View Full Version : Strafezon in Hardcore!
My younger sister has started playing hardcore with me and we decided to try a Strafezon. She hasn't been playing D2 all that long but I created an Enchantress to play along with her, and we've managed to finish Nightmare.
Right now she she's level 66 and has maxed Strafe and Valkyre. Her critical strike is level 8 so its 51% now, and she's been putting a few points into Dodge, Evade, and Avoid (they're all about equal.)
She's using Lycanders Aim for now with Tals Mask, Duriel's Shell, Credendum belt, Rare leech rings, Sigons gauntlets and greaves, along with a rare amazon amulet.
So the question is where to go from here! We haven't started hell yet but we want her to stay alive as long as possible! Besides the obvious get better gear, what do you guys think she should be spending her skill points on and what affordable gear should she be after?
She's using Lycanders Aim for now with Tals Mask, Duriel's Shell, Credendum belt, Rare leech rings, Sigons gauntlets and greaves, along with a rare amazon amulet.
Great ghetto gear, she should be able to finish the game with your help. I think her attack speed might be a bit slow. Has she invested skills in the cold/fire yet? What are her stats? Have you burned her socket quests yet?
ToasterStrudel
01-02-2008, 08:54
That belt that gives 100% piercing attack would be awesome for her, especially since I didnt see you mention any points in that skill.
Also Witchwild String is a great cheap bow.
I'm making a Strafer atm using Witchwild String...follow chipmc's excellent guide in the Amazon Forum Stickies which offers a wealth of items from entry level to rich as hell!
Ya, I would also suggest the Witchwild wiht (2) Shaels and then Up it if you can, if you cant then maybe stick to Lycanders until you can.
Second, going Freezing Arrow would really make the build/group diverse since you have the Fire from the Enchant its not totally necessary, but it is very good at crowd control, and in Hell that is a very handy thing to have especially running without life boosters like BO and Oak.
Pierce...it is really a "must have" more so to help keep up the leech as you need some of those arrows to hit more than once. It is also king with a skill like freezing Arrow. Now, do you need to use Razortail (belt wiht 100% pierce) um, no, but it would keep you from having to invest in it with skill points. Credendum belt is a very solid item btu it jsut might be worth the switch.
LoH (Laying of Hands) is my favorite set of glooves for most attackers. Then get a set of nice boots, Rare or Nats, something to help wiht resists, or even Gores. You could also try crafting glooves like Hit Power ones for knockback.
Duriels is solid, but if you have some runes laying around may a Smoke or Duress or other could do better IF you go to a Witchy later since you get more resists on that bow.
If you intend to stay Enchanter + Strafer all the way and choose to not go wiht like Freezing arrow and went more passives like an even more pawerfull valk you might look at a Harmony bow on switch for Fire Immunes. Its also nice having that Vigor to switch to so you can GTFO of dodge when needed!
Do what you can with the speed, remember, she is locked in place until Strafe is over, so speed is King and you dont want to be slow. Strafer needs to "stick and move" IMO.
I know you didnt ask for gear stuff but I just felt the need to add....
PhatTrumpet
02-02-2008, 02:18
That belt that gives 100% piercing attack would be awesome for her...
No such thing... Razortail grants 33% pierce.
I haven't seen any mention of Penetrate. Unless she's going to be running with you all of the time (i.e. she'll always have the AR boost from your Enchant), she'll most likely need to max this.
Wolfedude
02-02-2008, 23:11
I am currently player a strafer in hell and she has top of the line equipment all the way down the line. What I suggest is that you invest in another skill for your sorc to help with the killing. A fully maxed valk will help and you should have a might merc for her and a holy freeze merc for you to help with the tanking.
It can be done but you are gonna have to play very carefully since the zon's resists are probably below 0 and you are gonna have to carry your share of the burden of advancing. I also suggest you run Baal in nm until level 70 or so.
What is "top of the line gear?" or how about, what is the best gear I can get assuming I don't have any runes higher than Pul.
Wolfedude
07-02-2008, 18:33
What is "top of the line gear?" or how about, what is the best gear I can get assuming I don't have any runes higher than Pul.
Top of the line gear is:
Tal's Mask socketed w/ 15% IAS jewel
Upped WWS socketed with 2 Shael runes
Razortail belt
Lionheart armor
Unique Battle boots
Dwarfstar ring
Ravenfrost ring
Highlord's ammy
Crafted 20% Ias, knockback gloves
You can trade for some of these items with runes in the Lum - Pul range. The gloves you will have to probably have to craft yourself because if you get the coveted 20% ias mod they are pretty hard to trade for cheaply.
This with a well euipped might merc and a high level valk will enable you to be successful. But to make it through hell a companion that can also kill and not just enchant your character and merc/valk will be extremely helpful.
UrbanHeroics
09-02-2008, 00:19
wouldn't a treachery also be a pretty good armor for a strafezon? It's got 45 IAS, 60 resists when fade triggers, and 300+ poison damage when venom triggers (and with a strafezon and 25% ctc that will be often). It doesn't have the stat points that lionheart has, but I would take the extra resists, IAS, and more killing power over that.
Harmony/treachery would be newschool. It's a bit odd thinking of the Witchy/ Lionhart or Smoke as oldschool though.:wink3: Both are very effective. The rest of the gear can stay the same. Though one could opt for an IAS'd Steelskull, shael/nef in the Witchwild and LOH for gloves. There are a lot of good ways to go here.
Mine is now at lvl 58 using:
Vampire Gaze (will switch to the buttugly but more useful Tals Mask!)
The Cat's Eye (if resists are too chancy in Hell i'll switch out as it is used for the Dex = Dmg bonus and the FRW atm...)
WWS with the obligatory 2 x Shael (duh! Not upgraded atm...need 3 more lvls...)
'Treachery'
Lavagout (nice AR bonus while I wait for LoH...might even keep them on!)
Razortail
Ravenfrost
Manald Heal
Goblin Toe (need Gores or Travs)
Vit has 100 stat points (just over 500 life atm :shocked:) and Dex is going to be pumped through the roof!
Only problem with my gear is I have no + skills atm at all...poor old one-point Valk gets bashed up a bit!
Mine is now at lvl 58 using:
Vit has 100 stat points (just over 500 life atm :shocked:) and Dex is going to be pumped through the roof!
Woose. those few hundred won't help you when the yucky brown stuff hits the revolving ventilator. Go pure dex and have a blast instead (bit late for that, but next time, yes ?)
</tease>
DelBoy
Woose. those few hundred won't help you when the yucky brown stuff hits the revolving ventilator. Go pure dex and have a blast instead (bit late for that, but next time, yes ?)
It's like a safety buffer, albeit a small one, so essentially i'm pure Dex as I won't put another point in Vit for the rest of her life! I'm not sure what it will translate as when I hit the high levels but i'm hoping Tal's Mask with pRuby and life gained per lvl will have me near 800 which is enuff for one hit from a random monster...champs etc I will just have to think fast!!
Lavagouts or LoH are may normal choices for Bow users. The KB is nice on the crafted gloves, but really I liked those more back in the 1.09 days and Multi/Guided and cows. Sure they will still do well in other areas just the bonuses of enchant and demon on the others is darn nice.
I also never use Razortail as an end game item, I use it mid game for sure so I dont have to add to pierce much early and get other things done, but once its time for Hell I always replace it.
Personally I can see all these working well for "reasonable" armors, not high end...
Duress
Smoke
Lionheart
Treachery
Prudence (could be nice in a good eth armor)
Stone (this one is interesting but the others are better most likely)
Little more pricey.....
Fortitude (LO isnt out of the question and if you get lucky its a worthy choice for damn sure. This runeword alone is worth Countess runs IMO)
Tor Land
12-02-2008, 14:43
OT: Lo on countess? Wouldn't you have to do a million runs for that? hehe
Sure, but at least its possible! Besides it is only (2) Ohms (4) Vexs or (8) Guls which can also drop and you can also get GUL and less from forges. Besides, Countess pays off with keys also although they arent high value to many, between runes and keys and if you cube runes you can profit alot on her especially if you are a crafter.
Anyone that makes a Light Sorc and doesnt run Countess is missing a fast easy big score chance! Hell I run her on my Trapper and that is slow!
remember, its like the lotto, could take a million, might take 1!
Sasuke42
12-02-2008, 19:48
I have 2 forts made from lo off countess. I just do countess real quick on every Baal/meph run I do looking for keys and from time to time I get a lucky lo or ist
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