Fast Forward
R.I.P. PottyBits and Desync. After Bliz deleted my 2 variant throwers (Desync - Friendly Fire Thrower, and PottyBits - Potions and Death Bits Thrower), I just have to build another one (or three ;p). However, I have decided to ditch all restrictions and explore the full potential of a Double Thrower this time around. It turned out to be one heck of a fun build, and although it won't be your fastest monster processor, it can definitely measure up to many builds, and surpass a Whirlie barb in some situations. If you like how a bow babe plays in Classic Diablo, give this one a try.

A Big Gotcha or 2
Couple of things you should be aware of:
A Bug - You may never notice this if you are in the habit of using "Repair All" to refill your weapons even though you might have puzzled over how fast you go through a stack. This bug happens with some item (weapon and non weapon) combinations. With certain setups, you will only throw with one weapon. You will still be doing Double Throws, but with one weapon only - the character's left hand (screen-right) weapon. This does not mean you are using weapons from both hands while quantity is subtracted from only one weapon, it means you will only use the left hand weapon for Double Throw. It's annoying too since your stack would deplete twice as fast forcing you to either go to town and refill, or stop your activities to switch the unused weapon to the left hand before your weapon icon goes red. You cannot Double Throw if one weapon is at zero quantity.

Switching items in and out will fix the bug. I have tried switching a Howltusk for another Howltusk, Sigon boots for another pair of Sigon boots, etc., with no success. As far as I am able to test, this bug seems to happen only with weapon pairs of the same base. For example, a pair of Flying Knives would be bugged while a pair of the same class (Flying Knife(Elite) and Battle Dart(Exceptional)) or mixed type (Winged Axe and Balanced Knife) would be okay.

Throwing Range - Throwing weapons have different melee and thrown ranges. All throwing axes and knives have a range of 1 for melee, and all javs have a range of 3 for melee, More of a concern is all throwing axes and knives' thrown range is slightly less than the screen size making monsters at the very top edge and top corners out of reach. Javs travel further making them ideal for hitting and Piercing monsters off screen.

Version - LoD 1.09

Abbreviations
IAS - Increased Attack Speed
DOT - Damage Over Time, as in DPS
DPS - Damage Per Second
DPA - Damage Per Attack
APS - Attacks Per Second
FPA - Frames Per Attack
Note: Per attack is per swing, not a complete cycle of the skill in use such as Double Throw or Zeal.
ED - Enhanced Damage
Note: Enhanced Damage on non-weapon multiplies the weapon's listed damage with the amount of ED%, then adds it to the total damage much like elemental damage
ED Plate/Hat - A plate or hat with all Enhanced Damage jewels, preferably all Ruby jewels (plus other mods if available). Up to 40% ED per Ruby jewel, plus other damage adding mods such as +Strength. A perfect Ruby jewel of Fervor 40/15 is one of the most sought after jewel.
Speed Plate/Hat - A plate or hat with all Fervor jewels. Up to 60% IAS for plate and 45% IAS for hat

Get On With It
In the tradition of KoP guides, there are always casualties from "controlled" tests. A big thanks to those who volunteered!
Contrary to traditional KoP guides, this one has no illustration pix ;p
Also, I will be taking a look at some items but it's not a shopping list to build the ultimate baba. Rather, it more or less demonstrates how easy it is to build a thrower and how versatile a thrower can be, and actually, how item independent a thrower is.

No thrower guide would be complete without a look at throwing potions so lets get that out of the way first... Ok, moving on now that it's out of the way.

A thrower played in the traditional Arty mage or bow rogue style needs little help from items except what he plans to throw away. That makes any items he adds on pretty much just icing on the cake. Being a Barbarian in this case also helps since he can get a healthy chunk of HP, has Natural Resists as a skill, and the fastest throwing speed (via Double Throw) out of the seven classes. Speaking of speed, speed (and IAS) is the single most important attribute for a 2xThrower...
Speed to kill them before they get close.
Speed to keep tough bosses locked up.
Speed kills - Speed is a damage multiplier.

Speed plays such a key role for a thrower due to the wide range of attack speeds from different weapons and additional IAS bonus. Double Throw can be as slow as 12 frames per attack(FPA) doing 2 attacks per second(APS) using Glaive type (the slowest of all) javs with no IAS, to as fast as 3.5 FPA doing 7.1 APS under the right conditions.

Weapon Basics
To start things off, lets take a look at what is available in throw weapons and compare some basic stats.
Weapon Basics Table
Base = Base Weapon Speed
Barb = weapon speed For Barbarian
When looking at average damage per second, it is important to keep in mind that a slight difference in DOT here will turn out to be quite a significant amount after Enhanced Damage, Stat and Skill damage boost, and multiplied by your Pierce factor (and whatever else plus damage you have on, if the extra damage come from more speed). For example, a GrandMaster/Maiming Flying Knife with listed damage of 70-163 averaging 116.5 Dmg jumps up to an average of 634 Dmg per attack with tooTHrow's stats.

Clearly, the javelin types can do a lot more damage over time. The only down side is the stack size. I used to carry a pair of Cruel harpoons on the swap setup for the healthier bosses but soon gave them up too. Javs might work out to be better weapons for PvP because they do more damage and have a longer thrown range, but they are too much a hassle for most PvM situations due to their small stack size. I am going to ignore javs for the most part of this article.

In general, even though the faster throwing (Winged) knives and (Winged) axes have lower base damage, they do more DOT because of their speed. I said "in general" because there will be surprises depending on the final setup of your other items. The main factor being IAS range and diminishing return on extra IAS%. In other words, while a faster weapon might not gain any increase in attack speed by adding more IAS% (such as adding on a pair of Laying of Hands gloves for more damage vs Demons and gaining 20% IAS as a bonus, for example), a slower weapon might get enough of a boost to be thrown at the same speed of a faster weapon. So it is important to know your weapons' Speed Range to optimize you setup.

Basic Speed Range Table
Note: The last figure in each column indicate the maximum speed without help from Frenzy or Fanaticism.
Note: The last IAS% is not ranged, simply, it becomes very unrealistic because it will require IAS% overflow pass the 300% mark.
Note: IAS% shown are not necessarily achievable for a Double Thrower with items alone. All we need to be concerned with at the moment is that there are Speed Ranges, and more IAS% does not always mean faster attack speed.

Speed is king, but there are times when the equipment slot can be better used for something else. Using Balanced knife for example, the difference between 70% IAS and 115% IAS is no difference. What percentage of IAS to aim for depends on your weapons. (Note diminishing return) Or, from another perspective, how much IAS is wasted where it can be replaced with something else more beneficial. We will come back to this a bit later and look at Customization vs Optimization.

Building a Double Thrower
So what does it mean in actual play? Lets take a closer look at tooTHrow, my thrower.
"What's your problem, KoP, why do you always have so many stat and skill points saved?"
"Well, I am going to wait and see what the new patch would screw up... I already have too many high lvl mules."
"But you have been saying that since before LoD ;p"
"Ok, maybe... I do have a problem...;p"
But really, I seldom use stat and skill points pass a certain stage, with all my characters. As soon as I feel a character can play somewhat comfortably in Hell Diff I just don't see any point in making it easier on myself. So bear in mind a normal character at his level, who distributes all the saved points into Dex and Str, can expect a significant increase in final damage output. In other words, besides the bonus ToHit% gained by clvl, tooTHrow's stats are roughly equal to what a Clvl 50 character can achieve.

Stats -
Clvl 86 - 120ish stat points, and 27 skill points saved
Vit = 126, HP = 784 (1364 after lvl 14 BO) - Enough to take a couple of heavy hits
Energy = 10 (252 mana after lvl 14 BO) - Enough mana to throw all day without mana leech.
108 Str - Modified
205 Dex - Modified
Resists in Hell = 22, 55, 65 and 42 with items

Skills -
Double Throw = 2 +1 - Hehe, clicked once to many ;p More if you are AR challenged. This skill can use some improvement, it's hardly worth a skill point for a little AR boost the way it is.

Frenzy = 10 +1 - A skill I plan to max, atm, a nice 35% IAS at lvl 11. Frenzy is a good supplementary skill for a throw barb against those monsters that got too close, and when you are running out of throws. Frenzy to increase damage over time can be used very effectively. Even if you lack the damage to stun, you can lock up a monster or 2 when you have Knockback....note that on the Double Throw Speed table when you reach somewhere in the 5 attacks per second, you will be doing 40% more damage over time after a lvl 20 Frenzy. A thrower can get away with very little to no life steal if you play him like a Classic Diablo bow babe or Arty mage. But LoD is different in that monsters move fast and come in bigger horde, a little leech (anywhere from 5-10% should do) can go a long way. You would want more leech if you like to mix it up occasionally and Frenzy your way through a mob. WhirlWind (if you don't have too many whirlers already) can also be an effective supplement especially if you use javs with their higher damage and longer range.

Leap Attack = 1 +1 - To get out of some nasty situations.

Axe Mastery = 1 +1 - Worth more points if you end up throwing axes and Frenzy. This mastery does not affect your throw damage.

Throw Mastery = 20 +1 - Boosts damage, AR and chance of Critical Hit.

Natural Resist = 9 +1 - Boost your resistance to all by 56% at lvl 10. You only gain 1% per lvl after lvl 13 (60%) up to 67% at lvl 20.

Increase speed = 1 +1 - Worth 1 point.

Taunt = 1 +1 - Why Taunt when you are a thrower, shouldn't you be keep monsters away instead of taunting them to get closer? Taunt is an awesome one point skill to have when dealing with spell casters and those pesky hit and run midgets, and to round up those strayed monster you scared off with Howl effect (for example, Howltusk).

Grimward = 1 +1 - Works great especially when you have an Act1 or Act3 merc to protect. It also lessen the chance of you being mobbed. Casting it in the mob you are in works to a certain degree, and better if you then move around a bit. The best way to use Grimward would be casting a couple of them as you kill along the way. Simply retreat to and slightly behind the ward when you encounter a mob situation. It works great before you pop the seals in the Chaos Sanctuary.

War Cry = 1 +1 - One point is enough to have its place in a thrower's arsenal of skills for a short stun duration, just enough time for you to boogie out of the mess you got yourself in. Pump the skill for longer stun duration if you like to mix it up with Frenzy.

A word about Masteries - As of this writing, the Masteries are bugged in that 1 point in the skill will grant the matching weapon/attack 100% critical hit. You would still want to pump it for the extra damage and attack bonus, and in case the bug gets a fix. All calculations in this article does not include Critical Hit (which does twice the damage) unless noted otherwise.

Equipment
First, a short list of what tooTHrow uses, or used at one point or another.
Highlords Wrath - Nice if you have one spared but not essential. I use it mainly for the 20% IAS to replace the Cats Eye. Its decent amount of Lite Res and 32% Deadly Strike (varies by clvl) comes in handy. Clvl Req. = 65.

Cats Eye - Which I used from clvl 50 to around Clvl 80 for its 20% IAS, +Dex and Fast walk/run bonus. This may sound like an exotic amulet but it also demonstrates how versatile and item independent a character is when it can sacrifice the amulet slot for mainly 20% IAS.

RazorTail - Put that on as soon as tooTHrow hit clvl 32 for its Pierce effect. It's the only choice for a thrower if you can get it. It is semi rare but I had no less than 6 of these before I gave some away. This belt not only save you many town trips as well as doing more damage as a result from Pierce. As a side effect, it encourages you to have a better play style. You want to fall back a couple of steps as soon as you see a mob, use choke points and wall, stringing them inline for Pierce. Other belts to consider includes the GoldWrap or Nosferatu's Coil for 10% IAS, and the Death's set gloves and belt combo.

GoldWrap - 10% IAS is nice but other belt that gives what your setup lacks might work out better. Look at your total IAS% and check the Double Throw Speed table to see if it fits in your setup.

Death's Disguise - with the gloves and belt partial set bonuses, you get 8% life steal, Cannot be Frozen, 30% IAS, resist all +15 and major poison reduction. This is a cool combination when not using RazorTail for the belt slot. It also work like Sigon's gloves 2 items partial set bonus with its IAS and life steal. Cannot be Frozen is a definite plus that can replace the Raven Frost ring tooTHrow uses.

Howltusk - A choice hat for the low clvl throwers. 35% Damage Taken Goes to Mana helps when you get hit by a Mana Burner, Hit Causes Monster To Flee 25%, and especially Knockback makes it worth more than a bunch of IAS and Damage. The safety factor of the Howltusk is worth some sacrifice in DOT. Howltusk is my choice because I consider having Knockback is the single most important aspect of tooTHrow's survivability. Admittedly, he needs it less now that he does more damage and kills faster than when he was younger, but... you just have to experience it to appreciate the feeling you get when you face off with a Frenzied Fanaticism enchanted LEB Moon Lord boss, and keeps him in Knockback lock til he drops.

Sigon Gloves - and boots combo's partial set bonus gives 10% life leech plus 30% IAS on the gloves. Cold resist and 30% Fast walk/run is nice for a quick pullback to line up monsters. Gloves and belt also make a good combo when not using RazorTail. Throwers of other classes might opt for a shield combo, or even go for the 3 items combo for extra DR, and 50% Magic Find. The Sigon plate or hat does not make a good combo simply because there are so much more you can get from a plate/hat.

Cleglaw's Pincers - Slows Target by 25% and Knockback. It might take some items juggling to make sure you have enough speed and leech if you opt out of the Sigon gloves combo and Howltusk, but it's a very worthy pair of thrower gloves. The Pincers can essentially replace the Howltusk and the Sigon combo with its Knockback and Slow Target, freeing the hat slot for many good hats with leech and other mods then socket Fervor jewel(s) to make up for speed. It comes down to trading Howl effect from Howltusk for extra mods, and freeing up the boot slot for other choices. Con: Other good hats most likely come with a high clvl requirement.

Raven Frost - Although it has a few nice minor bonuses, it's really not a ring of choice without its Cannot be Frozen. Sure the extra AR is nice but there are so many other choices if you want to spend a ring slot for AR. This is a good thrower's ring, when speed often mean life or death, when you frequently play in Act 5 caves. Although I down played the AR bonus from this ring, it is still very useful because it can boost your CTH a few percentages.

Poison Charms - tooTHrow normally carries some heavy duty Poison charms to let the monsters run and die in peace. You don't need any high powered poison charms to take advantage of poison. A couple of small low lvl charms would do nicely, not for their potential damage, but to stop monster HP regeneration while they are affected.

Ring Slots - If you opt for either the Death's or Sigon's gloves combo you really don't need more leech (though no one ever complains about too much leech), so the options are wide open to make up what your setup lacks (mostly resists), or just grab some more bonuses and fun stuff like Teleport charges. Another good choice for here is something that most character cannot afford to give up ring slots for is +Min/Max damage. It can give you a decent boost to your damage output, for example, +5 Min Dmg with tooTHrow's stats boosts his Flying Knife damage by 32 points.

Amulet Slot - Same as ring slots, wide open for options as your ring slots. A good place to get +1 or +2 skills.

ED Plate - Clvl 58 requirement for Ruby jewels. Up to 160 Enhanced Damage from 4 plain Ruby jewels. I use Gothic plates for both ED and Speed plate because they are most common, have the lowest strength requirement and the lightest non-elite armor you can get with 4 holes, making them transferable to almost any character build.

ED Hat - Up to 120 Enhanced Damage from 3 plain Ruby jewels.

Speed Plate - Clvl 31 requirement for Fervor. Gothic plate socketed with 4 Fervor jewels for 60% IAS.

Speed Hat - Hat socketed with 3 Fervor jewels for 45% IAS

Armor
In general, even a plain plate with 4 sockets stuffed with jewels/runes of your choice (such as Fervor and Ruby jewels) would serve a thrower better.

- Twitchthroe (20% Faster Hit Recovery, 20% Increased Attack Speed, +10 To Dexterity. +10 To Strength) an obvious choice with low Clvl requirement.

- Lionheart (+20% Enhanced Damage, +25 To Strength, +20 To Vitality, +15 To Dexterity, +50 To Life, All Resistance +30%) Nice healthy boost to HP. +Str, +Dex and ED gives you a fair chunk more damage.

- Shaftstop (Damage Reduced By 30%, +60 To Life) Great if you are worry about getting hit (sheesh).

- Skin of the Vipermagi (+1 To All Skills, Magic Damage Reduced By 9-13, All Resistance +20-35) If you are worry about getting hit, you should worry more about getting hit by spells. I would choose this over the Shaftstop.

- Corpsemourn (Level 5 Corpse Explosion (40 Charges), Adds 12-36 Fire Damage, Cold Resist +35%, +10 To Vitality, +8 To Strength) Could be fun if you can afford the charges.

- Arkaine's Valor (+1-2 To All Class Skill Levels, + 0.5-49.5 To Vitality, 30% Faster Hit Recovery, Damage Reduced By 10-15) I personally don't see what the big deal is, but hey, you need it to complete the game. Don't you?

Now is also a good opportunity to use up those fun but otherwise useless unique and set plates such as:
- Crow Caw (15% Increased Attack Speed, 15% Faster Hit Recovery, 35% Chance of Open Wounds, +15 Dexterity) Not a bad alternative to Twitchthroe or Speed plate. Open Wounds also works against Physical Immunes.

- Spirit Forge (1.5-123.75 Life, Adds 20-65 Fire Damage, +15 To Strength, Gem Sockets (2)) Choose your own poison. +4 To Light Radius - real nice in dark places

- Toothrow (40% Chance of Open Wounds, Fire Resist +15%, +10 Strength) Attacker Takes Damage of 20-40 - that will teach them.

- Black Hades (+30-60% Damage To Demons, +200-250 To Attack Rating Against Demons, Half Freeze Duration, Gem Socket (3)) Choose your own poison. -2 To Light Radius - Not good, but fitting for the name.

- Griswold's Heart (Requirements -40%, +20 To Strength, +2 To Defensive Aura Skills, Socketed (3)) Pretty useless without the holes

Gloves - Beside the aforementioned gloves there exists a wide variety of gloves to choose from. Almost all desirable magical affixes are available on glove so you can tailor fit them to compliment your setup. Crafted Hit Power Gloves with Knockback also makes a good choice. The recipe for that is Magic Chain Gloves/Heavy Bracers/Vambraces, Ort Rune, Perfect Sapphire, Magic Jewel.

- Laying of Hands (20% Increased Attack Speed, +350% Damage To Demons, Fire Resist +50%, 10% Chance To Cast Level 3 Holy Bolt On Attack) Carbon Copy's favorite gloves ;p Would be my choice too if I can find a nice pair of fast walk run boots to go with it.

- Immortal King's Forge (+20 To Dexterity, +20 To Strength) Translates into a fair amount of damage

- Gravepalm (+100-200% Damage To Undead, +100-200 To Attack Rating Against Undead) If you like changing setup to match monster types

- Ghoulhide (+4-396 To Attack Rating Against Undead, + 2-198 % Damage To Undead) If you like changing setup to match monster types

- Lava Gout (2% Chance To Cast Level 10 Enchant On Striking, Half Freeze Duration, Adds 13-46 Fire Damage, +20% Increased Attack Speed, Fire Resist +24%) Pretty good, more damage, IAS and resists all in one.

- Hellmouth (4% Chance To Cast Level 12 Firestorm On Striking, 2% Chance To Cast Level 4 Meteor On Striking, +15 Fire Absorb, Adds 15-72 Fire Damage) Useless fun visuals with a couple of good mods.

Boots - Have almost as much desirable affixes as gloves with some cute ones thrown in. A good chance to get more walk/run speed along with what you desire. If you don't have a decent pair of Magical or Rare boots to your liking....
- Aldur's Advance (40% Faster Run/Walk, 10% Damage Taken Goes To Mana, +50 To Life)

- Cow King's Hooves (30% Faster Run/Walk, Adds 25-35 Fire Damage, +20 To Dexterity)

- Goblin Toe (25% Chance of a Crushing Blow) Always nice to have some Crushing Blow going when you can afford it but isn't worth much unless you are really doing puny damage and/or always playing in huge multiplayer games. Note: CB with missile attacks only takes 1/8th (vs normal monsters), and 1/20th (vs all others) monsters' CURRENT HP.

- Infernostride (20% Faster Run/Walk, 5% Chance To Cast Level 8 Blaze When Struck, Fire Resist +30%, 10% To Maximum Fire Resist, Adds 12-33 Fire Damage, + 2 to Light Radius) Cute and useful at the same time

- War Traveler (25% Faster Run/Walk, +10 To Vitality, +10 To Strength, Adds 15-25 Damage)

- Gore Rider (30% Faster Run/Walk, 10% Chance Of Open Wounds, 15% Chance Of Crushing Blow, 15% Deadly Strike) 15% DS is equal to 15% more damage over time. Hmmm, this and LoH gloves would be a cool combo for tooTHrow.

Hats - So many good Magical and Rare ones to choose from, some even come with up to 3 holes. Don't overlook those Baba hats with skill bonuses and sockets.

- Biggin's Bonnet (+30% Enhanced Damage) Minus 50% style points but one good hat. This would work nicely socketed with a Fervor jewel for those time 15% of IAS is all you need to reach the next speed range.

- Coif of Glory (Hit Blinds Target) Ok if you keep up the Mlvl vs Clvl curve.

- The Face of Horror (+50% Damage To Undead, Hit Causes Monsters to Flee 50%. All Resistance +10, +20 To Strength) Nice cheap safety and damage hat.

- Undead Crown (+50% Damage Vs. Undead, +50-100 Attack Rating Vs. Undead, 5% Life Stolen Per Hit) Okay if you are going for specific monster type damage.

- Rockstopper ( Damage Reduced By 10%, 30% Faster Hit Recovery, Cold Resist +20-40%, Fire Resist +20-50%, Lightning Resist +20-40%, +15 To Vitality) Nice Damage reduction, HP and resists all in one package giving you more choices in other items.

- Stealskull (10% Increased Attack speed, 10% Faster Hit Recovery, 5% Life Stolen Per Hit, 5% Mana Stolen Per Hit) Not too bad a hat with built-in IAS

- Blackhorn's Face (Slows Target By 20%, Prevent Monster Heal, +20 Lightning Absorb, Lightning Resist +15%) Nice hat that's great for LEB too.

- Vampire Gaze (Adds 6-22 Cold Damage - 4 Second Duration, 6-8% Life Stolen Per Hit, 6-8% Mana Stolen Per Hit, Damage Reduced By 15-20%, Magic Damage Reduced By 10-15) Not bad with its cold damage duration, but not the best hat for a thrower.

- Harlequin Crest (+2 To All Skills, + 1.5-148.5 To Life, +1.5-148.5 To Mana, Damage Reduced By 10%) Not bad for the extra life and +2 to all skills translates into more safety and damage. Minus 100 style points - the Biggin's Bonnet at least has better item graphic, and somewhat cool for a high lvl character to be using the lowest lvl unique (Clvl 3) next to the Pelta Lunata Clvl 2)

- Arreat's Face (30% Faster Hit Recovery, 20% Bonus To Attack Rating, +2 To Barbarian Skill Levels, 3-6% Life Stolen Per Hit, All Resistance +30, +20 To Strength, +20 To Dexterity, +2 To Combat Skills) Safety, Leech, AR and a whole bunch more damage (from Str, Dex and +Skills) all in one. The added damage of Arreat's face with tooTHrow's stats, is worthy of a perfect Ruby by itself. Nice package if you can stand humongous wings sticking out from the sides of your head. Be careful with that, you might poke someone in the eyes.

- M'avina's True Sight (30% IAS) Might not be too bad to combine with M'avina's Icy Clutch (gloves) for a total of +30 Str and 15 Dex plus 6-18 Cold Damage, Half Freeze Duration

- Guillaume's Face (30% Faster Hit Recovery, 15% Deadly Strike, 35% Chance of Crushing Blow, +15 To Strength) More or less a Enhanced Damage hat

- Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest (10% Life Stolen Per Hit, 10% Mana Stolen Per Hit, All Resistance +15, +30 To Mana, +60 To Life) One of the best hat in the game for leech hungry characters. Socket it with a Fervor jewel and use it with Cleglaw Pincers for an alternative to Howltusk and Sigon's gloves combo.

Belts -
- Nosferatu's Coil (Slows Target By 10%, +2 To Mana After Each Kill, 5% Life Stolen Per Hit, +15 To Strength, 10% Increased Attack Speed) IAS, and slows targets means you go faster, relatively. Possibly all the leech you will ever need. -3 To Light Radius not good in dark places.

- Thundergod's Vigor (Adds 1-50 Lightning Damage, +20 Lightning Absorb, 10% To Maximum Lightning Resist, +20 To Strength, +20 To Vitality) Very nice even if you are not a Zon.

- Hwanin's Blessing (Adds 3-33 Lightning Damage, Prevent Monster Heal, 12% Damage Taken Goes To Mana) - Wimps who can barely inflict enough damage to keep up with monster HP regeneration take note.

Weapons
It's obvious to choose the fastest weapons and those having the most listed damage, however, beware of surprises when you juggle items. Weapons choices for a thrower is both simple and complicated at the same time.

It is simple because you cannot fashion throw weapons by way of rune words or socketing, you are simply stuck with Magical throws the retailers sell and rare Rares from monsters. You can have throwing weapons imbued, craft Blood throwing axes and Safety javs, but we all know the chance of getting something decent is against you in the current LoD version. Accept the fact that the best weapon you might ever get is a Cruel or GrandMaster prefix elite of nothing. And accept the fact that a thrower has to make up what his weapons lack with other items. Especially, you will go through many upgrade as you progress - unlike other builds that have certain known weapons they can plan for. The unique (War Dart) Death Bit and (Francisca) Scalper pales in comparison to what you can buy from the shops.

Death Bit
Throw Damage: 130-180 ED (27.6-33.6) To (57.5-70) (Low end avg 42.55, and perfect avg 51.8 Avg)
Required Level: 44
Base Weapon Speed: [0]
40% Deadly Strike
7-9% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies)
4-6% Mana Stolen Per Hit (varies)
FPA = 8, APS = 2.7
Low end avg DPS = 114.88 (160.83 with 40% DS)
Perfect avg DPS = 139.86 (195.80 with 40% DS)

Deadly Strike - This is a chance of doing double damage. This bonus is applied after skills

The Scalper
Throw Damage: 150-200% ED (47.5-57) To (85-102) (Low end avg 66.25, and Perfect avg 79.5 Avg)
Required Level: 57
Base Weapon Speed: [10]
33% Chance Of Open Wounds
+4 To Mana After Each Kill (enough leech to power Double Throw and Frenzy)
20% Increased Attack Speed
4-6% Life Stolen Per Hit (varies)
FPA = 8, APS = 3.1
Low end avg Dmg per sec = 205.37 (plus Dmg roughly equal to your class lvl for Open Wounds)
Perfect avg Dmg per sec = 246.45 (plus Dmg roughly equal to your class lvl for Open Wounds)

Open Wounds - does roughly the same amount of damage per second as your class level, for 4 seconds.
Not sure if percentage chance of Open Wounds from weapons stacks. However, even with 33% chance, it would be reasonable (from experience with 25% Howl effect on my Howltusk) to assume every monster will be affected by the effect sometimes while they are alive unless you one hit kill them.

How do they compare to the 4 weapons tooTHrow is using. The following is only a quick simple comparison based on weapon stats alone.
Note: ** = If the 20% IAS from the Scalper actually boost your attack speed to the next Speed Range with your setup.

Weapon choices can be complicated for a thrower because much of his power comes from speed, or, increased attack speed. Speed makes a big difference for a Double Thrower because the wide range of attack speed, ranging from 2.3 to 7.1 per second with throw knives and axes, and because of the diminishing return on IAS generating IAS Dead Zones. Dead Zone is where, within a certain range of IAS% one does not gain attack speed. Using Winged axe for example, a Double Thrower attacks at the same speed at 100% IAS as he would with 165% IAS. Normally, A faster weapon with slightly lower damage would deal out more damage than a slower weapon over time. However, when you are deep in the Dead Zone, a slower weapon with slightly more damage can catch up in attack speed thus doing more damage over time. You can see one of these examples with tooTHrow's current weapons listed below - Compare the figures between the GrandMaster Flying knife to the Cruel Winged axe. So, check the Double Throw Speed then calculate your actual output with your setup.

So lets see some real figures with real setups.
Due to the lack of and high-end unique throwing weapon and not being socketable, there is no one "ultimate" setup for a thrower since one might end up using any combinations of weapon type and damage range. In this section, we will go through a series of exercises, different ways of looking at speed and damage using tooTHrow as an example - so that you will be able to follow along and substitute you own data to get the best setup for yourself. tooTHrow normally wears a Speed plate (a gothic plate with 4 Fervor jewels for 60% IAS (for a total of 110% IAS)) and occasionally wears a gothic plate with 142% Enhanced Damage (which only leaves 50% IAS). Damage shown includes some minor elemental damage, and all poison charms removed. Damage used for the calculations are averaged damage shown on the character screen.

Figures in Red - Replacing Howltusk with a Speed hat (socketed with 3 Fervor jewels for 45% more IAS). Total of 95% IAS with ED plate, and 155% with Speed plate. Figures in Orange signify no change in output. White shows the winner in DOT.

Note: that in tooTHrow's case the 20% IAS on Scalpers does make a difference on his finally attack speed.
Note: Damages shown do not include Critical Hit from Throw Mastery and 32% Deadly Strike from Highlord's Wrath.

Where the GM Flying Knife catches up in attack speed, it wins by having more damage from weapon. Cruel Winged Axe wins by speed alone and with more significant DOT, even though it does less damage per attack. ED plate wins (with some IAS in other items to begin with)

At first glance Dead Bit seems to be almost worthless with its level 44 requirement and do less Dmg than the Scalper (lvl 57). Of course the 40% Deadly Strike should have been given a closer look, but the increase in speed with tooTHrow's set up allows it to catch up with the Scalper (Dead Bit at 2.7 vs Scalper's 3.1 APS without IAS from other items) also played an important role. Both of the unique throwing weapons still pale in comparison to what you can buy in the shops.

From 0% base IAS
What this table (same table as above but without IAS bonus form amulet and gloves) shows is how much IAS, or lack thereof, can affects the total damage output. The first handful of IAS is most important - Without any IAS from other items, a Speed plate win over a ED plate, and, by a wide margin with slower weapons. (Compare figures in gold)

How things can change -
Just bought another Cruel Winged axe from Malah so now I have a pair. Of all the weapons I have so far, the Winged Axes does the most damage over time unless I go full tilt with a Speed hat. Lets make another table and see which weapon pair is "better". I am pretty well stuck with the Highlord's Wrath amulet (all other items can be replaced one way or another) so we will start with a base 20% IAS.

Minimum IAS = Minimum IAS needed for each Flying Knife or, Winged Axe speed range. Winner in White.

It is obvious that the GrandMaster Flying Knife does more damage than the Cruel Winged Axe per attack, and also more DOT if they are thrown at the same speed. Since there is no IAS built into either weapon, 140% IAS would be top speed for both weapon without Frenzy. Now comes the tricky (or fun) part trying to determine how much IAS you should have. What it comes down to is that the Cruel Winged Axe wins with anything less than 60% IAS. One more way to simplify the comparison is to say each weapon wins every other IAS steps (the first column of the table) from 40% to 140%. You need not be concerned with IAS% in-between the steps since there is no increase in attack speed for either weapon.

Even when the Flying Knife wins at certain speed setting, it's not by a significant margin. In general a faster weapon with slightly lower damage will still give you more DOT. So go with the faster weapons if all things being equal. Still, there may be times you find a pair of slower weapons with mods that make them more desirable (Such as Knockback, leech, increase stack size, +resistance, etc.). if you have a set of throwing weapons you like, then customize your items to optimize.

Customize or Optimize
Maybe now is a good time to look at customization vs optimization while we have this table still in view.
Customization gives less emphases on weapons when equipping your thrower. You would focus to equip your thrower according to your play style, safety, versatility and fun factor. For example, you might be a bit of a slob (or brave, as you might put it ;p) constantly running into mobs and getting hit, so it might be fun to have a pair of Infernostride for Fire resist, Fast walk/run, +Fire damage and its cute effect when Blaze kicks in. And, if you figure a mask has got to be coolest look for a baba so you put on Blackhorn's Face because Slow Target has got to be good and Lite Absorb can't hurt either (we are not going to tell that's because you do such puny damage that you need Prevent Monster Heal). A thrower gives you that flexibility to be more creative with your items. Any IAS you happen to put on while customizing would be a nice bonus because the first handful of IAS can make a huge difference in damage over time. After you are satisfied with your setup is the time to add up all the IAS bonus (if any) and then look at what weapons you are using. You will have access to at least 2 sockets (hat and armor) to add 30% IAS - highly recommended if you have none. If you have some IAS to begin with, see how many sockets you can get and determine if you get more benefit from more IAS, or is it better spent on other mods such as elemental or enhanced damage.

Optimization focuses on doing the most damage and/or speed. Speed not only for dishing out more physical damage over time, speed lets you lock up any monster with Knockback, speed is the key attribute when you are relying on elemental damage. It would be too cool to have a team of Elemental-only throwers, each concentrating on one or two elements...

Important Note
Remember that "Enhanced Damage" on non-weapon multiplies the weapon's listed damage with the amount of ED%, then adds it to the total damage much like elemental damage - It's not further modified by stat and skill bonuses. What this means is that the Optimization calculations will be much different for your character because your character might be doing more or less damage per attack. I will include an example in the following table for comparison. Example character is in Grey.

GM/Maim Flying Knife = 634 avg damage per attack
Max IAS is 50% without using Fervor jewel or IAS on weapon - Keeping RazorTail belt, Amulet - 20, Gloves - 30. Base 2.7 APS - Average 1711.8 Dmg/Sec with no IAS or ED - Each 40% ED = 46.6 avg per attack. Numbers in White are DPS bonus at different attack speeds with one perfect Ruby jewel

We can see how important speed is here - tooTHrow can achieve 3487 DPS by adding nothing but speed while it would take tooTHrow's base 50% IAS, to get the attack speed to a respectable range, and 5 perfect Rubys to beat it (or 30% IAS and 7 Rubys).

So, with my Sigon gloves and Highlord's Wrath I have a base of 50% IAS which takes me to the 4.1 APS range, and if I use all 7 sockets for Ruby jewels, it will give me 3936.82 DPS. (4141.82)

Can we do better than using up all sockets on Rubys? Yes! (Optimize)
Base 50% + 1 Fervor takes me to 65% IAS @ 4.5 APS, and 6 Rubys will give me 4111.2 DPS (4336.2)
Base 50% + 3 Fervors takes me to 95% IAS @ 5 APS, and 4 Rubys will give me 4102 DPS (4352)
The Winner would be 3 Fervor at 5 APS even though the physical Dmg is slightly less by a minuscule amount. The faster attack speed will come out a winner if you have "any" elemental damage at all. Example character wins also with physical Dmg.

Best Compromise for tooTHrow with Flying Knife
Since I am pretty fond of the Highlord's Wrath, Howltusk and RazorTail, and I like the Sigon Gloves combo, that leaves me with a base of 50% IAS at 4.1 APS, and only 5 sockets to work with.
Without using any sockets - 2599.4 DPS
5 Rubys - 3554.7 DPS
1 Fervor(15%) will give me a total of 65% IAS @ 4.5 APS, and 4 Rubys - 3691.8 DPS (winner)
3 Fervor(45%) will give me a total of 95% IAS @ 5 APS, and 2 Rubys - 3636 DPS (not bad for 11% more speed, equals more elemental damage also)

Cruel Winged Axe = 627 avg damage per attack
Max IAS is 50% without using Fervor jewel or IAS on weapon - Keeping RazorTail belt, Amulet - 20, Gloves - 30
Base 3.1 APS - Average 1943.7 Dmg/Sec with no IAS or ED - Each 40% ED = 45.8 avg per attack.
Numbers in White are DPS bonus at different attack speeds with one perfect Ruby jewel.

Again, with my Sigon gloves and Highlord's Wrath I have a base of 50% IAS which takes me to the 4.5 APS range, and if I use all 7 sockets for Ruby jewels, will give me 4264.2 DPS.

Can we do better than using up all sockets on Rubys? Yes! (Optimize)
Base 50% + 1 Fervor takes me to 65% IAS @ 5 APS, and 6 Rubys will give 4509 DPS

Best Compromise for tooTHrow with Winged Axe
Base of 50% IAS at 4.5 APS, and only 5 sockets to work with.
Without using any sockets - 2821.5 DPS
5 Rubys - 3852 DPS
4 Fervor(60%) will give me a total of 110% IAS at 5.5 APS, and 1 Ruby - 3700.4 DPS
1 Fervor(15%) will give me a total of 65% IAS at 5 APS, and 4 Rubys - 4051 DPS. (winning combo)

Summary
Get you attack speed to a respectable range first. What is a respectable range? I would say speed at around 4 APS is good, it's easy to get to and still leave much room for Customization or Optimization.

Any IAS over the minimum percentage needed to get to that range is wasted which can be used for more damage.

Also depends on how many holes are used up just to get to the next range and what percentage of speed increase you get from it. For example, if you used 3 holes to get there, have that weight against 120% ED

But there are times when more speed is desirable even if you are doing less damage. You maybe doing more damage to kill a monster faster, but if you let that Fanaticism Enchanted Moonlord boss get close to you, you are dead meat. If you attack faster (even doing less damage over time) you can lock up that tough boss, staying completely safe as long as you have knives to throw. Speed is also the only way to go if you want to have some fun with elemental weapons.

Elemental
The shops in Hell difficulty offer only Balanced type axes and knives so at least you will be getting high speed elemental weapons. What you want, of course, is Balanced Knife (and its exceptional and elite form) which can get up to 6.2 APS with 120% IAS, and reach speed limit of 7.1 APS with even a low lvl Frenzy/Fanaticism. The way poison works in this version makes it a good supplement but not something you can count on for fast processing. I would rather carry a couple of poison charms just to prevent monster heal. Cold does the least damage out of the other 3 elements doing only ~1/3 of lightning damage. It is also easier to get more damage with Lightning because Shocking in the 1-450 range is quite common while you would need a good minimum and maximum on Hibernal or Condensing to get a good average damage.

Hibernal +24-45 Minimum and 91-140 Maximum Cold Damage - (4 sec Duration) - avg = 92.5
Winter Adds 5-9 Minimum and 16-50 Maximum Cold Damage - 5 sec Duration
Condensing +121-170 Minimum and 181-240 Maximum Fire Damage - avg = 205
Incineration Adds 10-15 Minimum and 21-75 Maximum Fire Damage
Shocking +1 Minimum and 361-480 Maximum Lightning Damage - avg = 240.5
Storms Adds 1-6 Minimum and 40-120 Maximum Lightning Damage
Pestilent +275 Poison Damage Over 6 Seconds avg = 45.8 if that's the only poison source
Anthrax Adds 13-25 Poison Damage over 2 Seconds

In small and especially solo games, elemental knives are quite effective as weapons for all occasions. The following table shows the amount of damage you can expect from different types and speed. Damages are based on perfect Prefix and prefix ONLY - your mileage may vary.

Note: IAS% uses tooTHrow's items, and is not the lowest % you need to get to a certain speed. For example, you would only need 90% to get Flying Axe to 4.5 APS, and only 120% to get Balanced Knife to 6.2 APS.

That's a pretty chunk of 1491.1 Lite damage at 6.2 APS (and up to 1707.55 at max speed) just from weapons alone. tooTHrow also has a hat socketed with jewels doing an avg of ~150 Lite damage. That's another 825 Lite DPS throwing at Winged Knife speed with the Speed plate, for a total of 2147.75 per sec. I am not even counting charms and other +Elemental Dmg on other items yet!

You can do well without Berserk :)

Lucky for tooTHrow he can keep his Howltusk with a Fervor. The best compromise on both the Winged Axes and Flying Knives call for 1 Fervor (already in Howltusk) and 4 Rubys (already have ED plate). And, a Speed plate (already have) for throwing elemental kinves at 6.2 APS. :)

And finally...

Double Throw Speed Table
This table ends at 205 IAS% - 165% form items and possible 40% more from weapon. Max IAS available from non weapon items = 165%
Amulet - 20 (Cat's Eye, Highlord's Wrath)
Hat - 45 (3 Fervor jewels, M'avina's True Sight with a Fervor)
Armor - 60 (4 Fervor jewels)
Gloves - 30 (Sigon's combo, Death's combo)
Belt - 10 (Glodwrap, Nosferatu's Coil)

in brackets is the lvl of Frenzy or Fanaticism (Fzy/Fan) to take it to the speed limit at the lowest IAS%. Speed Limit for Double Throw is 1.5 FPA at 7.1 APS. Not listed when it exceed lvl 20.

(max) indicates Speed Limit after a lvl 20 Frenzy

Enjoy :)

KoP