Is this Spearazon any good?

[Frozen Shade]

Hello,
I'm going to make a Physical Spearazon, though I'm not sure whether I think bout investing in right skills. I planned to achieve:

str 165
dex 165
vit stack
ene base

20 Fend +2
16 Critical
11/9/11 Dodge
17 Valk +3

87 - 12 = completed at 75 level.

Are the skills ok? What to pump next? Decoy for extra Valk life? Maybe Jab/Impale?

Plz let me know what ya think. If there are any good spearazon guides round here plz let me know (i remember there were one here) :drink:

[GenXCub]

I don't know if you'll need Critical Strike up that high. the diminishing returns make it a bad investment. I'd try to get some deadly strike gear to make up for it, like Gore Rider and Highlord's Wrath. Also, since you have no way to kill a Physical Immune Monster, I'd suggest finding a Matriarchal Pike and socketing Passion into it for the +1 you get to Berserk.

Oh, and a technicality, you'd be done at level 76, not 75... you don't get a skill point at level 1

[Frozen Shade]

Hmm as far as PI is concerned, i though some merc work here + teammates (i plan to play mainly thru BN), just wanted to make a pure physical spearazon with v. high damage/leech. Which merc would be the best? I though about act3 mercedes.

Hmm how Deadly Strike work with CS? Heard different things...

[Shanksie1337]

Say you have 60% CS, and 45% DS, your chance to do double damage is:

60 + ( 45 x 0.40 ) = 78%

45 x 0.40 = 18, so:

60 + 18 = 78%

the 0.40 is because DS will only roll when you fail CS (in this example 40% of the time), and of the 40%, it will succeed 18%, thus giving 60+18 = 78% to do double damage, they don't stack so you can never get quad damage.

[Omikron8]

Unless the fend bug was fixed (doubt it) keep a valk+merc+decoy around you at all times otherwise the combination of fend + high passives will result in nothing but whiffing at air when you try to attack. Try and get a very fast weapon such as shael'ed arloc's needle.

[Frozen Shade]

What is the fend bug?

Shall I reduce planned levels of d/a/e ? I could pump decoy instead...

[cuibono]

Fend is borderline suicide. Don't do it. I've heard various explanations as to the exact nature of the bug, the most common being that if you are interrupted during a Fend cycle, you will go through the rest of the cycle animation but your swings have zero chance to hit. Whatever the reason is, Fend is either a broken skill or an extremely limited skill. I want to love Fend, I've built many Fenders. All of them just sort of, limp along because their main skill, the skill they're built around, is quirky and dangerous as hell.

[Krollin]

Fend is borderline suicide. Don't do it. I've heard various explanations as to the exact nature of the bug, the most common being that if you are interrupted during a Fend cycle, you will go through the rest of the cycle animation but your swings have zero chance to hit. Whatever the reason is, Fend is either a broken skill or an extremely limited skill. I want to love Fend, I've built many Fenders. All of them just sort of, limp along because their main skill, the skill they're built around, is quirky and dangerous as hell.I have built Fenders, they don't work in Hell at all.
I use Charged Strike and pump a suitable Synergy for a Spearazon.
Charge Strike is the best boss killer for an Ama, it also has a decent area effect for non LIs. It also does not need a high AR as the skill does not use it.
For LI's I would go with Jab but don't go over the top with the levels, again this skill does not need a pumped AR.
You planned Crit Strike is too high, aim for level 10 after +skills.

The key to a Spearazon, apart from resists, is speed. The more IAS you have the better.

AR, through Penetrate, can be added to as and when you need it.

[Delybrio]

I've tried Merc + Decoy around me to gain extra Fends, but it doesnt seem to work. Perhaps because i was testing it PvP?

Some more info on exactly how to get this to work would be very appreciated.

[Frozen Shade]

hmm so i it seems i'll abandon my fendazon... pity, maybe I should try a jabazon instead? impale is unusable vs mobs.

Well after all i think i'll try to build a charged strike spearazon. Seems nice vs bosses and as mob control.

As I see it:

atts remain the same

20 Charged Strike +1
20 Lightning Strike
1+stack Power Strike
0 Critical since I do lightning damage mainly
11/9/11 Dodge
17 Valk +3

93 skills w/o stacks -> 94 - 12 = 82 clvl done w/o Power Strike stacking.

I thing maxing out LS would be the best, and then stack PS. I fear about low leech, with melee lightning damage source there wont be lot of leech + AR isn't to high either... I assume the fastest spear would be the best to use with LS+CS, like:
* Viperfork w/ Shael -20/+70% ias, Arioc Needle w/ Shael -10/+50%, Ghost Spear or Yari w/ 6x Shael 0/+120%, Mancatcher or War Fork w/ 5x Shael -20/+100%;
* worse: (upg) Hone Sundan with 3x Shaels 0/+60%, (upg) Impaler w/ Shael -10/+40%, (upg x 2) Razortine w/ Shael 0/+50%, (upg x 2) Lance of Yaggai w/ Shael 0/+60%.

Basically, what do you think?

[Omikron8]

The fend bug is as described by a previous poster. The most noticable interruption is due to the amazon dodging/avoid passives which coincidentally are your main source of survival since you have no shield! I have no idea why blizzard changed fend from uninterruptable (1.09, it acted like zeal does now) to interruptable (1.10, or the way that zeal was in beta). I also really do want to make a spearazon fender because i could put together some extreme offensive/defensive gear for her but this interruption thing just requires an extremely defensive style of play which is frustrating.

Edit - As for your CS Build, arloc's needle wins out no doubt. With shael it's -10 base and 50% IAS which is more than sufficient for your build. If you can get a +4 skill version that will boost your lightning attacks huge. It also has ITD mod so you don't have to heavily invest in penetrate. Finally that 50% DS helps out against lightning immunes when you have to jab.

You SHOULD still invest at least one point in critical strike and penetrate and let +skills do the rest. Every amazon should have these skills.

[GenXCub]

They just need to make Jab do what it used to do, and ignore weapon speeds :)

[Frozen Shade]

ok, I think I know my way now. 1 in CS + Penetrate seems decent enough. Zerae's Charger strikes now :)