Fendazon Diablo 2
Popping super-uniques and bosses like party balloons
In this post I follow up my Multiple Shot Bowazon twink with a Jab/Fend Spearazon one. Time-permitting, I may cap off my Amazon write-ups with a Javazon. To be clear, Bowazons are Amazons that fire bows, Javazons are Amazons that hurl javelins, and Spearazons are Amazons that wield spears. These builds constitute the three pillars of the Amazon class.
Looking at the build opportunities and items, it does not look like Spearazons are on par with their Bowazon or Javazon sisters. But I would like to prove myself wrong in this write-up. So let's get to it, shall we?
You will remember that my Bowazon was basically a plaguezon for the first 20 or so levels. This was by virtue of her weapon, armor and helm being socketed with Jewels of Envy (recap pics of bow, armor and helm).
Now, as effective as such twinks are (Godly at First Level), and as tempting as it was to encrust a six-socket pike with six such jewels, I have decided to forgeo the poison route and instead rely, for the most part, on an array of rare, unique and runeworded spears. Same goes for the other items: rather than borrowing my Bowazon's plague-spreading armor and helm, I will instead rely on rare, unique, set and runeworded items. This is obviously not a power-gaming choice. Foregoing 260 poison damage over 2 secs in favor of "whatever mods happen to be on other items stuffed into my stash" is a BIG drop in killspeed during the early stages of Normal mode. But the upside is that I get to experiment with and commentate on a variety of different arms, armor and items as they progressively become available to the build.
So here is our first level scrub of an Amazon.
As you can see I've only twinked her out with a starter-spear. On /players8 we reach sixth level in 10 minutes flat, so we don't need anything else.
By 8th level (post-Den of Evil) the Spearzon is decked out in the following manner: The stock-standard spear is upgraded to the first unique spear that becomes available: Dragon Chang.
Through another character, and thanks to PlugY's shared stash, this unique spear is then Larzuk-socketed and encrusted with a +minimum damage jewel for no other reason than to show how min pushes up the max as well if the min would overtake the max. So, it doesn't just cap to 15 flat damage. Instead:
A cute but ultimately unimportant fact (unless you're an vLLD'er).
With the exception of the shield, all Sigon's Complete Steel set pieces were added at sixth level for their collective bonuses. You can see just how useful such bonuses are in the screencaps. (Each charm in my inventory grants Strength +4 in order to fast-track the Sig set.)
That's a sexy set for level 6, don't you think? Still, we will soon outgrow most of it.
Nagelrings were also added at 7th. Along with the Sig armor set bonus, this gives us retributive attack of 26 total damage. This was explained in the Bowazon write-up, so I won't repeat myself on that point. I will just add that the Coif of Glory unique helm will add 7 more damage to that, but retribution is for amusement and trolling fellow LLDers, not for single-player (well, a necro build could make it work but that's very specific and requires godly jewels).
The Razortine unique trident opens at 12th but despite its +IAS it doesn't give any IAS benefit over Dragon Chang because spears are innately faster weapons than tridents.
Here we clearly see the benefits of adding the Angelic Wings set amulet and accompanying ring. The set bonus has not only given us a hefty life boost but has also more than doubled our attack rating, which allows us to ignore Dexterity for the purposes of hitting the monsters. Such a setup can actually help Hell-based characters due to the level-scaling nature of the bonus on the ring.
Now at 15th level - having summarily impaled Blood Raven, Treehead Woodfist and Griswold - we start to get nasty thanks to a Malice-runeworded Maiden Spear (with +2 skills), the Eye of Etlich amulet, and 2x Manald Heal rings.
Thus, we double our raw damage. We also have 14% life leech, 12% mana leech and +3 spearskills on a 15th level build. But then, just like the Bowazon this Spearazon is non-synergistic in its skillset, so +skills are just a trivial bonus at this point.
In regards to skills, we have pumped only Jab and Critical Strike. Jab's multiple attacks are nowhere near on par with Bowazon Multiple Shot. Plus, it only repeatedly attacks one monster whereas Multiple Shot fires out a fan that hits many monsters. Thus, Spearazons are much harder and much slower builds to play in these early-goings. Due to the comparatively slow killspeed coupled with Jab's propensity to rapidly degrade the weapon, I don't even bother with mooks and lowly mobs. Instead, I only target the big guns such as Champions, Fanatics, Possesseds, Berserkers, Ghostlies and Super Uniques.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but Multiple Shot allowed me to effortlessly wipe out mook-packs, resulting in heightened XP gain without becoming tedious/time-consuming. Even a Barb has early "AoE" potential through Double Swing. This Spearazon doesn't have Jack at this point. Each and every enemy, down to the lowliest mook that isn't even worth the time of day, must be individually squared up on if we want it to die. However, that will change at 24th level with Fend. For a twink, it only takes an hour or so to get there.
Anyway, I quit bitching, push on into and through the monastery to the Inner Cloister, whereupon I hit 16th level for Twitchthroe and the welcome IAS breakpoint it grants me.
You can see I've added a couple of cold charms in order to slow Andy down. Under a relentless, Jab-based assault Andy dropped liked a sack of potatoes to our 16th level Spearazon.
Chillin' in the tavern at the beginning of Act Two.
Ok, so I've just noticed a problem with melee 'zons. When you get mobbed (something that rarely happens with Bowazons and Javazons), Dodge and Avoid auto-animations lock you down to the point that you can't attack and will therefore be killed! Are you kidding me? I immediately respecced and did not reselect those two annoying skills. Problem solved?
No. Because then the problem is that Dodge and Avoid are pre-requisites to the Valkyrie., a very useful summon-tank with staying power. If I can find no way around this problem, I doubt I will even choose the Valkyrie. Especially when they get access to Fend, Spearazons are worthless to me if they can't stand in the middle of a mob without dying.
So yeah, at 24th Fend opens up. Awesome skill that is basically the 'zon's version of Double Swing. She hits whatever is around her very quickly. It's basically a melee AoE that lessens workload.
Fend tactics are: move in, let the mob swarm you and then go crazy on them. Life and mana leech keep us alive and killin'.
25th: Strength-runeworded Maiden Pike. Gives crushing blow against Duriel. Good timing. Jabbed him into submission.
So now Fend is on right-click for mobs and Jab is on left-click for singular toughies.
Fending a hapless mob in Tal Rasha's chamber:
27th: Honor-runeworded Lance. Nice damage but it's a bit slow.
At 29th we deck out for crushing blow. Rattlecage:
It's socketed with this Plague Scarab rare jewel:
Venom Grips replace Sig gloves:
Goblin Toe replace Sig boots:
That's 55% crushing blow from those three items. With our on-switch Strength-runeworded Maiden Pike, that's 80%. Bosses beware.
String of Ears replace the Sig belt:
That's 30% life steal and 10% mana steal. We are doing monster raw damage and flaunt monstrous crushing blow.
We popped Duriel and Meph like party balloons.
As noted by the Bowazon, the 29th level Peace-runeworded Mage Plate is comparatively useless (recap pic). +skills are for synergistic 'zon builds.
Even with minimal fire/lightning resists and only default Vitality, rapid life/mana leeching lets us Jab-tank through Diablo's red lightning hose and firestorm.
And that is awesome.
At 34th Guillaume's Face set winged helm opens up. This gives us +30% FHR and +35% crushing blow, for a total of 100% crushing blow - if we want it. However, I swapped Rattlecage back to Twitchthroe, and swapped Venom Grip and Goblin Toe back to Sigon's Gage and Sigon's Sabot, simply because I value the +IAS and +run/walk more than the crushing blow. This gives me a nice balance between crushing blow, mobility and attack rate.
One level later, Steel Casque comes into play just as it did with my Bowazon (recap pic). It's socketed with a +15 IAS jewel for +25% total. So what's better? Hitting the next IAS breakpoint or +crushing blow and deadly strike, with FHR? It's really six and one half dozen. Either way, the monsters are dropping like flies, so let's just push on. Such considerations are important in Hell, not here.
37th: Introducing the unique yari, Hone Sundan!
And not just any old Hone Sundan, but an ethereal Hone Sundan.
And not just any old ethereal Hone Sundan, but an ethereal Hone Sundan socketed with three IAS jewels. Thus, our killspeed goes through the roof.
(And yes, we've got an uptiered ethereal Hone Sundan ready for Nightmare mode)
Why is an ethereal Hone Sundan ultra-cool? Because its etherealness is offset by auto-repair. Thus, we get the extra damage and lower stat requirements granted by an ethereal weapon, without the downside of it permanently breaking and becoming utterly worthless.
I don't bother with much else. I bee-line to Baal and take him out. Here is our 39th level Spearazon at the end of Normal mode. No need for optimization. 66% chance to hit Baal.
For comparison, here is our obscenely over-leveled Bowazon at the end of Normal mode:
The general gist is that the Spearazon's rapid-hitting Jab is superior to the Bowazon's Magic Arrow/Guided Arrow or Strafe when facing off against super-uniques, ghostlies and bosses, whereas her Fend is far outstripped by Multiple Shot when tackling mobs, unless they are ultra-tough mobs. Bowazons are also able to kill mobs off-screen, and she gets more bang for her buck per click, thanks to the penetration of Pierce. Spearazons do it the hard way. Still, spears and pikes are fun wields that flaunt surprising reach, and there are some excellent uniques and godly runewords to wield in Nightmare and Hell modes, coming up.
The extended reach of a spear:
Jab/Fend Spearazon: Nightmare mode
For general remarks on Nightmare, please refer to Part III of my Bowazon write-up.
42nd: Lava Gouts + War Traveler.
Damage/AR boost when 10th level Enchant procs, all else being equal:
Not that impressive... but we'll take it.
45th: Raven Frost rings. Not one, but two. Along with the mandatory Cannot be Frozen mod, it's their AR + Dex that's helpful. The only way to top such rings is to get a godly rares going. Probably just one because Cannot be Frozen is so vital to sanity, and is not found on other uniques that are attractive to the build. IOW, to outstrip RF we need a rare ring with +20 Strength, +20 Dex, Life Steal, Max Damage and resists. We have better chances of winning the lottery.
I rerolled 100 times at 6 pskulls per roll. While none of the resultant rings screamed "I'm godly", the potential is blatantly obvious. Which is why when you get a godly roll, it's happy days and you dance around your bedroom like a retard. Examples:
Needs Dex and dual-leech.
Needs more Dex and dual-leech.
6 mods. But gaaawd. I don't want Energy and Mana... no one does.
6 mods. Needs more Dex and dual-leech.
Frickin' worthless Mana. Even Sorcs don't need it.
Now you can see why Raven Frosts are so great. They're infinitely easier to farm than rare rings are to roll. We need a strong argument not to equip two RFs, and we didn't get it here. Thus, I give up.
47th: Gore Riders (pic). It's always a toss-up between these and Wartravs (pic).
49th: Stone runeword in 15% ED, 14% Dura Dusk Shroud. We might as well take advantage of its D, FHR and resists for now, but at 59th we'll upgrade to Fortitude in wire fleece (pic), and at 63rd to Fortitude in Archon Plate (pic) (both borrowed from our Bowazon).
At the start of Act Two I kickstart the Rogue Sister merc with some basics; namely:
Stone in Dusk Shroud.
I misplaced the ethereal Dark Shroud found in the Pit. It was eth-bugged, too. No biggie. She upgrades to eth-bugged Boneweave once she gains the strength.
Vampire Gaze for its 15% DR.
Harmony in Rune Bow. This runeword is chosen for the excellent +run/walk conferred by its 10th level Vigor aura. The tedium of Act Two and Three are too much to bear without it.
50th: Cat's Eye (pic).
So here we can see the difference Fortitude makes to our damage:
Here we are wearing Stone at 63rd level:
And here we are wearing Fortitude at 63rd level, all else being equal:
Huge difference.
Now, +300% damage against demons on top of that from Laying of Hands (doesn't show in stats).
Now we add our max dmg charms. Their damage is multiplied from our ED sources (+300% from Fortitude, 195% from Hone Sundan, and +350% from the bramble mitts but only against demons.) Thus, a simple +10 max dmg jewel actually adds 60 to our max dmg, which is why we pack as many small/grand charms into our inventory as is sensible.
65th: At this point the merc receives Faith in a Great Bow for its 15th level Fantacism aura, which buffs our damage (pic). Here is the before and after damage comparison, all else being equal:
Without Faith:
With Faith:
At this point, and as per the Bowazon run, I also give the merc an ethereal Giant Skull bone visage (pic); its +strength allowing the fast-tracking of eth-bugged boneweave Stone (pic). This doubles her defense rating so she shouldn't die that much anymore.
We now bee-line for Baal. As you can see, no probs tanking Ventar:
No probs tanking the minions:
And no probs with Baal.
Yep, that's /players8. Our Spearazon was so confident that she didn't bother farming to 69th before taking on Baal. Why is 69th so special?
69th: This is a magic level because it opens up our elite, upped ethereal Hone Sundan and an ethereal Matriarchal Spear (+3 allskills) runeworded with the godly Breath of the Dying.
Upped ethereal Hone Sundan versus Breath of the Dying:
As to which epic wield is better, that's a question for Hell mode to answer. We rub our hands together as we get ready for Hell mode!
75th level Bowazon at the end of Nightmare (recap):
42nd: Lava Gouts + War Traveler.
Damage/AR boost when 10th level Enchant procs, all else being equal:
Not that impressive... but we'll take it.
45th: Raven Frost rings. Not one, but two. Along with the mandatory Cannot be Frozen mod, it's their AR + Dex that's helpful. The only way to top such rings is to get a godly rares going. Probably just one because Cannot be Frozen is so vital to sanity, and is not found on other uniques that are attractive to the build. IOW, to outstrip RF we need a rare ring with +20 Strength, +20 Dex, Life Steal, Max Damage and resists. We have better chances of winning the lottery.
I rerolled 100 times at 6 pskulls per roll. While none of the resultant rings screamed "I'm godly", the potential is blatantly obvious. Which is why when you get a godly roll, it's happy days and you dance around your bedroom like a retard. Examples:
Needs Dex and dual-leech.
Needs more Dex and dual-leech.
6 mods. But gaaawd. I don't want Energy and Mana... no one does.
6 mods. Needs more Dex and dual-leech.
Frickin' worthless Mana. Even Sorcs don't need it.
Now you can see why Raven Frosts are so great. They're infinitely easier to farm than rare rings are to roll. We need a strong argument not to equip two RFs, and we didn't get it here. Thus, I give up.
47th: Gore Riders (pic). It's always a toss-up between these and Wartravs (pic).
49th: Stone runeword in 15% ED, 14% Dura Dusk Shroud. We might as well take advantage of its D, FHR and resists for now, but at 59th we'll upgrade to Fortitude in wire fleece (pic), and at 63rd to Fortitude in Archon Plate (pic) (both borrowed from our Bowazon).
At the start of Act Two I kickstart the Rogue Sister merc with some basics; namely:
Stone in Dusk Shroud.
I misplaced the ethereal Dark Shroud found in the Pit. It was eth-bugged, too. No biggie. She upgrades to eth-bugged Boneweave once she gains the strength.
Vampire Gaze for its 15% DR.
Harmony in Rune Bow. This runeword is chosen for the excellent +run/walk conferred by its 10th level Vigor aura. The tedium of Act Two and Three are too much to bear without it.
50th: Cat's Eye (pic).
So here we can see the difference Fortitude makes to our damage:
Here we are wearing Stone at 63rd level:
And here we are wearing Fortitude at 63rd level, all else being equal:
Huge difference.
Now, +300% damage against demons on top of that from Laying of Hands (doesn't show in stats).
Now we add our max dmg charms. Their damage is multiplied from our ED sources (+300% from Fortitude, 195% from Hone Sundan, and +350% from the bramble mitts but only against demons.) Thus, a simple +10 max dmg jewel actually adds 60 to our max dmg, which is why we pack as many small/grand charms into our inventory as is sensible.
65th: At this point the merc receives Faith in a Great Bow for its 15th level Fantacism aura, which buffs our damage (pic). Here is the before and after damage comparison, all else being equal:
Without Faith:
With Faith:
At this point, and as per the Bowazon run, I also give the merc an ethereal Giant Skull bone visage (pic); its +strength allowing the fast-tracking of eth-bugged boneweave Stone (pic). This doubles her defense rating so she shouldn't die that much anymore.
We now bee-line for Baal. As you can see, no probs tanking Ventar:
No probs tanking the minions:
And no probs with Baal.
Yep, that's /players8. Our Spearazon was so confident that she didn't bother farming to 69th before taking on Baal. Why is 69th so special?
69th: This is a magic level because it opens up our elite, upped ethereal Hone Sundan and an ethereal Matriarchal Spear (+3 allskills) runeworded with the godly Breath of the Dying.
Upped ethereal Hone Sundan versus Breath of the Dying:
As to which epic wield is better, that's a question for Hell mode to answer. We rub our hands together as we get ready for Hell mode!
75th level Bowazon at the end of Nightmare (recap):
Jab/Fend Spearazon: Hell mode
As you can see, the poison nova of Breath of the Dying procs with frequency, but only against mook-packs, and it's more showy than damaging. On /players8, the nova won't even kill off a lowly mook. Frenzy Barbs can dual-wield BotDs (recap), and the poison nova impact is still barely discernible from a damage PoV. Hell monsters are just too tanky, and flaunt resistance to the elements.
Still, BotD is our best option. From my tests, it clearly outstrips an upped ethereal Hone Sundan socketed with three IAS jewels (pic). BotD plugs the main holes, which are +IAS, +ED, +stats along with life/mana leech and even a welcome ED vs. undead. Couple that with Indestructibility and +3 spearskills from the ethereal Matriarchal Spear, and we've got every reason to wield it.
Ideally, we would have runeworded an ethereal Matriarchal Pike or War Pike instead - for superior damage - but I couldn't find one in my stash, so the spear will have to do. Remember, this is single-player. The fact I found an ethereal Matriarchal Spear is lucky in itself. Go and farm Hell Pits on /players8 a few hundred times, and see if you find one. For that matter, have fun trying to find an ethereal Hone Sundan. :P
Now, one of the worst things about Spearazons is when you encounter physical immunes. These are the most obnoxious enemies after insta-killers like dolls and souls. My Bowazon just switched to Magic Arrow to shred through PIs, and my Frenzy Barb just went Berserk. There is no such luxury for the Spearazon. Are you really going to switch your ammy to Atma's Scarab for its Amplify proc just to take out one physical immune, or even a mob of them? Are you really going to wait for a merc to kill them? There is only one semi-convenient option that I can think of, off-hand: Act Two merc wielding an Reaper's Toll (preferably ethereal) for its on-hit Decrepify. As you will see in this post, in an effort to increase survivability, eventually I am forced to change to an Act Two merc for his Holy Freeze aura and ability to wield Reaper's Toll for decrepification.
This Spearazon is also weak against skeletal undead because you can't life leech the non-cadaverous. And unlike the Bowazon, we're in the thick of it and taking damage. I pretty much just run past undead, as well. A Multiple Shot Bowazon can aim her fan towards corporeal beings, or rely on Pierce to penetrate the skeletal mob and hit the corporeal mob behind them (thus, she keeps her hitpoint pool peaking and her multi-shots firing). A Frenzy Barb has the staying power to endure skeletal mobs. But this Spearazon has to disengage or quaff a full rejuv. It's just slower, all-round. In fact, compared to my Bowazon - and, to a lesser extent my Frenzy Barb - this Spearazon sucks. Just so slow and so weak.
Due to butthurt, I dug into my 10-year-old PlugY stash archives in search of my Annihilus and Hellfire Torch, which I finally found.
A decent boost but it doesn't solve the Spearazon's main issues. I haven't selected Valkyrie because the auto-animations for pre-requisite Dodge and Avoid lock me down and get me killed when engaged with mobs. The compromise is to pump Decoy. Meh..
So yeah, partway through Act One I replaced the Act One cold arrow Rogue Sister with an Act Two Nightmare Defensive Desert Mercenary, wielding non-ethereal Reaper's Toll. The reasoning here? The Holy Freeze aura and on-hit Decrepify slows the mobs down. And decrepified mobs take more damage.
Here is a comparison of the mercs (mercs are on the left panel):
Note: The resists are not a fair comparison since the screencap of the sister was taken in Nightmare and the screencap for the merc was taken in Hell. The merc has better resists.
And yeah, my Spearazon has taken an IAS hit in order to increase survivability; namely Dracul's Grasp and Rockstopper (upped to hydra skull and Ber'd). That gives us Life Tap and 34% DR if we wear Verdungo's Heary Coil in addition to Rockstopper.
All this amounts to less damage but also much less risky Fends.
82: Andariel's Visage.
(WiP - taking a break from this at 77th level). Next post: back to my Bowazon for a bit.
Still, BotD is our best option. From my tests, it clearly outstrips an upped ethereal Hone Sundan socketed with three IAS jewels (pic). BotD plugs the main holes, which are +IAS, +ED, +stats along with life/mana leech and even a welcome ED vs. undead. Couple that with Indestructibility and +3 spearskills from the ethereal Matriarchal Spear, and we've got every reason to wield it.
Ideally, we would have runeworded an ethereal Matriarchal Pike or War Pike instead - for superior damage - but I couldn't find one in my stash, so the spear will have to do. Remember, this is single-player. The fact I found an ethereal Matriarchal Spear is lucky in itself. Go and farm Hell Pits on /players8 a few hundred times, and see if you find one. For that matter, have fun trying to find an ethereal Hone Sundan. :P
Now, one of the worst things about Spearazons is when you encounter physical immunes. These are the most obnoxious enemies after insta-killers like dolls and souls. My Bowazon just switched to Magic Arrow to shred through PIs, and my Frenzy Barb just went Berserk. There is no such luxury for the Spearazon. Are you really going to switch your ammy to Atma's Scarab for its Amplify proc just to take out one physical immune, or even a mob of them? Are you really going to wait for a merc to kill them? There is only one semi-convenient option that I can think of, off-hand: Act Two merc wielding an Reaper's Toll (preferably ethereal) for its on-hit Decrepify. As you will see in this post, in an effort to increase survivability, eventually I am forced to change to an Act Two merc for his Holy Freeze aura and ability to wield Reaper's Toll for decrepification.
This Spearazon is also weak against skeletal undead because you can't life leech the non-cadaverous. And unlike the Bowazon, we're in the thick of it and taking damage. I pretty much just run past undead, as well. A Multiple Shot Bowazon can aim her fan towards corporeal beings, or rely on Pierce to penetrate the skeletal mob and hit the corporeal mob behind them (thus, she keeps her hitpoint pool peaking and her multi-shots firing). A Frenzy Barb has the staying power to endure skeletal mobs. But this Spearazon has to disengage or quaff a full rejuv. It's just slower, all-round. In fact, compared to my Bowazon - and, to a lesser extent my Frenzy Barb - this Spearazon sucks. Just so slow and so weak.
Due to butthurt, I dug into my 10-year-old PlugY stash archives in search of my Annihilus and Hellfire Torch, which I finally found.
A decent boost but it doesn't solve the Spearazon's main issues. I haven't selected Valkyrie because the auto-animations for pre-requisite Dodge and Avoid lock me down and get me killed when engaged with mobs. The compromise is to pump Decoy. Meh..
So yeah, partway through Act One I replaced the Act One cold arrow Rogue Sister with an Act Two Nightmare Defensive Desert Mercenary, wielding non-ethereal Reaper's Toll. The reasoning here? The Holy Freeze aura and on-hit Decrepify slows the mobs down. And decrepified mobs take more damage.
Here is a comparison of the mercs (mercs are on the left panel):
Note: The resists are not a fair comparison since the screencap of the sister was taken in Nightmare and the screencap for the merc was taken in Hell. The merc has better resists.
And yeah, my Spearazon has taken an IAS hit in order to increase survivability; namely Dracul's Grasp and Rockstopper (upped to hydra skull and Ber'd). That gives us Life Tap and 34% DR if we wear Verdungo's Heary Coil in addition to Rockstopper.
All this amounts to less damage but also much less risky Fends.
82: Andariel's Visage.
(WiP - taking a break from this at 77th level). Next post: back to my Bowazon for a bit.
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