General thoughts and tips on physical Bowazon

I have been playing bowazon for a few weeks now and I have a few thoughts I wanted to share:

1. She is surprisingly safe even with zero points invested into vitality and no resistances. She can use Decoy as a really convenient tank which can easily catch attention of Gloams and Stygian Dolls.

2. Slow Missiles is a very underused skill that basically disables Gloams and Witches because it slows down their projectiles a lot. It also makes them shoot more rare, because they wait for a previous projectile to land before they shoot the next one. Not to mention that they deal 32% less damage. Bowazon is the only character I feel comfortable with around dolls and gloams (even though she has about 600hp). Slow Missiles saved my skin more than a few times in the throne room. First you cast Decoy so gloams attack it instead of you, then cast Slow Missiles, then you can pretty much run between flying lightnings because they become so slow.

3. + to Passive Skills gives you more DPS than +bow skills because it bumps the Critical Strike skill which increases the chance of double damage. Double damage chance gives you more DPS overall than just bumping Bow & Crossbow skills. So the worst charms to have in inventory are +Bow, second best are +Passive, best are +max dmg +frw.

4. You can bump Double Damage chance by using Highlord's Wrath and Gore Rider. It does not stack with the Amazon skill " Critical Strike" although the effect is the same. So if you have 74% Critical Strike and 50% Deadly strike it does not amount to 124% but to 87% instead (1 - (1 - 0.74)*(1 - 0.5)) if I remember school maths correctly )

5. You can achieve max IAS breakpoint with Faith (92 with 15 Fanaticism) while still using Fortitude . The cheapest setup is M'avina's True Sight with 15IAS jewel (the most expensive would be Artisan's Diadem of Speed with 3 IAS jewels) + Nosferatu's Coil (or Goldwrap if you really want that mf) + Highlord's Wrath (or The Cat's Eye) + Laying of Hands (or crafted +passive/20ias gloves) which is 45 + 10 + 20 + 20 = +95 IAS . Although the second best breakpoint is usually good enough (so you can use Giant Skull for knockback if you like). You can compensate lack of Razortail by just bumping Pierce skill, so you will have 90% Pierce without it (which is more than enough).

6. Wrath is a really underappreciated runeword. This is a great debuff weapon. Bowazon lacks boss damage and has issues with physical immunes (yes, you can spam Magic Arrow or use Atma's Scarab to proc Amplify Damage), but it still will be hard to clear packs of Spectres or Hell Temptresses . Wrath has +magic damage, chance to proc Decrep and 20% crushing blow which combined with Slow Missiles and 10% slowdown from Nosferatu's Coil makes Hell Temptresses (and most other enemies) harmless, also killing Baal becomes manageable, it is faster than Faith with bosses. It is not good enough in all situations to be the primary weapon, but I really like using it on swap with Faith, it solved physical immunes issues for me. Alternatively you can use Harmony, which for me is the less DPS and less utility version of Wrath (although you might like Vigor aura). Harmony is not even close to be good with bossess though and does not have any debuffs

7. Witchwild String is an underrated bow (although I think it's a temp before you get Windforce or Faith). It's still really strong if you socket something good in it (like Nef + Eth or Shael + Shael)

8. You can make Insight in a bow and use it yourself, it has a good damage (before you get Faith or Windforce )

9. If you are using Matriarchal Bow and want to use Jewels in your helmet, +15IAS +15max damage gives you more overall damage than +15IAS +40% ed (because it's the low damage bow)

Bonus tip (for magezon):

10. You can use Phoenix in a bow the same way you can use Ice. Phoenix has minus to enemy fire res, you can even use Phoenix and Ice on swap.

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TL;DR - use Slow Missiles and Decoy more, make Wrath ruenword, invest all points into dexterity.

glhf!

Also, a wish I have - I really hope we will get magical quivers at some point in D2R to buff bowazons at least a bit more.

If you know any more good tips let me know.

This is really great info - thank you! I've been messing with a bowazon for the past week or so and trying to get her dialed in. Have been running into some of the same issues with physical immunes, and Magic Arrow is annoying even though I try to line up the shots and Pierce (still have to move out of the line of fire between shots, etc). Guided Arrow seems to work best for act bosses, but it's still pretty slow to take them down, especially Baal.

A few questions, if you don't mind:
1. Does Slow Missiles work in a radius where you click, or around your character (I don't have points in it yet)?
2. Are you using Valkyrie at all with your setup? If so, which of the Valk's seems to work best?
3. Do you know if Crushing Blow works with every Strafe arrow - say, if you're splitting a group of high-HP monsters? I believe CB (and perhaps other attributes like Prevent Monster Heal) may only work on the middle 3 arrows with Multiple Shot, but not completely sure about that. I believe I read that something only works with the middle 3 Multiple Shot arrows, but can't remember what at the moment.
4. What Merc setup are you using with your build?
5. Are you at 100% Pierce? Edit: now I see that's only 85% chance @ slvl 20, so may not be feasible without Razortail

I'm using an Act 1 Cold Merc (trying the Manic Pixie Dreamgirl route) and she currently has Harmony, which is nice for my FRW and getting the Reanimated to be more useful and better position themselves distract the enemies. Between the Reanimated, her Confuse proc, and Whirlwind from Carrion Wind happening quite often, it's been really fun and I can mostly hold my Ground.

Some day when I can afford it, she'll probably get Ice or I may try an Act 2 Might Merc if I can ever find a Ruby Jewel of Fervor for Andy's Helm. I was thinking it might be fun to try giving that Merc a Tomb Reaver for even more Reanimated I've been using those to draw fire from the Willowisps and Succubus monsters, but that only works so long as they happen to be out front and I don't get blasted first. It would be another Ber to give some Crushing Blow to that Polearm, too. All this stuff is so expensive that it feels like a pipe Dream, having starting only about a month ago.

Wrath on switch sounds perfect to deal with the PI's. Some day I will get a Ber, but everything good needs one Still hoping for a Lo as well, but it will be quite hard to not want to use that to make Grief before Fortitude Right now I'm using Treachery, so it should be easier to get to max breakpoint using some of your tips. Thanks again

louner wrote: 4 years ago

I have been playing bowazon for a few weeks now and I have a few thoughts I wanted to share:

1. She is surprisingly safe even with zero points invested into vitality and no resistances. She can use Decoy as a really convenient tank which can easily catch attention of Gloams and Stygian Dolls.

2. Slow Missiles is a very underused skill that basically disables Gloams and Witches because it slows down their projectiles a lot. It also makes them shoot more rare, because they wait for a previous projectile to land before they shoot the next one. Not to mention that they deal 32% less damage. Bowazon is the only character I feel comfortable with around dolls and gloams (even though she has about 600hp). Slow Missiles saved my skin more than a few times in the throne room. First you cast Decoy so gloams attack it instead of you, then cast Slow Missiles, then you can pretty much run between flying lightnings because they become so slow.

3. + to Passive Skills gives you more DPS than +bow skills because it bumps the Critical Strike skill which increases the chance of double damage. Double damage chance gives you more DPS overall than just bumping Bow & Crossbow skills. So the worst charms to have in inventory are +Bow, second best are +Passive, best are +max dmg +frw (imo).

4. You can bump Double Damage chance by using Highlord's Wrath and Gore Rider. It does not stack with the Amazon skill " Critical Strike" although the effect is the same. So if you have 74% Critical Strike and 50% Deadly strike it does not amount to 124% but to 87% instead (1 - (1 - 0.74)*(1 - 0.5)) if I remember school math correctly )

5. You can achieve max IAS breakpoint with Faith (92 with 15 Fanaticism) while still using Fortitude . The cheapest setup is M'avina's True Sight with 15IAS jewel (the most expensive would be Artisan's Diadem of Speed with 3 IAS jewels) + Nosferatu's Coil (or Goldwrap if you really want that mf) + Highlord's Wrath (or The Cat's Eye) + Laying of Hands (or crafted +passive/20ias gloves) which is 45 + 10 + 20 + 20 = +95 IAS . Although the second best breakpoint is usually good enough (so you can use Giant Skull for knockback if you like). You can compensate lack of Razortail by just bumping Pierce skill, so you will have 90% Pierce without it (which is more than enough).

6. Wrath is a really underappreciated runeword. This is a great debuff weapon. Bowazon lacks boss damage and has issues with physical immunes (yes, you can spam Magic Arrow or use Atma's Scarab to proc Amplify Damage), but it still will be hard to clear packs of Spectres or Hell Temptresses . Wrath has +magic damage, chance to proc Decrep and 20% crushing blow which combined with Slow Missiles and 10% slowdown from Nosferatu's Coil makes Hell Temptresses (and most other enemies) harmless, also killing Baal becomes manageable, it is faster than Faith with bosses. It is not good enough in all situations to be the primary weapon, but I really like using it on swap with Faith, it solved physical immunes issues for me. Alternatively you can use Harmony, which for me is the less DPS and less utility version of Wrath (although you might like Vigor aura). Harmony is not even close to be good with bossess though and does not have any debuffs

7. Witchwild String is an underrated bow (although I think it's a temp before you get Windforce or Faith). It's still really strong if you socket something good in it (like Nef + Eth or Shael + Shael)

8. You can make Insight in a bow and use it yourself, it has a good damage (before you get Faith or Windforce )

Bonus tip (for magezon):

9. You can use Phoenix in a bow the same way you can use Ice. Phoenix has minus to enemy fire res, you can even use Phoenix and Ice on swap.

---

TL;DR - use Slow Missiles and Decoy more, make Wrath ruenword, invest all points into dexterity.

glhf!

Also, a wish I have - I really hope we will get magical quivers at some point in D2R to buff bowazons at least a bit more.

If you know any more good tips let me know.

I have strathezon. For main bow I have a perfect Faith, my second bow is an 8% Windforce, Helm Andariel's Visage socketed with 15 ias 15 ED jewel, Laying of Hands gloves, Belt Nosferatu's Coil , armor Fortitude, and Boots Natalya's Soul. I've tried Highlord's, and Cat's Eye, but I settled for a 28% Mara's as best overall. For rings I have a Frost Raven and dual leech magic ring . I have two Bow skills grand charms. I started with an Edge, then Matriarchal Harmony, followed by Windforce, and then Faith. The Zon can kill anything in D2r so far except the Ubers. It's a fun build.

If you add enough damage charms you can kill them with Arrows, but Magic Arrow will easily take down a pack of specters and fast. Specters tend to line up and with Pierce one Magic Arrow shot will go through the entire pack. Contrary to what is recommended I put 10 base points into it, and with plus to skills I have level 24 Magic Arrow. The other benefit is that it will fire even when the mana ball appears empty. Ubers are the only real issue.

I currently have one at level 95. I agree that the ubers are where she runs into a wall. Otherwise, despite investing only 30 additional points into vitality for a total of 50, she always felt safer for me to play than my javazon before getting Enigma. I used to prefer doing solo casual Baal runs with her because hardly anything ever gets to her as she snipes from the back line.

Using Strafe with Faith gets you an army (albeit an extremely dumb one) deployed in short order that would make Blood Raven jealous, and using Harmony on switch feels great for mobility considering the enhanced damage from Fortitude is a build requirement.

Since there are an excess of skill points available for a physical bowazon, I maxed Magic Arrow and it melts physical immunes. Also, back in LoD, I had a M'avina's mageazon, so I was so used to Freezing Arrow that even now, I don't feel like I can give up the utility of that skill because it's a lifesaver when entering a hot portal.

I tried to make things work without Razortail for a long time, but I eventually realized it was essential to my build because she's technically not a physical bowazon even though I play her as one. I needed the skill points moved out of Pierce and into other skills. I stuck with Wilhelm's Pride of all belts for a very long time because I needed life and mana leech. Nosferatu's Coil was one of the options I was considering as an upgrade before I realized I couldn't make it work.

I will say that I did not like Witchwild String because the 2% chance to proc Amplify Damage was too low for me. I also thought Atma's Scarab's 5%, which a lot of people rave about in bowazon guides, was also too low. I do still use it and Guillaume's Face for act bosses though.

The bowazon is definitely fun to play as a long range, off-screen sniper if you have top tier gear, but she needs help to get her damage up to par in a full Hell game. That's really a byproduct of this game shifting towards favoring elemental over physical damage as it evolved. Bowazons were the supreme subclass in classic D2 and early LoD.

I have a max dex Strafezon, not got all the gear options but will have a Windforce once the Ladder season ends. Currently running a fairly standard setup aside from that and she kills things quickly: Eaglehorn, Valkyrie Wing, Laying of Hands, Treachery, Atma's Scarab, Gore Rider, Raven Frost, Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band, a couple of skiller charms and the rest are mostly AR + damage.

My "pro" tip is avoid Death novas. The number of times I have died simply because I've been careless and strayed too close to the things I'm killing, it's a bit embarrassing really.

undertow wrote: 4 years ago

A few questions, if you don't mind:
1. Does Slow Missiles work in a radius where you click, or around your character (I don't have points in it yet)?
2. Are you using Valkyrie at all with your setup? If so, which of the Valk's seems to work best?
3. Do you know if Crushing Blow works with every Strafe arrow - say, if you're splitting a group of high-HP monsters? I believe CB (and perhaps other attributes like Prevent Monster Heal) may only work on the middle 3 arrows with Multiple Shot, but not completely sure about that. I believe I read that something only works with the middle 3 Multiple Shot arrows, but can't remember what at the moment.
4. What Merc setup are you using with your build?
5. Are you at 100% Pierce? Edit: now I see that's only 85% chance @ slvl 20, so may not be feasible without Razortail

Wrath on switch sounds perfect to deal with the PI's. Some day I will get a Ber, but everything good needs one Still hoping for a Lo as well, but it will be quite hard to not want to use that to make Grief before Fortitude Right now I'm using Treachery, so it should be easier to get to max breakpoint using some of your tips. Thanks again

1. From around your character, like an aura
2. Even when maxed out she does not do any viable damage, so I don't really care about her variants. Decoy seems more useful, because you can place them exactly where you need, but I keep Valkyrie walking around to sink some damage.
3. It works for each Strafe arrow, with Multiple Shot, yeah most effects work just for the middle few Arrows
4. Act 2 Offensive with Pride. Some people argue that Act I with Faith + you with Windforce is better (but I don't listen to them, I like using Faith by myself better )
5. 91%

mhlg wrote: 4 years ago

I have strathezon. For main bow I have a perfect Faith, my second bow is an 8% Windforce, Helm Andariel's Visage socketed with 15 ias 15 ED jewel, Laying of Hands gloves, Belt Nosferatu's Coil , armor Fortitude, and Boots Natalya's Soul. I've tried Highlord's, and Cat's Eye, but I settled for a 28% Mara's as best overall. For rings I have a Frost Raven and dual leech magic ring . I have two Bow skills grand charms. I started with an Edge, then Matriarchal Harmony, followed by Windforce, and then Faith. The Zon can kill anything in D2r so far except the Ubers. It's a fun build.

Seems like a good setup. Ubers are doable, there are a few YT videos, but it seems more like a challenge than a viable thing.

Snakecharmed wrote: 4 years ago

Since there are an excess of skill points available for a physical bowazon, I maxed Magic Arrow and it melts physical immunes. Also, back in LoD, I had a M'avina's mageazon, so I was so used to Freezing Arrow that even now, I don't feel like I can give up the utility of that skill because it's a lifesaver when entering a hot portal.

I tried to make things work without Razortail for a long time, but I eventually realized it was essential to my build because she's technically not a physical bowazon even though I play her as one. I needed the skill points moved out of Pierce and into other skills. I stuck with Wilhelm's Pride of all belts for a very long time because I needed life and mana leech. Nosferatu's Coil was one of the options I was considering as an upgrade before I realized I couldn't make it work.

What you describe is also a good idea and of course works. I use Nosferatu's Coil because I really wanted the max IAS breakpoint with Wrath. There is a tradeoff in that you won't have 100% Pierce but you just shoot faster and apply debuffs faster, and that bow is more about debuffs and slowdown. First you disable everything with Slow Missiles and Wrath, then finish monsters with Faith - personally I like this style more.

Here's a guide about the highest DPS for bowazon:

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/d2r/t ... ble/165859