Amazon in normal DII having problems

[KoalaBearThirtyThree]

Yo sup... I used to post here a lot many moons ago but started playing Diablo II a few months ago. This is the normal Diablo II (not expansion; never really played the expansion for a little bit when it came out). A lot have changed since I last played but anyway let me cut to the point...

I'm building a conventional amazon and I'm having a hard time killing anything in hell difficulty (note that this is normal Diablo II). I basically have max strafe, max valkyrie, and sizeable number of points in critical hit, pierce, and penetrate. I have a decent (not great) gothic bow (something like 24-100 dmg) with around 20 IAS from other items (I also tried using a 4-socket bow with 3 ptopaz+1 psapphire (haven't found 6 socket yet) and that's almost the same). Pre-patch 1.10, this set up would dominate (have to note that I used to prefer multishot but that is useless now with 3/4 dmg and faster regen monsters).

It just takes a long time to kill monsters. Defending is ok (valkyrie keeps monsters away) but it just takes an eternity to kill monsters. Anyone still playing normal D2 having any issues? I basically do around 200 average damage with around 75% to hit.

Is normal Diablo II hell difficulty now tough for everyone (other than Hammerdins, sorcs, and a few other types)? I was also building a zealot (Paladin) and he's almost next to uselss (now that leeching is cut, crushing blow is weaker, etc).

Thanks!

[Dacar92]

There is a "Classic" D2 forum here. Let me know if you would like me to move this over there.

[superdave]

what are your stats? for a bowazon dex=damage....some players make the mistake of putting too many into strength and vitality...a few even waste points in energy....playing a classic zon with a low damage bow can be frustrating.
what sources of ias do you have?...a gothic bow is slow.

[KoalaBearThirtyThree]

BTW, move this to the classic DII forum plz... didn't know there was a forum for that...

what are your stats? for a bowazon dex=damage....some players make the mistake of putting too many into strength and vitality...a few even waste points in energy....playing a classic zon with a low damage bow can be frustrating.
what sources of ias do you have?...a gothic bow is slow.

Gothic bow is the "best bow" as far as I can tell (note that this is normal Diablo II and not expansion). Its base speed is 10 and that's not bad. I get IAS from gloves (10%) and belt (10%).

I have 103 strength, 40(?) vitality, base mana (15?), and rest in dexterity (probably around 240?).

The set up can be slightly better (I'm going for magic find right now) but 10% or 20% more dmg won't make much difference. I also probably should have gone for immolation arrow along with strafe because physically immunes are a nightmare right now.

I didn't play post-1.10 patch and things are definitely different now. When people say the game is tougher, it's true for sure. Last I played the game (many years ago) WW barbs used to dominate but now they are just average.

[superdave]

BTW, move this to the classic DII forum plz... didn't know there was a forum for that...



Gothic bow is the "best bow" as far as I can tell (note that this is normal Diablo II and not expansion). Its base speed is 10 and that's not bad. I get IAS from gloves (10%) and belt (10%).

I have 103 strength, 40(?) vitality, base mana (15?), and rest in dexterity (probably around 240?).

The set up can be slightly better (I'm going for magic find right now) but 10% or 20% more dmg won't make much difference. I also probably should have gone for immolation arrow along with strafe because physically immunes are a nightmare right now.

I didn't play post-1.10 patch and things are definitely different now. When people say the game is tougher, it's true for sure. Last I played the game (many years ago) WW barbs used to dominate but now they are just average.


i am sure the guys in classic will be able to help you out with specific suggestions...mine would be to get a few more lvls and continue pumping dex...good bows are hard to find...you might be able to try the trade thread in classic for a better bow....you are correct, a gothic bow is a fine weapon IF you have IAS gear...it's base speed is 10 and that IS bad...it is the slowest bow in the game...a 0 base speed bow is faster and a -10 base speed bow is the fastest...FA is used more often than the fire tree....the damage is impressive, you can stop most monsters in their tracks and you don't have to worry about a cool down time on the spell.

[PhatTrumpet]

Gothic bow is the "best bow" as far as I can tell (note that this is normal Diablo II and not expansion). Its base speed is 10 and that's not bad. I get IAS from gloves (10%) and belt (10%).
Just a note: base 10 is actually the slowest base speed bow possible (read: bow, not xbow), so saying it's "not bad" may not be entirely accurate. The fact remains, however, that Gothic Bow wins out in average damage. If you want to stick with Gothic you'll probably need a little more IAS, and I wouldn't recommend trying to magic find with a Bowazon.

Assuming D2C speed breakpoints are the same as D2X (check the sticky for Strafe IAS Guide), getting a 10/3 Strafe shouldn't be too difficult. Got a Twitchthroe?

[KoalaBearThirtyThree]

Just a note: base 10 is actually the slowest base speed bow possible (read: bow, not xbow), so saying it's "not bad" may not be entirely accurate. The fact remains, however, that Gothic Bow wins out in average damage. If you want to stick with Gothic you'll probably need a little more IAS, and I wouldn't recommend trying to magic find with a Bowazon.


I don't think I'm sacrificing much by going for magic find. My resists can be much better but so far the valkyrie is my decoy so I'm ok on defense. I might need to dump magic find when I get to act4 but so far it isn't much of a liability.

I think gothic bow is the best when you look at damage+speed. So it isn't a base bow speed problem.


Assuming D2C speed breakpoints are the same as D2X (check the sticky for Strafe IAS Guide), getting a 10/3 Strafe shouldn't be too difficult. Got a Twitchthroe?

Speed likely works the same way. I have twitch on my Paladin and can grab it from him but I don't think speed is the way to go. I don't remember the numbers but I think I'll only get around 20% more damage (or something like that). Although that's a sizeable damage, I'm thinking it isn't going to change anything. My character is already high level so things aren't going to change (I'm like level 70).

So I think I need a whole different strategy. This is why I was thinking about immolation arrow. I wonder if the best strategy is to shoot immolation arrow, then strafe, then strafe again, repeat (immolation has a timer on it so strafe in between). Freezing arrow is overall a better and more versatile skill but if I use the valkyrie as a decoy then immolation will probably do more damage with the firewall (anyone confirm?). Immolation (or alternately freezing) arrow will also help against physically immune (Arcane Sanctuary was a cakewalk for Amazons in the past but now is perhaps one of the most dificult (due to physically immune ghosts)).

I am thinking that this isn't really my problem but a class problem. I hardly see any bowazons anymore. Most of them are javazons in classic DII. It's interesting with patch1.10 though. Hell difficulty never used to be a challenge if you built a decent char of any type but that is not the case anymore.

[PhatTrumpet]

Speed likely works the same way. I have twitch on my Paladin and can grab it from him but I don't think speed is the way to go. I don't remember the numbers but I think I'll only get around 20% more damage (or something like that). Although that's a sizeable damage, I'm thinking it isn't going to change anything. My character is already high level so things aren't going to change (I'm like level 70).
On the contrary, speed is everything, to a certain extent. With only 20%IAS you're hardly making a dent in that "extent."
So I think I need a whole different strategy. This is why I was thinking about immolation arrow. I wonder if the best strategy is to shoot immolation arrow, then strafe, then strafe again, repeat (immolation has a timer on it so strafe in between). Freezing arrow is overall a better and more versatile skill but if I use the valkyrie as a decoy then immolation will probably do more damage with the firewall (anyone confirm?). Immolation (or alternately freezing) arrow will also help against physically immune (Arcane Sanctuary was a cakewalk for Amazons in the past but now is perhaps one of the most dificult (due to physically immune ghosts)).
The burn damage on Immo is quite unimpressive. When you ignore the burn damage, Freezing Arrow and Immolation Arrow actually do about the same damage, so you've now got two skills with about the same damage per attack, yet one shoots at least twice as fast as the other due to the timer.
I am thinking that this isn't really my problem but a class problem. I hardly see any bowazons anymore. Most of them are javazons in classic DII. It's interesting with patch1.10 though. Hell difficulty never used to be a challenge if you built a decent char of any type but that is not the case anymore.
Here you have hit the nail on the head IMO. Even D2X Bowazons tend to have trouble without the godliest of gear. I'd have to assume it'd be even thougher to make a successful one in Classic.

[KoalaBearThirtyThree]

On the contrary, speed is everything, to a certain extent. With only 20%IAS you're hardly making a dent in that "extent."

In classic DII, it's hard to get high speeds. Unless you are rich enough to get all the ideal items (maybe good IAS bow, etc), speed isn't that huge of a difference.


The burn damage on Immo is quite unimpressive. When you ignore the burn damage, Freezing Arrow and Immolation Arrow actually do about the same damage, so you've now got two skills with about the same damage per attack, yet one shoots at least twice as fast as the other due to the timer.

If you strafe in between thenit I'm not sure if you can consider FA to be better. Although the burn damage is nothing to live on, damage of 100 is pretty good considering that even a good bow has a base bow damage of usually only around 100.


Here you have hit the nail on the head IMO. Even D2X Bowazons tend to have trouble without the godliest of gear. I'd have to assume it'd be even thougher to make a successful one in Classic.


I used to play a lot of DII before the expansion came out. Now is the first time I have played DII since the expansion. The game is totally diferent now on hell difficulty. The presence of immunes, among others, ensures that only a handful of character styles can solo. It's impossible to solo for certain styles. It's kind of funny now though. I come from a time when barbs used to dominate, whereas now they are not as dominant. Cold sorcs also used to dominate but now many can't solo Claw Viper Temple anymore. Amazons are not popular now but they were not popular back then either so it's hard to say. I'm not an expert but from my experience multishot is so weak compared to strafe now (because of 3/4 dmg vs 100% for strafe at slvl 20). I played without valkyries before (even with horrible lag back then) but now it's tough (mostly beause monsters on ladder are faster and have better AI). The nerfing of leech also makes it interesting (my multisho amazons in the past were mana sufficient (I think there wasn't mana potions back then--not sure) whereas now I rely on potions).

Anyway, like I said, the game feels and plays totally different. It's dissapointing in some sense because only a few styles can solo hell now. But on the other hand it is more challenging.

[Heidegger]

Well, just so you know, strafe also suffers from the 75% damage penalty on the base damage of the bow. The difference is that it gets a slight damage modifier that is added onto the other non-weapon modifiers such as dexterity or 30ed on biggin's bonnet for example. If you can manage to get your enemies into fairly tight pack, strafe is indeed better than multishot though. There are few areas where(cows come to mind) where multi outdoes strafe, but in general strafe is the better option both for mana consumption and damage.

With a slower bow you will be stuck in place for over 1 second with each volley, so you have to be careful. That's another benefit of speed; it's much safer. Maybe you should try to imbue a runebow or double bow. I remember those were a popular alternative to Gothics in classic because of their superior speed. Also, sigon's or death's set could afford you some better ias and nice life leech for a low low price. Apart from that, you're right, it's difficult to get ias from many places other that the weapon itself in classic. I think twitch was a good suggestion because it not only boosts your attack speed, but also your dex. Bloodfists also have 10% ias and boost your min damage by 5, which isn't too shabby in classic.

One last thing, the speed difference between a base speed of 10 and -10 is HUGE. Base speed is different than ias bonuses in that for each base speed, there corresponds a different set of breakpoints. Put simply, 10 and -10 base is way more than a 20 ias differential, especially when you get into the higher breakpoints.

Hope that helps a little.

[Dacar92]

Since you received some help here, I will now move this to the Classic forum now so they can help as well.

[Fearlessone]

...The game is totally diferent now on hell difficulty. The presence of immunes, among others, ensures that only a handful of character styles can solo. It's impossible to solo for certain styles. ...Amazons are not popular now but they were not popular back then either so it's hard to say. I'm not an expert but from my experience multishot is so weak compared to strafe now (because of 3/4 dmg vs 100% for strafe at slvl 20). ...It's dissapointing in some sense because only a few styles can solo hell now. But on the other hand it is more challenging.
Are you trying to play solo? Single player or realm play? I would gather you are playing in nearly full games with the difficulties you are having.

Players figured out the game, thus the game got easier and Blizz had to make the game tougher. Amazons were very popular after enhanced dmg bug on bows was fixed in NOv. 2000, until Oct.28 2003. Javazons were not until the past year. Funny how its taken that long for players to figure them out.

So if you are on a closed realm, why not place that realm under your name instead of "No Longer Play" (edit Player Profile under User CP). Cuz u need to get a better bow and to play with other people to make this a successful bowazon. So who would you play with? What I do with most of my portfolio of chars is see who is in a certain game and choose the char to compliment them. A smiter is ideal for a bowazon, cuz he will be using fanaticism, and there will likely be a conc pally in the group too. A sorc who uses static, not just orbs, will be a boon to you and you for her to finish off cold immunes. An enchantress(rare) can tremendously boost fire damage, but I read that enchant doesnt work on strafe arrows, does it work on immolation arrow - dont know either (do an advanced search using keywords 'enchant' and 'strafe' to look up that thread, it was about a month ago and under a 'noob pally' or such title). Necros mean u dont have to worry about a valk so much, and they can often amp or decrep for you, or perhaps even LowerResists, although that is quite rare anymore.

[WarlockCC]

What the LoD people suggested about speed just doesn't work that way for Classic Strafe. The ias breakpoints are :
0 % 4 fpa
11 % 3 fpa
120 % 2 fpa

you have the 11 one, cause you are wearing the 10ias gloves and goldwrap(only belt in classic that provides IAS, so I guess you are wearing that one)
And the 120 one, well, you can dream about it.
let's theorise for a second here :
sigons gloves + sigons helm or boots = 30ias
goldwrap = 10 ias
twitch = 20 ias
Goth bow max(with the of Quickness mod, not sure if it can spawn on a bow) = 40 ias
so your total would be a smashing 100ias, if you do find that high damage 40 ias gothic bow.
20 ias short of the 120 breakpoint.
so speedwise, you are fine where you are. 3 frames per attack gothic.

Having rescently made a strafezon and having tried a runebow, I know those won't really help you. Cause they do even less damage then your gothic bow. On the up side, you can get 2fpa with them. That is, if you can get 86ias, meaning a minimum of 30 ias on the bow on top of the abovementioned sig/twitch/goldwrap combi. Then, you might do more damage then the goth.

Yes, bowazons are hard in D2C 1.1x, neigh impossible. To solo is, like you said, almost impossible. The Spectres however, are non-corporial. They don't block your path. Just let your valk play with them while you walk right on by. Since there are no Spectres that you have to kill to get to the next act, you can just let them 'live'.
One thing you might want to get is crushing blow. I don't really know in which way it was tuned down since 1.09, but to me it still works wonders in Hell.
I am probably alone in this advise(most other people don't agree with it) but you could max your decoy aswell, since that gives your valk about 390% of her base life extra(you won't get 390% of what your valk has atm unfortunately). Indeed you should use your valk as your armor, and get your zon as much damage as you can. min damage rings(or other items) help a lot for a gothic bowzon.
On the bowzon I rescently made I am using a Balista which has no IAS. But with strafe, I get 4fpa, which is very nice when combined with the damage.
My zon has 100 vit, otherwise you get slain every few minutes, though that could be my reckless playing style. I have exactly enough str to use my balista when I wear all my items. The rest I put in dex, my zon has 384 dex atm if I remember correctly. Doing some 400-600 or so damage, it still takes her a while to kill monsters in 8 player CS games. Like 3 volleys for a Venom Lord.

Like Fearlessone suggests, try to team up. Your Valk is great for teaming with for instance a sorc, because your valk will tank things while the sorc damages the monsters and you can kill them. If you happen to find a pala with at least a level 10 fana, you'll need a total of 40 ias to get 2 fpa, so a little extra speed wouldn't be all that bad. find some sigs gloves and helm(which gives ar) to compliment your Goldwrap and you will have it. But such fana pala's are quite rare, so don't toss +damage gear overboard to get that 40ias which you will rarely get to use.
I don't have a lot of points in dodge, avoid and evade, because I have my valk and decoy maxed. This provides me with a absolute tank (and a very solid decoy) which only kills herself when she has IM on her.

[KoalaBearThirtyThree]

Thanks for the post... it pretty much covers all the issues...

What the LoD people suggested about speed just doesn't work that way for Classic Strafe. The ias breakpoints are :
0 % 4 fpa
11 % 3 fpa
120 % 2 fpa

you have the 11 one, cause you are wearing the 10ias gloves and goldwrap(only belt in classic that provides IAS, so I guess you are wearing that one)
And the 120 one, well, you can dream about it.
let's theorise for a second here :
sigons gloves + sigons helm or boots = 30ias
goldwrap = 10 ias
twitch = 20 ias
Goth bow max(with the of Quickness mod, not sure if it can spawn on a bow) = 40 ias
so your total would be a smashing 100ias, if you do find that high damage 40 ias gothic bow.
20 ias short of the 120 breakpoint.
so speedwise, you are fine where you are. 3 frames per attack gothic.

Yeah... speed really won't make much difference... have you tried immolation arrow+strafe? That would involve a ton of micromanaging but I'm thinking of trying that...

Yes, bowazons are hard in D2C 1.1x, neigh impossible. To solo is, like you said, almost impossible. The Spectres however, are non-corporial. They don't block your path. Just let your valk play with them while you walk right on by. Since there are no Spectres that you have to kill to get to the next act, you can just let them 'live'.

I still would like to try the immolation arrow+strafe idea but other than that I think you are right in saying that soloing is very difficult now (unless you are a javazon or something--but even then I don't know what you do against lightning immune). I think soloing single player games (passworded games on bnet) is viable but that's about it.

As far as skipping immunes, well :) that's not my style. Even when I used to play a long time ago, I never used to skip (a lot of people would skip lightning enchnted for example). Right now what I am doing is to switch a socketed gothic bow (3 perfect topaz+1 psapphire) to take out physically immune. It takes an eternity but it is possible. I am hoping to find a 6 socket bow (these exist in classic right?) and that should help a bit. Having said that, if you find uniques that are physically immune with stone skin or stuff like that, it's impossible (they regen faster than you kill).

One thing you might want to get is crushing blow. I don't really know in which way it was tuned down since 1.09, but to me it still works wonders in Hell.

Haven't tried crushing blow with bows but I tried it with my Zealot paladin (just goblin toe; 25% CB) and it isn't as powerful as it used to be. In any case, it's an idea that's worth trying.


I am probably alone in this advise(most other people don't agree with it) but you could max your decoy aswell, since that gives your valk about 390% of her base life extra(you won't get 390% of what your valk has atm unfortunately).

I don't think that is needed. So far (act 3 hell) the valkyrie survives. It dies once in a while but I can just re-cast her. I haven't been concerned with her hitpoints so far. If I were to put points into something, I'm thinking of going for penetrate (I think I can get my % to hit up a bit more) or maybe even dodge or something.


On the bowzon I rescently made I am using a Balista which has no IAS. But with strafe, I get 4fpa, which is very nice when combined with the damage.

This is something that I have thought hard about. I was even thinking of imbuing ballistas and hoping to get good damage or IAS on them. In general Ballistas suck compared to bows (like gothic bows) but with strafe they are pretty good. At lower levels, I was experimenting with heavy cross-bow, as well as chu-ku-nu (chu is actually fun to play with, since it is so fast :) ), and they were not bad. The only thing was that you arel locked into strafe for a longer period but their damage is impressive. I might just try to imbue a ballista and see how that works out just to see.



My zon has 100 vit, otherwise you get slain every few minutes, though that could be my reckless playing style. I have exactly enough str to use my balista when I wear all my items. The rest I put in dex, my zon has 384 dex atm if I remember correctly. Doing some 400-600 or so damage, it still takes her a while to kill monsters in 8 player CS games. Like 3 volleys for a Venom Lord.

As crazy as it may sound, my amazon is actually going for magic find so she is not as strong as she can. Other than that, I have around 103 in strength, and the rest in vitality and dex. My damage is around 250 average (don't remember exactly).

[Classics]

Classic Untwinked Physical Bowazons are by no means easy in any regard. I think here you're going to have to ignore what many people are blabbing about speed wise. Get a high damage gothic bow with NO IAS (MUCH cheaper, and 100% unneeded on a strafer). You already have 20 IAS outside the bow, and that is easily enough to achieve the 3 frame Breakpoint with a Gothic Bow. Technically, you could achieve 8/2 or 9/2 with a Double Bow, but good double bows are extremely hard to find and are not made to be Strafed with in the first place. All you need is 20% IAS, and then THAT's IT! Don't worry about IAS anymore with a Strafer. There's no need.

To me, your biggest flaw is in you Stat allocation. Overstrengthing is a big no-no with a Bowazon, as every stat point is vital towards your minimal damage or minimal life count. Frankly, if you want a Classic Physical Bower, I'd restart it right this moment. Try to acquire gear that enhances your Strength and Dexterity (10 str 10 dex dual res rings are your best bet, although cost a pretty penny). Try at least to achieve about 400 dex with equipment, and a 150+ no IAS Gothic bow; not to mention, with your gear you should only have 95 STR or 76 STR (if it's -20 req). Full Iratha's is a rather useful combo to get you started if you have it lying around or if you can somehow acquire it. It offers 25 Dexterity, Running Speed, Mass Resistances, and 20 IAS. To be honest, there's not much more to be asked for. As an alternative, you could also use DeathsHand/Sash for 15% all resist, 30 IAS, 8% LL, good PR combo, and setup your char from there.

Ahh, thinking an ideal cheapo setup would be:
Level 87
Str: 95 or 76 with Gear (NO MORE NO LESS!)
Dex: 340+ with Gear
Vita: Base-150+
NRG: Base
With a 150 damage Gothic Bow, 3 frame strafe, 500ish+ Life and decent or maxed resists, you're not going to get a Strafazon too much better than that without very expensive equipment.
Hell, you could even equip Goldskins. Twitch is unneccesary.

Also, your Immolation idea is intriguging, but using 60 skills in Bow and Crossbow makes things really tight otherwise. Immolation arrow isn't great in the first place, and the Per Second damage is minimal. I say you stick to your pure strafer, they're much easier to make than any other Physical Bowazon. However, if you REALLY wanted, you COULD make a Magic Arrow/MultiShot zon for Immunes, which work very well, but are even harder to setup (trust me).

Edit: I forgot that another way of deal with Immunes is to max Fire Arrow or Cold Arrow. They provide about 50% damage conversions to that element and a little bit of extra damage on the side. This way your Bow and Crossbow skills tab still only has about 40 points invested in it, and allows you to still pump your passives to fairly decent levels. However, you still won't be able to kill dual immunes, and your attack speed for these attacks will be painfull slow (nevertheless get the job done)
(Magic arrow also would be viable)

[KoalaBearThirtyThree]

Sorry about not replying sooner. I meant to reply earlier but didn't get around to it (I started an avenger paladin so that is taking up some time :) )...

I would just like to know how many bowazons are out there in Classic. I personally find it really hard to play one (and amazon used to be my #2 years ago) and don't really see too many bowazons in hell past act 1.

I'm busy with my avenger (paladin) but I am thinking of creating a new amazon as follows... but first some responses to some of your ideas...

Classic Untwinked Physical Bowazons are by no means easy in any regard. I think here you're going to have to ignore what many people are blabbing about speed wise. Get a high damage gothic bow with NO IAS (MUCH cheaper, and 100% unneeded on a strafer). You already have 20 IAS outside the bow, and that is easily enough to achieve the 3 frame Breakpoint with a Gothic Bow. Technically, you could achieve 8/2 or 9/2 with a Double Bow, but good double bows are extremely hard to find and are not made to be Strafed with in the first place. All you need is 20% IAS, and then THAT's IT! Don't worry about IAS anymore with a Strafer. There's no need.

yep... agree completely... I checked the numbers and 20IAS is all you need.

Also, the ballista idea isn't too attractive. Gothic basically kills ballista under most scenarios. You would probably need a godly ballista to take out gothic (and I'm not rich by any means)... based on my calculations, ballista only outperforms gothic at 50IAS. Since I never really built a ballista amazon before, I'm kind of interested in this but you have little equipment flexibility. I guess I would need twitch (20IAS) plus the partial death set (30IAS) OR twitch+2 iratha set items+goldwrap OR twitch + 2 sigon set items. Ballista is just an idea at this point (more of a fun thing).


To me, your biggest flaw is in you Stat allocation. Overstrengthing is a big no-no with a Bowazon, as every stat point is vital towards your minimal damage or minimal life count. Frankly, if you want a Classic Physical Bower, I'd restart it right this moment. Try to acquire gear that enhances your Strength and Dexterity (10 str 10 dex dual res rings are your best bet, although cost a pretty penny). Try at least to achieve about 400 dex with equipment, and a 150+ no IAS Gothic bow; not to mention, with your gear you should only have 95 STR or 76 STR (if it's -20 req).

In hindsight, the stats could be improved. I'm thinking of starting a new char along what you are suggesting. The extra points in strength is only like 30 (30% more dmg) and isn't that big but I have way too much in health I think (especially since I always run behind the valkyrie). I'll see if I can go with low health and minimal strength. If I go the valkyrie route (as I did) then health is usually not a problem from my experience so far (only up to act 3 hell). Bosses are the only ones that are a problem with low health but we'll see...

I think the 150dmg gothic bow is out of the question. Don't have it and don't think I can trade for it (not to mention the fact that very few people have bows for trade).


Full Iratha's is a rather useful combo to get you started if you have it lying around or if you can somehow acquire it. It offers 25 Dexterity, Running Speed, Mass Resistances, and 20 IAS. To be honest, there's not much more to be asked for. As an alternative, you could also use DeathsHand/Sash for 15% all resist, 30 IAS, 8% LL, good PR combo, and setup your char from there.

I think I'm going to with the full iratha (just love the set. Ironically my main amazon years ago wore that too :) ). That also gives 20% IAS set bonus on the gloves so it will be ideal for strafe. Another alternative is to go with twitchthroe for armour along with a bunch of other stuff.

Also, your Immolation idea is intriguging, but using 60 skills in Bow and Crossbow makes things really tight otherwise. Immolation arrow isn't great in the first place, and the Per Second damage is minimal. I say you stick to your pure strafer, they're much easier to make than any other Physical Bowazon. However, if you REALLY wanted, you COULD make a Magic Arrow/MultiShot zon for Immunes, which work very well, but are even harder to setup (trust me).

Maybe I just suck but I'm not sure if pure strafer is viable any more. Haven't looked into the magic arrow route but I never really did like that... I'm not sure I understand your point about multishot. That's also physical and it won't help against physically immunes right?

I did some calculations and immolation arrow is very weak (at least the firewall dmg). But I'm still not dumping the idea yet...


Edit: I forgot that another way of deal with Immunes is to max Fire Arrow or Cold Arrow. They provide about 50% damage conversions to that element and a little bit of extra damage on the side. This way your Bow and Crossbow skills tab still only has about 40 points invested in it, and allows you to still pump your passives to fairly decent levels. However, you still won't be able to kill dual immunes, and your attack speed for these attacks will be painfull slow (nevertheless get the job done)
(Magic arrow also would be viable)

Going for fire or cold arrow is an option but if I wanted togo that route, I would probably not go for strafe and instead attemp to build a fire or cold amazon... but based on some quick calaculations I did, nothing even comes close to strafe in terms of damage if you have 20+ IAS (depending on the details, stafe basically does 4x to 6x more damage whereas the cold/fire arrows only give you a fraction of that--but these are not dependent on weapon dmg).



So to sum up, I'm thinking of building a ballista strafer... preliminary set up (without looking at details) would be something like...

LEVEL 70

STR: 70 to 100
DEX: REST
LIFE: not sure but maybe 50 to 100
MANA: BASE

WEAPON: ballista (need to imbue and hoepfully it doesn't suck :( )
OTHER EQUIPMENT: whatever gets 50 IAS

SKILLS:
STRAFE: 20
valkyrie: 8
OTHER SKILLS: not sure yet


Ballista with 50IAS only does around 10% more dmg than gothic so this is more of a fun build I think...

[WarlockCC]

The ballista I use does 93-169, indeed I have 50ias(twitch/deaths, cause you need cbf) on my zon. People are surprised by her fast rate of fire. I guess that does prove there are very few strafers around. I mainly use her in Hell CS with that max valk/max decoy. She can kill there, though I guess the valk can kill faster. Valk hardly dies unless IM'd.
Personally, I really enjoy playing her as is, more dex every level. her boots are offcourse gobs, which really helps with the bosses.