FA gear setup

[ellemennopea]

Hey, I'm a new poster, but I was reading up about the FA zon because I am currently working on one. I've collected mav's set, but I am not too excited about it being my permanent gear. Sure, I feel it is good with its resists, ias, and +skills, but I feel like I could get much better gear. The key items I think would be best are as follows:

Belt:
Razortail to reach 100% pierce

Gloves:
+2 bow skills
20% ias
mana leech
resists

Circlet:
+3 bow or +2 all skills
20% ias
mana leech
resists

Bow:
Wizendraw with -35% (or as close to it as I can get) socketed with shael, perhaps upgraded to increase leech.

on switch:
weapon with lower resist charges

As for armor, boots, rings, ammy... these are all up in the air. I don't know what armor would be best; perhaps +skills and a -5% cold facet. I am thinking Raven Frosts for both rings for increased freeze, cold damage, and AR. I have a 10 second Eye of Etlich as well, but I may be able to achieve high enough freeze length without it leaving room for highlords wrath to get high enough ias to reach 9 fps without socketing a 15% ias jewel in the armor or helm. Without doing that I can socket another cold facet. You might have noticed I am going for max -% to cold resist while trying not to sacrifice +skills. Basically my plan is to use only FA. I want to have a high valk and possibly high decoy along with a well equipped merc to take all the hits. This will, hopefully, make it easy for me to cast lower resist from the weapon on switch on cold immunes (which I am hoping will rid them of their immunity). After the immunity is gone, the lower cold resist from wizendraw and facets will take them down significantly, and my +skills and 100% pierce will allow for huge damage.

The problem with all this is that I do not have Wizendraw (not even a bad one) or a helm and gloves like the ones I described and I don't know what armor I am shooting for at all. So, hit me with suggestions for armor and any other aspect of this setup, and, if you have a helm or gloves as those I described, I would be willing to trade pretty well for them. I may also need a razortail, I am not sure.

Edit: forgot to mention that I am on US East ladder

[ellemennopea]

Alright, so turns out you can't get ias on circlets (oops), so I may just have to get a circ with +skills, mana leech, resists, and stick a 15% ias jewel in it. With highlords I can still reach 9 frame attack. Also, I realized that +3 bow skills can come on magic gloves, so I might switch to +3 20% ias gloves.

[mgill1772]

this may work well for any non CI but its seems short sighted, I think you could be more powerful in diff uniques, heres a random setup that would beat that i think:

buriza
2 raven
nightwing
draculs
gloom
gorerider
atmas
duress

u can shael the buriza to hit next bp if u like, or use ias glove/ammy. I just hate mavs set, this setup is decent i bet, i just made it up, perhaps using loh and dropping a raven for ll would be nice so your curses dont interfere, then u could ed the burzia, or use amn and keep the raven. this at least gives u too good damage types as mavs is sooooooooooooo weak physically. I like xbow on FA because ias doesnt matter that much when u use cold attacks and strafe is decent on buriza at 13. plus look how unique you would be

[ellemennopea]

this may work well for any non CI but its seems short sighted, I think you could be more powerful in diff uniques, heres a random setup that would beat that i think:

buriza
2 raven
nightwing
draculs
gloom
gorerider
atmas
duress

u can shael the buriza to hit next bp if u like, or use ias glove/ammy. I just hate mavs set, this setup is decent i bet, i just made it up, perhaps using loh and dropping a raven for ll would be nice so your curses dont interfere, then u could ed the burzia, or use amn and keep the raven. this at least gives u too good damage types as mavs is sooooooooooooo weak physically. I like xbow on FA because ias doesnt matter that much when u use cold attacks and strafe is decent on buriza at 13. plus look how unique you would be

I disagree with you, though I was thinking of using goreriders to help take out CI with crushing blow. I don't want to use strafe, and crossbows are far far slower than bows, enough that I can't bear it. Also, I have just acquired a Wizendraw that has been upped to exceptional and has -35% resists. I said that I didn't want to use Mav's set, I think you might have misread, though thanks for replying. Anyways, my gear is coming together, though I still need suggestions for armor.

[ripsky4501]

I assume FA stands for freezing arrow. In that case, I wouldn't go with Atma's Scarab. Doesn't most of your damage come from the cold? How would casting amp help? An IAS ammy like Cat Eye or Highlords would be better.

[Shanksie1337]

Or an Eye of Etlich for the +skill, leech and freeze duration (if you didn't need the IAS that is).

[mgill1772]

I missed a lil when i read the first time, mainly that u want to use FA and only FA, so I'll try to convince u again

imo if your a zon based solely on the cold damage of FA your are gonna have hard times in hell, you need alt damage type, in this case the easiest is phy, there is an phy part to FA obviously as the attack leeches and has attack rating. the atmas would allow u to at least leech back the high mana cost of FA, u are gonna have to have 3 rows of blues in your belt with the equipment you have on there to keep your blue full unless u pump energy which is doubtful.

Im not saying that the setup i laid out there is THE setup or anything but I can almost gaurantee it will outperform mavs, i just randomly picked items that i have used before. there are many setups that will work good for FA, but that doesnt change the fact that relying one a single element will lead you into trouble......even as an elite i doubt that wizendraws damage is high enough to hurt a CI. So with the wand of LR your plan is to cast LR on every CI you encounter, it will work im sure but seems like a lot of repairing to me and slow andvance....let us know how she works out....will be interesting

and if your are breaking all the immunities why does your attack have to be fast? they will be all frozen...at least wear the nightwings if you want higher damage, +2 skills, cold damage and you get to have horns....:)

I see what you wanna do but i think you could be stronger mixing phy and ice. I def agree that you are gonna want 100 % pierce tho...u want to get the most outta your ice bullets.

u gonna max FA, CA, valk and then passives?

ARMOR,
+skill and res, socket viper magi
damage mods and ice, some res duress
all around good zon armor lionheart

but abandon my suggestions......is your heart set on using wizendraw, its base 10 bow, so its seems your options are either 60 or 90 ias, hmmmmm

u can ias the bow, ias nightwing, highlords and use rare +2 bow/20 ias, maybe start with that, add duress, raven, dual leech ring, and razortail, gorerider, or use viper magi and nats boot/silkweaves for more res/mana....viper magi does have fast cast (and open socket for facet) which may help with valk/decoys/LR as zons are slow casters.....to me leech is gonna be your area of weakness, so maybe just always be drinkin them pots...

sry if this is disjointed i wrote while working and phone talking...

[ellemennopea]

Ok, I am level 75 now. My attributes are as such

Str: 100
Dex: all points I get now
Vit: 50
Energy: didn't touch it

Skill Point distribution:
FA: 20
CA: 20
Valk: 15
Pierce: 5
everything else has one point in it if I have it and I have several unspent points that might go into strafe.

Current gear set up is:

Helm: shako
Armor: duress
Bow: double upped wizendraw
Ammy: Eye of Etlich
Rings: Raven Frosts
Gloves: +2 bow, 20% ias, 5% crushing blow, LL 3%
Belt: razortail
Boots: goreriders

Also worth noting are cold dmg charms, of which I have 6. It seems to me they each have base 2 cold length, not base 1 like I read somewhere. With this setup I get 32 base freeze length, or 8 seconds in hell, aka, enough time to sit around and chat if you want. Also, I don't know the cold duration on duress and didn't include it, so... it's longer than 8 seconds total.

My dmg is about 1700 for FA and 100-700 for strafe which I ended up sticking a single point in. I completely gave up on trying to leech. I was using Silks of Victor and manald and it didn't keep up at all, and I didn't feel like sacrificing gear for mana leech, so instead I just got a good sized mana ball (about 500 mana) and drink potions often. You are right, I do require three rows of blues, but it isn't too bad.

As for using only FA, it isn't really possible... well, it is, but it isn't very fun. Needless to say, a single point in strafe has allowed me to deal with anything in a single player game at a pretty decent pace using wizendraw (27-109 dmg), and if they are susceptible to cold then they go down without trouble. I've got 35% crushing blow and 43% open wounds, which helps a lot.

As for using Nightwing, I'd rather use Shako. Nightwing, even a perfect one at 15% to cold dmg, would add about 50 dmg to my attack and to wear it I'd have to sacrifice the life and mana that shako gives, which is an enormous chunk of both. I figured it assuming the 15% to dmg applies only to the base cold damage of FA, if I am wrong about that, please tell me.

As for why speed is necessary, I find I often am keeping groups frozen in several directions, or have enemies coming at me from two sides (especially in cow level) and have to shoot in two directions rapidly or die. Also, the faster the arrows fly the faster the groups die, and the cooler it looks.

I've been looking into getting a windforce on switch and maxing out strafe as well, as killing CI monsters is tedious. If my experience with WF is good, I might go on to build a strafer using FA to freeze monsters. The strategy being simply to get as long a freeze as possible without comprimising strafe's damage, probably by using a bunch of small cold dmg charms.

[Lunatic]

the 15% cold skill dmg works on your dmg after the synergies. So if you have 0% cold skill dmg now , and do 1700 FA dmg , that 15% would make it 1955 dmg. That's an increase of 255 dmg , not the "mere" 50 dmg of yours. The only time %skill dmg can be added to another %increase is with lightning / fire mastery. Cold mastery works totally differerent.

[ellemennopea]

Does it also add 15% dmg of the charms, duress, and raven frosts? I notice it says "+8-15% to cold skill damage" which would be less than 255 because 1700 comes from FA+all other cold damages. 255 (or anything close) is a significant increase in damage though, I will certainly look into testing this, and also getting some 5/5 cold facets. This also means there would definitely be better armor choices, at least for cold damage output. Duress gives 37-133 as well as crushing blow and open wounds, but an armor with simply four 5/5 cold facets would give 96-152 cold damage as well as -20% cold resist and +20% more dmg, or another 200 or so. All I need now is 5 perfect 5/5 cold facets, one to stick in a Nightwing, which I also need, and 4 for the armor. Let's see if I can figure my damage.

2094 from FA slvl 26 (after +40% from nightwing and facets)
about 300 from items and charms
2394 total cold damage
-60% to enemy cold resists

Beginning to sound pretty good considering the radius and pierce. I'd easily compare it to a fireball, especially against large groups of monsters. After a few pierces it would be practically equivalent in damage before the -60% resists, and it is probably hitting more monsters as well as freezing them. Anyone have five 5/5 cold facets?

[mgill1772]

well im glad i was right about the 3 rows of blues, its a very mana intensive skill thats way i think its always needs to be coupled with high phy damage, makin buriza and wf my preferences, but the -35 to cold res on wizendraw is cool and admirable to build a zon around, i just think it will always fall short of the big dogs. I was thinkn night wing would add more but hadnt ever tried it on a ice zon. fa with strafe is easy to play with mavs set but its boring, i think you can try to make a much more pwerful one coupling uniques with phy damage mods and ice damage together, buriza atma ravenfrosts, or wf.....i dunno, just one method of attack grows tedious anymore.

what do u have in the wizendraw....? I'm seeing 40 ias, this seems to low for any bower, consider highlord over eye perhaps, deadly strike, light damage, skill, ias

i cant answer those facet questions, I dont know all the orders of multiplying, i think u should get to next breakpoint which is 60 ias. facet shako may still be better choice for you as i agree the mana/life boost is great for zons who want to place statpoints elsewhere.

too bad doom isnt available in bow, its an awesome runeword, would make an insane bow...

[ellemennopea]

Actually, I stuck shael in Wizendraw, so I am at 60% ias already. The difference between 60% and 90% isn't that noticeable either, so I think that is where I will stay. I suppose it would be possible for me to un-socket the shael, socket a facet, and use highlords since the extra freeze from eye of etlich is overkill (I freeze for 10+ seconds, I've gotten a couple more cold dmg small charms). This would result in better phys damage from the deadly strike, the same speed, same +skills, better lightning resist, and that little bit of lightning dmg, as well as better cold dmg from the facet and more -% to enemy cold resist. Another option is getting a +3 bow skill amulet which would add quite a lot of damage, somewhere in the 200s I think.

I've managed to very cheaply get an 8% nightwing and several cold facets (+5/-3 and +4/-3), and though it's not the ideal gear it's still something to work with.