Thread: Farcast Charged Strike Amazon by Link_4_Ever

Link_4_Ever’s guide to the perfect Charged Strike Amazon (with far cast )

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Legal stuff:: This guide was made for D2SECTOR.NET AND BLIZZSECTOR.NET ONLY. It may NOT be plagerised onto ANY other forums or website UNLESS i have given my WRITTEN CONSENT. This guide may be copied for PERSONAL use but cannot be used for any financial gain whatsoever.
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Intro
First, let’s start with the basics. What is a Charged Strike Amazon, AKA CS Zon
Well, the answer to that is quite simple; a CS Zon is an Amazon that uses the skill Charged Strike combined with a javelin or, rarely, a spear, to poke her enemies to certain death, with one or two pokes, both PvP and PvM
So you may be wondering “why” or “how” would an Amazon using such a skill be able to kill so quickly. To answer that, let’s take a look at the description of “Charged Strike” as it is described in the Arreat Summit

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Arreat Summit
An Amazon devoted to the path of Zerae will be able to harness the forces of vengeance and storms. During Rites of Vengeance, Zerae will confer to the Amazon attacks that unleash a wild burst of electrical energy, striking down nearby enemies. A grizzled veteran of the Time of Troubles once said: "Spear-women walking the 'Path of Zerae' are best given wide berth, for they can be as violent and indiscriminant as the storms on the Twin Seas".

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Arreat Summit

Effect: A lightning attack that releases charged bolts.

Charged Strike allows you to add Charged Bolt to your Spear attack.


Usually, you wouldn’t think it would be possible to kill someone with a few pathetic charged bolts, but in this case, EACH bolt will be doing around 12,000 damage, and there are going to be over 7 bolts per hit.


The Build


Now let’s head onto serious business. Let’s start with the equipment, so we can better judge the stats allocation for our character later on


The Equipment


I will not mention the build for a telezon, as this is not the zon we wish to make

Helmet: Griffon’s eye, Unique Diadem. This helmet will provide gigantic damage boosts to ALL your lightning skills, including charged strike

Armor:Chains of Honor Archon Plate. The 8%DR, 65resists, 2skills, ~ 900 defense are unmatched

Belt: Verdungo’s hearty coil. The FHR, vita boost, and DR are your lifesavers, keep in mind this build is NOT a glass cannon. T-Gods is NOT an alternative, String is the only alternative since we want to have enough %DR to survive a few melee attacks

Gloves: +3 Jav/20 Ias gloves. No questions asked

Boots: Sandstorm Treks (best if ethereal). To save in strength allocation, to increase your vitality and your FHR, and not to mention huge poison resist and defense.
Another option is the most common 08 duped boots (i.e. Imps on west)

Rings: 2x Raven frosts. The dexterity bonus + cold absorb is extremely important for the build

Amulet: Mara’s Kaleidoscope. The stats, resists and skill are the most important things your zon needs, and this thing has got ‘em

Weapon: Thunderstrokes with +4 to javelin skills. This is preferred over titans because of the negative resists, which are EXTREMELY important in PvP, and because of the 15% ias bonus

Shield: 20/-20 Die Jeweler’s Monarch of Deflecting (JMod). If you want to be able to duel barbs (the good ones…) then unless you have this shield, you have absolutely no chance, even with far cast.
The cheaper alternative to this is a 15/-15 Artisan’s Tower Shield of Deflecting (or exception/elite versions)
Want cheaper than that? SS or spirit I guess =/

Charms: ANNI+TORCH (20stats) ARE A MUST (unless you want to use charms to get the str/dex bonuses, but you will lose a lot of space for skillers). The rest, basically lifer/skillers with resistance/life charms

Summary:
IAS: 35 (right over the 30 breakpoint)
FHR: 30
Light DMG (if my calculations are correct): 12373.2
Defense: over 1400
CS level: 45
Resistance without small charms, with anni+torch at +20res each, and with perfect maras, after all anya scrolls: 165 (235 for poison) use small charms to boost to 175.
Life: you have none hahaha… eh sorry =/ actually I have no idea, so let’s move on to stats and maybe then I will know J

The stats

Ok, do exactly as I say and you will be able to use all your equipment AS LONG AS YOU DON’T CHANGE IT. I am not responsible if you lose any gear because of a strength glitch. (These numbers are for the primary items listed in the equipment section, and considering you have anni and torch at 20 stats each and +15 strength treks. Change these numbers according to the stats on your items if they are different)

Strength: 76
Dexterity: 66
Add the rest of the points into vitality. At lvl 99 with all your gear at perfect +vita, with all +stats quests done, with 76 str and 66 str allocated and no energy, you will have 533 vitality. With a +6bo cta, that's roughly 2.8k life (The calculation is correct, 100vita comes from your items, and is not calculated with bo).

The Skills

Well this is quite simple
At level 92, you will be able to have maxed Charged strike along with all it’s synergies if you have completed all the +skills quests.
If you decide to level over 92 (you crazy maniac) then put at least one point into the dodging skills (the middle line of the passive n magic skills)

The Strategy

If you make this character, I strongly suggest you use far cast, because otherwise 90% of all characters have an advantage over you, and 99% of other zons use it.

The strategy is more simple than one would think. When using farcast remember to always HOLD shift WHILE attacking. Instead of trying to namelock your enemy, try to keep your cursor around his position, as though you were using FoH.

When fighting melee characters (other than barbs) DO NOT run. If you run, 99% chance of death. Stand there and keep trying to poke, sooner or later you will get him because .
With barbs, it’s the opposite. Stand and poke UNTIL he starts doing WW. Once he is in WW, just move a few yards from his position and poke.
With wind druids it’s often difficult since they have absorb, try to avoid dueling them, if you must, then keep on attacking them and don’t try to run, it would only make you die faster

This character is the ULTIMATE pker. My own javazon isn’t this godly, although it is good enough to kill 90% of anyone who dares annoy me during a duel

When characters are sorbing + stacking, you have only one option left. Go to your stash, get your spare phoenix monarch and eth titans on (if u can afford the gear i mentionnied, im sure this wont be a problem lol), and shoot lightning fury at them. Since people using lightsorb/stack gear lose a lot of physical resistance, the physical dmg from light fury will kill them

If you think farcast is BM, consider this. If you’re a sorc, and you can shoot fireballs, why can’t an amazon shoot charged bolts? It’s almost the same thing as lightning fury anyway

a little hint for you guys: did u notice this zon does 12k dmg per charged bolt? with all the negative resist from the rest of the gear, thats like 140k dmg per stab. You dont really need farcast when u do so much damage, but its very helpful for PvM if u dont wanna get in a huge crowd, and excellent to kill losers who nk and tg