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?

Like you, my second Amazon was a Strafe Bowazon using Faith.
I used Atma's Scarab for Amplify Damage instead Highlord's Wrath.
It was very enjoyable and pretty safe. You can see her here: https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/6iq5m001

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: 21 hours 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?

Spectie wrote: 1 day ago

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?

Here's another interesting build I tried more than 3 years ago, at level 83 using an upted Witchwild String, and the results were surprising. It has a 2% Chance To Cast Level 5 Amplify Damage, and when paired with an Atma's Scarab, amp damage is almost always in play. In the video you will notice amp damage firing constantly as I cleared the Chaos Sanctuary.

different play builds. i'm in the midst of lvling my phy bowa > 99 (92 now, so realistically might stop at 96 lol).

Shako (+15ias/resist@ jewel) = for the DR + life really
cat eye ammy
Hysteria armor
Carrion Wind ring
Raven Frost ring
Dracul's Grasp
nos coil Belt
aldur's Boots
Windforce with protector Stone
charms: anni, hellfire, Renewed Bone Break. enough resist charms to get me to max on light/cold/fire, shitty poison resist so some places are no fun.
act 5 Frenzy merc: vampgaze, Treachery (yes i think it is better than FORT for the merc), Grief + Lawbringer (this allows tomb running heralds).

u are a glass cannon but damage is pretty sick. i usually mix it up ( Strafe/multi), and use Slow Missiles/ Inner Sight liberally. guided almost never. believe it or not i Jab diablo to Death using 1 pt in Jab (titan + Stormshield) with no mana leech. the lifetap OR decrep from merc keeps me alive. if you have been playing javazon - it is almost not the same character, as the bowazon is A LOT SQUISHIER. a might/fana/cursed quill rat Herald will almost certainly 1 shot u.

general gameplay = MULTI IS GENERALLY BETTER i feel vs mobs, Strafe is better in certain areas. vs heralds, generally multi until you thin the crowd... and if u find u cannot do it, maybe it is time to get back to town (i think it's ok to give up on heralds tbh).

spare stuff: g-face, Laying of Hands, gore riders, war travellers, atmas. sometimes when i really want to kill the phy immune that is still taking low dmg post sunder...

CRUSHING BLOW: this is an interesting one, it helps to chop life down at the start at least, but i suspect it actually does less dmg than normal Arrows once the Herald is down to low health. i don't know the actual mechanic but i find gore riders definitely does help overall.

Atma'S: definitely helps with overall killspeed (vs cat eye). but i enjoy the faster rw more.

ganseng wrote: 20 hours ago

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..

Giant Skull also has knockback, which is Key if not using Windforce. I use it since I use Faith on myself.