Hardcore Freezing Zon Build (help needed)

[Igor Potapov]

Iarde The Amazon

She is level 62 at the moment. Untwinked Hardcore.

Goal of skill points’ allocation:

*Max Freezing Arrow
*Max Cold Arrow
*Max Valkyrie
Max Decoy
*1 in all passives
1 in Multiple Shot

* - skills at the moment.

Cold Immune monsters killing:

Use Multiple Shot with good bow, which has chance to cast amplify damage, open wounds, prevent monster heal, or something other good property. Poison damage charm to prevent monster healing. Utilize Inner Sight to fix some AR problems of MutiShot. Let the merc, Valkyrie and decoy to do hard job.
The longest poison duration, 6 seconds, has Pestilent Small (item level 88), Large (item level 66) or Grand (item level 42) Charms or Small (item level 44), Large (item level 33) or Grand (item level 21) Charms of Anthrax.

Can you, guys and ladies, help me to make her Guardian? The question is what is your opinion on it? Keep in mind, that I play untwinked and don’t use any unique/set items except weapons, rings and amulets. Javelin skill tab is also banned. Runewors are welcomed, however I doubt I can find any rune above Lem.

Thank you very much in advance!

[Incompetent]

If you're trying to make a super-tough Valkyrie, points in Dodge/Avoid/Evade would be a good idea (unless you've got a ton of +skills, which I doubt from your description). In fact I'd recommend some D/A/E for yourself in HC, as you want your Ama to be as resilient as possible.

[henry_hector]

Well first off maxing decoy is a huge mistake. If you want to make a hardcore pvm frostmaiden,
max - cold arrow, freezing arrow, multi-shot
put 5-10 points into valk
1 point into ice arrow
and 1 to all other passive skills
Next you'll need about 150+ IAs and FRW
You can sacrfice all your other gear for speed, because when done right you shouldn't get hit at all.
put 9 points into pierce and wear razortail belt, give 100% pierce.
Pierce is one of the most important skills to a bowazon. But what i think makes it so neccasary is that because FA does splash damage it will splash every time it hits a target. So you can do 2500 damage to the targets the arrow hits and then do 1500 damage to the monsters around the target, and then when the arrow pierces the second monster which already took 1500 damage from the splash takes 2500 from the arrow and cold damage, and the monsters around him that already took 1500 splash damage take another 1500 splash damage. So it like multipling your attack by the number of monsters you hit, per arrow, per pierce. And with high IAS and mana leech this build will help you take down monsters and bosses easily. Multi for cold immunes and FA for PI. As for AR, i suggest putting just enuff points into streght to wear the item you want, and putting everything else into dex.
This gives you a huge AR and damage boost, and if you still want more AR stick a few points into penetrate.

[nebby]

As for AR, i suggest putting just enuff points into streght to wear the item you want, and putting everything else into dex.
This gives you a huge AR and damage boost, and if you still want more AR stick a few points into penetrate.

Mostly, henry_hector is right. I've made a few frostmaidends over time (from 1.07 on), and I only play HC/pubby. Some points to re-emphasize:

1) don't bother with maxing decoy- at level 20 your valk will be plenty strong enough to hold her own without that. You WILL want your D/A/E slkills to be @ ~lvl 9-10 (after +skills), this is where they start to taper off. If your valk dies, recast her. You will need some pretty decent mana leech anyway to keep the FA's pumping out.

2) MS is nice, but strafe can also work, if you know how to place yourself.

3) 100% Pierce is a MUST. If not 100, then as high possible.

4) for HC, I would not recommend leaving your vit at base, and only pumping dex. In HC, sometimes, the stray arrow/CB/lightning/etc WILL hit you, regardless of your D/A/E and positioning skills, even if only due to lag. You can't play the "glass canon" in HC very long without the inevitable happening.
So, in addition to hording small vita charms like no tomorrow, you might want some added vitality, unless your equipment is perfect.

5) On equipment: I won't say this is an equipment-dependent build, but it will be a LOT easier if you have the following items: (a) a good 10-12sec Eye of Etlitch. The freeze time isn't listed but is related to the %life steal (b) several cold charms (c) plenty of mana leech from items (vamp gaze would be ideal) (d) items which enhance piercing & cold damage- the dreaded buriza can't be beat for this- Remember- it's not really shooting speed that will do it for you, it's freeze time. When the monsters are frozen, you can take all the time you want to shoot them.

6) AR is important for your follow-up attack (MS/strafe), but FA is auto-hit. Keep that in mind with your skill balance (some Penetrate is still a must, but if you don't max it, you will be OK).

7) don't try to duel with her. She will die; they will be wearing Ravenfrost.

8) read Freya's guide. Lists much better the ins & outs of Frostmaidens.

good luck & enjoy!

edit: I just noticed your equipment rule. Nevertheless, the items I listed are easily traded for, as they are not that rare. But, you can also get by with some really good rares (circlets, rings, ammys, boots, and gloves in particular).

[nebby]

mistake: FA is not autohit, but has a big bonus to AR anyway, so it seems to hit pretty much all the time.

[Igor Potapov]

Thanks all!

I’ll sum all suggestions:

1) Points in Avoid, Dodge and Evade are better for Valkyrie that points in Decoy.
2) Max Multiple Shot is good skill to kill Cold Immunes (CI).
3) Max Strafe is also good skill for CI (even in HC?!).
4) Using good Eye of Etlich and some cold small charms are VERY good idea (I have them!).

Did I get it right?

A bit about equipment. I play untwinked, however I successfully found 8sec Etlich’s Eye, Wizendraw (-33% to enemy cold res) and Kuko Shakaku for CI.

Thanks again!

@nebby: Splash damage of FA always hits. Just try it yourself.

[Liessa Wyrmbane]

• Base level Inner Sight does nothing in Hell.
• I think Strafe > MS at least in your case. Both Strafe and FA require similar positioning.
• If you don't hit, you don't pierce. Even with FA. AR should not be neglected.
• Base vita is viable in HC, but I wouldn't recommend it untwinked.
• Remember that FA drains your mana fast!
• If you won't be able to get Razortail, pump Pierce. Like Nebby said, Pierce = good

[Igor Potapov]

Yep. I have very big mana problem. She has around 200 mana ATM, though I can add 100 more if I replace my Nagelring with magic mana ring, which I found recently. I don’t want to pump Energy because it is HC. I don’t know any way to increase my mana and don’t lose my resistance on equipment. I hope I’ll balance my equipment to be able use two magic 100 mana rings and two 50 mana grand charms. I feel she’ll always be blue potions addict anyway. :)

I always thought that MultiShot is safer in HC than Strafe, isn’t it?

She is level 65 now, so I hope she’ll get 20 more skill points to spend soon. It leaves me several option skills to pump:
1) Strafe;
2) Multiple Shot;
3) Penetrate and pierce equally;
4) Dodge, Avoid and Evade equally.

Which one is better?

BTW Iarde spent a lot of hours on the last weekend on NM Andy runs. She found a lot of resistances on rare gloves, belts, boots, and magic charms of different sizes. She also found Eye of Etlich (8 sec duration) and 16 Casan’s damn rings. :D

@Liessa Wyrmbane: I play my Zon and Sin in team-like style. There was Pal in the team too, however he is dead now.