Since this hasn’t been posted to in a while, I’ll give it a little bump…
The rumour has been scotched by Blizzard. dii.net got taken in by a faker.
Quoth Evil Death:
There’s obviously some misplaced karma here. No matter how many Mephisto runs my Strafe Bowazon makes with 270% magic find, she just can’t seem to find any weapon better than her trusty old Witchwild String. On the other hand, I maybe shouldn’t complain, since she’s found two Harlequin Crests.
And on another note, they could have made Azurewrath a Short Sword, if they wanted, and given it a few thousand percent enhanced damage. In principle, at least. And I have found the Crystal Sword version of it.
Just curious…are white rings duped items? I had someone actually ask me if I wanted to trade something for it…Are they items that you can find, or have crafted?
I have a +4 Strafe Endlesshail. <cackle>
Find of the Day: the Flambe Zweihander. Very nice weapon.
No. They’re hacked items, created by people who need to cheat to win, and not part of the real game at all. Even dupers are more legit than white ring traders.
Chronos, I have two possible solutions for your Strafezon:
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I’ve got a Shaeled 165% buriza you can try out;
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a 200+% Endless Hail (with +4 to strafe, alas).
Either way you should really be running higher than 270% for a successful MF run (though as you’re beating me shako-wise 2:1, maybe I shouldn’t say anything…). What gear setup are you using? I was able to get my burizon to near 500, though I am so far having an easier time of it (sort of) with my dual bstar mf barb. Here’s what I am currently using:
Shako with PTopaz (74)
33% MF +3 masteries ammy (instead of tancred combo)
dual bstars, switching to dual babas for horking and last hit (lh)
coupla decent MF jewels in the babas for that little extra (I have one Ist and it ain’t going in a baba unless I get a healthy load more)
Skullder’s PTopazed
40% chances
30% goldwrap
raven frost (CBF, for a fast-hitting char, is a must, IMHO)
dual leech ring with some other nifty mods
35% (hey, gimme a break, it’s my first pair) Travs
Also have 164 in charms. I’m running right now, at level 88, roughly 703, though that’s just from looking at my most recent addings up. I have run well over 800% before, but that was A) in nightmare and B) with merc getting the last hit. I think I would have to have dual Isted Babas at level 90+ to hit 800 without merc getting last hit. And I really don’t care to waste hours a day leveling up a merc who will just get wasted by any old unique enemy. Blah.
For Strafe?!? Good lord! Even with a Shael, a buriza hits at 13/3.5 (13 frame attack, with a 3.5 frame/arrow strafe). You need a total of 215 IAS to drop that 3.5 to 3, which just isn’t worth it for strafe. The burrito’s power is in GA and Multi.
Chronos, don’t bad mouth your WWS. That’s a damn fine bow, IMO. Amp damage triples your damage in hell, and lets you switch out an Atma’s ammy for a Cat’s Eye. Craft some knockback gloves with some IAS, and you’re set.
Is crafting even worth it? I’ve looked at the stats for the crafted stuff and they don’t really look very good.
I have several characters running at the same time and I don’t think that I have any over about clevel 51. I just play with one until I get bored with it or it dead-ends (like my bear druid :()
My favorite at the moment is my clevel 46 strafeazon. I use a Riphook for the most part, though punha hooked me up with a unique edge bow that I can’t remember the name of at the moment and it’s fun too. I really like the meteor that it casts for crowd control, does some good damage even in NM.
I could really use some better armor for her, any suggestions?
That’s just the guaranteed mods. They also generate mods as a rare. I have several crafted ammys with +1 to <class> skills, fo rinstance.
**
Armour for a Strafeazon? Just find something with two sockets and Smoke it, man.
(PS - the unique Edge Bow is Skystrike. Pretty good weapon, certainly better than Riphook, but not as good as the Kuko Shakaku.)
I personally love riphook… the slow target, the wicked speed, and life leech to boot. Skystrike (unique edge bow) is ok, but i think riphook is a bit better. Kuko is ok, for its fire dmg and piercing ability but for non-zon characters the exploding modifier creates a no mana/life leech ability.
Armor for the strafezon could be HEL-LUM-FAL lionheart runeword. It has 20%Dmg, all resists, life and other mods that’ll help out. If you can get a hold of a decent 4 socketed armor, try socketing four 15%ias jewels with a second mod. Speed is quite important with strafezons. This is due to the skill having a “lock” period when using strafe, you just stand and fire all the alloted arrows/bolts per cast. The faster you shoot out the arrows/bolts the better chance to get out of this “lock” and not get swarmed by baddies.
Crafting is a very good way to get items that you lack. Such as gloves, boots or what have you.
Good crafting formulae. or the most common ones being used to craft are the following.
P.Ruby + SOL + magic jewel + magic ring = blood ring. Can yield a 11%lifeleech ring with other mods as well.
P.Ruby + NEF +m.jewel + magical heavygloves/sharkskingloves/vampirebone gloves = blood gloves. You can get dual leech on this glove, as well as +2 zon skills tab. 20% ias and more. A nice craft is possible.
P.Sapphire + ORT+m.jewel + magical chaingloves//heavybracers/vambraces= hit power gloves. Only way to get knockback on gloves. getting ias, skills, leech is an added bonus too.
P.ruby+AMN+m.jewel + magical amulet = blood amulet. You can get +2 skills to a char class, dual leech, resists, run speed and more.
and the other amulet crafts are good too. You can possibly get skills, resists, and mana leech.
craft with your highest lvl character, so that you can “unlock” most of the modifiers for the items. The listed modifiers per craft are the very minimum the crafted item will receive. It will get more modifiers/bonuses like how rares are. But sadly for crafts, the required lvl to use them is higher than the rares counterpart. For example, +1 asn on a rare will get a lvlreq of 27, where as +1 asn on a craft will get a lvlreq of 49. Craft as much as you can, you might stumble on a really nice crafted item.
Ive crafted a lot on the closed realms and I’ve made some “godly” items. From good blood gloves to 11%LL blood rings. I even made a crazy dmg reinforced mace, something like 160%ED, dmg/lvl, +20ish max dmg, 40%ias and other mods. It’s not the greatest item, but if you are in need to upgrade say a crappy pair of boots a crafted item can more than take its place.
but again, it’s a lot of luck when you craft, you won’t see the best mods appear every time.
craft away, hoard those gems, runes and magical jewels. Then put them to good use.
I’d rank the Riphook above Skystrike. Edge bows are pretty slow ([5] speed bows), and the % to cast stuff annoys me. Riphook’s speed is wonderful.
But I’m with you on the Kuko.
The hitpower glove craft is about the most popular glove for 'zons. All include knockback, life leech and strength, plus you can get other rare mods (IAS being the most sought after).
Armor for a strafezon is anything that can get you to a 9/2 or 8/2 attack. 7/2 for Riphook is very possible. 3 or 4 socket armor with IAS jewels, or a Twitchthroe with an IAS jewel are probably your best bet.
Oh, and if you haven’t used knockback with a bowazon, you have to give it a try. It’ll completely change the way you play.
heh, I had totally looked over Smoke! I have been using Stealth plate mail for a long ass time for the run speed/mana recovery/dex boosts.
My other problem is my Bear Druid. I just can’t seem to beat down the ancients in NM. I have pretty good damage from the Rythm morning star, but for some reason I just can’t get them to die! Should I just work up some more attack speed? I would think that my defense and damage are good enough… (I don’t remember the rest of the equipment off the top of my head.)
Oh, I’ve used knockback on the zon too. I like it a lot, but I like teh %to cast better. When you use freezing arrow and strafe it tends to trigger pretty often, sometimes several times in a row. The freezing arrow counts anymonster frozen as an attack and with piercing you get even more chances.
I’m using rings for lots of my mana and leech, so I may try some boots as a craft. Sounds like a fun way to use all of these jewls that are cluttering up my boxes 
Oh, honey, you have got to let me hook you up with better. I happened to have just found a riphook MFing. I’ve got a magewrath you can test out if you like. I’m pretty much set zon-wise (I have two who are fine for gear, pretty much).
Armor … well, if you can’t afford 160/60 armor (and currently I can’t so I bet you’re not much better off;)), you might just want to try for 4-socket armor and getting a nice combo of IAS and ED in it. I have several 20%+ ED jewels and more than a few 15 IAS jewels, although most of the IAS jewels have crappy second mods. There’s also Twitchthroe, the unique … hard leather armor (centurion is studded)? It’s got inherent FHR and IAS and socketed with a 15 IAS would do just fine. I think the inherent IAS on that is 35.
A note on Smoke, btw, as I made this error before: you cannot make it in Spirit Forge, which has two sockets. I ruined a SF this way. This was rather early in my playing days, so I also totally wasted a Lum. You could conceivably put two 15 IAS in SF, but as the mods on that armor are not spectacular I would probably not do that.
Re: your druid, post your other gear and hell, show up online today. If Vol and I are playing today we can help you through whatever. I recently changed MF chars to one who could probably handle NM ancients (lvl 88 dual bstar)
You sure he wouldn’t be better using Cleg’s gloves (poor man’s IAS and knockback) and a Highlord’s? My Eaglezon is using Highlord’s and will probably try out a pair of Cleg’s before long in lieu of her +2 p/m 10 IAS gloves.
Nope. I rate Cat’s Eye waay above Highlord’s. Zons just don’t need the +skills, which is Highlord’s strong point. And the slow monsters on Cleg’s (and all items) is buggy, and will desync the monsters. Nothing worse for a low-vit zon walking around with Moon Lords who look like they’re a safe distance, but are actually standing right next to you.
I’d use the Death’s Hand/Sash combo before I put on Cleg’s. 30% IAS, CBF and tons of life leech are pretty solid for items that cost chips.
I thought it was you who gave me the skystrike? I found the riphook myself. I’ll probably be on the SDMB game about 3:30-3:45 today.
Who’s up for a tournament for Starcraft?
Just plugging DopeCraft.