|*****************| |Table of Contents| |*****************| 1 Version History 2 Overview of the Plaguezon 3 Skills a. Javelin b. Passive and Magic c. Bow and Crossbow 4 Stat distribution 5 Equipment 6 Amazon Breakpoints 7 Dueling Strategies 8 Contact Me 9 Credits DISCLAIMER: This is property of Dextro (Dustin Kaufman). This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. In plain English, this means that it is against the law for you to copy this guide. If you want to print it out, that's fine, but I do not permit its use anywhere on the web or for it to be used for anything profitable. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1 Version History ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ v 1.0 FINALLY finished and submitted to gamefaqs =) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2 Overview of the Plaguezon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I tried this build a while ago because I wanted something different. At the time, I had never heard of it being done, but once I played with a skill planner, I found out that they could get insane amounts of damage. I decided to try it and see how it went. After playing with the character a little bit, I concluded that it has the potential to be one of the best dueling characters out there. Think of it as a cross between a poison necro, light javazon, and bowazon. The plaguezon is an amazon specializing in the poison javelins skills. Its really more of a poison/light/bow hybrid but that’s what makes it so great. You'll have 3 different elements at your disposal (poison, light, and a little physical). When used correctly, this build can beat any character in the game. Once you've practiced, there is no 1 build that can beat you every time, unlike some other characters. Also, unlike most other dueling characters, you'll have 5 different attacks that you can use. This makes the build extremely versatile. I'd also like to note that you have to play this character very defensively. If you don’t like having to run and dodge attacks, then this character is not for you. But if you're looking for something different and unique that can skill hold its own in PvP, then the plaguezon is a great character. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3 Skills ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A. Javelin 20 poison javelin 20 plague javelin 20 charged strike 20 light fury 1 into each prerequisite B. Passive and Magic 1-5 dodge 1-5 avoid 1-5 evade (put your remaining points into your 3 dodge skills) C. Bow and Crossbow 1 guided arrow ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4 Stat distribution ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Strength: You'll want this to be as low as you can get it. If you're using a CoA, make sure that you have enough to be able to use it with your CTA bow. With the right gear, you should only have to add about 20 strength. Dexterity: You'll want to have max block with your stormshield. If you're using a CTA Mat bow, you'll need 187 for it. That’s not too much more than max block so its worth it to me. Vitality: Everything else goes here. Energy: None ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5 Equipment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Making a good plaguezon is not cheap, so I wouldn’t recommend this build if you cant afford some of the items listed. Below I'll list the items that would be best for this character as well as some cheaper alternatives. This guide was written for ladder so no godly duped items. Also, I hate gear swapping and prebuffing and some of my gear choices reflect that. Helm: Crown of Ages: This is just simply an amazing helm for almost any character. Make sure to get one with 2 sockets and fill them with IAS/All resist jewels if you can. Try to get one with high resists as well. DR doesn’t matter since you'll hit 50% DR with any CoA. The only downside to using a CoA is that you're going to need more FRW from your charms. Rare Circlet: A great alternative if you cant afford a CoA. Look for one with at least +2 zon skills, 30% FRW, and all resists. Other nice mods to look for include 2 sockets, strength, dexterity, or life. Once again, if you can afford to put a IAS/All resist jewel into it, then by all means do so. If not, just a plain IAS jewel will work. Shako: Nice stats if you cant afford anything else. Weapon: Titans: You shouldn’t even consider anything else here. Try to get them eth and upped to help your damage. Armor: Enigma: Best armor for the plaguezon. Most people would think that bramble would be better but trust me, enigma is much better. You'll be teleing a lot more than you'd think once you get good. Also the FRW and Str is invaluable. With this you should be able to keep almost base Str. Bramble: Good armor but with an enigma being at roughly the same price, you should use that instead. While bramble will increase your damage, its almost overkill. You'll have plenty of damage with just enigma. Also you will be horribly slow using this making it hard to dodge attacks. Shield: Stormshield: Best shield by far. Huge DR, nice resists, str, and block rate. What more could you ask for? Don’t even think about anything else. Socket it with an Um or P diamond for the added resists. Gloves: Trangs: 25% poison damage and 20% FCR. These will actually add more damage than magic +3 java gloves will. Also, you'll really need the FCR from them. Belt: Arachnids: The +1 skills will add about 5k damage to your poison and the 20% FCR will help you reach the next breakpoint. You should use this during the majority of your duels. Boots: Rares: If you can find and afford a nice pair of rare boots then that would be your best option here. Try to get a pair with 30% FRW, FHR, with high resists. Other nice mods would be dexterity and strength. Sandstorm Treks: Very nice boots if you cant find or afford some nice rares. If possible, try to get them eth for the added defense. Rings: Raven: This one is a must. You will need the cannot be frozen mod for sure and the added dexterity is a huge plus. BK: I'd recommend using this as your other ring. It will increase your damage while adding a nice bit to your life. Rare FCR ring: Nice option if you'd like to hit the 48% FCR breakpoint. Try to get one with nice stats and resists. Amulets: Maras: Great all around amulet. +2 all skills, +5 stats, and nice resists. Cats Eye: Nice FRW bonus, IAS, and dexterity bonuses. Your resists will be lacking with this though. On switch: CTA Bow: Most people hear about this and think "OMG what a noob! Why are you using a CTA bow!?" You'll use this in almost every duel once you practice enough. Its a huge part of the build. Its most helpful to get the last hit on casters and other characters that run from you. Most people don’t realize that the CTA runeword is actually a cruel of quickness. You won't be doing a lot of damage with this, but you only need it to do 1 HP of damage once your poison has done its job. Its extremely helpful to just be able to finish a caster of with GA once their HP has dropped from your poison. It can also be used versus defensive character like trappers to make them come closer to you. I'd recommend making it in a Mat bow for the added speed since your not using it for the damage. CTA + Dream Shield: I've tried this and I strongly dislike it. If the person you're dueling is wearing a t-gods, then the pulse from the dream wont even hurt them. Much better to use a CTA bow in my opinion. Charms: Amazon Torch + Anni: This is a no brainer here. Try to get the highest stats and resists you can. 9 Javelin Grand Charms: You'll probably need to have a few FHR to reach the 86% breakpoint. If you don’t need anymore, try to get them with FRW. You'll need that morethan life. FRW/Resist Small Charms: If you can find these, they will help you greatly. Plain single resist charms work as well. In stash: T-Gods: Very useful for dueling FoHers, trappers, auradins, light javazons, and light sorcs. P Topaz'd Monarch: Extremely helpful for helping you stack your resists while dueling FoHers. Treachery: If you don’t mind prebuffing, the added resists and DR are very useful. I personally don’t use it though. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6 Amazon Breakpoints: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Diablo 2 constantly runs at 25 frames per second. Every action that your character performs is calculated by frames. for example, a sorceress reaches a Faster Cast Rate breakpoint when she has 37% of FCR equipment, this allows her to cast at 10 Frames Per Cast. Meaning she can cast a non-timered spell twice in 1 second (20 frames of the 25), and 5 times in 2 seconds. When she has 200% of FCR equipment, she can cast at 7 Frames Per Cast. Meaning she can cast a non-timered spell 3 times in 1 second (21 frames of the 25) and 7 times in 2 seconds. The same applies for hit-recovery, block-rate, attack-speed etc. This makes it very important for you to consider each breakpoint when choosing your gear. Faster Hit Recovery Frame FHR Needed 11 0% 10 6% 9 13% 8 20% 7 32% 6 52% 5 86% <----- This is your goal 4 174% 3 600% Faster Cast Rate Frame FCR Needed 19 0% 18 7% 17 14% 16 22% 15 32% <----- This is your goal 14 48% 13 68% 12 99% 11 152% Some people argue that you should go for the 48% or even the 68% breakpoint but I find it unnecessary. Try the breakpoints out yourself and go with what feels right with you. Bow Increased Attack Speed Frame 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 Matriarchal Bow 0% 8% 22% 42% 75% 142% Grand Matron Bow 0% 5% 11% 22% 35% 56% 89% 147% 293% You can see why I recommend using a CTA matriarchal bow in this chart. Its much faster than the grand matron bow. I would recommend going for the 10 frame breakpoint. Jab Increased Attack Speed Frame 8 7.5 7 6.5 6 5.5 5 4.5 4 Matriarchal Javelin 0% 5% 10% 15% 25% 40% 80% 100% 170% This will effect your attack speed for charged strike. I'd recommend going for the 6 frame breakpoint. Single Throw Increased Attack Speed Frame 14 13 12 11 10 9 Matriarchal Javelin 0% 10% 20% 30% 55% 90% This is going to effect lightning fury, plague javelin, and poison javelin. I'd recommend going for the 11 frame breakpoint. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7 Dueling Strategies: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The strategies listed are based on what I've learned from public duels on nonladder and ladder. The best advice I can give you is to practice, practice, practice. The more you practice, the better you'll get. Barbs: Whirlwind: You should do alright here with your high DR, max block, high life, and good dodge skills. If they are using enigma, its a bit more difficult. Once they teleport and try to whirlwind you, run in a semi-circle around them to avoid there attack and plague them. If you're having trouble hitting them with plague, use poison javelin and make them run through it. Once they have been poisoned with poison javelin, most will go purely offensive. It should be easy to plague them now, to speed up the poison. After they have been poisoned, keep dodging their attacks and hitting them with light fury when you can. When their HP is low enough, switch to charged strike and hit them once with it to kill them. DO NO switch to your CTA bow. Without that extra DR and block from SS, they can kill you in 1 whirlwind. Warcry: Although they are one of my favorite PvP builds, I've never dueled one so I cant list any strategies here. Hopefully I'll be able to update this soon. Frenzy/Berserk: Plague them when they run at you or just have them follow you into a poison cloud. When you get some distance between you two, turn around and hit him with light fury. When his HP is low enough, hit him with charged strike. Druids: Wind: Ah this is one thing I love about the plaguezon. They are superior to the wind druid. One thing to remember when you're dueling windys is to never stay still longer than the time it takes to throw 1 or 2 javelins. With your loads of FRW, you can outrun all of their attacks. Start off the duel by hitting them with light fury. This should kill off his oak sage and any minions he's summoned. If he teleports away to recast the summons, chase him down and hit him with plague. If you're having problems poisoning him, stand near your poison cloud and eventually, he should teleport into it. Once he's been poisoned, hit him with light fury a few times if you can to speed it along. When his HP is low enough, switch to your CTA bow and fire 1 or 2 guided arrows off at him and move. If those don't connect, keep dodging his attacks and fire off 1 or 2 more until he gets hit. If you're having trouble hitting him with GA, get him to teleport into another poison cloud to kill him. Fire/Shaman: I've only seen a few of these and only one of those was any good. Follow the same strategies as the wind druid, but be careful to avoid his fissures because they hurt. Hopefully I'll be able to find another good one to duel soon so I can update this section. Shapeshifting: Same as a frenzy or berserk barb. Necromancers: Bone: Do not let them stand still and spam bone spirits at you. You should have enough FRW to be able to outrun bone spirit but you don’t want 10 of them chasing you. Just keep dodging his attacks until he gets onscreen to attack. When he stops teleporting around, hit him with plague javelin. Once he's been poisoned, continue dodging his attacks while hitting him with lightning fury if you get the chance. Once he has 1 HP, either hit him with light fury or name lock a few GAs on him. Poison: With your loads of FRW, you can outrun his poison nova so you stand a good chance here. Wait for him to teleport onto your screen. When he does, run in the opposite direction, just outside of the nova. When he teleports onto your screen again, hit him with plague javelin and run away from the nova. Repeat this process, hitting him with light fury after every nova, until he has 1 HP. After that just switch to your bow and GA him. Summoners: You'll dominate this duel. Both lightning fury and plague javelin destroy his army in no time. Just get him to teleport into a plague cloud and watch his summons die. If you get the chance to hit him with lightning fury, then do so. Once his HP is low enough, either GA him to hit him again with lightning fury. Assassins: Light Trappers: You'll probably want to put your t-gods on for this duel. Keep your distance from the traps and always keep a poison cloud between you and the assassin. If they are just sitting on their traps, send a few GAs their way. This will make them come closer to you and recast their traps. When they are recasting, his them with plague. Don’t throw the javelin right at them though, because there is a good chance that they will block it. Try to throw it right next to them so that it expands and poisons them. Once they have been poisoned, back away and start shooting GAs at them. Fire Trappers: Same as a light trappers but make sure not to get caught in their wake of fire. If you get caught in this, you're going to go into dodge animation and get stuck that way. Don’t try to tank their wake of fire. If you see it shoot out next to you, run away from it and throw a plague javelin behind you. Kickers: Duel them the same way that you would a whirlwind barb. It should be much easier to plague them though since they stop after dragon flight. Whirlwind : Once again, duel them the same way that you would a whirlwind barb but make sure to stay away from their wake of fire. Paladins: Smiters: This is going to be your hardest duel. If you seem them charging towards you, immediately throw a plague javelin in their direction and hope that they run through it. If you miss at first, just run through the cloud and most will follow you. When they have been poisoned, you need to keep running your teleporting away to avoid their attacks. If you can, get around a group of potholes and get them stuck in that so they cant charge you. If you get the chance, light fury them to help speed up the poison damage. Once their HP is low enough, hit them with charged strike or trick them into running through a poison javelin line to kill them. FoHers: You're going to need your t-gods and P topazed monarch for this duel. Throw a plague javelin towards him and keep circling around the cloud, leaving it between you and him. Eventually he's going to have to charge through it to get to you. Once he's been poisoned, teleport away from him so that he can't hit you with FoH. When you're a few screens away, he's going to start charging at you again. Start throwing light furies in his direction which should kill him. Zealers: Duel them the same way that you would a smiter. These are much easier though since their zeal is so slow. You should be able to outrun it easily enough. Chargers: Once again, just keep a poison cloud between you and him and eventually he's going to have to charge through it to get to you. If you have enough FRW, you should be able to outrun a lot of his attacks. Once he's been poisoned, run in the opposite direction or teleport away and start firing light furies at him. If he catches up to you again just hit him with charged strike. Hammerdins: As long as you remember to run downwards once the hammerdin teleports onto you, he should never be able to hit you. Once he teleports onto you, run downwards and throw a plague javelin at him to poison him. He's going to try to teleport onto you again so run downwards and hit him with light fury. Repeat until he's dead. If he starts to run, name lock some GAs on him. Auradins: Same as a charger. Try to keep your distance as much as possible though because his pulse will eventually wear down your HP if you're too close. Sorceress: Fire Ball: You're going to need to practice a lot to learn how to dodge their fireballs while running around. When they get on your screen and stop teleporting, run in a semi circlet around them to dodge their fireballs and throw a plague javelin at them. When they have been poisoned, continue dodging their attacks, hitting them with lightning fury when you get the chance. Once they have 1 HP, switch to your bow and fire a GA at them. Only stop long enough to fire 1 GA at a time until you kill them. Lightning: You shouldn’t need your t-gods here. With enough practice, you should be able to avoid the majority of his attacks. Keep running in semi circles around them and hit them with plague javelin when you get the chance. Do not get caught in a line of lightning bolts. Once their HP is low enough, either hit them with lightning fury, or fire a GA at them. Orb: Make sure not to stand still during this duel. If they hit you dead on with a frozen orb, its going to hurt. You should be able to avoid almost all of the ice bolts though since you'll be so fast. If he's trying to out range you, predict where he is going to teleport next and place a plague cloud there. Eventually you'll get him to teleport into a cloud. Once he's been poisoned, concentrate on dodging his attacks because they are going to be more offensive. When the poison has done its job, fire a GA at him or hit him with lightning fury. Blizz: As long as you don’t stop moving and don’t make your running patterns predictable, he should never be able to hit you with blizz. Just wait for him to teleport on screen and hit him with plague javelin. After that just continue dodging his attacks and fire a GA at him to kill him. Amazons: Light Javelin: Most of these guys just name lock you with charged strike and run after you. If they do this, throw a plague javelin in their face and run in the other direction. You should have a little more FRW than them so you shouldn’t get caught. Once they have 1 HP, turn around and hit them with light fury. If they are trying to stay away from you and throw lightning furies at you, name lock teleport onto them and throw a plague at them. If you're having problems poisoning them, box them in with poison javelin and force them to run through it. Plague: This battle will all come down to who poisons the other person first. I'd recommend using poison javelin here since it will be easier to poison them with it. Just box them in and force them to walk through it. Once they have been poisoned, most will be much more offensive and you should have an easy time hitting them with plague javelin to speed up the poisoning. Once they have 1 HP, either hit them with light fury or GA them. Bowazon: For most of these duels, just name lock charged strike on them to kill them. You should have no problem catching them as your FRW should be much higher. If they are using light absorb, just charge them and hit them with plague javelin. You don’t have to worry about their arrows too much. Since you have max block, max DR, high life, and great dodge skills, its going to be hard for them to bring you down. If you're having problems hitting them with plague then trap them with poison javelin. Once they have 1 HP, hit them with light fury. Don’t switch to your bow in this duel. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 8 Contact Me ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I'm sure there are a few mistakes in here since this is my first guide. If you find anything wrong with this guide, please contact me. I can be reach through email at DustinK1310@yahoo.com or you can reach me on the gamefaqs diablo 2 message board. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 9 Credit ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Many thanks to kirbix for letting me use his guide outline as well as his wording of the disclaimer. I'd also like to thank Diamond Angel99 for his wording on how breakpoints work. http://wirsz.phpwebhosting.com/General.htm <----- Everything you need to know about breakpoints found here. Thanks a lot! Copyright 2006 © Dustin Kaufman