PvP Charger Guide: The Runaway Train

[yetidiah]

A PvP Charger Guide: The Runaway Train

This guide is for a charger with insane damage and an alright smite to boot. It is not cheap I will warn you right now. After fighting many ES sorcs, bone necros, smiters, and other classes that can tank for a year and a day I decided on what I though was the simplest method, a potential OHKO. This build relies on charge to get around lay down the first hit then smite if it missed for knockback and charge again.

Stats:
Strength: Enough to wear a Crown of Ages
Dexterity: Enough for max block
Vitality: Everything else
Energy: Gets an honorable mention but no stat points

Skills:
Charge-max
Might-Max
Vigor-Max
Fanaticism-max
Salvation-1 pt
Holy shield-1 pt
rest into smite

Gear:

Helms:
Best: Crown of Ages Corona "Ber" "Ber" (requires 174 Str to equip our heaviest item str wise) has 30% Fhr +1 all skills up to 30% res all and up to 15% DR (31% after sockets), Try to get as close to perfect as possible resistance and DR wise, but no matter what get it with two sockets
Middle: Um'd or Ber'd Harlequin Crest Shako (good life and mana boost but doesn't carry over with BO.+2 skills and a little DR 8% is also nice)
Bottom line: Rockstopper Sallet (has 10% DR and 20-40% cold/light res, 20-50% fire res)

Amulets:
Best: Highlords Wrath wins hands down +1 all skills Deadly strike 20% Ias (for smite) and 35% lightning res
Middle: either Mara's +2 skills and decent res or a crafted +2pally skill ammy with res or Angelic Wings amulet if used in conjunction with one of the rings
Bottom line: +3 combat skills amulet

Weapons:
Best: a "Grief" (eth tir Lo mal ral) Berseker Axe is the gest for this build because it boosts smite damage, and has a better avg damage than "Breath of the Dying". Has deadly strike and -25% enemy defense (-12.5% after the PvP penalty).
Middle: "Death" (hel el vex ort gul) Berserker Axe it has high enhanced damage can be made in an ethereal weapon for more damage and has deadly strike. To slow to smite with effectively though.
Bottom line: Ethereal Death Cleaver Berserker Axe with a Zod rune it has fairly decent %ED high deadly strike and -33% enemy defense (16.5% after PvP penalty)

Shields:
Best: Herald of Zakurum Gilded shield upgraded via the cube (ko lem and Pdiamond ladder only) into a zakuram shield (for the smite damage boost) socketed with an Um, has skill levels, high blocking, and great resistances.
Middle: "Exile" in a high res paladin shield (vex ohm ist dol) the pub smiters favorite, can be made in an ethereal shield because it repairs durabilty, has a chance to cast lifetap, has a defiance aura when equipped etc. if you have more smiters and barbs around use this in conjunction with smite for the lifetap.
Bottom line: Alma Negra Sacred Rondache, has nice AR, +skills, and %ED but resistances are much more important

Armors:
Best: "Fortitude" (el sol dol Lo) in an Archon plate, huge %ED for defense and weapon, nice life boost (doesn't get affected by BO), +5% max lighning resistance, and a chance to cast chilling armor when struck.
Middle: "Enigma" (jah ith ber) in an archon plate, has 8% DR, +5% max life, the ever important +str/level and teleport which while convienient isn't really useful.
Bottom line: Shaftstop mesh armor, has decent defense 30% DR and 60 life which gets boosted by battle orders

Belts:
Best: Verdungo's Hearty Cord mithril coil, has 10-15% DR 10% FHR and 30-40 vitality (the life gained from this isn't boosted by BO)
Middle: String of Ears Demonhide Sash has 10-15% DR and 10-15 magic damage reduced
Bottom line: a rare or craft with FHR, life, or resistances in that order. top of the line if it has all three and you don't need the %DR from Verdungo's or String of Ears

Rings:
Best Combination: 2xRaven frost gives, 40% cold absorb cannot be frozen a dex boost and a nice chunk of AR
Middle: Raven frost and an Angelic Halo if the angelic wings amulet is being used for a huge boost to AR and the nice mods of Raven frost
Bottom line: Raven frost and BK wedding band, +1 skills and life (not boosted by BO) from BK and Raven frost's nice mods

Boots:
Best: Ethereal Sandstorm Trek Scarabshell boots, they have 20% FHR and 20% FRW nice and strength and vitality (life gained is not boosted by BO) boosts as well
Middle: Gore Riders War Boots these boots have all the melee mods one could want (deadly strike open wounds crushing blow), but because they lack FHR they fall below Sandstorms
Bottom line: War Travelers Battle Boots the only real reason to use these is for the boost to damage which gets multiplied by all of our %ED

Gloves:
Best: Bloodfist Heavy Gloves, has 30%FHR 40 life which gets boosted by BO and 10% Ias
Middle: Dracul's Grasp Vampire Bone Gloves, has +str, chance to cast life tap on striking and open wounds
Bottom line: Frostburn Gauntlets, the only mod really useful here is the +40% maximum mana to let us charge around longer

Weapon Switch:
"Call to Arms" (amn ral mal ist ohm) in a flail or crystal sword. Try to get the highest BO possible (+6)

Shield Switch:
"Spirit" (tal thul ort amn) in a paladin shield the +2 skills is all that matters here

Charms:
Hellfire Torch Large Charm, has 10-20 stats/res all and give +3 to class skill levels get a paladin one with as high of stats and res as possible
Annihilus Small Charm, +1 to all skill and 10-20 stats/res all. just like the torch try to get as high of stats and res as possible
The rest should be Fine Small Charms of Vita, they give 1-3 max damage, 10-20 AR and 16-20 life that gets boosted by BO

My setup:
CoA "Ber" "Ber"
Fortitude Dusk Shroud
Bloodfist
Dungo's
Sandstorm treks
2xRavens
HoZ zakarum shield with an um
Highlords
35/398 Grief Berserker axe
18/19 stats/res torch
20/17 stats/res anni
37x 3/15-20/17-20 small charms

I reach the 86% FHR break point, have just under max res before the anya quest, a 15k max damage charge without deadly strike going off (2.5k after PvP penalty), a 5.5k damage smite (900 damage after PvP penalty) and over 50% deadly strike. my life is over 4k after Bo and I have 46% damage reduction.

PvP:
The general strategy for PvP is to use charge/vigor to desynch then switch to fanatacism and go in for the kill switching to smite if it misses then switching back to charge after they get knocked back. I'll note some that you need a different method for.

Hammerdins: two types both of which are troublesome

Spammers: Much easier than their counterparts these hdins stand in one spot and spam hammers, charge them while trying to avoid the hammer field then get out just as fast as you got in
while avoiding hammers, 2-3 hammers will kill you so be careful

Desynch/Telestompers: these guys desynch lay invisible hammers and teleport right on top of you then spam hammers, probably the toughest opponent you will have so don't expect to win many duels against them.

WW Barbarians: Smite is your friend here, barbs have tons of health and hit had but thanks to the Berserker axe you have the same range so shift+smite can work. never charge a WW barb from behind if you feel you need to charge get in front then switch to smite. you are at a disadvantage against ww barbs too.

Charged Strike Amazons: these are usually more than a match for you because of your unstacked res, throw on a Tgods and switch to salvation to help take some of the pain out of them, try to get one in a charge chain (when charge hits it knocks back the enemy allowing you to instantly charge again) because they can still use CS when being smited most of the time.

Bowazons: charge around dodging the arrows and be careful of multi-shot, if you get knocked back you could be in for a face full of guided arrows.

Bone necros: you could try enigma if they bone prison you, but most of the time charge will destroy them as fast as the get casted. Be careful to keep them on your mini-map if the are off your minimap for more than 1-2 seconds be wary of invisible bone spirits.

Trapsins: charge around trying to avoid namelock, if you get stuck in mindblast spam try to charge out as fast as possible and get their name off of your minimap. most claw/claw have 50% or better block which blocks charge and smite so they are tough, another class you probably won't have a winning record against.

Wind Druids: A class your at a disadvantage with. they have minion stack and good damage and the best ones have max block. try to thin out the minions starting with the oak sage then try to get a lock on the druidto close fast then smite until he teleports away, rinse repeat and you might win.

For the other classes stick to the original strategy of desynch with charge/vigor switch to fanaticism charge in and if it misses switch to smite wait for the knockback then charge again.

Any criticisms are welcome, and if you have any advice for the other classes/builds let me know.

[The Cow King]

I cant see how this build can stand any chance vs ww barbs, boners or windys... a non retarded hammer will also tard you.

That pretty much leaves sorcs in pub environment.

[brokensvt]

Hammerdins: two types both of which are troublesome

Spammers: 2-3 hammers will kill you so be careful

Desynch/Telestompers: don't expect to win many duels against them.

WW Barbarians: you are at a disadvantage against ww barbs too.

Charged Strike Amazons: these are usually more than a match for you because of your unstacked res

Bowazons: if you get knocked back you could be in for a face full of guided arrows.


Trapsins: another class you probably won't have a winning record against.

Wind Druids: A class your at a disadvantage with.

No offense meant, but your dueling strategies make me LOL. Not very encouraging, to say the least.

[nex]

It seriously lack the depth needed to make it good guide. I know charger is pretty simple char, but still more detailed guide would be much, much better. Strategies are also a bit too simple.

[SmittySixTen]

To be honest, the gear, aside from charms, is almost item for item the same as the Smiter I made last ladder. I have to say, I didn't have any problems vs. anyone other than desynching hammers and smiters made specifically do duel other smiters.

The differences is that I alloted for a belt, ring, ammy, shield, weapon, boots, gloves, and helm switch to occur at any time and still maintain all my breakpoints. It really allowed me to custom my gear for any particular duel I happened to be having. Is it viable to say that you always have the chance to do so? Of course not. However, not giving yourself the option at very least puts you at a huge disadvantage.

That said, my suggestion would first be to allow for more swapping than just a tgods in for the Dungo's. It seems to me that one of your problems is that you seem to be taking a "one size fits all" approach to your opponents, which 90% of the time means you will have problems with ANYONE you're dueling.

[MysticDragon]

Eth Death Decapitator?

[kvist1]

here some modification for a charger which work very well:

coa ber -15req15res jewel/guled andariel/guiliam face
enigma (fort is out of question)
exile, st, maybe good def vortex too
grief ba and grief pb
botd warpike, death whatever you like
cleglaws gloves
verdungo/bugbelt/tgod
2 ravens/wisps/dwarfs
highlord
gores/res boots/spurs


few 20/5 to get your fire and psn up to 75 without anya
few 20/11 light
more few 20/11 cold
~15-20 20/30+ ar or 3/20/20

max charge and syn. rest holy shield, always have 1 pt salvation

this char is kinda monster. enourmous dmg, zero skill required, fast killer.

sorc: you cant ever loose vs any sorc. abs and win. 4k+ mana 95es can die in one hit, but for your safe go with shield for resist. charge with salvation aura till death, hard absorb for more fun ^^
nec: go warpike, guliam face, if want can use fcr rings. they die 1 hit no matter what build, most of the time you will win.
druids: exile setup, play like smiter, always try with charge is he smart or a gODLY non block druid ^^ if he have block play smite style. most of time you win. if he beat you nk him and tell him to delete, so you will have less hard opponents.
amazon: for java type you know... ^^ for bow type you know too .. youare smart ^^
traper: you know..
ww assa: guled andariel, maytbe antidotes for fun. with this good abs, walk mode, ~30k def you can risk few charges, but smite style will brng you victory. also range 3 vs range 2.. who win?
smiters: most of them are easy, you should have ~20k ar with prebufed demon limb so try charge, then smite etc.. they are not intresting. now the good one are the fun part. the problem is you deal ~150 less dmg than they do with smite. it doesnt sound a lot but it is. charge here can be almost useless, with hf, high defense and slow from cleglaw your charge have low chance ti success. try it anyway, desynch smite, with luck and good connection you may win. but most of the time you wont if they are good.
barb: second hardest opponent. you have good defense.. near 30k. i have duel 40k ar barb with that defense and i win but.. i was with smiter. problem here is teh same as vs smiter. bad to average barb you can win with tele smite, hf and slow from clegs. but good ones are hard. you will need about 3-4 more hits to do than a normal smiter for win which is hard. i have win one day vs good barb, next day with all same setup vs teh same barb i lost 5 in a row, next time i win again and etc. so basicly if you loose with smiter vs barb you dont have chance here too. if you win with smiter, you should win and with this char. if the duell goes not the way you want, prebo and use widow, make wonders. you can even win with bow only.
hammers: your bigest enemy. kinda. with luck you can win them as good as anyoe else cant. the pleasure of killing some godly unbeaten immortal gosu legendary hammer with 1 or 2 hits is what all this char is about. setup is warpike/death guiliam face and pray for hit. most of the time you will loose, and you cant do nothing about it, not the ar, not the dmg, nothign can help you. but if you are half idiot+ then you should win 30+% of the time and teh fun is hammer cant do nothign about it.

here advice for all chars vs charger: never tele ontop of a charging charger, its lethal.

this character is the best possible pub char if there are no hammers in the game. if you are satisfyed with non skill/brain required char, thats your char!

[SmittySixTen]

You have got to be joking...

[yetidiah]

Some things I realized I need to change after dueling today, Having 8 5Fhr/5Res small charms so you can swap gloves/belt or boots/belt freely helps a ton. Dungo's isnt that great, try to find a nice blood belt only use dungo's if you can't.

Have 10-15 5res/20life sc's instead of all maxers (the rest should be a mix of steel and fine of vita charms). try to reach 15k AR before an enchant. Two handed weapons are usable but I prefer the skills and res from HoZ, although a nice warpike will help with BvB's. one socket in the CoA should be a 15res/-15% requirements jewel, or um on the cheaper side. Desynch hurts more than it helps, if your enemy knows were you are at all times it make them play more "Jumpy" (for lack of a better term) and more prone to mistakes from what I have experienced

Hybrid sins need special attention along with shifter druids (res stack for venom/rabies/fireclaws). If you aren't one hit KO'ed but are about to die in a duel switch to smite before you die to help prevent charge lock.

Enigma works, just sub in Arachnids, magefist, and a FCR amulet to achieve a less slow teleport. 86FHR is required, if you charge into projectiles by mistake and go into recovery it really helps prevent being hit again. Sorcs are the ultimate prey of this build, with vita necromancers not far behind.

[[exile]]

Eth Death Decapitator?

I was going to suggest this as well. Two-handers should at least be mentioned in the guide.

[yetidiah]

I just don't understand the use of 2 handers, you lose res, blocking and defense and the ability to smite for a marginal gain in damage

[kvist1]

I just don't understand the use of 2 handers, you lose res, blocking and defense and the ability to smite for a marginal gain in damage

vs opponents like hammer, bone nec, some elemental chars (if the resist alow it) its better to go 2 hand since you have not what to loose, your block is useless and resist too, smite too. a good nec for example is always hard opponent but with good roll dmg with deadly strike even with his perfect gear, max block/dr and bone armor he is dead in one hit, while with 1hand grief you will need many more since if you dont hit with deadly but normal dmg after bone armor and dr he may loose something like 200 life.. same is with high mana es sorcs, low dmg may drain her mana but she can escape, regenerate and all start from begining, but ofcourse only if you have the resist to go 2 hand vs her.

[yetidiah]

alright i'll have to try out some 2 handers then

[jakotaco]

What strikes me as odd is that you often include "bottom line choises" that are more expensive than "best choise"

Why include them at all then?

[yetidiah]

because the best isn't always the most expensive

[Hyphy]

bad charge build imo

[jakotaco]

because the best isn't always the most expensive

of course not, what I wondered was why include an option if it's both more expensive and worse than another option. :laugh:

[yetidiah]

of course not, what I wondered was why include an option if it's both more expensive and worse than another option. :laugh:

because most of the items people with decent wealth have, don't think of them as more expensive etc. they are just the lazy mans way out if you don't want to trade.

[mephiztophelez]

I just don't understand the use of 2 handers, you lose res, blocking and defense and the ability to smite for a marginal gain in damage

coz you can easily crack 40k+ hits. (http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/2203/edeathdecapitatortv5.jpg)

fyi: thats a 1/2 synergised charge (max vig but not might) and a 95% Deadly Strike setup.

[yetidiah]

I have been playing around with two-handers (http://img225.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot005ug2.jpg) on d2pk (at 57% deadly strike), and they do seem pretty effective for those need an instakill classes (bone necros and hdins are much easier 2 handed, and it either 1 hit kills a barb or you die if he ends up with a whirl through you)

[Mythatic]

The gears looks really similar to a typical smiters in pvp, just different skills investigated.

Somethings that are missing that I think can be put in the guide.
Phoenix is not in the selection.
Range 5 weapons like Ebotd War Pike is also not in the selection.
Rare resists boots

You could also try mentioning Kira's Guardian/CoH for that matter as stashed gears for stack resists if needed.

Of course when most people refer as to pvp chargers in pub, the first thing they'll probably have in mind is a 2 handed weapon, at least from what I've seen/heard anyways.

I understand how your build is running though, but no where different from a typical pure smiter you see a lot of the times in pub pvp dueling games.

[yetidiah]

so I have some updates, two handers definitely deserve mention, but the higher range ones i feel are better (sorry eth death decapitator fans I just dont like this weapon)

CoA is the only helm I will really use anymore, I have two, one with 2xber and one with a 20life/15res jewel and a 15res/15max jewel the ber ber for dr the dual 15resser for stack

I like smite because it helps against pub hdins that like to always telestomp, and with grief you have good damage. two handers are for necs es sorcs (nonblizz) and desynch spammerdins range five is also useful for a barb if you bo before then swap it out for a nice range 5 weapon, the smite/ charge combo works well (smite with grief when barb whirls away swap to range 5 and charge)

with a good grief (40 Ias berserker) you can also invest 1 point in zeal in an attempt to block lock other characters even though the ar is pretty bad.

the hard part about this build is getting to the point where you can charge/smite chain enemy's. if charge misses switch to smite and the instant they are knocked back switch back to charge and charge in hopes for a charge lock. once you have a charge chain they usually die, but if they get out of it go back into the smite/charge pattern

I have found BO'ing then swapping the cta and spirit for a 2 hander is best for pubs as it offers the needed versatility to take on a multitude of characters.

[Mythatic]

so I have some updates, two handers definitely deserve mention, but the higher range ones i feel are better (sorry eth death decapitator fans I just dont like this weapon)

CoA is the only helm I will really use anymore, I have two, one with 2xber and one with a 20life/15res jewel and a 15res/15max jewel the ber ber for dr the dual 15resser for stack

I like smite because it helps against pub hdins that like to always telestomp, and with grief you have good damage. two handers are for necs es sorcs (nonblizz) and desynch spammerdins range five is also useful for a barb if you bo before then swap it out for a nice range 5 weapon, the smite/ charge combo works well (smite with grief when barb whirls away swap to range 5 and charge)

with a good grief (40 Ias berserker) you can also invest 1 point in zeal in an attempt to block lock other characters even though the ar is pretty bad.

the hard part about this build is getting to the point where you can charge/smite chain enemy's. if charge misses switch to smite and the instant they are knocked back switch back to charge and charge in hopes for a charge lock. once you have a charge chain they usually die, but if they get out of it go back into the smite/charge pattern

I have found BO'ing then swapping the cta and spirit for a 2 hander is best for pubs as it offers the needed versatility to take on a multitude of characters.

Yeah I could see having a range 5 2xhander weapon in stash or on switch with parties' BO would really increase its versatility in team dueling games.

1 point zeal is nice to have against casters with low defence. Just not against BvBs or Zealots/Smiters with 20-30K+ Defence.

Also, having 1 point in Holy freeze can be really helpful, for zons, nking in public bm duels or for other usages.

[Gimmershred]

thanks for the guide, i made a pure 2h charger with edeath decapitator.
I use coh, coa ber/ber, hl, ravens, hsarus belt boots and triple res gloves.
Chargedamage is 8-24k, with ds not counted. It's a funny char, although vs block you are pretty screwed indeed.
Only thing that's weird is that i need more then 1 hit vs pretty many chars.
It's amazing how many people get mad at this char. Although i must say it's hard to resist charging out of nowhere and hit like a freight train. This build really lets the evil part of you shine.