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IV. Equipment (cont'd)

Body Armor

Various ready-made armors in the game are suitable for the Javazon's purposes, whatever her role might be. Expect resists, damage reduction, life and stat bonuses from your body armor. The vain Javazons might be picky on the armor she's going to wear, but that's a matter of personal taste.

First of all, let's talk about the unique normal armors. Unlike some other normal uniques, some of these are so useful that I feel obliged to give them some space. They are:

• Twitchthroe (unique Studded Leather, Str 27, Dex and Str bonuses +10) This one's truly one of a kind. The defense is low, but you don't get increased block rate, 20% FHR, and 20% IAS rolled into one package from anywhere else! It also has modest stat bonuses for early level tiering. The lack of resists might hurt, but there are exceptional armors that don't feature resists anyway. Oh, and it looks good, too. Often imitated but never duplicated, that's Twitch to you.
• Greyform (unique Quilted Armor, Str 12, Dex bonus +10) Your pre-LoD mainstay, this armor features two important resists, +10 Dex and even life leech! You can definitely wear this armor for a long time, but with the proliferation of powerful LoD armors, you can easily replace this armor when you're higher up. Still, this is an armor to consider.
• Darkglow (unique Ring Mail, Str 36) The main selling point of this armor is the increased resist cap as well as modest prismatic resists. This is a great armor when you have a lot of resists already, for example, when you're wearing Iratha's set. See Sets and Build Sample sections.
• Rattlecage (unique Gothic Plate, Str 70) This is the classic Javazon's Crushing Blow armor. 25% CB is quite a great deal, and Rattlecage is the only armor to have it too. Unfortunately, it offers nothing else of value. In fact, the 40% chance to cast Terror may actually be very annoying, although it might save your bacon when you're swarmed.
• Rockfleece (unique Field Plate, Str 50, Str bonus +5) An early tanking armor, it features both direct and percentage based damage reduction. In other words, it is Shaftstop lite. Easily replaced by Shaftstop if damage reduction is what you're looking for.
• Silks of the Victor (unique Ancient Armor, Str 100) This armor features two simple desirable mods: +1 skill and mana leech. The +skill can be obtained easily enough in exceptional armors, but they don't have mana leech. The downside is lack of resists as well as very high Str requirement.

My pick: Twitch, although Rattlecage is good for builds focusing on Crushing Blow.

The recommended exceptional and elite unique armors for tanking Javazons are a large group as well.

• Skin of the Vipermagi (unique Serpentskin Armor, Str 43) This is good for both rangers and tankers. The +1 skill is nice, but you also get excellent prismatic resists out of this armor, as well as some magic damage reduction. There are better armors out there for tanking Javazons, but the resists here are hard to beat.
• Iron Pelt (unique Trellised Armor, Str 61) This is Gladiator's Bane lite. It features the two direct damage reductions as well as modest life boost. Decent defense. The damage reduction might help a little, but there are not too many good mods on this armor.
• Crow Caw (unique Tigulated Mail, Str 86, Dex bonus +15) It tries to imitate Twitch, but fails. It features 15% IAS, as well 15% FHR. The Open Wound is pretty useless. I would definitely pick Twitch over this despite its lower defense. Often imitated, but never duplicated.
• Duriel's Shell (unique Cuirass, Str 65, Str bonus +15) There are reasons why Duriel's Shell is the most popular Hardcore armor, and they're damn good too. First of all, it features that elusive CBF mod. It has 20% resist all, and more to cold resist (for thematic reasons). It has +15 Str for tiering. It has great bonuses to life (scaling) and excellent defense too. Who would've thought that the bug can give inspiration to such an awesome armor?
• Shaftstop (unique Mesh Armor, Str 92) If you see an Amazon in channel wearing black armor with golden shoulder plates, you can almost bet that she's wearing a Shaftstop. There's pretty much only one main selling point of this armor: Damage Reduction. That's it. However, that's 30% Damage Reduction to you, the most you can get out of any armor. It also features +60 Life, but there are other armors that do that. There are better all-around armors out there, but Shaftstop is very single-minded in what it's doing, and very good at that too.
• Guardian Angel (unique Templar Coat, Str 118) A Paladin-oriented armor, nevertheless it can be implemented successfully in your tanking Javazon. This is a clear upgrade over Darkglow, increasing your resist caps, as well as increasing your blocking and your blocking speed. Yummy. Note that this armor does not offer any resists, and to take advantage of its resist cap increase you need resists from somewhere else.
• Griswold's Heart (set Ornate Plate - Griswold's Legacy, Str 102, Str bonus +20) Despite being part of a Paladin set, this armor makes an excellent choice for those looking for customization. It has +20 Str for tiering, and it also has very high defense rating. The Str requirement is decent too. But the main selling point of this armor is three... count them, THREE... empty sockets! You can make IAS armor or resist armor or whatever you might prefer out of this armor. Please note that you cannot make a runeword in a set or magical armor. In other words, forget about making Lionheart Griswold's Heart. An alternative to this is Black Hades (unique Chaos Armor, Str 140) which also comes with 3 sockets and very high defense rating but having more Str requirement and attack bonuses only against demons... and the almost-useless mod of Half Freeze Duration. Plus, it's a heavy armor. I'd still take Griswold's Heart over Black Hades.
• Corpsemourn (unique Ornate Plate, Str 170, Dex bonus +8) To be honest, I don't really like this armor, since there are not many benefits you can get from this. One cannot help but notice the incredible defense rating, however, so if you want to make a defense build but cannot get hold of Gladiator's Bane or Arkaine's Valor (both of which are preferable to this one) you may give this a try. The Str requirement is atrocious. The chance to cast Iron Maiden upon struck may help if you're up against hard-hitting enemies, though, and the extra fire damage is nice. You may use the Corpse Explosion charges to act like a Necro, but keep in mind that the repair bill is going to allow Charsi to finally travel to Harrogath for a good barbarian to settle down with... not to mention that it's going to pay for her wedding as well.
• Naj's Light Plate (set Hellforge Plate - Naj's Ancient Vestige, Str 79) The ultimate in oxymoronic armor names. You may argue that this is more a Ranger armor, but this greatly overlooked armor offers some excellent mods for the tanking Javazon as well: +life, 25% prismatic resists, and Vulpine for those annoying mana burners. The +skill and great defense are gravy.
• Tal Rasha's Guardianship (set Lacquered Plate - Tal Rasha's Wrappings, Str 84) A very rare sorceress-oriented armor, it nevertheless features three great resists (40%), very high defense, and magic damage reduction. The MF% is just gravy. The partial set bonuses are life regeneration (2 items) and even more MF% (3 items) so it's not really too attractive unless you want to MF with your Javazon. See Sets.
• The Gladiator's Bane (unique Wire Fleece, Str 111). Two direct damage reductions, and 30% FHR are decent mods. The selling point of this armor is the very high defense rating (if you're into defense) and the CBF mod. Not really very good, IMHO, and I would generally pick Duriel's Shell over this.
• 1.09 Arkaine's Valor (unique Balrog Skin, Str 165). Another one of those very high defense armors, it features varying +skills, 30% FHR, direct physical damage reduction, and scaling Vitality (up to 147 life at clvl-99). I'll take this over Bane, but it doesn't really feature many good things for a tank or a ranger anyway. And the Str requirement is on the high side.
• 1.08 Arkaine's Valor (unique Balrog Skin, Str 165) Now if you have the 1.08 version, you might actually want to use it. Why? First, it gives +2 skills (for all characters) and 50% FR. It also has 30% FRW, and now instead of the useless damage reduction, you have insane boost to life. It features both scaling life (2 per level) and vitality (2.5 per level). This translates to 940 life bonus at clvl-99! Hell, I'd gladly pump my Str that high for this kind of bonus. This definitely overpowered armor is commonly duped in the realms, so be aware when trading for one.
• Smoke (rune word: Nef+Lum(2), variable Str). You want resists? Smoke is your answer. 50% resist all is but the beginning of this excellent armor. You also get 20% FHR and excellent defense boost to your armor. The other mods are minor. Since the defense boost is significant, socket this in a light elite armor with as much defense as you can find, although even a Quilted Armor will do if you're not too concerned about defense. Defense of a Smoked elite armor is comparable to a mid-range exceptional unique.
• Lionheart (rune word: Hel+Lum+Fal(3), variable Str, Str bonus +25, Dex bonus +15) Saving the best for last, since this is my personal favorite. Now we're talking. Aptly called teh besto, there are really not too many armor that can beat this one. First, we have the huge boost to all your stats, including +25 Str and +15 Dex, so it is very often used in tiering. This armor gives 110 life and 15 mana too. Then, it gives 30% prismatic resists. And as if it's not enough, it also gives you 20% enhanced damage (no other armor offers this) and reduces requirement of the socketed armor too. The mind boggles at the sheer package of goodies this incredible armor offers, and for some, it's more than enough to make this a clear winner. Duriel's Shell, as the armor most threatened by this one, still offers CBF and excellent defense, so it's definitely on par with Lionheart depending on application. Since Lionheart doesn't offer any increased defense anyway, the best armor to put this is in low requirement armor. This allows for tiering. A Breast Plate Lionheart requires as low as 26 Str to wear.

Other armors in this category: Other exceptional uniques are not quite as useful as those, at least for a tanking Javazon. IAS armors can be made by inserting IAS jewels into an armor, and in addition you can make homemade armors made up of runes and/or jewels, customized for your choice. 4 sockets armors are great, but armors like Jeweler's Gothic Plate of the Whale (4 sockets, with life bonus up to 100) are highly sought for this purpose. Any magical armor can get 1 or 2 sockets when brought to Larzuk to be socketed, depending on your luck. See below for a Ranger's choice. Also see the bottom of this page for the list of armors.

My picks: Lionheart, Duriel's Shell, Smoke, Naj's Light Plate, Shaftstop and Guardian Angel (for certain builds only).

And finally, the Ranger's choice.

• The Spirit Shroud (unique Ghost Armor, Str 38) In addition to +skill, it also offers CBF, life regeneration and magic damage reduction. These are not enough to make this a tanking armor, but the mods are great anyway, so rangers can use this.
• Spirit Forge (unique Linked Mail, Str 74, Str bonus +15) Scaling life and Str bonus makes this a good armor for tiering. It also has some good elemental damage. What makes this armor shines, however, is the 2 gem sockets. You can put anything there, most likely resist runes to boost your sagging resists, IAS jewels if you really need IAS, or maybe stat runes like Ko or Fal. Very customizable. Do not attempt to make runewords in this armor!
• Skullder's Ire (unique Russet Armor, Str 97) An MF ranger Javazon's armor, it features decent defense, some magic damage reduction, +1 skill, and scaling MF bonus. Wear this only if you want more MF in your system.
• Que-Hegan's Wisdom (unique Mage Plate, Str 55) The mods on this armor are decent, but not exceptionally good. Sure it has +1 skill, and maybe magic damage reduction, but the +15 energy is like a slap to the face: this translates to only 22.5 mana for you. The Mana/Kill bonus is alright, and you won't need the 20% FHR too much. And you definitely don't need the 20% FCR. Would've been more useful if it increases your mana by percentage, but oh well.
• Atma's Wail (unique Embossed Plate, Str 125, Dex bonus +15) And the mana increase you so desperately needed in Que-Hegan's actually appears in this armor. The rest of the mods seemed geared more towards tanker, with its excellent defense, 30% FHR, and dexterity bonus. Life regeneration and MF are gravy. This is not a bad armor, but there are better choices out there.
• Wealth (rune word: Lem+Ko+Tir(3), Str variable, Dex bonus +10) This is another alternative for MF/GF junkies. This rune word gives you 100% MF and 300% GF, basically having the potential to make you freaking rich. These are the main selling point. The other mods are forgettable, and definitely not suitable for the helluva tough tankers.
• Stealth (rune word: Tal+Eth(2), Str variable, Dex bonus +6) This is an early armor for rangers, although tankers could love this thing as well. It gives you mana regeneration, FHR, poison resists and FRW as major mods, as well as a little Dex bonus. Very easy to put together and it may be used for quite some time.

As you can see, Rangers are generally screwed when it's their turn to choose an armor. However, they can look up to the tankers' armors and take their pick. In addition to Skullder's Ire and Que-Hegan's Wisdom, I'd take Skin of the Vipermagi, but my personal choice would be Naj's Light Plate. The helm slot is more useful for rangers anyway.

Finally, here's a table listing the defense range and strength requirement for all normal/exceptional/elite armors. Note the armor penalty effect on run/walk speed. Socketed armor may be Superior, and such armors get enhanced defense and/or increased maximum durability. Note that the Superior runeworded or jeweled or gemmed socketed armors has much higher repair cost than the normal runeworded or jeweled or gemmed regular socketed armors. The Lionheart runeword will reduce Strength requirement of armor by 15% (rounded up) so calculate accordingly. For example, Lionheart Dusk Shroud will have Str requirement of rndup[0.85 x 77] = rndup[65.45] = 66.

Color indicates maximum number of sockets possible: aqua = 2 sockets (Smoke, Stealth), bronze = 3 sockets (Lionheart, Wealth), green = 4 sockets (IAS).

Some notable armor choices: Breast Plate has the lowest Str requirement (30 - 26 for Lionheart) out of all 3 sockets armors. Gothic Plate has the lowest Str requirement (70) out of all 4 sockets armors. Mage Plate has the lowest Str requirement (55 - 47 for Lionheart) out of exceptional 3 sockets armors. Dusk Shroud has the lowest Str requirement (77 - 66 for Lionheart) out of elite armors. All elite armors can get 2, 3 or 4 sockets.

More than helm and shield, people often follow their fashion sense when it comes to their armors. Here is how an Amazon looks in the available armors. Unique/Set armors may change the color of the armors. I refer you to Icewraith's LoD Boutique page for that.

Quilted Armor Class	Leather Armor Class	Hard Leather Armor Class	Studded Leather Class	Ring Mail Class
Scale Mail Class	Chain Mail Class	Splint Mail Class	Breast Plate Class	Plate Mail Class
Field Plate Class	Gothic Plate Class	Full Plate Mail Class	Ancient Armor Class	Light Plate Class

Gloves

Expect to get most of your IAS from your gloves. In addition to IAS, you can also get resists, +javelin skills and leech from the glove.

• Crafted Blood Glove (crafted: magic Heavy/Sharkskin/Vampirebone Glove + Nef rune + Perfect Ruby + any jewel) When crafting, you're essentially making a rare glove with some predetermined mods and something else. The right combination of mods in a crafted Blood Glove is definitely superior to anything else you might get. The fixed mods of a blood glove are 1-3% life leech, 5-10% crushing blow and 10-20 life, which are just the correct mods. Add IAS, +javelin/passive skills, resists, mana and life leech to the mixture and suddenly you get a disgustingly overpowered glove. Don't you want a 20% IAS, 3% life leech, 3% mana leech, 10% crushing blow, +20 life, +2 javelin skills, and 30% lightning resists blood glove? I thought as much.
• Crafted Caster Glove (crafted: magic Leather/Demonhide Glove/Bramble Mitts + Ort rune + Perfect Amethyst + any jewel) A ranger's answer to Blood Glove, this gloves give mana/kill, mana regen and mana bonuses. Tasty mods. Of course, in addition you can get IAS, +javelin skills, mana leech, and maybe some resists to create a really nice caster glove.
• Rare Glove. A lesser cousin to a crafted blood/caster glove, it may get all the great mods associated with gloves, even though you will not get CB or additional life leech. A rare with all the right mods is still an excellent choice.
• Venom Grip (unique Demonhide Gloves, Str 20). If you absolutely must have that CB, this glove offers 5% CB. In addition it also has 5% life leech and some poison damage. No IAS though.
• Magnus' Skin (set Sharkskin Gloves - Orphan's Call, Str 20) Another standard glove with IAS, fire resists and great AR bonus.
• Ghoulhide (unique Heavy Bracers, Str 58). Huge bonuses to undead, but I'm really looking more at the mana leech and the +20 life.
• Lava Gout (unique Battle Gauntlets, Str 88). Features IAS, fire damage, fire resists, and chance to cast Enchant (which is pretty useless unless you have Fire Mastery . . . but you don't). A pretty good glove if you can get your hands on it.
• M'avina's Icy Clutch (set Battle Gauntlets - M'avina's Battle Hymn, Str 88, Str bonus +10, Dex bonus +15) This glove features stat bonuses, basically. The cold damage and Half-Freeze are not that useful. This glove offers 6 seconds chill duration (halved in NM and again in Hell). The partial bonuses are useful, however. See Sets.
• 1.09 Hellmouth (unique War Gauntlets, Str 110) Direct fire absorb and fire damage, this also features some interesting spells to cast.
• 1.08 Hellmouth (unique War Gauntlets, Str 110) The predecessor to the current Hellmouth offers less fire damage, 20% FR, and only 5% chance to cast slvl-1 Meteor. While much less flashy than the newer cousin, this Hellmouth offers one mod that you can no longer get from a glove: CBF. This accounts for its insane price in the realm, and if you're trading for one, you can almost be sure that you're trading for a dupe.
• Immortal King's Forge (set War Gauntlets - The Immortal King, Str 110, Dex and Str bonuses +20) The only useful mods in this gloves are the two huge stat bonuses. Useful only for tiering purposes. Immortal King set pieces give increasing AR as partial set bonuses. See Sets.
• Laying of Hands (set Bramble Mitts - The Disciple, Str 50) A great glove, with IAS and a lot of fire resists. The damage to demons is nice too since most enemies in the game are demons. The partial set bonuses of the Disciple set are negligible.
• Sander's Taboo (set Heavy Gloves - Sander's Folly) Your standard no-frills IAS glove, which also features a huge life boost. Not bad.
• Bloodfist (unique Heavy Gloves) Often overlooked, this one offers some IAS, 30% FHR, 40 life and minimum damage. Definitely the best normal unique, and a worthy end-game contender.
• Chance Guards (unique Chain Gloves - Str 25) An MFer's glove. Aside from the MF and GF, other mods are not worth mentioning.
• Magefist (unique Light Gauntlet, Str 45) or Frostburn (unique Gauntlet, Str 60) Both are good for rangers. Frosties might be more useful for the 40% mana bonus though.

I'd definitely pick a really good crafted Blood glove or Caster glove for the glove slot, depending on build. Barring that, I'll choose Laying of Hands or Bloodfist for tanking Javazons and Frostburn or Chance Guards for rangers.

Belts

Most of the belts we consider are exceptional uniques, although there are some normal belts worth mentioning. In general, we would like leech and resists in belts.

Let's start with the more useful normal uniques.

• Nightsmoke (unique Belt, Str 25) A great belt with 10 prismatic resists, lots of vulpine, 3 rows of potions, and a little mana boost. A great starting belt, and a great belt to end your adventures with, too. If you tank a lot, and get hit a lot, you might find that the Vulpine mod is all that you would ever need.
• Goldwrap (unique Heavy Belt, Str 45) This is a useful belt for dedicated MF Javazons, since this is one of the few belts with MF and GF. In addition, it also has 10% IAS that might help you break that next Fend breakpoint, for example.
• Bladebuckle (unique Plated Belt, Str 60, Str bonus +5, Dex bonus +10) You can expect some minor stat boost, a lot of FHR, and some absolute damage reduction out of this decent belt.

Now, there are several serious contenders once we get to the exceptional uniques and sets:

• String of Ears (unique Demonhide Sash, Str 20) Life leech and damage reduction (percentage-based physical, direct magical). Those are two mods that a tanker could love. Decent defense too.
• Razortail (unique Sharkskin Belt, Str 20, Dex bonus +15) The main selling point of this belt is that it increases your chance to Pierce by 33%. It stacks with your Pierce skill, so slvl-9 Pierce is sufficient to get 100% pierce chance. It also has +10 max damage (affected by dexterity and strength) and +15 dexterity. Excellent choice for a ranger.
• M'avina's Tenet (set Sharkskin Belt - M'avina's Battle Hymn, Str 20) An interesting mana leech belt which also gives 20% FRW, which no other belt offers. M'avina's Set offers great partial bonuses. See Sets.
• Gloom's Trap (unique Mesh Belt, Str 58) Another ranger's choice, this belt gives you 45 life, mana leech and mana bonuses (regeneration and % increase). Need mana? This belt is for you.
• Tal Rasha's Fine-Spun Cloth (set Mesh Belt, Str 47, Dex bonus +20) This is a good general-purpose belt, offering mana bonus, excellent dexterity bonus, and Vulpine mod. The MF is gravy.
• Wilhelm's Pride (set Battle Belt - Orphan's Call, Str 88) This is the only dual leech set belt in the game, and it also offers some cold resist. Nothing else, though.
• Thundergods' Vigor (unique War Belt, Str 110, Str bonus +20) This belt seems custom-built for Javazons in general. The direct lightning absorb, coupled with good lightning resist (and incidentally, this belt also raises your LR cap) will allow you to tank MSLEBs with impunity. Other than that, it gives you lightning damage, 60 life, +20 Str for tiering, and let's not forget the +3 to Lightning Fury skill adder. Whatever type of javazon you are, you can't go wrong with this belt. Note that this belt will not give you any Lightning Resist per se.
• Immortal King's Detail (set War Belt - The Immortal King, Str 110, Str bonus +25) In addition to excellent Str bonus, this belt also features two important resists: 31% LR and 28% FR. Immortal King set pieces give increasing AR as partial bonuses.
• Nosferatu's Coil (unique Vampirefang Belt, Str 50, Str bonus +15) Another great belt, with great Str bonus, life leech, a little mana/kill, and IAS. While the Slow Target may cause monster desynch due to a bug, this should pose less a problem for melee Javazons.
• Credendum (set Mithril Coil - The Disciple, Str 106, Str and Dex bonuses +10) Your average stat-giving belt, this belt gives you Str and Dex as well as 15% prismatic resists, which is the most you can get out of any belt.
• Trang-Oul's Girth (set Troll Belt - Trang-Oul's Avatar, Str 91) Trang's Set offers many great mods to a Necromancer, but this belt might appeal to some Javazons. It gives a lot of mana and life bonuses, but the main selling point of this belt is the CBF. The Girth is one of the two belts offering CBF, and Death's Guard is useless by itself. I recommend this more to rangers, since tankers would usually get their CBF from other sources.

In addition, you can craft Blood Belts (crafted: magic Belt/Mesh Belt/Mithril Coil + Tal Rune + Perfect Ruby + any Jewel) and Caster Belts (crafted: magic Light/Sharkskin/Vampirefang Belt + Ith Rune + Perfect Amethyst + any Jewel) but the belts mentioned above are generally better for tanking Javazons. Some Caster Belts might be good for rangers, since they give mana bonuses and potentially resists.

My picks? Due to variety of what the belts do, I strongly advise you to pick your own belt to fill up the gaps left by your shield, armor and headpiece selections . . . which are the more important slots anyway. Need life leech and IAS? Pick Nos Coil. Need resists? Credendum or IK Belt is your ticket. Need life leech and more damage reduction? String of Ears. All of them are good depending on the rest of your equipment and your build philosophy. My personal favorites are Thundergods' Vigor, Gloom's Trap, Razortail and String of Ears, however.

Boots

Boots are for running, so expect to get FRW and stamina bonuses from boots. Some boots offer resists, and even leech and ancillary effects. Read on.

The normal uniques are not memorable. Gorefoot (unique Heavy Boots, Str 18) gives you an early mana leech, Treads of Cthon (unique Chain Boots, Str 30) is your standard running boots, Tearhaunch (unique Greaves, Str 70, Str and Dex bonuses +5) gives prismatic resists and some stat boost. The only one you might want to wear for a longer time is Goblin Toe (unique Light Plated Boots, Str 50) which has a single, very good selling point: 25% CB. Consider the following list, however.

• Sander's Riprap (set Heavy Boots - Sander's Folly, Str 18, Str bonus +5, Dex bonus +10) A very easy-to-find boots, and yet an excellent choice as it features stat boosts, 40% FRW and 100 AR (which is not yet modified by your Dex and Penetrate)
• Cow King's Hooves (set Heavy Boots - Cow King's Leathers, Str 18, Dex bonus +20) The rarer set Heavy Boots, this boots offers more Dex bonus than Sander's, and adds some fire damage and MF bonuses to the mix.
• Infernostrides (unique Demonhide Boots, Str 20) This boots offer a lot of fire resists, increased max fire resist, some fire damage . . . and the really cool mod: chance to cast Blaze. Get this if you need more fire resists, or if you're just a plain Pyromaniac.
• Waterwalks (unique Sharkskin Boots, Str 18, Dex bonus +15) This upgrade to Treads of Cthon offers additional 45-65 life, +15 dexterity and a little increase to your fire resist cap. The stamina bonuses are nice early on too. It does lack fire resists to back up its increased cap.
• Silkweaves (unique Mesh Boots, Str 65) This is a pair of ranger's boots, offering mana/kill and a mana bonus. It also has 30% FRW.
• Natalya's Soul (set Mesh Boots - Natalya's Odium, Str 65) Other than the 40% FRW, this boots gives 15% to both cold and lightning resists. It is a decent running boots. See Sets.
• Aldur's Advance (set Battle Boots - Aldur's Watchtower, Str 95) This Belgariad-inspired boots is a superior running boots to Waterwalks, and while it doesn't offer any Dex bonus, it makes it up with 10% vulpine to help you with those mana burners. It offers a fixed bonus of 50 life.
• War Travelers (unique Battle Boots, Str 95, Str bonus +10) A great pair of boots, featuring increased physical damage (modified by your Str and Dex, of course), Str bonus and +30 life, as well the highest MF% you can get from a pair of boots. An MFer's dream boots.
• Gore Rider (unique War Boots, Str 93) The king of ancillary effects boots. It features 10% Open Wounds (not too useful), and 15% Deadly Strike/Crushing Blow. Less CB than Goblin Toe, sure, but consider the effect of Deadly Strike, and the fact that Gore Rider has 30% FRW.
• Immortal King's Pillar (set War Boots, Str 125) Need AR? This boots give 110 AR as well as 40% FRW and fixed +44 life. Need even more AR? Wear this boots with other IK set pieces. See Sets.
• Really great rare boots. Rare boots can get up to 30% FRW, various resists (although look for resists greater than 30%), dexterity bonuses, FHR, and maybe some lightning damage. The chance of scoring such beauties is very low, however.
• Crafted Blood Boots (crafted: magic Light Plated/Battle/Mirrored Boots + Eth Rune + Perfect Ruby + any jewel): Another shot at creating a great rare, the boots have the fixed mods of 5-10 life regeneration, 10-20 life . . . and 1-3% life leech. This is the only way you can get life leech in a pair of boots.

As of belts, the choice of your boots should be such that it covers what is lacking from other pieces of your equipment. My personal favorites are Sander's Riprap, Cow King's Hooves, Silkweaves, Aldur's Advance, and War Travelers, but I have a special soft spot for Gore Rider. All those, of course, barring a 30% FRW, 30% FR, 30% LR, 10% FHR, +15 Dex rare boots, preferably in a Blood Boots (*drool*). Pre-LoD rare boots can easily have such mods, however, and if you're trading for one, keep in mind that you might be trading for a dupe.

Amulets

You can have a lot of great things in your amulet. The most common mods you’re looking for are +skills, resists, life/mana and stat bonuses. However, you can get uncommon mods like FRW, and even increased blocking chance. Read on.

The choice of amulets is myriad, and it is impossible to list them all. A good rare or even a magical amulet can perfectly complement a Javazon. A lot of the more interesting mods can be found on the set and unique amulets, though, so I’ll list them here.

• Civerb’s Icon (set - Civerb’s Vestments) One good mod: 40% mana regeneration, which is the highest you can get from an amulet. Ranger Javazons often overlook this amulet.
• Telling of Beads (set - The Disciple) +1 skill, and strong poison and cold resists. Unfortunately, the resists covered by this amulet are the wrong ones. The complete Disciple Set is very good, however. See Sets.
• The Eye of Etlich (unique) +1 skill, and life leech. The hidden 2-12 seconds cold duration is not very useful for a Javazon, however, but that might help if your hybrid side uses Freezing Arrow.
• Young Javazons might consider both the Nokozan Relic for its fire resistance and faster hit recovery or the Mahim-Oak Curio for its prismatic resists, all around stat bonuses, and AR and DR boosts. However, there are better amulets out there.
• 1.09 Saracen’s Chance (unique, Str and Dex bonuses +12). A good amulet featuring stat bonuses, high prismatic resists, and chance to cast Iron Maiden.
• 1.08 Saracen’s Chance (unique, Str and Dex bonuses +10). This only gives you Str and Dex bonuses as well as 10% Resist All, but it also features chance to cast Amp Damage upon attack as well as Iron Maiden. Might not be too useful for a pure Javazon, but a hybrid with bow attacks can utilize the Amp Damage to devastating effects. Good luck getting this beauty though.
• The Cat’s Eye (unique, Dex bonus +25) Great amulet. No other amulets give you 30% FRW and 20% IAS at the same time. In addition, it gives you defense (if that’s what you like) and incredible +25 Dexterity.
• Crescent Moon (unique) Great for rangers and tankers alike. You don’t often get dual-leech in an amulet, even though the mana leech overshadows life leech. Aside from the +45 mana bonus, this also includes some Vulpine bonus.
• Atma’s Scarab (unique). The only v1.09 amulet featuring Amp Damage. The rest of the bonuses are not too memorable, though. The 20% bonus to AR is cumulative to Penetrate, so it’s equal to two points in Penetrate. I recommend other amulets for Javazons, unless you are a hybrid, since Amp Damage is more useful for Bowazons anyway.
• The Rising Sun (unique). The only selling point of this amulet is the direct fire absorb. The fire damage is nice, but doesn’t justify wearing this amulet alone, since the other mods are not too useful.
• Highlord’s Wrath (unique) Great amulet. This is the other amulet featuring 20% IAS. In addition, it gives +1 skills and a lot of lightning resists. Don’t forget the scaling Deadly Strike too. The lightning damage is minor.
• Mara’s Kaleidoscope (unique, Str and Dex bonuses +5). This is the only unique with +2 skills, and it augments itself by adding +5 all stats and very high resists, up to 30% prismatic. I still prefer Saracen’s Chance for tanking Javazons, but this is a really great option for rangers.
• Blood Amulet (crafted: magic Amulet + Amn Rune + Perfect Ruby + any Jewel) and Caster Amulet (crafted: magic Amulet + Ral Rune + Perfect Amethyst + any Jewel) - these are essentially your chance of creating a great rare amulet. Look for the desirable rare amulet mods. Blood Amulet has fixed mods of 5-10% FRW, 1-3% life leech, and 10-20 life (all useful). Caster Amulet has fixed mods of 5-10% FCR (not too useful), 4-10% mana regeneration and +10-20 mana (both useful).
• Safety Amulet (crafted: magic Amulet + Thul Rune + Perfect Emerald + any Jewel) - this crafted amulet deserves special mention due to its fixed mods. The physical and magic damage reduction is pitiful, but the other mod can literally save you dozens of dexterity points: Increased Chance of Blocking 1-10%. This is the only way you can get chance to block in an amulet, and it adds cumulatively to your shield’s blocking chance. Great to increase blocking in an otherwise low-block shield.

Aside from a really great rare or crafted amulet, I’ll pick v1.09 Saracen’s Chance, The Cat’s Eye, Crescent Moon, and Highlord’s Wrath from the above list. Keep in mind that while magical/rare/unique amulets with +2 skills have level requirement of 67, the crafted +2 skills amulet have level requirement of 89, so don't expect to be able to wear your +2 skills crafted amulet straightaway.

Dupe trading alert: The commonly duped rare amulets usually feature dual leech, +skills and an almost unbelievable amount of resists or MF%.

Rings

There are some great mods to be found in rings. Unlike amulets, rings can’t get +skills and mana leech (at least LoD 1.09 rings - pre-LoD rings can spawn mana leech, and 1.08 rings can get +skills), but it can get most other mods in an amulet. You can wear two of them, too. Like amulets, it is impossible to list all good rings since rare or magical rings can be very good, so here is the list of pre-made rings instead.

• Cathan’s Seal (set - Cathan’s Traps) This very common set ring gives you 6% life leech and minor damage reduction. While 6% life leech magical and rare rings would usually beat Cathan’s Seal, you can wear this as early as clvl-11, making Cathan’s Seal an excellent twink ring.
• Nagelring (unique) The two mods that are useful are the bonus to AR, and the magic find. High level characters are known to sacrifice the gains of a quality rare or unique ring, solely for the added magic find from a Nagelring. So before you settle on a Nagel, keep in mind that a rare LoD 1.09 ring can have up to 25% MF in addition to really great other mods, and a magical ring can have up to 40% MF (or 25% with prefix).
• Manald Heal (unique) A very useful ring since this is the only ring that drops in LoD that can get mana leech, and a lot of it, up to 7%. In addition to mana leech, it offers mana regeneration and a life bonus.
• The Stone of Jordan (unique) Otherwise known as the SoJ, this is the de facto currency of Battle.Net right now. Incredibly rare to drop, this ring gives +1 skills and 25% increase in mana, making this a great ring for Rangers, but less useful for tanking Javazons.
• Dwarf Star (unique) Offers percentage fire absorb, 40 life, and magic damage reduction. The 100% GF is gravy.
• Raven Frost (unique, Dex bonus +15-20) A very useful ring that no melee Javazons should be without, at least in my opinion. This is the only ring that offers CBF, easing the burden on your other equipment slots. In addition, it also gives percentage cold absorb, great dexterity bonus, cold damage, and great bonuses to AR and mana. A terrific ring with not one wasted mod.
• Bul-Kathos’ Wedding Band (unique) About as rare as the SoJ, at least in terms of drop probability, this ring also offers +1 skills, but this is geared more toward a fighter as it offers life leech and scaling life (49.5 at clvl 99).
• Blood Ring (crafted: magic Ring + Sol Rune + Perfect Ruby + any Jewel) This is your chance to make a great rare ring. The mods on the Blood Ring are very useful: 1-5 to Strength, 1-3% life leech and 10-20 life. Since life leech spawns more frequently on rings than on amulets, you often get much more than just 3% leech. A Blood Ring, in fact, can get up to 11% life leech in addition to other goodies. Other crafted Rings do not have mods as useful, although the Caster Rings might appeal to some for their mana regeneration and mana bonus.

All the rings are surprisingly well made such that I cannot recommend one above another. Do pick your rings based on the rest of your equipment, however. Oh, and if you’re trading for a rare mana leech ring, consider that mana leech no longer spawns in a ring, and that the ring is almost always a dupe. Same goes if your ring has +skills and it's not an SoJ or a Bul-Kathos'.

Sets

A lot of the set items work well independently from the other items in the group. But there are some which true strength emerges only by synergy. This section reviews some of the Sets wearable by a Javazon, whether fully or partially.

Full Sets

Orphan’s Call

This set is geared towards shield-using fighters in general, and tanking Javazons derive great benefits from this set. Unlike some other sets, all pieces of this set work great individually. This set consists of Guillaume’s Face (helm), Whitstan’s Guard (shield), Wilhelm’s Pride (belt) and Magnus’ Skin (gloves), and all four of them are in the respective sections above, because they’re just that good individually.

The partial bonuses and the full bonuses, however, are not that great. The only useful partial bonus is +35 Life (2 Items). The full bonuses include 15% prismatic resists, +85 to Life (not in addition to partial bonus), +10 Dexterity, +20 Str, with 100 Defense and 80% MF thrown in as gravy. The prismatic resist bonus is weak, which is very unfortunate since the entire set only has 15% FR (from Magnus’ Skin) and 10% CR (from Wilhelm’s Pride) to begin with. The life and Str bonuses are nice though. Be sure to get resists from somewhere else when considering wearing this set.

I would recommend wearing this set by virtue of individual set pieces alone.

The Disciple

This is another fighter-oriented set, which Javazons can wear fully. This is a 5-piece set, consisting of Laying of Hands (glove), Telling of Beads (amulet), Dark Adherent (armor), Rite of Passage (boots) and Credendum (belt), leaving your weapon, shield, helm and two rings slots open. Individually, only Laying of Hands and Credendum are worthy, while Telling of Beads is a decent but unremarkable amulet. All three of these pieces are discussed in the sections above. Dark Adherent (set Dusk Shroud, Str 77) is a decent armor featuring decent defense and 24% FR, but those are not enough for it to compete for your prime armor spot. And Rite of Passage (set Demonhide Boots) are more than useless - aside from the 30% FRW, the other mods aren’t worth repeating.

Unlike Orphan’s Call, however, The Disciple’s strength lies on its partial and full bonuses. The notable partial bonuses are +150 Defense (2 items) and +10 Strength (4 items), and the full bonus features +2 skills, 50% prismatic resist (the entire set gives 39% fire resist in Hell not counting your Anya quests!), and 100 mana in addition to your partial bonuses. Javazons don’t have class-specific sets, but this is about the closest you can get. Awesome, awesome bonuses. This set lacks leech, however, so make sure to make that up in your ring and helm slots.

I would say that The Disciple is a worthy end game set.

Cow King’s Leathers

This is an interesting set that can only be collected in the Cow Level. This is a low-level set consisting of only three pieces: CK’s Horns (set War Hat), CK’s Hide (set Studded Leather) and CK’s Hooves (featured in the boots section). The Horns’ mods are unremarkable, while the Hide’s mods, 18% prismatic resists and life bonuses, are not enough to make it compete with the other armors.

The partial bonus is not great: 25% poison resist. The full bonus, however, can be very useful. In addition to the partial bonus, it also features +20 Strength, 30% IAS, a lot of MF and GF, +100 Stamina (which would really help in lower levels) as well as a very interesting chance-to-cast spell: Static Field. 25% of the time, you’ll cast slvl-5 Static Field when struck.

I would recommend this set only to baby Javazons. As your Javazon grows up, more powerful items are available. And remember, you can cast Static Field in a fashion by packing Crushing Blow in your attacks.

Iratha’s Finery

Yes, this is a normal set, but it offers so much that one can even use the set for end game. None of the Iratha’s set pieces appear in the list above, since the individual pieces are not that great. This is a simple 4-piece set, featuring Iratha’s Collar (set Amulet, 30% PR and duration reduction), Iratha’s Crown (set Crown, 30% FR and LR, great mods but easily beatable), Iratha’s Cord (set Heavy Belt, +5 min damage) and Iratha’s Cuff (set Light Gauntlets, 30% CR and Half Freeze).

The true strengths of this set are the low level requirement (lvl 15 for all of them) and the partial/full bonuses. Extra mods appear on each item as more Iratha’s set pieces are added. Collar gets 15% prismatic resists, Crown gets scaling defense, Cord gains +10 Dexterity, and Cuff gets 20% IAS. In addition, 2 pieces give +50 defense and 3 pieces give 20% FRW. The full bonus, however, are the partials in addition to: +15 dexterity, 20% prismatic resists, and 10% increase of all resistance caps. That’s right. Very resist heavy. Collected together, all pieces give 30% prismatic resist, gains another 15% from partial bonuses, and gets 20% from full bonuses. 65% resist all is your grand total, and you can get up to 85% resist all. It is quite easy to make up the resists with the rest of your equipment: your shield is the prime source. If you equip a Darkglow (unique Ring Mail) early on, you can further increase your cap to 90% and get 75% resist all.

Even though the higher level items may have mods more powerful than Iratha’s eventually, this is a great resist rig at lower levels, and comes highly recommended for baby Javazons.

Sigon’s Complete Steel

This is the normal set for fighters. Sigon’s Complete Steel is a collection of six pieces of equipment, and requires high Strength to initially equip them. None of the pieces are remarkable enough to stand apart. The pieces are Sigon’s Visor (set Great Helm, +30 mana), Sigon’s Shelter (set Gothic Plate, 30% LR), Sigon’s Sabot (set Greaves, 20% FRW, 40% CR), Sigon’s Guard (set Tower Shield, +1 skills, 20% increased block), Sigon’s Wrap (set Plated Belt, +20 life, 20% FR), Sigon’s Gage (set Gauntlets, +10 Str). Most of them have great defense ratings.

When you start to piece them together, however, great mods begin to emerge. With one other piece, Visor gains great scaling AR, Shelter gains thorns mod, Sabot gains 50 AR, and Wrap gains scaling defense. The greatest of all is Gage, which gains 30% IAS. And since the partial bonus of 2 items is 10% life leech, using Gage and another piece will give you 30% IAS and 10% life leech in the early game! As you piece three items together, Sabot also gains 50% MF, and the partial is +100 defense. And the full bonus includes all those, and +20 mana, 12% FR, reduced physical damage and other forgettable mods.

I’m not too keen about the full set. The defense is excellent, the resists are decent, and the set scales somewhat well. But I think it is better to take Gage and another piece instead (I recommend either Wrap or Sabot), take the 30% IAS and 10% life leech, and fill up the rest of the slots with other equipment, since Sigon’s set takes almost all of your important slots. Too bad you can’t wear this with Iratha’s Finery.

Hsaru's Defense

A very low level twink set, and uh, that’s it. This is a simple three-items set, which doesn’t feature anything too spectacular, except for the CBF, and you can get this from Death’s Guard anyway. I won’t dwell more on this set.

Partial Sets

There are a myriad of partial set combinations you can choose. Therefore, I will only list the partial combinations that are more useful instead. The criterion for the following sets is that it is impossible for a Javazon to complete the entire set. Thus, items like partial Sigon’s set appears under Full Sets even though I recommend the partial set instead.

Heaven’s Brethren

You can equip a maximum of three pieces out of four: Haemosu’s Adamant (set Cuirass, decent defense and +75 life), Taebaek’s Glory (discussed under shields), and Ondal’s Almighty (discussed under helms). Ondal’s Almighty is a good helm, Taebaek’s Glory is decent (although underpowered for its rarity) and Haemosu’s Adamant is junk. The partial bonuses of this set are pathetic, however, which are stamina recovery (2 items) and +20 life regeneration (3 items). I don’t think the partial bonuses are enough reasons to wear this set at all.

Hwanin’s Splendor

This is another three out of four pieces. You can wear the helm, armor and belt. While the armor does feature +100 life and chance to cast Static Field, the rest of the mods are forgettable. The partial bonuses stink too (+100 and then +200 defense) since the armor and helm doesn’t have great defense to start with. Put your Hwanin’s pieces in your merc instead.

The Immortal King (Maul Barbarian Specific)

Out of the six pieces of this set, you can wear at most four, although I really wouldn’t recommend Immortal King’s Soul Cage (set Sacred Armor, Str 232). The three remaining pieces are IK’s Detail (belt), IK’s Forge (gloves) and IK’s Pillar (boots), and those are great standalone pieces. See their reviews on the respective sections above. The partial bonuses are increasing AR (+50, +75 and +125 for 2, 3 and 4 pieces) which is not too great, so don’t take partial bonuses into account when deciding if you’re going to wear the IK pieces. Decide on individual basis only. My two favorite pieces of this set are the Detail and the Pillar.

M’avina’s Battle Hymn (Bowazon Specific)

A set designed for Bowazons, non-hybrid Javazons can equip four out of the five pieces. Three of the more interesting items a Javazon might equip are the Icy Clutch (glove), Tenet (belt) and M’avina’s Embrace (set Kraken Shell, Str 122). The armor is interesting in that it has high defense, some magic damage reduction, and +2 to passive skills, but it doesn’t really work great as an individual piece. In addition, M’avina’s True Sight (set Diadem), the rarest piece of this set, can be worn as well. Aside from the 30% IAS and minor mana bonus, the mods are nothing to write home about. The partial bonuses of M’avina’s set are great, though. 2 items boost your Str by 20, and 3 items boost your Dex by 30. If you really want to equip M’avina’s items, at least exclude the True Sight, although in my opinion there are much better items out there than partial M’avina’s pieces.

If you insist on wearing the full set, however: M'avina's Caster (set Grand Matron Bow, Str 108, Dex 152) is basically a Grandmaster's Grand Matron Bow of Quickness - great damage. With the caster, the set gains +3 Amazon skills, 50% all resist, and 100 to AR, defense and MF. Given the set's lack of resists, even with the full bonuses, switching from your bow to your javelin will cause you to lose so much resists and +skills that you might find yourself more vulnerable in javazon mode than in bowazon mode. As I said earlier: stick the full set on a full Bowazon instead, and find something else for your hybrid.

Natalya’s Odium (MA Assassin Specific)

You can equip three out of four pieces. Both Natalya’s Soul (boots) and Natalya’s Totem (helm) are good items, and the partial bonus from equipping two items is magic damage reduction by 15, which is not too memorable. If you really want to, you can also equip Natalya’s Shadow (set Loricated Mail, Str 149), which offers nice defense and scaling life, but pretty much nothing else. The partial bonus from 3 items is +200 defense. Again, I’d consider individual pieces rather than partial bonuses when deciding whether to equip this set.

Naj’s Ancient Vestige

For this 3-items set, the Javazon can equip only two. While Naj’s Light Plate (armor) is a terrific piece of equipment, Naj’s Circlet (set Circlet, Str bonus +15) is good for nothing more than the strength bonus and fire damage. The partial bonus is +175 defense, which is, needless to say, not enough to justify wearing the circlet.

Sander’s Folly

You can wear three out of four for this set, but only Sander’s Taboo (glove) and Sander’s Riprap (boots) are worth looking at. Sander’s Paragon (set Cap) is incredibly rare and offers nothing more than MF. The partial bonuses are weak: +50 Defense (2 Items) and +75 AR (3 Items). ‘Nuff said.

Sazabi’s Grand Tribute

Another two-out-of-three set. Sazabi’s Mental Shield (set Basinet, Str 82) has +1 skills and 15-20% fire and lightning resists, but there are some very aggressive competitors in the helm department. Sazabi’s Ghost Liberator (set Balrog Skin, Str 165, Str bonus +25) is basically a toned-down version of its cousin, Arkaine’s Valor. Together, they have 40% FRW as partial bonus, but hell, I’ll definitely take Arkaine’s Valor over Ghost Liberator any day.

Tal Rasha’s Wrappings (Sorceress Specific)

You can equip four out of five pieces in this excellent set, but even though Tal Rasha’s Adjudication (set Amulet) has great mods (33% LR, lightning damage, great life and mana bonuses, and the Javazon-useless mod of +2 Sorceress Skills), considering its rarity it would perform better on a Sorceress instead. Tal’s Fugly is of course one of the best helms, Tal’s Guardianship (armor) is decent, and Tal’s Fine-Spun Cloth (belt) is also decent. The partial bonuses are not good for tankers, however. They are +10 life regeneration (2 Items), 65% MF (3 items) and 24% FHR (4 items). Tal’s Fugly + Armor + Belt would make a great combination for a ranger, giving as much as 168% MF as well as decent resists and leech, but this setup might also appeal to some tankers.

Angelic Raiment

You can equip three out of four of these normal set items. Angelic Halo (ring), Wings (amulet), and Mantle (armor) are pretty useless by themselves (except 50% FR in Mantle and Vulpine in Wings) but the partial set bonuses are terrific. With two items, Halo gains scaling AR (12 per level!), Wings gains +75 life bonus, and the set gives +10 Dexterity. With three items, Halo also gains 50% MF, Wings gains +1 skills, and the set gives +50 Mana. Considering that you can equip this as early as clvl-12, this makes great twink set for ranger Javazons, even though the mods are easily replaceable once they get to higher levels.

Death’s Disguise

And finally, as we came to the end of the list, I am going to rave a bit on my favorite partial set. Notice how I tend to save the best for last in some instances? You can equip two pieces of this three-pieces set, but boy, they’re good. Death’s Hand (set Leather Glove) is an unremarkable piece, offering almost complete poison immunity (which is useful in Acts 1 and 2) and Death’s Guard (set Sash), while having CBF, offers nothing else spectacular. But what happens when you put them together? Hand gains 30% IAS, Guard gains 15% prismatic resist . . . and the set gives 8% life leech to top it all off! So now you have 30% IAS, 15% prismatic, 8% life leech, CBF, poison immunity . . . from two pieces . . . no strength requirement . . . at level 6. Are you listening yet? The valuable mods actually qualify these highly underrated items for end-game usage. The only weakness I can think of is that Death’s Guard can hold only 8 potions.

Socketing Options

As I said earlier, socketing in LoD is vastly different than in classic. You have a lot more items to put into the sockets, such as runes and jewels in addition to gems. Runes have inherently fixed properties that change depending on where you socket it. Jewels have inherently variable properties that stay the same no matter where you socket it. For example, an Um rune always gives 25% Open Wounds in weapons, but if you socket it in your armor, it gives 15% prismatic resists. A prismatic jewel can have anywhere from 5 to 15 resist all, but it will not change whether you socket it in your shield or your armor. In addition, LoD gives you a socket quest (Act 5 Quest 1) that allows you to socket any weapon (barring javelins), armor, shield and helm, even the unique ones, enhancing them even further.

When socketing, pay attention not only to the mods of the rune, gem or jewel, but also whether any cheaper substitutes exist. For example, you can socket your Ambergris Jewel (26% LR) in your armor, but be aware that Ort Rune gives 30% LR when socketed into armor. Not only are Ort Runes easier to find, but also you can then socket your Ambergris Jewel into another slot that normally would not allow you to gain Lightning Resistance. For example, put it into Blade of Ali Baba (unique Tulwar) since no runes can give you LR when socketed into a weapon.

Be aware that jewels can spawn with a prefix and a suffix. So if you need IAS, for example, and you have an Ambergris Jewel of Fervor, you essentially are packing 26% LR and 15% IAS in a single jewel, and you can’t match this with a single Ort rune.

A pet peeve of mine concerns gems and rare runes. A perfect Diamond is relatively easy to make, and it gives you 19% resist all in shields but +100 AR in armor. In contrast, Um rune is very rare, and it gives you 22% resist all in shields and 15% resist all in armor. Unless you intend to squeeze every little bit of resist you can manage into your Javazon, there’s no point wasting an Um rune into a shield when a Perfect Diamond can do the same job, admittedly with only 3% less resist all! Um runes are better used in armors and helms, where Diamonds won’t give you resist all. The same applies to Perfect Topaz in armor and helm vs. Ist Rune, as well as Amn and Vex runes for dual leech in weapons when two Perfect Skulls would’ve done just as well.

For a Javazon, socketing is very simple, since you can’t socket Javelins. Only one item requires a thought on socketing, and that is your shield. And for a shield, usually a perfect Diamond for resist all would be good. See the Shields section above for some other suggestions. Remember that you can boost an individual resist a lot more than all resists. For example, if you are desperately in need for LR, a Perfect Topaz (40% LR) would do much better than a Perfect Diamond (19% all). Moser’s is great since it comes with two such sockets for you to mix and match, but keep in mind that two Perfect Diamonds (38% all) are still better compared to two different individual single resists. For helm and armor, the choices are just as diverse, but it would be good to get mods that you can’t get in a shield . . . IAS, FHR and stat boosts come to mind, as well as max/min and enhanced damage. See the Arreat Summit for full lists of Jewel affixes, runes and gems.

Charms

A friend of mine once remarked that charms fix everything that’s wrong with a character. While he could not be farther from the truth, he does point out the incredible power these items possess. Charms are new features in LoD on which you sacrifice item space in your inventory for a boost. Since you don’t normally hold anything else in your inventory, you can pack a lot of charms into your backpack. And of course, charms come with plethora of small mods that may be weak separately, but very powerful cumulatively, depending on how much space you dedicate to charms. Charms give you an opportunity to either cover the weak spots in your equipment, or maybe enhance your equipment's strengths. Note that charms won’t work if you put them in your stash or your Horadric cube, even if you carry the cube with you.

So, what can you get from a charm?

• Skills. Grand Charms (3 spaces) can spawn with a prefix that gives +1 to a certain skill tree. Obviously, of interest here are Acrobat’s and Harpoonist’s prefixes, which give +passive and +javelin respectively. Given the increasing return of investment in skills like Lightning Fury, one Harpoonist’s GC can increase your killing power significantly.
• Resists. A Grand Charm can give up to 30% to individual resists and 15% to all resists. Large and Small Charms can, too, to a lesser extent. Start looking for resist charms if you have assembled your equipment and found that you’re lacking in certain resists.
• Faster Run/Walk and Faster Hit Recovery. Small Charms are more valuable in this respect, spawning suffixes that give 5% to either. This can be used to meet FHR breakpoints and to make you run faster.
• Life and Mana Boost. As said earlier, you are better off finding mana charms rather than pumping energy, since the bonuses from these suffixes can be quite significant. A Grand Charm gives you more value for Mana, while Small and Large Charms give you more value for Life.
• Elemental Damage. The amount of elemental damage each charm can pack might not be much, but if you have several of them, they will add up. Each cold damage affix worths one second of cold duration in Normal. Look out for dual-mod elemental damage charms - dual-mod cold damage charms will add two seconds of cold duration in Normal as well.
• Physical Damage. This comes in form of maximum or minimum damage. They add damage unmodified yet by your Str/Dex modifiers, and thus can add up to significant amount. The prefixes can spawn in all types of charms, and some prefixes give small bonuses to AR as well.
• Defense and AR. Defense is great for some specific builds, while AR is great for all. Look out for charms with prefixes that gives both AR and +max damage.
• Stat Bonuses. You can increase your Str and Dex using charms. In the long run, it will be better to simply increase your stats as you level up so that you can replace these charms with others with more useful mods, but these charms can be useful if you can’t wear a particular item because you don’t meet its requirement, and you’re off only by several points. Better values come in Small (+2) and Large (+5) charms, but unless you have a really good prefix as well, try to get rid of these charms as soon as possible.
• MF% and GF%. Not too important but nice to have. These can spawn in charms as well. You might want several of these if you dedicate your ranger Javazon to item finding, especially in Secret Cow Level.