Some thaughts on Ice-Bow build...

[Sherlock]

Hello guys...seems Ice doesnt attracted as much attraction as 2 other new Bows (Brand and Faith)... Lets check the statistics :

Ice 4 Socket Missile Weapons
Amn + Shael + Jah + Lo

100% Chance To Cast Level 40 Blizzard When You Level-up
25% Chance To Cast Level 22 Frost Nova On Striking
Level 18 Holy Freeze Aura When Equipped
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+140-210% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Ignore Target's Defense
+25-30% To Cold Skill Damage
-20% To Enemy Cold Resistance
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
20% Deadly Strike
3.125-309.375 Extra Gold From Monsters (Based on Character Level)

I like this mod very much (CTC FN on STRIKING). If I am correct, FN and Blizzard are synergies. So lets say I go with Snowclash belt due synergies :


Snowclash
Battle Belt
Defense: 98-116 (varies)(Base Defense: 37-42)
Required Level: 42
Required Strength: 88
Durability: 18
16 Boxes
+130-170% Enhanced Defense (varies)
5% Chance To Cast Level 7-19 Blizzard When Struck (varies)
+15 Cold Absorb
15% To Maximum Cold Resist
Adds 13-21 Cold Damage @ 3 sec. duration (Normal)
+2 To Chilling Armor (Sorceress Only)
+2 To Blizzard (Sorceress Only)
+3 To Glacial Spike (Sorceress Only)

IIRC, Ice bow has 25pct CTC Frost Nova lvl 22 and if I have Snowclash with Blizzard up to lvl 19 ! And Frost Nova gets from Blizzard 10pct Cold Dmg per each level !

Also I would like to know how the Cold Facets, socketed in Nightwings, influence these synergies ? Cold/Die has CTC Blizz lvl 37 and Cold/Lvl has Frost Nova lvl 43. Will the higher lvls of facets be stacked with those of Ice-Bow or Snowclash belt or the higher will override lower ?

PS I would also like to know if + to Cold Skill damage either from Ormus robes, Facets or from Nightwings will be applicable to these CTC spells or just the real skill we use (FA)

Any thaughts ?

[Rockoon]

Only skill charges and native skill investment can synergize chance to cast.

What this means is that these two chance-to-cast items do not synergize each other.

[skygoneblue]

And if you think about it, your arrow is the minion doing the casting when it hits - the spell isn't originating from you.

However, I do think this is a really cool runeword for a PvM Freezing Arrow zon. The CTC isn't what intrgues me so much as the damage enhancement and the enemy resist negation. The bow alone gives better damage enhancement than the full M'avina's set, so that opens up a lot of room for items that add to cold length (Vampire Gaze, etc) or other good items that will add to your damage (+2 skills on Chains of Honor - an Amazon with Resistances! Oh my!).

The Ignore Target's Defense mod will also be nothing short of godly with a high level Pierce. Take this bow into the Cow Level and let the Freezing Arrows fly. Not only are you going to be continually piercing cows and activating all of the CTC effects, but EVERY arrow that pierces an enemy is going to hit and splash more Freezing Arrow damage, leech life for you, and possibly trigger more CTC spells. I think this would be a sweet-*** bow for cow hunting! :)

[itsPizzarific]

i would love to make a frost maiden with this bow, using strafe as a pack up attack

i would definately use razortail to get max pierce, the frost novas would be going off everywhere

this is my personal favorite bow from the new runewords, im not saying its the best but its probably the most interesting

[skygoneblue]

Well, you have to appreciate when an advancement like this brings back life to a seemingly dead build instead of giving PvP characters an insanely large amount of killing power (BotD for example).

I would personally like to see a good bow for a Fire Amazon (HoJ kinda sucks), good claws for a Fire Trapper, or even something to help make a Summoner Druid a hell-viable build. :thumbsup:

[DarkGlobe]

I haven't played D2 in a LONG time, but I still keep my account active. I was playing a new zon I was making with no particular future decided for her build. But as I was playing I decided I wanted a PvM Bow Zon, it seemed like a fun thing to do. I wanted to make a mage zon but it looks like the Freeze zon looks like a good build. However I hear some people talking about new rune words but when I check on Diabloii.net runewords I don't see any new one diffrence from when 1.10 started. Know where to find these new runewords?

[prion]

they are posted on arreat summit

[DarkGlobe]

Would this work?

20 Ice Arrow
20 Freeze Arrow
20 Strafe
10 Valk

The rest on passives. Viable?

[itsPizzarific]

6 points in strafe is fine, it will give u max arrows and the enhanced damage after that is very small .. 3-5 base points should be fine there

max fa/max cold arrow, i would max valk also

[DarkGlobe]

6 points in strafe is fine, it will give u max arrows and the enhanced damage after that is very small .. 3-5 base points should be fine there

max fa/max cold arrow, i would max valk also

Awesome, will strafe be effective enough to kill cold immunes? Is strafe the best secondary answer to kill cold immunes for a FrostMaiden? I got a Wind Force on switch. I would imagine nothing hold up too long with even normal shots from a windforce, dmg is so high. Also I don't hear too many people mentioning windforce as a base weapon for a Frost Maiden Zon. Doesn't Windforce reach 9 fps attack and isn't that good enough?

[itsPizzarific]

im not obsessed with speed, i can live with a 9/2 strafe

and yes, strafe should do some nice damage vs cold immunes if u use wf

[DarkGlobe]

6 points in strafe is fine, it will give u max arrows and the enhanced damage after that is very small .. 3-5 base points should be fine there

max fa/max cold arrow, i would max valk also

Ok that would be 60 points, where would the rest go? I'm thinking, ok strafe might work against cold immunes but so would a normal bow attack, or multishot, BUT what about creaters with immune to physical AND immune to cold, wouldnt magic arrow be the best for that? Has anyone tried that? Magic arrow has magic dmg but I'm not sure if it would be effective enough at high levels. Or what about dumping the rest in fire skills? would dumping the rest in a fire attack with+ skills be effective enough against cold immunes? Dammit where are all the magezon guides!

[itsPizzarific]

i wuld do magic arrow, not immo or fire

[DarkGlobe]

Actually I decided that the best place place to put 20 points is in Lightning Fury. This way I have a devistating Ice Arrow, a killer lit attack, and if there happens to be a cold/lit resist monster I'll pull out strafe or guided to bring them down. An added feature about this build that I like is having the oppertunity to switch to a weapon/shield in case you get in a hairy situation. Another added option is putting a point in Jab, giving you an added option for a melee attack. So this is the way I see it

20 F/A
20 I/A
20 LF
20 Valk (optional you can put less)

Remaining skills can be distributed in:
1 pt Jab
Penetrate
Piercing

Left over points in penetrate can be good to improve your physical damage arrow attack should you need to use it against a cold/lit immune creature.

I'm very happy building this Zon. I'm killing everything in Act 5 Normal at lvl 35 with 0 problems, but that might be expected from a lvl 30+ character. But who cares I love this build JOY :clap:

[DarkGlobe]

double post sry

[Wmeredith]

I just traded my *** away for one of these bows ( "ICE" in a shadow bow) last night. It's fun a hell to play with. I don't have a F/A zon yet, mines a strafer/CS hybrid. This bow has the coolest Proc' effects I've seen yet. I had no idea how awesome it would look to spam Frost Novas into a crowd from across the screen especially at 7/2 frame rate. :xeek:

It's kill power still doesn't match my upped WWS, so I'll have to make a FA zon now.

Or I was thinking about getting an Act one cold merc and giving it to her.

[itsPizzarific]

i think it would be more fun to use urself :xmad:

[Catrinus Jan]

I just traded my *** away for one of these bows ( "ICE" in a shadow bow) last night. It's fun a hell to play with. I don't have a F/A zon yet, mines a strafer/CS hybrid. This bow has the coolest Proc' effects I've seen yet. I had no idea how awesome it would look to spam Frost Novas into a crowd from across the screen especially at 7/2 frame rate. :xeek:

It's kill power still doesn't match my upped WWS, so I'll have to make a FA zon now.

Or I was thinking about getting an Act one cold merc and giving it to her.

Or go insane and dump a faith bow on the merc (i know jah's dont grow on the backs or gloams in wsk 2). But it's ok to dream right?

[Shandrakor Deathstalker]

CJ, I was having the exact same thought. I just acquired Mav's for a song, and was browsing the forums (was looking for a good FA guide) when I ran across this thread. And since I was planning to acquire a Faith for my WF zon anyway.... I think my 'Insane-speed Strafer' just became a 'Frost Maiden o' Speed'. Now to find a few Jahs... :xrollseye Thanks for this thread!

I just noticed that Ice only has 20% ias. Would it be best to make in a Matriarchial bow? I'd really like to hit the fastest breakpoint possible. Assume a level 14 or 15 Faith-equipped Rogue Merc. What should I wear? I can't seem to find the a list of the bloody breakpoints.. ::Sighs::

I know a Gaze + Etlitch + Raven Frost is pretty standard for a FA build. However, would it be worthwhile to sub out the Gaze for a Mav's Helm with 15%ias jewel for speed's sake?

[Catrinus Jan]

Shandrakor Deathstalker, ill send u a PM with a link to all breakpoints and information u could ever dream of (amazon only) as soon as i get home, cant enter the site from work.

[sunami]

Any thoughts how this bow would do in pvp? While slowing people with slow items causes much whining, use of holy freeze aura sowehow seems less bm. I am just wondering how effective could this bow be .