Endurack's Constructed 1.12 Hybrid Amazon Guide:
So, it has been a long, long time since I have been here on Zelaron. Just a quick read up on what I am doing, I am currently in the Game Industry! I am an Environment Artist working on a new next gen XBOX 360/PS3 RPG game at Warner Brother Games. We expect a release by mid 2010. So thats what I am doing. Moving on!
So, it is me, Endurack, and I am here to release my 1.12 Amazon Build which I HAVE CONSTRUCTED. Please try not to question to many things as I have played Amazon for over 6 years and I held first place in the JSP PvP Ladder for Amazon for over 2 years until I quit. Well, I decided to play again in my spare time and have geared this Amazon. This is the latest version and you will crush people if you can play Amazon well. Lets start the guide:
Amazon Stats With This Build:
Name: Whispering
Level: 94
Bow Damage: 1,190 - 6,515 @ 7 FPS and 1,131 - 6,898 @ 8 FPS
Jab Damage: 1617 - 5,208
Life: 1,561 @ 7FPS and 1,648-1,702 @ 8FPS (Depends on Gear)
Mana: 257
Run Speed: 160% Without Titans and 190%With Titans when I use them
Critical Strike: 71%
Attack Frames Per Second: 7 and 8 FPS
Resitances: -12% - +22% In Hell without my Resistance Suit and 75%+ With my Resistance Suit
Record in ZvZ: Still Undefeated Overall!
1.12 Hybrid Amazon is no easy character to play in 1.12 so if your not even a intermediate pker yet, don’t even bother. They are very, very much at a disadvantage to just about everything in 1.12. Of course Blizzard has once again messed up Diablo, but lets get to the build. This Amazon guide can get you off too a good start if your sick of playing no-skill casters and want to challenge yourself. If you know how to play an Amazon, you can stand your ground vs. most characters. But you will have trouble with just about every class you face on one thing or another. There are many, many Amazon builds but I am here to tell you, from my experience of 6+ years at Amazon, which I feel is the most powerful and versatile Amazon around. I feel the strongest character build, just like any build, is a solid balance between Health and Damage. Gear can always vary, so read in detail on the pieces that interest you.
Abbreviations:
Zon = Amazon
WF = Windforce
Nof Coil = Nosferatu's Coil
SM = Slow Missile
GA= Guided Arrow
GMB = Grand Matron Bow
FPS = Frames Per Second
FPA = Frames Per Attack
MS = Multiple Shot
IGA = Invisible Guided Arrow
IBS = Invisible Bone Spirit
IAS = Increased Attack Speed
WW = Whirlwind
Sin = Assassin
VIT = Vitality
DEX = Dexterity
STR = Strength
Dungoes = Verdungoes Hearty Cord
AR = Attack Rating
LF = Lightning Fury
LB = Lightning Bolt
CB = Crushing Blow
DS = Deadly Strike
GMB = Grand Matron Bow
DR = Damage Reduction
CS = Critical Strike
MULTI = Multishot
KB = Knockback
Desynch- de-synchronization – a form of lag that makes u think you are somewhere but to the server u are else where usually somewhere in your trail.
STATS:
Strength: 68 (You can go less if you wish, my Amazon has 68 Base due to my ring)
Dexterity: 290 - 310 (Depending on level and the amount of life you want.)
Vitality: All Remaining
Energy: Base
Explanation:
The Amazon only needs enough strength to toss on your primary gear and any alternate gear you plan to use. If you only have one suit only add enough Strength for that suit. I invest 68 Base Dexterity because I like to be able to use gear setups without relying on War Travelers. Additionally, I use a 40 | -15 Jewel in My Stormshield. Your new bow will be a +15 Fanatacism "Faith" GMB Runeword. This bow is GODLY. It will upgrade your minimum damage levels so well and provide your amazon the ability to reach 8FPS or 7FPS if you decide to use a Nof's Coil. Remember Amazons are built off dexterity for damage. You could use the same items as my Amazon and have 150 base Dex and be doing a good 1,800-2,000 less then my Amazon.
SKILLS:
Guided Arrow: 20
Dodge: 14 - 18
Evade: 17 or 20 (These are the only two options, either do 17 or do 20.)
Avoid: 16 - 18
Critical Strike: 20
Multiple Shot: 1 - 4 (Read Equipment to know.)
Strafe: 1 - 4 (Read Equipment to know, if you prefer this over Multishot put your points here.)
Jab: 1
Lightning Bolt: 1
Lightning Fury: 1
Penetrate: 1
*Pierce: 1
Explanation:
The Amazon is focused on getting heavy damaging hits against your target in 1.12, thus you want to max critical strike immediately! As for your dodging skills, most of 1.12 is still casters. Go for the missile attack dodging over melee and you can stand your ground vs. them for a while. As for your jab and Lightning Bolt, in hell games everyone gets -100% to your resistances, well Lightning bolt converts your physical damage to lightning making it a possible 1-4 hit KO skill. Don’t over abuse the lightning bolt since people can pick up on it fairly easy. If they do, Lightning Fury pulls the wild card again. If they re-geared to have high lightning resist, I am willing to bet they lowered their DR even further so go back to Lightning Fury and destroy them in 1-4 hits.
Additionally, Pierce does not work for arrows but it does work for Lightning Fury. The class you see the most advantage with this is against Druids. Piercing their minions and Oak Sage will go right to the Druid himself. This is very effective.
Equipment:
Amazon set ups are based on IAS, so check out your IAS break points before getting any bright ideas. Heres a link:
http://diablo2.ingame.de/tips/calcs/...p?lang=english
Helmet: 3 Open Socket 30% Run Helm (make a 120 ED/45 IAS/30 IAS/30 RUN for 7FPS and a 40 ED/60 MAX/15 IAS/30 RUN for 8FPS) and you want a 95+ life 3 socket Helm for Z vs. Z.
*Amulet: Cats Eye
Armor: "Fortitude" Runeword
Shield: Storm Shield with either 40/-15 Req or 40/15 IAS
Weapon 1: Grand Marton Bow "Faith" Runeword (+15/+2/+3 Bow Skills Base)
*Weapon 2: Ethereal Titans Revenge (Upgraded) or you can take the time to find Matriarchal Javelins like mine which are 368% Enhanced Damage / Adds 6 - 11 Damage / +30% Increased Attack Speed / Replenishes Quantity / Ethereal (Cannot Be Repaired) +3 to Javelin And Spear Skills (Amazon Only). Basically you want high ass throw damage. I was pushing nearly 6.1K Lightning Fury Damage with these Javelins.
Belt: Nosferatu's Coil or Verdungoes Hearty Cord
Rings: Raven Frost 250/20 and a Bitter Hold. Check out trading because I have a ring better then Bitter Hold. Over time, things get better so I am sure you can find better rings these days. If you are pretty rich then buy a ring like mine - +46 AR / +6% Life Stolen Per Hit / +25 STR / +14 DEX / +39 LIFE / Poison Resist 30%
*Gauntlets: +2 to Bow Skills / 20% IAS / 10+ Dex / KB / Fire Damage Gloves
Greaves: War Travelers, Bone Nails, or Others
CHARMS:
15-20x 3/20/3% or 3/20/5% Run/Walk Small Charms
17-22x 3/20/20 Life Small Charms
1 Annihilus (My zon has a 20/20 stat so you may need more strength)
1 Hellfire (My Amazon is calculated with a 20/20 Stat)
***Stash Equipment***
1 T-Gods
1 Hotspur
Shield 3x P. Topazed 1x 15 All Res / -15 Requirements (Farcasters get rolled and since your Dex is stupid high you hit max block)
Shield 3x Um Runes 1x 15 All Res / -15 Requirements (81 all res nice in team duels vs all eles)
Rare + Dex Boots with Cold and Lightning Resistance
1x 'Harmony" Bow Runeword
1 Five Socket Matriarchal Bow with 4x "Um" Runes 1x 15/15 Jewel or 1x "Nef" Rune and +3 to Bow and Corssbow Skills with 15% Enhanced Damage OR Six Socket Crusader Bow with 4x "Um" Runes 2x 15/15 All Res Jewels and 15% Enhanced Damage
***OVER ALL GEAR NOTE:***
A lot of people these days are after Bitter Slippers and +2 Amazon Amulets with High Resistances as well as +2 Amazon Circlets with Resistances and Run / Walk. They are trying to raise resistance levels for no reason. Let me explain why this is the dumbest Idea I ever heard of. Everyone has those facet Jewels these days so even when you see 75% Resistances, when you fight Casters your resistances are taken down. Additionally anyone using Lightning or Cold has such HUGE passive - resistances to your resistances making it to where unless you have 100%+ Stacked Cold and Lightning your resistances are completely negated. If you have trouble with Fire sorceresses, use Hot Spurs or Nokazan Combo. It will do the trick. As for Poison. Just use Antidote Potions. I do have one Resistance Set that I use vs. Energy Shield Sorc's only so read on if you do want to know how to build resistances for ES Sorc's.
*Amulet- The options are self explanatory. My primary choice is the Cats Eye for fast run boosts and huge damage. You need IAS for 8FPS or 7FPS so keep an IAS Ammy on.
*Weapon 2- You must have +15 Fanatacism "Faith" for this suit. Using Titans Revenge enables you to use Stormshield easier due to the +20 str. Most people like to use Demon arches, BUT THEY SUCK TERRIBLY DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT USE THOSE PIECES OF SHIT. Reasons!?!??!
1. Slow as Grandma Joe with no legs trying to ride a pogo stick!
2. Artificial damage due to elemental which is very easy to cancel
3. It doesn’t even do more pure damage then titans since titans has +20 str/dex and +4 skills.
As for your bow, construct this Amazon correctly and your target will never even come close too you. It is so easy to stun lock opponents and just destroy them in a few hits with this build.
*Gauntlets- Most people like to use +2 to passive and magic. But do not use these. They do not do anything. If you use my Skill Allocation it leaves you with gaining +1% Critical Strike and +1% Evade off of +2 Passive Gloves. Thats it, thats all it does. It does not save you skills unless you invest into useless skills or need a lvl 20 Multiple Shot (WHICH YOU DON'T). Use the +2 Bow Skills. On my Amazon I gain 198 Damage from +2 Bow Skills. If you build your zon differently then maybe the +2 Passive Skills will take you further but in the end, you should have the skill investment I have. Also, the Fire Damage is used for Jav Mode, it creates nice stun in melee modes and when you land a Critical Hit with Stun your target is so heavily hit you will see an instant win for you. Also keep in mind you need 99% IAS for 4.5 FPA Jab and 89% IAS on Javs switch for 9 FPA Throw in order to keep your target locked between throws once a target is stunned. Fire Damage stun reduces a targets block to 0% so if you can land another hit prior to the target recovering from stun, you instantly stun lock them at 0% Block. THAT MEANS THEY FUCKING DIE !
Explanation- Charms:
If your Amazon is slow, your dead. And pure physical damage is what you want.
Explanation- Gear:
Your focusing on damage in 1.12, your resistances do not matter much as just about every elemental class (except maybe a Fire Ball Sorc) is really uneffected by your puny resistances. They are not stacked and just because you see 75% does not mean you wont die. Cold, for example, has -255% Pierce on average and then even more with the -5% from Facets. Most casters do so much damage you die in 1-2 hits anyways. Also remember Hell has -100% Resistances so you need 175% All Resistances just to be maxed out in Hell Mode (you wont even come close to this) and thats not even calculating the - Enemy Resistances from gear and skills certain characters have. Another example, going back to the -255% Cold Mastery on a Cold Sorc, you need a total of 420%+ Cold Resistance just to be maxed at 75% in Hell. Another example, Griswold Set Paladins have -120% Enemy Lightning Resistance just from Conviction and then another -60% from the Facets and another -100% from Hell Mode. Don't even bother with the resistances, you will not get high enough resistances to live. At best, you may buy yourself another hit at the cost of somewhere around 1,600 Damage and 400 Life or 50%+ Run and Walk speed.
Now there is one exception to this, and thats the Energy Shield Sorceress with Maximum Block and High Damage Reduction. I have a suit of gear which you will dominate them with because the physical damage is not needed vs. this sort of ES Sorceress since it is absorbed so heavily and they have so much damage reduction. Fire, Cold, Lightning, it doesnt matter. They all get crushed by this gear setup:
ENERGY SHIELD SORCERESS ONLY SETUP:
Weapon: 1x 5 or 6 Socket Bow with 4x "Um" Runes and 1-2x 15/15 Jewel and +3 to Bow and Corssbow Skills with 15% Enhanced Damage
Armor: 1x 60% Increased Attack Speed / 60% All Resistances / +100 to Life Armor
Helmet: 1x 45% All Resistances / +45% Increased Attack Speed / +100 to Life Circlet (3x 15/15 Jewels)
Guantlets: Crafted Gloves with KB
Belt: Immortal Kings, a High Resistance Rare or Thundergods Vigor (Depending on Sorceress type)
Greaves: Immortal Kings , Hotspurs, Natalya's or some High Resistance Rares (Depedning on Sorceress Type)
Charms: 2-4x 100 Poison Damage Small Charm / +20 to Life or 451 Poison Damage Small Charm
The Windforce bow is now inferior to "Faith". This bow enables high minimum damage and ridiculous Maximum Damage with 8FPS or 7FPS ! ! !. With this kind of damage range anything can happen. Factor in the Criticals and you may get some nice hit combos. The ED/IAS Jewels simply helps your speed and once again renders in a lot more damage with a bit of life addition. You guys are probably wondering about faster hit recovery, I do not use any of it because you usually do not need it and if you get Dodge locked, the FHR won't help much. Also, keep in mind 8FPS is very powerful as well. I prefer my 8FPS setup since my damage, life and damage reduction are all much higher.
**************************STRATEGY/TACTICS**************************
HUGE HELPFUL HINT #1: Amazons Block and Dodge more while standing still and walking, never keep your Amazon on Run mode always keep her on walk mode and use “Ctrl” and hold it to run, this avoids the “r” button delay and lets you manipulate its use much easier. This is mainly useful vs. melee and physical classes.
HUGE HELPFUL HINT #2: EVERYONE teleports after a zon and tries to chase em' down and rush you, always run south or west and run in zig-zag motions so they have to change their directions of teleport and fire. When you do your zig-zags and your on the opposite side of them wail off a few GA’s and rinse and repeat.
HUGE HELPFUL HINT #3: Anyone using minion stack or any kind of minion as a shield can cause you some problems. Always use Strafe to clear the minion or minions and then unload with Guided Arrow. Some examples are Clay Golem vs. Necros, Shadow Master vs. Assassins and Wolves vs. Druids. All of these classes rely on the minions to block your Guided Arrows. Strafe will give you a wide open window.
As for classes, I’m not going to go over many since the HINT #2 basically applies to all 1.12 casters since they require no skill anymore and all do the same thing. So heres some quick info on certain classes.
Amazon:
This is where your IGA and movement skills come in. Zon vs. Zon can be extremely fun, or extremely boring. I have had a few duels with other zons that have lasted 8-10 minutes, and some last 1 hit. Basically when you’re dueling, use the HUGE HINT #1 up above vs. Amazons and keep your finger on “w” for ready available shield switch. You can train yourself for this by having your friend stand still and you moving around him at a 1-2 screen range and try to hit him. This will give your aim precision fairly fast. All I can say in Z vs. Z is keep your movement going and dodge behind walls when you can. If the zon gets into close vicinity, then charge his ass and jab the fucker and when he retreats off switch too your bow and wail her ass down or Lighting Fury them to death. If you want, pull a so called "Endurack" and use the box on maps a lot to close the distance and jab them to death. Also, if you are using some insane high damage rares, Lightning Fury can win this duel faster then Bow can. If you do 6.1K+ LF like I do, its basically 1 - 2 hits kill.
Assassin:
This is by far the easiest match up of the casters. I have always given an Assassin a run for their money in 1.12 which is so fucking funny since back in Gimmeitam, sins use to give me a hell of a run. Shows you how pathetic people are in 1.12. If the Assassin is a WW Sin, look at the Barbarian Section. Ghost Sins are a HUGE challenge and when you fight a good one you will most likely lose 9 out of 10. You will probably lose to these but if you play the tactics of the barb and haul ass when they begin to trap lay you should give them a decent run for their money. As for Pure Trappers - they are pretty easy since everyone is Dual Claw. Just watch out for the Ghosts. You usually die from Open Wounds and Poison very fast since we Amazons have such low health. The most effect piece of gear I use vs. a pure Trapper is a "Harmony" bow. There is no need for block really against them so I use a Harmony on switch for the vigor boost. It gives me huge velocity increases to get far away from sins fast.
Necromancer:
Face it, your dead. Most use Decrepify, Bone Prison, go Revive 20 Minions, guzzle pots like a slut sucking dick, use Oak Sage/Minion Stack Bug and have Clay Golem (and for some reason Blizzard decided giving claw Golem ITD and 20%+ Slow was a good idea so it takes you from 7FPS to 10FPS) and you are just done. If you are lucky you can get through the Bone Armor but most go retreat and recast it. If you get slowed theres nothing you can do since slow now takes your IAS to shit. My best opinion vs. these newbs is piss them off with Slow Missile if you decide to invest in it. If you can’t beat them might as well make him mad. This tactic works very well but again, if you get slowed or prisoned like massive, you are dead. If you happen to fight one with no Block and low DR, you can probably win. If you fight one that knows what true manner is, its a fun duel and most 1.12 caster tactics win vs. them. One huge tactic is always use a side step tactic such as I take a shot move to the side take another shot and rinse and repeat. Since most Necromancers just lock your name and spam with Spear, when you move they miss and your GA's hit. You just have to be extremely fast. If you land a few Critical hits you will make short work of a Necromancer. Again, it is all based on evasion mouse movement.
Paladins:
Just use the huge hint tactics and haul ass all over the place. For zealots and chargers, using the Lightning Bolt works very well since most lack the lightning resistance. If your facing a V/T that is very experienced you will probably lose but I suggest using Lighting fury a lot. As for Hammerdins and FoHers, just avoid desync and realize when they are trying to trap you in it. Keep on the move and always run before they appear on your screen. If they appear on your screen you are probably already in a desynced field or FoH and have a chance of dying. Most have a "Greif" in their stash and since this weapon is so imbalanced any Hammerdin, FoHer etc. can stick one on and 2 Hit KO your Amazon. If anyone is trying to smite you and charge you to death, use Hint #1 and land Fury's quite often. If they catch on and put more damage reduction on to reduce fury I am willing to bet they lose Lightning Resistance so switch back to Lightning Bolt. If you get a hold of Javelins like mine the most effective way to kill a Paladin fast is using LF. I use HUGE HINT #1 and walk when they go to charge and strike me. As soon as they finish the charge I run to gain mild distance then instantly go back to walk mode as they begin to charge. When a player is running or charging they have zero block. If you get really good at timing this you can hit Paladins every time they try to charge. If you are carrying some Fire Damage, your Javelins stun them heavily and you can easily get 2 or 3 LF's in before they begin to charge again.
Sorceress:
Your gonna die in 1-3 hits except vs. Fire sorces, toss on those Hot Spurs and move constantly if you need them. Most sorceress will die very fast since they are idiots and use Spirit with inefficient Block and DR limits as well as extremely low Block Rates so you can stun them fast. In 1-3 Hits those type of sorces will die. For ones with massive DR and Block as well as ES, run like Forest Gump and pull an "Endurack". Get some random shots off and eventually they die. I always use a side step tactic that is under the Necromancer section - "such as I take a shot move to a side take another shot and rinse and repeat. Since most sorceresses just lock your name and spam when you move they miss and your GA's hit. You just have to be extremely fast." Also, if you fight a tank of a Sorceress with ES, try using a 100% Open Wounds bow. It rapes them pretty fast. Read up above for the full Resistances and Open Wounds Bow setup. If you toss some some poison damage with that bow you can break their health extremely fast and bypass the Energy Shield all together.
Barbarians:
These fucks are a pain in the ass, there is really nothing you can do against a HUGE Damage based barb and the ability of them teleporting. Use Lightning Bolt and Lightning Fury (take a loss if need be to see which one is hitting harder) when you can and walk when they go to teleport. When you run away, make sure to zig-zag. When you are zig-zagging try to get them to take long WW’s so you can get hits in. If the barb is extremely good he will rarely do a long WW and your gonna die fairly fast so run around as much as you can. If not, you need to rely on your jav mode for hits and hope they take bad teleports or long WW's so you can land a few GA hits. I beat most Barbs just by using Lighting Fury and Lightning Bolt. Its pretty easy to win this way vs. Dual Wield Barbs. As for Max Block Barbarians, you have to land some lucky Critical Hits to pull a win. Try to stay in tight circles and use the Paladin tactics where you switch between running and walking to gain distance but keep your block rate maximized. When you have the small distance windows throw off some Lightning Fury's.
Druids:
Kill the oak sage and kill it fast. Windstorm druids can get you triggered fast especially if they are using a lot of minions. Switch to Multi Shot and run while they chase after you, turn and spray Multi when you can and switch to Shield when he gets close. If you have extremely high Lightning Fury Damage and Pierce, I recommend only using LF vs. Druids. You can kill them extremely quickly if you are dealing 6.1K+ Lightning Fury. Once the minions are out of the picture lock on to the noob and stun him with either LF or Guided Arrow, if he gets out haul ass and repeat. If you're fighting a well geared, experience Windy with Max Block and he retreats to get minions again - you are pretty fucked and will not win. Also, if it is Nightmare - he can Oak Sage glitch you so you will probably lose if you fail to get the Oak Sage down instantly. Another skill that works extremely well vs. Druids is Strafe. This skill will lock on to them when they are slightly off screen and mow down all the minions for you fast. It also stuns a Druid extremely fast allowing you to lock on for GA hits. The downside is if you teleports on top of you in the middle of a strafe, the strafe does not actually cancle and you instantly desynch yourself. This takes practice with the timing on when to use Strafe and when to break off of a Strafe to avoid desynch.
Credits/Acknowledgments:
I give thanks to the following in no particular order:
Myself: Showing the Community of Diablo the power of the Amazon and how to play legit and own harder then ever.
EotD- My (our clan jOObelette~!) clan for giving me some sort of purpose to keep on pking and wanting to be the best dueler I can be.
Gimmeitam- For the greatest duels I’ve had in 09 and the experience I gained for all characters.
Rei- You showed me how to play a zon like no one else, I will never forget the public days we had. Still funny how we both ended up in Gimmeitam. Hopefully one day you will be back~! I thank you for taking my dueling to a new level!
Steven- Thanx for getting me into Gimmeitam, best thing of 09!
Blckshdwdragon a.k.a- jOObelette~!- We have had some great times with our zons and our v/t’s thanx for helping me get started when I decided to come back and play Gi again. Also a special thanx for taking Co-Leader rank in Elders of the Dragons!
Laxative/Jay/Tein/Marsh/Clayfu- We had some great zon duels in the days of Gimmeitam, hope your all doing well and hope too see you again soon.
Jill-PvP- Rest In Peace!
Shags/Soul/Tenken a.k.a Diego – you guys are a pain in the ass to duel as necros but you still know my zon makes you run!
Endurack: Re-defined the Amazon
T3h_jOObifier: Guided My Arrow
Jill-PvP: Blessed My Aim
Clayfu: Taught Me Critical Strike
Blur_MoB: Helped Me Avoid
Clan Elders of the Dragons
Rest in Peace Jill...
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