building a charged striker...

[vrot]

I'm planning to build a charged strike zon (PvM) and I've got a few questions...

Do I need AR and therefore penetrate?

I was considering adding CB to help with light immunes, but if charged strike works without hitting, then I'll think of something else to use

How important are resists vs + skills. There is no way I can afford COH but I was thinking peace, then I can save on points in valk too (but then I would need AR to hit right?). Or should I go with smoke for resists? As you can tell I'm on an average budget

For skills I was thinking:
max: CS, LF, (which other synergy?)
sprinkling: D, A, E
1 valk (If I use peace)
then penetrate as required?

Thanks for any help

[BlushNine]

Do I need AR and therefore penetrate?


I was considering adding CB to help with light immunes, but if charged strike works without hitting, then I'll think of something else to use

These 2 questions are somewhat related. When you hit something with Charged Strike 2 things happen.

1. Your Amazon tries to connect her wooden javelin with the monster you targetted. You might hit or you might miss depending on the usual factors for chance to hit such as the level of your Amazon and the level of the monster, and Attacking Rating.
2. Your Amazon also releases several Charged Bolts at the same time. Attack Rating does not affect the Charged Bolts chance to hit. They will always hit.


If your Attack Rating is really low You will not hit that often with the wooden javelins and you will not do physical damage, but you will still do lightning damage. Any effect that requires a physical hit such as Mana Steal, Life Steal, Crushing Blow, Deadly Strike, Critical Stike, etc. will only happen if your wooden javelins hit. The Charged Bolts will still hit regardless of your AR. This is why there are 2 lines of numbers next to your Charged Strike damage box when you open your Character Sheet. The first is your Physical damage you will deal, IF it hits. The second is the lightning damage that each of the Charged Bolts will deal.

So do you need AR with Charged Strike? No not really. Do you want AR? You probably do. Just as you probably want some form of Life Steal and Mana Steal somewhere on some piece of gear your Amazon wears. Otherwise you will be drinking potions very often.


How important are resists vs + skills. There is no way I can afford COH but I was thinking peace, then I can save on points in valk too (but then I would need AR to hit right?). Or should I go with smoke for resists? As you can tell I'm on an average budget


I would recommend more resistances. Keep in mind that you need to be in melee range of your targets for Charged Strike, unless you are farcasting. Several things that make this more and less dangerous.

1. More monsters will be able to make an attempt at hitting you.
2. Bosses that are Fire Enchanted and Cold Enchanted explode when they die and do alot of elemental damage. You can avoid this when you are using a ranged skill, but Charged Strike is not.
3. You have a shield. Shields are good at performing 2 important functions. Blocking. Resistances. Any shield you choose with the exception of runewords, can be socketted with a Perfect Gem for more resistances.

Peace is not that good. Level 15 Valkerie will only cast on 2% of times that something hits you. It will not give you +15 levels to your Valkerie casting spell. I would go with Smoke if that is what you can afford. Smoke is an excellent budget resistance armour. So are Skin of the Viper Magi and Duriel's Shell. Slightly more expensive is Lionheart.


For skills I was thinking:
max: CS, LF, (which other synergy?)
sprinkling: D, A, E
1 valk (If I use peace)
then penetrate as required?

Thanks for any help

The synergies for CS and LF are the same as shown here (http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj233/Blush009/ChargeStrike.jpg).

[synx]

Get a windforce on switch, and put one point in guided arrow for unbreakable lit immunes.

Or get a widowmaker, and put zero points in guided arrow for unbreakable lit immunes.

[HellPlayer]

just to add one cheap armor option, the naj's light plate have 1 skill 25resist all and a nice life boost.
HellPlayer

[BlushNine]

Ah yes. Forgot about that one. Unfortunately two things that make this armour forgettable. Despite it's name its anything but light, or medium for that matter, it's heavy armour. And its not a common drop. Not many people stock it for trade either. Good thing it's got -60% requirement or you would need 196 Str to wear it lol. And to think it comes with a staff and circlet. This Naj fellow must be a mage that works out at the gym often. What were they thinking when they made some of these sets.

It's TC78 so Mephisto can barely drop it but its most unlikely that he will pick this treasure class. You'll have better luck getting someone in Act4 or 5 to drop it.

[Ugla]

In my opinion, dedicated charged-striker is basically a pure lightning zon with enough IAS to hit the 7-frame CS. That makes 'Treachery' the top armor choice - you will take a huge advantage of CtC Fade when going melee. I would omit both Avoid and Evade to prevent unnecessary interruptions. Note that Dodge is still very useful against various explosions, as well as heavy melee hits..

[vrot]

Thanks for all the replies. It gives me a lot to think about. What is the general feeling about valk? Is one neccesary? My feeling is it would help with light immunes, but the point investment will hurt

[Ugla]

Though it may be apparent from my last post, I better stress that part - you must take Avoid (and Evade) in order to have a Valkyrie. I doubt the issues with Avoid are worth it.. You may get that 1pt in Decoy if you feel you need some distraction (I woudn't call it a tank :grin: ) See my replies in a similar thread below, and the related link.

[vrot]

Okay, thanks for that. Regarding the comment on attack speed, looking at the german ias calculator (I’m assuming I use “standard” attack?) it says one needs 52 % IAS for 10 frames and 89 % IAS for 9 frames. This is with thunderstroke or titans. No mention of 7 frames anywhere...

[Ugla]

It's because "standard" attack with javelins gives the throwing breakpoints (same for LF). If you want to get normal melee attack (same for CS), you must seek a thrusting weapon with the same base speed (Legend Spike, IIRC) and check its "standard" breakpoints.

You can also save the trouble and just look inside my guide (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=601100) I've tried to put all this technical info together in one place, but nobody seems to use it, if only for this sole purpose :rolleyes: *sigh*

[vrot]

thanks for the link. Gave me even more to think about...