Which Weapon with Bow Phsysical only build

[sfb]

heya
im building my first amazon for quite some time now. going to do a bowazon with a phys only build because i like the skill allocation alot ;)

i hope this is not discussed to deah but i couldnt find a quick answer in the guides since the list isnt quite easy to understand with all the authors giving their amas own names...

so, what is the best choice? should i simply stick to a Windforce, use Faith with Fana aura, Phoenix or even sth else? is Brand, Ice or Hand Of Justice worth considering although (or even because) i dont deal elemental damage myself? please also name the bow i should do the runeword in!

In case it helps you guys, i plan to use either forti or coh, highlords, laying on hands, wartraveler, razor (for pierce), 1 ravenfrost + 1 rare ring and rare circlet or andys.

thanks for your help!

[Respect My Authority]

WF with a faith merc is typically the best build with the items you're using

[Omikron8]

if rich

windforce
faith

if poor

upgraded WWS
upgraded lycander's
upgraded buriza

[NASE]

upgraded WWS
upgraded lycander's
upgraded buriza

Don't forget harmony in a mat bow.

P.S. if you want to keep your bowazon flexible, consider not upping the buriza - or using some sort of -req jewel/rune. 163 str is a lot and even on a windforce amazon, this is overkill - certainly if you count in extra stats from a anni/torch that might come when you build up wealth.

P.P.S. windforce with faith merc certainly is an option. Check out the guide if you want more information and ideas.
http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=487121
Now once you have build this amazon and experimented with the ideas given in de guide, you can use the same idea - faith merc - and experiment with other bows. Brand and wrath have been tested by some and they claim to be viable.
Other bows may have some use though I can't think of anyone trying them.

[Omikron8]

brand was viable in 1.10 until blizzard removed the charged synergies bonus, which means now those bone spears are only doing ~ 150 damage each

[NASE]

it's not the bone spears that should do damage.
It comes with very respectable damage, knockback and prevent monster heal. This means that you can use andies and loh - while faith would need to use crafted gloves or giant skull. On top of that you get high ctc amp on struck meaning that you can play quite offensive as getting hit and swarmed isn't that much of a problem - assuming you can survive untill amp kicks in.

[Omikron8]

1) chance to be hit amp damage is utter failure on a BOW runeword, another case that makes one think "what the hell was blizzard thinking !?" want amp damage ? use an upped WWS instead, at least you won't have to die to have it trigger

2) the bow has no IAS, unlike faith that essentially gives you over 50% IAS from fanat you can forget about having worthwhile shooting speed

3) many monsters recover faster than knockback (which doesn't trigger on every successful shot in 1.10+, especially in act 5 nightmare/hell) can hold them back, which means many monsters will still mow down your merc and eventually get to you because your damage and IAS is poor, knockback is extremly overrated compared to raw physical damage and attack speed

4) prevent monster heal can be accomplished by a few poison charms, which will only suffer against poison immunes which are almost always undead (mostly act 2)

after blizzard remove the charged synergies bug there really is no reason to make brand over faith unless you are desperate for variety or tossing around high runes with no idea how you want to use them

in season 1 when the bug still existed i used the marrowalk + brand combo with max strafe and it was decent in hell, but my next high end runeword was faith GMB and the killing speed difference was like night and day

[NASE]

Have you ever tried using that brand you made in combination with a faith merc. If not, you haven't gotten the points of my post.


P.S. it's not because you don't like knockback, it not something to consider. I for one think knockback to be very useful, therefore, if I want to compare brand to faith, you have to compare faith with either giant skull or crafted gloves - both aren't the most popular choices.
P.P.S. and that ctc amp on hit is not because one wants amp, it because some people as myself just don't get how to play amazon without getting themself in danger all the time. That mods really looks like it would be perfect for me.
P.P.P.S. windforce is slow as hell, though I don't see anyone complaining about it. Now that we have faith mercs, the speed of the bow is almost not important any more.

[olbaid]

Just wondering, any reason why it's WF zon with faith merc and not the other way around, faith zon and wf merc.

Isnt the fanaticism damage bonus half for the zon when merc equips faith?

[KremBanan]

Just wondering, any reason why it's WF zon with faith merc and not the other way around, faith zon and wf merc.


Because then you combine the raw damage from the Wf and the speed from Fana.

[Omikron8]

why would i use brand with a faith merc ? why not just use windforce with a faith merc ? i would do way more damage and still have knockback and save myself over 2 high runes

i do understand your post but i see no advantage to brand + faith merc over faith + might merc or windforce + faith merc

[NASE]

why would i use brand with a faith merc ? why not just use windforce with a faith merc ?

Why not use wrath? Why not use wws - it'll safe you even more runes...

Some people like it, some don't. If you don't want to try, I can't force you, all I can say is that it offers some very interesting mods for amazons running chaos sanctuary and that some people have come to brag about their brandazon - or what ever you want to call them.


Allow met to quote Wmeredith:
Brand
4 Socket Missile Weapons
Jah + Lo + Mal + Gul
35% Chance To Cast Level 14 Amplify Damage When Struck
100% Chance To Cast Level 18 Bone Spear On Striking
+260-340% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Ignore Target's Defense
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+280-330% Damage To Demons (varies)
20% Deadly Strike
Prevent Monster Heal
Knockback
Fires Explosive Arrows or Bolts (15)
-The 100% CTC Bone-spear may be the coolest looking effect in the game. Especially when you've got a 2 frame strafe going. Spewing white-magic-damage-death-that-pierces all over a pack of monsters is always fun. It also sounds cool. Or very annoying, depending on who you are. (I had a friend name his Boning-Strafer ‘Woosh’ during ladder season 2.)
-It’s a powerful bow, with lots of nice mods, but pales in comparison to "Faith"
-The +damage to demons should not be overlooked on this bow. Ladder Season 2, I had a dedicated Chaos-Runner that packed this bow with Laying of Hands. This combo yielded me +650% damage to demons. I know all about on vs. off-weapon damage, but +650% damage is nothing to sneeze at no matter how you slice it. She was multi/strafe/FA and her record for a Chaos Sanctuary clear, from the river WP, including big D, was 5 min. 55 sec. So, there, Faith-boy.
-Note, this bow is SICK on an enchantress. Don’t forget it fires exploding arrows as a normal attack.
-This is great on an act 1 cold rogue, because when she isn’t firing her cold arrows, she’ll be fire exploding arrows, making nothing immune to her.
-It took a hard nerfing when they ‘fixed’ the "Marrow Walk Bug" for 1.11. (Note they did not fix the fend bug :rolleyes: )
-Pricy.


Wrath
4 Socket Missile Weapons
Pul + Lum + Ber + Mal
30% Chance To Cast Level 1 Decrepify On Striking
5% Chance To Cast Level 10 Life Tap On Striking
+375% Damage To Demons
+100 To Attack Rating Against Demons
+250-300% Damage To Undead (varies)
Adds 85-120 Magic Damage
Adds 41-240 Lightning Damage
20% Chance of Crushing Blow
Prevent Monster Heal
+10 To Energy
Cannot Be Frozen
-This bow is a wolf in sheeps clothing, it's kind of like a WWS on steroids. really good ones.
-It grants no on-weapon IAS so make it in a fast bow.
-It grants NO ENHANCED DAMAGE, wtf? relax it makes up for it in spades...
-The 30% CTC Decrepify is the money-shot, here. It breaks immunities, lowers resistance to physical damage by 50%, slows by 50%, and reduces targets ability to deal damage by 50%. Oh snap. And at 30% ctc on a starfer this will get cast approximately once every half second as long as you're hitting your target. Decrep is an amazing asset defensively, and offensively for your whole party.
-The Lifetap is somewhat unecessary, but it's nice for melee-rs in your party and your merc and valk, etc. It's never "on" for very long because it will soon get overridden by Decrep.
-The enhanced damage to demons and undead are excellent mods. They're counted as off-weapon so they won't stack quite as nicely, but they're a good shot in the arm to have.
-The magic damage, light damage and 20% Crushing Blow further increase the kaleidoscope of ways this bow hurts things.
-It also has cannot be frozen, which gives you more freedom in your other gear.
-Prevents monster heal is always welcome, especially in Hell.
-Very Expensive.

http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=4802922

[Omikron8]

then i think we agree that it is a matter of variety and looking for alternatives rather than what is the "best" for a "physical-only" bowazon which is what the OP was asking

if the amp was on striking and the charged synergies bug wasn't fixed then i would count it as a serious contender if made in a fast bow like great bow

as for wrath it's another case of what was blizzard thinking, if a weapon runeword REQUIRING HIGH RUNES does not have enhanced damage then it's auto fail in my opinion, unless it offers insane mods in return such as the high level frozen orb proc on rift runeword

decrepify: reaper's toll has this on a might merc
lifetap: not necessary on a bowazon and will overwrite the decrepify
ED to demons and undead: grants less damage overall than ED on the weapon itself
AR to demons/undead: bowazons already have tons of AR
magic/light damage: not enough to make a difference in hell
crushing blow: nerfed on range and nerfed in large games and dependent on physical res, ranged builds are not about CB
prevent monster heal: use some poison charms
cannot be frozen: almost all bowazons use at least one ravenfrost