Hi.
Just another one of my mini guides, this time we'll be looking at the ladder bowazon.
This guide is intended for untwinked sccl players (it will die in hc), who like to kill fast, spend little funds on a character, and get enormous bang for their buck. Using this setup, you cant go wrong with your stats, which means no boring remake.
What is it?
Just a standard strafe zon... except a glass cannon with easy to find gear... that will kill faster than any setup of "godly" rares. It will however, die if used clumsily. If you play it smart, theirs no reason a bowazon should die ever. Bowazons are not about resists and life, their aim is to never to get hit and kill everything before it gets close to them.
Stats-
95 base strength
all to dex
base vitality
base energy
Pretty easy to follow, eh?
Skills-
Max strafe- your attacking skill, more points = more dmg and # of arrows.
Max penetrate- More ar, which is nice. This skill has no diminishing returns, and on a glass cannon we want as high a chance to hit as possible.
16 to critical strike- the cut-off lvl, increased points add very diminishing returns, and lvl 17 offers no additional % over lvl 16.
16 to pierce- read critical strike description.
8+ to valk- lvl 8 is all you need. (at this lvl she is a great tank, and gets a lance so she can kill on her own) When you have nowhere else to put points, sink em in here.
6 to dodge- this gives you a 40% chance to dodge the rare melee attack, increase in points gives diminishing returns.
7 to avoid- 50% chance to avoid ranged attacks, this is the most important evasive skill the strafer has.. due to the fact that almost all of the attacks that hit you will be ranged, and you are locked in place while strafeing.
6 to evade- 40% chance at lvl 6, more points are diminishing returns. This is a great skill that will save your *** many times.
Ok, thats it for skills. You will have no + skills, so having these skills at these lvls base is important, unless you have + skills on your bow... which will just make it more expensive, and it will hardly benefit you at all. Besides, if you have a 150 dmg +2 bow and you base your skills around it, if you find a 160 bow at a higher lvl with no +skills, you will be screwed (bows dmg > all other mods on it)
The gear is pretty straightfoward, remember, this is a sc build, in hc we will want more life and resists... just in case
Gear-
HIGHEST DMG GOTHIC BOW you can get- your weapon. This should be pretty cheap... considering you dont need one with ias. In fact, ias wont help you 1 bit. 151 gothic bow > 150 gothic bow with 20 ias (on this build)
Rattlecage- cool looks. Thats about it. Lol, just kidding. The crushing blow helps your damage a lot, even though it is only 1/8 of their life when ranged as opposed to 1/4 in melee. The monsters flee mod is also very helpful, making monsters run before they hit you... in a straight line only to be pummeled by arrows.
Goblin toe- 25% crushing blow. Screw rares, this is a glass cannon... we want kill as fast as possible for a strafer.
Deaths combo- Your life steal, cbf, the ias needed for the last strafe breakpoint, resists, a great combo and nothing else comes close.
Howltusk- The only source of knockback for a bowazon using deaths, knockback is essential, which already warrants its use, and the target flees stacks with rattlecage, just making it even sweeter.
Angelic ring and ammy- Huge ar bonus, this increases your chance to hit by over 40%.
Ring with mana steal- manald heal will work, eventually to be replaced by a rare with ar, mana leach, and + dex or resists... or whatever.
Well, thats it for gear.
Some things to say before questions get asked...
20 ias is needed for the last base speed 10 strafe, deaths covers this.
With -35% resists all and ~350 life... you will survive if you stay out of the way and behind your valk///decoy.. especially with knockback and target flees
Dont use this gear in hc! you need at least 120 vita and max fire//light resists for that... just in case
95 base strength is to use a gothic bow... if you have one with -reqs still go 95 base strength in case you find 1 with better dmg and no -reqs. Unless you have a 200ed +15-20 damage - reqs gothic...
This gear is better than godly rares! Seriously, its 1/100th of the cost and 100X better in terms of killing speed. Bowazons never get hit anyway.
This is based on my personal experience, hours of testing diffirent setups, and getting my personal strafer to lvl 85 last season on sccl (only did cs runs after lvl 82)
It can solo hell Rof and hell Cs on players 1, and in big games it can hold its own with concentrate aura from your partied hammerdin.
I hope you liked this guide,
Fred
That's one big bump!
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