Zelaron Gaming Forum  
Stats Arcade Portal Forum FAQ Members List Social Groups Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
Go Back   Zelaron Gaming Forum > Zelaron Gaming > Diablo III > Diablo I & II

 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes

 
D2 vs LoD Javazon...
Reply
Posted 2002-08-17, 01:13 PM
Introduction

This guide is aimed at explaining differences between regular d2 and expansion Javazons. It will contain useful information for both kinds of characters, leaning towards Expansion characters.

At the time the expansion was released, my Javazon was a level 46 single player character slowly drilling through hell difficulty. I am not a PvP character. Under the expansion, I suddenly found myself unable to even kill a group of fallen in Hell Act 1. At this point I put my Javazon aside and started several other expansion characters. About a month later I came back and very slowly regained my confidence. Here is what I have learned.

Stats:

Both pre and post expansion javazons will need very similar stats. The highest-level javelins require high strength and very high dexterity. They also require lots of energy. One problem I faced with most of the characters I converted from pre to post expansion was a lack of dexterity, and a severely lowered blocking percentage as a result. I had to shelf several characters because of this, however the Javazon is salvageable. Here is a break down of what you need to know about your attributes.

Strength: Decide on the highest-level javelin you are interested in using and stop there. In my case, I aimed for the Balrog Spear (elite short spear), since it has the highest damage, if you consider thrown and melee, of all javelins. Your armor class is irrelevant, don't worry about ornate. By the time you acquire the 100+ strength needed for the elite javelins, you will also be able to wear nearly any armor you could want. The Hyperion Javelin is a very good bet as well, since it combines very fast attack speed (-10) with good damage and reasonable requirements (98 str, 123 dex). Previously, you only needed 75 strength in order to use a tower shield, so your converted character's strength may be lacking.

Dexterity: Probably the most important stat for a Javazon, you will want, and need, to invest heavily in dexterity in order to use the higher level javelins. In pre-expansion, it felt like dexterity points were largely wasted. Javelin skills don't use your attack rating, and a Javazon is protected much more by her passive abilities and shield than meager armor class can provide. However, as the most defensive character style in the game, you will need dexterity more than ever now, and all those "wasted" points might be enough to boost even a lower blocking shield up to the 75% max. This should be your final goal.

Vitality: At lower levels this stat is the least important as you need to develop enough strength and dexterity to use better equipment, and enough energy to use your expensive javelin skills repeatedly. However, once a modest amount of energy is available, you will want to invest heavily into your vitality in order to further increase your tanking abilities. This attribute remains equally important in pre and post expansion characters.

Energy: At mid levels once you begin to use your javelins skills you will need a lot of energy. You need far less than pure magic characters, and far more than melee characters. Once you have 200-300 mana you will probably be satisfied with needing the occasional mana potion and relying on mana leeching methods for regular use. At that point, further points in energy are less beneficial than adding vitality or dexterity to increase your tanking potential. In the expansion, you may find you need slightly less mana since plague javelin has such a long casting delay, but in general it remains fairly the same in terms of importance.

Skills:

Before the expansion, the best weapon in the game was a non-magical harpoon. At 13-35 damage, it was not a practical method to engage targets in melee. With critical strike, crushing blow, and the rapid attacks of jab, it was possible to bring down most foes, but it still required an amazing number of hits to do it. Before the expansion, I'd guess it was more popular to use a Valkyrie. The Valk's hits would probably outshine yours, and with the Valk taking hits, you had more time and space to use your ranged javelin skills to bring down foes.

Now, the one handed javelin is a much more deadly toy. My Javazon uses a rare hyperion javelin doing a base of 36-110 damage. The method of jabbing and using critical strike and crushing blow is still effective, and works considerably better now. In addition, the fend skill, which cannot be interrupted, has come to the fore as very attractive; it attacks all adjacent targets, and adds a damage bonus comparable to a barbarian skill.

I would consider there to be 2 main forms of skill distribution for post-expansion Javazons. You can go for the Valkyrie form and rely almost exclusively on ranged attacks and javelins skills, or you can develop the melee form and wade through groups using combinations of jab and fend while showing off your impressive tanking abilities.

Below is a more detailed explanation of individual skills and how they can contribute to your Javazon.

Bow Tree

Nothing here, obviously.

Passive Magic Tree

Critical Strike: Useful for nearly every amazon, the Javazon is not an exception. Javelins aren't particularly powerful melee weapons, and this is one of the few ways to increase your damage potential with them. I suggest 6-9 ranks with this skill to get 50%+ chance, depending on your equipment.

Inner Sight: Before you place any points here, you must decide if you are going to play a Javazon with strong melee abilities or go for a Valkyrie to help you use your javelin skills. I chose to play the melee form, and did not use any of the skills on this branch. If you want the Valk, put 1 point here.

Dodge: Javazons are the most defensively capable characters in the game, and this skill is a big part of it. If you are going for the melee form, this skill will be a bit more important, but no matter what, you are going to want to have several points here to increase your survival chances. I recommend at least 6 points in dodge.

Slow Missile: Same deal as with inner sight, you'll need 1 point here if you choose the Valk route.

Avoid: There are only a few sections of the game where missile attacks pose a real threat to you, and your shield, resistance and careful tactical positioning should provide sufficient protection. I recommend 1 point in avoid.

Penetrate: This skill is slightly useful. If you are going the melee form, you would be better served with points in fend, as they will increase your attack rating the same amount AND raise your damage. If you aren't going for fend, then you will need a few points in this skill to get enough attack rating to hit anything regularly. I recommend 1-5 points in penetrate.

Decoy: Same deal as inner sight, you'll need 1 point here if you choose the Valk route.

Evade: Even if you choose the melee form, you'll still be running around a lot to use your javelin skills. Although evade lock is a minor problem, the extra protection from this skill is worth it. I recommend a similar rank to your dodge skill, probably around 6 points.

Valkyrie: If you chose not to develop your melee skills beyond level 1 jab, you can spare the points for Valkyrie instead. The valk isn't quite as critical for you as for a bowazon, but it can keep enemies off your back while your javelin skills, particularly plague javelin, and break down your foes. My Javazon did not use the Valkyrie branch at all, so I'm not sure how many points you'd want here.

Pierce: Your most important skill for dealing with groups, your all around best friend. With this, you can deal thousands of damage at once with only 2-3 javelins. At higher levels, your killing power is a direct reflection of your pierce skill rather than your actual javelin skills. I eventually recommend 10+ points in pierce.

Spear and Javelin Skills

Jab: The increased attack speed from this skill cannot be understated. In a one on one battle, always use jab. The faster you attack, the more often you will hit, the more often you will score critical strikes, and the more often you will land a crushing blow or other percentage skill affix. You can deal staggering damage in a short time using only level 1 jab. Even with a mid level fend damage bonus, you will be attacking much slower, and when there is only one target, you'll find jab does more damage per unit of time. The damage modifiers for jab are insignificant and not worth the skill points, so despite its amazing usefulness, you'll only ever need 1 point here.

Power Strike: Avoid this branch totally. Maybe for a pure spearazon, but you will have much better results from jab and your ranged javelin skills.

Poison Javelin: Just consider this skill a tease for what plague javelin will be able to do. You'll need 1 point in poison javelin for requirements.

Impale: You might use this skill on occasion against lightning enchanted critters, but in general you only need it as a requirement for fend if you are choosing the melee form. Only 1 point is needed.

Lightning Bolt: Not to be confused with the sorceress spell of the same name, this skill can help your ranged javelins inflict more impressive damage through the early parts of the game, and you need it for lightning fury. As usual, 1 point is enough.

Charge Strike: See power strike. Avoid this like a bad rash.

Plague Javelin: This is your big hitter. Numbers are deceptive, and nowhere does it mention the insane area of this skill. A single javelin piercing several targets can blanket an area several screens across with enough poison gas to deal nearly a thousand damage in under 10 seconds. You will almost always launch at least one of these into a pack of monsters as a welcome wagon, to the point where it becomes second nature. In general, use this skill a few times to soften up targets, then either knock them down with lightning fury, or close and use fend to rip through the plague-weakened group in seconds. In the mean time, get used to doing a lot of running in circles to keep re-poisoning the packs of monsters unless you have a valkyrie to do it for you. I recommend 20 points, and more if possible from equipment!

Note that I play mostly single-player; the damage from Plague Javelin might not be enough for you in bigger games.

Fend: If you plan on engaging monsters directly, you will find this skill of great use. When faced by more than one monster, use this skill to even the odds quickly. It switches between targets VERY quickly, can't be interrupted, and inflicts lots of extra damage. There is a small delay between each fend strike, and if you are only facing one target, use jab instead. You will attack much faster and deal damage to a single target more quickly with jab than with fend, despite the damage bonus. Any other time, fend is a better choice, especially for monsters softened by your plague javelins or lightning furies. I recommend as many points as you can spare, probably 8-10.

Lightning Strike: Another non-javazon skill. See power strike.

Lightning Fury: Some players consider this skill more powerful than plague javelin but I disagree. At higher ends of the game, lightning resistance and immunity are more common than poison resistance. As well, plague javelins can deal their damage several times over before the cloud dissipates, whereas lightning fury does so once and is gone. Still, pierce works sickeningly well with lightning fury. With 100% pierce, you could almost square the damage of your lightning fury if the monsters were well placed. Unfortunately you'll probably never have that degree of piercing, but it's a very effective combination. I prefer to use plague javelin as an initial softener, and then following up with lightning fury during the casting delay for plague javelins. This is your second staple skill, and should eventually be maxed.

Equipment

In 1.09 you can gamble unique items, but it's almost impossible. You'll need to find them, or trade for them if you are online. However you can do without most of the dream equipment, there are only a few items you'll need critically in the expansion.

Weapon: In the expansion, you can refill stacks. You'll only ever need 1 or at most 2 stacks of javelins, and just keep reusing them. In general, the most useful affixes are for damage. Somewhat useful are larger stack sizes or self-replenishing. If you can find one that does skills on attack you'd be a very lucky Javazon indeed. Imagine a javelin piercing through your foes, releasing plague javelins AND blizzards. I have yet to find any skill on attack javelins.

Armor: You don't need armor for the AC, aim for affixes that boost your resistance or other stats. I got lucky and found some socketed mage plate with a jewel that boosts my attack speed by 15%. In pre-expansion, the unique Twitchtroe was quite desirable to raise your chance at blocking. It is still a decent item, but with dex boosting your blocking anyway, you probably don't need it.

Helmet: Same as armor. No particular modifiers, but resistance and life boosters are nice.

Shield: You'll need 2 shields, a high blocking shield, preferably Sigon's guard, and a resistance shield for other parts of the game. You can go for the 3DT shield, or as an alternative use a RalOrtTal shield. The resistance are almost as good, and you'll get some AC, and the damage to mana conversion can help keep your globe a happy size. Your shield needs are roughly the same as in pre expansion.

Belt: You can get a Nightsmoke belt to keep your mana globe full, but if mana is not a problem, go for a belt that raises life and resistance. In my case, I got a fairly basic belt that gives +100 life. The dream item would probably the unique exceptional belt with 50% piercing attack on it, but don't hold your breath.

Rings and Amulets: You'll probably want one mana-stealing accessory especially if you don't have a Nightsmoke belt. Other than that, boosts to mana and life are great. A prismatic amulet will help you through certain sections of the game as well.

Charms: Take whatever you can get. Charms adding elemental damage to attacks are beneficial as are ones that modify life, mana and armor class. I leaned heavily on the life boosting charms.

Specific Strategies:

Groups of Monsters: As mentioned before, you have 2 big hitters on your side against groups. Start with a plague javelin, then follow it up immediately with 1-3 lightning furies. You need to use the furies, because in post-expansion, you can only launch a plague javelin every 4 seconds. If you are still feeling surrounded, launch one more plague javelin. Once the number of creatures looks a little more reasonable, close and engage with jab. If confronted by 2 or more monsters at once, use Fend if you have it. Be prepared to do some constructive retreating while your foes suck back a lungful of the plague javelins.

Before the expansion, you had to cast many more plague javelins since they did lower damage, and many more lightning furies because the secondary bolts did so little damage. You can now be more conservative with your mana use.

An interesting note about the Javazon, in many cases, the LARGER the group attacking you, the more effective you become. Your large area effects hit more targets, pierce more times and clear the area more rapidly. At some points, I would walk around attracting HUGE groups of monsters to follow me before turning around and devastating them with piercing lightning furies. This is slightly more dangerous in the expansion, but in some areas can be quite successful.

Bosses: Your tanking abilities really shine here. You can simply stand toe to toe with most bosses and jab away. If you get hurt bad, quaff a heal and run around a bit while using plague javelins. In the expansion, Diablo was beefed up noticeably, and it is no longer quite as viable to tank through all his attacks. Previously, it was possible with maximum lightning resistance and evade to literally ignore Diablo's LOBD. No longer the case!

Lightning Enchanted Critters: These guys will mostly ignore your lightning furies, and you don't want to be whacking them like crazy with jab or you will die from all the bolts. In most cases, you will have to settle for tossing a plague javelin at every turn and leading them on a nice tour. If the hero doesn't have any physical resistance, you can also throw your javelins directly at them. Don't run out of ammo or your stack will vanish. Depending on how nasty they are, you might also want to give impale a try to minimize the number of bolts.

Conclusion:

The Javazon was improved in most ways in the expansion, and because of a natural tendency to have high dex, they remain effective characters if converted to the expansion. Still, there are many monsters with poison and/or lightning immunity that will pose a problem. If you are fortunate, you will always have one avenue of attacks open to you since few monsters resist physical, poison AND lightning. Heaven help you when you find them!

I'm not sure if any character could stand up to a Physical Immune, Magic Resistant, Lightning Enchanted, Undead hero. But they are out thereĀ… I fought three of them today. My only advice in those kind of locations in Hell Difficulty, bring a friend. My characters are generally single player, but some areas are much more feasible with the assistance of others. Don't hesitate to log onto Battle.net to get you through one or two check points.

I hope this guide rekindles some faith in the flagging reputation of Amazons, and maybe encourages a few people to try a very interesting character type.
Old
Profile PM WWW Search
tacoX is neither ape nor machine; has so far settled for the in-betweentacoX is neither ape nor machine; has so far settled for the in-between
 
 
tacoX
 
 

Bookmarks

« Previous Thread | Next Thread »

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules [Forum Rules]
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:40 AM.
'Synthesis 2' vBulletin 3.x styles and 'x79' derivative
by WetWired the Unbound and Chruser
Copyright ©2002-2008 zelaron.com
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
This site is best seen with your eyes open.