment, and decoy will get all remaining points.

I will probably have to play around with equipment some, but I did not know about the interaction between venom and poison skills. I want to try Treachery, plus the fade, IAS, and FHR will be really nice. Once my paladin levels up, I will ditch the chaos sanctuary for the blood moors. I will use this thread to give updates on the character's progress.

Last question, what players setting would you recommend for her? I want the game to be challenging, but I don't want every group of enemies to be a 10 min adventure. I also don't like switching character levels to get through areas that are more difficult.

Thanks in advance for all the advice. This community is really great!

 

[T72on1]

Do you all advocate no valk more to skip dodge/evade/avoid, or because you think those 15-20 skill points are better invested elsewhere?

Both.

 

[Zyr]

Hi, I'm John, Javazon Junkie. I currently have 15 Javazon projects active on US East HCNL (and two stacks of rare Maiden Javelins screaming at me to up them to Matriarchal and build a new Javazon around them). WALL O' WORDS WARNING...

I'm a staunch proponent and practitioner of the Killer Valkyrie, and eleven of my Javazons have both Decoy and Valkyrie maxed. But if one is maxing the two Poison skills and one or two Lightning skills, there aren't enough points to do that. I have four Zons with maxed poison skills, and my comments are based on my experiences with them.

The first is Toxic_Shaka, who is shockingly (heh) similar in many respects to @crawlingdeadman's Artemis, with maxed Poison and Plague Javelins, Charged Strike, and Lightning Strike.

I chose "Peace" armor (and "Spirit" shield) for Shaka for the obvious reason that both Poison and Lightning skills ramp up dramatically per level at high levels, so I wanted as many skill boosters as possible, and no other +2 skills armor was available to me. Less obvious, but crucial to me: With only 15 skill points available for summons at her current level 88, I get a hell of a lot more tankage from 14 points in Decoy and 1 in Valk than the other way around, thanks to the fact that hard points in Decoy synergize Valkyrie HP and resists exactly as though they were invested directly in Valkyrie. Points in Valkyrie, on the other hand, do nothing for Decoy. The "Peace" CtC is like 12 bonus skill points. (The Valkyrie thus summoned is dangerously unstable without a hard point in the skill or a "Harmony" bow equipped, so it's necessary to invest in Dodge and Avoid as prerequisites.)

Plague Javelin is plagued (heh) by its four second timer. When I first started using the skill, this was frequently a cause for panic, as I often threw a PlJ in the wrong direction, and was helpless until the timer expired. I eventually (I'm slow) realized that the solution to the problem was to cast Decoy ahead of the character, then throw a Plague Javelin at the Decoy. The Decoy's threat factor of 14 makes it the most effective monster magnet in the game, and pulls ebil critters right into the cloud. I want it to do that job until I'm ready to move on, not because the Decoy timed out or some critter killed it. Fortunately, due to its insane Damage regeneration rate (full HP regenerated in 11 seconds), even Shaka's 14 point investment has proven sufficient for me to be comfortable. She casts Decoy at slvl 28, good for 145 seconds. Coincidentally, she summons her Valkyrie at slvl 15, the same as the "Peace" CtC; the game claims the Valk has 2904 HP.

Praxidice, my level 87 Plague/Fury Zon, also wears "Peace" (and "Spirit"). With maxed PoiJ, PlJ, and LF, she has the points for a maxed Decoy. She summons Decoy at level 30 and Valkyrie at level 11, which the game asserts gives the Valk 3080 HP, even before resummoning from the armor's CtC.

Do you get the impression that I'm rather fond of "Peace" for a Poison/Lightning Zon?

At the same time, I eagerly, enthusiastically, even vehemently agree with everything @Maltatai says about the combination of Poison Javelin with Venom from "Treachery." In fact, I've built three Treacherous Javazons for the specific purpose of exploring and exploiting this combination. The problem I've encountered, and the reason I've made so many tries, is Chance to Hit.

Venom is, as Maltatai noted, only applied when the enemy is HIT BY THE WEAPONS TIP. Sadly, the AR bonus alleged by Poison Javelin's in-game description (and shown in the LCS AR and CtH numbers) does not exist. High Dex (enough for max block with "Rhyme" Heater, ~200 at level 84) and 20 points in Penetrate helped, but my CtH was still disappointingly mediocre with most javelins, including Titans. I finally achieved satisfactory results from rare javelins with the Fool's mod-- specifically this one...

View attachment 9987

...and this one.

View attachment 9986

I actually gave Praxidice her own "Treachery" Dusk Shroud and a stack o' toothpicks with the Fool's mod, for some rather extensive testing. But with only 157 Dex and slvl 9 Penetrate, she wasn't nearly as effective with enVenomed Poison Javelin as Thirda_Fender. And boosting Dex and Penetrate to make Venom/PoiJ work would cripple the build for Plague and the Lightning skills.

If you're still reading, I'm, er, shocked.

 

[ioupain]

@Zyr Good post, I learned something new about Damage Regeneration. I've looked at the Basin Wiki a lot, but didn't happen upon that page before.

 

[maareek]

If you're still reading, I'm, er, shocked.

Yeah, no, trust me, you're good on the walls of text. In general the forum will read posts with twice as many words as this one even without any useful information, I've, uh, done an extensive amount of testing. With as much good knowledge as you've demonstrated here, easily four times as many words won't be a problem - I have no first-hand experience with writing knowledgeable posts, but there are plenty around to use as references. If you include screenshots, which you did!, then at least 8x this amount of words will still be read by the forumgoers.

So basically what I'm saying is: we need more! ;p

 

[ffs]

@maareek what makes you think people read through your posts? Kidding aside, for me it's nice to see you being active by the way: Some of your YT vids got me interested in D2 again some 2 years ago, then I had to make a Pit Zerker, and all of that eventually led to me coming back to the game for good and I was not fooling around since then. That should give you a rough idea of how many wasted hours you're to blame for.

Hope you'll join a few tournaments instead of just spamming the forums with walls of text (or commenting on other's walls of text for that matter)!

 

[Brak]

But with only 157 Dex and slvl 9 Penetrate, she wasn't nearly as effective with enVenomed Poison Javelin as Thirda_Fender. And boosting Dex and Penetrate to make Venom/PoiJ work would cripple the build for Plague and the Lightning skills.

could you not just get a Blessed Aim merc, or a Rogue merc for Inner Sight?

 

[ioupain]

could you not just get a Blessed Aim merc, or a Rogue merc for Inner Sight?

The Blessed Aim merc would negate the points in Penetrate...at that point you may as well respec and try it out?

 

[Burgomaster3]

Last question, what players setting would you recommend for her? I want the game to be challenging, but I don't want every group of enemies to be a 10 min adventure. I also don't like switching character levels to get through areas that are more difficult.

If memory serves me right, Normal and Nightmare should be ease enough on the /players8 with PJ/LF/CS Amazon. Hell is a bit trickier, in that you will slash through everything that is vulnerable to lightning like a butter even on higher player settings, but lightning immunes will take more time due to the way poison works. It still works though, just slower. There are also few dangerous enemies like Gloams, who are immune to both Poison & Lightning. Those you will have to kill with physical damage using Jab etc. which can be slow and dangerous.

My suggestion is to start Hell on players 1, that way you'll ensure you wont hit the brick wall and the game will feel enjoyable. If things seem too easy, you can always raise the setting.

 

[Zyr]

There are also few dangerous enemies like Gloams, who are immune to both Poison & Lightning. Those you will have to kill with physical damage using Jab etc. which can be slow and dangerous.

Not disagreeing about "slow and dangerous" but the "etc." includes Lightning Fury. The LF javelin always hits (though it can be blocked), and, with enough Str to equip a "Spirit" Monarch, Titan's Revenge (especially a nice one like @smloeffelholz's 195/9) delivers quite respectable physical damage. The LF missile also carries all other damage types, including Crushing Blow, Open Wounds, any item-based elemental damage, and all other effects (PMH, HST, HBT, HCMTF, etc.).

It was with this auto-hit property of the LF javelin in mind that I gave my Plague/Striker Toxic_Shaka a single point in the skill and, on weapon switch, a Demon's Arch plus a Tiamat's Rebuke socketed with a Fire Damage jewel. (Gloams and other Willowisps have 0 Fire resistance.) Worked well for me.

 

[maareek]

@maareek what makes you think people read through your posts? Kidding aside, for me it's nice to see you being active by the way: Some of your YT vids got me interested in D2 again some 2 years ago, then I had to make a Pit Zerker, and all of that eventually led to me coming back to the game for good and I was not fooling around since then. That should give you a rough idea of how many wasted hours you're to blame for.

I don't know whether to say "you're welcome" or "I'm sorry."

Hope you'll join a few tournaments instead of just spamming the forums with walls of text (or commenting on other's walls of text for that matter)!

No promises.

Spoiler

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