PvM strafer build

[Spook_Cell]

Was wondering what kind of skills and gear to use for a pure PvM strafer build. I don't plan on doing any mfing with thiss char either. So what would be the optimal gear to use?

[Ryshenron]

PvM..go same skills as a mf strafer...but put more effort into getting ncie amounts of dmg,resists,cb,ow,..basically make it all-around more versatile, there are millions of gear combinations that could work

[Spook_Cell]

PvM..go same skills as a mf strafer...but put more effort into getting ncie amounts of dmg,resists,cb,ow,..basically make it all-around more versatile, there are millions of gear combinations that could work

Well yes I'm aware that there are a lot of combinations but I was hoping someone had the "perfect" setup, if no one has one, then oh well.

[gblan]

Was wondering what kind of skills and gear to use for a pure PvM strafer build. I don't plan on doing any mfing with thiss char either. So what would be the optimal gear to use?

I have a few suggestions that you can consider. Most obvious is you will want to have a fast, high damage bow. The best you can afford or acquire is in order here. WF of course is a top pick but not super easy to come by. More realistic and more easily obtained would be a Lycander's Aim, upgraded of course. WWS and Eaglehorn are worthy also. You'll want to focus your gear to get you the IAS breakpoint for, at the minimum, a 9/2 attack. Look for mods on gear that cause increased damage, Crushing Blow and Open Wounds being good examples. Get a bit of dual leech to keep those orbs filled. It doesn't have to be much as you'll be spitting arrows so fast that'll keep 'em filled. You'll need to max Strafe of course and points in Critical Strike and Pierce are a must. A lvl 17 Valk gets a war pike and is a valueable asset imo. You'll need to get some elemental damage also, either from your cold tree (Frozen Arrow) or from mods on your gear. D/A/E are needed to a certain extent also. Dextreity is the stat that will pump your damage, use it, and strength just for your gear. All else into vitality and zip into energy.


It's not that difficult a build and does not require uber gear to be a success. You will need a good bow but beyond that any well thought out gear set can be made to work. I'd go for IAS and Crushing Blow myself as my main areas of focus on gear. I haven't even mentioned jewelry or charms and all those areas are open to make up shortfalls in resists, leech, etc. Above all realize your style of play most affects the success of the build. I always build my Zons to be support characters. I stay far away from the heat of battle and lob a constant barrage of arrows into the fray. When in trouble I run, always. (Read lots of ++R/W) I clear an area out so when I have to retreat to it, stringing monsters, I know it's free, clear and open. Be patient and move slowly and deliberately. This isn't a Tank Barb or Werewolf build that allows you to run willy-nilly whereever you want to.

GB

[jetjaguar x]

i too am building a strafezon .. my frist one .. so WF is the bow to get over a botd bow ?? also i was thinking 160/60ias armor and a 120/45ias bone visage .. cats eye ammy ..

20 strafe
20 multi ?
50% cs
max penetrate
50% pierce ?

umm am i missing anything

[gblan]

i too am building a strafezon .. my frist one .. so WF is the bow to get over a botd bow ?? also i was thinking 160/60ias armor and a 120/45ias bone visage .. cats eye ammy ..

20 strafe
20 multi ?
50% cs
max penetrate
50% pierce ?

umm am i missing anything

20 points in Multi probably not a good idea. Your main skill is Strafe not Multi. Likewise 20 points in Penetrate is a bit excessive, going for higher Critical Strike % is a smarter idea. Pierce is your best friend, especially if you're using Frozen Arrow (you should) as your elemental attack. Get it higher. Penetrate is okay at slvl 1 with it getting a boost from your + skills gear. You'll want a few points in D/A/E and you'll have to decide what kind of Valk support you'll need. A slvl 17 Valk gets a war pike and can really be a help in keeping monsters busy and away from you.

Here's the Pit Strafer's guide:
http://forums.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=175957

And the Frozen Arrow guide:
http://forums.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=129705

Combine elements from both of these guides for a solid character with a good one-two punch. There are tons of variations here and everyone has little differences that make their build unique. Some design elements are standard, even basic, and these guides will help you see the common thread that binds Zon builds together and they will reveal the stark differences that create the variety we all love so much in the character.

GB

[Shanksie1337]

This will be added to the strafer guide if/when the forums die :D

*My Ideal PvM Setup
Well I am sure this will provoke some discussion, but here is what I’d consider ideal PvM gear:

Bow: WF “shael”
Switch: Demon Limb
Helm: Shako “ED/dex”
Armour: Lionheart or Chains of Honour (never tried one)
Gloves: Laying of Hands
Boots: Gore Riders or War Travellers
Belt: Nosferatu’s Coil
Ring1: 20/250 Ravenfrost
Ring2: 20/250 Ravenfrost
Amulet: Cat’s Eye

the skills don't change so use:
20 strafe
20 penetrate - even with Demon Limb & max penetrate you get 93-95% chance to hit everything in the pit
20 Valk
Pierce - as high as possible with spare points
Critical strike - as high as possible with spare points (Unless using a WWS - then use base lvl 1).

If non ladder u may need WWS on switch to be able to remove PI's as your merc won't be able to use Reapers Toll

[P.S. as i am ladder i can't / won't get 40/15's or BoTD Bows and i have no experience of using them - but if u are going to use such stupidly expensive/duped gear then u really don't need to worry too much about skills as my gran could own wearing 160/60's :D]

[Spook_Cell]

Question: Why does everyone have Demon Limb on switch? Also I was kinda planning on going hybrid and maxing LF and using Thunderstroke with a shield (not sure which).

[jetjaguar x]

well im non ladder .. so i would be using a 160-60ias and 120-45ias .. now for the bow .. it seems everyone is saying a 40-15 or shaeled wf .. what about the botd crusader .. i mean i know its less damage but the mods are pretty crazy ?

[XZON]

This will be added to the strafer guide if/when the forums die :D

*My Ideal PvM Setup
Well I am sure this will provoke some discussion, but here is what I’d consider ideal PvM gear:

Bow: WF “shael”
Switch: Demon Limb
Helm: Shako “ED/dex”
Armour: Lionheart or Chains of Honour (never tried one)
Gloves: Laying of Hands
Boots: Gore Riders or War Travellers
Belt: Nosferatu’s Coil
Ring1: 20/250 Ravenfrost
Ring2: 20/250 Ravenfrost
Amulet: Cat’s Eye

the skills don't change so use:
20 strafe
20 penetrate - even with Demon Limb & max penetrate you get 93-95% chance to hit everything in the pit
20 Valk
Pierce - as high as possible with spare points
Critical strike - as high as possible with spare points (Unless using a WWS - then use base lvl 1).

If non ladder u may need WWS on switch to be able to remove PI's as your merc won't be able to use Reapers Toll

[P.S. as i am ladder i can't / won't get 40/15's or BoTD Bows and i have no experience of using them - but if u are going to use such stupidly expensive/duped gear then u really don't need to worry too much about skills as my gran could own wearing 160/60's :D]

I like your build. Covered leech, AR & 90ias. Problems I see...
without chains of honor, very low resistances.
Lightening absorb & fire absorb would be nice.
decrep will not remove all PI's. You will need to either skip some PI's or go get your WWS from stash to kill them.

I don't think there is a perfect set of gear for PvM at all. I personally have 4 sets of gear depending on what I am doing.

1. Pit Runner MF - uses wws instead of wf for more resists & don't really need
the killing power of the wf there. (not that wws is not powerfull) tals belt, armor & mask, war travelers, laying of hands, mf ring, ravenfrost, mf ammy.
(armor & mask socketed w. 15% ias, dual shael wws) annihilus, gheeds & 51% mf in charms = 9/2 strafe w/ 363% MF

2. questing - safe set up tals helm & armor, tgods vigor, war travelers, laying of hands, 29% maras amulet, ravenfrost, dwarf star, passive gc, annihilus, wf 9/3 & wws 9/2. This is probably along the lines of what the original poster is looking for as I can absorb light, fire & cold. People laugh when i tank baal in big runs & never get damaged. histerical & still kill very well. I can pretty much only have to worry about listers buddies getting to me in big baal runs. other than that, this is pretty much as safe as it gets.

3. Big baal runs (glass cannon) - andarials vissage (15% ias jewel), tals armor, goldwrap, war travelers, laying of hands, maras, ravenfrost, dwarf star, annihilus, passive gc, windforce, demon limb switch. 9/2 with windforce, low life (580), big damage & ar. Love this one but soloing act 5 can be tough without the tgods & life is too low without some aura help from friends.

4. Diablo clone - tals armor & helm, tgods, goreriders, laying of hands. maras, ravenfrost, dwarf star (natures peace first, then quick switch back to dwarf).
gores really help with cb for uber d.

notice that a lot of my equip is used for different set ups. I am sure that there may be a few things which may be better for a specific build, but this allows me the flexibility to do anything & do it well.

Sorry about the long post but the point is that you usually must have different set ups depending on the goal. It would be silly for me to bring my mf setup into an 8 person baal run as I would pretty much be there to leech only. questing with my glass canon usually eventually gets me killed. You can get away with worse resists & life in multiplayer games.

I agree with the skill point placement but what about a few in dodge, evade & avoid? You really don't need that many & some + skills will help them out. I also like a few in decoy. Helps change the direction of packs from heading straight for you & can give you that needed second or two to dispose of them.

[det]

[P.S. as i am ladder i can't / won't get 40/15's or BoTD Bows and i have no experience of using them - but if u are going to use such stupidly expensive/duped gear then u really don't need to worry too much about skills as my gran could own wearing 160/60's :D]

This is a great remark and should be aimed at a certain 1.10 PVP guide in this forum :lol:
Seriously guys..if you play SC, don't worry about dying and use obviously duped stuff..don't come asking for guides. If I annoy you with this attitude...guess what? I couldn't care less.

Now for the Demon Limb:
Demon limb gives you an additional 238% AR (or so) thru enchant. Another way would be to use Lavagout until enchant triggers, then swap them.

Other good items in a Strafer build to consider:
Crafted gloves with IAS+KB
Razortail belt
Waterwalks as the more easily available boots
Tals Mask if you are hurting for leech/res (e.g if you play HC)
One Ravenfrost could be replaced by a Dwarfstar/Wispprotector/Rare res ring..just in case those 2 perfect ones are not readily available

[5zigen]

for another perspective, my strafer uses:

witchwild string (shael shael)
Duress Wire fleece
Guillames face (15% ias jewel)
Cats eye
Raven frost
Manald heel
Laying of hands
Crednedum
Goblin Toe

I use a few res charms, and a few cold dmg charms (to boost the length of FA). This setup gives me some good stuff.
First off, i use the belt for the +str and res all. making my str required 106,
The belt armor and bow give a total of 70% res all. I decided i wanted to hit 9/2 fpa strafe, so i am using just enough ias (40 in bow, 20 on ammy, 20 on gloves 15% jewel in helm). And just to add the extra killing power, I figured i would stack Crushing blow, so in total i have 75% crushing blow, which is very nice.


My skill setup is like
20 Strafe
1 Freezing arrow
15 or so penetrate
10 or so peirce
10 or so valk
4/4/3 in dodge avoid and evade.

She works quite well and kills (VERY fast in single player games) well.
Hope this is some use to you. I find that everyone thinks that cb doesnt stack or something, because they always say "i just use Gore riders on my zon".

BTW this is HCLE, and imo shes a bit of a glass cannon.

[Bastadon]

Does anyone use mavs set for their zons?

[det]

Mavs set is supposed to be great for Frostmaidens, not so much for Strafers, as the bow is a [10] bow...and thus among the slow ones.

5zigen: There are indeed a few nice ideas in this setup. You must still be around lv 70. Where do you plan to put the next points..and do you use a Might merc?

[Shanksie1337]

I like your build. Covered leech, AR & 90ias. Problems I see...
without chains of honor, very low resistances.
Lightening absorb & fire absorb would be nice.
decrep will not remove all PI's. You will need to either skip some PI's or go get your WWS from stash to kill them.

i like my build too :D

Resists are all -70 in Hell - but this really isn't a problem and i seem to be the only zon here happy to play with negative res's :scratch:. With decent positioning and some practise you can fire from behind your merc + Valk (+decoy if needed) and be perfectly safe from everything. It's widely accepted that u don't need DR on a zon as you shouldn't be getting hit, but ppl fail to see that this is true for res's aswell. Add in the fact that this baby does some sexy damage and with 7LL from the belt she has no problem filling the red ball as soon as someone hits her - the combo of high life = ~750 for a zon, and the shako allows you high damage as stat points can be put into dex. About the only place some better res may be of use is wsk - but if you are in the wsk you are usually baal running in a party, so thats more meatsheilds for you, and usually there is some sorc or enigma user that teleports you to the throne room. Imho if u want to baal run solo a zon isn't the best char for this anyway - it can be done tho, it's just far easier to do it with a different char.

As for decrep and PI's i have only ever encountered one PI that wouldn't vanish once decrep had triggered and i just ran past it, nothing you "have" to kill will be PI, and 99% of PI's can be removed - it's like a meteorb sorc and CI+FI bosses - nothing's perfect :D
As for the WWS - i tried to use the WWS to kill the one stubborn PI i have encountered and the WWS didn't remove the PI either (yes i did remove the reapers from the merc). But having a WWS on switch is no real issue as the enchant lasts 11 minutes.

[XZON]

i like my build too :D

Resists are all -70 in Hell - but this really isn't a problem and i seem to be the only zon here happy to play with negative res's :scratch:. With decent positioning and some practise you can fire from behind your merc + Valk (+decoy if needed) and be perfectly safe from everything. It's widely accepted that u don't need DR on a zon as you shouldn't be getting hit, but ppl fail to see that this is true for res's aswell. Add in the fact that this baby does some sexy damage and with 7LL from the belt she has no problem filling the red ball as soon as someone hits her - the combo of high life = ~750 for a zon, and the shako allows you high damage as stat points can be put into dex. About the only place some better res may be of use is wsk - but if you are in the wsk you are usually baal running in a party, so thats more meatsheilds for you, and usually there is some sorc or enigma user that teleports you to the throne room. Imho if u want to baal run solo a zon isn't the best char for this anyway - it can be done tho, it's just far easier to do it with a different char.

As for decrep and PI's i have only ever encountered one PI that wouldn't vanish once decrep had triggered and i just ran past it, nothing you "have" to kill will be PI, and 99% of PI's can be removed - it's like a meteorb sorc and CI+FI bosses - nothing's perfect :D
As for the WWS - i tried to use the WWS to kill the one stubborn PI i have encountered and the WWS didn't remove the PI either (yes i did remove the reapers from the merc). But having a WWS on switch is no real issue as the enchant lasts 11 minutes.

I am gonna have to try lowering my resists & see how I do. I am devoting a lot of space to keep my resists up high. I do tun wsk & baal solo pretty easily though. I just seem to get hit once in a while by rogue lightening or fire. I guess the absorb would take care of that & I am sure that with ravrnfrost, I could remove a few 11% res cold sc's. I also don't have very high life. Max with 1 setup is 688 and thats with several +20's. Heavy dex build.

I did run into a large group of those winged demons which fire red balls at you (forgot the name) that were PI & neither decrep nor amp would remove PI. Thank god for the Magic arrow attack of WWS.