PvM Freezing Arrow / Java Hybrid Zon

I made one of these a long time ago and recently remembered how fun it was so I made it again. The basic premise of the build is running Chaos Sanc with a setup that consists of using an Ice Bow with with Lit Fury / Charged Strike on switch. I primarily run Chaos with her so that's what this guide will entail.


Quick FAQ:
1.) How fast does she kill?
Very fast. As fast as a Hammerdin? No, not really. Blessed Hammer is a broken skill, always has been. If you want to make another cookie cutter Hdin for mf'ing, then go ahead. If you want to try something different that's really fun to play and still slams, then continue reading.

2.) Why do you primarily run Chaos Sanc and not the other standard MF areas?
The grouping of monsters in Sanc is ideal for Freezing Arrow, as well as Lit Fury. Freezing Arrow was made for Chaos Sanc.

3.) Is the build as fun as you say?
Most definitely. First of all, the sound effects from Freezing Arrow, both when you hit and when they die, never get old. Feels really satisfying. Second, the fact that you use Lit Fury/CS on switch adds much needed variety to something that's normally extremely repetitive -- item finding.

4.) Who is this guide for?
People who want to PvM/MF effectively but are tired of using the same cookie cutter builds (Hammerdins, Light Sorcs, etc.), and also want something fun to play. Game is almost a decade old.


Stats:
Strength: Enough to wear your Ice bow and whatever shield you decide on using with your Javs (Stormshield, -20/20 Monarch, etc.)
Dex: Enough to wear your bow
Vita: See below
Energy: See below

Regarding Vita / Energy: This is the one non-Sorc build I can think of that going base Energy is probably not a good idea. Freezing arrow and Lit Fury (FA, especially) both cost a ton of mana to use at high skill levels. Not only is putting points into Energy a must, imo (unless you want to constantly use mana pots), but you also need to have a large amount of mana leech. It's that important. As for how much to put exactly, I put about 100 into energy and the rest into Vita, but it's up to you.


Skills:

• 20 Freezing Arrow
• 20 Cold Arrow
• 20 Charged Strike
• 20 Lightning Fury
• 1 point in all Passives except Inner Sight / Slow Missile / Decoy / Valk (just not necessary, imo)
• 1 point Multi Shot
• X into Ice Arrow (all remaining points in there, Pierce is another option but you should have a good % with your + skills gear)

Why not max Ice Arrow? It doesn't add damage to FA, it only adds freeze length. This is still useful, which is why you should put the remainder of your points into it, but don't max it. The other skills are more important to max first.


Items:
Weapon: Ice runeword. To be honest, whatever Ice bow you have is fine. You don't need a +3 GMB. You can use the one sitting on your A1 merc if you want. Just alter your STR/DEX requirements as needed depending on which bow type you use.

Helm: Crown of Ages socketed with 2x 15 ias, 15 res all jewels. This is a must, imo. Your resists will be extremely low using a Shako or some other MF helm. How low? Like literally negative all resists -- that bad. Also, don't worry about CoA's STR requirement, you'll have plenty for it since you're rocking an Enigma.

Armor: Enigma -- I originally went with CoH to help compensate for terrible resists, but imo the teleport is necessary for the single purpose of getting inside Chaos Sanc. It saves a lot of time and really is a must. Not only that but you get a lot of MF from it, as well as run/walk which helps a lot in making the Chaos runs go faster.

Gloves: Ideal gloves are +2 passive or bow skills, 20 ias, 20%+ mf. These aren't expensive at all, just annoying to find via trading. If you can't get them then I'd rock 40% chance guards or even Laying Of Hands.

Boots: War Travs or Cow King's boots. The +25 dex from Cow King's is pretty helpful to wear your bow, btw.

Belt: Gloom's Trap Mesh Belt. No joke man, Gloom's is the perfect belt for this build. You get a 15% increase in mana along with 5% mana leech. Seriously, this one item makes a pretty big difference and I can't recommend it enough.

Rings: I personally use a mana leech ring with +20 str and like 15% mf. The ideal rings would both have mana leech, +stats, +res all. I'm trying to get some better ones. One Raven is fine too.

Amulet: Imp Brow was made for this build (duped East NL amulet that gives +2 zon, dual leech, +stats, +all res, etc.). If you don't have something like that, try to get a +2 Zon amulet with resists all, mana leech, +20% or more MF, whatever you can find. A Mara's would also be fine. If you think you're resists are ok, then try a Crescent Moons -- gives 12 to 15% mana leech.

Switch Gear:
Weapon: Ethereal Upped Titan's or +skill/40 ias javs
Shield: -20/20 Jmod or a Stormshield

Inventory:
Torch + Anni + Gheed's + 15x 7% MF scs + Tome of TP + Tome of ID + 1x Arrows = 12 blocks of free space for picking up loot. Obviously, it doesn't have to be exactly like this.

Act 1 Merc gear:
Helm: Andy's
Armor: eth Fort
Weapon: Faith

Why Act 1 Merc? You don't really need a tank. Freezing Arrow stops the mobs in their tracks. You seriously don't need one. The Fanatacism from your Merc will help you kill a lot faster, too. If you're wondering if she dies in Sanc a lot... almost never.

Basic Strategy:
1.) Tele to Chaos Sanc
2.) Slam with Freezing Arrow
3.) Cold Immune? Switch to your Javs and take em out with Lit Fury or Charged Strike
4.) Charged Strike Diablo. He dies in literally 5 secs. CS is the best boss killer skill in the game.
5.) Rinse & Repeat

If you have any questions or want to see her in action (East SC NL), feel free to post.

This post was edited by BASHFUL_BABA on Sep 23 2008 10:35am

Regarding Vita / Energy: This is the one non-Sorc build I can think of that going base Energy is probably not a good idea. Freezing arrow and Lit Fury (FA, especially) both cost a ton of mana to use at high skill levels. Not only is putting points into Energy a must, imo (unless you want to constantly use mana pots), but you also need to have a large amount of mana leech. It's that important. As for how much to put exactly, I put about 100 into energy and the rest into Vita, but it's up to you.

Stopped reading here.

You should have kept reading. Mana is a huge problem with this build, you ignorant clown. Also, there's no CTA unless you want to equip/re-equip every 5 minutes, which makes mana an even bigger issue. I made this build. I actually have the char, it's not theoretical. I have experience with it. I'm playing her right now and I can tell you putting some points into Energy ain't a bad idea.

This post was edited by BASHFUL_BABA on Sep 23 2008 10:47am

LOL - you first looked to me - nice and smart - and when you Flamed against @p0w420 I realized why you have 10% Warn !
Can't you just Use HealerMerc !? ^

P.S.: Plus I never liked Pure PvM Characters !

This post was edited by Smart_Player on Sep 23 2008 10:51am

rofl... what a piece of junk

1st up
teleport charges to get to sanc

or simply run.. nothing to be afraid of , especially whgen one is looking at the horriblew casting speed of an amazon.. (not to mention the fact that she doe snot have a slot for casting due to bow/javelins


2.
cold+java: that means one armor: ormus..... more damage cannot be gotten

3.
problems with resis and advising a coa for it...

*looks at kiras or some decent circ".....

4.
javelins and arrows and no razor?

sorryx but what is up with this bullshit?

6. travs o_O
there is better stuff than that...

7.
highlords or cat`s


8. faithmerc?


sorry but this is a piece of junk made by somebody who does not know the game.....

Alright, I'll try to make a constructive feedback out of this post.

The build isn't that bad, even though if it could be improved, of course.

--

Stat wise

I wouldn't put points into energy even if you say that you come in need of mana, since 1 Energy point gives 1.5 Mana. If you're not using Battle Orders, that gain would be negligible. Swapping your merc for a low damage dealer insight merc could be an option if you can handle losing the attack speed.

Gear wise

I would make an amulet swap to either cats eye or highlords, depending one the one that you think fit.
Laying of hands is a very cheap and so underated item that should be used on every melee/ranged physical damage dealers in PvM.
The pierce from a razortail would be a nice add in PvM.

I think that's all

--

Please do not stop writing guides and sharing your builds for a few negative comments, as there will always be unsatisfied people. By reading feedbacks, you will learn; everyone does, everyday.

Wow, that was just a terrible reply. You have no idea what you're talking about and never even tried this build so you're talking out of your ass.

1.) Teleport charges? Get outta here. Good luck finding a +2 zon ammy with teleport charges + other good mods like res all and shit, and then repairing it every run. What kind of a suggestion is that?

2.) Ormus? Enigma is a must, not only for the Tele but for the FRW and MF. This is a pure PvM char.

3.) What's your point with the CoA? You didn't say anything against it, you just mentioned other options. Fine, use whatever you want as a helm as long as it has gg resists. Lol, if you can find a +2 zon, 20 fcr/30 frw, res all, 2 socket helm you can sock with 30/30 jewels, why are you reading this thread?

4.) Are you simple? Do you not understand I've played this build and know how mana intensive it is? Gloom's gives a huge boost in mana and you can get a high % Pierce with just a point in it thanks to all your +skills.

6.) (You skipped over 5, you illiterate clown). Why Travs? This is a PvM char. Travs have MF, so do Cow King's boots. If you have a gg pair of res +mf rare boots, go ahead and use them of course.

7.) Nty on Highlord's and Cat's. Deadly Strike is useless with this build and an Imp Brow (or similar amulet) is 100x better than Cat's eye.

8.) Faith merc is perfect for this build. The Fanat helps you kill a lot faster. You don't need a tank merc, plus they die a lot in Sanc due to IM, which gets mad annoying.

The only thing you've demonstrated with your reply is the fact that you have absolutely zero experience with this build and how it plays. You're an idiot, and you're barely literate to boot. Get off the computer and go back to class.

edit, real talk.

This post was edited by BASHFUL_BABA on Sep 23 2008 11:19am

1st up, skipping somehthing on purpose so that your opponent can show wether he is in for cheap shots or wether he can bring some real arguments is a nice start.. thanks for showing what you are.....

if this is a pvm guide,. we might as well just go for it and get out the funny details....

both LF and your FA are manadrainers of the highest degree...
you don`t really have that much physical damage and ml/ll to compensate for it....
either you`ll be sipping puts like hell (I even do that with a physical wf bowie which has tons more ml than you do with this build) or you will simply be out of mana
the insight merc is far better

IM is no argument...
1 point decoy planted in front of an Ok and he will focus on that, not even mentioning the fact that you have a masskiller like lf and can concentrate on killing the mages first , off screen killing ftw ^^#

why ormus....
15-20% more damage for both elements.......pvm build, yess but neither can you really boost the mf on this build and maintain high killspeed at the same time?.. nor do you teleport really fast without any fcr

your build has 0 fcr, which means that you need 19 frames for one castanimation, which means that you are at a castspeed of
1,3 casts/second.........................
and you really wanna tell me that one does not get his ass kicked from here to the moon in no time with that "speed"

why no coa.. because I can either be safe with resis with kiras much more effectively or....
since one uses 2 ranged attacks, one can easily afford not to have full resis)
I can both boost my elemental damage and so on with a good old nightwings and get far more damage from that, even haviong more ar with the FA, more damage due to skills % elemental damage, and LF damage, while still having more life due to dex and less str

let`s look at the pierce
1 point base
1 coa
2 eni
2 passive of gloves
2 amu
---->lvl 8 pierce- 65% chance to pierce

with razor can easily reach 100%

and 35% less pierce is a lot more loss of overall damage and of ll/mf because if your arrow pierces, it can deal physical damage to the next target and thus leech.................

deadly strike.. what what did it do... double your physical damage and thus double your ll and ml....... wait, now isn`t ll or ml one really important thing for this build'?......


should I really continue?

bad...

1.) Says right in the title it's a PvM guide.

2.) The fact that you don't think the mana leech in this gear is enough to compensate for the low physical damage just proves you have no idea what you're talking about. You have no experience whatsoever with this build or a freezing arrow zon. I've been playing it the last couple of days and the mana leech in the gear is enough to rarely use mana pots (mana burn being the only real time I use them).

3.) Yes, you can boost the MF in this build and still kill very efficiently. This again proves your lack of any experience with it. You've never played so how would you know. I can show you in-game how fast she kills with over 300% mf, I'm on East SCNL.

4.) Once again proving your idiocy, you forget to count the +4 skills to Pierce from Torch + Anni. Fail.

Not only are you wrong, but you're barely even literate.

edit, forgot #5:

5.) Slammed.

This post was edited by BASHFUL_BABA on Sep 23 2008 07:44pm