Whats wrong with me? (low damage)

[fauxgtfour]

Hey,

I've got a strafeazon I've been building, level 87. I totally love her, but then I look at what other peeps are getting as damage for a strafeazon, and others seem to be getting much higher damage. What wrong with my build/gear?

Strafe Damage: 667-2566
str: 163
dex: 319
vit: 154
ener: 63

Maxed strafe (level 30 with +skills)

Gear:
Faith in Great Bow (53-231 dam, lvl 14 fana)
Andy's
Highlord Wrath
Gore Rider
raven frost
bk
M'avina's Tenet
Lava Gout (for the enchant)
1 bow gc
1 torch
1 anni

Might merc
Dream in BV
Reaper's Toll (for PI)
Fort in eth DS

Others seem to be claiming much higher damage numbers? Where do they get more damage from?

(Also, any general tips for gear, I'm good at sorc's but this is first zon)
Also, got a os in the andys. She isn't a mfer so I'm not going to ptopaz. What should I put in there (cham, and drop the ravenfrost for another bk?)

[Neksja]

what's your own armor? Do you use max damage/ar charms? They work a lot better than bow gc and with Fortitude armor, your damage rises (in case you don't use one). My strafer uses WF and her merc is a1 merc with Faith Ward Bow. There's some pointers.

[NASE]

The main points where you are losing damage are - that's just my oppinion:
stats. 163 str is simply to much. You could probably have given up to 63 points extra in dex and thus get more damage. Vit is a bit high aswell. And energie is just not done if you want high damage.
charms: people use 3max/ar small charms. An inventory full with those things can really put your damage through the roof.
merc: reaper's toll is a very great weapon, and your effective damage may be higher then you think, though the 'extra' damage from reaper's toll isn't displayed. People use pride for a good boots in damage.

On top of that, you may chance some other equipment with more damage. 120/45 helm, cat's eye, dual raven (or raven/good stats ring), war trav, razortails...

Just remember that damage is nice to look at, though doesn't mean anything - i.e. huge poison damage over long time isn't that usefull though lower damage with high chrusing blow is usefull in certain situations.

[fauxgtfour]

Also, Armor is a fort in AP...
Forgot to mention that.

[KremBanan]

What wrong with my build/gear?

Strafe Damage: 667-2566
str: 163
dex: 319
vit: 154
ener: 63



To much points in str and vita.


What wrong with my build/gear?

Gear:
Faith in Great Bow (53-231 dam, lvl 14 fana)
Andy's
Highlord Wrath
Gore Rider
raven frost
bk
M'avina's Tenet
Lava Gout (for the enchant)
1 bow gc
1 torch
1 anni

Put the Faith on your merc and get yourself a Windforce. Swap Hoghlords for an Atma amulet. BK isnt needed, try getting a AR/Dex/Dam ring. Get Razortail belt, throw away the Lava Gout, use Demon Limb on switch instead and use a pair of LoH. Bow gc does nada, try getting maxdam/ar gcs.

[fauxgtfour]

To much points in str and vita.


Put the Faith on your merc and get yourself a Windforce. Swap Hoghlords for an Atma amulet. BK isnt needed, try getting a AR/Dex/Dam ring. Get Razortail belt, throw away the Lava Gout, use Demon Limb on switch instead and use a pair of LoH. Bow gc does nada, try getting maxdam/ar gcs.


THanks for the advice. Wow.

Why the windforce?

For merc, should it be cold or fire arrow, or does it matter?

Also, what should I wear for gloves? something ias with skills, or what?

Also, what is LoH (pardon the noob in me)

Thanks!!

I think I'm going to rebuild and just transfer the gear over.

[BlushNine]

It's called an LCS (Lying Character Sheet) for a reason. As a Blizzard representative once said, it's accurate up to about the point you get into the Den of Evil in Act1. The damage numbers in particular. A large reason for people choosing Grand Matron Bows to put Faith into is because it has the higher damage numbers, but be warned it is a vastly slower bow and requires an extraordinary amount of IAS to achieve faster firing speeds. Some people stack on as many +damage modifiers to get their numbers higher. It doesn't necessarily mean they are doing more damage than other options that don't affect the numbers. For example, War Travelers will increase the numbers, so will Steel Rends. If you just want to look at larger numbers stack on as many poison charms as you like. They are the largest numbers for their given respective sizes for charms. 50 damage on small is common. 100 is harder to find but doable. Rarely you will see 177s. You can also find Rings with +damage. The numbers are misleading. Adding and item with +3 may change your LCS damage numbers by +20 depending on your Dex. But don't be surprised when your numbers double and your effective killing speed doesn't. The listed strafe damage on one of my zons is 600-1600, but I'm secure to say it will beat the pants off most people that list in the 3000 range.

The enchant on Lava Gout is puny. Laying of Hands. A good chunk of the game contains demons. Damage to Demons will not show up on your LCS damage numbers but Lava Gout will, so you may prefer to stay with yours. After Lava Gout enchants you, look at your LCS, they should be higher. I would keep the Ravenfrost. Being chilled by a monsters cold attack significantly reduces your firing speed not to mention it adds Dex/AR both of which you want.

For a pure strafer aim for
Dex: 400+
Vitality: 100

Some don't put any in vitality but that's really a matter of opinion and play style.

[KremBanan]

Windforce: Because its the bow with highest damage. And when combined with the Fana aura you get speed also.

Cold Rogue (hire in normal difficulty)

Gloves: LoH - Laying of Hands (http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/sets/sets4.shtml#thedisciple) 20IAS/350ed to demons/50fireres

[Virility]

Windforce with rogue merc holding faith bow is amazing damage output.

[fauxgtfour]

I understand your point about the listed damage, and you're right, the lava gouts had me decieved into liking them too much I suppose. I'll be switching to the laying of hands next time I log on (and lava gouts enchant +ar bonus isn't worth it either, right?)

As is the zon is fine at running at cows and pit and chaos with one person in the game. The main thing I was interested in was getting her to be able to run chaos with more than just me in the game, possibly as high as 8 players.

So, that being said, for chaos runs with high # of players, which would be better, my faith in great bow (fastest speed of all bows, right?) or the windforce not necessarily for highest damage, but for best killing power and fastest clearing time?

So, proposed setup: (questions in bold)
Fort in AP
Laying of Hands (used to be lava gout)
1 x raven, 1x magic with +dex and poss resists (used to be raven and bk)
Atmas or Cats eye?(used to be highlords)
Razortail (used to be m'avinas)
Andys 10ll (good to keep? What to socket it with? Will that be all the ml and ll I need?)
Faith in Great Bow (current) or Windforce?
Gore Riders
more charms (what will be the most important?)

[Virility]

Atma's for killing power. I guess I should add....since your main attack is strafe.

Andariel's Visage will cover your life leech, so you need mana leech in a ...........something(around 3% should do it with level 9 pierce and Razortail belt)

Andy's helm is good for the ias and leech, socket it with a %ED/IAS jewel.

Give the Gore Riders to one of your melee characters and put on a pair of War Travelers since you are after damage.

Charms +damage/AR/other mod, resists if you need them, (torch), anni, elemental damage charms last, no to poison damage charms.

Windforce will cover knockback(essential).

Search a few other threads here about gear combinations, bows-merc combinations, see what fits you now. I would play with what you have then if you get curious, make a second character with a different combination(faith-pride) to see what you like best.

[accipite]

Atmas or Cats eye?(used to be highlords)
All are good choice, Atmas might be better.
Razortail (used to be m'avinas)
T-God if u wanna to run baal a lot
Andys 10ll (good to keep? What to socket it with? Will that be all the ml and ll I need?)
Good choice too, socketed with anything u r lacking, ed/ias/fr etc.
Faith in Great Bow (current) or Windforce?
Windforce and give ur faith bow to ur act1 merc.

3% mana leech is enough for bowazon.

anyway, bowazon's damage is pretty low compared with other build, even u get everything right.

[KremBanan]

The manaleech from Wf is enough. For boots, its a choice between Gores and Wts. Wts for more on-screen damage, Gores for OW, CB and DS. Especially the OW is good and even better at higher levels(90+)

[NASE]

If you want to run chaos, you need faith merc. What bow you use yourself is up to you, all though windforce is a very powerfull and popular choice.

Now you have discovered the way bowazon work. In the end, some equipment choice are up to you. Yes atma's will give you higher damage though only if amp triggers, not if you one hit everything. cat's eye can be used to give you an other breakpoint or to free up other places.
So it comes down to what you like. Try different combination though remember to keep up life leech, knockback and your breakpoints. You will find what you like best, and that's per definition the best setup.

P.S. an idea for other bows are brand and wrath - both expensive so know what you want before wasting funds on them.

[Summerfun]

Warning! OT

This is the best thread name yet in 2008!

[DaveTheGreat]

On the topic of what ammy you should use, I've used all three of the big ones (cats eye, highlords, and atmas) in that order. From my point of view atma's is by far superior to my style, the amplify damage is fantastic. Gets rid of physical immunes and if it casts on a boss it makes the battle a piece of cake. I love it.