Plague Amazon Build Guide

Plague Ama Introduction

Javazon builds are one of most, if not the most, powerful builds in the game.  The most common utilizes lightning damage from Lightning Fury and Charged Strike to deal extreme damage, however the Plague Amazon is a less conventional approach but still viable.

*If you'd rather skip farming or levelling you can quickly check our D2R Items for Sale!

The Plague Amazon launches Javelins at groups of enemies which leave a trail of poison in their wake, and a cloud of poison on impact to deal huge amounts of damage to enemies over time.  The build is centred around the Plague Javelin skill in the Javelin and Spear skill tree, receiving bonus damage from the Poison Javelin skill which can also be cast in between Plague throws.  The Amazon’s Passive and Magic skill tree is also extremely strong and gives plenty of opportunity to increase our Damage and survivability.  The Passive skills allow us to gain a tank in the form of the Valkyrie, big boosts to our Attack Rating and Critical Strike and also the ability to Dodge and Evade incoming damage.  This makes the build very well rounded and able to farm anywhere in the game.

I would describe the build as a “hit and run” style of gameplay.  Poison deals damage over time so end game monsters will not die instantly, which is why we hit them and run whilst they slowly die in our wake!

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Huge area damage
• Efficient farmer
• Viable for Diablo Clone

Cons:

• Low mobility
• Not viable for Ubers
• Limited options for magic find
• Not efficient for boss farming

Skill Tree

Javelin and Spear Skills:

• Poison Javelin (20)
• Lightning Bolt (1)
• Plague Javelin (20)

Passive and Magic Skills:

• Inner Sight (1)
• Critical Strike (10)
• Dodge (1+)
• Slow Missiles (1)
• Avoid (1+)
• Penetrate (20)
• Decoy (20)
• Evade (1+)
• Valkyrie (20)

Bow and Crossbow Skills:

• None

The above allocation will take you to level 77, beyond this share your points between Dodge, Avoid and Evade.

Levelling

The poison build can be played from Level 6 onwards when Poison Javelin comes available, up to level 6 simply stab and throw javelins at enemies to kill them and save as many skill points as you can (place a single point into your Passive tree for the 2 skills required).  At Level 6 you can gain the Poison Javelin and the Dodge skill.  Poison Javelin will be your main skill until Plague Javelin is available at Level 18, place as many points as you can here as you level up whilst also gaining the single points required in your Passive tree.  Poison Javelin can be difficult to master as it leaves a trail of poison behind it when thrown, so you need to be tactical with your throws and try to get monsters to run through the poison trail instead of targeting them with the spell.  At Level 18 switch to placing all of your points into Plague Javelin and use this as your main skill, you should still have some spare skill points so each level you can place a point into both poison skills.  Plague Javelin has a different mechanic to poison and will release a cloud of poison on impact.  We need to switch our gameplay to suit this and round up monsters into large packs then hit them with a Plague Javelin to try and ensure as many as possible are infected with the poison.  In the early game you may find you need 2 – 3 rounds of poison to take out higher HP monsters, however this all changes once you reach the end game build!

Early Game

This section is intended to showcase an item build that is achievable after completing the game and you’ve done a bit of farming to get some good starter gear.  Some of the runes may require repeat farming of Normal and / or Nightmare Countess, or item farming from Andariel / Mephisto however this is normally achieved within a short timeframe.

Helm:               “Lore” Runeword (Ort Sol) / Peasant Crown

Amulet:             Utility Amulet with life, resistances, magic find etc

Weapon:           Rare javelins with utility stats / Titan’s Revenge (if you’re lucky!)

Shield:              “Ancient’s Pledge” Runeword (Ral Ort Tal)

Armor:              “Smoke” Runeword (Nef Lum)

Gloves:             Bloodfists / Rare Gloves with + Javelin and Spear Skills / Trang Ou’s Claws

Rings:               Ravenfrost / Utility ring

Ravenfrost provides the “Cannot be Frozen” mod which is fundamental for this type of build.

Belt:                 String of Ears

Boots:               Faster Run Walk with Resistances

Inventory:         Life / Resistance Charms or Magic / Gold Find Charms

Mercenary:       Act 2 Desert Mercenary with “Might” Aura and “Insight” Runeword (Ral Tir Tal Sol) or “Obedience” Runeword (Hel Ko Thul Eth Fal)

This build is very reliant on + Skills in the early game as we receive the most amount of damage increase from the overall level of our Plague skill.  The skills have a cooldown, so they do not benefit from Increased Attack Speed or Faster Cast Rate, this slightly works in our favour as we can concentrate on utility stats from all of our items and improve survivability in the early game.

This build shines in high density areas, primarily The Secret Cow Level.  The Cow level has very high density and zero poison immunes and should be your primary focus area for farming.  Round up large groups of cows by running around the map and throw Plague Javelins behind you for them to run into causing them to take sustained damage over time and eventually fall behind you.  The Cow level is very popular for rune farming given the high density.

Travincal is also viable, although a little dangerous if you are lacking in fire resistance.  The Council Members should spawn in either 1 or 2 groups, so try to keep them together and throw your Plague Javelins at them.

End Game

The end game build is a lot of fun and extremely powerful!  It is not the most expensive build in the game, but still achieves a high damage output making it capable of killing anything in the game.

Helm:               Rare circlet with +2 Amazon Skills, 30 Faster Run / Walk and 2 sockets with 2x 5/5 Poison Facets.  Other utility stats are also very useful here.

Amulet:             Mara’s Kaleidoscope

Weapon:           Ethereal Titan’s Revenge

Shield:              Jeweller’s Monarch of Deflecting with 4x 5/5 Poison Rainbow Facets; or “Spirit” Runeword (Tal Thul Ort Amn) (this would be the cheap option)

Weapon Swap:  “Call to Arms” Runeword (Amn Ral Mal Ist Ohm) and “Spirit” Runeword (Tal Thul Ort Amn)

Armor:              “Bramble” Runeword (Ral Ohm Sur Eth)

Gloves:             Rare Gloves with +2 Javelin and Spear Skills and Resistances / Stats

Ring #1:            Ravenfrost

Ring #2:            Bul Kathos’ Wedding Band

Belt:                 String of Ears

Boots:               Rare boots with Faster Run / Walk and 3 Resistances

Inventory:         Grand Charms with +Javelin and Spear Skills and Life (as much as possible)

Small Charms with +Life / + All Resistances

Amazon Hellfire Torch Large Charm

Annihilus Small Charm

Mercenary:       Act 5 Mercenary with “Plague” Runeword (Cham Shael Um), ethereal “Fortitude” Runeword and ethereal Andariel’s Visage socketed with an Increased Attack Speed / Fire Resistance Jewel

Stats

Strength:    Enough to wear your gear

Dexterity:   Enough for 75% block with JMOD or enough to wear your gear with “Spirit”

Vitality:       As much as possible

Energy:      None

Hardcore

This build is viable in Hardcore given we can keep our distance from a lot of monsters and deal damage over time to kill them.  I would recommend swapping your shield out for a Stormshield with an “Um” rune socketed to give extra survivability, and ensure you gain enough dexterity to hit the 75% block chance.  The high block chance combined with the Passive skills provides a huge amount of survivability for Amazon builds.

Playstyle

I mentioned at the start of the build that the Plague Zon build feels like “hit and run” gameplay and I will explain that in more detail here.  Before entering any form of combat, make sure you summon your Valkyrie and give everyone the Battle Command and Battle Orders buffs from your “Call to Arms” weapon switch.

This build does not have the Teleport skill, so we need to run around the maps to find monsters to kill, however it is possible to clear any content in the game if you’re prepared to run the distance. For this reason, the optimum places to farm are areas where bosses are close to waypoints or portals – for example Eldritch and Shenk next to Frigid Highlands, the Council Members in Travincal or Pindleskin through the Portal next to Anya in Act 5.  The Secret Cow Level or The Pit in Act 1 are also good options, however there is some travel distance involved in both areas which reduces the efficiency.  The most efficient way to farm is to round up large packs of monsters by kiting around the edge and throw your Plague Javelin into the centre of the group.  Your Mercenary may make this a little tricky as he will be running after you, but he will also be helping with “Plague” Runeword casting the Lower Resist curse when he gets struck – further reducing enemy’s Poison Resistance and increasing our damage.  Once the pack of monsters is infected with the Poison simply watch their life plummet and die very quickly. 

Boss killing isn’t the most efficient way of farming with this build, however it is still possible.  You will want your mercenary to be attacking the boss, and also being attacked so that you have a high % chance of the Lower Resist curse casting.  You will need to monitor your mercenary’s health closely and feed him potions to make sure he stays alive.  Keep the boss poisoned by throwing Plague Javelins whenever the poison damage runs out, and they will die quickly.

Diablo Clone / Ubers

This build is not viable for Ubers.  Diablo Clone is possible however can be slow and result in drinking a lot of potions.  Follow the playstyle section for boss killing but be aware that Diablo Clone will deal a lot more damage, so you will need to feed him plenty of potions to keep him alive in the battle!