Strafer Build Help/Discussion

[ziggystardust]

Hey guys. I'm Ziggy and although I have played D2 on and off for many years, I am a very inexperienced player who never played beyond normal difficulty.

I've just started an Amazon on the new ladder season and decided to make her a Strafer. Whilst this isn't meant to be "tell me what stats/skills to choose" post, I'm just hoping to discuss the pros and cons of various skills, get exposed to different points of view and as a result, hopefully this thread will be of use to other players and not just me.

The general idea of a build I have decided to go for is:

Strength 53-99
Dexterity Max
Vitality 50-100
Energy Base

Strafe 20
Valkyrie 20
Penetrate 1-20
Pierce 10-14
Critical Strike 10-11
Dodge 1
Avoid 1
Evade 1

Prereqs

Inner Sight 1
Slow Missiles 1
Decoy 1
Magic Arrow 1
Multiple Shot 1
Cold Arrow 1
Guided Arrow 1

With regards to levelling, the plan is to increase Str, Dex and Vit pretty much evenly until I max Str and Vit. Everything in Dex from then on.

As for skills, maxing Strafe then Valk, then Pierce and CS pretty much evenly (Penetrate if more AR needed).

My questions would be:

1. How much Strength would be recommended? Should I draw up a list of the equipment I am planning to go for and set my Str accordingly?

I am slightly worried that if I leave it too low, it will be a problem in the earlier stages of the game.

2. Considering I will definitely go for maxed Valkyrie, how much Vitality would you recommend to ensure survival on higher difficulty levels?

3. How do you deal with bosses as a Strafer? Since Strafe is a low damage, inefficient attack against single targets is it worth putting some points into Magic or Freezing Arrow or should I be ok with the help of Valk and support skills?

4. Is putting more points in Decoy worth it, to get yet more meatshield support?

Plus any comments, suggestions (especially about support skills as I am still deliberating how many points to put into them). Any skills that I missed that could be really useful for this build?

Thanks.

[NASE]

I have one big advise, don't do it. If you don't have gear, low life amazons are hard - Even after many years and with good equipment, I still don't have the hang of it.
I say it is better to wait until you have some decent equipment. Else you might start hating amazons, and I don't think anyone want that, now do we. If you want to play an amazons as first character, Have a look at the lf/strafe hybrid or the lf/fa hybrid - fishyzon. Both are easier to play without equipment as they focus more in hard skill points investment and not on a good bow.

Damn, now I notice that I lied, I have an other advise for you. Have a look at the stickies, there are many threads concerning many interesting things, and in the end, you can find answers to most of your questions in one of those threads.


1. As you are going to play with selffound equipment, or cheap trade equipment, it smart to just take things as they go. If you find a good bow, you want to use it as fast as possible, same goes for armour or helmets. Just spend points in str when you need them and keep about 20 points spare so you can adjust easy when you find something you want to use.
You will always screw up stat wise if you play with selffound equipment, it's a natural thing. Once you find a decent set of equipment, you can always rebuild.

2. Vitality, who needs vitality - I often play base life, so someone else may have to answer this one.

3. Strafe is only a good boskiller if you have good crushing blow. If you look at pure physical damage, a one point guided arrow is better and safer then maxed strafe.
If you are fighting singles monsters, consider using magic arrows as it doesn't need that much mana as guided arrows do.

4. Points in decoy aren't need to beef up valk. However, with a low life character, your decoy might die to fast. I found this a problem and I have putting more points in decoy. However, I have a good physical immune solution through reapers toll on my merc.
Assuming that you don't have this, It's probably smart not to put (many) points in decoy and focus on a physical immunes solution through skill investment - fa and lf come to mind.

P.S. If you take my second advise, you will see that there is no reason to go all out on strafe and to leave multishot at one point. Both are good and if you can find skill points maxing strafe and about 10-15 in multishot is assumed to be the best combination - just remember multishot is very mana hungry.
And if you look even closer, you will see that frozen arrow - even a one point frozen arrow - is very important even for über-equipped bowazon.
I'll leave it to your imagination to figure out why.

[ziggystardust]

Thank NASE - that was very helpful.

I realise now that this particular build is very gear dependent and in the last several days created a Fishymancer, who is easily destroying everything in his way.

Once he's at a higher level, I will use him for MF and come back to my then twinked Amazon.

Thanks again for all the advice!