Introducing Matriarch Lady_Fury
My first Matriarch EVER! :jig: Finally, a girl breaks into what was once an all-boys club.
Level 84 Lightning Fury/Charged Strike zon
Stats (after gear)
STR 156
DEX 250
VIT 199
NRG 17
Life 998
Mana 476
Resists: 75% all
Skills
Javelin and Spear tree (after +6 to all skills, +3 more to javelin/spear tree)
- Jab 13 (Used for most LI's from Nightmare on)
- Impale 10 (pre-req, never used)
- Fend 10 (Used a lot in Normal before LF was workable)
- Power Strike 26 (Synergy, seldom used except on very small enemies like Fallen)
- Charged Strike 29 (Synergy, uber killer of act bosses, mopping up non-LI's)
- Poison Javelin, Lightning Bolt, Plague Javelin 10 (pre-reqs, never used)
- Lightning Fury 29 (Obviously the big killer as well as a synergy to Charged Strike. Awesome skill.)
Bow tree
NOTHING. Your zon does NOT have to be a hybrid to get through this game if you don't want her to be.
Passive and Magic Tree (after +6 to all skills)
- Inner Sight 7 (pre-req, never used)
- Slow Missiles 7 (Used A LOT. Definitely a one-point wonder, made even better with +skills)
- Decoy 7 (Used a lot more than expected for scouting purposes and keeping the heat off me when I had to wade into melee against LI's.)
- Valkyrie 7 (They may be improved, but I still prefer being able to cast them as needed and using my skill points elsewhere. Not nearly as useful as I remembered.)
- Dodge 11 (Probably too much. If I'd foreseen having so many +skills, I wouldn't have pumped it so much early on. Still, definitely not wasted.)
- Avoid 12 (See Dodge.)
- Evade 9 (WAY TOO MUCH. I found myself getting evade-locked a lot against gloams' lightning bolts, stranglers' missiles, and flayer shamen's infernos. Again, though, I didn't foresee having so many +skills items when I started this character. This skill is either a one-pointer or, if you have good gear and know how to use Slow Missiles, something to be ignored.)
- Critical Strike 8 (Enough for about 50% critical strikes, helpful against LI's)
- Penetrate 10 (Needed AR help the few times I was just throwing javelins at nasty LI bosses. I am NOT standing toe-to-toe with an extra strong cursed fanaticism LI, thank you. )
- Pierce 11 (A little low according to some, but with Razortail, it was enough for 100% total piercing.)
If I had it all over to do again, I'd definitely place points in the defensive passives differently and skip Impale and Fend altogether.
Final Gear
- Harlequin Crest socketed with Um rune
- rare amulet with +1 amazon skills, +72 mana, 4% ML, replenish life +4 (handy against bad poisons)
- Weapon 1: upgraded 200% Titan's Revenge. Thanks for that trade, Slartibartfast!
- Weapon 2: ethereal Demon's Arch. Used on all LI's or whenever I needed to leech life and/or mana back in a hurry.
- Shields: Moser's Blessed Circle socketed with 2 Perfect Diamonds on each tab. Mmmm, blocking and resists.
- Skin of the Vipermagi. MDR, +skill, and 30% resist all cannot be topped.
- rare gauntlets with IAS, poison and lightning resists, 3% ML
- Razortail. The only really useful mod is EXTREMELY useful. 33% additional piercing is not to be messed with.
- Goblin Toe. Most LF zon players would probably say something about getting more FRW and/or resists from their boots, but since I had to melee a lot, I wanted something that would make such fights as short as possible.
- dual Raven Frost rings. Only need one for cannot be frozen, obviously, but the +DEX, +AR, and +mana on each were huge helps.
Gear-wise, I don't think I'd change anything. I started off with Frostburns as my gloves and Rhyme shields, but the only useful mod Frosties gave me were the increased mana, which I could get elsewhere, and since I was relying on the Raven Frosts for CBF, Rhyme proved unnecessary. I'm not really sure what I'll swap out now that I plan to MF with this lady. I guess I'll revert to a Rhyme shield, a Wealth armor (because I don't have any of the unique MF armors), 2 Nagelrings, and if I think I can get away with it, Chance Guards. Or I may just go Cow-hunting in my current gear and let number of quick kills make up for a low MF%.
This was the closest to a caster I've ever played this far into the game. I found I still haven't developed the patience to use typical LF tactics of gathering up a whole map of monsters and then spamming LF. Instead, I'd use my HF merc, Valk, and Decoy to keep a pack of 10 or 12 monsters in one place, then move myself into position to get the maximum piercings. My way isn't as fast as the usual tactics, but for me at least, a lot more fun. I'd rather fight than constantly herd.
Once again, Hell Ancients weren't as bad as anticipated. One reroll was needed when one of them proved to be Cursed, but the next set was a pushover. Korlic was a pain because he was mana-burn, but once I got him pinned in a corner, I just hung out behind my merc and Charged Striked him into oblivion. The other two were EASY. Likewise, Baal was easy. He made me pay for the sacred armor he gave my pally by dropping Lady_Fury an Irathat's Heavy Belt and several lousy rares, though, so I might have to go beat something worthwhile out of him.
Total deaths: Just 4, a record low for me. The most embarrassing: The Summoner in Normal getting me with his fire wall while I was trapped by his goat demon buddies. The most aggravating: Twice dying to the FE bug in Hell. The other was something I know will always happen to me: getting hit with IM by an OK off the screen in the Chaos Sanctuary while I'm trying to melee. All in all, I'm very happy with this performance.
Having Patted a pally and a barb, and Matting a zon, it's time to move on to another class for a little while. Since my little poll to help me pick my next character was a flop (only 4 votes isn't a wide enough sample for me to make any determination), I think I'm going to dust off my long dormant Bonemancer.
My first Matriarch EVER! :jig: Finally, a girl breaks into what was once an all-boys club.
Level 84 Lightning Fury/Charged Strike zon
Stats (after gear)
STR 156
DEX 250
VIT 199
NRG 17
Life 998
Mana 476
Resists: 75% all
Skills
Javelin and Spear tree (after +6 to all skills, +3 more to javelin/spear tree)
- Jab 13 (Used for most LI's from Nightmare on)
- Impale 10 (pre-req, never used)
- Fend 10 (Used a lot in Normal before LF was workable)
- Power Strike 26 (Synergy, seldom used except on very small enemies like Fallen)
- Charged Strike 29 (Synergy, uber killer of act bosses, mopping up non-LI's)
- Poison Javelin, Lightning Bolt, Plague Javelin 10 (pre-reqs, never used)
- Lightning Fury 29 (Obviously the big killer as well as a synergy to Charged Strike. Awesome skill.)
Bow tree
NOTHING. Your zon does NOT have to be a hybrid to get through this game if you don't want her to be.
Passive and Magic Tree (after +6 to all skills)
- Inner Sight 7 (pre-req, never used)
- Slow Missiles 7 (Used A LOT. Definitely a one-point wonder, made even better with +skills)
- Decoy 7 (Used a lot more than expected for scouting purposes and keeping the heat off me when I had to wade into melee against LI's.)
- Valkyrie 7 (They may be improved, but I still prefer being able to cast them as needed and using my skill points elsewhere. Not nearly as useful as I remembered.)
- Dodge 11 (Probably too much. If I'd foreseen having so many +skills, I wouldn't have pumped it so much early on. Still, definitely not wasted.)
- Avoid 12 (See Dodge.)
- Evade 9 (WAY TOO MUCH. I found myself getting evade-locked a lot against gloams' lightning bolts, stranglers' missiles, and flayer shamen's infernos. Again, though, I didn't foresee having so many +skills items when I started this character. This skill is either a one-pointer or, if you have good gear and know how to use Slow Missiles, something to be ignored.)
- Critical Strike 8 (Enough for about 50% critical strikes, helpful against LI's)
- Penetrate 10 (Needed AR help the few times I was just throwing javelins at nasty LI bosses. I am NOT standing toe-to-toe with an extra strong cursed fanaticism LI, thank you.
)- Pierce 11 (A little low according to some, but with Razortail, it was enough for 100% total piercing.)
If I had it all over to do again, I'd definitely place points in the defensive passives differently and skip Impale and Fend altogether.
Final Gear
- Harlequin Crest socketed with Um rune
- rare amulet with +1 amazon skills, +72 mana, 4% ML, replenish life +4 (handy against bad poisons)
- Weapon 1: upgraded 200% Titan's Revenge. Thanks for that trade, Slartibartfast!
- Weapon 2: ethereal Demon's Arch. Used on all LI's or whenever I needed to leech life and/or mana back in a hurry.
- Shields: Moser's Blessed Circle socketed with 2 Perfect Diamonds on each tab. Mmmm, blocking and resists.
- Skin of the Vipermagi. MDR, +skill, and 30% resist all cannot be topped.
- rare gauntlets with IAS, poison and lightning resists, 3% ML
- Razortail. The only really useful mod is EXTREMELY useful. 33% additional piercing is not to be messed with.
- Goblin Toe. Most LF zon players would probably say something about getting more FRW and/or resists from their boots, but since I had to melee a lot, I wanted something that would make such fights as short as possible.
- dual Raven Frost rings. Only need one for cannot be frozen, obviously, but the +DEX, +AR, and +mana on each were huge helps.
Gear-wise, I don't think I'd change anything. I started off with Frostburns as my gloves and Rhyme shields, but the only useful mod Frosties gave me were the increased mana, which I could get elsewhere, and since I was relying on the Raven Frosts for CBF, Rhyme proved unnecessary. I'm not really sure what I'll swap out now that I plan to MF with this lady. I guess I'll revert to a Rhyme shield, a Wealth armor (because I don't have any of the unique MF armors), 2 Nagelrings, and if I think I can get away with it, Chance Guards. Or I may just go Cow-hunting in my current gear and let number of quick kills make up for a low MF%.
This was the closest to a caster I've ever played this far into the game. I found I still haven't developed the patience to use typical LF tactics of gathering up a whole map of monsters and then spamming LF. Instead, I'd use my HF merc, Valk, and Decoy to keep a pack of 10 or 12 monsters in one place, then move myself into position to get the maximum piercings. My way isn't as fast as the usual tactics, but for me at least, a lot more fun. I'd rather fight than constantly herd.
Once again, Hell Ancients weren't as bad as anticipated. One reroll was needed when one of them proved to be Cursed, but the next set was a pushover. Korlic was a pain because he was mana-burn, but once I got him pinned in a corner, I just hung out behind my merc and Charged Striked him into oblivion. The other two were EASY. Likewise, Baal was easy. He made me pay for the sacred armor he gave my pally by dropping Lady_Fury an Irathat's Heavy Belt and several lousy rares, though, so I might have to go beat something worthwhile out of him.
Total deaths: Just 4, a record low for me. The most embarrassing: The Summoner in Normal getting me with his fire wall while I was trapped by his goat demon buddies. The most aggravating: Twice dying to the FE bug in Hell. The other was something I know will always happen to me: getting hit with IM by an OK off the screen in the Chaos Sanctuary while I'm trying to melee. All in all, I'm very happy with this performance.
Having Patted a pally and a barb, and Matting a zon, it's time to move on to another class for a little while. Since my little poll to help me pick my next character was a flop (only 4 votes isn't a wide enough sample for me to make any determination), I think I'm going to dust off my long dormant Bonemancer.
