Page 1: Introduction and Character
Setup.
Page 2: Dueling Strategies.
Page 3: Ace's Javazon.
INTRODUCTION:
I started out making a Plague Javazon for PVP because in all my time dueling, I have never ran into one. I have always wondered why that is, because they can reach some pretty insane poison damage. I made one just to screw around with it, but found to my total surprise, that once I got into PK games, I was actually beating most of the people I was dueling against. With more practise, it became clear to me that this build is dominant, and should be exploited more by other people. I've had a lot of fun with it, and now I want to share it with everyone else so they can enjoy it as much as I have. DO NOT underestimate the Plagazon :)
PRELIMINARY STUFF:
- PVP Plagazons duel different classes in different ways. Sometimes you need to be aggressive and attack, but most times you need to be defensive and run. If you don't like the running away aspect of pvp characters, then this isn't the one for you. Some characters are runners, and some are attackers. Plagazons for the most part are runners.
- The optimal build requires some items that happen to also have absorb on them. If you are the type that duels in circles where no absorb is allowed, you may want to either not make one, or just use the non-absorb options I will give. It is just the 1 raven frost, and T-gods you need to worry about, but some circles don't allow even them.
- The character isn't the most expensive to make by far, but I wouldn't say it's cheap either. If your making your first pvp character, chances are this isn't the one to make, because the gear can be hard to get for beginners. Not overly expensive, but hard to find people who have them.
Best part about it
- You know how for most PVP characters, you're always a little concerned who in the game hostiles you? If you're a kicker, you HATE when WW barbs hostile you. When you're a Barb, you HATE when hammerdins hostile you. When you're a Melee pally, you HATE when sorc's hostile you. When you're a zealot... Sigh, the poor zealots :)
- Well, the Plagazon can beat anyone in the game. No impossible duels, no worries. I don't ever find myself picking and choosing who I hostile in games. I will hostile anyone, anytime, and I don't care who hostiles me. You have a great chance to beat anyone who comes your way.
- Thats not to say you won't lose duels, because you will. Maybe a lot at first. Once you get the hang of it though, there isn't a character in the game you can't beat, at least sometimes. I know it's impossible to believe right now, but trust me, make one and get good at it. You'll see. Plagazons may not be the best, but it's about time they get the respect they deserve. In my opinion after dueling with one a lot, they are definitely in the top 5 build catagory for PVP. Now let's get started...
*** BEFORE I get started, I want to point out that in the two posts following this guide, I will give my exact gear, stats, skills, and everything about my Plagazon as a reference.
There will also be a full length thread on dueling strategies for every character you will face, in much the same fashion as my man U-god did for his WW sin guide. Check it out if your having trouble with certain classes.
GEAR:
I like to start with gear, because you need to know what your wearing before you can put your stats and skills in place. Gear is listed from best choice to remaining choices in order.
ARMOR
- Bramble. This is the best armor you can get. It adds massive poison damage, has 50% fast hit recovery, lots of poison and fire resist, and the all important thorns, which I will go into later.
- COH. 2 skills is very nice, and the resists are great. 20 str helps to keep your stats lower also
- Enigma. Again, 2 skills and the fast run walk is very nice to have. Big str, so you will have low base str
- Arkaine's Valor. This is a very nice +2 skill armor for the less rich. Cheap to buy these days and has massive life.
- Lionheart. The last armor I will list. It's a nice runeword armor for the not so rich, because it has great stats, big resists, and other useful mods
HELM:
- Rare circlet. +2 skills, 30% FRW, str/dex, Resists, and open sockets. Ya right. For most people, including me, these are just too damn expensive. But they are the best so if you're rich, go for it.
- Shako. The trusty shako is actually the second best helm you can get for this build. 2 skills, 10% DR, and big life and mana. What more could you want. UM it for more resists, or throw a 5/-5 Poison facet in it if you don't need the resists.
Since shako is so cheap, no point listing any other helms here.
* Why not COA you ask? Well, a few reasons. It's way more expensive. It only has 1 skill. It has extra DR only if your coa is good, but with SS, DR is not needed anyway. It has FHR, but again, bramble and boots cover that almost on their own so no need. Resists probably won't be a problem for you, so no need there either. Lastly, when you lose the stats from your titans and Stormshield, you will not be able to equip a decent bow on weapon switch, so it will totally change the build. Overall, not nearly as good as the old shako
BELT:
- T-gods. Best belt you can use because it has the added light fury, but also huge str/life and added Max to lightning resist
- Verdungo's. Since you already have 45% DR from ss and shako, you only need a min DR verdungo's. Try to get a 40/10 if you're planning to use one
- Razortail. 10 max damage, and 15 dexterity is nice, but really, it's the attacker takes damage of X mod that is the useful mod. Remember, often times people will have 1 life when they're hitting you. With this belt, they kill themselves if they're melee. Use this if you don't have Bramble for the thorns
GLOVES:
- 20% ias, + 3/2 JAV skill gloves. The magic ones with +3 skills are probably best, but any 20 ias, +2 are your best option for gloves. You need the ias for your light fury throws to finish people off, and also you need 20% ias for your bow on switch to hit the next frame rate.
- Trang ouls. Use these until you get your good gloves. The 25% poison damage will add the same damage as your 2 jav skill will. So you're only missing the ias from them
BOOTS:
- Duped Boots. If you're non ladder, the duped boots are always your best choice. FRW/FHR with resists. They are the best (if you don't use dupes, then choose below)
- Boots of your own (crafted or imbued). Most important mods your looking for in order are: Resists, FRW, FHR, Str, Dex
- Sandstorm Treks. 20% FRW/20% FHR and str and vit. These babies are nice, and cheap too.
RING #1:
- Raven frost. Manditory. Cannot freeze is absolutely required. So even if your raven is bad, wear it. (For non absorb dueling circles, you will have to Cham your helm or sheild. Trang ouls belt is also an option)
RING #2:
- BK ring. Don't worry about the leech, because it's nerfed in Pvp. Just get any BK ring.
- anything else with the following mods: Resists, dex/str, life/mana, AR.
AMULET:
- +2 Skill rare/crafted amulet. Same concept as the helm. If you're rich enough, go for it. Otherwise, see below.
- Mara's. Always Mara's. 2 skills, 5 stat points, and a very important boost to resists
- Any other crafted or rare amulet with mara like mods on it
- Cats eye. 20% ias, big dex, and lots of fast run walk. Nice if you don't have a Mara's yet.
- Highlords. 20% ias again, 1 skill, and some nice lightning resist
SHIELD:
- Stormshield. A Must. No others listed here because you need the DR and Block rate from SS. They're cheap enough to get. Throw a P diamond in it, or Um if you want that last 3%
JAVALIN:
- Of course your going with Titans here. Remember, your plague javalin damage is not affected by your weapon ed, so normal cheapo's will be fine. ETH for the rich, to look cool though :)
SWITCH:
- CTA Bow / Arrows. See Below for details on this option
(or)
- CTA / Lidless. Large bonus to life, and a 1 skill lvl bonus from command adds 5K damage.
The Big Question, Why Not a WF on Switch?
I've tried them both, and I find lightning fury to be a far better finisher for that last bit of life. Here are my reasons:
- Light fury is thrown in shield mode. Meaning you still block 75% while standing and throwing. This is what makes every melee character not be able to beat you. If you switch to bow, they will hit you a lot, and you will die.
- Arrows are slow. Most people either run faster, or teleport faster then guided arrow. But fury comes with speed. If you send one at someone, it's near impossible for them to move. If it's on line, it will hit them fast. It's a skill to aim, but it actually takes less time then you would think. Use mini map, and it's easy to aim and hit people off your screen
- No CTA on switch. I know you can BO and then switch, but you only have about 2 minutes after that. It's a super huge pain in the a$$ to keep switching. With lower life, your much more vulnerable. SEE THE CTA BOW ON SWITCH OPTION BELOW
- Bow and plague set ups are very different. It's not possible to get a good bow speed with ideal plagazon gear. Your guided arrow will shoot slower then $hit.
CTA BOW ON SWITCH OPTION:
Ok, this is an idea brought to my attention by No1r3 and Stargaming.tk, and I have applied it to my Plagazon already. (got a 6 BO Grand Matron Cta bow) They suggested making a CTA out of a Bow. That way, you will have the best of both worlds. You can use the Bow to BO yourself, and you can still use Lightning fury as your finishing move vs melee characters. Vs casters like Sorc's and Bone necro's, you can use the bow on switch as your finishing move for that last bit of life. It actually works a little better vs sorc's because once they're hit, they teleport pretty far away. Chase them and shell guided arrows in their direction. The damage will of course still be low, and the speed will be relatively slow, so don't expect to use it a lot. But to have that option, and only lose 1 skill level on the BO is probably worth it if you can afford it. Thanks No1r3 and Stargaming. Brilliant !!!
INVENTORY:
Inventory for Plagazons have 3 purposes. resists, fast Run walk, and poison damage
1) Max your resists in hell first with sc's on your bottom row and more if need be. With great gear, you won't need any sc's, but with average gear, you will need some
2) Make sure you have about 30-40% Extra Fast run walk in inventory. This will ideally be from your GC's with a FRW mod, but sc's work well too
3) The rest of inventory, fill up with JAV Skill GC's. For the rich, go with Fast run walk, or lifers. Plain ones work fine for the rest of you.
*** for the annihilus, if I had to choose, I would go with a high resist and lower stat one. Resists are more important here. Of course, a good one is best, but not an option for a lot of people.
RESISTS:
Here is a breakdown of the resists you will be getting with the gear I have recommended. Remember, 75% in ALL resists is a very good idea in public games.
30% from anya quests
10-20% from annihilus
20-30% from mara's
15% from um in helm
19% from P diamond in SS
100% poison from Bramble
30% fire from Bramble
25% light from SS
60% cold from SS
Whatever resists are on your boots
All those things should bring you pretty close to max resists in hell. Fill out your inv with SC's to reach max light and fire resist.
FHR Table:
FHR ----- Frames
0% -------- 11
6% -------- 10
13% ------- 9
20% ------- 8
32% ------- 7
52% ------- 6
86% ------- 5
174% ----- 4
600% ----- 3
Personally, I feel the 52% breakpoint is enough, but if you want to get some Jav skill gc's with 12% FHR, then the 86% break is easily attainable.
BOW Speed IAS Info:
- Grand Matron / Crusader / Hydra (base speed 10)
0% IAS ........... 14 Frames
15% IAS ........... 13 Frames
25% IAS ........... 12 Frames
40% IAS ........... 11 Frames
60% IAS ........... 10 Frames * this is your goal *
90% IAS ........... 9 Frames
- Matriarchal Bow (base speed -10)
0% IAS ........... 12 Frames
10% IAS ........... 11 Frames
25% IAS ........... 10 Frames
45% IAS ........... 9 Frames
75% IAS ........... 8 Frames
Matriarchal bows are Faster, but the damage is less. Also, the requirements are much higher, so your base stats will be higher, and therefore, you will have less life
I suggest making your CTA out of a Hydra / Crusader / Grand matron bow. It's best to keep your stats low and have more life.
ITEMS IN CHEST:
Most good pvp characters require a few items to keep in chest for certain duels. I recommend the following:
- 4 P topaz monarch with 160% light resist. This if for FOH pally's. Throw that on, and you will stack your light resists so high, foh won't hurt much after that.
- 4 P saph monarch with 160% cold resist. This is for bliz sorc's. Throw it on, and you will gain 80% cold resist. That helps a lot in stacking resists.
- COH. This is once again for stacking. Throw this on when you need those extra resists. You will lose a small amount of damage, but the gains vs foh'ers and cold sorc's is worth it. But only vs those 2 characters.
- Rare ring with big cold resist. Again, to stack. There is nothing more important then stacking resists, so get a ring to switch out for the BK ring when you duel blizy's.
- Rare ring with big light resist. Same as above. Extra stack vs FOH'ers.
- Dwarf star ring. If you don't mind a little absorb, keep one in chest for fire sorc's. If you don't absorb, then don't bother
- Wisp. Using t-gods and wisp is getting a little excessive in my opinion, but this is a general guide, and should be for everyone to decide. If you want to absorb, throw it on
STATS:
Str: Enough for gear, and nothing more. This will vary depending on your gear
Dex: Enough for max 75% block rate while wearing SS and all gear. Again, this will vary
Ene: None. Shako and Battle orders from cta is all you need
Vit: Everything else goes here.
SKILLS:
20 Poison javalin
20 Plague javalin
20 lightning fury
12+ dodge
12+ avoid
12+ evade
1 crit
1 penetrate
1 peirce
1 slow missle
1 decoy
1 valk
1 guided arrow
For the Dodge, avoid, and evade skills, all your remaining points go there. All 3 are just about equally important, so make sure you spread your points over all 3 of them. Stop putting points in them when the returns get too small. Around lvl 19 with gear on, you stop recieving bonus's.
Remaining Point Usage:
If you level any higher then 83, you will have remaining points. Here are a few places you can put them in.
1) Valk. Stronger valk is more of a distraction and meat shield.
3) Guided arrow. If your planning on using a bow more then a finisher, then put points here
4) PVM skills. Peirce, penetrate, whatever helps you get through the game.
Page 1: Introduction and Character Setup.
Page 2: Dueling Strategies.
Page 3: Ace's Javazon. |
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