PvP Tankazon viability?

[squigipapa]

Hi Guys,
I've been wanting to create a PvP Tankazon (passive tree only.) and I've been kind of tossing around some ideas. I've always liked the fact that an amazon could have 75% chance to block with a shield as well as 60%-70% in dodge/evade/avoid making her really hard to hit. My first idea was to use a 'passion' runeword weapon, this would give me the ablity to use berserk, and converty all my physical damage to magic, and as we all know magic damage PvP is very nice because of the fact that it's very hard to resist/absorb.. The fact that my defense would be reduced to 0 would basically have no impact because I'm relying on shield block as well as D/E/A.. As well, hitting people woulden't be a problem because her AR would be awsome, with penetrate maxed, enchant from a demon limb & the angelic combo.

The problem with this is: #1, zerk is slow .. I mean slow, slow, slow.. I loaded up on IAS gear and tried this out.. and it just wasen't doable..
So, I've been thinking about some other options. I could use an azurewrath, this speed is awsome, and the 250-500 magic/cold damage is just gravy, socketed with perhaps an um for open wounds or a ber for crushing blow (I'm thinking um though because of price). The other thing I've tried is using a beast zerker axe.. it was ok, the fanat aura was a big help, the speed was great, and it gave me the option to shift into a bear, which was an amazing boost to life.. the question is: (I don't know a lot about bears) does shield block & D/E/A work when in bear form? The other thing I've thought of is maxing something like jab and using a thunderstroke, this would give me a fast attack etc. and since this build is only really focusing on passives there should be plenty of skill points to go around.

I donno really, what do you guys think? Would something like this be viable? Are there some weapon choices that I haven't thought of? I look forward to hearing your ideas.

Thanks,
-Squigi

[StormFury]

Well first of all i dont know any thing about this built so sorry for the post if its not helpfull. I just wanna tell you that; i havent seen this kind on pvp players, i have battled javazons, bowazons, and other zons in different kinds... By the way i am a high dex bowazon (pvp). I think this built can really work just right for a pvp zon.

Good Luck!!!

StormFury

[jumbo_SHRIMP]

make a bear zon, using beast...get a lot of elemental damage

do NOT use the beast weapon, you must switch to something fast, azurewrath might work or any kind of superfast phase blade

phelix

[Richie Daggers Crime]

Blocking is very slow with a sword/axe/club. A dagger or a javelin provides your Tanker with much a faster block.

[squigipapa]

Blocking is very slow with a sword/axe/club. A dagger or a javelin provides your Tanker with much a faster block.

so your weapon affects the speed of your blocking? I thought it was dependant on shield, I was planning on using a stormshield which I already have on another character , which is socketed with a shael.. but if the speed of your block rate has something to do with which weapon you're using I may have to re-think it a bit..

So basically my question is how does the weapon you're using affect the speed of your block rate with your shield?

EDIT: WooHoo! Just noticed that I'm 3 posts away from 1337! ... now the question is .. what should my leet post be? :)

[Jell-O]

It affects the blockingspeed on amazons only, which I'd call a bug and an annoying one at that.
Nothing to do about that except use daggers or javelins or just live with really slow block.

[Richie Daggers Crime]

It affects the blockingspeed on amazons only, which I'd call a bug and an annoying one at that.

Bingo. If you use a sword/club/axe on an Amazon, be prepared to hear a lot of *ping* *ping* *ping* if you get surrounded at all.

[Sokar Rostau]

According to people that do statistics and such the Amazon using anything other than a thrusting weapon (dagger/javelin) has the slowest block rate of all classes, her fastest possible block is still slower than the slowest block of any other class. However most (if not all) of the people that claim this is fatal or renders the build useless have either never attempted the build or have not put any thought into it.

That is why my Palazons (Passion or Kingslayer Tankazon) do not max block. I have, however, never found the block speed a problem except when below lvl 20 or so. The highest block I have is 67% and that never gets me into trouble for the simple reason that I have max++ D/A/E. The Stormshield is there for resists and for dr on the rare occasion when I do take a hit. Hitting your target can get to be annoying if you don't pump dex though so AR charms are called for. Some people also suggest maxing Inner Sight, to effectively further incease your AR by lowering the enemies defences, but I only put a prereq point in because there is never the time to cast it.

I use Passion as my main weapon (look at it's mods - it was designed for Tankazons) but I keep Gimmershreds on switch for various situations which includes mobile Hammerdins. I use Warshrikes against Bone necs because they pass through bonewall instead of breaking it down. Passion can be fun if playing pvp with a group of friends but if you try it in any normal pvp game people will laugh at you if they know anything. In order for Passion to be effective in any situation it is essential to use +skills items like Mara/Seraph, BK (SoJ is also an option, though ludicrous), CoH or Valour, Annihilus and if needs be (I have never had to resort to this), Shako/Delirium and Arachnid Mesh. This gives you an effective level of damage from your oskills but leaves little room for Angelic pieces.

I have 2 lvl 96 Palazons now (one made 149/19 in season 1 and the other is currently 60/9 season 2) that are pure pvm builds but both are capable of pvp, the only build I have never defeated at least once is a pure lightning zon. I recently fought a friends Zealot (lvl 30 Zeal -v- lvl 3 Zeal (I still don't have all my equipment)) and he beat me 6-1, but I almost got him 3 other times because it took so much for him to hit me - something like 7 or 8 zeals just to land a single blow.

I am assuming that you are probably on one of the American realms so a BotD shouldn't be too hard to come by and requires no stacking of +skills equipment, leaving room for Angelic and whatever else. BotD does the damage you need and, built properly, will allow your "Halitosiszon" to stand toe to toe with a Hammerdin and take him down without taking a hit (I have done this with Passion but wouldn't recommend it). Remember that BotD does not have to be made in a Berzerker Axe.

Enigma is futile because your D/A/E will cancel teleport so don't even consider it. CoH will give you the +skills that you should have regardless of oskills and Duress, while lacking in +skills, has some very handy mods for a Tankazon. I would use Duress over Arkaine's Valour and a shako for minimum + skills and scaling life.

Finally don't waste points into jav skills because that will make you a Javazon and not a Tankazon. Max D/A/E and Penetrate and if you are planning on pvp only maybe you should consider placing a lot of points into Inner Sight and Slow Missiles as well. Only put enough points into Critical Strike that you know you will need, there is no point in maxing it if you are going to have a lot of Deadly Strike from another source.

Good Luck!!