INTRO
Welcome to version 2.0 of my Charge guide. There was a lot of discussion in the last thread about charge/smite hybrids so I added a section on them. I also added a section on average weapon damages since many people were wondering about that. For those of you unfamiliar with the build, it's designed to 1 hit TKO opponents. It uses a high dmg weapon and has a high % chance of deadly strike for double damage.

-AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT CHARGERS-
Like any build, chargers have trouble with certain classes. Whirlwind, stun lock from a grief charger pally, high defense chars and max block chars can be problematic duels. You may die often to some builds (barbs in particular come to mind) but you'll occasionally connect a charge and kill them. If you are looking for an easy way to handle all builds, use the HYBRID. I personally enjoy the glass cannon build more. It may take more finesse to play but it is far more entertaining and challenging than holding down the mouse to smite an opponent to death.

WEAPON & DAMAGE DISCUSSION
There are plenty of good charger weapons. I made a table that displays how the damages vary on a single player character. The weapons analyzed are:

(note i chose 300%ed for fools items since ive seen a few of these traded on jsp. a 400%ed fools eth 2os would be best choice but its virtually impossible to find)
-300%ed Fools Eth Archon Staff 2os Lo Lo => abbr. Fools AS
-300%ed Fools Eth War Pike 2os Lo Lo => abbr. Fools WP
-300%ed Fools Eth Decapitator 2os Lo Lo => abbr. Fools Dec
-400%ed Death Eth Decapitator => abbr. Death Dec
-400%ed Death Eth Glorious Axe => abbr. Death GA
-400%ed Death Eth Colossus Sword => abbr. Death CS
-415%ed EBOTD War Pike => abbr. EBOTD WP
-415%ed EBOTD Archon Staff => abbr. EBOTD AS

I calculated damage for a character with 174 str (for ber ber COA), 1600 charge dmg (fully synergized), 526 fanat dmg on a level 94 character. The equipment on the char was the non-ladder gear listed below. All damages are after DS% is applied except for EBOTD weapons since they only have 50%. Furthermore, max damages are lower than actual damages since i didnt add in the +max damage from an inventory of 32020's. Ok so here's how they all match up:

Fools AS => 23808-30672 (avg 27240), 90% ds, 26k AR
Fools WP => 9408-53520 (avg 31464), 90% ds, 26k AR
Fools Dec => 14016-41616 (avg 27816), 90% ds, 26k AR
Death Dec => 17520-49200 (avg 33360), 97% ds, 15k AR
Death GA => 21600-44640 (avg 33120), 97% ds, 15k AR
Death CS => 21840-43440 (avg 32640), 97% ds, 15k AR
EBOTD WP => 6048-33000 base,12096-66000 (avg 39048) after ds, 50% ds, 16k AR
EBOTD AS => 15312-18288 base, 30624-36576 (avg 33600) after ds, 50% ds, 16k AR

I chose DEATH glorious axe and decapitator since they have high ds% and high average damage. Their AR can be made up for with demon limb enchant or ar/life gc's to hit 20k+. 15k is still enough AR to hit most opponents. If you want to use another weapon, go for it. Just remember that high %weapon ed, high %ds, and high AR are the essential ingredients to a good charge weapon.

To illustrate the actual dmg, consider an average charge hit from a decapitator:
33360 dmg => 5560 actual damage after pvp penalty on a char with 0% dmg reduction OR 2780 on a char with 50% dr
Now consider that you can hit anywhere within the range that I listed. Obviously the damage can be quite high. It is no surprise many chars die in 1 hit.

SKILLS
max charge
max fanat
max vigor
max might
rest into blessed aim (maxed at level 94)

GEAR & STATS
-LADDER SETUP-
helm: COA res/req + ber
ammy: Highlords
armor: COH in a light armor (dusk/wyrm/wire/archon)
weapon: Death eth Decapitator
glove: Dracul
rings: 2x Raven
belt: Verdungo
boot: Gore Rider
inv: 32020's torch anni (some prefer to substitute AR/LIFE gc's or res/life sc's)

Stats: enough for 148 str after +stat gear, rest into vita
Character will have 46% dmg reduction, 50/50/85/50 res after anya bug (-100 base), 40 cold sorb, 4200 life after bo.

-NON LADDER SETUP-
helm: COA res/req x2
ammy: Highlords
armor: BTAL's ber
weapon: Death eth Glorious Axe
glove: Dracul
rings: 2x Raven
belt: Tgods
boot: Gore Rider
inv: 32020's torch anni (some prefer to substitute AR/LIFE gc's or res/life sc's)

Stats: enough for 122 str after +stat gear, rest into vita
Character will have 48% dmg reduction, 40/40/75/40 res after anya bug, 40 cold sorb, 20 lite sorb, 4200 life after bo.

SMITE/CHARGE HYBRID
This build is able to deal with whirlwind chars and high defense chars, which is what a pure charge will die to. Please note this build isnt really a charger but more of a smiter with a strong charge secondary skill for attacking casters who are tele'ing.

skills: max smite, fanat, holy shield, charge, rest into might

helm: COA res/req x2 (COA ber/res req if lad)
ammy: Highlords
armor: BTAL's ber (COH if lad)
weapon: grief +400/x phase blade
shield: HOZ upp'd with an UM
gloves: Dracul
belt: Tgods (Verdungo if lad)
rings: 2x Raven
boot: Gore Rider
inv: 9x Pcomb Lifers (good luck), torch, anni

stats: enough str for 142 after +stats gear, enough dex for 75% block after holy shield, rest into vita
Character will have 48% dmg reduction, 112/112/147/112 res after anya bug, 13k AR, 70% deadly strike, 9k charge dmg before ds% is applied, 8k smite at fastest frame, 20 lite sorb, 40 cold sorb, 3700 life. The build can essentially tank any character in the game. People may hate you for sorbing and stacking res but whatever - theyre probably using TMC & FC as it is .

CONCLUSION
I didn't discuss dueling strategies since I feel that's something you'll figure out as you play. You should level your character until anywhere from 88-94, he'll get higher DS% with each level. Hope you enjoy your charger as much as I enjoy mine!

Nice guide. I specially like the weapon comparison section

Glass chargers look very fun to play.

Nice guide, I'm gonna try this out.

LOL, thats kinda funny, i recently made almost the same exact char, exact items and everything

no btals on west nl though

they fucking own though, so dam fun to play with, plus 1hitting gmoder's so no way to auto tp/s-e

i'm actually surprised how fun they are, currently my favorite char

i plan on making my own guide soon, but i will probly try to include video/written more in depth pvp guide

although i do agree when you say its difficult to explain

btw i mainly use a death cs, because it looks so sexy to wear in my opinion, although there is a dmg difference, its not to much when u consider pvp reduction + dr reduction

you may also want to include sheild/wep options but i guess thats okay

This post was edited by craker_man1 on Dec 22 2007 08:16pm

sounds like fun.. gonna try this out


edit: i think the wep part was very gg

This post was edited by Lolzor on Dec 22 2007 08:55pm

I built one of these. Two actually. Both were freaking amazing even with my shitty gear. Love this build.

Glass cannon ftw imo.

glorious axe has range 4 to decapitator's range 3. think the 1 more range makes GA the weapon of choice?

nice guide

no because that really doesnt matter when attacking a ww'er

even with an ebotd wp (max range iirc), you'll still have trouble connecting a hit.

barb has high def, high life, block, high dr%, ww animation > > > charger

gotta go hybrid smite vs em. even then, its a tough duel.

edit: i chose decapitator on lad build since the str for coa was 148 so you already met the 142 req for decap. i chose glorious axe for nl to save str pts for vita instead. as you can see from the dmg tables, the avg dmg is roughly the same for either weapon. i prefer glorious because i think it looks a lot cooler than decap. finding a 15% 5os eth one is considerably difficult however.

This post was edited by xBLITZKRIEGx on Dec 22 2007 09:15pm

i was also wondering y u chose draks over rends?