 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion Groups Platforms PCXboxPlayStationNintendoGames ActionStrategyRole Playing GamesSimulatorsSport Games |
Game Forum / Role Playing Games / Diablo 2 / July 2008Anyone made a WWS Strafer?
During the final days of the last ladder I upped a Witchwild String and wanted to decide what to do with it. I don't have a bow zon, so I thought maybe I could make one. I know the damage isn't immensely high on it, but with the c2c Amp and high deadly strike, it should do okay. This character will be primarily PvM, and I was wondering if anyone else has made one, and what route they went with skills? I'm thinking max Strafe, GA, Penetrate, and then divide the rest among the passive/magic tree, probably enough for lvl 17 valk, 12 in all the dodge skills, ~10 in pierce, is that what you guys would do or would you spec into another attack? Even if not speccing into another attack, is it worth spending 3 points to get freezing arrow? I know it's freeze duration doesn't increase with more points, so I could use it as a 1 point defensive skill perhaps? Likewise, out of boredom, I'm probably going mostly dex(simply cause ALL my chars other than my nova/ES sorc pump vita and I want something different). I'm aiming for 8/2 fpa strafe speed(105 ias needed), which I should be able to hit with my gear choices, and am hoping with Amp, DS, high dex, plus extra ED from armor and sockets I can still make an effective killer. Gear I'm aiming for is: Upped WWS(duh, prolly socket it with 2 ED/IAS jewels) Giant Skull(kback, strength, socket it with 2 res/ias jewels) Fortitude(massive damage, res, high def, life, awesome for bowzons in general) Rare gloves(+2 passive/magic, 20 IAS, 15 str, 5% AR bonus, and I forget what else) Boots I'm not sure, probably War Travs(damage, str, vita), any better choices? Nosferatu's Coil(leech, str, IAS) Ravenfrost(Dex, AR, CBF) Dual leech rare ring(hopefully with res/stats, but I'm not sure what I have offhand) Highlords or Cat's Eye(for ias mainly, highlords has +1 skill, light res, and guarantees DS triggering every hit, Cat's has that nice run and dex boost) For swap, I'm going CtA/Spirit(assuming I have 156 str after gear), otherwise a Splendor heater will be used most likely, and as an added bonus, I actually think I can use it as a defense bonus if I have to retreat. By having such high dex, I may actually end up with max block on it... With 30 IAS on bow, 30 in helm, 10 on belt, 20 on ammy, and 20 on gloves, I get 110, which is enough to get 8/2 strafe, which makes me very happy. So now, skill points, my idea work well or should I go different route? > During the final days of the last ladder I upped a Witchwild String and > wanted to decide what to do with it. I don't have a bow zon, so I thought [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] > get 110, which is enough to get 8/2 strafe, which makes me very happy. So > now, skill points, my idea work well or should I go different route? Looks good. War Travs are the best imo. Freezing arrow is good but I am amazed how many PI/CI monsters there are in hell. Also, FA is a mana suck. For me, the best option is MA (magic arrow). > Looks good. War Travs are the best imo. Freezing arrow is good but I am > amazed how many PI/CI monsters there are in hell. Also, FA is a mana > suck. For me, the best option is MA (magic arrow). Since WWS shoots lvl 20 MA for it's own normal attack, FA is best used as a 1 point wonder then? > Looks good. War Travs are the best imo. Freezing arrow is good but I am > amazed how many PI/CI monsters there are in hell. Also, FA is a mana > suck. For me, the best option is MA (magic arrow). Since WWS shoots lvl 20 MA for it's own normal attack, FA is best used as a 1 point wonder then? >> Looks good. War Travs are the best imo. Freezing arrow is good but I am >> amazed how many PI/CI monsters there are in hell. Also, FA is a mana >> suck. For me, the best option is MA (magic arrow). > > Since WWS shoots lvl 20 MA for it's own normal attack, FA is best used as a > 1 point wonder then? I didn't realize that until I looked it up. That is nice. I haven't met a PI monster that can stand up to my lowly lvl 14 MA so lvl 20 will be nice. I wouldn't count on the amp damage though. Have you considered upping the bow? You got me going on this and I had to find my WW bow. I plan on throwing it on my strafer and give it a go. Worst case I'll give to the merc. Guide: http://forums.diii.net/showthread.php?t=240912 > I didn't realize that until I looked it up. That is nice. I haven't met > a PI monster that can stand up to my lowly lvl 14 MA so lvl 20 will be > nice. I wouldn't count on the amp damage though. With an 8/2 strafe speed, Amp will go off a ton;-) > Have you considered upping the bow? It is upped;-) >> I didn't realize that until I looked it up. That is nice. I haven't met >> a PI monster that can stand up to my lowly lvl 14 MA so lvl 20 will be [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > It is upped;-) I found mine and tested on my faithazon. Not bad. Damage is only 1300 but I don't know if the magic arrow dmg is added in. I don't have tons of IAS so it was just a so-so test. Had some trouble with the high council. Somewhere on teh intarweb "jcrud" typed: >>> I didn't realize that until I looked it up. That is nice. I >>> haven't met a PI monster that can stand up to my lowly lvl 14 MA so [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > I found mine and tested on my faithazon. Not bad. Damage is only > 1300 but I don't know if the magic arrow dmg is added in. It's not so much the magic arrow damage that the LCS doesn't list as the chance of Critical Strike. With the right build and WWS it's 100% so you're actually doing double the damage in the LCS. That's the secret of a Witchyzon. > I don't have > tons of IAS so it was just a so-so test. Had some trouble with the high > council. I bet you did, going from Faith to a WWS. WWS is a great bow (especially upped) but Faith is a whole different ballgame and playing tactics are different. ;-) Cheers,  SignatureShaun. DISCLAIMER: If you find a posting or message from me offensive, inappropriate, or disruptive, please ignore it. If you don't know how to ignore a posting, complain to me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate... ;-) > I found mine and tested on my faithazon. Not bad. Damage is only 1300 > but I don't know if the magic arrow dmg is added in. Only 1300 listed. Since my char won't be geared till 75, and won't be finished till 90(or more), she'll have at MINIMUM 75% chance of double damage, 100% if I use Highlords, and that chance isn't shown on the char screen. Then add in when Amp goes off(doubling it again), and you're doing between 2600 and 5200 max damage per hit. Pretty fierce for a bow that's not exactly considered godly. Plus for normal play I'll be running around with a Might merc carrying a Pride, which should add a hefty chunk of damage as well. > I don't have tons of IAS so it was just a so-so test. Had some trouble > with the high council. Yeah, mine will be built for the speed as well, it's gonna take some gathering to do but an 8/2 strafe speed should be doable and is still pretty nice. Somewhere on teh intarweb "Shiflet" typed: >> I didn't realize that until I looked it up. That is nice. I >> haven't met a PI monster that can stand up to my lowly lvl 14 MA so [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > It is upped;-) Hi Shiflet, Your plan sounds good. Alternate switch gear would, for me, be Demon Limb for the enchant charges, or SpellSteel so you can re-locate in a hurry. As WWS has MA, (my first choice of secondary attacks for strafers) IMO you don't need al alternate left-click attack so you have a bunch of extra points. I would put them into Valk and Decoy (synergise Valk and handy in it's own right). It's amazing how often my strafers find themselves relying on the valk as I tend to use them to hunt areas where other noncasters fear to tread. (CS, WSK 3..) It's good to not *have* to keep going back to town for the merc, to be able to keep going with just the Valk. Otherwise good. I've personally never been a fan of KB on strafers, I end up chasing down knocked-back monsters all over the place, often into *other* groups. Alternate gloves are Dracs and Lavagouts (Enchant + IAS). Have fun, I love strafers. SignatureShaun. DISCLAIMER: If you find a posting or message from me offensive, inappropriate, or disruptive, please ignore it. If you don't know how to ignore a posting, complain to me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate... ;-) > Your plan sounds good. Alternate switch gear would, for me, be Demon Limb > for the enchant charges, or SpellSteel so you can re-locate in a hurry. Hel'd Demon Limb will be kept in stash, and with the way I'm building my zon(lots of run/walk charms), Spellsteal will be slower than just running, really, considering the zon's frighteningly low cast speed. For surviving, I really do think I'm safer with the life boost of a CTA+Splendor or Spirit and just using my speed to stay away from enemies. > As WWS has MA, (my first choice of secondary attacks for strafers) IMO you don't need al alternate left-click attack Cool, didn't really want one other than GA(which is more for if I decide to branch out into duels with her and for ITD against high defense targets), so that's good to hear. > so you have a bunch of extra points. I would put them into Valk and Decoy > (synergise Valk and handy in it's own right). It's amazing how often my > strafers find themselves relying on the valk as I tend to use them to hunt > areas where other noncasters fear to tread. (CS, WSK 3..) Strafers fear Chaos? I see them running there somewhat often, myself, although they're usually very high end builds. I won't max valk to but with my gear plan it will still be lvl 26, and since even my javazon with 1 point valk(I think its around lvl 14 with gear) and 1 point decoy rarely has to recast her valk, I figure a lvl 26 one getting BO from me+her benefiting from my lvl 12 dodge/avoid/evade she should be pretty sturdy. > It's good to not *have* to keep going back to town for the merc, to be > able to keep going with just the Valk. Yeah, that's one thing I like about my nova sorc, by carrying her own Infinity I'm not having to constantly res merc to deal with immunes, that got real old on my other caster types, hoping to not need to do it here, either. > Otherwise good. I've personally never been a fan of KB on strafers, I end > up chasing down knocked-back monsters all over the place, often into > *other* groups. I like playing ping pong with em, I won't be chasing anything down(anything that gets knocked back will have to come back to me or will be passed by, or will just be killed by GA), just like keeping em away from me. > Alternate gloves are Dracs and Lavagouts (Enchant + IAS). Yeah, Dracs are still tempting, OW+Tap is very nice. I like the Enchant on Lava, but I'm thinking with max penerate my AR should be fine, and for when I do need am extra boost, I'll use Demon. Also found a really nice rare ring in my blizz sorc's stash(dunno where she got it from), with 4% mana leech, 8-12 all res, 45 or so AR, and 14 dex, that solved my question of what ring should I use besides a Raven... > Have fun, I love strafers. I hope I will too, this is only my second zon so we'll see how it goes. As an aside, if the WWS doesn't cut it for me damage wise(or should I decide to duel with her), I'll have a Faith GMB in my stash, and with my gear, it should be hitting max attack speed easily, so I should still be able to cookie cutter her;-) With my WWS gear, at lvl 90 when I'm "finished" with her, I estimate her to have 50% dodge/evade and 60% avoid, 80% chance to pierce, 8/2 fpa strafe with 90% deadly strike(and a 58% chance of crit strike if DS doesn't trigger), 325% AR from penetrate, 10 arrow strafe, 11 arrow multishot, a strong guided arrow, a lvl 26 valk(who also has a massive AR boost and a 50/60/50 chance to avoid being hit), 10% crushing blow(not much but better than none), knockback, a chance to cast Amp, at least 38 resist all(not likely maxed but at least they're not negative) and a massive run speed so it SOUNDS nice at least;-) Somewhere on teh intarweb "Shiflet" typed: >> Your plan sounds good. Alternate switch gear would, for me, be Demon >> Limb for the enchant charges, or SpellSteel so you can re-locate in [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > CTA+Splendor or Spirit and just using my speed to stay away from > enemies. Yeah, you're probably right. I mainly used tele for running DoH or WSK. It's good for jumping over walls. <g> >> As WWS has MA, (my first choice of secondary attacks for strafers) >> IMO you [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > decide to branch out into duels with her and for ITD against high > defense targets), so that's good to hear. Yeah. I've tried a few different things with strafers and MA is the shiznit and I know GA is good for PvP. >> so you have a bunch of extra points. I would put them into Valk and >> Decoy (synergise Valk and handy in it's own right). It's amazing how [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Strafers fear Chaos? No, that's what I was trying to say, they don't. :-) > I see them running there somewhat often, myself, > although they're usually very high end builds. I won't max valk to [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > getting BO from me+her benefiting from my lvl 12 dodge/avoid/evade > she should be pretty sturdy. I get quite attatched to my valks, especially when you get one that does AD, hydra or something similar. Sentimental I am. >> It's good to not *have* to keep going back to town for the merc, to >> be able to keep going with just the Valk. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > that got real old on my other caster types, hoping to not need to do > it here, either. Yeah, you don't *need* the merc with a good strafer. My best was a might merc with <runeword with concentration in eth thresher> Pride! (Whew, memory still works.) >> Otherwise good. I've personally never been a fan of KB on strafers, >> I end up chasing down knocked-back monsters all over the place, [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > will be passed by, or will just be killed by GA), just like keeping > em away from me. Heh! Different strokes I guess. I like to clear. >> Alternate gloves are Dracs and Lavagouts (Enchant + IAS). > > Yeah, Dracs are still tempting, OW+Tap is very nice. I like the > Enchant on Lava, but I'm thinking with max penerate my AR should be > fine, and for when I do need am extra boost, I'll use Demon. With my Faith Strafers i pretty much always used Drac's. Helps the merc heaps too. However, it'll likely over-cast the AD from WWS. > Also found a really nice rare ring in my blizz sorc's stash(dunno > where she got it from), with 4% mana leech, 8-12 all res, 45 or so > AR, and 14 dex, that solved my question of what ring should I use > besides a Raven... LOL, that wasn't one I dropped you was it? Sounds familiar. >> Have fun, I love strafers. > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > and with my gear, it should be hitting max attack speed easily, so I > should still be able to cookie cutter her;-) Yeah. I'll probably have a spare +2/+3 Mat Bow Faith when I rationalise my chars.... > With my WWS gear, at lvl 90 when I'm "finished" with her, I estimate > her to have 50% dodge/evade and 60% avoid, 80% chance to pierce, 8/2 [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > they're not negative) and a massive run speed so it SOUNDS nice at > least;-) Heh! Fun, fun, fun! Cheers, SignatureShaun. DISCLAIMER: If you find a posting or message from me offensive, inappropriate, or disruptive, please ignore it. If you don't know how to ignore a posting, complain to me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate... ;-) > Yeah, you're probably right. I mainly used tele for running DoH or WSK. > It's good for jumping over walls. <g> Indeed, heh. > No, that's what I was trying to say, they don't. :-) Oh okay;-) > I get quite attatched to my valks, especially when you get one that does > AD, hydra or something similar. Sentimental I am. Haha, as long as I can recast I'm fine;-) > Yeah, you don't *need* the merc with a good strafer. My best was a might > merc with <runeword with concentration in eth thresher> Pride! (Whew, > memory still works.) That's what I'll be running as well. > With my Faith Strafers i pretty much always used Drac's. Helps the merc > heaps too. However, it'll likely over-cast the AD from WWS. Yeah, don't need as much IAS for Faith plus I don't want Amp overwritten. >> Also found a really nice rare ring in my blizz sorc's stash(dunno >> where she got it from), with 4% mana leech, 8-12 all res, 45 or so >> AR, and 14 dex, that solved my question of what ring should I use >> besides a Raven... > > LOL, that wasn't one I dropped you was it? Sounds familiar. It actually might be. It was on one of my ex-ladder chars, so... > Yeah. I'll probably have a spare +2/+3 Mat Bow Faith when I rationalise my > chars.... I think I have a 1/3 gmb one or 2 myself. > Cheers, Somewhere on teh intarweb "Shiflet" typed: >> Yeah, you're probably right. I mainly used tele for running DoH or >> WSK. It's good for jumping over walls. <g> [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Haha, as long as I can recast I'm fine;-) But, but... What about the other poor valk who did her best for you, then (if still alive) dies with a horrible scream when you re-cast a new one? >> Yeah, you don't *need* the merc with a good strafer. My best was a >> might merc with <runeword with concentration in eth thresher> Pride! >> (Whew, memory still works.) > > That's what I'll be running as well. Yeah, I don't know how much of an advantage I got from the Concentration. The LCS didn't show much but it was noticable. I'd sometimes run a Doom Thresher instead, or an Obedience (CB) if I was Baal running. >> With my Faith Strafers i pretty much always used Drac's. Helps the >> merc heaps too. However, it'll likely over-cast the AD from WWS. > > Yeah, don't need as much IAS for Faith plus I don't want Amp > overwritten. Yep. >>> Also found a really nice rare ring in my blizz sorc's stash(dunno >>> where she got it from), with 4% mana leech, 8-12 all res, 45 or so [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > It actually might be. It was on one of my ex-ladder chars, so... Heh! I remember having a ring that sound ssimilar to that which I was saving for my strafer but lost track of. (Bad muling practices.) >> Yeah. I'll probably have a spare +2/+3 Mat Bow Faith when I >> rationalise my chars.... > > I think I have a 1/3 gmb one or 2 myself. I much prefer Matriarchal Bows myself. With Faith in them you only need something like another 9% IAS (Nosferatu's, Goldwrap...) to hit 2/8. Sure, they do a little less damage (however they require 21 less points in strength which can be put into dex which mitigates the damage loss somewhat) and that can be made up for by the fact that you can then load them up with MF elemental damage or FR/W or whatever instead of IAS. Even better if you can find a superior Mat bow with 15%ED. (I think the best I found and got 4 holes in was 12%ED.) Cheers, SignatureShaun. DISCLAIMER: If you find a posting or message from me offensive, inappropriate, or disruptive, please ignore it. If you don't know how to ignore a posting, complain to me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate... ;-) > But, but... What about the other poor valk who did her best for you, then > (if still alive) dies with a horrible scream when you re-cast a new one? Sacrifices must be made. > Yeah, I don't know how much of an advantage I got from the Concentration. > The LCS didn't show much but it was noticable. I'd sometimes run a Doom > Thresher instead, or an Obedience (CB) if I was Baal running. My friend's strafer won't run without hers, he says the damage is VERY noticable. I'll see for myself soon enough. > I much prefer Matriarchal Bows myself. With Faith in them you only need > something like another 9% IAS (Nosferatu's, Goldwrap...) to hit 2/8. GMB only requires 37 ias to do the same, and since I already planned on using a 30/30 res/ias Giant Skull and Nos Coil, that right there hits 8/2 as well. And since GMB does a fair bit more damage, I'll stick with it. > Sure, they do a little less damage (however they require 21 less points in > strength which can be put into dex which mitigates the damage loss > somewhat) Not for me it won't. I need 106 str for GSkull, which in turn adds 25+ strength, so I'll have the str for GMB regardless. Still won't have to spend much str though. Thanks to one of Jaime's friends I have a 18/20 zon torch and a 19/18 anni and I'll get 15 from Nos and 15 from my gloves, already puts me at 87 with no str spent, spend 8 points to get 95 for Travs which will take me to 105, then spend 1 more for GSkull, and I'm fully geared and GMB capable with only 9 points in str total. Even if I swap out gloves for Dracs it won't change things, since I can get 15 str from them as well... > and that can be made up for by the fact that you can then load them up > with MF elemental damage or FR/W or whatever instead of IAS. Well, with the gear I *want* to run with, I'd hit 8/2 with either bow, so the higher damage is better for me;-) > Cheers, |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2009 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.