Do I need AR/Penetrate?

[curby]

My bowazon is currently using an Ice runeword, which has ITD. The only bow I see myself upgrading to is Faith, which is also ITD. Unless I go with a WF, why would I need to pump Penetrate or otherwise worry about AR?

For most groups I am planning on using max Strafe. ITD doesn't work with champs, bosses, etc., but I may very well end up maxing GA, especially if I don't pump the cold skills, and I believe that gives a guaranteed hit. With this in mind, it seems thta all my attacks will hit or miss independent of my AR. Will I be able to save on Penetrate? Even if I decide to max the cold skills, could I still skimp on Penetrate as long as I use a ITD bow and guided on uniques/bosses/champs?

Thanks!

(PS I know it's odd to be using Ice without using the cold skills... I'm just not sure that I want to spend 40 pts on the cold skills when my main focus is on Strafe. I'm hoping that with Atma's I'll not need to use FA on Cold Immunes.)

[Hector]

Well yeah you can do fine without Penetrate that way (Guided on bosses/champs) specially if your zon has decent Dex.

I myself usually max or near max Penetrate for AR bragging (lol), because my physical bowazons usually have the spare points to play around with anyway, no matter if I use Razortail to save on Pierce or not.

My Faith GMB bowazon (Pride/Might merc) has lower Penetrate as she has ITD on Faith, and higher Pierce (needed IAS thus slot was 'locked' to Nos Coil); while my WF bowazon (Faith merc) has maxed Penetrate due to no ITD and has minimal Pierce (using Razortail as she had enough IAS for 7fpa without the belt).

Saving points to max CS/LF (aka cheesy boss kill) is for the weak. True bowazon players never use jav skills. :laugh:

[curby]

Thanks for the reply. I sunk two extra pts into Penetrate already (3 hard pts) but that's not enough to make me rebuild my char. If I end up with 50-60 wasted str after i get my end-game charms/equip though, that might make me rebuild. =)

[Hector]

Thanks for the reply. I sunk two extra pts into Penetrate already (3 hard pts) but that's not enough to make me rebuild my char. If I end up with 50-60 wasted str after i get my end-game charms/equip though, that might make me rebuild. =)

Yeah that's hardly a mistake; Penetrate is helpful either way; at least you didn't waste the points on Impale. :rolleyes:

I like to have some extra Strength due to the charm-Strength bug (i.e. if you need STR Charms to wield your bow, other players won't see your bow and you'll be 'punching' bolts in the air). If you don't care about how others see your Ama though, adding as little STR as possible is good. :thumbsup: