Spearazon

[ShaiTanZul]

What weapon will be best for a Spearazon focused on the lightning skills?

I am doubting between the following three:

1. Titan's Revenge
2. Arioc's Needle
3. Eth Hone Sundan (dmg=147-305 en 45% CB!)

[itsPizzarific]

titans revenge is a javalin, but that would probably be your best bet (you also get a shield :O) .. lightning fury only works with javalins, not spears

welcome to the forums btw :)

[ShaiTanZul]

Thanx!

I just read the Lightning Ama Guide and I think I'm gonna use Titans and my eth Hone Sundan on the switch (45% CB for bosses :cool: )

[Dacar92]

Thanx!

I just read the Lightning Ama Guide and I think I'm gonna use Titans and my eth Hone Sundan on the switch (45% CB for bosses :cool: )


Good luck! Keep us informed as to your progress. Welcome to the forums, too! I hope to see you around more. :)

[xaser]

Thanx!

I just read the Lightning Ama Guide and I think I'm gonna use Titans and my eth Hone Sundan on the switch (45% CB for bosses :cool: )
For using Lightning Fury and Charged Strike, use Titans.
You can use the Hone Sundan on the switch, but you could also use the Arioc Needle on the switch to use against Lightning Immumes, and give the eth Hone Sundan to your merc, so he can always use it, and always get CB :). This way he can also help you very well with bosses and lightning immume monsters.

I recommend you to socket the Hone Sundan with an Amn if you use it on your merc and he has no life leech on other items, use a Jah if you are that rich, to get a great chance to hit without needing tons of attack rating, and 1 or 2 Shael for a nice attack speed. You should also try to upgrade your Hone Sundan to elite, he'll have very nice damage then :).
Example of upgraded eth Hone Sundan:
http://www.diabloii.net/items/v110/images/110_Eth_Hone_Sundan.jpg

If you want a very nice weapon against lightning immumes, without having to spend skillpoints on poison javelin skills, or bow-skills, get a Demon's Arch Balrog Spear (and maybe a Tiamat's Rebuke Dragon Shield) on your switch, and Jab with them. (you do not need to put extra points in Jab, and you already have it as a prereq.)

[ShaiTanZul]

Good idea to use the Hone Sundan on my merc and the Ariocs on the switch.

But should I also use Lightning Strike? Or will I practically only use my Titans so CS and LF will do??

[Chimaira]

Why not try them out and see which ones you like... That said LF is a much better "take mobs down fast" skill than Lightning Strike...And CS is godly against bosses and other big monsters...so LF for mobs and CS for single targets. I'm not sure if you know this... your post implies that you don't but all the lightning attacks work with both Javelin and spear...so there's really no need for spears...except for the crushing blow on Hone Sundan.. that is nice for bosses.

[xaser]

LF gives great damage for groups. CS gives nice damage, and the bigger the monster is, the more of the bolts he is going to be catching, so the better it will work. For CS some IAS would be nice, 20 or maybe 40, for extra fast boss-killing. For LF, Titans is really the best. For CS, you should still use Titans, because you will have a shield, for blocking/resists/DR.

The only times you will use a spear is for Lightning Immumes. Use Jab then, with a spear with high damage, and a nice attack speed. Instead of a big spear on your switch, you could also take a Demon's Arch Balrog Spear, which is a unique javelin type of weapon, with a high fire damage, or any other spear/javelin type weapon with lots of non-fire damage. Tiamat's Rebuke as shield would also be nice to add to you switch. Your valk and merc will also help, especially if your merc has might and a good weapon.

You could also just ignore Lightning Immumes, or leave them to your party, which means you don't even need an extra weapon. This means you could take a Thunderstroke as a weapon for extra fast boss-killing with CS, because it has IAS, and GREAT -15% To Enemy Lightning Resistance. Be careful, you should still use a good shield with it, or you'll end up dead.

[FrozenSolid]

LS is very useful in hell, at least for me. The mana cost is low and the dmg is very nice. The autorepair on eth titans is too slow for LF spamming so LS is a great substitute when the quantity is down low.

[ShaiTanZul]

I've been planning my skills and this is how I think my char is gonna look at lvl 90:

Javelin and Spear skills (65):
1 - Jab (against LI)
1 - Power Strike, Poison Javelin, Plague Javelin, Lightning Bolt (pre-req)
20 - Charged Strike
20 - Lightning Strike
20 - Lightning Fury

Passive and Magic skills (25):
1 - Dodge, Avoid, Evade
1 - Critical Strike, Penetrate (against LI)
1 - Slow Missiles, Inner Sight, Decoy (pre-req)
17 - Valkyrie

(After reaching lvl 90 I will probably spend points on the synergies for my lightning skills.)

These will probably be my weapons/shield:
1. Titan's Revenge + Spike Thorn
2. Arioc's Needle (againt LI)

Any comments are welcome!!!

[xaser]

I've been planning my skills and this is how I think my char is gonna look at lvl 90:

Javelin and Spear skills (65):
1 - Jab (against LI)
1 - Power Strike, Poison Javelin, Plague Javelin, Lightning Bolt (pre-req)
20 - Charged Strike
20 - Lightning Strike
20 - Lightning Fury

Passive and Magic skills (25):
1 - Dodge, Avoid, Evade
1 - Critical Strike, Penetrate (against LI)
1 - Slow Missiles, Inner Sight, Decoy (pre-req)
17 - Valkyrie

(After reaching lvl 90 I will probably spend points on the synergies for my lightning skills.)

These will probably be my weapons/shield:
1. Titan's Revenge + Spike Thorn
2. Arioc's Needle (againt LI)

Any comments are welcome!!!
Level 17 valk is a really good thing, but don't forget the +2 skills Titans give you. This means you could make valk level 15, and cast her when you are wearing Titans, so she will still be level 17, and you can spend 2 points in other places.

And Pierce, if you plan to use LF often, which you probably will, you should really get pierce, it really helps a ton. With level 9 Pierce (level 7 +2 skills) you will have a nice 69% chance to pierce. Above level 9, you get less % for each point.
If you use a Razortail belt, you get 33% more pierce. It is said 95% is the highest possible pierce, so then level 7 (5+2 skills) would give you an awesome amount of pierce.

Spike Thorn has a nice Damage Reduce, but don't forget your resists and your block. Socketing an Eld rune in the Spike Thorn will make the block 7% higher, or socket with a P Diamond for resists.

I'll tell you how I usually make my Javazons:
Javelin and Spear skills (45):
1 - Jab (against LI)
1 - Power Strike, Poison Javelin, Plague Javelin, Lightning Bolt (pre-req)
20 - Charged Strike
20 - Lightning Fury

Passive and Magic skills (37):
4 - Dodge (Dodge, Avoid and Evade all give ~40% with +2 from Titans)
2 - Avoid
4 - Evade
1 - Critical Strike, Penetrate (against LI, and pre-req for Pierce)
1 - Slow Missiles, Inner Sight, Decoy (pre-req, AND Slow Missiles and Decoy are useful for safety)
7 - Pierce (+2=9, 69% chance to pierce, so no Razortail needed, and space for String of Ears or Thundergods Visor)
15 - Valkyrie (will be 17 because of the +2 from Titans)

If you get the Den of Evil, Sewers and Izual quests on all difficulties, you will have complete these skills on level 71. From then on, I invest in synergies for CS (means also for LF, but doesnt add much damage). I never use Lightning Strike, because my Titans rarely run low, or I have extra Titans on switch (they're cheap anyway).

Notice that every extra +All Skills or +Passives skill means you could spend less and reach the same result, with Valk, Pierce, Evade, Dodge, and Avoid. So this means getting extra +1 skills from an item other then Titans will give you 5 more skillpoints to spend on your lightning skills.
For example with gloves I really love (shoppable at Anya):
Passive skills +3, 20% IAS (that is all the IAS I need)
Now I only have to spend spend 24 points on Passive (all 1, Pierce 4, Valk 13), instead of 37 and get the same results, but now I have 13 extra points on lightning skills, or have the build finished at level 58.

These will probably be my weapons/shield:
1. Titan's Revenge + Moser's Blessed Circle with 2 Perfect Diamonds, for a high block, and 63% resist to all. When I'm rich, I go for Stormshield.
2. Whatever... fast spear with big phys. damage, or something fast with high cold/fire/poison damage, or something with Crushing blow. My switch is not really important, because I always take the Might merc, which gives me more leeching, and he can kill the Lightning Immumes for me together with the Valk.

My character will have:
Nice killing speed for groups with LF
Nice killing speed for bosses and other single monsters with CS (should have 20 IAS from an item, more isn't needed, but would be nice if you CS/Jab a lot)
Have 75% chance to block.
Max resists. (Smoke armor, PDiamond Moser's and Rockstopper can help a lot and are cheap)
70% Faster Run (Titans has 30%).
20-50% DR (35% Stormshield if I am rich, 10-15% String of Ears, 10% Rockstopper)

This character will be able to kill fast, and stay safe, at the same time. Will also work very well in hardcore.

[ShaiTanZul]

Thanx!

I think I will put some more point in Pierce then. I think dodge, avoid and evade will do with 1 point so I can add some extra lightning damage.

I'll keep you informed about my progress...

[ShaiTanZul]

So far, so good.

Just reached act 2 in hell and so far everything is going fine. (Char lvl = 65) The only slight problem is the huge amount of Lightning Immune monsters I come across! Luckily the jab will help me through this...

Till now I have only put one point in dodge/avoid/evade, maybe I should put more points in them but I'd rather wait for a while now. First I'm gonna max Lightning Fury to max my lightning damage.

[xaser]

So far, so good.

Just reached act 2 in hell and so far everything is going fine. (Char lvl = 65) The only slight problem is the huge amount of Lightning Immune monsters I come across! Luckily the jab will help me through this...

Do you've got a might merc? And what level valk? Level 17 valk and Might Merc with a good pike can help you a lot with immumes :).
And keep a fast high-dmg spear on your switch, or a fast one with high elemental dmg, like Demon's Arch. Crushing Blow (on you, or you merc) will also help, especially with bosses :).

[ShaiTanZul]

Currently I am playing without merc cause he get's killed too fast and it costs me too much money to resurrect him every time. Anyone any good ideas to prevent my merc from getting killed?

Ow, and I was thinking of playing with the defiance merc to increase my (and my merc's) defense. So what will be better? Defiance of Might???

[xaser]

Currently I am playing without merc cause he get's killed too fast and it costs me too much money to resurrect him every time. Anyone any good ideas to prevent my merc from getting killed?

Ow, and I was thinking of playing with the defiance merc to increase my (and my merc's) defense. So what will be better? Defiance of Might???
Well, a Defiance could survive better, and also help you survive better. So if picking a Might merc would mean not using any merc because he dies too much, better take a Defiance merc, right? :) Don't forget, if he has lifeleech, which he should, Might would leech better, so that's also worth something.

And to prevent to get him killed... Try to give him a lot of defence (even more important with Defiance merc), life leech, and a high-damage weapon, because more damage means more leeching. Tal Rasha's mask is nice and cheap because it has 10% life leech, resists and extra life. You could socket his weapon and put 1 or 2 Amn in it. If he has for example a total 25% life leech (10% from TR mask, 7% from amn, 8% on the weapon), and he does 1000 damage, every hit heals him for 250 life!
You could also socket his armor and help with Perfect Rubies for some extra life. What would be really nice, if you can afford them, is giving him a Shaftstop and Vampire Gaze. That will give him 45-50% Damage Reduce, nice defence, 60 life, cold damage (chilled monsters are less dangerous) and extra life leech :thumbsup: .

Oh and when giving him a high-damage weapon, don't forget the attack speed, the damage of a pike often looks nice, but it's really slow, so sometimes a weapon with less damage but higher attack speed will be better.

[ShaiTanZul]

Ok, thanx! I think I will stick to the defiance merc. He is currently wearing (perfect) Crown of Thieves with 12% life leech and a Eth Hone Sundan with 3 sockets. I will put some Amn runes in it for the life leech and maybe some 30% ed jewels i have.

Gonna try it out!

EDIT: Hmm.. and maybe some IAS for the Hone Sundan

[xaser]

Ok, thanx! I think I will stick to the defiance merc. He is currently wearing (perfect) Crown of Thieves with 12% life leech and a Eth Hone Sundan with 3 sockets. I will put some Amn runes in it for the life leech and maybe some 30% ed jewels i have.

Gonna try it out!

EDIT: Hmm.. and maybe some IAS for the Hone Sundan
Eth Hone Sundan :thumbsup: , I would love to get my hands on one, and upgrade it :). The Crushing Blow is nothing short of great, damage and speed are not so bad, and 3 sockets is also great :). How much %ED is yours BTW? Put one Shael in, one Amn, and for the third socket, you could put an Eth in it for the -25% target defense, because mercs can have problems hitting monsters, especially bosses, and not hitting means not leeching, means dead merc.

Oh and please don't put ED jewels in it! 29 to 59 is the base damage on the item, so 30% would be like 9-18 extra damage, not really worth the socket, is it?An extra Amn would be much better, or maybe an extra Shael if your merc reaches another breakpoint with it.

[ShaiTanZul]

Damn! Upgrading exceptional unique items to elite is available on ladder only! :(

What do you mean with 'break points'? I have heard of it before but don't know what it is...

[jjwa]

Damn! Upgrading exceptional unique items to elite is available on ladder only! :(

What do you mean with 'break points'? I have heard of it before but don't know what it is...
This is an example of a list of breakpoints for javelins with a -10 base speed, such as Titan's. In the list you can see how much IAS you need, to make the attack be for example 12 frames long. Of course, higher IAS, means the duration of the animation of the attack is shorter, which means you attack more often.

Throwing Attack
-10 WSM -
0 IAS 14 frames
6 IAS 13 frames
16 IAS 12 frames
30 IAS 11 frames
52 IAS 10 frames
89 IAS 9 frames


Jab
The first duration listed is for the entire sequence. The second is just a calculated average length of each Jab attack.
-10 WSM -
0 IAS 23 frames, 7 2/3 average
4 IAS 22 frames, 7 1/3 average
7 IAS 21 frames, 7 average
13 IAS 20 frames, 6 2/3 average
18 IAS 19 frames, 6 1/3 average
24 IAS 18 frames, 6
35 IAS 17 frames, 5 2/3
46 IAS 16 frames, 5 1/3
63 IAS 15 frames, 5
83 IAS 14 frames, 4 2/3
117 IAS 13 frames, 4 1/3
168 IAS 12 frames, 4
280 IAS 11 frames, 3 2/3

Lists taken from:
LINK DELETED BY DACAR. THIS INFO SHOULD BE AVAILABLE ON D2.NET.
You can see sometimes 20% IAS extra would not help you, because you don't reach an extra breakpoint. In that case, get some more IAS to reach the next one, or keep in mind the 20% IAS is useless, and you can replace the item with something else.

There is also something like this for merc:

Polearms and spears with base speed 0 (Great Poleaxe, Ghost Spear, Stygian
Pike - or their normal and exceptional counterparts):
Code:
% ias frames per attack
0 8
9 7.5
20 7
37 6.5
65 6
105 5.5
200 5
(Numbers from here: http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=254070 )

This means getting 20% IAS on your merc (one Shael in his weapon for example) will make his attack 7 frames per attack, which is 2 breakpoints higher then his normal 8 frames per attack. Getting another 20% IAS will only get him 1 breakpoint higher. To get the breakpoint after that, he would need a total of 65%! IAS.

If you want to make him attack with 5.5 frames per attack, you could socket his Hone Sundan with 3 Shaels, and give him a socketed armor with four 15% IAS jewels, giving him a total of 120% IAS. But it probably won't be very nice for your merc, because he can attack very fast, but has no life leech, except possibly from his helm, and giving him a 4 socket armor instead of an armor with more def, life, etc. also makes him easier to kill. So just try to find a break point which is easy to reach without sacrificing other important things. For example 1 Shael, 1 Amn and 1 Eth in the Hone Sundan, 1 Shael to make the attack two breakpoints faster, Amn for leeching (top priority for mercs), and an Eth for -25% monster defence, so he will have less of a hard time hitting the Hell Bosses, because not hitting means not killing, but also not leeching. If you don't plan to make him play with bosses often, and you see he rarely misses a hit, you could put in 1 Shael and 2 Amns instead, for better survival.

Now you can see how useful a certain amount of IAS is for your merc with Hone Sundan.

BTW: There are also breakpoints for Faster Hit Recovery, Faster Cast Rate, and I think even for Faster Run/Walk. It seems to me most of the things that have animations that can be made faster or slower work with breakpoints.