Faith for Rouge, which bow?

[SmokeyTreats]

Hiya,

I have 2 bow canidates for "Faith" that I want to use to for my Act1 hire and could use some input.

Bow #1 Ward Bow
Bow #2 Sup. 14%ed Great Bow


I also plan on equiping her with a "Giant Skull" (2x15IAS jewels) in an attempt to get to the last breakpoint. The Great Bow is slighty faster so it would be more forgiving if I get a poor roll.

My question is how much of a difference in damage will the Ward Bow have seeing that it's base is higher than the Great bow? Also, if I don't need more IAS via Twitchroe what would you suggest I use for an inexpensive armor?
This is ladder btw.

Ty...

[sirmessbu]

Smoke armor isn't too expansive and provides some great resist.

[Evrae Altana]

Duriel's Shell is also good for the resists, life, str, and CBF. It's cheap too.

[SmokeyTreats]

Thanks for the replies.

I'll surely use Smoke, Lionheart or Duriels.

I'm leaning towards the Great Bow for the speed atm. Is this a bad idea?

[birdfoot]

Hi,

IMO, Great Bow is good despite the small difference in average damage than a Ward Bow. A Great Bow Harmony is very fast and requires little IAS on gears to hit fast strafing. As such, it is not a bad choice to use for Faith though it has a steeper strength requirement for easier attinment of breakpoints.

You could also go for a higher damage bow if you're more concerned with damage. In that case, Ward Bow will make a better choice or perhaps even a Hydra Bow is better if you can find one. Let's consider the worst case scenario out of making Faith with focus on attack speed (since damage-wise is rather obvious); the crappiest you'll yield is a lvl 12 Fanatism.

The breakdown of the 3 bows in worst case scenario are as follows:

Hydra Bow - Requires additional 75IAS for last breakpoint (70IAS if lvl 15 fanat)
Ward Bow - Requires additional 52IAS for last breakpoint (48IAS if lvl 15 Fanat)
Great Bow - Requires additional 34IAS for last breakpoint (30IAS if lvl 15 Fanat)

It is possible to reach last breakpoint using the slowest bow, Hydra Bow, with only helms and armors:

Helms:
- Giant Skull with 2x IAS jewels (30%)
- M'avina's True Sight (30%) with IAS jewel (45%)

Armors:
- Treachery (45%)
- Grisworld's Heart with 3x IAS Jewels (45%)
- Black Hades with 3x IAS Jewels (45%)
- Natalya's armor with 3x IAS Jewels (45%)

Looking at the above, I think the choice really depends on what route you would take to get to the last breakpoint using either bows. For e.g., if I set my mind on using Giant Skull + Natalya's armor for my merc and socket all the holes with IAS jewels, I'll be able to attain 75% which hits the final breakpoint for even the slowest Faith Bow (slowest bow + worst Fanat) just to be safe. However, if you have other armor choices which does not have IAS on it but can allow you to socket 1 IAS jewel, you can only reach 45% at best with your Giant Skull. In that case, Using a Great Bow will be your best bet. There are of cos other combinations of helm/armor, but I just want to illustrate a general plan for contingency. As long as you can make up for the additional IAS required, making Faith on a slower bow with higher damage will yield better damage at the expense of flexibility of gear choices.

Personally, I would find a Superior Great Bow quite a strong choice. Since you wish to use it on a merc, you definitely can't make Faith out of a zon bow like GMB with +3 bow skills. In addition, making it on a Superior Great Bow makes up for the slightly less damage compared to other bows and since it's the highest damage bow out of the 2 fastest non-zon bow, it provides alot of versatility in reaching last breakpoint on an Amazon too if you intend to use it on one at a later time. For e.g., the crappiest Faith Great Bow will require a mere additional 10% to hit the best strafing breakpoint on a zon. This will allow you to have alot of flexibility in terms of gears. In fact, I almost only use Great Bow for my runewords due to its balance in speed/damage. The only thing i hate about Great Bow is the strength requirement which is the highest next to Hydra Bow.

Btw, quite elated to know that someone else considers Great Bows too, I thought I was a wierdo. :)

Hope the above helps. :)

[the boss]

Ow and cb armors helps too, i actually have a upped eth purple armor that gives 25% or so cb and some making monster go to flee or somthing like that, its kinda fun

Eth duress, eth duriels, eth smoke
dont forget to make runeword armors in ethearl for mercs

[SmokeyTreats]

Btw, quite elated to know that someone else considers Great Bows too, I thought I was a wierdo. :)

Hope the above helps. :)

Very helpul indeed.
I have also wondered why Great Bow's are not more popular.
I do believe that I will put my Faith in the Great one, just can't beat that flexibility. :thumbsup:

Thanks.