The PvP Thread

[ffs]

Nice games yesterday. Really starting to like Liberator.

Btw @Delsy regarding vita Necro vs physical damage dealers, while I never actually played with it, at some point I've been meaning to try a block setup that is kept in his stash. Just for use against phyiscal attacks that can be blocked. Things like Charge/Liberator, Barb, Ghost, Bowazon...

Swaps in case of my Necro:

Spoiler

CoA => 2/20 FCR/dex rare circlet (Shael)
Rings => 2x FCR/dex
Amulet => +2 rare with FCR, resists, high dex
Boots => Shadow Dancer
Shield => Stormshield (Eld)
Charms => 3x FHR/mana GCs to maintain 86 FHR

It gives me 50% block at the expense of ~10% both life and damage in comparison to my CoA setup. Like I said I never put this to use so far, but on paper these tradeoffs seem worth it to get 50% in matchups where it can help a lot, without the heavy dex investment for a max block build that's useless against casters.

 

[ffs]

Games tomorrow?

I actually have a new character I'm eager to try, will be an interesting surprise I think. Very weird build but I can see it being really fun and even perform decently.

@Delsy @Miron and also @maxicek @frozzzen @Gripphon etc., come on guys summer is over!

 

[Delsy]

@ffs I can play today, usual time.

 

[Delsy]

E: Down

 

[ffs]

Awesome games against @Delsy's Necro with my surprise build - a Murderdin. That's a multi-hybrid Paladin using 4 different attacks: Bow, Hammers, Charge and Smite.

Based on just this one session, I gotta say it's perhaps the most fun character I've played in PvP, and very capable of collecting ears, too! I started to record yesterday's duels after a while, here's a vid from my perspective:

Idea of the build is to make it difficult for opponents to deal with all of his options. GA from Widowmaker deals high damage (more than my Bowazon!) and has OW and knockback, max/synergized Hammer and Grief Charge/Smite. Basically, he has serious threats at every range. Opponents can't jump him without risking death by hammers (as opposed to a Bowazon), he can outrange or at least match range with GA. When on the same screen he can charge up instantly, and there may always be random hammerfields lingering around somewhere...

The matchup against OP Necro is a nice example of why having 4 mediocre attacks rather than 1-2 super strong attacks is indeed effective. Hammerdins struggle vs Necro, he can beat them from a distance. Chargers & Smiters too, Necro can keep his distance and just spam, they need to get close and bone trains are a big threat. Bowazon doesn't have that range issue per se, but Necro can jump her and give her a hard time. But none of this applies to this weird build combining all those attacks.

Build details below:

Spoiler

I stumbled upon this archetype 3-4 months ago, when looking for "fun but still good" builds apart from traditional the PvP landscape. It seemed awesome, but I didn't have high hopes of building it in SP initially. He uses Fortitude and needs to squeeze in a lot of key breakpoints, stats and attributes. Bnet versions of this build usually use CoA, but on an Enigma-less max block character, that's a little too much of a life loss without anni/torch. But this last week I spent some time theorycrafting various setups and figured that it could work well enough after all.

Build: Simple, max hammer + synergies, max conc, rest fana (17 in my case), 1pt holy shield, salvation, pre-reqs.

Standard setup:

• Shako, socketing depending on matchup: Cham, Ber, Um, PRuby are stashed
• Fortitude (key item for both ED and FCR, other great stats)
• Switch 1: Widowmaker Um
• Switch 2: Grief PB + Spirit ST
• Highlord's Wrath
• Craft knockback gloves 20 IAS, KB, 21 FR, 27 CR
• Gore Rider
• Arach
• BKWB + Raven (swap options: 2nd BKWB, Wisp, Dwarf)

Inventory: 2x OA life skillers, cube with CtA, Mara, BKWB and swap rings for DR setup, rest mostly plain 20 life SCs in my case -- these should actually be Steel/Fine SCs but I'm too lazy to swap them around characters.

He's normally some ~30 resist short of maxing them out for a particular damage type, so I keep life/res GCs in stash and swap them in as needed.

33% DR setup same as above exept:

• Shako Ber
• Verdungo's
• 2x FCR rings with stats/res/life

I considered using Shaftstop to max DR, but Fortitude is just too good to drop and 33% should be plenty given max block and Hammers are a huge deterrent for most phyiscal damage dealers to get close to you.

Key stats, ranges depending on exact gear in use:

• 3.6-3.8 life
• 75 FCR
• max block
• Max resist options with 1-2 swaps (25-75 by default)
• 40% Open Wounds with Widowmaker
• 71% (Grief) or 83% (Widowmaker) deadly strike
• 6.5-7.5 hammer damage (~1.2k PvP)
• 2.2-2.4 max GA damage (~400 PvP)
• 2.2-2.4 avg Charge damage (PvP)
• 850-900 avg Smite damage (PvP)

 

[ffs]

Games later today?

I was also wondering if there's any interest in LLD? I wouldn't be going crazy but I'd make some 2-3 chars to have some fun with.

 

[Delsy]

I'm tired today.

I don't mind lvl 30. I should have most of the items, only thing left is to make a char. AFAIK we agreed on normal rush for lvl 30.

 

[ffs]

Same here, I'd have to create and level characters as well but I should have some basic LLD lying around.

I'll try to build 2-3 characters, I should find the time to make at least one by next weekend.

 

[ffs]

How are things looking this weekend? For me:

Today/Friday: Dinner plans, but should all be civilized and mild-mannered I should be able to play around 9-9:30 CET.
Saturday 50/50
Sunday yes

Would be cool to have some LLD on Sunday. I planned and started to level 2 characters, can be ready for action on Sunday.

 

[Delsy]

Hi @ffs. Sorry to keep you waiting, but I can't play today. Next week probably.

I'd like to try lvl 30 as well. Hopefully I can force myself to make a char until next time. I should have the items necessary to patch up a Necro. Bowazon would require a bunch of 15 Maxers, which I don't think I have. Please let me know how your chars are looking and whether you have all the items etc.

 

[ffs]

All good, gives me more time to work on characters I'll post some more details maybe later this week when I have a couple more characters geared up and ready to go.

Here's the current status:

Liberator

Spoiler

PCrown (PSapphire)
Viper (PSapphire)
Honor Divine Scepter (+2 Vigor, +2 Meditation)
Spirit Crown Shield (62 ED, 116 AR base)
SoE
2x SoJ
Sander's boots
Frostburn
Rare amulet +2 Combat, 10 FCR, 6@, 12 AR

Pretty much all set and ready.

I have a couple of 2/20 or 1/20 circlet options but nothing jaw dropping, PCrown is good I think.

Divine Scepter with + Hammer/Conc would be nice, but I like those staffmods too. Both Meditiation (assuming we allow it) and Vigor save a lot of skill points, and no need for Tearhaunch as another Vigor source.

Bowazon

Spoiler

+1 Amazon/30 FRW/2os circlet, two jewels give 39 ED, 8 dex, 30 FR, 7 life
upgraded Rogue's Bow (Nef)
Rare amulet +2 P&M, 12 life, 25 mana, 12 all res
Artisan's MP 50 life with 3x plain 15 max jewels (saving better ones for a higher life base, hopefully)
Death's gloves
Death's belt
2x simiilar rare rings with 8/9 str, 45/90 mana, some minimum damage, resists and AR
Sander's boots
Switch weapon: Crap rare maiden javelin +1 Jav, replenish, some ED
Switch shield: Rare kite shield with deflecting mod and 2os (2x ED jewels with some dex)

Inventory: 6x Sharp GCs with life or FRW, rest mix of life/resist, fine/life, fine/FRW.

I decided to make her when the circlet got 2os from Larzuk yesterday, that was a good starting point but there's still a to do list here:

- hopefully shop better armor so that I can dump my best dmg jewels in there and be done with it
- craft more useful amulet (hopefully some decent FRW/blood craft)
- craft IAS knockback gloves for SoE setup (with Shael'ed Rogue's bow)
- find an actual switch weapon rather than a placeholder maiden javelin...

Necro

Spoiler

Rare circlet +1 Necro, 20 FCR, 30 FRW, 44 life (PSkull)
Viper (PSkull)
Rare amulet +2 P&B, repl life +8, 17 cold res, 18 energy
Spirit CS
Rhyme in +3 Bone Spirit head & Bone Shield (for max block)
Frostburn
SoE vs physical, otherwise rare belt 53 life, 17 FHR, 5 Str, triple-res (15 CR, 23 LR, 15 PR)
2x SoJ
Sanders

Similar to Paladin, pretty much set and ready. I'll keep an eye out for multi-staffmod necro shields for Rhyme and magic/rare shields and also wands, but something that can make me drop Spirit will be difficult to find...

Should be fine starting out with this trio, seems Liberator and Bowazon are top tier and I understand Necro is at least solid. I'll probably add an FB Sorc in the upcoming days, I need to speed-farm a couple of Larzuk quests anyway.

 

[Pyrohemia]

I have some LLD chars if I come across a game up.

 

[ffs]

Nice @Pyrohemia! Hopefully the connection won't be as much of an issue for LLD.

@Delsy (and anyone else) if you're up for it, we could do Saturday/Sunday evening (Europe). That could work for Pyro as well.

 

[ffs]

So, LLD games this weekend? @Delsy @Pyrohemia how are things looking on your end?

 

[Delsy]

I can play today, usual time.

 

[ffs]

Nice, I can play in 45-60 min from this post.

 

[Delsy]

E: down

 

[ffs]

Thanks for the games yesterday @Delsy @Pyrohemia, awesome stuff.

If you guys have time let's go for another round today.

@Delsy btw here's a video showing the tele-WW tech with Barb. Basically dual wield side always has WW on RMB. On staff side it's a two button combo, teleport + throw/unsummon/whatever. I use unsummon but doesn't matter ofc. The trick is that after hitting teleport you immediately press unsummon again, and then spam weapon swap (I have it on two hotkeys next to each other). That way the Barb will switch weapons and WW instantly upon landing.

So basically RMB is held down for this whole sequence: (1) namelock with unsummon/other (2) teleport + immediately back to unsummon (3) spam weapon swap. Sounds simple enough but I still managed to screw it up often. Can also be done started with standard attack on LMB, good for grabbing NL while WWing. The guy in the vid above also WWs on LMB, but I find it easier on RMB.

 

[Delsy]

I can play today at usual time.

 

[Delsy]

E: Down