wws?

[Yuckee]

Wat's so good about wws?

[angus]

Quoted from Chipmc's guide


"First of all it fires Level 20 Magic Arrows. That's a free maxed skill right there. And before you ask, no, you can't increase that with + skills items. According to The Arreat Summit a level 20 Magic Arrow converts 20% of your physical damage to magic damage, adds 181% to your attack rating, and adds 20 to damage. This is a pretty potent weapon by itself, especially when you're facing Physical Immunes (PI's) and Stone Skin unique monsters. As an added bonus, Magic Arrow doesn't actually use any arrows from you inventory at all. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you're so broke that you can't buy arrows you can still use your normal attack with this bow.

Secondly the WWS has a 2% chance to cast level 5 Amplify Damage on striking. That's the same as the Necromancer's Amplify Damage curse skill. A level 5 Amp Damage curse has a 4.6 yard radius, lasts for 20 seconds, and most importantly, lowers an enemy's resistance to physical damage by 100%. In short, whenever this curse goes off and affects your enemies you're doing twice the physical damage you were doing before the curse activated. It doesn't modify any elemental damage you are doing however. If that wasn't enough, Amp Damage has the ability to remove, or "break", a unique or regular monster's physical immunity, making them just as susceptible to physical attacks as other normal monsters by you, your Valkyrie, your merc, and your party members. There are however some monsters out there that have over 100% physical immunity that Amp Damage can't break. Running into one of these monsters is rare, but if you ever happen across one of them this is where the level 20 Magic Arrows come in, as they're able to take them down quite easily with their built in Magic damage.

Thirdly it offers level based Deadly Strike. + (1 per character level) 1-99% Deadly Strike (Based on character level). For example, a level 83 Amazon using a WWS has an 83% chance of Deadly Strike. Deadly Strike works just like the Amazon's Critical Strike skill in the Passive and Magic Skill tree. When it activates, it doubles your physical damage. And the more levels you gain, the more chance you have of all of your attacks doing double their physical damage. When the Amp Damage curse goes off you can effectively do FOUR TIMES your listed physical damage. And when using a fast multi-target skill like Strafe, the Amp Damage and Deadly Strike activate quite a lot.

Last, but certainly not least, the WWS comes with +40 to all resistances. This is a *very* useful mod, especially for a Bowazon who has to sacrifice the use of a shield, and thus, an easy outlet for resistances. And is even more significant if you play Hardcore. Bowazons are sorta legendary with their resistance problems. Some argue that since Bowazons are ranged fighters that they shouldn't get hit and thus don't need resistances like melee fighters. This is good...in theory. In practice there's distractions, slip ups, stupid party members, and lag. During a lag spike that + 40 to all resistances can mean the difference between still standing there after the lag has passed, or seeing those big red letters telling you that you lost money and experience and need to hit Esc. Or, God forbid, "Your deeds will be remembered."

[FrozenSolid]

To sum it up:

- 40 all res (VERY nice)
- 2% chance to cast lvl 5 amp (see above)
- deadly strike /clvl (see above)
- 2 soc (makes it easier to hit faster frames than wf).

[det]

...what is NOT to like about WWS, Yukee? :D

[Drogan_Veratos]

Yes i agree with the others whats not to like? I find myself switching from my windforce alot for the very reliable damage of the wws.Also with gore riders and a 15%ias Guillaume's Face and the wws turns her into any boss's nightmare

[Sharin-gan no Kakashi]

Should anyone decide to make a build based on a wws, they have a luxury a freeing up 19-20 skill pts in critical strike. 2 sockets bolted on pretty much means that you can customize it with 2 more mods which can be other than 2 shaels (I had mine slapped with a nef). The +40% resistance on it is quite a convinience since a bowazon has to stock up on ias gear, and majority of ias gear don't have +all res on them. The 2% ctc amplify damage is nice...quite frankly I'd prefer atma's scarab for it though.

[Teshuvah]

Should anyone decide to make a build based on a wws, they have a luxury a freeing up 19-20 skill pts in critical strike. 2 sockets bolted on pretty much means that you can customize it with 2 more mods which can be other than 2 shaels (I had mine slapped with a nef). The +40% resistance on it is quite a convinience since a bowazon has to stock up on ias gear, and majority of ias gear don't have +all res on them. The 2% ctc amplify damage is nice...quite frankly I'd prefer atma's scarab for it though.

I used atmas for awhile, but then I found a cats eye and I switched to it. Havent looked back since.

2% off of a straffe seems to cast a hell of alot.

Tho it was casting alot more when I used atmas, it's fine now.

And cats eye is just an outstanding amulet IMO for a bowazon.

Anyway I love my wws. Was supposed to be getting hooked up with a perfect one today, but the guy has yet to show up (gonna shael/ist it this time. I have more than enough IAS for pvm as it is, and I will be using cleglaws for knockback and slow, until I get a better pair of crafted.). :xx:

[Sharin-gan no Kakashi]

The 2% ctc rarely kicks in (I have 90%+ chance to hit in Hell diff). I don't have pierce though. I had to make do with LoH since I don't have fortitude either ^_^.

[Teshuvah]

The 2% ctc rarely kicks in (I have 90%+ chance to hit in Hell diff). I don't have pierce though. I had to make do with LoH since I don't have fortitude either ^_^.

My 2% kicks in a hell of alot.

[Yuckee]

...what is NOT to like about WWS, Yukee? :D
i'm iffy about the damage...i haven't used one...my strafer is using buriza and she's lvl 75, only hitting 1.5k which isn't enough for hell.
THen i look at wws...the damage is pushing me away from it...2% for amp damage...that's not a lot ( i use lightsabre zeal pally, 5% CL, not going off a lot)

[chipmc]

i'm iffy about the damage...i haven't used one...my strafer is using buriza and she's lvl 75, only hitting 1.5k which isn't enough for hell.
THen i look at wws...the damage is pushing me away from it...2% for amp damage...that's not a lot ( i use lightsabre zeal pally, 5% CL, not going off a lot)

At his best, a Zeal pally will only hit 5 targets in one Zeal attack. Strafe can get up to 10 targets. This gives a bit more oppertunity for Amp to go off. Now, throw in pierce. When there's a lot of enemies in a fairly tight pack (think cow level) the oppertunity for Amp to go off sky-rockets.

[Teshuvah]

At his best, a Zeal pally will only hit 5 targets in one Zeal attack. Strafe can get up to 10 targets. This gives a bit more oppertunity for Amp to go off. Now, throw in pierce. When there's a lot of enemies in a fairly tight pack (think cow level) the oppertunity for Amp to go off sky-rockets.


Krickey.

5% atmas is better than 2% on the wws, no doubt.

I am lvl 91 now and have never needed amp from my wws and had it not go off in quick order.

Like chip said, there are other factors other than a raw 2%.

My amp procs damn near everytime I "pull the trigger".

Well, almost.

I luvs it.

[det]

i'm iffy about the damage...i haven't used one...my strafer is using buriza and she's lvl 75, only hitting 1.5k which isn't enough for hell.
THen i look at wws...the damage is pushing me away from it...2% for amp damage...that's not a lot ( i use lightsabre zeal pally, 5% CL, not going off a lot)

Yeah...but that is always the debate when looking at raw damage. Seemingly Buriza and WF outshine WWS, and in the max damage department that is certainly true. But WF at least has a very low min damage, while a WWS (that can be uped to Diamond bow) has a very tight damage range

www.det-animation.de/bow.jpg

Not to forget that it has Deadly Strike based on charcter level, so around lv 75 you come to the point where DS applies pretty much all the time. Amp on top of that (you can get that from Atma on a WF, yeah...but you need to sacrifice speed if you do)

Well...bow comparisons have been made, this issue has been discussed to death since 1.10. If you love WF, you will accept no substitute, but the same goes for WWS. And especially in HC, where res count more, it is just the bow of choice for many....

Edit: Oh yeah...Strafing with a Buriza is SLOOOOW. You strafe at ... what? 11/3, 10/3 fps? You can Strafe at 9/2 with a WWS easily, or even push it to 8/2 with the right equipment, so you will be hitting more often, triggering Amp and DS a lot more...

Looking at the damage readout on your character screen only is VERY misleading :)

[Liessa Wyrmbane]

i'm iffy about the damage...i haven't used one...my strafer is using buriza and she's lvl 75, only hitting 1.5k which isn't enough for hell.
THen i look at wws...the damage is pushing me away from it...2% for amp damage...that's not a lot ( i use lightsabre zeal pally, 5% CL, not going off a lot)
The damage is not so bad as it would seem at first. Check pic: WWS rules! (http://img171.exs.cx/img171/5122/screenshot0047ix.jpg)

[Decebal]

The damage is not so bad as it would seem at first. Check pic: WWS rules! (http://img171.exs.cx/img171/5122/screenshot0047ix.jpg)

WOW! A big chunk of dex points distributed!

I assume u have a lot of life charms on you...Cause 50 in vita gives a lot of life! :P

[det]

Was that a HC zon Liessa? And would you tell us her items? :)

[Liessa Wyrmbane]

Was that a HC zon Liessa? And would you tell us her items? :)Yes, det. That was my base vitality witchyzon from HC ladder season 1. My gear is listed at the end of Chipmc's wws guide (stickied).

[det]

Very nice... hmmmm...

[Liessa Wyrmbane]

Very nice... hmmmm...
Thank you, det. :)
When she was on Ladder1, I didn't have that godly armor on her. I just used upped twitchthroe back then and later a plain ias-armor (with minor ed%). When the ladder ended I could finally use all my saved ed/ias jewels for her armor. :)

[Lunatic]

I made a new strafer on ladder with my fortitude I made myself. And eventhough I have only 1 gc with 7 max dmg , my dmg with might merc on is still something like 82x-112x. I use the following items.

Stealskull (15% IAS jewel).
atma's scarab.
Witchie upped (170% ed , 2 * shael).
Fortitude wire fleece (wire looks the best on ama's :D).
Laying of hands.
Ravenfrost.
Nagelring.
Goldwrap.
War travs.

With the 2% chance for amp on WWS and 5% on atma's , amp triggers alot. I also have reaper's toll on my merc , just if amp doesn't trigger , decrep will. :D

Base stats @ level 75
111 str.
313 dex.
60 vita.
base nrg. :D

I'm pumping dex all the way now. :D

[det]

Thank you, det. :)
When she was on Ladder1, I didn't have that godly armor on her. I just used upped twitchthroe back then and later a plain ias-armor (with minor ed%). When the ladder ended I could finally use all my saved ed/ias jewels for her armor. :)

Hehe..the armour. I was kinda wondering why you used Ancient armour (100 str) and not a Dusk Shroud or Scarab Husk. For the looks?

[Liessa Wyrmbane]

Hehe..the armour. I was kinda wondering why you used Ancient armour (100 str) and not a Dusk Shroud or Scarab Husk. For the looks?
It's was the only 4 socket+life armor I had at the moment :) I didn't want to start looking for better armors because I was busy playing ladder 2 :)

[Yuckee]

ty for help...how do u up wws?

[det]

You need to be on ladder...and go here

http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/cube.shtml

[Omikron8]

The 2% ctc rarely kicks in (I have 90%+ chance to hit in Hell diff). I don't have pierce though. I had to make do with LoH since I don't have fortitude either ^_^.

If you want the amp to trigger a lot then it is all about pierce. 66% skill + razortail is ideal. You will fire a volley right through a line of monsters, quickly increasing your chance of triggering.

[itsPizzarific]

i use highlords on my strafer .. i think i have guranteed deadly strike with highlords/wws

also if theres a massive pack and u have max pierce (i use razortail on all my bowazons), the lvl of amp on wws is high enough to get a nice radius so it will amp lots of monsters even if it hits a random monster in the back or something