M'avina's Battle Hymn

M'avina's Battle Hymn is an Item Set for Amazons, primarily used by Bowazons.

Background

As many of the set items found in Diablo II, we do not know much about the person M'avina other than that she most likely was an Amazon warrior. It's only available in D2X.

Diablo II Item Info [e]
1.10 Ilvl: 21 M'avina's Battle Hymn [Item Set]
Set Pieces: M'avina's Caster M'avina's Embrace M'avina's True Sight M'avina's Tenet M'avina's Icy Clutch
Two-piece Set Bonus: +20 Strength Three-piece Set Bonus: +30 Dexterity Full Set Bonus: +50% Resistance To All +3 to All Skills +100 Defense +100 to Attack Rating +100% Magic Find +20 To Strength +30 To Dexterity Display Aura (does nothing, looks cool)
Slots Used: Head Chest Main Hand Off-Hand Waist Hands		Slots Free: Neck Ring 1 Ring 2 Feet

Diablo II Item Set

M'avina's Battle Hymn, the top amazon set in LOD, isn't the strongest bowazon setup in game, but it's certainly one of the most enjoyable.

M'avina's Battle Hymn is designed for a Bowazon with a class specific bow, armor, helm, belt and gauntlets. This set is especially good for Amazons that don't have many points in the Passive & Magic tree as the Plate Mail in this set gives +2 to all passive and magic skills.

While the set grants some nice bonuses, the Amazon-only bow's damage is inadequate for full time use in Hell.

Amazon killing Council Members.

The pieces themselves are generally sub-par of what would be expected from an elite set and the three most crucial pieces for the bowazon — bow, gloves, and belt — are substandard on their own; each piece ties in with every other piece so that no single item is too strong compared to the others. The bulk of this set's dominance is based on green set items bonuses — without them, M'avina's would be unsuitable for hell.

The bow has a 10% chance to cast a slvl-15 nova on striking - that's 92-139 lightning damage in a small radius. It also carries around 100~400 magic damage per shot - this magical damage is lessened by Strafe, but not by elemental arrows. In the end, 50~200 physical plus 100~400 magical per arrow is a lot of damage - the nova is just a very flashy icing on the cake. It's not phenomenal, but it finally makes this set worth having, simply to have FA multiple pierce with overlapping novas. This set isn't brutal, but it's fun. Strafe has always been evil, but once Blizzard corrected the mistake of not allowing a monster to be hit more than once from a single volly, it just got plain sick, and nothing shows it off more than Mavina's. Once I got the hang of the nova's radius, I tried my damnedest to herd packs of monsters into tightly-packed groups to abuse overlapping novas from an 9/2 strafe or a volley of FA attacks. I now instinctively keep a track of bottlenecks whenever I go on a levelling spree.

Amazon killing Shenk the Overseer.

This is a frostmaiden set: M'avina's Battle Hymn screams cold damage. Then there's the magical damage; the Caster is one of the few ranged weapons you'll find with a significant amount of magical damage: this, combined with the unlimited magic arrows, ensures that you have something to deal with PIs. It's slow going, but if there're any party members that can deal with PIs better, then you're contributing to the damage; if not, then you're the primary PI killer.

M'avina's alone is equipped to handle just about anything: it gets magical, cold, and physical damage all in one package. There are very few things in the game — if anything at all — that are immune to even two out of those three things at once: resistant, yes; immune, no.

M'avina's Battle Hymn doesn't leave a bowazon with much space for customization: the only slots that are left open are the jewelry and boot slots, meaning that the bowazon will have to choose her sockets and charms wisely. The rlvl of this set is clvl-70.

The bonus for wearing two items is an impressive +20 strength, quite the boost considering the armor. As little as 92 strength is needed to use the entire set, assuming no +strength items. That much strength is enough to wear the Icy Clutch and Tenet for an impressive +30 strength (+10 from the Clutch, +20 for the partial bonus); this would boost a bowazon's strength to 122, enough to use the Embrace. After the armor, the rest of the set is somewhat accessible (assuming you can obtain the diadem).

Item List

Item	Properties	Magical Modifiers

M'avina's Caster (Grand Matron Bow) Ilvl: 21

Ranged Damage: 43 - 210 Weapon Speed: 10 Damage Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x3 Usable by: Amazon Required Strength: 108 Required Dexterity: 152 Required Level: 70

Part of: M'avina's Battle Hymn 1.10 Amazon Inherent Bonus +188% Enhanced Damage +40% Increased Attack Speed 10% Chance of casting Slvl 3 Nova When Struck +50 to Attack Rating 2 items: Adds 114-377 Magic Damage 3 items: 10% Chance To Cast Level 15 Nova On Striking 4 items: +2 To Bow and Crossbow Skills

M'avina's Embrace (Kraken Shell) Ilvl: 21

Defense: 767-873 Medium Armor Durability: 48 Inv Size: 2x3 Required Strength: 121 Required Level: 70

Part of: M'avina's Battle Hymn 1.10 10% Chance of casting Slvl 3 Glacial Spike When Struck -30% Item Requirements (5)-(12) Less Magical Damage Taken +2 To Amazon Passive and Magic Skills (Amazon Only) +4 Defense per Clvl +350 Defense 3 items: +30% Faster Hit Recovery

M'avina's True Sight (Diadem) Ilvl: 21

Defense: 200-210 Durability: 20 Inv Size: 2x2 Required Level: 64

Part of: M'avina's Battle Hymn 1.10 +150 Defense Replenish Life +10 +25 To Mana +30% Increased Attack Speed 2 items: +1 To All Skills 3 items: 50% Bonus To Attack Rating 4 items: +25% to all Resistances

M'avina's Tenet (Sharkskin Belt) Ilvl: 21

Defense: 81-86 Durability: 14 16 slots Inv Size: 2x1 Required Strength: 20 Required Level: 45

Part of: M'avina's Battle Hymn 1.10 +50 Defense +20% Faster Run Walk +5% Mana Stolen Per Hit +5 Light Radius 4 items: +25% to all Resistances

M'avina's Icy Clutch (Battle Gauntlets) Ilvl: 21

Defense: 84-97 Durability: 18 Inv Size: 2x2 Required Strength: 88 Required Level: 32

Part of: M'avina's Battle Hymn 1.10 +45 - +50 Defense +6-8 Cold Damage Half Freeze Duration 56% Extra Gold From Monsters +10 To Strength +15 To Dexterity 4 items: Adds 131-252 Cold Damage, 4 sec. Duration (Normal) Full set: +20% To Cold Skill Damage

Socketing

Optimal socketing options can go one of two ways: the speed route or the cold route. M'avina's inherent IAS bonus is 70%, just enough to achieve a 10/3 speed rating. Another 20% IAS from either an IAS amulet or a Shael rune in the bow will give the set a 9/3 rating; insert two jewels of fervor into the diadem and armor (60%) for the 120% IAS she will need to reach 9/2. If you want maximum resists (the set itself offers 100% prismatic resists), you might have to shell out for prismatic IAS jewels, but ultimately, it's worth it.

Conversely, you can use cold-damage Rainbow Facets for an edge in cold damage. The cold facets won't increase the chill duration of your bowazon's FA, but it'll add a substantial damage bonus: a pair of average (4/4) cold facets will add around 200-300 cold damage, not to mention lowering your target's cold resistance. If you fit out the set with three cold facets, you'll be sacrificing speed, but 20% IAS is all you need to hit 9/3, and with an effective FA, everything you hit'll generally stay still until you're good and ready to kill it.

Without additional cold equipment, the total chill duration of the completed set is ten seconds in Normal.

Media

Here are a few shots of the Battle Hymn set.

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  Amazon in the Rogue Encampment

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  Killing Shenk the Overseer

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  Toorc Icefist killed

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  Act IV action

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  Council Member killing

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  Closeup of the whole set

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  Inventory art of the bow

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  Inventory art of the body armor

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  Inventory art of the circlet

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  Inventory art of the belt

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  Inventory art of the gloves

Development

M'avina's Battle Hymn was introduced in Patch 1.10 together with a host of other Item Sets. Significant changes to the game made some item sets less useful and others more so. Runewords became the over-all long-term gear goal for players, taking some shine away from item sets.

References

• SPF Thread: Guardian Gabrielle - The M'avina's Magezon
• Elite Sets and Set Items guide from theamazonbasin.com