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MF JAVAZON

Introduction
Hey everyone. Im sure that a lot of you have read my mf hammerdin guide before, and from some of the feedback I have received, it looks like a lot of you enjoyed it. I never thought I would mf with another character besides a hammerdin, but recently I have come across another Mfing phenom, the Lit Javazon. Unlike other mf characters, the javazon can be made with cheap equipment and still be very effective at what it does.

Stats
- Enough str for gear
- Enough dex for max block
- Rest into vit
- Base energy
The basic setup. Its the basic setup for a reason, IT WORKS!

Skills
Max Lightning Fury
Max Lightning Strike
Max Charged Strike
Max Lightning (synergy)
1 in Jab
1 point in all passive skills
1 point in all prereqs

With the rest of your skills, it is your choice to go for a more defensive edge or offensive. If you want to deal more damage, then pump the rest of your points into power strike (a synergy of of ur lit skills). If you should choose to pump ur defensive skills then boost ur dodging skills as well as your decoy (gives a life bonus to valk as well). This is completely up to you.

Heres a rundown of the main skills you will be using

Lightning Fury: Simply an amazing skill. This will be ur attack from range and will be used more then any other skill. It is the BEST pindle / eldritch killer that I know of. It is also VERY effective at killing Baals Minions from afar.

Lightning Strike: I wanted to like this skill more but it really just doesnt compare to lit fury. If you do want to use this, then the best way to do so, would be to set off a few chain lightnings (what this skill does), and then start throwing Furys while the chain lightning is still going.

Charged Strike: One of the BEST boss killers in the game, charged strike releases high damaging charged bolts on impact. This skill will be used to pick off stron unique monsters. When faced against bosses, this skill really shines. Since the bosses are larger then other monsters, EVERY charged bolt will hit them, dealing insane damage. You will learn to love this skill.

Decoy: I absolutely LOVE this skill. It, unlike valkery or any minion for that matter, will stay exactly where you cast it. Cast it where the monsters are, let them surround it, throw a few lit furies, watch the monsters die. By using Decoy and Lit Fury on Baal runs, you will be able to kill off all of the minions without getting hit.

Valkery: You cannot complain about a meatshield. Not as useful as Decoy, but definately worth the one point.

Jab: This will be your means of killing off lit immunes. Dont expect any miracles, its not a fast pvm killer. You shouldnt encounter many lit immunes (that you MUST kill), as long as u stay in the right places.

Mfing Locations
I am going to rate each location out of 5 *. If you find that ur favorite places to mf are all getting low grades, then this build might not be for you.

Eldritch *****
By far your BEST place to mf. For any of you who don’t know, eldritch is the super unique monster located just north of the frigid highlands Waypoint in Act 5. The best way to kill him is take the wp to frigid, run north just a little, and while eldritch is still off ur screen, throw 2-3 lightning furies in his direction. Then run up more. Even with mediocre gear, eldritch will either be dead or near death. Of all the character I have ever made, my javazon can kill eldritch the fastest. (BTW, eldritch will rarely ever appear lit immune, which is a huge help for a javazon)

Pindleskin *****
I have always dreaded doing pindleskin runs. Well that was until I made this javazon. For those who dont know, pindleskin is found by taking anya's portal in A5. I do not know of any other character that can run pindleskin faster then a javazon. Quite often, he dies in 1-2 lightning furies. NO other character has that speed. If you like to do pindle runs, or run a pindlebot, there is no better answer then the javazon.

(*Note: Pindleskin / Eldritch Runs are IMO the best way to MF in D2. Heres basically how it goes...
1. Enter a game
2. Take wp to frigid. Kill eldritch
3. Go back to WP and take that to haragoth
4. Take anyas portal
5. Kill pindle. Leave game and repeat.

This will be done extremely fast, and can be done without maphack or enigma for teleport. In fact, most of ur running will take place in town. One thing I advise though is to do this only if you have a fast connection. The time it takes you to beat pindle and eldritch will only be slightly longer then the time it takes you to leave/enter a new game. If your computer is VERY fast, then this is a really good method to mfing. I have had the Best MF runs I have ever had in the past 2 weeks doing pindle / eld runs with my mf javazon.)

Baal ****
Aside from being the fastest runners at pindle / eldritch, javazons are amazing at doing hell baal runs. The only hard part towards Baal runs is getting to the throne of destruction. Even if you have enigma, amazons are horrible casters (as mentioned before) and you will not be teleporting fast. The best method is to run as fast you can to the throne. Once there, you will only face one problem. Burning Souls in the actual chamber where you have to fight the minions. Since you have to clear out this chamber, and souls will not chase you, you will have to face them. The worst part is, their lit immune. You can jab them to death, and you can have a merc, but it will still take time. If there is a LARGE group of souls in the chamber, then I would recommend starting a new game. You might choose to wear some lvling gear for doing baal, for it can be quite difficult sometimes if you dont have enough resists. Once your fighting the minions its very easy. Just make sure you have a valk out (and hopefully a merc) and keep casting the god-sent decoy. Every round with the minions, lay a decoy right where theyll appear and while theyre fighting him, keep throwing lit furies at them. They will die very fast. The only time I have ever had problems is when a lit immune pops up at lister. Everything else should be really easy, and you should rarely even get hit with Decoy/Valk/Merc on ur side. Baall will be no problem at all with one of the best Boss killers in the game, Charged Strike.

Diablo ***
The only disadvantage to doing Diablo runs is that the Grand Visior of Choas is lit immune, and you will have to Jab him to death. Luckily enough, he is easily jabbed to death. Everything else will be extremely easy to kill with any of ur lit skills. Diablo will go down in a flash against charged strike.

Shenk ***
While some may disagree with me on this, I dont think Shenk is really worth the effort. You can choose to do eldritch/shenk runs instead of eldritch/pindle runs, but I wouldnt recommend it. In my experience, pindle drops a lot better then shenk does, and the main problem I have with Shenk is that lit monsters seem to spawn quite frequently between him and the frigid wp. If you really loathe pindle for some reason, you can choose to do shenk runs with eldritch instead.

Cow Runs ***
I have yet to have any success in cow runs, but it is still a good way to find charms. Just like in 09, javazons are awesome cowers. Just go around and keep spamming Lit Furies like crazy. Doesnt really get any harder then that.

Pit **
I really havent done many pit runs with my zon, and its prolly because there are better options. Javazons do not have fast teleing abilities, therefore getting to the pit will nto be as fast as with other characters. Once there, 1 lit immune type monster is present, and is a pain to kill. If you do choose to do pit runs, then i would just suggest skipping over any of the lit immunes. They will not be worth ur effort. Everything else, on the other hand, should be easy pickens.

Meph *
Please, dont do Meph runs with a javazon. There are MANY other characters that are better Meph runners. Yes, you will be able to kill meph fast with charged strike, but actually getting to him will be horribly long. In addition to that, the high council are lightning immune, which leads me to the next section...

Travical Runs zero
Half of them are lit immune, you will not have a lot of resists, and you will probably wind up dying. Yeah, bad idea.

Nithlathak Runs -*****
WORST idea EVER. the only real way to do nith runs effectively is to grab the halls of pain WP. By doing so, you will lose anyas portal, and ur 2nd best option for MFing. DO NOT EVER DO A NITH RUN!

Important things to achieve
Now that you see what kind of MFing you will be doing, you now need to know what you should aim for in ur gear. Here's whats important.

MF (DUH!)
Run / Walk
High + skills

Since ur top MF spot is pindle / eld runs, faster run walk is VERY important. you will be running in town just as much as out, where you cant teleport anyway. + skills will ensure damage, which will ensure a quick kill. Resists are not important when doing eld / pindle runs, because u wont really be faced with any ele attackers (aside from them being lit enchanted)

Amazon Information
THe only two weapons u should be using are Titans Revenge or Thunderstroke. Here are the IAS tables for ceremonial / matri javs...

Throwing Attack (Lightning Fury)
IAS Frames
0 14
6 13
16 12
30 11
52 10
89 9

Normal Attack (Lit strike / Charged Strike)
IAS Frames
0 11
10 10
26 9
50 8
95 7

Remember that you are an MF javazon, and having lots of IAS is not really needed if it is going to cost you MF. I think its best to aim for 30 ias, which would give you 11 frame throwing, and 9 frame normal. You can choose to do that or go for just 20.

FHR Breakpoints
6 0
5 20
4 63
3 200

To be completely honest, I would ignore FHR. If you want, try and get the 20% needed for 5 frame, but it is not needed. For the most part, you wont be getting hit that often to worry about it (thx to decoy and valk)

Faster Cast Rate
Your probably thinking im crazy for including this section, but its something important that you should know. Amazons are the WORST casters in the game. Their cast rate is so horrible that i havent even been able to find a place that lists it. What this means is that teleport isnt going to be as helpful as it is with other characters. Having decent Run/walk will work out better then having teleport. The only time I would suggest using teleport would be to go through walls or cross an unaccessable area.

Equipment
Rich Man's MF Gear
Ethereal Titans Revenge
Enigma Light Armor (~85 mf)
Shako Socketed with an IAS jewel to reach next ias BP
4x Ist Monarch (100)
Viper Torc Ammy or 50% magic mf ammy (~4 cool
Wisp Projector(~20)
Ravenfrost
Tgods
War Travs (~4 cool
Rare +2 jav skills / 20 ias / mf gloves (~24)
Total MF wo/ charms= ~325 MF

Poor Man's MF Gear
Titans Revenge
Ptopaz Skullders Ire (~130)
Ptopaz Shako (74)
Rhyme Shield (25)
Highlords Wrath
Nagelring (30)
Ravenfrost
TGods
War Travs (~35)
Rare 20 ias gloves with w/e decent mods u can find
Total MF wo/ charms= ~294

*Note: If you are really really poor (maybe starting ladder for first time), then it is basically up to you to just use whatever you can find. I do not really want to suggest everything and anything that you can use, because you can literally use anything you want.

**Note: This gear is for MFING ONLY. That means, you should use this gear when doing pindle / eld runs, or for when ur killing off a boss such as baal or diablo (you will kill them very fast with charged strike). As you can see, you do NOT have good resists and there are other flaws. You will not have to worry about this while MFing because you should be killing very fast. When playing in other areas, I will suggest making a few substitutions (will be discussed later)

***Note: The difference between using Enigma and Skullders is very small. You will not be using teleport much, but the MF bonuses, +2 skills, and an amazing 45% run/walk make enigma still the best armor to MF in. If you cannot afford enigma, then by all means, use a skullders, which should work very nice. If you do not have a skullders, then use a 4 ptopazed armor.

****Note: Being Frozen SUCKS for a javazon, so make sure you have a Ravenfrost on.

*****Note: I chose TGods over any other belt because it just rocks for a javazon. +3 lit fury (which you will use A LOT for MFing), 40 stats, lit absorb, and max lit res make this thing just awesome. I much prefer it over Verdungos or any other belt.

Item Substitutions
If you choose to be more adventurous in ur MFing and decide to do more baal and diablo runs, then your probably going to have to make a few item substitutions in order to get to baal and diablo. Heres what I recommend.

Chains Of Honor. I find this armor to be the BEST armor for a javazon. Not only does it give you +2 skills, 20 str, dr, and mf, but it gives an amazing 65 all res. Resists are what will keep you alive, and this armor gives a lot of them.

Highlords Wrath. If you are using an MF ammy, and are looking to make a switch for harder areas, then I suggest this ammy. It gives you two very needed mods, +1 skills and 20 ias. You will probably need the ias to reach the ias breakpoint, and the +1 skills will help with ur damage.

Stormshield. A MUST if you plan on doing diablo or baal runs. This will keep you alive, simply put. Its not nearly as expensive as it used to be, so it should be obtained. You can even choose to use this as your regular shield if you want. If you are dying on pindle / eld runs, then you should definately do so.

Charms
An essential part to an MF javazon, you will need charms, and lots of them. Since you will not be having as much as MF as some character based solely on ur gear, you will need to make it up in charms. Aim for as many small 6-7% mf charms as you can. Also try and get an annihulus charm as well. You should be filling up 20-27 slots with small mf charms. That should leave you with 120% - 189% mf. This might get you over 500% mf.

If you want, you can include Jav skill charms, but only do so if you feel you are killing too slow.

Mercenary
Since your character is mostly based around 1 element, I would suggest getting a mercenary to aid you in dealing with lit immunes. Heres ur options...

A1 Rogue Merc
I havent had too much experience with there mercs, and its mostly because I hate to lvl them. The only time I would suggest using these mercs is if ur a sorc or a fast tele'r. Since ur not, I would suggest to move on.

A2 Holy Freeze Merc
These are definately a help in harder areas. Freeze them and they wont attack you as much. Good Idea. This is definately a good option.

A2 Might Merc
With a might merc, you shouldnt have any problems killing off lit immunes. You will probably have problems keeping him alive though. This merc has really only one use and thats to kill lit immunes. If thats all you want in a merc, then go with one of these. Also, dont go with a might merc, unless you have good enough gear to keep him alive.

A3 Merc
Never played with them, wouldnt know.

A5 Barb Merc
Currently this is what my javazon uses. He simply never dies. He is able to survive just about everything and is a great tank along with my valk and decoy. Very useful all around. When faced against lit immunes, he does well. If a lit immune is back up against the wall, the barb merc will use bash and the monster will get stunned and basically sit there, getting bashed. This is extremely effective against a lit immune Lord de Seis.

Equipment for Mercs
I follow the same set of equipment for my mercs.
Shaftstop (eth if possible)
Gaze (eth if possible)
Good weapon (Doombringer / Eth elite unique (BoneHew) / Windforce, Eaglehorn

FAQ

Q: How am I suppose to have enough mana to keep using lit fury, etc?
A: Most people would think to use mana leech, but since the actual phys damage ur doing is low, you will not be leeching much mana back. Since in 1.10, mana pots are sold at NPC's, it is better to use those then it is to try and use mana leech. If you are using Enigma, the 14 life after each kill will constantly supply life, therefore you will not need life potions as much.

Q: What about using a Hybrid for getting rid of lit immunes?
A: On my javazon, i tried using guided arrow along with a Buriza, and it just didnt work. Not only are bow skills not as good as they used to be, you are not a bowazon. I have found it better to just use Jab then it is to use a Bow.

Q: Why not pump Jab more?
A: Remember that this is an MF javazon, not a PvM zon. You will be trying to avoid lit immunes. If you cant kill them fast, or are possibly dying while facing them, then its best to go MF somewhere else.

Q: Why only one point into Critical Strike?
A: You will be doing damage via ur lit skills. Critical strike will not double the lit damage of ur skills, therefore its not that much of a help.

Q: Which games should I play in, ones with just me or should I go solo in a ~8 player game?
A: A javazon is not as strong as hammerdin. You will have problems with doing 8 player hell baal or diablo games. They can be done, but IMO, its best to stick to single player games. This is definately the case when doing pindle / eldritch runs. Their drops are not affected by how many people are in the game (neither are Baal or diablo's but the monsters leading up to them are).

Q: Why Titans Revenge over Thunderstroke?
A: I chose titans revenge over Tstroke for several reasons. TStroke has ias and -15% enemy lit resist going for it. Titans has 30% run/walk (which helps a lot), 40 stats, and it has an increased stack size, and it replenishes quantity. The replenish quantity means less trips to Larzuk which means more trips to Pindleskin.

Q: How much dex do I need for max block with a Stormshield?
A: Your dex should be changing with each level, because your chance to block is affected by ur lvl. Here is what your dex needs to be at, at certain levels.

clvl 73 = 168 dex
clvl 75 = 172 dex
clvl 80 = 182 dex
clvl 85 = 193 dex
clvl 90 = 203 dex
clvl 95 = 213 dex
clvl 99 = 222 dex

Conclusion
Well, I think was definately the longest guide I have written. If there was anything missed (i doubt it) or you feel that I should change something (i dont doubt it), then plz post ur comments. I would be glad to improve this guide in anyway possible.

A lot of credit has to go to diabloii.net. A lot of the information I have listed such as tables and ias charts are from there.

I will probably sticky these once the forum gets a little bigger. No purpose in stickying them now as there is only one page of threads in the guild

smile

yeah, i told an online friend about this guide. I cannot count the number of times he has thanked me since he made this javazon

ooOOoo a javazon O_o ain't tried one of these b4 i've only known hammerdin and meterorb sorc... sweatdrop gr8 guide I think I might go try this sometime when I finish building my elemental druid O_o; sweatdrop gonk

ohhh I need to get on that right away ::runs off::

Hmmm....I might do that...