Zon Guide

Introduction:
When most of you think of zons, you think of z v z. Probably not without the logic that the weak fight the weak. However, the zon is one of the most versatile characters and is more than capable of doing z v a (zon vs all). Not only is it possible to own the whole game with it, the simple nking is also quite amusing. I can post countless s/s of my zon owning the game.

The zon is probably one of the most underrated characters in the entire Diablo 2 dueling world. I've built a character with every possible class (except perhaps the rare ones such as the kicksin) but the only one that I've enjoyed very much was my zon and thus I've played my zon for around a year. Playing with the amazon requires stealth and skill especially in the z v a stage. We do not have the luxury of stupidly tanking 10 hammers while wwing. However, if played right, the zon can be the most deadliest and godliest of all the chars, not to mention it is affordable. Ok enough of my trying to convince you with words.

Breakpoints
Not really breakpoints but I'll call them that anyways
Life: aiming for 1.1-1.3k life
Damage Reduction: aiming for 30-50
Resist: aiming for all positive resist with bow out and 75 cold and 50+ lite resist with sheild out.
fhr: none. dodge and avoid and evade are not effected by fhr.
frw: 150% with sheild out.

Gear
Helm: 120-45 30 str, 30frw, 40-15 shako, 30 dex 120-45, 100 life 120-45
I would suggest the 120-45 30 str because it requires a lot of str to use ss which is needed for resist + dr. Nice and cheap . 40-15 shako is good only if you're using 16060 lifer because you can use dungoes + another sheild with a ber.

Here's the conversion:
1 str = 3 life
1 dex = 1% ed
1 life = 1 life
5 frw = 20 life

Ammy: Cats eye, 08 lords
No questions asked. 30 frw = 120 life. 35 dex= damage. 20 ias = 75 ias bp. you can use 08 lords with 16060/shako build

arrows
The most important part of z v a. It is easily shopped at charsi.

boots: war travs, 08 gores
war travs adds str, damage and life. Gores adds damage, DS, 20 life. You can choose depending on your helm/armor choice.

ring: p ravens + dual stat rings
ravens for ar, 20 dex, CBF. Dual stat ring must have at least 19 str and 14 dex. resist/damage/ar is a bonus. Mine has 35 cold resist.

Belt: Nosferatus/Verdungoes/Goldwrap
You need the ias from nosferatus if you are using fort + 120-45 build. The beauty of that is this isnt z v z and nothing is GM or BM. Dungoes is the way to go if your going the shako/16060 way. Goldwrap for some GM z v z

Gloves: sexy crafted
Ideal gloves would be: 2 passive/bow+ 20 ias + 15 str + 15 dex + resist + knock back. at least 24 stats + 20 ias are required on the glvoes. You can either use with or without knockback but obviously, kb is nice.

Weapon: Faith GM
GM > mat. 14/15 fanat with the best possible stats you can afford. 2 skills is pretty essential.

Armor: Fort or 16060
Fort: resist + life + damage = godly zon armor. Use this with 120-45
16060: Dont bother to go with shako + 16060 build without a decent lifer light armor 16060. IMO, fort+120-45 is better.

Switch: eth upt Titans + SS
No questions asked unless ur going with shako/16060 build where you'd use ber'd luna. In the socket for ss, put in whatever you want. Personally, I think 30 dr is enough and I should pump resist so I stuck an um in there.

Charms: 32020s/320-5s
Best get 150 frw with sheild out. Rest is 32020s.

Complete gear 1:
helm: 120-45 22 str
ammy: cats eye
boots: war travs
rings: ravens/dual stat
belt: nosferatus
gloves: sexi crafted gloves check trophy case link for pic
weapon: faith GM
armor: fort
titans/ss

ias= 95, damage = 7k, life=1k

http://forums.d2jsp.org/index.php?showtopic=3413770&st=0

Complete gear 2:
helm: 40-15 shako
ammy: cats eye
boots: 08 gores/war travs
rings: ravens/dual stats
belt: dungoes
gloves: sexi rare
weapon: faith GM
armor: 16060 with 70+ life light armor. or 90+ medium armor
titans/ber'd luna

ias: 115- you can fal the shako but thats not sexi.
damage = 5.8k dr= 32 life = 1.3-1.4k

Ultimately, do you want more life or more damage?

Skills
Max:
critical strike
guided arrow
9-12 points to multi (I chose 9 kinda stupid skill and mana is too great)
1 point to jab
1 point to lightning bolt
max evade
max avoid
make dodge 50%
1 to SM
get fury if you want.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Game Strategies:
General:
You should always leave town with sheild out for block + frw given from titans. When you are at a safe distance, start shooting. Never stand still on a zon. You are either: moving with your sheild out or you are shooting with your bow out with an exception to a few cases which I mention later. When you are standing still throwing LB, make sure you are in walk mode which increases your block and chance of survival substantially.

Pallies:
Hammer: if they are tele, shoot one, start running, shoot one, start running...Do not linger even if the pally is far away. Fit in 1 arow and run. Generally easy. If the pally comes at you with a fort zerk, keep spamming ga and switch to sheild. lb him and hope he las low lite resist.

Hammer: if they are charge, same strategy except you have to go in zigzags and lead them to puddles and hope they get charge locked.Do not linger even if the pally is far away. Fit in 1 arow and run.

Smiter: fit as much arrows as you can while they charge at you. Most will die/get severely damaged by that. Switch to sheild, run for a bit and shoot one when you think its safe. Do not linger even if the pally is far away. Fit in 1 arow and run. Try not to get charge locked. if he appears on your screen, namelock lb.

Foh: Some are easy, some are hard. dont bother running for them and juss stand and shoot and see what happens.

Zons:
CS: these are fun duels. Run shoot, run shoot, run shoot. One thing to watch out for is to dodge the lite furies.

Far cast Cs zons: fc zons are a bitch. keep ur distance.

bowazons: this requires lots of skill. Keep your sheild out all the time unless you are shooting and if you get close, go jab them or lb them. Pub zons are usually garbage and they go like OMG HYBRID ZON! Chance to win: 80%

Assasins:
ww sin: These guys can be really easy or really tough. Try to stay far away and shoot at them. When you see them close to you, take out ur bow and LB them. Most ww sins have a trouble with resist so 4k lite damage might hurt them a lot.

trappers: These guys can be fun. You stand from far back and shoot. They are easy if they are defensive. If they are offensive, it can be a little hard. Namelock them when they tele on you and make sure they don't cast more than 1 trap before you start hitting them.

Druids:
fury: can be really good or really shitty. If you meet a good one, these guys can be as hard as shit.

windy: commonly known as the zon'd nemesis. Not so bad though if you get rid of his puppies. Multi at him like crazy and if he is smart, he will retreat. If he doesn't, you win. They have pretty low lives so they can be easy if their the mediocre pubs. If they have max block, it can be hard. Use similar strategy as hammerdins. Avoid their hurricane and keep them stuck in ur arrows.

Barbs:
War cry: looool. If you loose to one of these, go sell your zon to charsi.

WW: these guys are pretty tough. You see one coming at you, shoot as many as you can and switch to sheild and hit r so that you are walking. Now start shooting litning bolts at them as if there was no tomorrow. If they are smart, they will do short ww's. Then it gets difficult. If they do long ww. Christmas! take out bow and start shooting again.

Sorcs:
Blizz: Really hard if its built properly. es + blizz = zon's worst nightmare. dont move and stand and shoot. Try to name lock them. Once you have them namelocked. your chances of winning increase drastically. Good ones are damn impossible. Most pubs are ez. Just make sure you SM them at one point so ice blast isn't a factor

Fire: these guys are kinda tough. arrows have a higher range than fbs so shoot in their direction. Kinda harder if they are more aggressive but most should be ez enough for you if they don't have es. As a general rule, host all the sorcs when you enter a game.

orb: with your high resist for cold and cold absorb and cannot be frozen, your key here is to once again stand and shoot at the sorc. Name lock = their death. Now the tough part is if they use b manas. You're gonna dodge a lot more than you get hit so don't worry.

Lite: these guys can be ez or really hard. Pretty much same strategy as the fire but never let them come close to you. Nova and charged bolt will kill you!

Necros:
Summon: You need the knockback. Multi shot them until the minions get scattered and 1-2 will hit the necro. Name lock him if possible. If you name lock him, you win. Don't worry too much about these guys cause even if you die, you get ur bod and repeat until he dies.

Poison Nova: These guys are funny. I've never met a REALLY tough one so I will generalize. If you play smart, you will win most of the time. Be quick on ur feet and don't let him get too close to you. You can dodge those nova and those nova cost a lot of mana so run/multi combo. Try to snipe them down with GA before they get close to you. If you get hit by a nova, their fire golem will finish you off. Kidna fun duels.

Bone Necro: The easy ones are really fun but the hard ones can be a bitch. Their spirits/spears don't hurt as much so expect to tank at least 2-3 good hits. Don't let him prison you! If he does, multi and run. The ones who spam IBS from far away are easy because arrows are faster. Try to snipe him and name lock him. 2 shots, his bone armor is gone and another 2 shots hes dead. If he comes close to you and bone spirit, dont run and name lock him. Chances are you'll dodge them and kill him with GA if you name lock him. If your aim is bad, multi is a good tool to use as necros generally have low life and low block so it should be pretty easy. The ones who are good at using IBS, teeth and of course aiming spear, these guys can be REALLY tough for you. bone spear shoots so fast that you won't be able to shoot arrows. take out ur sheild and run away if he has you named locked with spear. run/ga against these guys. Generally, ones with max block are tough and ones without max block is decent.


Zon FAQ's

I thought Bowazons sucked?
No.

Bowazon = 1 hit kill?
Lie less.

Basic Amazon revealed:
Starting Stats Stat Point Returns
Strength Dexterity Vitality Energy
20 25 20 15

Life per Vitality Mana per Energy
3 1.5
Faster Hit Recovery Breakpoints Faster Cast Rate Breakpoints
Frame 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
FHR Needed 0% 6% 13% 20% 32% 52% 86% 174% 600%

Frame 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
FCR Needed 0% 7% 14% 22% 32% 48% 68% 99% 152%

Faster Block Rate (vs. 1H swinging weapons) Faster Block Rate (vs. 1H thrusting weapons)
Frame 5 4 3 2 1
FBR needed 0% 13% 32% 86% 600%

Frame 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5
FBR needed 0% 4% 6% 11% 15% 23% 29% 40% 56% 80% 120% 200% 480%

Bow IAS Breakpoints
Frame 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7
Blade Bow, Great Bow, Matriarchal Bow (-10) 0% 8% 22% 42% 75% 142%
Shadow Bow, Diamond Bow, Ward Bow (0) 0% 9% 20% 37% 63% 105% 200%
Spider Bow (5) 0% 10% 15% 30% 50% 75% 125% 240%
Crusader Bow, Hydra Bow, Grand Matron Bow (10) 0% 5% 11% 22% 35% 56% 89% 147% 293%

Does fhr affect dodge/avoid/evade?
No, The recovery speed of the amazon's Dodge, Avoid and Evade skills is always 8 frames. (There are 25 frames in 1 second.)

What is better? Faith matri or Faith GM?
Both bows have their pros and cons but many choose faith GM. Faith GM does more damage but your gear choices are really tight. You have slim to no dr which makes z v z and z v a challenging and you have less skill points/life/mana to duel with. However, you will kill other things faster but you will also die faster. Faith GM is recommended to beginner zons who will die in 1 shot anyways. Faith matri on the other hand is a nice choice when you feel that you've mastered the dueling strategies of a zon. Your gear is really flexible and you can have max dr with sheild out. You will also have extra life/mana/skills/dr/resist compared to the GM build. The downside is that you do less damage. Use this build when you can aim decently, know when to switch to sheild and when you appreciate the extra life/mana/skills/dr/resist over damage.

What are breakpoints?
As an example, if someone is using a faith GM (14 fanat) with 95 ias, and another is using faith GM (14 fanat) with 140 ias, they would shoot at the same speed. Any extra ias is a waste.

What are the Ias Breakpoints for Faith?
Credit goes to: blckdemondrgn
His post is stickied but I saw that not too many people refer to it. Its here: http://www.sh*thead.org/index.php?showtopic=246756

And if you're too lazy to click:
mat bow for 7fps
lvl 12, need 48ias
lvl 13, need 46ias
lvl 14, need 44ias
lvl 15, need 44ias

gm bow for 7fps
lvl 12, need 99ias
lvl 13, need 95ias
lvl 14, need 92ias
lvl 15, need 92ias

What is the fastest fpa you can shoot arrows?
with faith, 7 fpa is the fastest. With wf, 8 fpa is the fastest. Refer to ias bps above.

Does poison Nerf critical damage?
No, it has been rumored that elemetal damage nerf critical strike (a zon passive skill) but this is false. While critical strike doesn't double elemental damage, it does double physical damage. For example, lets say that you do 6000 damage and of that 6000, 4000 is poison and 2000 is physical. When crit strike is triggered, you actually do 8000 damage, of which 4000 is poison and 2000 is physical.

Why do people wear War Travs?
The 15-25 damage given from war travs is amplified to around 400+ damage. It beats any other boots there are by a long shot with 10 vit and 10 str as a bonus. Only other boots worth considering are 08 gores.

Why would you wear Titans + ss instead of Cta + spirit?
First off, you don't have much life to play around with and you have almost no + to all skills items. With bo, my guess is that you will have around 1.5-1.7k life instead of 1.3k life. Not too much of a difference. Titans gives frw which is essential for a zon and ss gives resist + dr, something you barely have already. As well, you also get the awesome privellege of attacking with the sheild out. Your jabs / lb's HURT.

What is desync?
A glitch in the game where the frames can't keep up with your speed. This makes you appear somewhere else than you really are.

How do you Desync?
Your NET faster run walk has to be 150+. this is why people aim for 150 frw - to desync

What is the difference between net frw and frw?
There are sheilds and armors that slows you down. Refer to this list:
Light Armor (ArmorSpeed=0)
Quilted Armor/Ghost Armor/Dusk Shroud
Leather Armor/Serpentskin Armor/Wyrmhide
Hard Leather Armor/Demonhide Armor/Scarab Husk
Studded Leather Armor/Trellised Armor/Wire Fleece
Breast Plate/Cuirass/Great Hauberk
Light Plate/Mage Plate/Archon Plate

Light Shields
Necromancer Shrunken Heads
Paladin Shields
Buckler/Defender/Heater
Small/Round/Luna
Kite/Dragon/Monarch
Bone/Grim/Troll Nest
Spiked/Barbed/Blade Barrier

Medium Armor (ArmorSpeed=5; 5% speed decrease)
Ring Mail/Linked Mail/Diamond Mail
Chain Mail/Mesh Armor/Boneweave
Splint Mail/Russet Armor/Balrog Skin
Field Plate/Sharktooth Armor/Kraken Shell
Gothic Plate/Embossed Plate/Lacquered Plate
Ancient Armor/Ornate Armor/Sacred Armor

Medium Shields (5% speed decrease)
Large/Scutum/Hyperion
Gothic/Ancient/Ward

Heavy Armor (ArmorSpeed=10; 10% speed decrease)
Scale Mail/Tigulated Mail/Loricated Mail
Plate Mail/Templar Coat/Hellforged Plate
Full Plate/Chaos Armor/Shadow Plate

Heavy Shields (10% speed decrease)
Tower/Pavise/Aegis

Do zons need resist?
YES. With the advent of fort/faith, there are a lot of resist gear available. Try to have all positive resists in hell and at least 50+ cold resist and lite resist. The age of the glass cannons are over. Zons do both massive damage and can tank a certain degree.

What is ideal life?
1000-1400 should be a safe range.

What is ideal damage?
7k for faith GM

5-6k for Faith matri

7-8k for 08 wf.

What are the stats for a zon?
A zon is known for its evasive skills in combat and will often attack and run, attack and run. Therefore, most zons will go all dex, confident that they have enough life to tank at least 1 hit of whatever it is (except elemental of course) from their charms and gear. Dex = damage for a zon which is quite nice because you will have max block with whichever sheild you choose to wear. I'd advise you go all dex for a bowazon because in this case, dmg > life. You can get life from your gear and invent. However, as you approach a higher level and you are content with your damage, you can invest a few points into life. However, your investment wont make much of a difference in your life pool. Ultimately, its upto you. I've heard of a legendary zon that went all life and used full invent of 4/20 scs. How successful it was, I'm not too sure.

How frw converts into life
A serious zon will have a mixture of 320-5's, 32020s, zon torch, anni in their inventory (some other charms for uniqueness is always good). Now you will strive to achieve the 150 frw. You can only do this by using a certain amount of 320-5's. The more frw you get from gear, the more 32020s you can use, which means for every 5% frw you have on ur gear, you get 20 life. Thats why 30 frw 120-45's are so expensive - because it gives 120 life in reality.

What are the frw bps?
Frw does not have any bp's per say. The more frw you have, the faster you run. However, the yield per frw decreases as you have more. For example, as you approach the 150% frw, you will see that each 320-5 makes less and less of a difference.

Why use Cats eye over highlords?
You will find that many people will tell you to use cats eye over high lords. It is true that highlords gives deadly strike, 1 to all skills, 20% ias but cats eyes are better. First off, it gives 20% ias, 35 dex (dex = damage), 30 frw (which converts to 120 life). Cats eye beats highlords hands down. Only Ammy that can compete with this is 08 lords which also gives 30 frw but lacks the 20% ias. Cats eye is the bang for the buck.

Does 5 frw charms actually give 5 frw?
Yes. Its is a really simple test. Get someone to use cats eye ammy and another to use 6 5 frw charms. They should run at the same speed.

This post was edited by manduki on Jul 30 2006 07:14pm

I think Shael'd Windforce actually gives you Way more damage for just a little speed loss...3k more dmg at level 99...i calculated all....for just a SMALL speed loss

1 frame slower. ohm'd wf hits same speed as shaeld. 8 fpa is fastest wf can shoot. 7 fpa is faith. faith > wf for z v a. For z v z, it would depend on the player.

Faith is superior than wf in pubs.

3k more dmg?are you saying you can do 10k with wf?rofl can i see those calculations

hes wrong obviously. with wf you do like 7.6k-8k max.

very nice guide

someone voted wtf it sucks -....-

O well.

Does light/fire/cold/psn dmg nerv critical strike?^^

I know the answer.. just that you should add it in you faq..

look under does psn nerf critical strike.

I should have made the titale does elemental nerf crit.

Damn.. O well~.~