Fendazon Project

[slayer37]

Fendazon Project

Of all the classes, I love zons the most. I've played about all major builds of zons in a span of about 5 years of D2. GA/multi, strafers, magezons, LF/CS and Poizons. I'm left with only the physical tree of Jav/Spear and Passivezon before I consider myself done. I'll be doing the all-passive build last.

Currently, I'm building a Fendazon (HC/twinked) and at clvl30 in Act3 Nml right now. I play Vanilla self-found only and so equipment is limited. I'm planning to burn my wealth on her though and so will be using whatever I have at the moment to guardian her.

Skill distribution:
20 - Fend (main skill)
20 - Penetrate (lots of misses could mean death)
20 - Decoy (distraction)
12 - CS (damage supplement)
1 - Jab (1pt wonder to deliver fast CB for bosses then finish with Fend)
Rest may go to Jab or IS. No other worthwhile skill to invest IMO.
No D/A/E so no Valk.

Stats distribution:
Str - depends on final gear
Dex - depends on final gear
Vit - everything else
Energy - none

Gear is really where I'm not decided what to go with. I usually build gear around the weapon so I'm going to need recommendations/suggestions. Best unique spear I have is Arioc. Best RW I could come up with is eEternity in a mancatcher. Mancatcher is the fastest spear (-20WSM) there is but 5 sockets max and IMO Eternity is the best RW for 5os spears. This RW will cost me almost everything so I need to be clear about certain things before I burn my wealth. Rest of the gear I'm thinking Guillames, Highlords, Up'ed Shaft, String of Ears, LoH, Gores and manald/LRFR rare ring. Merc will be HF one using Reaper (found yesterday!), Tal's Mask and Duriel's Shell. With this setup, I am at 6/5...5/4 Fend and 41% DR. Charms will fill up the resists department and the rest will be fine/sharp charms.

Eternity's mods:

Indestructible
+260-310% Enhanced Damage (varies)
+9 To Minimum Damage
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
20% Chance of Crushing Blow
Hit Blinds Target
Slows Target By 33%
Regenerate Mana 16%
Replenish Life +16
Cannot Be Frozen
30% Better Chance Of Getting Magic Items
Level 8 Revive (** Charges)

Q1. How effective are the revives? I won't be having a Valk so meatshields are very, very welcome.
Q2. How much for repair costs per charge? I'm :fortuneteller: charges to be used quite frequently throughout the game.
Q3. Are there better options as weapon? I do not see Zod dropping anytime soon for eBotd so that is out. eBotd is the best weapon for this build IMO though.

Any comments/suggestions are very welcome. I'm very determined to make her succeed. IM will be a ***** to go through but I trust experience and patience will prevail. :grin:

 

[crawlingdeadman]

Re: Fendazon Project

cant recharge an eth item.

 

[NASE]

Re: Fendazon Project

Q1: revives are very usefull. Just look at summon necro's. The problem is that you will have to keep on summoning them and thus running out of charges soo. Count in that they are probably very expsive - my harmony charges are.
Q3: I've heard good things about ethereal up'ed Hone Sundan. 15% crushing blow, self repair and 3.

Some last suggestions, if your only after a physical spearamazons, jabazons are physical aswell and much less dangerous. And even if you plan on using fend, why not use a switch with stromshield - or that super block set shield - with eth. up'd titans? Or a bow in combination with freezing arrow to freeze monsters before you move in, or to freeze them when you have to run away.

Don't mix critical and deadly strike in one setup. If you go wit Arioc's Needle, highlords and gores, you will have about 50+ 30 +15 = 95 deadly strike. Making points in critical useless.

 

[PFSS]

Re: Fendazon Project

A level 8 Revive will last 3 minutes, and revives have a habit of wandering off. Also not all monsters make good revives - they work great for summon necros cos the necro can freely summon as often as they like and also have the skellies. I am not sure that some VERY expensive level 8 revives will be all that great.


Just doing some quick calcs...

An Eth Eternity in the mancatcher will do about 400 average damage (I think), while an eBotd in a Ghost Spear will do almost 650 average damage. I hvae doubts that the speed difference will outweig the damage difference, particulary with the nice IAS on BoTD.

Silence is another one you might consider - the damage is not massive, but you get very nice surviveability things like 75% resist all.

An Eth Yari Hone Sundan does an average of about 400 damage - and allows for a lot of customization - it seems better than the Eternity, and will probably be a comparable price depending on the economy.

I apologise if I have any of these wrong.

 

[slayer37]

Re: Fendazon Project

@ CDM

Crap. Forgot that recharge = repair. There goes my meatshield idea. I guess decoy will have to do.

Some last suggestions, if your only after a physical spearamazons, jabazons are physical aswell and much less dangerous. And even if you plan on using fend, why not use a switch with stromshield - or that super block set shield - with eth. up'd titans? Or a bow in combination with freezing arrow to freeze monsters before you move in, or to freeze them when you have to run away.

Don't mix critical and deadly strike in one setup. If you go wit Arioc's Needle, highlords and gores, you will have about 50+ 30 +15 = 95 deadly strike. Making points in critical useless.

I already have javazons. Both lightning and poison. In this build, I would like to see how good a spearie can be. The idea of having FA on switch for the freeze is nice but I don't have charms to supplement the cold duration making the freeze next to useless in Hell. My charms will make up my resists, FHR and spare will be +max/AR and/or life ones.

Agreed with the CS/DS thing. My best unique is Arioc but the damage seems low. Also, the thing with spears is the low durability which is why I'm looking at Eternity (read: indestrutible).

An Eth Eternity in the mancatcher will do about 400 average damage (I think), while an eBotd in a Ghost Spear will do almost 650 average damage. I hvae doubts that the speed difference will outweig the damage difference, particulary with the nice IAS on BoTD.

Silence is another one you might consider - the damage is not massive, but you get very nice surviveability things like 75% resist all.

An Eth Yari Hone Sundan does an average of about 400 damage - and allows for a lot of customization - it seems better than the Eternity, and will probably be a comparable price depending on the economy.

I agree eBotd is by far superior than eEternity but I don't have a Zod lying around. If I have a Zod, I wouldn't be considering Eternity or any other spear. Regarding Silence, hmm.... looks good. I don't know how I missed it in the first place! Defensively, it rocks but the damage is kind of low. :laugh: I'll have to give it more careful thought.

Hone Sundan mods:

+160-200% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Adds 20-40 Damage
45% Chance of Crushing Blow
Repairs 1 Durability In 10 Seconds
Socketed (3)

Wow good spear! Now if only I could find one ethereal... I would be all set. The good thing about Eternity is it could be built in an ethereal spear (read: more damage and no frequent repairs), CB, blind (useful with range 5 weapons), slow (coupled with the HF from merc and decrep from Reapers) and CBF. I have not found a single ravenfrost in my D2 career so CBF is quite hard to have. I have Kira's/Duriel's as options for the CBF. Argh... so many decisions to make.

 

[stfrn]

Re: Fendazon Project

You can't find a ravenfrost, but you have a Ber and Sur? :shocked: I'd never make an eternity in SP, too expensive for it's megar use.

Too bad you can't make oath in a spear :lipsrsealed: I guess I'd go for a non-eth Hone Sundan, or possibly try to find a godly rare.

 

[slayer37]

Re: Fendazon Project

Yeah. It is weird. No Ravens found yet and I play zons most of the time. I have 2 Surs (LK) and 1 Ber (can't remember where)... no Ravens nor WF. How can that be? Do you know how frustrating it is to love playing bowies so much without WF?

Admittedly, I don't go MFing much so maybe that's why I have more rune wealth than uniques.

 

[maiku]

Re: Fendazon Project

Q3: I've heard good things about ethereal up'ed Hone Sundan. 15% crushing blow, self repair and 3.

Slight correction: 45% Crushing Blow on Hone Sundan Yari. Besides the Crushing Blow, an ethereal upped Hone Sundan Yari can top 700+ damage if it has good ED. When monsters are poked with it, they die. I have an upped one with 196% ED.

Don't mix critical and deadly strike in one setup. If you go wit Arioc's Needle, highlords and gores, you will have about 50+ 30 +15 = 95 deadly strike. Making points in critical useless.

Agreed! DS or CS.

BTW, he may want to consider Dracs for gloves, since he's in HC. When you're a Spearazon, there's no such thing as too much Life Tap or life.

 

[slayer37]

Re: Fendazon Project

BTW, he may want to consider Dracs for gloves, since he's in HC. When you're a Spearazon, there's no such thing as too much Life Tap or life.

I don't have Dracs. My best pair for physical builds is LoH. Hypothetically speaking, even if I do have Dracs, I'm not sure I would want LT to override Decrep.

 

[KOMARAC]

Re: Fendazon Project

sounds like a nice build ! i built one like yours before, but i didn't used spears. i used ethereal Titans and Sanctuary trool nest. you'll hit breakpoints easier with javelins and you have a shield! of course, that requires more points in dexterity, but i think it's worth it .. when it gets nasty, cast a decoy and throw sticks.

but , it's all about style

 

[WrongdayJ]

Re: Fendazon Project

Fendies are tough to play. . .and tougher to keep alive.

One on one. . .they do OK. When mobbed, though, they have a hard time.

NO VALK?! Good luck. I think you'll be able to get her into Hell, barely, but once you get there. . .she'll hit 'the wall' big time.

Not trying to dog the project. . .but I know from . . .*cough,cough* SEVERAL *cough cough* attempts by myself and MANY others that this is a VERY tough build to roll in Hell with- even with a maxed Valk. I recommend Treachery. You are gonna need all the IAS you can get, and the Venom & Fade are gonna be quite welcome for you.

The Ancients (ALL Levels) Love Spearazons. So does Lister and his boys.

Please keep us posted with your progress. . .I'm interseted to see how you do with this build. :thumbsup:

 

[slayer37]

Re: Fendazon Project

sounds like a nice build ! i built one like yours before, but i didn't used spears. i used ethereal Titans and Sanctuary trool nest. you'll hit breakpoints easier with javelins and you have a shield! of course, that requires more points in dexterity, but i think it's worth it .. when it gets nasty, cast a decoy and throw sticks.

Javs even ethereal ones can not keep up with spears in terms of raw physical damage. You'll be able to reach breakpoints faster but IMO it is not that tough to reach 5fpa Fend with spears so speed is not so much a factor. The presence of a shield is something that I will truly miss though. :grin:

NO VALK?! Good luck. I think you'll be able to get her into Hell, barely, but once you get there. . .she'll hit 'the wall' big time.

I love Valks and try as much as possible to have one for every zon I play. Fend bug however is very nasty and so I decided to forego having the toughest tank there is in favor of no whiffing. I will be maxing decoy and cast her every single time before engaging so I hope she will be enough as a distraction. Regarding Treachery, I will give this serious thought. It will help to move from 5fpa to 4. Thanks for the suggestion. :thumbsup:

Hopefully she makes it to Guardian. I'll post her progress here starting NM since I think everyone could make it past Nml.

 

[maiku]

Re: Fendazon Project

I don't have Dracs. My best pair for physical builds is LoH. Hypothetically speaking, even if I do have Dracs, I'm not sure I would want LT to override Decrep.

That's true. Competing curses are usually not good and annoying in game play (or deadly, such as going from LT to Amp and suddenly monsters swarm you). Once you decide on a curse, you should try to stick with it unless it isn't working out. The reason why I suggested them as a possibility is that you will be doing huge damage and you're in HC. If you're under the effects of LT, you'll be almost like a FendaZealot. :grin:

LoH will yield much more damage than Dracs will offer, but Dracs might offer some more safety. BTW, excellent choice of Merc weapon. Reaper's Toll is one of my very favorites, and Decrepify does provide for a lot of safety on a physical build. My Dtail/Death Sentry Sin lives and dies by her Reaper's Toll Merc, and I use him and his proc for max damage + safety. But she still dies on occasion (in SC).

You may also want to consider stacking lots of %PDR and straight PDR. Take a look at some of the PDR safety builds/ideas mentioned on the forums (like the PDR Frenzy Barb and the Abbot by SSoG, not linked on here, but elsewhere...).

 

[slayer37]

Re: Fendazon Project

You may also want to consider stacking lots of %PDR and straight PDR. Take a look at some of the PDR safety builds/ideas mentioned on the forums (like the PDR Frenzy Barb and the Abbot by SSoG, not linked on here, but elsewhere...).

My original gear setup is to wear up'ed Shaft and String of Ears for the %DR. I don't have Verdungos so SoE will have to do. :grin:

I'm very tempted to switch Shaft with Treachery now. Venom + 15%DR/Resists + 45IAS + 20FHR > 30% DR + 60life + higher def? Tough decison to make. I could just imagine the Fade not triggering when I really need it causing deeds.


While looking over Treachery, I noticed Peace to be somewhat useful for the slvl15 Valk.

Peace mods:

4% Chance To Cast Level 5 Slow Missiles When Struck
2% Chance To Cast level 15 Valkyrie On Striking
+2 To Amazon Skill Levels
+20% Faster Hit Recovery
+2 To Critical Strike
Cold Resist +30%
Attacker Takes Damage of 14

Q. Does the Valk go poof once she's proc'ed and then you remove the armor?

 

[maiku]

Re: Fendazon Project

I think String of Ears will serve your Zon better in this build, because any leech will keep your life bulb up there. Spearazons do lots of damage, and leech goes a long way with a lot of damage + Amp/Decrepify (removes %PDR to make it a lot easier to leech :smiley. 7-8% String of Ears w/ 15% PDR is a very nice little belt.

"Treachery" is awesome armor. I now have 3 of them that I switch between characters and Mercs for its listed qualities. I'm addicted to the IAS and procs, and the Fade works well if you get hit a lot or roast yourself in a fire (can be done in one of those BBQ pits by Harrogath outside the gate). You'll feel a lot tougher when it's on. But in HC...hmm, I would be a bit paranoid. I would want the highest defenses/resists all the time. BTW, "Treachery" is really awesome Merc armor. Want a nice Merc setup? Ethereal "Treachery" + Reaper's Toll w/ Shael + Guillaume's Face w/ 15% IAS Jewel. Hit the 75% IAS breakpoint and proc Decrepify like crazy. One of my Mercs is geared like that...I think it was on my Hydra Sorc. The Merc is capable of killing just about anything in Hell with that combo of high damage, Decrep, high leech, and CB.

Shaftstop definitely isn't bad armor. Iron Pelt is also a good one. I've noticed the straight PDR on it helps to soak up a lot of damage, and if it was Sol'd and upped, could be quite nice. Its big brother is Gladiator's Bane. If you could find some way to combine a lot of straight PDR + %PDR, that would be truly sweet. BTW, Decrepify works wonders with those, I think, doubling their effectiveness because Decrep makes monsters do only 50% their normal damage. I take advantage of this on my MA Sin.

For "Peace," I believe the Valk does appear and then poof unless you have 1 hard point in the skill. However, putting a point in Valk would yield the D/A/E problem... Even though "Peace" is really cheap armor, it's hard to find a use for it. It could be somewhat useful as Merc armor, though.

 

[slayer37]

Re: Fendazon Project

Belle the Fendazon is now clvl45 and will face the Ancients tonight. Wish her luck. :grin:

So far so good... only 1 NDE in CS where an OK got to cast IM on her while Fending. I thank the D2 gods for making Fend attack a target only once (unlike Zeal) and so was able to survive that 1 hit. My ~500 hp went down to < 100 in 1 strike with IM. I think I'll need to find another solution to go along my original plan of "decoy next to OKs to distract them". A similar scenario in NM is for sure fatal. The plan goes like this: I run around to draw those undead melee knights away from the OKs then after having decent distance between the melee knights and OKs, I cast decoy among the OKs so that they will either keep on cursing the decoy or fire projectiles at her while I dispose of the melee knights.

Skills:
20 - Fend (already maxed)
12 - CS (no more investments here... ~60% is enough)
10 - Decoy (quite a tank already... lasts for 5-10 secs in mobs)
1 - Pene (to be maxed after decoy)
1 pt in all other prereqs.

Stats:
Str - 100
Dex - 60
Vit - 100
25 IIRC unassigned stats points. My endgame plan is to have 100 base str/dex and all else in Vit.

My gear thus far:
Weapon - The Impaler (best spear this early in the game)
Helm - Guillame's Face (endgame melee helm)
Ammy - The Eye of Etlitch (best ammy this early)
Armor - Duriel's Shell (CBF, resists, life, def... best this early)
Belt - Sigon's Wrap
Gloves - Sigon's Gage (30% IAS along with 20 from Impaler keeps her in 5fpa Fend... 10%LL set bonus is good also)
Boots - Nat's Soul (40 R/W, 20+ LR/CR... not bad at all)
Ring1 - 20+ FR/LR rare ring (nothing better to replace it)
Ring2 - Manald Heal (ML)

 

[BildBenny]

Re: Fendazon Project

Just a quick one (you might already know about it); never click on the actual targets you want to Fend. Instead hold down SHIFT and click anywhere when monsters get close. That way you'll make better use of your weapon's range.