Mavazon Cow Killer?

[skygoneblue]

Mavazon Cow Killer?

Hey guys, I have long been thinking about making a Mavazon for magic finding and just PvM fun, but do you think she would have the power to take on Hell cows?

I know a Lightning Fury Amazon can take them down like nobody's business, but I was wondering, does Freezing Arrow have that capability as well? Lightning Fury on its own doesn't really seem to do that much damage - it's the fact that it shoots so many bolts and the Pierce skill that really makes it shine, am I right? IME, Freezing Arrow can do some huge damage as well with enough pierce and IAS (and Mana Leech of course). Maybe Freezing Arrow isn't as effective as Lightning Fury, but I want to give it a try! :clap:

Also, I have a question about the set bonuses. On the Arreat Summit page, the partial set bonuses and the complete set bonuses seem to overlap. It says that you get +2- to Strength and +30 to Dexterity for 3 and 4 items, but then 20 Strength and 30 Dexterity is also listed under the complete set bonuses as well. Do you really get 40 and 60, or is this just a goof on their part (because they don't dual-list partial bonuses like that for any other set that I have noticed).

For my skills, I was thinking

20 Cold Arrow
20 Freezing Arrow
20 Valkerie (good decoy for MFing)
Dodge, Evade, Avoid, Pierce, etc.

Should I invest in Strafe as well? The damage on Mavina's Caster seems pretty low to invest in a physical damage skill like that - is there a better option? Maybe max Guided Arrow instead for boss killing? Multi shot for cold immunes? Any suggestions are welcome!

For my gear, I was thinking
Mav's Set (duh)
Cat's Eye, or Eye of Etlich (leaning towards Cat's)
Rare Dual Leech ring (5 life, 6 mana)
Raven Frost
War Travelers

Another question, is there a setup that would better benefit a Freezing Arrow Zon? I realize Mavina's only gives +5 to your Bow skills, but the 20% Cold skill bonus is hard to pass up considering how little Freezing Arrow increases with levels (the damage only [approximately] doubles from level 20 to 40). Would I be better of using something like

Shako
Cat's Eye
Buriza (for Piercing Attack and good damage for leech)
Enigma
IAS, Skill gloves (if I ever find them)
Verdungo's, Goldwrap
War Travelers
2x RavenFrost

That setup would get me some decent MF, but it doesn't seem like my Freezing Arrow would do enough damage to PWN Hell Cows like I want to do.

I know I asked a ton of questions, so just a big overview kind of answer for MFing with Mavina's set would be helpful. Feel free to share your own experiences; I am interested in hearing about them.

Thanks a bunch guys!

SGB

[chipmc]

I've made about four Mavina zons since 1.10 came out, and they do great at cow killing with Freezing arrow.

The same rules of herding with Furyzons apply here, but don't herd as much. You're not going to take out a screen full of cows at once with Freezing Arrow. Gather up a small, tightly packed group of cows and let the Freezing Arrows fly. You'll learn how big of a group you can handle with some practice.

You're skill placement looks fine. 20 to Cold and Freezing Arrow is a must obviously. If you want to save on skill points the Valkyrie spawns with pretty much all of her elite equipment at level 17. I'd say max Pierce, seeing as how you can't wear a Razortail with the set, and you'll want as much Pierce as possible. Strafe is used for leeching back mana and dealing with cold immunes. The 5% mana leech from the set isn't that much really, and spamming level 20+ Freezing Arrows will make you realize this quickly. You can either max it or put a few points in it untill it gets up to 10 targets if you want.

As far as equipment, if you wanted to be a hardcore Frost Maiden, an Eye of Etlitch can add up to 10 seconds of cold duration to Freezing Arrow. But since you're likely wanting to hit some high ias frame rates, a Cats Eye or Highlords is the way to go. A Raven Frost is a must, accept no substitutes. Rare dual leechers are great for the second slot. I use a Carrion wind on mine personally, as the set already gives mana leech. And Wartravs are probably the best boots out there for any bowazon.

You're second equipment setup is lacking one very important thing: Leech. You could switch out the Cat's Eye for a Cresent Moon ammy. Or just use a Gaze in place of the Shako. The Gaze also adds cold duration to Freezing Arrow

On final thing: Remember that each small cold damage charm adds one second to your cold duration for Freezing Arrow.

Good luck.

[skygoneblue]

Sweet - Thanks for the response chipmc!

If I am reading you right, this would be a good setup

20 Cold Arrow
20 Freezing Arrow
12 Valkerie (will have +5 skills from M'av's)
20 Pierce
1 Strafe (gear will get me 10 arrows)

So, would you recommend placing remaining points into D/E/A, Ice Arrow, Strafe, Valkerie or something else?
My first inclination would be to pump the Valkerie even more. The more cows she keeps away from me, the better. We all know Hell Cows are no joke and can take out an Amazon in one swing usually.

What about socketing in the Bow, Helm, and Armor?

One obvious choice for the bow is a Nef rune for some knockback, but that seems kinda useless to this build for two main reasons:
- I will have a Valk and a Merc tanking for me
- I will really only knock back one target unless I use Strafe, but my AR will pretty much suck unless I put points into Penetrate, so odds are that the enemies won't get knocked-back much

Do you happen to know the IAS breakpoints for a Grand Matron Bow? I wasn't able to find a table or calculator or anything like that for Amazons. Depending on preference, maybe a Shael would be a good idea for the bow?

The only things I could really see this character needing are IAS and mana leech, but I'm sure as hell not putting a Vex rune in a M'av's bow, and I have never seen mana leech spawn on a jewel.

Thanks again for the advice bro!

[chipmc]

For the rest of your skill points, you could put them into D/E/A, but those skills aren't all that necessary if you're playing in softcore. And you'll find yourself dodging enough with just one point in them and letting the Mav set boost them up. Ice Arrow is a terrible synergy for Freezing Arrow, it'll only add 2 more second of cold duration to Freezing Arrow at level 20, so just ignore this skill. Strafe will add more damage and fire more arrows as it goes up in level, so this is a good canidate for pumping up after you finish your other skills. Valkyrie keeps getting better and better. The only things that'll kill a level 25 Valk are act bosses and the Iron Maiden curse. She'll laugh at hell cows though.

A Grand Matron Bow is a 10 WSM weapon. So the ias you need for 9/3 and 9/2 are 80% and 120% respectivly. Mav's bow comes with 40% ias, and the helm comes with 30% ias. That's 70%. An ias jewel in the helm will hit 9/3. If you put a Shael in the bow and ias jewels in the helm and armor you'll hit 9/2. Doing that will expand your choice of ammys. Of course, you could use either a Cats Eye or Highlords and put a Nef in your bow if you wanted. Personally I'd Shael the bow so I could use another ammy, like a Mara's, Atma's, or even an Eye of Etlitch.

Experiment and see what you like. This is why they made the Hel + TP scroll cube recipie. :)

[Cyddry]

For the mana problem: try insight on your merc... :p

[skygoneblue]

For a change, try NL! ;)

[SPIDERfrank]

Does anyone know if the runeword Ice would work well with this Cold Zon build instead of the Mav's set?