Javazon build advice

Really ? I've used valks before with a bow zon and they tended to get crapped on. That was LoD days though

Cinomed541 wrote: 4 years ago

Really ? I've used valks before with a bow zon and they tended to get crapped on. That was LoD days though

yea. my lvl 90 act 2 merc with 1k+ def armour Treachery, Holy Freeze, Vampire Gaze and Insight dies more often then the Peace Valkyrie. used it until i got myself a Eth skullders for magic find.

Udyret wrote: 4 years ago

Cinomed541 wrote: 4 years ago

Really ? I've used valks before with a bow zon and they tended to get crapped on. That was LoD days though

yea. my lvl 90 act 2 merc with 1k+ def armour Treachery, Holy Freeze, Vampire Gaze and Insight dies more often then the Peace Valkyrie. used it until i got myself a Eth skullders for magic find.

I get that, I don't know what changed with my merc but I went from spending 200k a game of cows to him never even losing health when fighting Baal or D and only needs revived when I get clapped.

Echoing Elfwine's suggestions, and also my opinions:

Helm: Valkyrie Wing is a fantastic hat you can get for cheap: +2 skills/20% FRW/mana after kill, everything a Javazon wants for a Lem. You can keep it for an endgame build. Shako is great as well, but more expensive.

Amulet: The Cat's Eye is also a cheap ( Lem) endgame amulet, but you might want the rare amulet for now for the res. Otherwise, plain +2 amazon skills amulets are everywhere - I vendor them all the time because they're unsellable. Highlord's Wrath is a typical rec as well but probably too expensive for now.

Armor: I loved Treachery while leveling as a noob. 45 IAS to easily hit breakpoints without expensive IAS gloves/amulets, and Fade made it much easier to survive Hell. I would pick Treachery over Peace - it's worth the Lem. And you can still use Treachery on merc once you're done with it.

Torch: this is probably going to be your best bang for buck. You can get a low roll Zon torch for like Um/ Mal right now, and I think you should spend your Um on that.

Gloves: probably wait until later to get a 2 skills/20IAS glove because they're expensive. In the meantime, you can pretty easily vendor +3 Jav skills gloves, or get a free one from me (I have a ton). Any 20 IAS gloves are decent though, and you could probably get some super-cheap Blood Gloves with 20 IAS and life leech for even better surviving.

I like using Sanctuary (KoKoMal) in a 3 socket Troll Nest for the shield. Since it covers almost all the resistances you need of 50-70 all res. Also has a lower strength requirement than a Monarch by a significant amount and higher defence.

Udyret wrote: 4 years ago

Cinomed541 wrote: 4 years ago

Nah, it just has a 2% chance of summoning when you get hit. And a lvl 15 is weak on anything but normal. That's probably why it dies instantly.

it's on striking and it is very strong even in hell.

It can take a few hits, but she summons as said through striking.
I am constantly re-summoning her and as said, it is a straight lvl 15 Valk, which is well sufficient as a meat shield in between you as a glass cannon and the mobs.
I learned that for self summoning you would be looking at a lvl 17 for better equip when summoning her by yourself through skill. But that is not the case here.
I only don't know if skill points in Decoy etc give a benefit to the Peace summoned Valk.


So to go back to OP:
You can give it a try with the Peace runeword, it is pretty easy to obtain.

Look into upping your Titan's, if you anyways have the requirements for carrying a Monarch.
Only dexterity you may wanna check, so you don't end up not being able to carry your javs anymore after you upped them

Watch out for your torch and few small res charms and 2-3 Java skillers.

Don't forget about finishing your normal and nightmare quests for some of the bonuses, ie on resistances(a5).

I'm using Peace on my Javazon, I really like it. Synergies and such don't effect Skill on Weapons afaik, the only thing that adds is +All Skills.

I'd also suggest you to buy a torch and some skillers, they're pretty cheap and can have a huge impact.

guessing the Delirium runeword could be a great option too.

bombek wrote: 4 years ago

tatatat wrote: 4 years ago

Not sure if you're allowed to post offers on this forum, but I have a +30 all res magic amulet you might like for your build. Same res as a perfect mara's, just without the plus skills and attributes.

Add me on BNET to trade.

For your body armor I suggest getting a Skin of the Vipermagi, you can usually get them for a Pul. The FCR won't benefit your javazon much, but the +1 all skills and the nice boost to res will be an upgrade from your Stealth.

Many people also prefer a Razortail to a Thundergod's Vigor because of the Pierce attribute.

You can also consider buying a +2-3 to Javelin skills, + increased attack speed gloves. This will help boost the damage of your javelins.


If you haven't already, you should make sure your mercenary's gear is good too. Your mercenary should have a Level 15+ Meditation Insight in a Thresher/ Giant Thresher/ Great Poleaxe . This should cost a Pul or less. A Treachery in an elite base armor. And a Vampire Gaze or Crown of Thieves . These can usually cost you a Pul .

Thank you! This body armor looks very nice and is very cheap aroud 15 pgms. I can also upgrade it with Recipe: Elite Version of Armor ( Ko + Lem) for more defence.

The gloves are also missing part, and they are not so expensive. I already posted some offers but forgot to buy them due to Holiday break. Thanks for reminding me.

About helmet are the skills trigerred by Delirium strong? Does it beat the Harlequin Crest ?

Yes the merch equipment is very important currently I have:

• Eth The Battlebranch upgraded with Recipe: Exceptional Version of Weapon

• Undead Crown

• Black Hades w/ some resists and +53% to damage in socketed jewels

Definitely consider upgrading to the mercenary gear I mentioned. Insight will help you not have to chug mana pots as often, as you'll get around 600-700% mana regen which is a huge help for a lightning javazon. Undead Crown isn't bad, but it isn't a great mercenary Helm. The life leech on it is good, but a Crown of Thieves has higher life leech, and a Vampire Gaze is superior because of its damage reduction. The real reason why Treachery is one of the best mercenary armor pieces that you can equip is because of its chance to proc Fade. Fade will instantly boost your mercenary's resistances to all 75 at your level, and will also give a high amount of physical damage reduction. If you equip the mercenary gear I mentioned, the only things that should be able to kill your mercenary are act bosses, might aura'd minions, and Travincal usually.

I'd consider Delirium a little too expensive for your build and out of scope. The +2 to all skills is nice, but if you want that consider getting a +2 skills Valkyrie Wing. It will probably be even cheaper than a Shako since it usually sells for Lem- Pul.

Good luck with your build!

Guys, you are awesome!

Thanks a lot for all the comments.

Some update:

Got 20 IAS, 3LL, +1 java skills gloves from Elfwine, also got carried over Act3. I finished Act4 on my own, got Ist from the forge.
Also sold some +1 necro charm for Mal + Um.
Bought 15/16 torch for Ist.
Bought Skin of the Vipermagi and upgraded it to Elite.
Bought 184ED/9LL Titan's Revenge and replaced my old one 169ED/7LL.

My res look much more better at the moment.
Also the Wand works But not on every mob, so my apologise for not beliving in one's comment.

Currently my main focus is to gear up Merc: so looking for Base for Treachery and for Insight.
Budget after recent trades is even better than before shopping

• Ist

• Mal

• 2 Um

• Lem

so I will not pick lowest bases.

What is best? Thresher Giant Thresher or
Great Poleaxe ? Does it really matter?
Can the Body Armor be "heavy/medium" or should be Light as mine?

Why Great Poleaxe goes for Fal, where it has better Weapon Speed than Giant Thresher, and also Superior Giant Thresher which goes for Ist or more has same damage as Normal Great Poleaxe ?

bombek wrote: 4 years ago

Also the Wand works But not on every mob

Some Immunites need more than the Wand or the Aura to break , some need both, some can't be broken - I think one of the D2 Wiki's does have a sheet where you can see what's needed to break immunities of different foes. If I'm farming I do ignore Lightning + Physical immunes, if only lightning, I Jab them or leave it to the merc .

bombek wrote: 4 years ago

Why Great Poleaxe goes for Fal, where it has better Weapon Speed than Giant Thresher, and also Superior Giant Thresher which goes for Ist or more has same damage as Normal Great Poleaxe ?

No, that is not correct. Great Poleaxe is Fast, Giant Thresher is Very Fast. Mouse over their tooltips to check.

The reason for that is that increased attack speed for the A2 merc is the best way to increasing his damage and sustainability through life leeching. Since the merc cannot equip IAS jewellery, he only has the weapon, head, and armor slots available. Therefore using the fastest weapon possible helps a lot with reaching the breakpoints.

You can use IAS calculators, but I find it easiest to demonstrate with this image: https://imgur.com/SDI5f9H .
It shows the IAS breakpoints of the merc to the left and the attack frames in the middle for all Elite Polearm weapons.

Jinsho wrote: 4 years ago

No, that is not correct. Great Poleaxe is Fast, Giant Thresher is Very Fast. Mouse over their tooltips to check.

The reason for that is that increased attack speed for the A2 merc is the best way to increasing his damage and sustainability through life leeching. Since the merc cannot equip IAS jewellery, he only has the weapon, head, and armor slots available. Therefore using the fastest weapon possible helps a lot with reaching the breakpoints.

You can use IAS calculators, but I find it easiest to demonstrate with this image: https://imgur.com/SDI5f9H .
It shows the IAS breakpoints of the merc to the left and the attack frames in the middle for all Elite Polearm weapons.

Pardon me, but I completly do not understand this graphic.

I understood it. I need IAS to calculate the Speed. So for my 45 from Body Armor Great Poleaxe is doing 3.84 attacks per second while Thresher/ Giant Thresher does 4.16. You're right.
Mhm. So what should I be looking at in the weapons? Which class does Merc is assigned to?

The A2 merc has two attacks : a normal attack, and a Jab special attack.
The top row of images is for the Jab attack, and the bottom row is for the normal attack.
Going across each row you have the different Elite Polearms.
As I have stated above, on each image you see the IAS on the left side and the framedata of the attack in the middle.

The takeaway from this is that having a faster weapon on the Merc allows you to get a faster attack on him with less IAS from other gear, which means faster life leech.