What gear should I use while leveling Amazo, the bow barb? der=0><

[fledgeling]

Amazo was born on Europe softcore NLD and decided to destroy the horrors that walk the earth.
Currently he is level 12 and wears a complete arctic set - since it allows him to hack though act1.
The rest of his gear consists of angelic amulet +2 rings, infernal cap (with a skull) and gorefoot boots.

The question is, what equipment should be used next. Twitchthroe comes to the mind, but what bow?
Especially in mid game; at level 45 goldstrike arch can be equipped, but what can be used between levels 15-45?
6 emerald bow?


Has anyone tried this?

End game setup will probably be:
Forti
widowmaker LO
20ias laying of hands
20 ias highlord amulet
120/45 ias helmet
10 ias belt
raven ring
+ min dmg ring
gore riders

which allows to get the 9 frame breakpoint:
0 % | 14 | 1.7
9 % | 13 | 1.9
19 % | 12 | 2
32 % | 11 | 2.2
54 % | 10 | 2.5
86 % | 9 | 2.7
152 % | 8 | 3.1

[TheWorkingBoor]

I often like using Iratha's complete set at level 15 for the nice resists and extra FRW early on (since killing is fast, running fast means you can cruise through the early acts quickly). It still leaves you charms (i.e. Sharp of Inertia), boots (i.e. FRW... probably Vidala's/Sanders early on), weapon (i.e. whatever fits the build), and your armor.

For the armor slot, I have a couple of 4-socket gothic plates, one with IAS jewels and one with Jewels of Carnage (+max damage), depending if I need IAS or not. Twitchthroe and Vipermagi are options too, depending on if I need FCR, +skills, or maybe even +stats to equip gear.

I haven't made a bow-barb before, but I think for levelling up that a Rogue's Bow (unique Composite Bow) looks like the best low-level option with nice speed and some Deadly Strike for damage... upgrade it around level 30 for cheap too. Riphook (unique Razor Bow) and Kuko (unique Cedar Bow) are available around level 30, and decent options too. WWS is always great, at level 39, and IIRC Harmony comes into play around that level too (depending on which bow you make it in).

You could also use a socketing quest on a high(er) level, plain, long-bow and stick it full of 5x Jewels of Wrath (level9) or Jewels of Carnage (level18). Personally I'd prefer that over the emeralds, since you'll be able to leech with the extra physical damage and that damage takes effect when you hit, not over-time like poison damage does.

[zaphodbrx]

I suggest going for faith bow instead of widowmaker. It's faster, much more damaging and with 350+ statted dex ( which you should, to get your damage going ), enchant ( demon limb ) and fanaticism AR you shouldn't have trouble hitting.

For lower levels, use Ravenclaw and then Kuko shakaku ( exploding arrows ).

[crawlingdeadman]

harmony and wws. wws in particular b/c you can use the slvl 20 magic arrow for free. rogues bow and then upped rogues bow are excellent before that. along the way you should also try out treachery armor.

there is a bow-barb guide, have you looked at it? it is a bit dated w/o the 1.11 armors, but they're easy enough to figure out. only one's worth a crap.

For lower levels, use Ravenclaw and then Kuko shakaku ( exploding arrows ).

the exploding arrows are kinda meh when you dont have extra damage from a skill like holy fire or enchant. i do agree with faith being a superior endgame than widowmaker. guided isnt a pvm skill.

[fledgeling]

I dont need advice considering higher levels, because I have enough knowledge about them and enough wealth to test all the setups.
What I want to do, is to walk through the game, but I am unsure what gear would be optimal for this - at lower levels, since the unique bows have quite low damage. My current idea is to use arctic set -> 6 gem bow -> skystrike -> witchwild string -> goldstrike arch. Or maybe stay with WWS if I like it.
Roguebow's massive IAS does not help that much, when my damge is very low (I do not have any LLD dmg charms).

I level most of my characters by using ravenclaw + enchant, thus I would prefer to avoid ravenclaw.

[crawlingdeadman]

rogues bow is better than it appears. the ias is good, the deadly strike is good and you dont need charms to make it work. i made an lld zon using a minimal amount of jewels. not many bows will out preform a robo-bow (jewels +shaels to hit the right break) at that level. cheap 30 bowa is hat with +max jewels, angelic ammy, twitch (max jewel), upped rogue's (nef), deaths gloves, deaths belt, 2 angelic rings, sander's boots. should be a fine set up for a barb (or anyone not using elemental attacks + exploding arrows) until you can equip a harmony gothic bow (or wws) at lvl 39.

for a bow user, it's often more about the ias than it is about shear damage numbers. if you have a bow that does tons of damage, but is slower than all get out, what good is it. speed is key for rangers.