lone_wolf
Diablo: IncGamers Member
Sniperzon guide draft version 2
note: i fail to get the spacing to work :rant:
well well i added and changed some stuff so again i need your input about this build.
if something isent clear to you ask what i meant. same thing goes if you think i should change anything.
ok here goes:
Sniperzon build for ver 1.10 draft of guide number 2
Introduction:
Tired of the same old builds for the bowazon?
Well then this build might be something for you.
What is the Sniperzon then?
The Sniperzon is a bowazon that uses more strategy and skill then most cookie cutter builds from 1.09 but that is not the only difference between this build and old 1.09 builds.
1 hit kills is the aim for this build but as monsters now has such a huge amount of hp in hell survival is more important then killing speed.
So to make sure to stay alive and get the kills a Sniperzon follow these steps:
1 She uses her decoy as a shout to be able to see the monsters before they see her.
2 She kills most monsters off screen to further ensure that she is in minimum danger at all times.
3 with her merc and valk as tanks she should rarely see more monsters on screen then those her tanks fight.
That’s why this zon is much more defensive then most zon builds out there and as you read on you will understand why this build most used skill isn’t an attack skill.
This zon also uses equipment many would normally never think of putting on a zon.
So let’s start.
Stats points:
The simple rule here is to have enough Str to wear you equipment enough in vita for a good amount of life once you reach hell and the rest in dex for damage.
But as I know people generally want some tip of how to spend their points I will list what I recommend you to have on your Sniperzon.
Str 115 or more remember to count in any str bonus your end game gear will give you.
Why I have 115 STR listed as minimum is because it’s the STR req for one of best helm to use with this build.
You can read more about what helm that is and why I recommend it later in the equipment section of this guide. I will also list another good end game helm for this build.
Dex here you should put any point you can spare once you got enough Str and vita
Vita I recommend you to put something like 70-120 points.
Your calls just remember that monsters in hell hit hard now. And any hc player knows that if you have only 1 life damage is secondary.
Energy is left at base as you don’t use any mana intensive skills in fact one of your main skill don’t use mana.
To give you an example my level 86 Sniperzon Kitana has these stats counting equipment bonuses:
Str 134
Dex 361
Vita 90
Energy 35
Magic arrow level 26 does 705-1746
Strafe level 26 does 573-1566
Life is 646 and mana 214 all her res is also maxed out in hell.
Skill points:
Since the last guide I have tried to find out if there was something I could change in the build that would make it more powerful without sacrifying to much.
Well as I have made 2 more Sniperzons since I made Zara I come to the conclusion that this szon don’t really need such a high level of critical strike as I first thought.
Therfor the skill plan for the build look abit different then last time.
All you who read this build should also note that this is how I did it, with the equipment I have for this zon. T Therfor you should see it as a exampleof how it, can be done not how it should be done.
Experiment and im sure somebody out there finds another way to build a sniperzon that suits their play style.
In the end my newest sniperzon ended up with these skill levels with equipment:
Bow skills:
Magic arrow level 26
Strafe level 26
Rest of bow skills level 7
Passive skills:
Penetrate level 24
Valkyrie level 21
Pierce level 10
Critical strike level 6
Decoy level 7
Rest is at level 5
Spear skills:
Jab level 5
Equipment:
First before I list the equipment I recommend for this build I want to point out what modifiers this build really benefit from.
These modifiers are knockback, prevent monster heal, open wounds, crushing blow, deadly strike, life and mana leech, amplify damage, FRW, FHR.
Knockback is obviously to keep the monsters away from us but it can also be of use to keep our merc alive as monsters that are hit with knockback wont damage our merc.
Prevent monster heal do exactly what it says it stops the regen of monsters witch in hell is very fast. And as we bowazons deal little damage too many monsters at a time we need it as monsters otherwise would heal to full life when we stop shooting at them.
Open wound may seem useless but it’s in reality a quite useful modifier as explained below:
Open Wounds works in a way similar to poison, although it isn't poison so the two effects can stack. It drains the victim's life over a period of time (8 seconds), and will prevent monster regeneration whilst it's in effect.
Open Wounds' damage per frame is computed as follows (L is the attacker's level, i.e. your level):
L=1-15: (9L+31)/256
L=16-30: (18L-114)/256
L=31-45: (27L-384)/256
L=46-60: (36L-779)/256
L=61-99: (45L-1319)/256
Since there are 25 frames per second in D2, multiply the resulting number by 25 to find the damage per second.
Crushing blow works as described below:
Regular monster: 1/4 melee, 1/8 ranged
Bosses and Champions: 1/8 melee, 1/16 ranged
anything else (including other players): 1/10 melee, 1/20 ranged
"Other" includes all types of boss monsters as well as other players and their hirelings. This doesn't sound like much, but if Izzy has 100,000 hps, taking off 1/20th with your bow would be worth 5,000 hps.
Just keep in mind that the percent of life taken away from the monsters is based on their current hp so it gets less and less effective the more you damage the monster.
NOTE: the damage of CB stays the same in Players 1 and Players 8 games so therefor CB is less useful in games with more players. Real or when you use /players 8
Deadly strike gives you another way except with critical strike to double your damage that info should be enough to anyone that wonder why we want to have that modifier.
Life and mana leech is not only useful for this build thanks to the fact that it gives us back life and mana when we attack the monsters.
Life and mana leech is also your way of telling where the monsters are off screen.
Granted you can’t use this tactic against unleenchable monsters or PI but that’s what you have your decoy for to shout for you. More on that in the strategy section.
Amplify damage give use about 100% more damage and it also break physical immunity on many monsters. So it’s a very useful modifier and breaking the physical immunity on the monsters don’t only benefit you but also your merc as he is then able to leech of the monster and inflict much more damage.
FRW or faster run walk is useful as you sooner or later will lose both your tanks in battle and then your best means of survival is to make a run for it and the faster you get away from the monsters the faster you can get your tanks back up.
FHR why use faster hit recovery?
Well the new patch throw in some mean ranged attackers in the game and even if you play like a god you will sooner or later get hit even if it so is a random shot that wasn’t even aimed at you.
With a decent faster hit recovery you can ensure that that hit won’t let the rest of the ranged attackers fill you with their shots.
Recommended Gear:
Helm Guillaumes Face (this build use a version of nightfishs CBSTU) or if you don’t think you need all that much CB on your zon Kiras guardian is a very nice helmet.
Amulet: Atmas scarab for its chance to cast amplify damage and therefor make it easier for both you and your merc to handle pi monsters.
Armour: everything from "lion_heart" to gloom and chains of honor works.
nowdays I use a CoH myself and find that it works very well. But I bet nobody doubt that CoH works well consider its costs.
Belt: hawanins blessing is a nice belt that grant you prevent monster heal. If you have better equipment for this build you should use Razortail instead. As you then get prevent monster heal from another source.
Myself I use razortail as I have natures peace.
Gloves: laying of hands is a great set of gloves that you really should use for its 350% extra damage to demons and 50% fire res as well as the 20% ias.
Another great pair of gloves is Ghoulhide for the large bonus to damage against undead like glooms.
Boots: there is really only one pair of boots you want for this build and that’s gore raider.
Even trough goblin toe has a larger bonus to crushing blow the extra modifiers on gore raider makes it the better pair of boots.
Rings: ultimately you want a raven frost and nature’s peace here but that is only if you can get your life and mana leech covered elsewhere like in your bow.
Otherwise you should set for a dual leech ring and a raven frost here.
Weapon: a good weapon that should be able to take you trough the game is a nefed Lycanders aim. It can even be upgraded for more damage.
The ultimate bow here would be a windforce socked with a Amn or if you have something else that take care of the life leech like for example CoH you can choose to socked it with something else then amn. its up to you
Sniperzon uses the following equipment:
Helm:
Kira's Guardian
Tiara
'Um'
Defense: 142
Durability: 25 of 25
Required Level: 77
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: **
Fingerprint: 0xcd5c8dd6
+92 Defense
All Resistances +80
20% Faster Hit Recovery
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (1: 1 used)
Ammy:
Atma's Scarab
Amulet
Required Level: 60
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0xa48089a2
Poison Resist +75%
+39 poison damage over 4 seconds
Attacker Takes Damage of 5
+3 to Light Radius
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
5% Chance to cast Level 2 Amplify Damage on striking
Armour:
Chains of Honor
Archon Plate
'DolUmBerIst'
Defense: 880
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 63
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0xe55f511c
+20 to Strength
+70% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 8%
All Resistances +65
8% Life stolen per hit
Replenish Life +7
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
200% Damage to Demons
100% Damage to Undead
+2 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (4: 4 used)
Belt:
Razortail
Sharkskin Belt
Defense: 97
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 32
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x282ac216
+15 to Dexterity
+124% Enhanced Defense
+10 to Maximum Damage
+15 Defense
Piercing Attack [33]
Attacker Takes Damage of 86 (Based on Character Level)
Gloves:
Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 87
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 63
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0xc9a57046
+25 Defense
Fire Resist +50%
20% Increased Attack Speed
350% Damage to Demons
10% Chance to cast Level 3 Holy Bolt on striking
Boots:
Gore Rider
War Boots
Defense: 146
Durability: 34 of 34
Required Strength: 94
Required Level: 47
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x3c10db53
+20 to Maximum Stamina
+172% Enhanced Defense
+10 Maximum Durability
Requirements -25%
30% Faster Run/Walk
10% Chance of Open Wounds
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike
Ring1:
Nature's Peace
Ring
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x732596e6
Damage Reduced by 11
Poison Resist +29%
Slain Monsters Rest In Peace
Prevent Monster Heal
Level 5 Oak Sage (27/27 Charges)
Ring2:
Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x3e1c57d1
+20 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+241 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen
Weapon:
Lycander's Aim
Grand Matron Bow
'Nef'
Two-Hand Damage: 65 to 257
(Amazon Only)
Required Dexterity: 152
Required Strength: 108
Required Level: 65
Bow Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0xe328d474
+20 to Energy
+20 to Dexterity
+20% Enhanced Defense
+188% Enhanced Damage
+25 to Minimum Damage
+50 to Maximum Damage
5% Mana stolen per hit
Knockback
+2 to Amazon Skill Levels
Required Level +7
20% Increased Attack Speed
+2 to Bow and Crossbow Skills (Amazon Only)
Socketed (1: 1 used)
The reason why I used this equipment on my new Sniperzon is because with this gear and the res scroll rewards she hits 75% all in hell without help from any charms. Therfor I could fill her inv with fine sc and vita sc.
Mercs:
The mercs I feel complement this build the most are the holy freeze merc and the might merc.
The holy freeze merc is a great merc if you really feel the need to be safe. He also makes it easier for your valk to tank as the monsters will move much slower. The might merc is great for those that want to play a bit more offensive and feel the need for more damage and less crowd controll. This lack of crowd controll can be negelated by equipment choices for the merc but we come to that later.
Once you get your merc he will be weak and he may also die on you many times if your not casious. Im not that casious so mine has died quite a lot. But even if the merc dies when you try to level him or he is inable to tank don’t give up, he wont lose exp when dying like you do so he iset damaged by his own deaths you are…
A merc can be a very powerful ally but if you just give him a cracked spear he wont help you much so make sure he gets some kind of life steal, and that he has something that give him res and possible also dr%. note while dr% is nice its not critical for your merc. Life steal and res on the other hand affects him a lot. Some good mods on equipment you could give to your merc is Cb,Ow,Ds and even new ones like HF aura, thorns aura, static field, and other things that will help him stay alive longer.
Merc gear: while we play a more defencive build we also want to be able to dish out some damage. Its not fun if you need others help to kill stuff right.
Well what merc gear would suit this build then??
Its easy even though we have strafe as our crowd controll skill our merc also needs something that effects many monsters at a time.
Therefor the reapers toll or a cresant moon weapon is a good choice. For even more crowd control we could slap a Delirium helment on the merc. That way he even give us breathing room when he get hit. Now if we also give him a armour such as gloom we can have the benefit of blinded rnaged attackers too from time to time.
As you might have understood by now my merc is equipped like this.
So here is he my level 83 might merc Pratham:
Helm:
Delirium
Diadem
'LemIstIo'
Defense: 321
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 64
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x1150a323
+10 to Vitality
+261 Defense
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to All Skill Levels
11% Chance to cast Level 18 Confuse on striking
6% Chance to cast Level 14 Mind Blast when struck
14% Chance to cast Level 13 Terror when struck
1% Chance to cast Level 50 Magic Shrine when struck
Level 17 Attract (60/60 Charges)
Socketed (3: 3 used)
Armour:
Gloom
Wire Fleece
'FalUmPul'
Defense: 1398
Durability: 32 of 32
Required Strength: 111
Required Level: 53
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x34a14bcc
+10 to Strength
+247% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +45
-3 to Light Radius
10% Faster Hit Recovery
5% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
Half Freeze Duration
15% Chance to cast Level 3 Dim Vision when struck
Socketed (3: 3 used)
Weapon:
Thresher
Two-Hand Damage: 39 to 469
Durability: 51 of 65
Required Dexterity: 89
Required Strength: 114
Required Level: 75
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x9e6cd985
GUID: 0xd46c2727 0xe19e0a45 0x0
+233% Enhanced Damage
Adds 4-44 cold damage over 2 seconds
14% Life stolen per hit
Requirements -25%
Ignore Target Defense
33% Deadly Strike
33% Chance to cast Level 1 Decrepify on striking
Strategy tips:
Your decoy is there for a reason use her she is your best bait to lure monsters out.
That’s why you when playing the Sniperzon should cast the decoy at the edge of the screen when ever you advance future on the map. Using your decoy this way won’t only make it easier to target your enemies it will also save you life many times.
For example I once casted my decoy at the edge of the screen and it was instantly greeted with the explosion of 5 suicide minions. Hey I would not have survived that if they had hit me instead of my decoy.
Learn to take out key targets first.
That is killing the monsters that pose the biggest threat to your char first.
A example a fallen shaman is a bigger threat then a fallen so you should take the fallen shaman out first. But if you have a few fallen running at you to attack you, they pose a bigger threat then the shaman and should be killed first.
This becomes easier once you get pierce as you then can aim a the shaman and still hit the minions.
Also remember to use the terrain to your advantage. For example if there is a pack of ranged attackers shooting at you and there is rocks or other obstacles nearby take cover behind them. Then plan for your next move.
When you face larger groups of monsters later in the game I advice you to switch to strafe and hit them all this to make it easier for your merc and valk as they get weaker target to tank.
Sometimes like when facing oblivion fighters and mages strafe is your best bet as you will shoot straight trough the fighters and hit the mages at the same time.
Also remember that the range of strafe has been improved so you can now auto target monsters of screen. This feature is very useful when you fight glooms as they are a bit hard to spot when they move around.
The nice thing is that they can’t hide from strafe.
Also a thing to remember about ranged attackers slow missiles is your friend. But to be able to slow them down you need to distract them and the means you have to distract them with is either your decoy, valk or merc.
I rather have my valk killing of other monsters so what I do is that I cast a decoy behind the ranged attackers so they turn around and start shooting at the decoy instead of me then I cast slow missiles and start killing them. If you want to kill them faster you can also recast your valk in the middle of them. Works good against glooms too.
Credits:
Credit goes to Nightfish at the single player forum at diabloii.net for coming up with the Nightfishs CBSTU â„¢ that is better explained in his own guide right here:
http://forums.rpgforums.net/showthr...ghlight=solozon
To RTB for answering many of my questions as I made this build up.
The original inventor of the Sniperzon build back in the days of classic.
The forum members at the forums I am a member in. even if you don’t know it you have helped me a lot. If so with nothing else then to keep my motivation to write this guide up.
To Iceman for pointing out that I should explain why I call the build
Sniperzon.
To jarulf for providing the new formulas for CB and OW
To lprman for pointing out the benefits of kiras guardian
A special thanks for the help also goes to Hakai no Tenshi for making ATMA as I know I could not have made this char without the help of this excellent muling application.
note: i fail to get the spacing to work :rant:
well well i added and changed some stuff so again i need your input about this build.
if something isent clear to you ask what i meant. same thing goes if you think i should change anything.
ok here goes:
Sniperzon build for ver 1.10 draft of guide number 2
Introduction:
Tired of the same old builds for the bowazon?
Well then this build might be something for you.
What is the Sniperzon then?
The Sniperzon is a bowazon that uses more strategy and skill then most cookie cutter builds from 1.09 but that is not the only difference between this build and old 1.09 builds.
1 hit kills is the aim for this build but as monsters now has such a huge amount of hp in hell survival is more important then killing speed.
So to make sure to stay alive and get the kills a Sniperzon follow these steps:
1 She uses her decoy as a shout to be able to see the monsters before they see her.
2 She kills most monsters off screen to further ensure that she is in minimum danger at all times.
3 with her merc and valk as tanks she should rarely see more monsters on screen then those her tanks fight.
That’s why this zon is much more defensive then most zon builds out there and as you read on you will understand why this build most used skill isn’t an attack skill.
This zon also uses equipment many would normally never think of putting on a zon.
So let’s start.
Stats points:
The simple rule here is to have enough Str to wear you equipment enough in vita for a good amount of life once you reach hell and the rest in dex for damage.
But as I know people generally want some tip of how to spend their points I will list what I recommend you to have on your Sniperzon.
Str 115 or more remember to count in any str bonus your end game gear will give you.
Why I have 115 STR listed as minimum is because it’s the STR req for one of best helm to use with this build.
You can read more about what helm that is and why I recommend it later in the equipment section of this guide. I will also list another good end game helm for this build.
Dex here you should put any point you can spare once you got enough Str and vita
Vita I recommend you to put something like 70-120 points.
Your calls just remember that monsters in hell hit hard now. And any hc player knows that if you have only 1 life damage is secondary.
Energy is left at base as you don’t use any mana intensive skills in fact one of your main skill don’t use mana.
To give you an example my level 86 Sniperzon Kitana has these stats counting equipment bonuses:
Str 134
Dex 361
Vita 90
Energy 35
Magic arrow level 26 does 705-1746
Strafe level 26 does 573-1566
Life is 646 and mana 214 all her res is also maxed out in hell.
Skill points:
Since the last guide I have tried to find out if there was something I could change in the build that would make it more powerful without sacrifying to much.
Well as I have made 2 more Sniperzons since I made Zara I come to the conclusion that this szon don’t really need such a high level of critical strike as I first thought.
Therfor the skill plan for the build look abit different then last time.
All you who read this build should also note that this is how I did it, with the equipment I have for this zon. T Therfor you should see it as a exampleof how it, can be done not how it should be done.
Experiment and im sure somebody out there finds another way to build a sniperzon that suits their play style.
In the end my newest sniperzon ended up with these skill levels with equipment:
Bow skills:
Magic arrow level 26
Strafe level 26
Rest of bow skills level 7
Passive skills:
Penetrate level 24
Valkyrie level 21
Pierce level 10
Critical strike level 6
Decoy level 7
Rest is at level 5
Spear skills:
Jab level 5
Equipment:
First before I list the equipment I recommend for this build I want to point out what modifiers this build really benefit from.
These modifiers are knockback, prevent monster heal, open wounds, crushing blow, deadly strike, life and mana leech, amplify damage, FRW, FHR.
Knockback is obviously to keep the monsters away from us but it can also be of use to keep our merc alive as monsters that are hit with knockback wont damage our merc.
Prevent monster heal do exactly what it says it stops the regen of monsters witch in hell is very fast. And as we bowazons deal little damage too many monsters at a time we need it as monsters otherwise would heal to full life when we stop shooting at them.
Open wound may seem useless but it’s in reality a quite useful modifier as explained below:
Open Wounds works in a way similar to poison, although it isn't poison so the two effects can stack. It drains the victim's life over a period of time (8 seconds), and will prevent monster regeneration whilst it's in effect.
Open Wounds' damage per frame is computed as follows (L is the attacker's level, i.e. your level):
L=1-15: (9L+31)/256
L=16-30: (18L-114)/256
L=31-45: (27L-384)/256
L=46-60: (36L-779)/256
L=61-99: (45L-1319)/256
Since there are 25 frames per second in D2, multiply the resulting number by 25 to find the damage per second.
Crushing blow works as described below:
Regular monster: 1/4 melee, 1/8 ranged
Bosses and Champions: 1/8 melee, 1/16 ranged
anything else (including other players): 1/10 melee, 1/20 ranged
"Other" includes all types of boss monsters as well as other players and their hirelings. This doesn't sound like much, but if Izzy has 100,000 hps, taking off 1/20th with your bow would be worth 5,000 hps.
Just keep in mind that the percent of life taken away from the monsters is based on their current hp so it gets less and less effective the more you damage the monster.
NOTE: the damage of CB stays the same in Players 1 and Players 8 games so therefor CB is less useful in games with more players. Real or when you use /players 8
Deadly strike gives you another way except with critical strike to double your damage that info should be enough to anyone that wonder why we want to have that modifier.
Life and mana leech is not only useful for this build thanks to the fact that it gives us back life and mana when we attack the monsters.
Life and mana leech is also your way of telling where the monsters are off screen.
Granted you can’t use this tactic against unleenchable monsters or PI but that’s what you have your decoy for to shout for you. More on that in the strategy section.
Amplify damage give use about 100% more damage and it also break physical immunity on many monsters. So it’s a very useful modifier and breaking the physical immunity on the monsters don’t only benefit you but also your merc as he is then able to leech of the monster and inflict much more damage.
FRW or faster run walk is useful as you sooner or later will lose both your tanks in battle and then your best means of survival is to make a run for it and the faster you get away from the monsters the faster you can get your tanks back up.
FHR why use faster hit recovery?
Well the new patch throw in some mean ranged attackers in the game and even if you play like a god you will sooner or later get hit even if it so is a random shot that wasn’t even aimed at you.
With a decent faster hit recovery you can ensure that that hit won’t let the rest of the ranged attackers fill you with their shots.
Recommended Gear:
Helm Guillaumes Face (this build use a version of nightfishs CBSTU) or if you don’t think you need all that much CB on your zon Kiras guardian is a very nice helmet.
Amulet: Atmas scarab for its chance to cast amplify damage and therefor make it easier for both you and your merc to handle pi monsters.
Armour: everything from "lion_heart" to gloom and chains of honor works.
nowdays I use a CoH myself and find that it works very well. But I bet nobody doubt that CoH works well consider its costs.
Belt: hawanins blessing is a nice belt that grant you prevent monster heal. If you have better equipment for this build you should use Razortail instead. As you then get prevent monster heal from another source.
Myself I use razortail as I have natures peace.
Gloves: laying of hands is a great set of gloves that you really should use for its 350% extra damage to demons and 50% fire res as well as the 20% ias.
Another great pair of gloves is Ghoulhide for the large bonus to damage against undead like glooms.
Boots: there is really only one pair of boots you want for this build and that’s gore raider.
Even trough goblin toe has a larger bonus to crushing blow the extra modifiers on gore raider makes it the better pair of boots.
Rings: ultimately you want a raven frost and nature’s peace here but that is only if you can get your life and mana leech covered elsewhere like in your bow.
Otherwise you should set for a dual leech ring and a raven frost here.
Weapon: a good weapon that should be able to take you trough the game is a nefed Lycanders aim. It can even be upgraded for more damage.
The ultimate bow here would be a windforce socked with a Amn or if you have something else that take care of the life leech like for example CoH you can choose to socked it with something else then amn. its up to you
Sniperzon uses the following equipment:
Helm:
Kira's Guardian
Tiara
'Um'
Defense: 142
Durability: 25 of 25
Required Level: 77
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: **
Fingerprint: 0xcd5c8dd6
+92 Defense
All Resistances +80
20% Faster Hit Recovery
Cannot Be Frozen
Socketed (1: 1 used)
Ammy:
Atma's Scarab
Amulet
Required Level: 60
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0xa48089a2
Poison Resist +75%
+39 poison damage over 4 seconds
Attacker Takes Damage of 5
+3 to Light Radius
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
5% Chance to cast Level 2 Amplify Damage on striking
Armour:
Chains of Honor
Archon Plate
'DolUmBerIst'
Defense: 880
Durability: 60 of 60
Required Strength: 103
Required Level: 63
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0xe55f511c
+20 to Strength
+70% Enhanced Defense
Damage Reduced by 8%
All Resistances +65
8% Life stolen per hit
Replenish Life +7
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
200% Damage to Demons
100% Damage to Undead
+2 to All Skill Levels
Socketed (4: 4 used)
Belt:
Razortail
Sharkskin Belt
Defense: 97
Durability: 14 of 14
Required Strength: 20
Required Level: 32
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x282ac216
+15 to Dexterity
+124% Enhanced Defense
+10 to Maximum Damage
+15 Defense
Piercing Attack [33]
Attacker Takes Damage of 86 (Based on Character Level)
Gloves:
Laying of Hands
Bramble Mitts
Defense: 87
Durability: 12 of 12
Required Strength: 50
Required Level: 63
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0xc9a57046
+25 Defense
Fire Resist +50%
20% Increased Attack Speed
350% Damage to Demons
10% Chance to cast Level 3 Holy Bolt on striking
Boots:
Gore Rider
War Boots
Defense: 146
Durability: 34 of 34
Required Strength: 94
Required Level: 47
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x3c10db53
+20 to Maximum Stamina
+172% Enhanced Defense
+10 Maximum Durability
Requirements -25%
30% Faster Run/Walk
10% Chance of Open Wounds
15% Chance of Crushing Blow
15% Deadly Strike
Ring1:
Nature's Peace
Ring
Required Level: 69
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x732596e6
Damage Reduced by 11
Poison Resist +29%
Slain Monsters Rest In Peace
Prevent Monster Heal
Level 5 Oak Sage (27/27 Charges)
Ring2:
Raven Frost
Ring
Required Level: 45
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x3e1c57d1
+20 to Dexterity
+40 to Mana
+241 to Attack Rating
Adds 15-45 cold damage over 4 seconds
20% Cold Absorb
Cannot Be Frozen
Weapon:
Lycander's Aim
Grand Matron Bow
'Nef'
Two-Hand Damage: 65 to 257
(Amazon Only)
Required Dexterity: 152
Required Strength: 108
Required Level: 65
Bow Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0xe328d474
+20 to Energy
+20 to Dexterity
+20% Enhanced Defense
+188% Enhanced Damage
+25 to Minimum Damage
+50 to Maximum Damage
5% Mana stolen per hit
Knockback
+2 to Amazon Skill Levels
Required Level +7
20% Increased Attack Speed
+2 to Bow and Crossbow Skills (Amazon Only)
Socketed (1: 1 used)
The reason why I used this equipment on my new Sniperzon is because with this gear and the res scroll rewards she hits 75% all in hell without help from any charms. Therfor I could fill her inv with fine sc and vita sc.
Mercs:
The mercs I feel complement this build the most are the holy freeze merc and the might merc.
The holy freeze merc is a great merc if you really feel the need to be safe. He also makes it easier for your valk to tank as the monsters will move much slower. The might merc is great for those that want to play a bit more offensive and feel the need for more damage and less crowd controll. This lack of crowd controll can be negelated by equipment choices for the merc but we come to that later.
Once you get your merc he will be weak and he may also die on you many times if your not casious. Im not that casious so mine has died quite a lot. But even if the merc dies when you try to level him or he is inable to tank don’t give up, he wont lose exp when dying like you do so he iset damaged by his own deaths you are…
A merc can be a very powerful ally but if you just give him a cracked spear he wont help you much so make sure he gets some kind of life steal, and that he has something that give him res and possible also dr%. note while dr% is nice its not critical for your merc. Life steal and res on the other hand affects him a lot. Some good mods on equipment you could give to your merc is Cb,Ow,Ds and even new ones like HF aura, thorns aura, static field, and other things that will help him stay alive longer.
Merc gear: while we play a more defencive build we also want to be able to dish out some damage. Its not fun if you need others help to kill stuff right.
Well what merc gear would suit this build then??
Its easy even though we have strafe as our crowd controll skill our merc also needs something that effects many monsters at a time.
Therefor the reapers toll or a cresant moon weapon is a good choice. For even more crowd control we could slap a Delirium helment on the merc. That way he even give us breathing room when he get hit. Now if we also give him a armour such as gloom we can have the benefit of blinded rnaged attackers too from time to time.
As you might have understood by now my merc is equipped like this.
So here is he my level 83 might merc Pratham:
Helm:
Delirium
Diadem
'LemIstIo'
Defense: 321
Durability: 20 of 20
Required Level: 64
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 85
Fingerprint: 0x1150a323
+10 to Vitality
+261 Defense
50% Extra Gold from Monsters
25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items
+2 to All Skill Levels
11% Chance to cast Level 18 Confuse on striking
6% Chance to cast Level 14 Mind Blast when struck
14% Chance to cast Level 13 Terror when struck
1% Chance to cast Level 50 Magic Shrine when struck
Level 17 Attract (60/60 Charges)
Socketed (3: 3 used)
Armour:
Gloom
Wire Fleece
'FalUmPul'
Defense: 1398
Durability: 32 of 32
Required Strength: 111
Required Level: 53
Item Version: Expansion
Item Level: 90
Fingerprint: 0x34a14bcc
+10 to Strength
+247% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +45
-3 to Light Radius
10% Faster Hit Recovery
5% Damage Taken Goes to Mana
Half Freeze Duration
15% Chance to cast Level 3 Dim Vision when struck
Socketed (3: 3 used)
Weapon:
Thresher
Two-Hand Damage: 39 to 469
Durability: 51 of 65
Required Dexterity: 89
Required Strength: 114
Required Level: 75
Polearm Class - Fast Attack Speed
Item Version: 1.10 Expansion
Item Level: 87
Fingerprint: 0x9e6cd985
GUID: 0xd46c2727 0xe19e0a45 0x0
+233% Enhanced Damage
Adds 4-44 cold damage over 2 seconds
14% Life stolen per hit
Requirements -25%
Ignore Target Defense
33% Deadly Strike
33% Chance to cast Level 1 Decrepify on striking
Strategy tips:
Your decoy is there for a reason use her she is your best bait to lure monsters out.
That’s why you when playing the Sniperzon should cast the decoy at the edge of the screen when ever you advance future on the map. Using your decoy this way won’t only make it easier to target your enemies it will also save you life many times.
For example I once casted my decoy at the edge of the screen and it was instantly greeted with the explosion of 5 suicide minions. Hey I would not have survived that if they had hit me instead of my decoy.
Learn to take out key targets first.
That is killing the monsters that pose the biggest threat to your char first.
A example a fallen shaman is a bigger threat then a fallen so you should take the fallen shaman out first. But if you have a few fallen running at you to attack you, they pose a bigger threat then the shaman and should be killed first.
This becomes easier once you get pierce as you then can aim a the shaman and still hit the minions.
Also remember to use the terrain to your advantage. For example if there is a pack of ranged attackers shooting at you and there is rocks or other obstacles nearby take cover behind them. Then plan for your next move.
When you face larger groups of monsters later in the game I advice you to switch to strafe and hit them all this to make it easier for your merc and valk as they get weaker target to tank.
Sometimes like when facing oblivion fighters and mages strafe is your best bet as you will shoot straight trough the fighters and hit the mages at the same time.
Also remember that the range of strafe has been improved so you can now auto target monsters of screen. This feature is very useful when you fight glooms as they are a bit hard to spot when they move around.
The nice thing is that they can’t hide from strafe.
Also a thing to remember about ranged attackers slow missiles is your friend. But to be able to slow them down you need to distract them and the means you have to distract them with is either your decoy, valk or merc.
I rather have my valk killing of other monsters so what I do is that I cast a decoy behind the ranged attackers so they turn around and start shooting at the decoy instead of me then I cast slow missiles and start killing them. If you want to kill them faster you can also recast your valk in the middle of them. Works good against glooms too.
Credits:
Credit goes to Nightfish at the single player forum at diabloii.net for coming up with the Nightfishs CBSTU â„¢ that is better explained in his own guide right here:
http://forums.rpgforums.net/showthr...ghlight=solozon
To RTB for answering many of my questions as I made this build up.
The original inventor of the Sniperzon build back in the days of classic.
The forum members at the forums I am a member in. even if you don’t know it you have helped me a lot. If so with nothing else then to keep my motivation to write this guide up.
To Iceman for pointing out that I should explain why I call the build
Sniperzon.
To jarulf for providing the new formulas for CB and OW
To lprman for pointing out the benefits of kiras guardian
A special thanks for the help also goes to Hakai no Tenshi for making ATMA as I know I could not have made this char without the help of this excellent muling application.
