View Full Version : Please Help my FA Amazon
I've got a lvl 84 Amazon, and I've been really struggling to survive in Hell difficulty. Can someone please recommend to me where I am going wrong, what I can change, etc?
I am constantly dying, even in Hell Act 1. This makes it extremely difficult to level up, and I am constantly low on money, one moment I may have about 600k saved up, the next I may end up walking around with barely 200k (and my mercenary costs me 50k).
I have a Might Mercenary at lvl 84. He generally does pretty well. Survives better than me by far.
I'll list my character's stats and equipment first:
[Base Stats]
Strength: 120
Dexterity: 295
Vitality: 80
Energy: 15
Note I am lvl 84, and have completed all the +5 stat quests in all difficulties.
[Life/Mana with Full Equipment]
Life: 515
Mana: 209
[Damage with Full Equipment without Might Aura]
Normal Attack: 698-1981
With Freezing Arrow: 698-1981 + 2014-2189 (FA)
With Guided Arrow: 720-2076
[Base Skills]
Freezing Arrow: 20
Ice Arrow: 20
Cold Arrow: 20
Magic Arrow: 1
Multishot: 1
Strafe: 1
Guided Arrow: 3 (planned on putting rest into this)
Critical Strike: 7
Pierce: 7
Penetrate: 2
Dodge: 3
Evade: 3
Avoid: 3
Innersight: 1
Decoy: 1
Valkyrie: 1
Slow Missiles: 1
Note I have done all the skill bonus quests in all difficulties.
Resistances (with full equipment on [Hell Difficulty]):
Fire: 67
Cold: 61
Lightning: 75
Poison: 63
Without M'avina's Set all my resistances are around -50.
EQUIPMENT:
I am wearing M'avina's Set, which includes the bow, helm, armour, gloves, and belt.
The bow has been socketed with a perfect skull.
The helm and armour have been socketed with ED (enhanced damage) jewels adding up to 71%.
Amulet: Highlord's Wrath
Ring 1: Manald Heal 7% mana leech
Ring 2: Rare Ring, several minor resistance books, 6% life leech
Boots: Gore Rider
I have a large assortment of charms, mainly either resistance boosts, mana supply boosts, and poison damage (total of about 175 damage in poison charms).
------------------------------------------
The Problems:
1.Physical and Cold Immune are unpleasant. Beatable, but not in large numbers.
2.**A lot of Hell Difficulty monsters can kill me in 1-3 hits. Some monsters run really fast.**
3.Exploding monsters on death, almost instant death for me if they explode near me.
4.My mana leech seems to be fine in most situation (except obviously physical immunes), but my life bar doesn't raise anywhere near as fast when its low. Normally, if my life is low, I have about 1 second to drink a potion before whatever is hitting me finishes me off. I can't rely on life leech unless I've lost only about 1/4 hp.
---------------------------------------------
Please give me advice and help on this so I can survive in Hell difficulty and kill monsters and etc.
Thanks in advance,
Maeror
I think that the synergy points in the skill that increases freeze duration are wasted. The same effect (its cut to 25% in hell) could have been achieved with cold charms. Those points would have been better spend in Valkyrie (10 more, so with set bonus you cast her at lv 17) and a lot more in either Strafe or MS. With a Nef'ed bow (Knockback) this gives great crowd control. With IAS jewels in helm and armour you reach a nice firing speed (9/3 Strafe, I think)
Shanksie1337
12-06-2004, 13:13
i'll have a stab, tho FA and mav's isn't my best point.
I seem to remember that mav's needs a shael in the bow (or some IAS jewels in either helm/armour) in order to reach the next bp. If i were you i'd put IAS jewel is the helm (and the armour if needed - can't remember if u need to do both). This frees up the bow so you can put an "Amn" rune in, this will help you with the LL. You say your ML is ok - if you feel you lack some ML see if you can swap the rare ring for a LL ring with a small amount of ML.
As for lvl 1 Valk - not wise, especially with mav's set, which isn't the best set in the game by a long way. I would have really settled for a lvl 17 valk, including +skills, and i would have tried to max her, as she will be vital in helping keep you safe.
I think you have also wasted 20 skill points in the cold tree - One of FA's synergies only increases the freeze length and not the damage, so normal FA builds only put 1 point in here and gain extra duration from cold damage mods on charms and on items like a ravenfrost.
I may be wrong, but i would consider a remake - a mav based zon isn't the easiest of builds and with 20 points wasted in the cold tree, and a very under-developed Valk i can't see many "quick fixes" If you haven't already, then i'd suggest reading thru freyas FA guide stickied at the top of this forum as there may be some help in there.
edit - god did it really take me all that time to type that, lol det beat me too it
Cool thanks for the advice!
So far I got +7 to pretty much all skills, so I thought a lvl 8 valkyrie would be decent. But yeah I shouldn't have wasted those freezing duration synergies and should stick it into valk, which I guess I'll do... Find people to help online can be a pain though, oh well.
I haven't got any cold charms, so thats a problem too.
At first I thought Mav set would be awesome for me, cos a)its the first high level set I've ever gotten and b)it composed of some of the best items I've ever found (okay never found, since they were all given to me by friendly people).
I have looked at some of those guides, but I'm not sure what bow to use if I don't use mav set. Plus I'd lose the best MF equipment I have. Not to mention I don't know how to find items better than M'avinas...
Lastly, where would I find IAS Jewels and the Hel runes for unsocketing my stuff? The best rune I ever found was an UM, and I traded it for the two ED jewels I am currently using. I am somewhat loathe to destroy the use of these jewels, since I doubt I'll ever find anything as good as that UM again. And the only time I ever found a Hel, some guy tricked me, saying it was the lowest lvl rune possible, that he had a use for it, and it was worthless (after all it had no lvl requirements)...
And the problem still stands, where when I am entering a room or corner, etc, sometimes theres those super fast monsters who zap up to me, bash me into oblivion, before I can have a chance to run and get my mercenary/valk to defend for me. What should I do? Should I use PDR stuff instead of Mavs? I don't have many good stuff, like I said, Mav's is probably the best I have ever gotten. Ever. In all these years. Plus they were given to me anyway, so I didn't even find em.
Please send me more help!
Thanks in advance,
Maeror
PS- the guides confuse me sometimes. Some say put this into that, some say put none into this instead. One guide on here says 1 into valkyrie, while another I read on another site said put 20...
PPS- all I really want is an amazon who can survive in Hell difficulty up to Act 5, not die instantly when someone explodes, rushes up to me, or be owned by a couple guys with those arrows (4 skeleton archers can pound me pretty fast if I don't a) move, or b) kill them fast). I just want to be able to handle the monsters, I don't care about pvp. And I hope to have some MF so I can *cough* TRY to find some decent stuff. Mostly I give away to those who need it, but I do like some stuff that I can collect.
ConFusion
12-06-2004, 15:50
Cool thanks for the advice!
I haven't got any cold charms, so thats a problem too.
At first I thought Mav set would be awesome for me, cos a)its the first high level set I've ever gotten and b)it composed of some of the best items I've ever found (okay never found, since they were all given to me by friendly people).
I have looked at some of those guides, but I'm not sure what bow to use if I don't use mav set. Plus I'd lose the best MF equipment I have. Not to mention I don't know how to find items better than M'avinas...
Lastly, where would I find IAS Jewels and the Hel runes for unsocketing my stuff? The best rune I ever found was an UM, and I traded it for the two ED jewels I am currently using. I am somewhat loathe to destroy the use of these jewels, since I doubt I'll ever find anything as good as that UM again. And the only time I ever found a Hel, some guy tricked me, saying it was the lowest lvl rune possible, that he had a use for it, and it was worthless (after all it had no lvl requirements)...
And the problem still stands, where when I am entering a room or corner, etc, sometimes theres those super fast monsters who zap up to me, bash me into oblivion, before I can have a chance to run and get my mercenary/valk to defend for me. What should I do? Should I use PDR stuff instead of Mavs? I don't have many good stuff, like I said, Mav's is probably the best I have ever gotten. Ever. In all these years. Plus they were given to me anyway, so I didn't even find em.
Please send me more help!
Thanks in advance,
Maeror
PS- the guides confuse me sometimes. Some say put this into that, some say put none into this instead. One guide on here says 1 into valkyrie, while another I read on another site said put 20...
PPS- all I really want is an amazon who can survive in Hell difficulty up to Act 5, not die instantly when someone explodes, rushes up to me, or be owned by a couple guys with those arrows (4 skeleton archers can pound me pretty fast if I don't a) move, or b) kill them fast). I just want to be able to handle the monsters, I don't care about pvp. And I hope to have some MF so I can *cough* TRY to find some decent stuff. Mostly I give away to those who need it, but I do like some stuff that I can collect.
Hey hey, don't be such a victim. Everyone can find good stuff, even when you don't have anything in the first place. Bowazons require some nifty stuff to be really good in hell in 1.10, unlike in 1.09 where you could go naked except for a buriza and still own everything at level 42.
I suggest you rebuild your amazon. 19 skillpoints wasted in Ice Arrow is a realy pain, especially since the rest of your skills (especially passive) are lacking too.
I wouldn't put any point in Guided Arrow myself anymore (well... 1... as prerequiste for Strafe). Maybe you should look up for my 'guide' about mavina-zons, which used Freezing Arrow a lot too.
About guides pointing everyone in different directions: well, guides just tell people what the maker thinks is best. Some builds are better off with lvl 1 valk rather than level 17+, since those skill points must sometimes be spend elsewhere. In this case however, I think you're best off with some higher valk, it DOES help after all.
For more info I point you towards my mavinazon guide, which can be found by using the search.
Uh I tried searching for your guide, but I couldn't find it. But I found one by someone called sexyfool, which I am considering.
I am curious though, how many points should I put into strafe? The guide I read suggests only 1 point, but I read another good guide that says max it, as it will eliminate the 3/4 damage reduction.
And should I really max penetrate? The majority of the guides I've found suggest only 1-2...
Now..I put the M'avinas set on an Immo zon and she wears a catseye..so her resists in hell are decent. She only has 15/15 in the cold tree/synergy. Maybe the Mav set is not the best in the world, but even on a zon that was not really build for it, it works fine. Can't wait to try it on the rebuild that is currently lv 43....
Of course...what I really have come to love is my WWS Strafer, but again...its something you can just search for in the forums...and it uses nothing from M'avinas (the Diadem could be nice, though). A WWS Strafer can do entirely with only maxed Strafe..you might totally forget about all other skills..maybe 1 pt in FA to freeze monsters. Lots of Valk, a bit in Pierce. DAE as you seem fit and the build can be finished around lv 60-70...
..and of course 86 IAS, which is VERY easy to get.
Naliworld
13-06-2004, 06:27
Now..I put the M'avinas set on an Immo zon and she wears a catseye..so her resists in hell are decent. She only has 15/15 in the cold tree/synergy. Maybe the Mav set is not the best in the world, but even on a zon that was not really build for it, it works fine. Can't wait to try it on the rebuild that is currently lv 43....
I think I'm attempting a similar build(eg. Pure Magezon using M'avina's, with maxed Immo/Explosive/Frozen/Cold Arrow). I'm forseeing a lot of skillpoint troubles later on in my Zon's life. Do you have any tips on keeping Immo/Frozen Arrow damage roughly equal by splitting points between their synergies, keeping in mind the full set's +20% Cold Damage? Or should I be focusing on one element only, with just leftover points going into the other element?
ConFusion
13-06-2004, 13:02
Of course...what I really have come to love is my WWS Strafer...
Really? You love WWS? Never noticed ;) ;)
About my guide... the lamers had it removed I'm afraid... :/
Your penetration/strafe needs are depending on what you need yourself... with a higher strafe level it fires more arrows per strafe, so that's a thing you might want anyway. With a higher penetration you hit more... I can't recall any good AR-mods on m'avina's set so you might want to invest a bit in this too.
Hehe ConFusion..I know that the regular posters and readers here probably groan when they read my posts that usually go "Yada Yada Yada...use a WWS..lalalalal....max strafe....blablabla 86 IAS :lol:
But for everyone of those you get 2 ppl that start a thread "I wanna make a new uberzon that ownz everyone in PvM and PvP - please tell me how" (posters in this thread excepted)
@Naliworld: The good thing is that with a FA/Immo build, you basically need no points in penetrate as it gets a good AR bonus. So you need to decide if you want to max the actual skill (good AR bonus, high mana cost) or the synergy (lower AR, lower manacost). Since +skills don't help the synergy, maybe it is better to max the synergy and get the skill up through the plus skills on the set (Thinking 20/15 here). That way you spend 70 points on the attack skill and might only need 1 pt in DAE, CS, penetrate...a bit more in pierce, maybe 4-5 and about 10 in Valk. You might be as bold as investing no points in MS, GS and Strafe and are finished with about 90 points spend, around lv 80.
But... (there always is a but)...for this build, I totally had to change my playing style. The immo timer is very annoying and what can you spam when fighting a CI? Maybe EA...a very mana intense build. With 5 on belt, 7 on Manald and 2 on a rare dual leech ring, I still run out of mana occasionally. A Might merc will help here. So in the end I invested 1 point in Strafe, GS and MS and it got up to s.th like lv 7 through plus skills. With a Catseye ammy, you hit the 9/3 BP and could socket IAS jewels in helm and armour while you Nef the bow, bringing you to 9/2. I think that would be the performance increase I want.
If you rather go MS, I think you are fine as you are and could get some other jewels into the armour and helm. (have to search for Liessas Wyrmbanes thread on new IAS/Strafe BP update)
...I haven't got any cold charms, so thats a problem too.
Lastly, where would I find IAS Jewels and the Hel runes for unsocketing my stuff? ...And the problem still stands, where when I am entering a room or corner, etc, sometimes theres those super fast monsters who zap up to me, bash me into oblivion, before I can have a chance to run and get my mercenary/valk to defend for me.
What realm are you on? If you playing Ladder USWest, I can give you some cold damage charms and some runes/jewels if you really want to swap out the +ED jewels. However, the bow and helm already give you +70% IAS and you have another +20% IAS from Highlords. This puts you at 9/3 attck speed and since you aren't using strafe as a secondary attack, there's really no reason to add any speed to what you already have. You said your mana leech is OK but not your life leech. Using FA, I would have thought the opposite. Still, one option would be to unsocket the P Skull from the bow and stick a Nef in there for knockback which will help keep the nasties off you. This should reduce your need for life leech. For those Cold Immunes, either use GA or try shooting regular arrows which is an automatic Level Magic Arrow. Both should be adding 114-377 Magic Damage from the Bow. Another option would be to use another bow on weapon switch for Cold Immunes such as Witchwild String (Level 20 Magic Arrows + amplify damage), Kuko Shakaku (lots of fire damage) or Skystrike (lots of lightning damage). These bows are pretty easy to trade for cheaply. I would also recommend either adding +Life charms or add more skill points to Vitality. Your life seems a bit low for hell difficulty. Finally, you should be playing this character as a 'back seat driver'. By this I mean let your Valkyrie and Merc lead the way as much as possible and use Decoy ahead of you to 'scout' what's around those corners and into those rooms.
Yeah I'm on Ladder USWest, *TraurigRitter
I've done some major reconfigerations, and I think I may be doing better now. I think I will have plenty of leech in my new config, but I think I may have pretty bad resistances in Hell... I'm aiming to get Chains of Honour, +65 resist all, and a couple resistance charms. I found a couple cold damage small charms. Only problem now is finding those runes, I only have Dol.
Anyone got any spare Ber, Ists, Ums lying around? :innocent:
vBulletin® v3.8.4, Copyright ©2000-2009, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.