Frostmaiden?

[ogogo on ice]

Now I really like Amazon's, but unfortunatly the only luck I've had have been with Javazons, and I was wondering, what would be a good build for a FA/strafe zon? Like relative skill and stat allocations, and gear ideas would be very helpful! (I've heard m'avina's set is good, is this true?)

Thanks very much in advance!

[Peregrine]

20 Strafe
20 Freezing Arrow
20 Cold Arrow (damage synergy)

With the leftover points, bring all your passives up to the point of diminishing returns, then start investing in penetrate. Keep in mind, you MUST have 100% pierce, so get it up high enough for Razortail to bring it to 100%. Leave valkyrie at one point, between having everything frozen and a merc, even a level 1 valkyrie can live a long time.

Stats are simple:

Str: enough for gear, no more.
Dex: 3/5 of what's left.
Vit: 2/5 of what's left.
Eng: zero. Or take some points out of dex if you're really poor and can't afford good enough equipment for mana leech.

That'll give you a good amount of dex (300ish on mine at level 87), but still enough life to take stray hits without risking death. Some people prefer to add more dex instead, but I like the immunity to death from everything. Including souls and dolls.

As for gear suggestions, it depends on how much you can pay to get it. An Ice runeword bow is unbeatable. Fortitude armor is nice, I like it for boosting an otherwise low damage matriarchal bow up to a good level for leeching. Mav's set is supposed to be decent, but I'd probably go with a Windforce instead if you can't get Ice.

[Evrae Altana]

If you can't afford Ice, then use Mav's set. With the whole set, you'll get +20% cold damage as a bonus, along with resists and +skills.

[ogogo on ice]

Alright, now time to start trying to get all those things. This is goign to be difficult...

[richo]

Peregrine: nn the 20 strafe = waste of 19 skills....
100% pierce lol? 8x% is more then enough
frostmaiden is not about phys dmg but about cold dmg (thats why frostmaiden name), wf is possible but the ias is so a problem you at least need a 8fps shoot cause speed > dmg on most chars~~.
coh > forti on frostmaiden (+2 skills, 8% ml, 8% dmg reduce, 200% dmg demons, 300% dmg undead, forti can beat this?) life is not the most important issue you got 2 marvelous tanks huge slow, but half vita is still useful....

ice is VERY EXPENSIVE and that is not even near the real price on non ladder shal i suggest that my ice mb 14x/30/+3 skills has a last offer from 36 sojs witch i wil not even consider trading it as low offer (nl europe sc)

use this setup:
20 Frost arrow
20 Cold arrow
1 strafe

20 penetrate (needed to hit somthing)
enough points to get 8x% pierece
enough points to get 7x% criticail strike
enough points to get 5x% dodoge/avoid/evade
the rest go in valk

strenght: enough for for youre gear
dex: half
vita: half
energy: non get a dual leech ring or somthing

gear (i suggest):
ICE MB
coh wire fleece *Style*
nosferatu
+2 bow (dual leech) 20 ias kb gloves
raven frost 20 dex (high ar if possible)
dual leech ring
highlords
rare circlet +2 ama 30 frw duall leech
WT

else use mavina set (that would be best beside what i stated)

[YogiRat]

Have you read this guide (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=129705) ?

[Peregrine]

Peregrine: nn the 20 strafe = waste of 19 skills....

No, because strafe needs to be maxed to be effective against single targets. Read how the minimum arrow count works, and you'll see why.

100% pierce lol? 8x% is more then enough

Not really, since only 80% cuts your chances of multiple pierces significantly. And 100% is very easy to get. A few points in the skill, then use razortail = 100%.

frostmaiden is not about phys dmg but about cold dmg (thats why frostmaiden name), wf is possible but the ias is so a problem you at least need a 8fps shoot cause speed > dmg on most chars~~.
coh > forti on frostmaiden (+2 skills, 8% ml, 8% dmg reduce, 200% dmg demons, 300% dmg undead, forti can beat this?) life is not the most important issue you got 2 marvelous tanks huge slow, but half vita is still useful....


And you'll notice he said strafe/FA. Windforce isn't the ideal FA bow, but it's amazing for strafe. If he can't afford the ideal FA gear, windforce lets him make up for that with better strafe damage.

And fortitude >>>>>> coh. First, you've got the mods on COH wrong. It's 8% LIFE leech, 200% damage to demons, and only 100% damage to undead. Even without the +2 skills, I've got 2500 FA splash damage, plenty to kill stuff quickly. But without fortitude, strafe damage drops considerably and is no longer good for spread out targets or leeching.


gear (i suggest):
ICE MB
coh wire fleece *Style*
nosferatu
+2 bow (dual leech) 20 ias kb gloves
raven frost 20 dex (high ar if possible)
dual leech ring
highlords
rare circlet +2 ama 30 frw duall leech
WT

Your belt choice makes no sense at all. The IAS from nos coil (the only useful mod) only brings you to 70%, still short of the 75% IAS breakpoint for an 8 frame attack, but well above the 9 frame breakpoint. And don't say you have an IAS jewel in there, because if you do, you reach 75% without the belt. Razortail is infinitely superior, there is no other choice worth using.

[VoX Dei]

If you want to use mavina's or can't afford the best stuff you may find this setup i'm working on a good one, and again you may not :lol: Anyway here it goes:

Bow - M'avina's "shael"

Helm - M'avina's "ed/ias"
Armor - M'avina's "ed/ias"
Belt - M'avina's
Gloves - M'avina's
Boots - War Trav

Amulet - Crescent Moon
Ring1 - Raven Frost
Ring2 - Bul-Kathos

Note: haven't gone through charms yet.

Needs an investment of 62 STR to equip all items, without any +str charms, anni or torch.

This will give:

- 9/2 fpa strafe and 9 fpa FA (base speed [10] with 120% IAS)
- low physical damage, but nice magic damage, some lightning damage via 10% ctc nova on striking, a huge amount of cold damage/duration with +20% cold skill damage
- some ar and 50% bonus ar
- decent +skills
- up to 20% ML & 11% LL
- 30% res all with all anya quests, 15-22 MDR, CBF, 20% cold absorb
- 45% FRW
- a bunch of stats
- 30% FHR (8 frames, 7 with a fhr charm)
- up to 150% MF

Question: Will i do ok with this 9 fpa FA setup? do i really need to lower it to 8 fpa?

[Evrae Altana]

You'll do fine with 9 fpa FA. You'll freeze most monsters in their tracks anyways and whatever cannot be frozen, your Valk and merc can tank them.

[ogogo on ice]

If I'm ever able to afford an Ice bow, would you guys recommend a Mat bow or a GMB?

[Peregrine]

If I'm ever able to afford an Ice bow, would you guys recommend a Mat bow or a GMB?

Depends on how much off-weapon IAS you have. If you've got a rogue carrying around a Faith bow, GMB. Ice + 20ias gloves + highlords = 8 frame attack. If not, get a matriarchal bow for the easier IAS breakpoints.