The Classic Elemental Bowzon Guide

[Damric]

The Classic Elemental Bowzon Guide by Damric

About me: I bought D2 after trying it at a friend's house back in 2000. I played like every version of both Classic and LoD and played LoD exclusively for a long time. I grew bored with LoD and went back to Classic and I really enjoy it. One of the first things I noticed is that in classic weapon damage is pretty low compared to LoD. For example Rare Gothic bows, lances, mauls, whatever are way lower than the elite unique and runeword items I was used to. I still wanted to make a bow amazon so I looked at the Set Items list in Arreat Summit and this is what I found:


Arctic Set: Ok, bow damage looks really low but the cold durations make this viable for a cold damage amazon since the duration bonus will stack with your cold skills.

Arctic Furs
Quilted Armor Defense: 45 - 51 (varies)(Base Defense 8-11)
Defense: (48-342) - (54-348) (varies)(Base Defense 8-11)
Required Level: 2
Required Strength: 12
Durability: 20
+275-325% Enhanced Defense
All Resistances +10
+ (3 Per Character Level) 3-297 Defense (Based On Character Level) (2 Set Items)
Cold Resist +15% (3 Set Items)

Arctic Binding
Light Belt Defense: 33 (Base Defense: 3)
Required Level: 2
Durability: 14
Cold Resist +40%
+30 Defense
+40% Better Chance Of Getting Magic Items (2 Set Items)
Cold Resist +10% (3 Set Items)

Arctic Mitts
Light Gauntlets Defense: 9-11 (varies)
Required Level: 2
Required Strength: 45
Durability: 18
+20 To Life
10% Increased Attack Speed
+50 To Attack Rating (2 Set Items)
+10 To Dexterity (3 Set Items)

Arctic Horn
Short War Bow Two-Hand Damage: 9 to 21 (15 avg)
Required Level: 2
Required Strength: 35
Required Dexterity: 55
Base Weapon Speed: [0]
+50% Enhanced Damage
20% Bonus To Attack Rating
+ (8 Per Character Level) 8-792 Attack Rating (Based On Character Level) (2 Set Items)
+20-30 Cold Damage, 3 sec. Duration (Normal) (3 Set Items)


Partial Set Bonus
+5 To Strength (2 Items)
+50 To Life (3 Items)

Complete Set Bonus
+5 To Strength
+50 To Life
Cannot Be Frozen
Adds 6-14 Cold Damage
Cold Duration: 4 seconds



Vidala's Set: Again poor bow damage, but 50% pierce made me decide to try it on a Fire Using Amazon


Vidala's Barb
Long Battle Bow Two-Hand Damage: 3 to 18 (10.5 Avg)
Required Level: 14
Required Strength: 40
Required Dexterity: 50
Base Weapon Speed: [10]
Adds 1-20 Lightning Damage
+ (8 Per Character Level) 8-792 To Attack Rating (Based On Character Level) (2 Items)

Vidala's Ambush
Leather Armor Defense: 64-67 (varies) (Base Defense: 14-17)
Defense: (66-311) - (69-314) (varies) (Base Defense: 14-17)
Required Level: 14
Required Strength: 15
Durability: 24
+50 Defense
+11 to Dexterity
+24% Fire Resist (2 Items)
+ (2.5 Per Character Level) +2-247 Defense (Based On Character Level) (3 Items)

Vidala's Fetlock
Light Plated Boots Defense: 9-11 (varies)
Required Level: 14
Required Strength: 50
Durability: 18
Assassin Kick Damage: 8-16
30% Faster Run/Walk
+150 to Maximum Stamina
All Resistances +8 (2 Items)

Vidala's Snare
Amulet Required Level: 14
Cold Resist 20%
+15 To Life
50% Better Chance Of Getting Magic Items (2 Items)


Partial Set Bonus
+75 To Attack Rating (2 Items)
+15 To Dexterity (3 Items)

Complete Set Bonus
+75 To Attack Rating
Adds 15-20 Cold Damage, 2 sec. Duration (Normal)
Piercing Attack [50]
Freezes Target
+15 To Dexterity
+10 To Strength



Character Builds: you can build an elemental type amazon with a low damage bow using one of these 2 sets.



Statistics: all of these builds will have similar points in these attributes:

Strength: enough for gear. No more needed.
Dexterity: enough for gear. No need to place more since your main damage will not be physical.
Vitality: Place as many as you can here.
Energy: 100-150 depending on your mana needs. This is a mana-munching build. In classic you don't have the luxury of Meditation mercinaries or Battle Orders from your own Call to Arms.


Equipment: All of these builds use basically the same equipment:

Headgear: To help out with mana, any 3 socket helm with 3 Perfect Saphires or 3 Perfect skulls or a combination. Otherwise a Nice Rare helm will do. For %Magic Find, a Tarnhelm or 3 Perfect Topaz Helm.
Rings: For the Rich players 2xSoJ's. Otherwise 2x Manald heal (40% mana regeneration), or nice resist rare rings. For Magic Find, use Nagel Rings or Rare %mf rings.

The Rest of gear depends on the build (see below).




Magezon1: this build can kill all except cold +fire immune with powerful freezing arrow or explosive arrows that pierce the enemies

Arctic Set +Eye of Etlich +Rare Boots

20 freezing arrow
20 ice arrow
20 fire arrow
20 explode arrow
1+++ valkerie/ pierce



Magezon2: uses frost arrow only to hold monsters still for immolition arrow to cook them

Arctic Set +Eye of Etlich +Rare Boots

20 freezing arrow
20 immolition arrow
20 fire arrow
20 explosive arrow
1+++ in pierce/cold arrow



Frostzon: this amazon is solely cold damage and uses valkerie to handle cold immunes.

Arctic Set +Eye of Etlich +Rare Boots

20 freezing arrow
20 ice arrow
20 cold arrow
20 valkerie
1+++ in pierce/decoy



Firezon1: uses explosive arrows to kill and a strong valkerie and decoy

Vidala's Set +Magefist +rarebelt

20 fire arrow
20 explode arrow
20 valkerie
20 decoy
1+ to Pierce (to get near 100% with Vidala's Set)
1+ Dodge Skills


Firezon2: Uses Powerful Immolition Arrows and a moderate Valkerie and Decoy

Vidala's Set +Magefist +rarebelt

20 Fire Arrow
20 Explode Arow
20 Immolition Arrow
1+ to Pierce (to get near 100% with Vidala's Set)
10+ Decoy
10+ Valkerie
1+ Dodge skills

[Mikk0]

i'v been thinking about a magezon for a while now.. so have you tried all of those builds? how do they coop in hell game solo/8ppl?

reason why i have been thinking about this is that when im seeking a wep for my barb with my sorc i have seen so many nice bows for a magezon.

something like ias/cold dmg/+ skill. those are the main things to look for a weapon, right? maybe even x resist :scratch:

magezons seem cool (never made an pure magezone, yet). but only real thing im worried is the killing/survival.. set/rare combinations do have potential (like those crappy looking +2 bows) to be used for this type of a character.

also you might want to add that etlic has an variety on the cold duration, just to remind from it :rolleyes:

intresting idea and nicely done othere wise :wink:

[fledgeling]

uh I dont understand the purpose of this post apart from item statistics copied from some website

where is the actual content with some sort of in depth analysis?
you could have at least listed the damage with max synergies and say a +2amulet or something..

what about mana usage
what about the ability to actually solo the game and how long does it take..

[Noite Escura]

I would rather use Wizendraw on a Cold Bowazon. Kudos for at least trying to make a (kind of) guide to Classic builds.

[IsThisNamePermanent]

I've always thought the better the IAS the better you would kill, you didnt mention that at all. Infact you just support the two sets you mentioned, I've made better bowazons then you builds.

[Damric]

Maybe you all misunderstand my guide. I'm sure many of you have made some elite-rich-kill-the-whole-game-in-1-multishot-zon. Well then this guide isn't for you unless you want to try something different. The purpose here is I wanted to make a very affordable and very cool build for any player who wants to give a bow amazon a shot in classic. Yes, you could pump your ias, or tweak this or that with different gear set-ups, but that is up to you. Many people overlook the Arctic and Vidala's sets and here I give them a purpose.

If you liked this guide, I have a few more that I posted over the years:

How to get 20k Berserk Damage (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=348209)

The 1.11 Ladder Trang Poisonmancer (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=383791)

Guide to the Lich Lord 1.10 (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=353693)

[Mikk0]

Maybe you all misunderstand my guide. I'm sure many of you have made some elite-rich-kill-the-whole-game-in-1-multishot-zon. Well then this guide isn't for you unless you want to try something different. The purpose here is I wanted to make a very affordable and very cool build for any player who wants to give a bow amazon a shot in classic. Yes, you could pump your ias, or tweak this or that with different gear set-ups, but that is up to you. Many people overlook the Arctic and Vidala's sets and here I give them a purpose.

If you liked this guide, I have a few more that I posted over the years:

How to get 20k Berserk Damage (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=348209)

The 1.11 Ladder Trang Poisonmancer (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=383791)

Guide to the Lich Lord 1.10 (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=353693)

so you have made couple of these and tryed them out? how do they work? thats what i really would like to know.

dont realyl think those links match on this forum :prop:

[Creon]

Maybe you all misunderstand my guide. I'm sure many of you have made some elite-rich-kill-the-whole-game-in-1-multishot-zon. Well then this guide isn't for you unless you want to try something different. The purpose here is I wanted to make a very affordable and very cool build for any player who wants to give a bow amazon a shot in classic. Yes, you could pump your ias, or tweak this or that with different gear set-ups, but that is up to you. Many people overlook the Arctic and Vidala's sets and here I give them a purpose.

Maybe you misunderstand some of their comments. I'm sure you recognize there is no such thing as a elite-rich-kill-the-whole-game-in-1-multishot-zon on Classic. Well then, this character build is no different. The purpose of the comments here is we want to know how effective and fun the build is, in your experience, before any player gives a bow amazon a shot in classic. Yes, you can spout different stat and skill sets all day, but that doesn't let us know how the build really plays. Many people overlook the importance of this in their guide, and the posters above just want this guide to better achieve its purpose.

[Akukami]

The only Zon build that can effectively run in Hell CS is a Lightning Javazon. Bowazons aren't for CSing with unless you're just trying to level. As for general PvM play, they would still need better gear than just Set Items.

Damric, I understand that you're trying something different, but I highly doubt anything using Arctic's or Vidala's is going to work past NM Act 3. Even Fredsta's attempt for an effective Cold Bowazon fell flat, and he spent most of his time dodging everything CS threw at him.

Good try, but you'll have to do a tad bit better next time with some real analysis of actualy game play. :laugh:

- Akukami

[Damric]

:neener: Maybe you guys should just stick to your hammerdins and far casting lightningzons and only play the game in 1 difficulty in 1 area. But really folks, if you want to try something really fun, I'll even go as far as to give you the Set items for free. You won't need help leveling yourself because you will be able to kill things quickly on your own from the start. But then again maybe you prefer to get rushed through 99% of the game and only leech in the CS for the duration of your miserable boring character.

Oh and I only made this guide because of all the compliments of how interesting my own amazons are using these set-ups. If you want to see how it plays and take me up on the free items, I am on US west ladder. *fuctard

There is one thing that is certain, this is a fun build. You have my 100% satisfaction guarantee.

:rolleyes:

[Mikk0]

:neener: Maybe you guys should just stick to your hammerdins and far casting lightningzons and only play the game in 1 difficulty in 1 area. But really folks, if you want to try something really fun, I'll even go as far as to give you the Set items for free. You won't need help leveling yourself because you will be able to kill things quickly on your own from the start. But then again maybe you prefer to get rushed through 99% of the game and only leech in the CS for the duration of your miserable boring character.

Oh and I only made this guide because of all the compliments of how interesting my own amazons are using these set-ups. If you want to see how it plays and take me up on the free items, I am on US west ladder. *fuctard

There is one thing that is certain, this is a fun build. You have my 100% satisfaction guarantee.

:rolleyes:

umm.. basicly im not doubting that. i'dd just want to get some answers that i have asked few times alredy.

how does she do hell? can kill stuff? can barely kill stuff? or can't she be touch. what arreas would you use here in? what about combineing differend sets to get maxium dmg/duration/etc ..

ppl arent really trying to blame you (atleast my behalf). guide is nice start but it lacks depth. im no expert to advice but i have seen so many guides and build by them so i think i know what i want to hear before trying.

i think this guide can be verry usefull and fun! but you need to expand a little. so heres few suggestions

1) gear (combinations of sets/uniqs/rares)
2) game play (lvling/goals/what to expect)
3) your experiences

cant remeber anything else at the moment, but i hope you get the picture? im really hopeing that you try agein and looking forward to see what you can come up with :wave:

[WarlockCC]

:neener: Maybe you guys should just stick to your hammerdins and far casting lightningzons and only play the game in 1 difficulty in 1 area. But really folks, if you want to try something really fun, I'll even go as far as to give you the Set items for free. You won't need help leveling yourself because you will be able to kill things quickly on your own from the start. But then again maybe you prefer to get rushed through 99% of the game and only leech in the CS for the duration of your miserable boring character.

Oh and I only made this guide because of all the compliments of how interesting my own amazons are using these set-ups. If you want to see how it plays and take me up on the free items, I am on US west ladder. *fuctard

There is one thing that is certain, this is a fun build. You have my 100% satisfaction guarantee.

:rolleyes:
I know quite a few folks here enjoy 'different' builds and to find a use for those two sets is commendable. I too enjoy quite a bit more of the game then just the CS or blood moor.
Personally I enjoy a healer as a different character. And people who play with me do like having my healer around, so much so that other people are now attempting to make healers on the Euro-realm. I can only hope it spreads to the other realms.
I'm presuming you have played one of your Zon types, if so, please write up a dairy if you will, about your trials and perhaps even errors. What can we expect of these zons, where will they shine, where will we run into trouble while playing them, those kind of things. That would make it all the more inviting to play such a char. If you have a warstory to go with it. I know most cold zons just use the wiz for it's lower target resists, but using these sets surely has some advantages over that or something that will make for a different gameplay. Highlight those if you would.

[Mikk0]

I know quite a few folks here enjoy 'different' builds and to find a use for those two sets is commendable. I too enjoy quite a bit more of the game then just the CS or blood moor.
Personally I enjoy a healer as a different character. And people who play with me do like having my healer around, so much so that other people are now attempting to make healers on the Euro-realm. I can only hope it spreads to the other realms.
I'm presuming you have played one of your Zon types, if so, please write up a dairy if you will, about your trials and perhaps even errors. What can we expect of these zons, where will they shine, where will we run into trouble while playing them, those kind of things. That would make it all the more inviting to play such a char. If you have a warstory to go with it. I know most cold zons just use the wiz for it's lower target resists, but using these sets surely has some advantages over that or something that will make for a different gameplay. Highlight those if you would.

agreed as i state above :brainiac:

but i'dd like to add (cant edit anymore) that i'v never made an hammerdin. i only have orb sorc and barb trying to reach hell to do some mf. im not verry rich player so im more than intrested to make chap & fun builds. ofc hammerdins pwn but still i havent made one (in classic nor in lod).

still waiting for added information :laughing:

[Damric]

This is the info you might want:

-The single element types have the same problems in hell that single element sorcs do and must avoid those immunes. Completing Hell difficulty by yourself with a single element is improbable. However, you will do considerable damage to other monsters.

-The Set items are just as good as a rare/unique combination since your damage isn't coming from physical. You might be able to squeeze out some more resistance if you have really good sets and you might get slightly more damage from +skills items but you would also lose a lot from not having the set bonuses. Basicall the Sets are inexpensive, they work just fine, and they look cool.

-Of course killing speed isn't as great as some of the common builds you see out there, but you can definitely survive and even thrive in most areas of the game.

As for a diary, day one was something like this:

0920 Created game called SoJ4ArcticSet. Traded "unidentified SoJ" for set items and quickly left game and typed /dnd.
0922 Failed to join.
0923 Failed to join.
0924 Ate a doughnut and drank a coffee.
0940 Made game called Free Lag1.
0941 Gained xp and ignored nubs asking for free lag.
1022 I lagged out of game.

[Dacar92]

This is the info you might want:

As for a diary, day one was something like this:

0920 Created game called SoJ4ArcticSet. Traded "unidentified SoJ" for set items and quickly left game and typed /dnd.
0922 Failed to join.
0923 Failed to join.
0924 Ate a doughnut and drank a coffee.
0940 Made game called Free Lag1.
0941 Gained xp and ignored nubs asking for free lag.
1022 I lagged out of game.


LOL! The lag is killing me, literally. Single player, here I come!

[Eustacia]

I play magezons pretty much exclusively. I had a level 82 magezon on classic, and 87 on LoD.

Basically, the build that works best IMO is:

20 fire arrow
20 exploding arrow
20 cold arrow
20 freezing arrow
20 Valkarie
1 Guided Arrow
1 Prereqs
Comes out to exactly 110 points. Don't bother with pierce. Your bottle neck will be bosses, not hordes. You will need all the extra dmg you can muster.

I usually pump 1 str or dex, 2 vit, 2 energy per level, using -10 bows as a guide (ie I go to 28 dex, then 25 str/35 dex, then 25str/62 dex, then 58str/78 dex). Best bow is simply a 20 ias +2 zon skills -10 bow. Have in your inventory a 5 or 6 socket PTopaz bow for fire/cold immunes (which there are a lot of), though valkarie will be able to handle most of them. Also get yourself a 10ias glove with resists. Other than that, focus on resists and +skills.

For this build, the hardest part of the game is by far the Claw Viper Temple. Nowhere else even comes close. Pray that Fangskin spawns on the alter.

In classic, I found running City of the Damned to be better for exp than CS. In expansion, run Maggot lair. Even in classic, run Maggot Lair until you aren't getting 10k exp/kill.

[fledgeling]

Ive seen level 80+ hammerdins die in second level of Viper Temple, so you shouldnt worry about that

but what about speed? are these amazons fast in clearing the areas?

[Eustacia]

Ive seen level 80+ hammerdins die in second level of Viper Temple, so you shouldnt worry about that

but what about speed? are these amazons fast in clearing the areas?

Well, she takes a good 30 minutes to do a solo CS run, but she can clear City of Damned in 10 to 15. She isn't terribly fast, but nor is she slow (except against Urdars and those mages in Durance). She flies through normal and nightmare, and most of A2 and A3 Hell. Cold immunes in A1 can take a bit.

What she is though is fun. Very strategic build and her best gear is dirt cheap so she's completely playable untwinked. I played solo for both classic and LoD and can definitely say she's viable and won't bore you.

[zrk]

I did some number crunching to compare a -10 speed bow with 20ias +2 all skills , rogues bow and wizendraw

in the test i had +3 all skills with the +2allskill bow and +1 all skills with rogues bow/wizendraw

rogues bow and the +2 all skill bow were pretty much equal, considering that rogues bow reached 8 frame attack speed while +2 allskill bow reached 9 frame (it can reach 8 frame too but then no cannot be frozen). rogues bow did a bit more (roughly 100 more) freezing arrow dmg per sec and about 20 less exploding arrow.

now wizendraw was a bit different. it did 340 less exploding arrow dmg per sec compared to the +2 allskill bow (1300 vs 1600 per sec roughly) but 3757 cold dmg per sec compared to +2 allskill bow's 3500. wizendraw also has a nice mana bonus(+15 energy, +30 mana)

overall id have to say that for a nicely balanced magezon id too use a +2allskil l bow like eustacia. the +2 all skills helps other skills out nicely too and the damage is good with both exploding arrow and freezing arrow

btw is attack rating required for the frozen/exploding arrows to do their thing?

[Eustacia]

I did some number crunching to compare a -10 speed bow with 20ias +2 all skills , rogues bow and wizendraw

in the test i had +3 all skills with the +2allskill bow and +1 all skills with rogues bow/wizendraw

rogues bow and the +2 all skill bow were pretty much equal, considering that rogues bow reached 8 frame attack speed while +2 allskill bow reached 9 frame (it can reach 8 frame too but then no cannot be frozen). rogues bow did a bit more (roughly 100 more) freezing arrow dmg per sec and about 20 less exploding arrow.

now wizendraw was a bit different. it did 340 less exploding arrow dmg per sec compared to the +2 allskill bow (1300 vs 1600 per sec roughly) but 3757 cold dmg per sec compared to +2 allskill bow's 3500. wizendraw also has a nice mana bonus(+15 energy, +30 mana)

overall id have to say that for a nicely balanced magezon id too use a +2allskil l bow like eustacia. the +2 all skills helps other skills out nicely too and the damage is good with both exploding arrow and freezing arrow

btw is attack rating required for the frozen/exploding arrows to do their thing?

AR doesn't matter. The skills bahave basically like an underpowed fireball + overpowered glacial spike. Plus the arrows are uniform speed, unlike the slow glacial spike and fast fireball.

The +2 to Valk and Decoy (you will learn to love this skill) are invaluable too.

[fledgeling]

how do the arrows work btw

if you had a 150dmg gothic bow with 20 ias and +2 (dream..) and 300dex
would you do say 800physical damage AND 3000 cold damage
or only cold damage?

[WarlockCC]

If the cold arrows work like the exploding arrows, you would only get the 800 physical damage if the arrow hits the monster(requires AR), while the cold damage will be applied when the arrow animation makes contact with a 'hittable' object(wall, monster or hostile player/minion).

[fledgeling]

uh I dont understand
do you do 1 type of damage only? :(


could I do both 800 physical damage (or whatever) AND cold damage at the same time - for example if I used angelics on the amazon? (wtf?)

I always thought a 300dex amazon could actually hit something..


One could make a physical+cold hybrid, doing both types of damage or something
if you'd drop angelics, you could use a +2 amu and some nice rings etc

(+skills) 20ias bow with as much damage as you can get and maybe mana leech
max dex
+2 amulet, maybe 2sojs, or minimum damage rings
60points into cold tree
10points into valk
1 in each avoid
rest in fire spells?
could this work?

[WarlockCC]

With that 300 dex you do indeed have a good chance of hitting things. :)
You allways do the cold damage, but not allways the physical damage.
You only do the physical damage on top of the cold damage if you hit a monster, even with 300 dex, you can still miss monsters in Hell, though with angelics, indeed you have a good chance to do both types of damage most of the time and only cold damage some of the time.
Doing that physical damage is quite handy because that allows you to leech back some mana.

[fledgeling]

uh
if I had 100 000 AR
I will do only physical
or both physical + cold?

cold = always
physical = when I hit the monster (AR calculation)

OR

cold misses when physical is done?

[superdave]

uh
if I had 100 000 AR
I will do only physical
or both physical + cold?

cold = always
physical = when I hit the monster (AR calculation)

OR

cold misses when physical is done?

cold will hit if the monster is in the splash radius(i think it is 3.3 yards)...this build is much better with high pierce(did i see someone say that pierce wasn't needed?) :rolleyes: ...multiple pierces will equal multiple splashes...you will also do more phys damage with a 2nd hit so you will be able to leech back the blue faster....something else to note...some procs, OW or CB will only be carried on the physical arrow.

i am pretty sure that the a/r bonus for FA is still bugged...it will show on the LCS but will not be taken into account...even a high dex build should have points into penetrate.

[Damric]

Wow thanks for adding in all the numbers crunching, especially the part with 150damage gothic bow giving you like 3000 cold or 800 physical. My whole point in this guide was that the physical portion is so insiginificant that you can use the low damage set bows and still do good elemental damage, getting either a huge cold duration bonus (arctic set) or a pierce bonus (vidala) plus other nice mods like resists. Who cares about attack rating? All you care about is the splash damage. Otherwise make a strafer, guided, or multizon. If you do one element you can have a strong valkerie. Or master two elements so you don't have to worry too much about hell immunes. You need to have pierce to make this build viable PvM. Otherwise you should just make a sorc.

[fledgeling]

I still dont understand whether it is possible to combine a high damage bow and lots of dex for high physical damage with 60points into cold spells, for additional cold damage..
I havent seen such an amazon, so there has to be some sort of problem with them (or people are just dumb)

would such amazon do both sorts of damage all the time (considering she has enough AR) OR not?

[Eustacia]

You need to have pierce to make this build viable PvM. Otherwise you should just make a sorc.

I disagree with needing pierce. It's nice when it works, but it irked me fighting magic resistant bosses, seeing the arrows passing through them but doing practically no damage. Overall I wanted the arrows to explode harder against solo bosses, and I liked having a tougher hitting valk. I could see going for pierce after having a high Valk, but I've done so many variations of this build (I've been playing a few years now, playings magezons probably 90% of the time) and always regretted having pierce (granted I got it from skills, not equip).

But then I also liked using immolation arrow...my first Guardian put every skill point into the bow tree. People bash the timer, but dont' seem to realize they can fire exploding arrows during it. It's fine.

[fledgeling]

can anyone answer my question?
if I put 60pts in cold spells and 300 in dex, will I be doing:
1000 (nevermind the numers) of cold damage PLUS 800 physical damage per 1 shot?

[Eustacia]

can anyone answer my question?
if I put 60pts in cold spells and 300 in dex, will I be doing:
1000 (nevermind the numers) of cold damage PLUS 800 physical damage per 1 shot?

Frozen arrow will always try to do its cold splash damage when it hits a target. It will do physical damage if and only if the arrow passes its AR check and isn't blocked. Equivalently, treat the physical part exactly as though you fired a normal arrow using normal attack. The cold splash acts like glacial spike.

An excessive number of examples:

You fire a frozen arrow at a fallen. The game rolls to see if you hit. You successfully hit the fallen for 800 physical damage, which then also does the 1000 cold dmg.

You fire a frozen arrow at a physical immune fallen. The game rolls to see if you hit. You successfully hit the fallen for 0 physical damage, which then also does 1000 cold dmg.

You fire a frozen arrow at a cold immune fallen. The game rolls to see if you hit. You successfully hit the fallen for 800 physical damage, and do 0 cold damage.

You fire a frozen arrow at a fallen. The game rolls to see if you hit. You fail to hit the fallen, but you still do 1000 cold damage.

You fire a frozen arrow at a cold immune fallen. The game rolls to see if you hit. You fail to hit the fallen, and do zero cold or physical damage.

You fire a frozen arrow at a fallen. It blocks the arrow. It still gets shattered to tiny bits by the cold splash.

[Rawly]

can anyone answer my question?
if I put 60pts in cold spells and 300 in dex, will I be doing:
1000 (nevermind the numers) of cold damage PLUS 800 physical damage per 1 shot?

To do 800 physical damage with 300 dex you would need a 200 damage bow, which i dont think has gone into production yet. But with a 150 damage bow you could do 600 physical damage. This is because it is just a plain arrow with no extra skill damage except the cold damage.

[fledgeling]

Frozen arrow will always try to do its cold splash damage when it hits a target. It will do physical damage if and only if the arrow passes its AR check and isn't blocked. Equivalently, treat the physical part exactly as though you fired a normal arrow using normal attack. The cold splash acts like glacial spike.

An excessive number of examples:

You fire a frozen arrow at a fallen. The game rolls to see if you hit. You successfully hit the fallen for 800 physical damage, which then also does the 1000 cold dmg.

You fire a frozen arrow at a physical immune fallen. The game rolls to see if you hit. You successfully hit the fallen for 0 physical damage, which then also does 1000 cold dmg.

You fire a frozen arrow at a cold immune fallen. The game rolls to see if you hit. You successfully hit the fallen for 800 physical damage, and do 0 cold damage.

You fire a frozen arrow at a fallen. The game rolls to see if you hit. You fail to hit the fallen, but you still do 1000 cold damage.

You fire a frozen arrow at a cold immune fallen. The game rolls to see if you hit. You fail to hit the fallen, and do zero cold or physical damage.

You fire a frozen arrow at a fallen. It blocks the arrow. It still gets shattered to tiny bits by the cold splash.

thank you!!
that was a great answer!!
this means I can combine the cold bowazon build with a 200-300dex glass cannon, for pretty high damage (I think with 300 dex and probably 1 angelic ring (+amu) I shoult be able to hit everytime) - 1000 (or whatever) cold damage per shot + xxx physical

this way I might combine Fredsta's glass cannon with the typical cold damage amazon and do more damage and to some degree stop the drawbacks of both builds (low damage and lack of a way of slowing down the enemies for glass cannon with pure dex - cold damage and slow from cold spells; and lack of leech and physical damage in case of facing an immune - in case of normal cold-mage-zon - which would leech thanks to massive dex and high damage bow and perhaps even do something with the pretty low physical dmg..)

of course this build will die a lot and require a lot of points, but I think it might work if a glass cannon works

To do 800 physical damage with 300 dex you would need a 200 damage bow, which i dont think has gone into production yet. But with a 150 damage bow you could do 600 physical damage. This is because it is just a plain arrow with no extra skill damage except the cold damage.

the numbers were just an example..

[Rawly]

just trying to help :wink3:

problem with this build as compared to pure bowzon is your not using the skills that gives you more arrows like strafe and or multishot, so you only able to shoot one arrow at a time, which is slow. Should be interesting to see if the freezing arrow gives you enough splash damage to control crowds. Also im guessing cold damage isnt as impressive when you dont have cold mastery like a sorc.

[FireMarshal]

I think this thread should be added to the Builds sticky. Any more votes?

[fledgeling]

just trying to help :wink3:

problem with this build as compared to pure bowzon is your not using the skills that gives you more arrows like strafe and or multishot, so you only able to shoot one arrow at a time, which is slow. Should be interesting to see if the freezing arrow gives you enough splash damage to control crowds. Also im guessing cold damage isnt as impressive when you dont have cold mastery like a sorc.

I think some competent people like Fredsta, said that a cold amazon is viable. In addition multishot amazon is supposed to be viable too

what about these two builds combined?

this would be my first real bowazon (ok, I have a level 26 LLD which I never managed to test, due to lack of opponents..)

[WarlockCC]

I'd say go for it Fledgeling, if you happen to see me on, give me a shout, I'll help you out.
Then you'll be able to post that it works, rather then speculate.
The theory seems sound to me. Perhaps I will use one of my pittyful 12x gothic bows and make one with you.

[Akse]

:neener: Maybe you guys should just stick to your hammerdins and far casting lightningzons and only play the game in 1 difficulty in 1 area. But really folks, if you want to try something really fun, I'll even go as far as to give you the Set items for free. You won't need help leveling yourself because you will be able to kill things quickly on your own from the start. But then again maybe you prefer to get rushed through 99% of the game and only leech in the CS for the duration of your miserable boring character.

Oh and I only made this guide because of all the compliments of how interesting my own amazons are using these set-ups. If you want to see how it plays and take me up on the free items, I am on US west ladder. *fuctard

There is one thing that is certain, this is a fun build. You have my 100% satisfaction guarantee.

:rolleyes:

Mane players don't think a build is fun if you can't even complete the game with it. But I guess nightmare in 1.10+ is more fun than hell actually.. they made the monsters too tough which means that there are only 2 classes and 2 builds that can effectively clear hell.

[Lorg]

Mane players don't think a build is fun if you can't even complete the game with it. But I guess nightmare in 1.10+ is more fun than hell actually.. they made the monsters too tough which means that there are only 2 classes and 2 builds that can effectively clear hell.

Heh. Been browsing the site too deep akse? Two year old thread :nod:

[Akse]

Heh. Been browsing the site too deep akse? Two year old thread :nod:

Lol yeah.. noticed this after posting :D I came to this post from a link from vidala rig based amazon build :)

[HegemonKhan]

vidala's set is interesting.

with it you can have 95% pierce and i think enough gear spots are left for good speed (attack speed).

obviously, this has applications with elemental damage (enchant+strafe. and maybe multishot, but i think pierce ONLY works on the 2 center arrows) and the elem damage skills (immolation arrow/exploding arrow or frozen arrow. remember no ravenclaw, since u using vidala bow for 95% pierce).

[Akse]

I think pierce works for all arrows in multishot..otherwise it would suck and I have a feeling that i've seen all of the arrows pierce when playing multi bowazon.

Only amplify damage or other similar effects(mainly in LOD) work for the 2 middle arrows.

[WarlockCC]

So, bow, armor, boots and amu. Guess you can get a nice bit of min damage added from Iratha's belt, Bloodfist Gloves and some min/max rings.

[fredsta54]

i dunno if this has been mentioned, but on a good map on river of flame (where a bowazon in hell would solo to get good experience and lvl up)

immolation arrow with a few + skills synergized by fire and xploding with lots of pierce owns. it kills urdars fast enough lets just say that. of course pierce is needed, with a weak unsynergized frozen arrow to kill the fire immunes, just frtom personal experience




Fred