View Full Version : New build idea or am I too late?
I'm bored with all the cookie-cutter builds out there so I keep trying new(?) ones. I made a bear sorc not too long ago and I love her so now I'm trying something with a zon...
The FroZon Plague build!
I'll be using the Ice runeword to stop my enemies dead in their tracks with a few well place freezing arrows then swap to some javelins for some Plague-tossin' action.
We've heard the nice story about how a few Amazons stayed in Harrogath and harnessed the power of Ice to slay even the most hardy of creatures in the frozen Arreat mountains... But what about those who saw the damages of decay and disease whilest Shenk lay seige to the highlands? Surely inspiration would come from that pox-ridden monster if nothing else! Well here she is, the Amazon with the power of the frozen north and the pestulence of the demon legions!
The gear...
Nightwing's Veill (+2 skills, +15% Cold skill dmg)
---- Socketed with a 5/5 Cold Facet
Chains of Honor (+2 skill, 8% LL, +20 Str, +65 res all, 8% DR)
Ice (Made into a +3 skill GMB --- staple of this build)
Titan's Revenge (Ethereal and Upgraded --- staple of this build)
Storm Shield
---- Socketed with a 5/5 Poison Facet
Sandstorm Treks (Ethereal)
Trang Oul's Gloves (?) (Extra psn skill dmg)
Verdungo's Hearty Coil (vitality boost and 15% DR)
Mara's Kalidescope (+2 skills and res)
Bul Katho's ring (5% LL and +1 skills)
Dual Leech/res/str/dex ring of some sort
I think the gear works out as I wont really need IAS on her (everything will be crawling with Holy Freeze aura).
Skills...
20 Cold Arrow (Synergy)
1 Ice Arrow (Pre-req)
20 Freezing Arrow (Our first main skill)
1 Jab (I figure this will be nice incase you need to leech really fast)
20 Poison Javelin (Synergy)
1 Lightning Bolt (Pre-req)
20 Plague Javelin (Our second main skill)
1 into all of your passives except for Insight & below on the left side.
You'll have a merc to take hits if you need him to. Also you'll have enough +skills from gear to even everything out.
Stat point Distribution...
Strength: Enough for gear and not a point more
Dexterity: Enough for gear and not a point more
Vitality: Everything else
Energy: Base
My reasoning behind the stat points is that your elemental dmg will be doing the killing for you. You have no need for Attack Rating as all of your skills (other than jab) with give off their effects reguardless of whether you actually hit or not. If I'm wrong about that please let me know!
With the huge boost to Vitality you can afford to be a bit sloppy in some areas w/o dieing instantly.
Merc Gear and type:
Andy's Visage (its perfect for mercs, lets face it)
Infinity (made into an Eth CV for pesky immunes!)
Fortitude (made into an Eth Glitched Balrog Skin)
I'm going to go with an Act2 Merc because he's popular. With this build I can afford to get him with a Might Aura to increase base damage. Any other choices? Let me know!
(if this build has been done before then just ignore me, but I sure couldn't find it!)
DaveTheGreat
03-04-2008, 23:46
I've never heard of it. Seems.... interesting. What about cold/poison immunes?
I've never heard of it. Seems.... interesting. What about cold/poison immunes?
Thats where our merc comes into play... I dont think I've ever seen one immune to both though.
KremBanan
03-04-2008, 23:52
Its been done before, give or take some items differences, with various results. My new one will focus on mana(and +skills ofc), I will pump mana beyond ridiculus, so that I can spam FAs, while poison does its job. Both FA and Plague is ranged, so I will not need high life(also, its PvM softcore, so its all offensive for me). I will also use a -35 Wizendraw for FA and eObedience Might merc for the bosskilling and it will be my physical damage for the build.
Its been done before, give or take some items differences, with various results. My new one will focus on mana(and +skills ofc), I will pump mana beyond ridiculus, so that I can spam FAs, while poison does its job. I will also use a -35 Wizendraw for FA and eObedience Might merc for the bosskilling and its my physical damage.
Fair enough... What happens if we add 100/5 spc x25? Does the psn glitch still work with plague javeline where it stacks and multiplies? If so I think I may have a winner (albeit a very expensive build).
KremBanan
03-04-2008, 23:57
Psn scs doesnt add to your Plague damage. It goes into the 'physical' hits.
Psn scs doesnt add to your Plague damage. It goes into the 'physical' hits.
Guess I phrased that incorrectly. Upon hitting in 1.10 and under with a ranged attack and some off-source (lets say a P-Emerald in a bow and a 50/5 spc) you would be able to multiply, not add the overall psn/time done to a single creature.
But upon looking around I guess that isnt the case any longer. I still think I'll be tacking on a lot of spcs just to make the toxic effects that much more annoying!
Why not use Bramble armor, will give you sick poison dmg. :)
If you don't need the extra cold dmg, you could also use Valkyrie Wing as your helm.
Why not use Bramble armor, will give you sick poison dmg. :)
If you don't need the extra cold dmg, you could also use Valkyrie Wing as your helm.
Ah, I forgot about Bramble, thank you! But then we'll have a huge space where the resists should be... So maybe as a switch?
Maybe switch out the helm for a rare +2 skills with resists? May be hard to find though.
Crown of Ages' str req may be too steep and it may be too expensive as well...
Maybe switch out the helm for a rare +2 skills with resists? May be hard to find though.
Crown of Ages' str req may be too steep and it may be too expensive as well...
I think I'll stick with the Nightwings for now. Otherwise I'd just use a CoA with two -15 req/+15 res all jewels.
What's with the gmbs these days. I just don't get it. You don't even have a physical attack skill.
Anyway, If you really want to go crazy and cheap you can use a 6 sock 6 saphire fast bow on switch with one point freezing arrow just to freeze the monsters. Then you use poison and lightning to take them out. It just seems like you may be passing by on the poison skills by using ice as I don't think you will be using poison often due to a stronger cold attack.
P.S. am I missing cannot be frozen or what?
What's with the gmbs these days. I just don't get it. You don't even have a physical attack skill.
Anyway, If you really want to go crazy and cheap you can use a 6 sock 6 saphire fast bow on switch with one point freezing arrow just to freeze the monsters. Then you use poison and lightning to take them out. It just seems like you may be passing by on the poison skills by using ice as I don't think you will be using poison often due to a stronger cold attack.
P.S. am I missing cannot be frozen or what?
I want the +3 to all skills that the GMB can give, I dont really need much in the way of physical as my merc will have the Might aura and gives a decent boost.
I'll agree that this isn't the cheapest build ever constructed... but I hate to half-*** things when I can afford the gear I need to do it right.
I'm not going the route of lightning because I consider it too much of a cookie cutter skill. I'd much rather torment things with poison and cold.
I dont think I'm passing on Ice? My explanation in my first post describes how I'll use its aura to my advantage. (aura flashing works wonders)
HellPlayer
04-04-2008, 15:19
A matriarchal bow can give the same 3 skills to bow tab(not to all, faith rw can add 2 to all) and is a faster bow with lower reqs, if you dont use strafe/multi is a better option as NASE pointed.
HellPlayer
A matriarchal bow can give the same 3 skills to bow tab(not to all, faith rw can add 2 to all) and is a faster bow with lower reqs, if you dont use strafe/multi is a better option as NASE pointed.
HellPlayer
Well no, he didn't point that out. But now that you have I'll probably make the switch. Thanks. (back to trading for hours... blech)
KremBanan
04-04-2008, 18:37
Maybe switch out the helm for a rare +2 skills with resists? May be hard to find though.
Crown of Ages' str req may be too steep and it may be too expensive as well...
Imo, a helm without +2skills is just wrong on this build. CoA, would be a massive mistake here. Nightwings is a good choice here imo, the +skills boost both FA and Plague + 8-15% more damage for your FA. Personally I go for Shako(for the mana), but thats just me.
BattleQueen
04-04-2008, 22:12
If you are spamming FAs I dont really see how different this build wd be from Icemaiden... The selection of your primary killing skill will determine your choice of equipment/socketing. FA kills faster but makes your poison javs somewhat redundant.
If you are spamming FAs I dont really see how different this build wd be from Icemaiden... The selection of your primary killing skill will determine your choice of equipment/socketing. FA kills faster but makes your poison javs somewhat redundant.
Read my method of destruction up top and you'll understand. I wont be spamming FA, it'll be a stopper skill. Shoot, swap and poison. It's more passive than active killing.
So far I have yet to see an ice/psn immune. But there are plenty of one or the other. Also the gear I have selected (I hope) evenly distributes the +ice/psn skill dmg. I've tried to make it as even as possible in both fields for a true-to-nature hybrid build.
I plan on building one of these for general play/mf so I'll be cutting back some killin power. Trangs is an extremely bad idea. 3jav/20ias gloves > trangs x1000000. Dungoes are useless. Ur a range char, the dr and life makes no difference. Put on a razortail and u'll experience atleast 20% increase in killing power. Also, u forgot cold dmg SCs. Without them, ur freezin arrow aint gonna stop anything for more than 0.5 seconds in hell.
BattleQueen
06-04-2008, 23:24
Hmm... u mentioned using an Act 2 merc with Infinity. Since poison isn't considered an elemental attack afaik, your poison-based attacks won't fully benefit from an Infinity-wielding A2 merc's Conviction Aura. Perhaps you could consider a Faith-wielding Rogue merc to help you reach the max throwing speed while increasing your physical damage.
faith is a very good choice, but then u realize ur FA aint really that strong anymore. Faith solves all ur ias problems, given that ur within the radius of the aura, likewise Infinity makes ur FA very powerful, given that ur targets are within the radius of the aura. Faith means u dont have to worry about ur regular act2 guy getting fried from IM in 2 seconds, Infinity makes ur boss killing that much faster(the 40% CB from ur merc+the -def from conviction will slice baal down to 33% in 5 seconds). Its ur pick. Also, if ur using -10 WSM weapons(mat bow, mat javs), u can easily replace faith with some 20ias gloves and 15 ias jewels to get a permanent boost in speed, but theres no way u can replace that lovely conviction and 40% CB.
REVIVED!
Ok, just self-rushed my little girl into hell so she can chaos. I've been toying with the skill tree and this is what I've come up with...
The Skills
Javelin Skill Tree:
Jab: 5pts (just to leach effectively)
Poison Jave: 20pts (maxed) 9038-10017/46 seconds - synergized
Lightning Bolt: 1pt (pre-req)
Plague Jave: 20pts (maxed) 5664-5813/10.6 seconds - synergized
Passive Skill Tree:
Dodge: 1pt (I'll make up for it in +skills)
Avoid: 1pt (I'll make up for it in +skills)
Evade: 1pt (I'll make up for it in +skills)
Critical Strike: 1pt (Not trying to deal physical dmg)
Penetrate: 15pts (I'd like to hit when it comes to up-close encounters)
Pierce: 1pt (I'll probably use RazorTail as other players have recomended)
Bow Skill Tree
Cold Arrow: 20pts (maxed)
Ice Arrow: 20pts (maxed)
Freezing Arrow: 1pt (I'll get +skills to help with durration of freeze)
Magic Arrow: 1pt (pre-req)
Multi-Shot: 1pt (pre-req)
Guided Arrow: 1pt (incase I ever want to pvp with her this is a must-have skill)
Strafe: 1pt (+skills will help and I just want it to quickly get off some Frost Novas from Ice)
I've also been trolling about trying to figure some way to balance damage between my two trees gear-wise. I think the following should hit its mark...
The Gear
Helm: Andarial's Visage (We get +2 skills, 20% IAS, and max our psn res - Plus its cheap. I plan on slapping a 5/5 psn facet in here.)
Bow: Ice Matron Bow (much debate has gone into the base bow and I've settled on a MB for the speed)
Javelin: Eth Titan's Revenge (...not really any better choices)
Shield: Storm Shield (I may make a 20/20 psn facet monarch later - for now I'll have a 5/5 psn facet in the SS)
Armor: Bramble (for the massive psn dmg boost with a CoH as a switch for sticky areas)
Gloves: Rare +2 Jave/ 20 IAS / 25 light res / 30 fire res / 12 cold res
Amulet: Highlord's Wrath (I like the +1 skill, 20 IAS, and Light Res)
Rings: Raven Frost & Stone of Jordan (self explanitory, right?)
Boots: Nat's Set (found a pair with perfect res 25/25 cold/light and I like the 40% r/w)
Belt: Razortail (piercing at 33 is nice, so is the +dex)
The Merc
Gotta stick to the classic here...
Act 2 Nightmare Defensive (Holy Freeze)
The Merc's Gear
Eth 8/8/20 Vamp Gaze (with an Um)
Eth CV Infinity (lowers def and it has crushing blow)
Eth Bugged Stone (yay for HUGE def!)
So as you can see I switched to mainly psn dmg instead of an even split of ice/psn. Still a nifty combo after the switch in power.
Charms
19/19 Zon Torch
15/20/10 Anni
20x 100/5 spc (about 3/4 with other mods including cold dmg)
3x 405/10 lpc
2x 201/8 psc
slayer37
16-04-2008, 04:35
Bow Skill Tree
Cold Arrow: 20pts (maxed)
Ice Arrow: 20pts (maxed)
Freezing Arrow: 1pt (I'll get +skills to help with durration of freeze)
Ice arrow here is for what exactly? IMO a waste of 19 skill points.
FA also has fixed 2 seconds freeze duration. The only way to increase this duration is through gear/charms. If you can get cold prefix/suffix scs then you're good to go. Eye of Etlich deserves special mention here due to its possible hidden 10 sec duration.
Amulet: Highlord's Wrath (I like the +1 skill, 20 IAS, and Light Res)
IMO, Mara's is better here with +2 skills and possible 30 all resists. The boost to stats is good also. Eye for the cold duration and +1 skill.
Charms
19/19 Zon Torch
15/20/10 Anni
20x 100/5 spc (about 3/4 with other mods including cold dmg)
3x 405/10 lpc
2x 201/8 psc
You benefit more from +skill gcs for PJ. Those poison charms only affect the ones hit by the physical javelin.
Ice arrow here is for what exactly? IMO a waste of 19 skill points.
FA also has fixed 2 seconds freeze duration. The only way to increase this duration is through gear/charms. If you can get cold prefix/suffix scs then you're good to go. Eye of Etlich deserves special mention here due to its possible hidden 10 sec duration.
IMO, Mara's is better here with +2 skills and possible 30 all resists. The boost to stats is good also. Eye for the cold duration and +1 skill.
You benefit more from +skill gcs for PJ. Those poison charms only affect the ones hit by the physical javelin.
I need some way to kill those nasty psn immunes, ice arrow as a synergy does the trick.
Look at my charm selection, I have roughly 7x 100/5 spcs with a cold mod tacked on currently.
Mara's is OK, nothing against it. I've already spent a LOT on this character and Highlords is just fine for what I need. +1/IAS/Light res will do just fine for me.
I weighed out the effect of getting java skillers and figured it'd be cheaper to go w/o them. I'm already breaking 10k with just the base skill levels, not to mention +skills from gear and the rediculous psn dmg in charms that I have. If I'm not mistaken psn charms still calculate differently than the psn jave skills and do dmg seperate from them. Thats what I want. Even if I only hit a mob 50% of the time, thats a LOT of psn dmg to factor in even after their Hell resists.
(right now my bowa has about 5k in psn dmg thru 405/8 large charms and 201/8 small charms - it eats thru everything that isnt psn immune)
Hi,
I think Slayer37 is hinting that level 20 cold arrow + level 20 freezing arrow + level 1 Ice arrow will work out more useful.
Cheers
*Pif
Hi,
I think Slayer37 is hinting that level 20 cold arrow + level 20 freezing arrow + level 1 Ice arrow will work out more useful.
Cheers
*Pif
Right, but the dmg would be halved if I did the math right. I'll go back to the lovely skill calculator again though and remake my zon in a character editor to see the effects.
-----Edit-----
Well never mind. Thanks for the info and changes made. My mistake! =)
I still don't get the poison charms. Lets see If I get this right.
When plague javelin doesn't hit, you only get the damage from your skills.
If plague javelin hits, your will get higher poison damage though only that one monsters that you hit.
Now if you change to bow side and you use strafe, you will only inflict your poison damage form charms if the damage rate per second is higher then that from your poison skills.
So only when your plague javelin hits, you will do extra damage. In all other case, you will either cancel one of the two, or your poison damage form charms won't transfer.
You see, I don't get it.
I still don't get the poison charms. Lets see If I get this right.
When plague javelin doesn't hit, you only get the damage from your skills.
If plague javelin hits, your will get higher poison damage though only that one monsters that you hit.
Now if you change to bow side and you use strafe, you will only inflict your poison damage form charms if the damage rate per second is higher then that from your poison skills.
So only when your plague javelin hits, you will do extra damage. In all other case, you will either cancel one of the two, or your poison damage form charms won't transfer.
You see, I don't get it.
Unless something huge changed whilest I was asleep for most of 1.11 (not b) poison works like this for ranged attacks...
Lets say you poke something and the poison from your charms is aplied. Afterwards you toss a javelin with a poison skill and the same mob gets a whiff of the poison cloud. You'll still have the poison going from your charms ON TOP of the poison from your skill. So it works like X/x + B/b = XB/xb where the charm is dmg/time and the skill is dmg/time. As far as I know this has always been the case with ranged attacks and poison damage.
In 1.08 and below for classic I headed a "squad" of bowazons with 6x Perf emerald bows and 100/5 poison charms. They couldn't be stopped. (due to a bug where psn dmg was added but not time IE: 100/5 + 100/5 = 200/5 and so on)
In 1.09-1.10 for the xpack I headed a "squad" of bowazons using WF and 100/5 poison charms. They couldn't be stopped either (due to a bug where psn damage was applied exponentially per hit-to-target with ranged)
Maybe my head is up my bum right now but my current bowazon (a Faith user) dishes out 4-5k in psn alone. 1 hit to an above-maxed res paladin of any sort will knock him down to far below half life in about 5 seconds.
So even if I'm totally out of this world wrong - poison charms will still make me more than happy for dueling. I'm keeping them. I want this zon to be the most noxious thing out there since a Rabies wolf.
slayer37
18-04-2008, 07:48
IIRC, the one with the higher rate (poison damage/sec) will always overwrite the lower one so you can't have two instances of poison working at the same time. In your example, once the monster is affected by PJ's poison, the poison from your 1st poke is overwritten. If you poke the monster again, PJ's poison will still do its damage since it will not be overwritten by a smaller rate source.
jakotaco
18-04-2008, 09:34
Problem is that while your poison charms add a bit less than 4000 poison damage at the cost of 25 inventory slots. Even an as small amount as 3 javelin skillers add more than 8000 damage to plague javelin, this at the cost of 9 inventory slots. (not counting facets and bramble in either of the examples)
The cold duration or the possibility of more life per charm is nice, but skillers will be the killers. (see what I did?)
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