Javazon Build

[Vlad 411]

This thread is for comments about Javazon build for Diablo 2.

[deusversus 0]

I'm a new player. What is the purpose of the Call to Arms in the weapon swap?

[Grole 0]

The Cat's Eye amulet has Socketed (0-1) listed as an affix. This is an error, as amulets cannot be socketed.

Edited November 2, 2021 by Grole

[Grole 0]

On 10/29/2021 at 9:04 PM, deusversus said:

I'm a new player. What is the purpose of the Call to Arms in the weapon swap?

This:

 

Essentially, buffing up defense, HP, MP, and skills before battle.

Edited November 2, 2021 by Grole

[Hokunda 1]

What I do not understand is why Thundergod's Vigor is not recommended even in budget build? Lots of str and vitality, +3-3 fury and strike, resi and absorb. It's like it was designed for that and yet it's not recommended, why? 

Edited August 3, 2022 by Hokunda

[Gessa 0]

Playing currently this build, but its pretty hard on me with the fend bug. I have it so often that my character stands there unable to move or lag-teleporting in groups after the bug its so weird. I wish there would be another phys. skill for aoe spear like swinging the spear around you in aoe or slashing in an arc in front. 

[Digestive 0]

Commenting here about the Elemental Spearzon guide since this is where you are sent to when you hit the comments button pictured below on said guide:

I also looked around and didn't see a thread specific to that guide, so this seems to be the only place to go.

The reason I am commenting on this guide is because it is so prominent in search results and at the same time full of misinformation. If I google "elemental spearzon d2r", this guide is the first result. Looking down the page at further results, I can see people singing praises for this build, but this guide hardly scratches the surface and, even worse, is full of errors. It seems as if this guide was put together in a hurry and there are some copy and paste issues from cobbling together this guide from other Amazon build guides.

Perhaps the linked youtube video is better prepared, I am sure it is, but I didn't seek out a written guide to watch a video. If I wanted a youtube video, I would have gone to youtube and looked for the guide there.

If you are like me and came across this guide and are left scratching your head, here's a quick write up I did from my experience playing the game and leveling up a character with this build from 1 to 91:

 

Looking around online you’ll probably see most prominently mentioned that the build became end game viable with a change that allows for the Infinity runeword to be socketed into spears alongside polearms. This is great of course, but also incredibly expensive. If you’ve got the Infinity runeword and a +3 Javelin and Spear skills Matriarchal Spear on deck, that’s awesome, but I’ll make an argument below that it isn’t really a prerequisite to playing the build. I played the build without the runeword, on ladder, solo self found (so in other words with virtually no hope of getting the runeword) and taking advantage of some of the other D2R changes, I found it to be one of the most powerful builds I’ve personally played.

Here’s a quick rundown of patch changes (all from patch 2.4) that I think are significant in making this build viable, other than the above mentioned change to the Infinity runeword:

• Melee skill synergies were buffed, including Power Strike, Charged Strike, and Lightning Strike
• Dodge and Avoid passive skills were adjusted such that they lock your character up less
• Valkyrie casting delay was reduced, making it easier to spam/replace her
• Rogue Scout mercenaries were given access to the Freezing Arrow skill
• The Insight runeword was changed to be usable in bows and crossbows

And in summary, here is why the above changes bolster the build:

• For a melee build, ranged mercenaries are a great complement, since you’ll act as the tank as they deal damage from a distance. I’ve previously used a Rogue Scout as a mercenary on a single player zealot Paladin to great success, and this was on D2 without the changes mentioned above. With the changes, this is even more powerful, especially since Freezing Arrow is an excellent crowd control attack.
• This build can suffer from running out of mana as you’ll be spamming skills pretty aggressively. Using Insight on your Rogue Scout’s bow allows you to spam your skills without any interruption and she’s fairly easy to keep up when compared to an Act II mercenary if you keep her behind you.
• The elemental melee skills have been buffed substantially, to the point where with a sunder charm and relatively cheap gear to complement your attacks, Infinity isn’t even necessary to take down enemies with high resistances considering how high your damage can scale.
• Valkyrie and Decoy can be used liberally to tank for you and your mercenary. Although you’ll be using melee attacks, spears have an extended range, meaning you can often stand directly behind your Valkyrie or Decoy and land attacks without pulling aggro.

The skill tree for this build is straightforward:

• 1 point into all Lightning Strike prerequisites
• 1 point into all Valkyrie prerequisites
• Max out Lightning Strike and all synergistic skills (starting with Charged Strike, then Lightning Bolt and Power Strike at your leisure)
• Max out Valkyrie

For mobs, you’ll be using Lightning Strike: with Chain Lightning bouncing around an additional time per level, it can do pretty quick work.

For single targets and cleaning up, you’ll be using Charged Strike, which deals massive damage, dropping larger sized enemies with particular ease.

For defense, you’ll control mobs by using Decoy and Valkyrie. Do not be shy about recasting either skill liberally, putting Decoy on top of ranged mobs to soak up damage and Valkyrie between you and targets you are attacking. Also note that a “hit and run” strategy should be employed whenever you’re not safely behind a tank, which is surprisingly effective just on its own.

For stats, you just need to meet the minimum requirements of a Matriarchal Spear:

• 114 strength
• 92 dexterity
• All remaining points into vitality

As you are playing, you should be on the lookout for:

• Any 5 open socket spears, ideally Ceremonial or Matriarchal Spears since they come with a +1-3 Javelin and Spear Skills modifier
• Any 4 open socket bows, again, ideally Ceremonial, Matriarchal, or Grand Matron for the plus skills modifier (note that again, thanks to patch 2.4, mercenaries can now equip these weapons)
• Any of the above bases with no sockets, normal quality, that you can roll in the Horadric Cube for sockets on (Amn + Ral + Perfect Amethyst)
• Amn, El, Ith, 2x Tir, 2x Sol, Tal, Ral, Hel, Ko, Thul, Eth, and Fal runes

And as “stretch” goals:

• A 4 open socket Matriarchal Spear with +3 Javelin and Spear Skills and 2x Ber, Mal, and Ist runes for the Infinity runeword
• A 4 open socket Grand Matron Bow with +3 Bow and Crossbow Skills and Ohm, Jah, Lem, and Eld runes for the Faith runeword for your mercenary

As mentioned, for the build I am outlining here, you will want a “Cold” Rogue Scout mercenary.

While I was playing out this build, I started by equipping my mercenary with the Edge runeword (3 socket bows) which worked well for me, especially I think because Thorns gives you some free damage on Lightning immune enemies. At the time I didn’t realize that Insight had been changed to work on bows, so it was a little while before I swapped to that, but it really speeds up gameplay to have the Meditation aura.

Your objective will first be to make the Honor runeword (Amn + El + Ith + Tir + Sol) for your spear and the Insight runeword (Ral + Tir + Tal + Sol) for your mercenary’s bow.

It may take some time to find a Fal and Ko rune, but when you eventually have the materials, you’ll next want to put the Obedience runeword (Hel + Ko + Thul + Eth + Fal) in your spear. One of the nice things about this transition is that Honor and Obedience use the same number of sockets, so if you find a good base early on you can use a Horadric Cube recipe (Hel rune + scroll of town portal) to nuke the runes in your Honor spear and replace them with Obedience runes.

As for the rest of your gear, you’ll likely mostly be chasing resistances, especially if you get a lightning sunder charm. The best in slot gear is fairly obvious and/or universal, but here are some specific recommendations:

• Armor: The Peace runeword (Shael + Thul + Amn) will carry you through the game, especially before you have a high level Valkyrie
• Helm: Lore (Ort + Sol) or Hearth (Shael + Io + Thul) runewords depending on what you need, before you find something better
• Ring: Ravenfrost (you really don’t want to be frozen with a melee build)
• Gloves: + Javelin and Spear Skills / increased attack speed
• Belt: Thundergod’s Vigor

Optionally, it was helpful for me to have the Treachery armor runeword (Shael + Thul + Lem) equipped to my mercenary (it’s a great mercenary armor on its own) to swap to and cheese up Fade when I needed better resistances to get through a fight.

I find this build devastating once geared up even with what I think is a reasonable set of “budget” gear as outlined above. You do need some luck with getting the medium rarity runes to really see the build shine, but we’re not talking 2 Ber runes luck here…
 

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Edited November 5 by Digestive