View Full Version : Help with possible hybrid
Hello, everyone!
I've started a new bowa, based on the fact that my previous one was messed up and not viable for the MF'ing task I had in mind when building her.
My new girl is now lvl 79, I've completed NM, and did some baal runs to level her up (initially on p8, now on p3, it was very difficult to kill baal on p8, it took me 3 to 4 minutes just to finish him off).
I maxed strafe, put 5 hard points in FA (mostly because I find the freezing effect invaluable in NM runs), 5 in Valk, 8 pierce, 1 in prereq's, and penetrate. Gear grants me +4 to ama skills, which, of course, doesn't hurt...
My gear is MF oriented, main weapon being upped Langer Briser, socketed with a shael. Currently have something like 320 MF, plus 25 on merc. Speaking of merc - he's might desert warrior, slicing and dicing his way with an upped/shael'ed Pierre Tombale, and added bonuses from Guillaume's Face, plus a decent armour. He gets killed only due to OK's, but that doesn't happen too often, I usually babysit him rather well. Same with Valk.
Now, Hell awaits... This build was thought of for an upped WWS, hence the minimum investment in critical strike. What really worries me is the low damage of the bow, but since it's the only good one I have (being on a self-found basis), I must stick with it, the above mentioned Langer Briser is ok, besides 57%MF, it has good damage (better than WWS anyway) and KB, but lacks in speed and much needed resistances.
What I want to ask is, given the fact that I've saved 35 skill points so far, would it be wise to invest them in the lightning jav tree? The thing that bugs me is that I haven't found a single decent javelin yet, and my choice for equipment is rather poor. I really need something to boost my DPS if this build is to succeed in Hell MF running.
Thank you for reading, any help will be appreciated.
Is this single player or bnet? I tend to think its the former, based on how you phrase your question...
You can do OK as a hybrid zon (bow and jav) using Lightning Fury, since the javelin itself is fairly immaterial to the skill and the skill itself doesnt require more than the 20 base points to be effective. Long as you can get any javelin with Replenishes Quantity, you should be ok. 20 points in LF will help you clear out large packs of non-LI enemies fairly quickly....works wonders on monsters that like to attack in large swarms, like Fallen or Maggots or Ratmen. I'd invest a few more points in Pierce too, so your javelin's more likely to hit multiple enemies and double or triple your LF triggers.
Ideally though you'd want to find a Titan's Revenge...its not unrealistic to expect you'll find one in SP, its not exceedingly rare. That will give you a BIG boost to your LF damage and all-around effectiveness; that should be what you "plan" to use if you go with javs.
I think you'll find that going the hybrid route will help you increase your character's versatility. LS is an excellent single target and PI killer, and LF can handle dense packs of monsters. Strafe can handle the other situations better. The only problem with this is that it doesn't increase your bow's dmg output. I think upgraded WWS should have enough damage output that you shouldn't have to worry about it.
About decent javelins: anything will work reasonably well, even the cracked ones. However, you will have 2 problems- one is mana leech (you will always run out after a few tosses), the other is that you will have to constantly replenish your javelins. For a hybrid, these aren't big problems, so you can use a single strafe or multi to get your mana bulb filled, and you will be mixing up bow and javelin attacks, so you won't have to go back to town as often as a pure LF zon would. Still I would recommend a replenishing quantity weapon, as those are easy enough to find from Malah. To solve the leech problem, you will need a very high damage weapon. This is why Titan's is so popular because it has those, as well as many other invaluable mods. If you play on bnet, I'd highly recommend trying to trade for one (only a few pgems for a non-eth one), as it really makes things a lot easier.
Thank you a lot for your answers. Sorry for not being clearer: I play vanilla SP 1.12, self-found. Believe me when I say there were no DECENT javelins in sight, and I DO play a lot, especially NM runs, since I had my computer brainwashed and started from scratch. That is the reason I want an MF character, now I know socrs are the more popular option for this, but I really feel more at ease with my amazon, it's slow, but, the way I play, very safe.
I do have some mid to low level gear that is decent for an ama: razortail (right now using goldwrap for MF), so 9 into pierce will do, Tal's mask, that should solve my leech problems, raven frost, some good rare dual leech + resists rings, or bahamut's ring of something, to increase the mana pool if that turns out to be a problem, cat's eye ammy, or, again, nice ammy's with high + res, IK gloves, belt, boots, gore riders, waterwalk, a.s.o. Nice charms as well, with plenty of res, life, MF, no complaints here. No gheed's though :(
One more question, since, due to your encouragements, I'm really tempted to go hybrid now: my choice for shields is, in fact, not too much of a choice - three options here (I couldn't find one single moser's so far!): Stormchaser (added puny lit damage and good LR), or Wall of the Eyeless, or some shield with os I could fill with pDiamonds for resists. What should I do?
Thank you again very much!
tinncann25
19-03-2009, 10:39
I think you'll find that going the hybrid route will help you increase your character's versatility. LS is an excellent single target and PI killer, and LF can handle dense packs of monsters. Strafe can handle the other situations better. The only problem with this is that it doesn't increase your bow's dmg output. I think upgraded WWS should have enough damage output that you shouldn't have to worry about it.
About decent javelins: anything will work reasonably well, even the cracked ones. However, you will have 2 problems- one is mana leech (you will always run out after a few tosses), the other is that you will have to constantly replenish your javelins. For a hybrid, these aren't big problems, so you can use a single strafe or multi to get your mana bulb filled, and you will be mixing up bow and javelin attacks, so you won't have to go back to town as often as a pure LF zon would. Still I would recommend a replenishing quantity weapon, as those are easy enough to find from Malah. To solve the leech problem, you will need a very high damage weapon. This is why Titan's is so popular because it has those, as well as many other invaluable mods. If you play on bnet, I'd highly recommend trying to trade for one (only a few pgems for a non-eth one), as it really makes things a lot easier.
I hope by suggesting LS you did not meaning that LS is a better single target skill than CS. Because if you did, you would be .... off ur rocker. A few more runs I think you can gain a few more levels max cs and lf and you should be fine. However how is that valk doing at lvl 10?
In terms of shields, I would use somethign with resistance. Hopefully you will find mosers or something a little more useful than those two. A 3 pdiamond high block shield would not be a bad idea.
Hi amne!
I strongly agree with former posters who advice you to hybridize your girl. In your shoes, I would use those 35 saved skill points the following way: 20 LF, 10 CS, rest in their pre-requisites.
I would also avoid entering Hell right away and rather stick with NM Meph runs to build some more wealth. ~1k NM Mephy runs offer you really good odds of finding Titan's, Moser's, among other items that will allow you to journey through Hell with greater ease.
Finally, from the shield options you listed, I prefer the 3*PDiamond shield.
Thanks, guys, for your time.
@tinncann25 - I do not plan to go to Hell :fire: yet. My girl needs to practice the constant switching between java and bow, and I'm still praying that Baal will have mercy on me and throw some decent stuff, I reswitched to p8 for that. Just an hour ago he gave me LoH, which may seem pathetic to you guys, but I got quite excited Baal provided me with some means to finish him off quicker. Bit suicidal from him :whistling:
The Valk is doing relatively ok, needs a few recasts every now ant then, but it's not that bad, surely that will change when she'll take on the baddies in hell. She does ok especially because FA now keeps enemies frozen long enough for her to regenerate, that freeze length will be cut in half later on...
@Vox Dei - running Mephisto is not a bad idea, but I'll have to reroll the map, right now the WP is opposite the entrance in durance3. Strangely enough, for me it seems to be more difficult in disposing of good ol' Meph than his lovely sibling, Baal. I guess that is because I'm more used to the latter, plus I find the moat trick pretty boring. I will try yo heed your advice, but I don"t think I'll be setting players8 for Meph, at least not in the first 50 or so runs.
I was thinking of using a shield with 3 PDiamonds in it, on the bow side I'm relatively ok with +40 res all from WWS.
Thank you again. Have a beer on me! :guiness:
Found THIS two minutes ago. In NM!!! p8 rulz:jig:
http://s735.photobucket.com/albums/ww359/amnesiac0210/?action=view¤t=Screenshot017.jpg
Grats on the Ist :thumbsup:
I was thinking NM Meph p1 with a good map. The idea is to get your hands on a few more items as fast as possible (the best being naturally Titan's) and then move along. Later, Eldritch+Shenk/Pindle/Baal runs will quickly make up for experience not gained with Meph.
Also, once you hybridize you won't be feeling the need to moat trick Meph any more. Charged Strike+drinking a few potions should work fine.
Sorry to post here again, but I didn't want to start a new thread.
OK, Vox Dei - thank you for insisting on me farming Meph, he was good to me yesterday and gave me my very own War Travs (37MF, but no complaints here), while Baal, green with envy, decided to go even better and gave me THAT shako, the Harlequin Crest :cloud9:
I will post some images with it later on (photobucket is under some kind of maintenance or whatever), should someone be interested, especially since there has been a lot of buzz about illegit playing, and sadly I saw that even here, in the amazon basin... :no:
Other fantastic finds: T'gods Vigor (found it in Hell Pits, with my other bowa, no screenie though, as it didn't seem important to take a shot of a golden belt... :whistling: ), Tiamat's Rebuke (NM WSK), some skillers with + life (10-22, nothing spectacular) in NM WSK, of course, none for my ama, Tal Rasha's Belt, and some other items that will come in handy for other characters later.
OK, now my questions are: 1. considering that I don't suppose I'll get another Shako any time soon, and, of course, I would like to use it for other char's as well, what should I socket it with? Choices so far are: plain 14 all res jewel, plain fervour jewel, PTopaz, Um rune. I'm leaning towards the scintillating jewel, that "Um" is the only one I've got, and I'm not quite sure I want to "waste" the socket for 24MF from a PTopaz. Should I wait for a better jewel? Mainly, as I've said, I want the Shako to be useful for more characters.
2. That Ist I posted above makes me drool over two possibilities: a more realistic one: Delirium (for fantastic crowd control, and surely, +2 to all skills is delicious), and day dreaming a CtA, where Mal and Ohm are the only runes I'm missing :yes:
The fact that I found a Shako, and considering that Guillaume's Face is hard to beat for my act2 might merc, makes this a tough choice.
Thank you again for your patience. Looking forward to any advice.
Now, back to "farming" :crazyeyes:
Your last post would probably fit better in the SPF.
Anyway, Grats on the finds :thumbsup:
I understand your joy in finding the first War Travs and Harley, but once you dedicate yourself to farming you'll see that those are fairly common items. So, there's no need to justify every find. The 'buzz about illegit playing' is about highly improbable/impossible/newbie setups usually from first time posters in SP. For example: a Mat/Pat thread where there's a Iron Wolf using Crystal Sword BotD + Tyrael's Might + Dream Aegis + Ethereal Crown of Ages (2*Ber). Ridiculous example I know (I made it up), but it helps getting the point.
Just check what you need the most and socket the Harley accordingly. That will likely be resistances (I think you're still in NM, might be wrong though). If that correct, then I'd go with the 14% all res jewel and save the Um for the moment.
Hope that was helpful and good luck farming!
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