Quick question regarding hybrid build

[loyalpeon]

Hey guys, indulge me a second.

I'm thinking of building a hybrid cold/LF zon with the compulsory 20pts in Frozen Arrow, 20 in Cold Arrow and 20 in Lightning Fury.

Now from here on in, most suggestions I've heard suggest Charged Bolt Javelin thingy (name skips me at the moment). I understand this is to do with boss/high life creature killing.

My question is this - if I am to go a different route and max strafe instead of this, get a Blessed Aim merc and a good bow (with some CB on both me and the merc), how noticeable would the loss of the Charged Bolt thingy be? i.e. how viable is what I'm suggesting? Would equipment needed for a strafer be at odds with the other two, etc? Am I just digging myself a hole and getting rid of a great skill?

I'm gonna start by maxing the other three skills, so I have time to decide on all this, but just wanted to get people's imput for once ;)

Thanks!

[crawlingdeadman]

charged strike is the fastest boss killer there is for a zon. if you were pure light it could rival the killing speed of most other classes boss killing skills. when i think of a javazon i think of a zon with both cs and lf maxed at least

[loyalpeon]

I get the fact that it's an ultra fast boss killer - thing is, apart from those bosses and the odd ultra-high life monster, will i ever need to change from LF? Are those few circumstances enough to warrant 20 points in a skill largely similar to LF when I could be investing in a whole new skill?

[crawlingdeadman]

there is nothing "largely similar" about cs vs lf. they have very different methods of dealing damage.

lf = pack killer deluxe
cs = single large monster killer supreme

as for changing what i usually do is have the throwing type attacks on right click and the more melee type attacks on left click. after you've dealt with a big pack of monsters there are usually a few left. this is when i strafe until there are only one or two then switch back to cs to do the finishing off (if they're sufficiently tough enough otherwise strafe will do the trick). at around 5 monsters or less fury does very poorly for killing speed. the power of fury comes from it splitting and piercing. if there's only a few monsters it cant split and therefore it cant kill. you'll also find yourself throwing 3 times as many javs for each kill and that will cause your mana to drop dramatically. as for it being the boss killer of choice for zons it's not only the fastest, but it's also the fastest by far. there's no race here, it's decided right out of the gate.

you wont be wasting points in cs if that's what you're worried about. if nothing else get your bow side and passives where you want them, then put the remainder into cs.

[loyalpeon]

Alright - thanks for that thorough explanation CDM, I think I've got the pieces to the puzzle now. I'll take your advice and max CS as well, then have what little fun I can with the last 10 points or so ;)

All the best.

[crawlingdeadman]

i dumped my left over points into another cs/lf synergy but that's not always the best use.