Help me improve my Spearazon

[Wrathraven]

To kill time before 1.10 I decided to muck around with a Spearazon in SP/Open, and would like some tips to improve her, as I've gone from soloing at 5-6 players down to treading water with just 1-player's worth of monsters in NM/Act 4. Basically I've just dumped my points into Jab and passives, with the plan to pump Fend next, since it's really the only other melee skill I use (she's about lvl 45 now). My Dodge % is about 40, which is awesome since I can't get a high DR for anything, and CS around 50%, but my resists are trash, even in NM. I have the runes to make Smoke, which will help in that regard IMMENSELY, but I need to find a two-socket excep/elite medium arnor first (she looks awful in plate! :) ). Until then, I've just been progressing slowly with a HF merc to keep mobs managable, but even with CS I'm not killing as fast as I'd like. I'm using a rare Maiden Pike with an IAS jewel, but my damage barely tops 300 with lvl 22 Jab, and my to-hit is not that great, though that's partly because I'm dealing with higher-level enemies. My point spread is mostly divided between Strength and Dex, with occasional points into Vit.

Also, I keep some javelins and DO have a point in each of the jav skills, because there are times I simply need to keep my distance and do damage, but she is first and foremost a Spearazon.

ANYWAY, is there anything I should try to change about my playing or skill allocation, merc, etc? I'm not looking for "get such and such unique" because I don't do Pindle-runs and am not that far anyway :P Just some tips from people who've successfully played Spearazons. Thanks!

[Archon_Wing]

Ahhh!!! I was going to tell you not to max jab :(

So how do you plan to deal with PI's ? :o

Do you have attack rating problems?

You may want to invest more in decoy as you will be up close and personal.

Try keeping those +max damage charms you find. It's really hard to find a good weapon playing in SP but do your best at buying/gambling war forks. Speed kills as with a slow weapon you just can't last long enough.

It's annoying, since you can't just buy zon spears. However, I would put damage and speed over anything else on a weapon unless it has insane bouses. :P

[Wrathraven]

PIs ARE a big problem, since I'm not in hell diff it hasn't been much of an issue yet, but I really have no idea what to do there. I REALLY don't want to pump something that's otherwise worthless like Power Strike. Maybe just switch to my javs and chug tons of blues and use lightning bolt/fury with the occasional plague jav?

I like a high-level Jab mainly for the AR and fast attack, as the damage bonus is negligible and the mana cost gets expensive (over 7 mana now per attack). I agree about slow attacks though, I'd never be using the maiden pike I have now if not for the IAS, and I don't see myself using Lances unless they have some sort of speed modifier. But then, that limits my max damage abilities as well.

Finally, my AR stinks (about 1450 or so at lvl 45), but the main problem is the level difference, as I'm playing in NM/Act 4 right now and the baddies are pretty far above me. I think pumping Penetrate is a waste, as +10% per point ain't worth it, though I of course have the prereq. I might head back to Act 2 to level a little, but I like pushing myself :)

[Archon_Wing]

Well, I'm quite sure jab works much better with something fast. Of course balancing speed and damage is good.

You should not use Lightning Fury for immunes. It's not worth putting so many points in. Usually there are not huge groups of Pi running around, and Lighting fury plain sucks against small groups. usally the most annoying Pi's are those ghosts who usually stack and would be better off being dealt with plague javelin. It's slow to kill, but I just found using LF against Pi's to be torture. Heck even against small groups of non-immunes I prefer plain old Poison Javelin.

You're better off trying to annoy the vendors into selling you a normal weapon with high elemental damage. They don't really show up into hell, but that's when you need it.

If you met a poison and physical immune, you should simply curse the way Blizzard designed things. :)

[WarBlade]

Crushing Blow is your friend for that style of character. I took a Spear Zon through to around Act 3 or 4 in Hell on Players 8 and her spears have been mostly crap. Crushing Blow was my friend and her primary attacks were the same ones you mentioned.

[Wrathraven]

yea, CB is a good choice, though since I'm playing SP I have to find these things on my own and not be able to trade for items. I could always make a Strength spear, as long as it's a high-end spear however, though for some reason Amns tend to elude me :(