Bow ama is terrible..

**diablotwoplayerforlife** · 05-09-2012, 01:11

Originally Posted by pharphis

Use fort instead of treachery. If you're using strafe, you don't need a lot of ias to reach a reasonable BP. The 120 BP (or whatever it is) is graphical and doesn't actually improve your speed. You should also use highlord's, imo. You can put a faith on an A1 merc if you prefer fanat, as well.

Regarding Highlords, is the deadly strike useful when I have maxed critical strike? I'm not too sure how it works.

@Archone I think a Freeze merc would be a downgrade, since I'll loose damage from not having Might, and damage is really the main problem with this bowazon. But I'll see if I can get my hands on a Fortitude DS, and swap cats eye with highlords. I really do not want to use strafe, I find multishot much more fun to use.

**pharphis** · 05-09-2012, 03:48

I believe they work differently, but only one of them can double your damage at a time. I don't remember the numbers but I'll make some assumptions:
Let's say you have 60% crit chance from critical strike, and 30% from highlord's (more if you include gore riders). So we already know that at least 60% of the time you double damage, but for those times that you don't do double damage from CS, you have a 30% chance to do so with DS instead.

Total chance would be CS% + ((100-CS%) x DS%)). = 72%
I believe. DS on highlord's increases per lvl, though, and your CS is actually larger than that but I wanted to use easier numbers.

**diablotwoplayerforlife** · 05-09-2012, 04:05

Alright I get it, so Highlords stacks with Critical strike, I'll swap cats eye with Highlords then, since I basically need as much DPS that I can get.

**Archone** · 05-09-2012, 04:36

I think pharphis is correct with his calculation. Items adds up accumulativethough , ie 30+15=45%

If this is true, which is probably the case, then Atma is a much better option. Amplify dmg increases your dmg by another 100%. And the deadly strikes will also be a 100% more powerful.
As in using highlords will only increase your average dmg with a few percent.

Peace

**diablotwoplayerforlife** · 05-09-2012, 04:43

The problem with Atma is that the CtC amplify damage is low, and by the time it procs the monsters should be dead. I want to one-shot cows, I was expecting this to be possible since I've seen other amazons do it, but with my gear it seems impossible.

**bpward** · 09-09-2012, 12:24

Go with strafezon, and use delerium helm with a brand bow. Razortail belt, IAS gloves, Treachery/Nigma/Fort all work for armor, depends on your charms and build style really- if you want teleport, IAS/poison or damage. War traveler's boots is a must for hidden damage bonus. Delerium could be swapped, but it makes defense a non-issue... delerium and strafe is really just unfair.

Faith Act 1 merc with delerium helm and treachery is good for defense/IAS/damage. Act 2 merc with Pride and Might aura, and helm/armor that gives him protection.

Some ideas... I had the Brand/Strafezon with delerium, and the Act 1 delerium merc and owned Hell last ladder... never tried cows though.

**Bad Ash** · 10-09-2012, 20:58

Damnit now I want to make a bowazon...

**coju** · 11-09-2012, 03:46

And here I am having fun with a WWS bowa and none of these item's I've never seen! Good thing I killed her, because I'd have to now!
I'm curious to see if Arch's and Phar's posts helped you, diablotowplayer!

**diablotwoplayerforlife** · 20-10-2012, 15:22

Originally Posted by coju

And here I am having fun with a WWS bowa and none of these item's I've never seen! Good thing I killed her, because I'd have to now!
I'm curious to see if Arch's and Phar's posts helped you, diablotowplayer!

No, I'm sorry. The advises are really bad and misleading. Probably some of the worst I've read/seen for a good amount of time.

I've decided to stick with a pure light sorc for PvM and then make a bowazon for PvP instead.

**zaphodbrx** · 20-10-2012, 15:52

Bow amas are not terrible. It is all about expectations. Elite Bows only have about 32 damage compared to ethereal two hand weapons which can have over 150 base dmg. And no skill based ed either. That's why you can look at the LCS and be dejected. However because of the ways in which this damage output is spread out ( strafe, multi shot, pierce ), you end up doing lots of area damage. Specially in areas with low hit point monsters like Pits, bowas can clear the screen faster than almost anything else.