Fend, Jab, and IAS: I have a question. Does anyone have an answer? o

[Lloyd]

Fend, Jab, and IAS: I have a question. Does anyone have an answer?

My spearazon will use an upgraded 200%ED Lycander's Pike. She will fend multiple targets and jab individual ones. I will not be putting any points in dodge, avoid, or evade and I will not have a valkyrie. I am hoping to avoid the fend bug in this way.

These are the relevant fend breakpoints:
54 IAS 13/6
80 IAS 12/6
83 IAS 11/6

These are the relevant jab breakpoints:
56 IAS 24 frames
65 IAS 23 frames
75 IAS 22 frames
86 IAS 21 frames

My gear depends upon the answer to this question:
Is it worth the sacrifices in gear to get 90 IAS? It will shorten the beginning fend cycle by two frames and the jab cycle by three. Will this extra attacking speed make a big difference?

Here are 2 of my potential choices for overall gear:
1. Cats Eye, Fortitude, Kira's 'UM', Verdungo's, Waterwalks, BK Ring, Rare Mana Leech Ring, 20 IAS Rare Gloves: +4, 90 IAS, 160 Resists, +40 Vitality, +200 Life, 15% PDR

2. Maras, Fortitude, Kira's 'BER', Verdungo's, Waterwalks, BK Ring, Rare Mana Leech Ring, 20 IAS Rare Gloves: +6, 90 IAS, 165 Resists, +45 Vitality, +200 Life, 23% PDR

I apologize if this comes across as one of those 'will my ridiculous high-end set up work?' threads. I have spared little expense in trying to make a fending amazon viable. I was just hoping for some input for someone with experience before I spend points. I do not want to have to rebuild her yet again.

I appreciate any and all comments. Thank you.

 

[Fongalv]

hi can I know where u got the ias bp tables from?
im trying to find a similiar 1 for both jab and throw ias bp tables...


TIA...

 

[Superhal]

the fend bug is something else, not on the d/a/e animations. you can see the same thing with lightning fury. around 2/3 of the time, the first jav thrown does no damage.

 

[Lloyd]

Option number two should have read:

2. Maras, Fortitude, Kira's 'BER', Verdungo's, Waterwalks, BK Ring, Rare Mana Leech Ring, 20 IAS Rare Gloves: +6, 70 IAS, 165 Resists, +45 Vitality, +200 Life, 23% PDR

Fongalv you can find the information you requested here:

LINK TO COMPETING FORUM REMOVED

I read every thread I could find about the fend bug before I made my first spearazon. I never could find a definitive answer. Many attributed it to server desynchronization. There is a very good thread in which a poster made two amazons. The only difference between the two were the points he placed in dodge, avoid, and evade in one amazon in order to have a valkyrie. His anecdotal evidence can be found here:

LINK TO COMPETING FORUM REMOVED

There are several other methods that supposedly offer solutions to the bug discussed in this thread:

LINK TO COMPETING FORUM REMOVED. SORRY, LLOYD, BUT SOME OR ALL OF THIS INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE HERE AT D2.NET.

Finally, I tried it myself. I played an earlier incarnation of my spearazon as a tankazon. I would wade into the thick of things. Fend worked well with generous amounts of speed and leech and hit very often. I felt as though I had not spent some points wisely, however, so before I remade her I put a point in dodge, avoid, and evade. Afterwards I missed more often than not and that is an understatement. My whiffs created so much wind it had me thinking of a new build. I also tried the shift-click autotarget method without much success. I do think a non-tanking build using a valkyrie and a mercenary as shields would work. These are my own experiences and I wish anyone luck with whatever method they may try. Comments are welcome.

 

[londra]

I did some testing tonight to see how big the difference between 12/6 and 11/6 was. To be honest, there didn’t seem to be any significant difference while fending. Jab was a bit quicker but not a lot. Anyway, it seemed to kill the monsters with the same efficiency.
So, you could drop the 10 IAS but quite frankly, you wouldn’t lose much keeping it. Or gain a lot by losing it.

I’m curious about one thing though: why Lycander’s Flank?

Have you ever considered using an etheral upgraded Hone Sundan?
The damage is insane, bigger than an upgraded Lycander’s has. If you used it with Gore Riders, you’d have 55% of crushing blow which helps out a lot.
Putting 2 Shael’s would alone get you to 11/6. You’d still have 1 free socket (which I would personally use for an Amn rune), not to mention it would free up your amulet and gloves slot.
I’d still get the increased attack speed up to 90% though. You’re going to notice the difference in killing speed at once.

Ps. Is there any way we could get some new breakpoints for for Jab and Fend attacks? The ones listed at this site now, are terribly outdated

 

[Omikron8]

fend is dead, use jab

 

[londra]

fend is dead, use jab

No. It's not dead. I'm really getting tired of hearing people saying that.
My spearazon is doing just fine. Like Lloyd, I didn't invest in any of the D/A/E skills and it does help.
Sure, it's not a "hack n' slash" skill. I can't run around reckressly or storm into fights. I actually have to think (oh noes!) how to position, how to place my decoy so it would be most helpful to me.
I don't think that every character has to be super powerful. It's simply boring. I like playing her. I like it because it's challenging which makes it fun.

 

[Omikron8]

And therein lies the problem with current spearazons. D/A/E are the ONLY ways for spearazons to have a good chance of surviving rapid and heavy physical melee/ranged damage which one encounters in hell. Spearazons have non existent defense and no blocking already, so D/A/E should NOT be a penalty for them to use one of their skills (fend) effectively ! I played a spearazon a lot back in 1.06/1.09 when fend was uninterruptable and i still found it to involve a lot of strategy (no "charging in" which you seem to assume is my playstyle).

In the 1.10 environment which is extremly hostile towards melee characters a spearazon with uninterruptable fend would still be a great challenge to play. Compounding this difficulty with not investing in D/A/E just turns this build into frustration, inching along and trying to take 1-2 enemies at a time at most. This contradicts the whole point of a fend spearazon, a character that sacrifices her defenses to have great offense compared to a javazon.

No thanks

 

[londra]

I may have come across a bit harsh. I certainly didn’t want to attack you, please believe me when I say that any of what I said before was not directed at your persona. If I offended you, I am sorry.

I guess I get a bit aggrevated at times because I like my fender a lot and don’t see her as a failure.

I do understand where you are coming from. It certainly feels they have been severely punished. It would be much easier to have a Valkyrie by your side and decent enough Dodge to help them survive better. I still believe that it’s not a “crap†or a “dead†skill though, as many would be so quick to tell you. It is possible to make it work.

 

[harley98]

ias is important but you will need fhr too to balance it out to be more effective. i have 60ias and 60 fhr on my fender, and im currently going thru act4 hell and its working good. lycanders is an excellent pike to use, on switch i use a (eth)demons arch and storm shield for pi's. my merc is a holy freeze merc but a defiant merc works good too but not as good as a holy freeze one. i do not use evade,avoid,dodge or a valkyrie ive died to many times useing them when useing fend. fend is an incredible skill, but it boils down to your play style on how you use it.

 

[Lloyd]

Londra thank you for testing both of my potential build ideas. I have decided to go with fhe following gear:

Maras, Fortitude, Kira's 'BER', Verdungo's, Waterwalks, BK Ring, Rare Mana Leech Ring, 20 IAS Rare Gloves and my upgraded but much belittled 200% ED Lycander's Aim

I will have 70 IAS, 23% PDR, and 35% FHR and I will be going with a Holy Freeze mercenary also.

Why Lycander's? I just like the weapon and want to make the build work utilizing it.

I know where seemingly accurate breakpoint tables concerning fend, jab, impale, and a normal attack can be found. I cannot post the link here. I also do not think it would be proper to post all of that information without citing the people that did the work to obtain it. If anyone has any ideas on how to resolve this please let me know.

*Foreverwar
*Peacewar

I wish to thank all of you for responding to my post. I appreciate all input.

 

[Dacar92]

I know where seemingly accurate breakpoint tables concerning fend, jab, impale, and a normal attack can be found. I cannot post the link here. I also do not think it would be proper to post all of that information without citing the people that did the work to obtain it. If anyone has any ideas on how to resolve this please let me know.

Those have been posted here, too. Just search on it. There are strafe bp tables in the sticky, and other bp tables troughout the posts in this forum. If you find them I will sticky them.