Exceptional bows fine for Hell strafing?

[MYK]

I've got this Witchwild string... and I know it looks pretty uber upgraded, but I don't have the runes and I'm not going to trade for them or anything like that until I get to at least Act 4 Hell.

Doable? Hardcore bow thugs help me out here, this is my first one. :wave:

[oOmpie]

Dunno if you have 1, but a Guillaume's would make it pretty doable, I think. Still slow, mind you, especially against stone skinners, but doable...

I spent quite some time in Hell with a Lycander's and Guillaume's on my strafer until I was able to put the Mav set on that I had for her.

This was my first one too though, so not quite a bow thug yet and no hands on experience with a non upped WWS.

[YogiRat]

Very do-able. A ton of fun too,

[BoD Trader]

SuperDave finished hell with a cracked bow, so anything is do-able. To answer your question a bit better i think that wws is best used for it's speed to apply CB. Double shael that baby then stock up on cb where you can. Nice thing about cb is it's easy to find for cheap, such as goblin toe or rattlecage. Other good thing about rattlecage is it has "hit causes monster to flee" I've never tested wether this stat works with bows but if it does i imagine it would be hugely useful especially if you are doing sub-standard damage.

[YogiRat]

Actually, I was in the same situation as you with my witchyzon. She was a start-out character and I didn't get the runes until about act3 Hell. In hind sight, it was no big deal, it might have even helped a bit since it allowed me to put more points into dex/vit early.

Still, you want to end up with 95 strength so you can equip War Travs. Gores are ok, but CB is halved for ranged attacks, thus making the straight damage boost from the WTs a better deal. Their +10 strength will help you wear Tgods for act5 also.

Now that XX/2 strafe is known to not to exist, you will have a lot more latitude in terms of what to place in your bow sockets. That will be fun to figure out.:nod:

linky (http://diablo.incgamers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5761193&postcount=3)

[MYK]

These look to be the Strafe ones that I could hit pretty easily, and they're just before the the x/2 ones.
29% IAS 10/3
56% IAS 9/3
86% IAS 9/2

And normal attack considering at least 29%IAS...
20% IAS, 11 frames
37% IAS, 10 frames
63% IAS, 9 frames

The 37% Breakpoint looks pretty tasty. The 9 frame Normal Attack would probably eat up all of my socket space.I'm really considering Eth runes in my bow. More pierce, amp, damage goes on when you're hitting stuff at a solid percentage. I think it would make a bigger difference than shaving 1 frame off of Strafe.

How do you feel about Knockback?

I'm thinking about going without it. It seems to sort of nullify getting monsters into packs which is what, in theory, would be the best situation for piercing and proc'ing Amplify Damage. My friend told me that's why he doesn't use it, and I've read a ton of the older guides where people seem to do fine without, just with more emphasis on Decoy and Valk placement.

[YogiRat]

KB is kinda like a drug, once you get used to it (hooked on it), you tend to shape your play around it. It has it's drawbacks though, it works very well against small monsters (who cares?), moderately well against medium monsters (good) and poorly against large monsters (not so hot). Personally, I don't use it.

Yep, deek, (at least 5 points, put them in early) Valk, good foot speed and/or a source of slowing is all you need. I always have a few cold damage charms on hand for that.

Shoot for 65IAS, that will be really easy to get.

Edit; An Eth rune in the bow might be a good idea, also pump up the penetrate.

[MrBill]

I've got this Witchwild string... and I know it looks pretty uber upgraded, but I don't have the runes and I'm not going to trade for them or anything like that until I get to at least Act 4 Hell.

Doable? Hardcore bow thugs help me out here, this is my first one. :wave:

I agree that Witchy is a pretty good bow (if upgraded... damage is a bit low for Hell if not), but IMO the really big advantages to it are the resists and the CTC Amp (especially if your merc has a high damage polearm and the Might aura).

I have had a number of Strafers in Hell although only one or two of 'em have actually solo'ed all the way to the end of the game (and none of them have dared the Ubers, largely because of the resists issue and Uber Mephy's Conviction aura). Having said this, here are the bows that I have had success with:

(1.) Harmony Runeword (good elemental damage, decent physical, nice plus to Valkyrie, decent speed if done in a fast bow and the aura helps your Valk re-position quickly, when necessary; I usually make it in a 4 OS Amazon-specific bow, but I know of people who will make it in something like a 4 socket Great Bow as that has a lot of built in IAS).

(2.) Goldstrike Arch (didn't even upgrade this one, but the added damage to demons and undead really adds up; a very under-rated bow).

(3.) Buriza (yes, I know it's old school, but still a very effective old school; probably worth it to speed it up a bit, although I recommend a combo IAS + {something else, maybe some elemental damage or whatever} jewel rather than the standard Shael, or maybe an Eth if you're AR-challenged).

(4.) Riphook (another very under-rated one; if upgraded, it is very fast, the damage is decent, and you will induce Open Wounds on almost every volley -- this, along with the monster slow, mean that if you have a Holy Freeze merc, the monsters will just crawl towards you, slowly bleeding to death... works for me! :thumbup: It's even better if you have a Treachery armor, BTW, as you will have so much IAS that you have more flexibility with things like gloves and amulet.)

(5.) Rare bows (look for the "Shocking" mod for lightening damage, IAS and "Cruel" mod if you can get 'em, will carry you forward until you find your end-game bow).

If you are certain that you want to use Witchy, I'd suggest a Shael and an Eth in it, or maybe a Shael and a combo 15% IAS + {some other kind of damage} jewel, or (if you're rich) a Shael and an Um rune for OW. Make sure that you upgrade it if you can, as if you don't you're really relying mostly on DS and Amp to carry the can, damage-wise. Oh, and make sure that you have good Pierce, it works wonders with that bow (and all bows in fact).

Cheers

Mr. Bill