Please help me with my build!

So, I haven't played through Diablo 2 in at least a decade, so my game knowledge is admittedly limited. I figured I'd start with the first build I ever played way back on the LoD launch as a bright-eyed 9 year old, so a fire Bowazon. I knew it's probably the least popular Amazon build, but I figured I could play it by

Ear and get through Hell eventually.

Well, I can't. I'm in Act 3 of Hell and I'm really struggling to keep myself and my merc alive. Here's what I'm rocking:

162 Str / 231 Dex / 135 Vit / 15 En / 5271 AR / 1033 Def
Resistances: 43% Fire, -2% Lightning, -31% Cold, -40% Poison

Sazabi's Mental Sheath

Laying of Hands
Harmony

Rune Bow
Peace

Boneweave

Tearhaunch

Bladebuckle

My maxed skills are

Immolation Arrow,

Exploding Arrow and

Penetrate.

I'm struggling hitting enemies despite having 5271 Attack Rating overall, and even when I do, the damage is underwhelming (even though I should be dealing between 385-980 damage with each regular attack and an additional 1615-1753 on an

Immolation Arrow).

My merc is rolling with an Insight

Grim Scythe (for the aura synergies) and a

Duriel's Shell. Unfortunately, I haven't yet found a good helmet for him.

Since I'm out of respecs I'm stuck with the skills, but the equipment is another matter. I figure I can at least trade for something halfway decent, since I'm rolling in

Perfect Gems at the very least. Assuming I have 11

Perfect Amethyst, 6

Perfect Ruby and 39 other

Perfect Gems, what can I buy to fix the biggest problems with my build?

I realise this is probably a very noobish question, but I figure this is the best place to ask.

Hi and welcome to diablo2.io

I am not a Amazon player but when I start a new Char I always first check the guides at maxroll.gg. Here is the one for your build:

https://maxroll.gg/d2/guides/exploding-arrow-amazon

Here you also find good recommendations for gear from "affordable" to "BiS"

Are you playing ladder or non-ladder? If you are on non-ladder I could get you some items that might help.

I'm on ladder, unfortunately

Never tried that build before, but the Principle should be similar to Frostmaiden (i.e. make your elemental damage very high). Check if Flickering Flame runeword works for your skills. I think it does.

Then trade a

Flame Rift charm to break enemies' resistance.

Consider

Pierce skill to maximize your damage potential.

You also need to increase your resistances. A cheap way is to use Smoke runeword.

You will get there. This game is freaking hard on Hell difficulty, especially solo.

You're on your way...

Try to find an amazon bow for +Bow skills. Since you're a fire bow, you don't really care about physical damage, so the normal base,

Stag Bow, is fine.
While Harmony is a good runeword, specially with the

Vigor aura to make you move quickly, Melody gives +3 to bow skills, which means more damage.

Other useful tips:
- place your

Decoy close to the enemies so they focus it.

Slow Missiles gives DR, so beside "slowing missiles" from incoming monsters, it also make melee monsters hit less hard.

As people have already mentioned, once you hit level 75 you can trade for a

Flame Rift. You should be able to trade it for some

Perfect Amethyst.

Final note, your strength and dexterity stats are too high. As a flame bowazon, you're more like a mage rather than a warrior. You don't need high requirement bows. You need to shoot fast and have +skills on your weapon.

rigoroso wrote: 1 week ago

While Harmony is a good runeword, specially with the

Vigor aura to make you move quickly, Melody gives +3 to bow skills, which means more damage.

I kinda don't want to give up Harmony simply because the 6 levels of

Valkyrie from it are the only points in that skill I have, not counting the 2% chance to spawn another from my armour, which surprisingly doesn't happen very often. Without it, my merc dies too soon and I lose my hp/mana regen auras too quickly

If I end up farming a respec token I will definitely do the swap, though; I understand the class much better now. Thanks for the advice <3

use a

Revive as u go...
sigon

Boots and

Belt for res
if u can get the essences for a respec-
Peace in a

Mage Plate or

Dusk Shroud, strength does nothing for an amazon
1 point

Penetrate,

Pierce >70%

i think the fire damage hits even if the physical arrow misses

Additionally, I need someone smarter than myself explain to me why

Exploding Arrow still does damage to fire immune enemies?

Aria wrote: 1 week ago

Additionally, I need someone smarter than myself explain to me why

Exploding Arrow still does damage to fire immune enemies?

The explosion created by the skill will not damage fire immune enemies as it's pure fire, but when you fire

Exploding Arrow two things happen - first, an actual arrow/bolt, a physical projectile, is launched at the enemy, and second, upon coming into contact with an enemy, it creates a fire explosion centered on the enemy struck. The physical arrow may hit (and damage) the target if you pass a hit-check (takes attacking rating vs defense and attacker level vs defender level into account, the usual hit chance formula), whereas the fire explosion always happens when the arrow passes through an enemy's hitbox. The arrow/bolt's physical damage (if it hits) is based on the bow/crossbow used and how much ED% you have.

ChristianKiss wrote: 2 weeks ago

Never tried that build before, but the Principle should be similar to Frostmaiden (i.e. make your elemental damage very high). Check if Flickering Flame runeword works for your skills. I think it does.

Then trade a

Flame Rift charm to break enemies' resistance.

Consider

Pierce skill to maximize your damage potential.

You also need to increase your resistances. A cheap way is to use Smoke runeword.

You will get there. This game is freaking hard on Hell difficulty, especially solo.

Flickering Flame works for Amazon's fire skills but the reduced enemy fire resistance is

Key. It also provides a lot of fire res from the aura, basically negating the

Flame Rift.

With your PGs, you should be able to get everything needed for a FF or you could just buy a made one. Most people want to have maxed values so they will make several and sell "low rolls" quite cheap.
With FF and

Flame Rift, you should do much better. Flame rifts are very affordable as well. Try getting one with ~72-75 for some PGs or get a free one with 76+.
As soon as you have those items, you will deal fire damage and will be be able to push through hell. It won't be too much fun because fire ama is underpowered. But you will manage. Do not spend any more attributes in dex and STR (only if needed for gear) or energy. Everything should go into vita.

If you don't have that already, put 1 SP in

Dodge, avoid, and

Evade. This will help both yourself and your

Valkyrie.

With that, you don't even need that much res with an ama.

To further increase your damage, get as fast attacking as possible. Start with a fast bow, physical damage does not matter that much. Treachery and Hustle are both cheap and increase your attack speed, i.e. significantly increase your damage if you hit another breakpoint. 20 IAS gloves as well.

If you need a

Flame Rift, check the link in my signature. : )

And maybe I have other items you could use, if you want them.

And for Sunder, you can level up to 75 with NM

Baal runs/walks. Yes it will take time, but usually it only really slows down (on p1) on levels between 71 and 75.