robbx2
23-07-2004, 22:32
This is my first attempt at a guide. Please be nice to me when commenting. My goal is to be as accurate and consistant as possible on information. I have some nicer formatting done on Word of course but we'll see about getting the guide into completed status before worrying about the look of the document. I also have a cool excel spreadsheet of my character that can't be pasted on here. I cannot post attachments though so I'm not sure how I'd get it shown...
Mavinazon - PvM
This is the first in a series of PvM guides involving the class-specific sets. This particular guide talks about making an Amazon character that utilizes the M’avina’s Battle Hymn set. Depending on how you play this character could last forever and never be finished. The point of this build is that it’s pretty easy to get the character going, but will be nearly impossible to complete 100%, thus giving you a reason to continue playing.
In addition, I recommend using both diabloii.net and the Arreat summit when looking up any information. When in doubt trust the Arreat Summit information.
If any of the abbreviations I use are confusing just see the glossary at the end of the guide. Since this build is based on the M’avina’s set we should start with the gear and go from there.
Gear
Don’t forget that on the Ladder you can upgrade normal and exceptional items to elite status. If something here is a normal or exceptional item and has too low of Def or Dmg it can be upgraded. Additionally, sockets can be cleared so that if you find a decent jewel that you want to use for awhile until you find something better don’t be afraid to use it.
Helm
M’avina’s True Sight (Diadem)
Armor
M’avina’s Embrace (Kraken Shell)
Weapon
M’avina’s Caster (Grand Matron Bow)
Belt
M’avina’s Tenet (Sharkskin Belt)
Gloves
M’avina’s Icy Clutch (Battle Gauntlets)
Requirements = Clvl 70, Str 122
Set Ilvl = 21
The Good
- Ilvl = 21 makes this set moderately easy and cheap to acquire.
- IAS, +Sklz, ResAll, +Mgc/CldDmg, Str, Dex, MF
The M’avina’s set is a pretty good Amazon set also leaving room for improvement where needed. Although it has good IAS, ResAll, +Mgc/CldDmg, MF we can always use more of those. IAS is more important than most people recognize because in D2X “speed kills.” Ever notice how most Druids are Werewolves and not Werebears? Your Amazon will have high accuracy (AR, Dex) but relatively low Dmg because the bow starts out low. Since it is hard to increase Dmg by large amounts use IAS to kill stuff faster. In Hell each resist only reaches about 60 under the set, requiring an additional 15% ResAll from other items to reach 75% ResAll. If you have items that increase MaxRes above 75% you will need even more Res items. More MF is always good as long as you can still survive and kill monsters to be able to get those good items to drop.
The Bad & The Ugly
- Lacks attack diversity
- EDmg, Auras, PsnLngRed, LghtRes, DmgRed, MaxRes, Leach
The M’avina’s set screams “Freezing Arrow” because of the added CldDmg and +20% CldSklzDmg. However, Hell monster immunities require some attack diversity that will be addressed. EDmg items can help a lot but you can also kill faster with Max/MinDmg and IAS items. No auras are included in the set and CTC spells are limited. PsnLng in Hell is too long with the set. Lght in Hell is also scary (Gloams anyone?). DmgRed is almost non-present. MaxRes is stuck at 75%.
One final note, although not necessarily a problem, is that you will not be able to utilize any runewords besides what may be in your switch. The good side of that is you can use all the runes you get to trade for your other gear.
What we’ll do is try to continue building on the strengths of the M’avina’s Set while filling in the holes it leaves. If nothing does both you’ll have to choose for yourself whether you want be elite in a few areas or try to round out your character. Because I play alone quite often I try to round out my character to account for what I am missing from large group play.
For each category below I will list items in order from Uber to Good to Serviceable.
Boots
The ultimate would be Merman’s Sprocket but it’s not even listed on the Arreat Summit and is not activated in-game. You’re not going to find boots with much EDmg, or auras so go for Res, MF, and common boots affixes like FHR, FRW, and increased Sta.
War Traveler
Sandstorm Trek
Both of these boots are very good and are nearly identical. They add to Vit, Str, FRW, and Sta. If you want more PsnRes and FHR go with Trek. If you want a little more MF go with Travs.
Marrowwalk
Gore Rider
Marrowwalk has Life Tap, which can be quite useful. Gore Rider gives some damaging stuff. Infernostride has FirRes and Fir is the most common monster element throughout the game, especially Act 4. Silkweave has MisDef.
Rare Boots
You can find rare boots with MF and lots of resists (up to 40%) to each element.
Amulet
You can get a lot of extras on amulets!
Crescent Moon
Cat’s Eye
Crescent Moon is dual leach and some DmgRed. Cat’s Eye has some cool stuff like FRW, MisDef, IAS, and +Dex but you’ll have to leach with something else if you forego the Crescent Moon.
Mahim-Oak Curio
Highlord’s Wrath
Metalgrid
Curio gives some Res and Att. Wrath has IAS and LghtRes. Metalgrid gives you Res and another Merc in Iron Golem.
Rare Amulet
Crafted Blood Amulet
Rare and crafted amulets can get some pretty good affixes like resists and leaches. You can look up the affixes if you want but even a perfect combination has trouble standing up to the uniques.
Ring
Rings are similar to the amulets but the crafted ring can turn out better.
Wisp Projector
Crafted Blood Ring
Wisp Projector gives you LghtAbs, MF, and your choice of Oak Sage, Heart of Wolverine, or Spirit of Barbs. My favorite is Heart of Wolverine to increase my whole party’s damage. A crafted blood ring can have lost of resists, MF, leach, and a little Str and Life.
Carrion Wind
Raven Frost
Dwarf Star
Wind has CTC, PsnRes, and some other cool stuff. Frost has CldAbs and NoFrz. Star has some good stuff including FirAbs.
Nagelring
A little MF is about all Nagelring really offers.
Switch
Your switch should do something to improve your entire party without requiring it to be equipped at the same time.
Call to Arms
CTA is perfect. You get some barb yells that add life, mana, and skill levels to your entire party. Just switch, BO, and switch back. Then start the fun! Just make sure you get one that has low enough Str to wield.
Also you should get a Lidless Wall for a shield. The +1 Sklz will up all of your skills while you’re switching.
Charms
Gheed’s Fortune
Annihilus
Get these charms. 40MF on a GC!?!? Three 7 mfsc only gets you 21% MF. The Annihilus is insane with Att, ResAll, and Exp.
Besides those I recommend some 100+ pdsc, 6-7 mfsc, 4-5 ResAll, or maybe some damage charms. How many you want to carry is up to you but I would say at least leave a 3x8 area in your inventory along with the Cube and at most leave a 4x8, the Cube, and a 2x2 above the Cube.
Sockets
Your sockets will be what keeps this character playing forever.
Weapon – Socket dmg and IAS jewels. EDmg or +Min/MaxDmg is fine either way but go for a top 80% jewel. That doesn’t mean top 80% of 1-40% EDmg. I mean top 80% of the highest affix Ruby which is 31-40% EDmg. So try to get somewhere around 37% EDmg or higher. IAS is a must here because speed kills.
Armor – EDmg, ResAll, MF, Dex, and FHR can all be found on jewels, even all together on a rare jewel.
Helm – A Cold Die Rainbow Facet jewel can be cool here to increase your CldDmg, lower enemy Res, and help out when a group of monsters kills you and you have to retrieve your body. Other than that some sort of rare jewel or maybe a PTopaz for MF would be nice.
Mercenary
Either get an Act 2 Normal Prayer Merc or the Act 2 Nightmare Might Merc. I recommend the Might since your party isn’t large enough for Prayer to be really effective. Also, your merc can leach and your Valk can be easily recast.
Helm
Something to keep him alive is necessary here.
Vampire Gaze
Rockstopper
Your merc will die a lot less often with Vamp Gaze saving you money and frustration. Either a PTopaz or another Cold Die Facet works well for socketing.
Armor
There are some good options here. Think along the lines of what your character needs and give your merc the same. EDmg, ResAll, Def, and anything with auras or group spells is definitely worthy.
Spirit Keeper (Inactive)
Steel Carapace
Black Hades
Gladiator’s Bane
This one is tough. I say go with a Steel Carapace for the CTC Iron Maiden, FHR, and CldRes. The problem is this requires 196 Str, which is pretty close to the max of 209 at Clvl99. You’ll probably have to have a –15% Req jewel socketed for quite some time on your mec unless you give him another item with +Str on it. Hades is cool because it gives you 3 sockets to mess with (sorry, no runewords in uniques) and Bane is pretty good too thanks to PsnLngRed. As far as socketing goes get the same stuff as for your character but lower your standards a little so you can get the socket filled and in use.
Weapon
Damage and area effects once again.
Doom [Hel Ohm Um Lo Cham] Cryptic Axe
OMG, this thing is tight! Those may be high runes but this is worth it. The Doom runeword is insane and the Cryptic Axe deals heavy damage. 330+% EDmg, 45% IAS, PrvntHeal, -40+% EnCldRes… oh yeah, and Holy Freeze Aura!!! This runeword is why you get a different Merc besides the Holy Freeze Act 2 Merc.
Attributes
Finish filling the attributes in the order they are mentioned. You can put 1 point each in Str and Vit and 3 points in Dex every level giving you Str 89- Dex 232- Vit 89- Eng 15 by level 70, which is the Clvl you can wear the entire set. You should be done filling Str and Vit by Clvl 80 (moderately easy to reach) so that from then on you are only adding Dex.
Energy = 15
Leave Eng at base unless you cannot find any ML gear. You can only shoot Freezing Arrow about 10 times before running out of mana without any leach.
Strength = 70-100
Depending on what items you use and what charms you want to carry you can set your Str high or low. Remember that M’avina’s Embrace requires 122 Str after the +30 Str of the set plus any other items that add to your Str.
Vitality = 80-110
Depending on your play style you can put 80-110 points in Vit. If you tend to stand and shoot like I do you should put more points into Vit. If you run and shoot or have better FHR and IAS gear you can afford less points in Vit. Additionally, if you play HC increase Vit by about 30 points.
Dexterity = 350-400+
Anything not going into Str or Vit should go here. Remember that for bows each point in Dex is another 1% EDmg, so +30 Dex is also 30% EDmg.
Skills
You will probably hit Clvl 85 and not level quickly beyond that. That leaves you 15 points that will be pretty hard to attain. If you’re going to max a skill only fill it to 10-15 at first so that those final 5 points are the ones you probably won’t get. This way you will have all the skills you want but the large ones will be just a bit weak. You can also save Critical Strike and Valkyrie for those 15 points. Beyond 10 points Critical Strike has diminished returns, so you won’t see a huge dropoff in damage. Also remember that you have plenty of +Sklz to make up for not filling a skill because of the 15 points that will be hard to get. Valkyrie can also survive decently at about Slvl 5 and if she dies you just cast a new one. Basically, don’t leave yourself stuck at Clvl 85 needing to fill your most important attack or synergy skills.
Bow & Crossbow
Freezing Arrow (15+)
This should be your main skill in Hell. However, you should fill Cold Arrow first because it gives you synergy damage without increasing the mana cost to shoot Freezing Arrow. Because of all the +Sklz and 20% CldDmg on the M’avina’s Set it is painfully obvious this will be your skill to use.
Cold Arrow (15+)
It’s all about the synergies baby! Depending on what backup skills you want you’ll probably end up with 20 in this anyway.
Magic Arrow (5+)
Magic Arrow is a good skill to use in Normal and will help you a lot with PhysImm monsters in Hell. Since this skill deals magic damage, not elemental, you won’t have to run away from CldImm monsters.
Put 1 in all of the prerequisite skills. I recommend no extra points in Ice Arrow. By the time this character is setup you will be shooting so fast that freeze length will not be important to you and that’s the only synergy Ice Arrow gives. At least with freezing arrow you can kill non-immune monsters in hell.
I also recommend 0 points in Strafe and Guided Arrow. I tried a character with the M’avina’s Set using Strafe and it had absolutely no killing power in Hell. As for Guided Arrow, the extra damage is not significant until you invest 10+ points in it. You also only need Guided Arrow for bosses and how often do you really face an act boss? If your answer is often go ahead and put points here but in general you won’t need it and 1-5pts would be a complete waste.
You should have enough points to stick a point in Fire Arrow and possibly some all the way up to Immolation Arrow. If you need an alternative to CldDmg because of CldImm in Hell then let your +Sklz work for you. You’ll have 8 levels in each with only 3 total points invested giving you some decent fire damage as a backup.
Finally, thanks to the +Sklz of the set you will be able to use Multiple Shot as a backup skill.
Passive & Magic
Critical Strike (10+)
More Dmg is always good.
Valkyrie (10+)
Gives you another tank besides your Merc.
Pierce (5+)
By piercing your targets with Freezing Arrow you are doing a lot of extra area damage from the freezing effect of multiple hits in a group of monsters. So Pierce not only adds damage to monsters behind each other but it also adds damage to surrounding monsters which will be frozen in place.
At least 1 point in everything. Your +Sklz will up Dodge, Avoid, and Evade enough to be useful.
If you only do 15,15,5, and 1 in all Bow & Crossbow but Guided Arrow and Strafe plus 10,10,5, and 1 in all Passive & Magic that costs 72 points leaving you with 13+ points before Clvl 85 and 27 total points to distribute. Without getting the fire Bow & Crossbow skills you’ll save another 3 skills.
Strategies
In Normal difficulty try to get at least one point in all of the skills you will use in the future. In addition, you may want to get Magic Arrow to Slvl 13 where it becomes free to use. That way if any mana drain monsters attack you can still fight back. You will want to use bows (not crossbows), especially those with plenty of sockets. Fill those sockets with the highest grade you can get of Emerald, Topaz, Skull, Ral, Ort, Tal or anything else that adds a decent amount of damage. Furthermore, you will need ML if you are going to use an attack besides Magic Arrow.
In Nightmare difficulty add points to Cold Arrow before Freezing Arrow. This will add CldDmg thanks to synergies but will still keep the mana cost to fire Freezing Arrow down. Fill Critical Strike, Pierce, and Valkyrie some (not all) as well. You can still use socketed bows with elemental damage added and will definitely need some ML in order to use other Bow Skills besides Magic Arrow. You may even find some minor Dmg or IAS jewels that will help.
In Hell difficulty you should be filling the skills evenly. Save the last points of Magic Arrow and either Valkyrie or Critical Strike to finish after Clvl 85.
Keep your inventory balanced. If you tend to pick up too many items or are going for MF give yourself a little more room by carrying fewer charms. If you are like me and never pick anything up unless you know it’s a good item to use or trade you can carry a few more charms. Never carry Scrolls of Identify. You will eventually know the items so well and pick up so little stuff that you won’t need them. I’ve only been playing 2+ years and can name quite a few unique and set items as well as recognize which magical items (armor, wands, etc…) will sell for 35000+ gold. I leave a 3x8 plus a 4x4 open and my cube open while filling the rest with charms and a Tome of Town Portal. Do carry a Tome of Town Portal since they are very useful anytime there is danger, you’re running Baal, or you’re rushing a friend. Furthermore, only carry antidotes and thawing potions when you’re up against something that corresponds (Andariel, Duriel, etc…). You should never need stamina potions after Normal. Finally, never carry keys since there are plenty of regular chests to be found. As for health and mana potions I would say go half and half or 3-1 in favor of health potions.
Glossary
AR = Attack Rating
Cld = Cold
Clvl = Character Level
CTC = Chance to Cast
Def = Defense
Dex = Dexterity
EDef = Enhanced Defense
EDmg = Enhanced Damage (Physical)
Eng = Energy
FHR = Faster Hit Recovery
Fir = Fire
FRW = Faster Run Walk
Frz = Freeze
GF = Gold Find
HC = Hardcore
IAS = Increased Attack Speed
Ilvl = Item Level
Imm = Immune
Lght = Lightning
LL = Life Leach
Max = Maximum
MF = Magic Find
Min = Minimum
Mis = Missile
Mgc = Magic
ML = Mana Leach
Pdsc = PsnDmg Small Charm
Psn = Poison
PvM = Player vs. Monster
PvP = Player vs. Player
Red = Reduction
Res = Resist
SC = Softcore
Slvl = Skill Level
Sta = Stamina
Str = Strength
Vit = Vitality
Mavinazon - PvM
This is the first in a series of PvM guides involving the class-specific sets. This particular guide talks about making an Amazon character that utilizes the M’avina’s Battle Hymn set. Depending on how you play this character could last forever and never be finished. The point of this build is that it’s pretty easy to get the character going, but will be nearly impossible to complete 100%, thus giving you a reason to continue playing.
In addition, I recommend using both diabloii.net and the Arreat summit when looking up any information. When in doubt trust the Arreat Summit information.
If any of the abbreviations I use are confusing just see the glossary at the end of the guide. Since this build is based on the M’avina’s set we should start with the gear and go from there.
Gear
Don’t forget that on the Ladder you can upgrade normal and exceptional items to elite status. If something here is a normal or exceptional item and has too low of Def or Dmg it can be upgraded. Additionally, sockets can be cleared so that if you find a decent jewel that you want to use for awhile until you find something better don’t be afraid to use it.
Helm
M’avina’s True Sight (Diadem)
Armor
M’avina’s Embrace (Kraken Shell)
Weapon
M’avina’s Caster (Grand Matron Bow)
Belt
M’avina’s Tenet (Sharkskin Belt)
Gloves
M’avina’s Icy Clutch (Battle Gauntlets)
Requirements = Clvl 70, Str 122
Set Ilvl = 21
The Good
- Ilvl = 21 makes this set moderately easy and cheap to acquire.
- IAS, +Sklz, ResAll, +Mgc/CldDmg, Str, Dex, MF
The M’avina’s set is a pretty good Amazon set also leaving room for improvement where needed. Although it has good IAS, ResAll, +Mgc/CldDmg, MF we can always use more of those. IAS is more important than most people recognize because in D2X “speed kills.” Ever notice how most Druids are Werewolves and not Werebears? Your Amazon will have high accuracy (AR, Dex) but relatively low Dmg because the bow starts out low. Since it is hard to increase Dmg by large amounts use IAS to kill stuff faster. In Hell each resist only reaches about 60 under the set, requiring an additional 15% ResAll from other items to reach 75% ResAll. If you have items that increase MaxRes above 75% you will need even more Res items. More MF is always good as long as you can still survive and kill monsters to be able to get those good items to drop.
The Bad & The Ugly
- Lacks attack diversity
- EDmg, Auras, PsnLngRed, LghtRes, DmgRed, MaxRes, Leach
The M’avina’s set screams “Freezing Arrow” because of the added CldDmg and +20% CldSklzDmg. However, Hell monster immunities require some attack diversity that will be addressed. EDmg items can help a lot but you can also kill faster with Max/MinDmg and IAS items. No auras are included in the set and CTC spells are limited. PsnLng in Hell is too long with the set. Lght in Hell is also scary (Gloams anyone?). DmgRed is almost non-present. MaxRes is stuck at 75%.
One final note, although not necessarily a problem, is that you will not be able to utilize any runewords besides what may be in your switch. The good side of that is you can use all the runes you get to trade for your other gear.
What we’ll do is try to continue building on the strengths of the M’avina’s Set while filling in the holes it leaves. If nothing does both you’ll have to choose for yourself whether you want be elite in a few areas or try to round out your character. Because I play alone quite often I try to round out my character to account for what I am missing from large group play.
For each category below I will list items in order from Uber to Good to Serviceable.
Boots
The ultimate would be Merman’s Sprocket but it’s not even listed on the Arreat Summit and is not activated in-game. You’re not going to find boots with much EDmg, or auras so go for Res, MF, and common boots affixes like FHR, FRW, and increased Sta.
War Traveler
Sandstorm Trek
Both of these boots are very good and are nearly identical. They add to Vit, Str, FRW, and Sta. If you want more PsnRes and FHR go with Trek. If you want a little more MF go with Travs.
Marrowwalk
Gore Rider
Marrowwalk has Life Tap, which can be quite useful. Gore Rider gives some damaging stuff. Infernostride has FirRes and Fir is the most common monster element throughout the game, especially Act 4. Silkweave has MisDef.
Rare Boots
You can find rare boots with MF and lots of resists (up to 40%) to each element.
Amulet
You can get a lot of extras on amulets!
Crescent Moon
Cat’s Eye
Crescent Moon is dual leach and some DmgRed. Cat’s Eye has some cool stuff like FRW, MisDef, IAS, and +Dex but you’ll have to leach with something else if you forego the Crescent Moon.
Mahim-Oak Curio
Highlord’s Wrath
Metalgrid
Curio gives some Res and Att. Wrath has IAS and LghtRes. Metalgrid gives you Res and another Merc in Iron Golem.
Rare Amulet
Crafted Blood Amulet
Rare and crafted amulets can get some pretty good affixes like resists and leaches. You can look up the affixes if you want but even a perfect combination has trouble standing up to the uniques.
Ring
Rings are similar to the amulets but the crafted ring can turn out better.
Wisp Projector
Crafted Blood Ring
Wisp Projector gives you LghtAbs, MF, and your choice of Oak Sage, Heart of Wolverine, or Spirit of Barbs. My favorite is Heart of Wolverine to increase my whole party’s damage. A crafted blood ring can have lost of resists, MF, leach, and a little Str and Life.
Carrion Wind
Raven Frost
Dwarf Star
Wind has CTC, PsnRes, and some other cool stuff. Frost has CldAbs and NoFrz. Star has some good stuff including FirAbs.
Nagelring
A little MF is about all Nagelring really offers.
Switch
Your switch should do something to improve your entire party without requiring it to be equipped at the same time.
Call to Arms
CTA is perfect. You get some barb yells that add life, mana, and skill levels to your entire party. Just switch, BO, and switch back. Then start the fun! Just make sure you get one that has low enough Str to wield.
Also you should get a Lidless Wall for a shield. The +1 Sklz will up all of your skills while you’re switching.
Charms
Gheed’s Fortune
Annihilus
Get these charms. 40MF on a GC!?!? Three 7 mfsc only gets you 21% MF. The Annihilus is insane with Att, ResAll, and Exp.
Besides those I recommend some 100+ pdsc, 6-7 mfsc, 4-5 ResAll, or maybe some damage charms. How many you want to carry is up to you but I would say at least leave a 3x8 area in your inventory along with the Cube and at most leave a 4x8, the Cube, and a 2x2 above the Cube.
Sockets
Your sockets will be what keeps this character playing forever.
Weapon – Socket dmg and IAS jewels. EDmg or +Min/MaxDmg is fine either way but go for a top 80% jewel. That doesn’t mean top 80% of 1-40% EDmg. I mean top 80% of the highest affix Ruby which is 31-40% EDmg. So try to get somewhere around 37% EDmg or higher. IAS is a must here because speed kills.
Armor – EDmg, ResAll, MF, Dex, and FHR can all be found on jewels, even all together on a rare jewel.
Helm – A Cold Die Rainbow Facet jewel can be cool here to increase your CldDmg, lower enemy Res, and help out when a group of monsters kills you and you have to retrieve your body. Other than that some sort of rare jewel or maybe a PTopaz for MF would be nice.
Mercenary
Either get an Act 2 Normal Prayer Merc or the Act 2 Nightmare Might Merc. I recommend the Might since your party isn’t large enough for Prayer to be really effective. Also, your merc can leach and your Valk can be easily recast.
Helm
Something to keep him alive is necessary here.
Vampire Gaze
Rockstopper
Your merc will die a lot less often with Vamp Gaze saving you money and frustration. Either a PTopaz or another Cold Die Facet works well for socketing.
Armor
There are some good options here. Think along the lines of what your character needs and give your merc the same. EDmg, ResAll, Def, and anything with auras or group spells is definitely worthy.
Spirit Keeper (Inactive)
Steel Carapace
Black Hades
Gladiator’s Bane
This one is tough. I say go with a Steel Carapace for the CTC Iron Maiden, FHR, and CldRes. The problem is this requires 196 Str, which is pretty close to the max of 209 at Clvl99. You’ll probably have to have a –15% Req jewel socketed for quite some time on your mec unless you give him another item with +Str on it. Hades is cool because it gives you 3 sockets to mess with (sorry, no runewords in uniques) and Bane is pretty good too thanks to PsnLngRed. As far as socketing goes get the same stuff as for your character but lower your standards a little so you can get the socket filled and in use.
Weapon
Damage and area effects once again.
Doom [Hel Ohm Um Lo Cham] Cryptic Axe
OMG, this thing is tight! Those may be high runes but this is worth it. The Doom runeword is insane and the Cryptic Axe deals heavy damage. 330+% EDmg, 45% IAS, PrvntHeal, -40+% EnCldRes… oh yeah, and Holy Freeze Aura!!! This runeword is why you get a different Merc besides the Holy Freeze Act 2 Merc.
Attributes
Finish filling the attributes in the order they are mentioned. You can put 1 point each in Str and Vit and 3 points in Dex every level giving you Str 89- Dex 232- Vit 89- Eng 15 by level 70, which is the Clvl you can wear the entire set. You should be done filling Str and Vit by Clvl 80 (moderately easy to reach) so that from then on you are only adding Dex.
Energy = 15
Leave Eng at base unless you cannot find any ML gear. You can only shoot Freezing Arrow about 10 times before running out of mana without any leach.
Strength = 70-100
Depending on what items you use and what charms you want to carry you can set your Str high or low. Remember that M’avina’s Embrace requires 122 Str after the +30 Str of the set plus any other items that add to your Str.
Vitality = 80-110
Depending on your play style you can put 80-110 points in Vit. If you tend to stand and shoot like I do you should put more points into Vit. If you run and shoot or have better FHR and IAS gear you can afford less points in Vit. Additionally, if you play HC increase Vit by about 30 points.
Dexterity = 350-400+
Anything not going into Str or Vit should go here. Remember that for bows each point in Dex is another 1% EDmg, so +30 Dex is also 30% EDmg.
Skills
You will probably hit Clvl 85 and not level quickly beyond that. That leaves you 15 points that will be pretty hard to attain. If you’re going to max a skill only fill it to 10-15 at first so that those final 5 points are the ones you probably won’t get. This way you will have all the skills you want but the large ones will be just a bit weak. You can also save Critical Strike and Valkyrie for those 15 points. Beyond 10 points Critical Strike has diminished returns, so you won’t see a huge dropoff in damage. Also remember that you have plenty of +Sklz to make up for not filling a skill because of the 15 points that will be hard to get. Valkyrie can also survive decently at about Slvl 5 and if she dies you just cast a new one. Basically, don’t leave yourself stuck at Clvl 85 needing to fill your most important attack or synergy skills.
Bow & Crossbow
Freezing Arrow (15+)
This should be your main skill in Hell. However, you should fill Cold Arrow first because it gives you synergy damage without increasing the mana cost to shoot Freezing Arrow. Because of all the +Sklz and 20% CldDmg on the M’avina’s Set it is painfully obvious this will be your skill to use.
Cold Arrow (15+)
It’s all about the synergies baby! Depending on what backup skills you want you’ll probably end up with 20 in this anyway.
Magic Arrow (5+)
Magic Arrow is a good skill to use in Normal and will help you a lot with PhysImm monsters in Hell. Since this skill deals magic damage, not elemental, you won’t have to run away from CldImm monsters.
Put 1 in all of the prerequisite skills. I recommend no extra points in Ice Arrow. By the time this character is setup you will be shooting so fast that freeze length will not be important to you and that’s the only synergy Ice Arrow gives. At least with freezing arrow you can kill non-immune monsters in hell.
I also recommend 0 points in Strafe and Guided Arrow. I tried a character with the M’avina’s Set using Strafe and it had absolutely no killing power in Hell. As for Guided Arrow, the extra damage is not significant until you invest 10+ points in it. You also only need Guided Arrow for bosses and how often do you really face an act boss? If your answer is often go ahead and put points here but in general you won’t need it and 1-5pts would be a complete waste.
You should have enough points to stick a point in Fire Arrow and possibly some all the way up to Immolation Arrow. If you need an alternative to CldDmg because of CldImm in Hell then let your +Sklz work for you. You’ll have 8 levels in each with only 3 total points invested giving you some decent fire damage as a backup.
Finally, thanks to the +Sklz of the set you will be able to use Multiple Shot as a backup skill.
Passive & Magic
Critical Strike (10+)
More Dmg is always good.
Valkyrie (10+)
Gives you another tank besides your Merc.
Pierce (5+)
By piercing your targets with Freezing Arrow you are doing a lot of extra area damage from the freezing effect of multiple hits in a group of monsters. So Pierce not only adds damage to monsters behind each other but it also adds damage to surrounding monsters which will be frozen in place.
At least 1 point in everything. Your +Sklz will up Dodge, Avoid, and Evade enough to be useful.
If you only do 15,15,5, and 1 in all Bow & Crossbow but Guided Arrow and Strafe plus 10,10,5, and 1 in all Passive & Magic that costs 72 points leaving you with 13+ points before Clvl 85 and 27 total points to distribute. Without getting the fire Bow & Crossbow skills you’ll save another 3 skills.
Strategies
In Normal difficulty try to get at least one point in all of the skills you will use in the future. In addition, you may want to get Magic Arrow to Slvl 13 where it becomes free to use. That way if any mana drain monsters attack you can still fight back. You will want to use bows (not crossbows), especially those with plenty of sockets. Fill those sockets with the highest grade you can get of Emerald, Topaz, Skull, Ral, Ort, Tal or anything else that adds a decent amount of damage. Furthermore, you will need ML if you are going to use an attack besides Magic Arrow.
In Nightmare difficulty add points to Cold Arrow before Freezing Arrow. This will add CldDmg thanks to synergies but will still keep the mana cost to fire Freezing Arrow down. Fill Critical Strike, Pierce, and Valkyrie some (not all) as well. You can still use socketed bows with elemental damage added and will definitely need some ML in order to use other Bow Skills besides Magic Arrow. You may even find some minor Dmg or IAS jewels that will help.
In Hell difficulty you should be filling the skills evenly. Save the last points of Magic Arrow and either Valkyrie or Critical Strike to finish after Clvl 85.
Keep your inventory balanced. If you tend to pick up too many items or are going for MF give yourself a little more room by carrying fewer charms. If you are like me and never pick anything up unless you know it’s a good item to use or trade you can carry a few more charms. Never carry Scrolls of Identify. You will eventually know the items so well and pick up so little stuff that you won’t need them. I’ve only been playing 2+ years and can name quite a few unique and set items as well as recognize which magical items (armor, wands, etc…) will sell for 35000+ gold. I leave a 3x8 plus a 4x4 open and my cube open while filling the rest with charms and a Tome of Town Portal. Do carry a Tome of Town Portal since they are very useful anytime there is danger, you’re running Baal, or you’re rushing a friend. Furthermore, only carry antidotes and thawing potions when you’re up against something that corresponds (Andariel, Duriel, etc…). You should never need stamina potions after Normal. Finally, never carry keys since there are plenty of regular chests to be found. As for health and mana potions I would say go half and half or 3-1 in favor of health potions.
Glossary
AR = Attack Rating
Cld = Cold
Clvl = Character Level
CTC = Chance to Cast
Def = Defense
Dex = Dexterity
EDef = Enhanced Defense
EDmg = Enhanced Damage (Physical)
Eng = Energy
FHR = Faster Hit Recovery
Fir = Fire
FRW = Faster Run Walk
Frz = Freeze
GF = Gold Find
HC = Hardcore
IAS = Increased Attack Speed
Ilvl = Item Level
Imm = Immune
Lght = Lightning
LL = Life Leach
Max = Maximum
MF = Magic Find
Min = Minimum
Mis = Missile
Mgc = Magic
ML = Mana Leach
Pdsc = PsnDmg Small Charm
Psn = Poison
PvM = Player vs. Monster
PvP = Player vs. Player
Red = Reduction
Res = Resist
SC = Softcore
Slvl = Skill Level
Sta = Stamina
Str = Strength
Vit = Vitality