bowazon build questions

Hello again all. I have been enjoying my single player journey and ready to level a new char. My javazon is almost 98, but i've collected quite a bit of bow gear so far. I'm still waiting on a Windforce or a good Faith base, but i have the runes required to build a Faith.

Once I do i want to level a bowazon. I have a giant's Skull, a Fortitude, Highlord's Wrath, Razortail, 2/20 gloves (or Laying of Hands), but there seem to be a few bow zon builds floating around.

What bow zon builds to you like? Strafe? Multi-shit? Magic Arrow? Guided Arrow?

what about something like Mist or Ice with Cold Arrow?

I love both strafezon and icemaiden. Strafezon is better (faster) at killing heralds, Ice maiden is better overall

Strafezon

Windforce with uber jewel
Any Diadem with +2sk / 15ias/ed jewel/anything else useful
Atma's Scarab
Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band
ravenfrost
2/20 gloves (2 - passive, not bow!)
Razortail
War Traveler

merc - Faith rogue

If you don't have uber jewel yet, your Faith and merc's Mist might be better (or emilio with Pride)

max out all three damaging bow spells, 1-2 points into each passive, rest in Valkyrie and Decoy. It's imperative to have a strong valk vs heralds!

Icemaiden

Ice
a 2sk Diadem with uber jewel and anything else useful
any 2 sk amulet, Mara's Kaleidoscope works well
ravenfrost
Stone of jordan
Arachnid Mesh
2/20 gloves (2 bow skills)
any Boots, ideally with high res

merc rogue with Insight, otherwise you will constantly starve for mana (or emilio with Insight or Infinity)

20 points into Cold Arrow, 20 into Freezing Arrow, 1-2 in each passive, max out Valkyrie and Decoy, rest up to you

You don't need the merc to tank because valk is almost immortal, so I prefer to run with rogues

P.S. fire zon is also fun, but much weaker unfortunately

Phoenix
Flickering Flame
any +2 sk amulet or The Rising Sun
2x soj or Opalvein
Arachnid Mesh
Horazon's Legacy
Horazon's Hold

Merc rogue with Faith or emilio with Infinity

Ice maiden and bowazon are two completely different species. Ice maiden is closer to a spec than to a bowa.

Both are fun but in different ways. You have to play both to know which one you like more.

I'm a bit late to the D2 bus so I don't have years and years of Wisdom/exp to share. From a new players perspective, I thoroughly enjoyed my first play through as Strafe/Multi-Shot Bowazon. I struggled a while once I started hitting physical immunities without much of an answer. Atma's Scarab was a game changer for me.

I've tried every bowazon build, and the one that's most fun for me is a Strafezon. My zon has a Faith, on main, and a Windforce on swap. I use Atma's Scarab for Amulet. Maybe this might help?

mhlg wrote: 1 hour ago

I've tried every bowazon build, and the one that's most fun for me is a Strafezon. My zon has a Faith, on main, and a Windforce on swap. I use Atma's Scarab for Amulet. Maybe this might help?

I absolute recommend Atma's Scarab. Physical resistance slows down any character in Hell, no matter how strong they are. Amplify Damage sorts that out pretty easily.

Windforce with Protector's Stone is the way to go. It's hard to reach the final IAS breakpoint, but with proper planning you can get 120%, which is good enough.

I also recommend at least one source of Crushing Blow. I usually achieve that though Gore Rider Boots, but there are other ways.

It's by far one of the most fun builds to play this game, even though it's difficult to stay alive especially if you play HC. It's a brittle build, but still enjoyable nonetheless.

since OP mentioned Giant Skull he's probably considering crushing blow. correct me if I'm wrong but CB doesn't make sense on strafezon does it?

In my case, 3.7k mean dmg ( Windforce, Fanaticism from merc, no Fortitude)
10 shots
83% hit chance vs tz 96 Baal (~same for heralds)
~70% crit chance
3.7 * 10 * 83% * 1.7 = 52k dmg per salvo, before res is taken into consideration (and I have -18 from Stone and sunder, and Atma's procs often)
Is my math wrong or no crushing blow will ever match this? it's 5% of current health for ranged attacks right? how does dmg res and crit interact with crushing blow?

or can several Arrows in a salvo proc crushing blow? if that's the case, crushing blow could make sense on targets with 200k+ health (or 300k+ if you maximize dmg and use Fortitude)? and there are not many such targets, basically Baal and ubers..

or maybe to start with the basics - does the crushing blow replace the regular dmg when procced or is it added to the regular dmg?