Lvl 34 Bowazon, Cold Arrow and Ice Arrow - critical need for mana. Help!

As the title notes, I am finally doing some good damage, but running out of mana far too fast. I have better than average equipment for my level, but clearly need to find possible ways to boost mana and mana retention. Any recommendations very much appreciated. I know there is some very rare gear that would help, but I'm hardly likely to come across those items. Everything I see has very low boosts to mana, if any. Thanks for any help.

And yes, I "now" know that I should have gone Fire Arrow and Exploding Arrow, but I initially clearly wasn't using the optimum guides for starting, before coming across some better ones just recently. And I'm in Act 6 "normal" so WAY too early to respec. But I believe the mana issue would still exist, even then.

You can get 2 Caster Ring, craft use 25 lv char gamble ring. Get 20-40 mana + 3 %mana per hit x 2 , in best scenario, you can have 6% ml 40 mana. and craft cast amulet.

The other solution is equip 2 soj.

My solution is way simple, craft 2 lv 25 req Caster Ring, Caster Amulet and use token to change to just enough str dex, then half life half energy.

You can put Insight in bows

Slapshot wrote: 5 months ago

As the title notes, I am finally doing some good damage, but running out of mana far too fast. I have better than average equipment for my level, but clearly need to find possible ways to boost mana and mana retention. Any recommendations very much appreciated. I know there is some very rare gear that would help, but I'm hardly likely to come across those items. Everything I see has very low boosts to mana, if any. Thanks for any help.

And yes, I "now" know that I should have gone Fire Arrow and Exploding Arrow, but I initially clearly wasn't using the optimum guides for starting, before coming across some better ones just recently. And I'm in Act 6 "normal" so WAY too early to respec. But I believe the mana issue would still exist, even then.

On my Frostmaiden zon I put one point into Strafe, and set it to my right mouse button. I have 6% mana, 8% life leech ring/ When my mana starts to drop a bit I hit my right mouse button and it's topped instantly. With Strafe a ring with as little as 4% mana leech will do the job, but a little more is always better.

Insight is great on bows, but another option I like is Insight on an Act 2 mercenary for many mana-hungry builds.

Make sure to make it in a Polearm, it does not work in a Spear.

Plus, Act 2 merc when you get to Nightmare can use Might which is great with Bowazon (or physical in general) builds. You can also use Holy Freeze as well for good cc.

Aelanwyr wrote: 5 months ago

You can put Insight in bows

I managed to get the runes for the Insight bow, but finally checked the specific specs and the only mana boost it seems to offer is +2 mana after each kill. That doesn't seem like much? Am II missing something?

leox wrote: 5 months ago

You can get 2 Caster Ring, craft use 25 lv char gamble ring. Get 20-40 mana + 3 %mana per hit x 2 , in best scenario, you can have 6% ml 40 mana. and craft cast amulet.

The other solution is equip 2 soj.

My solution is way simple, craft 2 lv 25 req Caster Ring, Caster Amulet and use token to change to just enough str dex, then half life half energy.

Thanks for this info I looked at the recipes and plan to create 2 caster rings, and an amulet. I am short a couple Amn runes for the rings. Have not seen one drop anywhere, but am afraid they may be very rare?

Slapshot wrote: 5 months ago

Aelanwyr wrote: 5 months ago

You can put Insight in bows

I managed to get the runes for the Insight bow, but finally checked the specific specs and the only mana boost it seems to offer is +2 mana after each kill. That doesn't seem like much? Am II missing something?

You're missing the Meditation aura that Insight provides.

Slapshot wrote: 5 months ago

leox wrote: 5 months ago

You can get 2 Caster Ring, craft use 25 lv char gamble ring. Get 20-40 mana + 3 %mana per hit x 2 , in best scenario, you can have 6% ml 40 mana. and craft cast amulet.

The other solution is equip 2 soj.

My solution is way simple, craft 2 lv 25 req Caster Ring, Caster Amulet and use token to change to just enough str dex, then half life half energy.

Thanks for this info I looked at the recipes and plan to create 2 caster rings, and an amulet. I am short a couple Amn runes for the rings. Have not seen one drop anywhere, but am afraid they may be very rare?

Your best bet for Amn runes is farming Nightmare Countess, players 1. Her special rune drop only drops up to Ral in Normal, but can drop up to Io in Nightmare.

Slapshot wrote: 5 months ago

As the title notes, I am finally doing some good damage, but running out of mana far too fast.

Sometimes it is beneficial to boost the synergies instead of the actual skill you are using. If you put more points into Freezing Arrow it makes more damage but gets more expensive. But if you put the points instead into Cold Arrow you enhance the damage of Freezing Arrow without making it more expensive.

I am playing Frostmaiden in season 13 and I can relate to your pain. Since you are most likely killing everything in packs, make sure you have +X Mana After Each Kill.

A typical budget setup is: Lore runeword on Helm/ Tiara, Manald Ring and Wizendraw bow. The latter is very important, because it gives you mana and reduces the cold resistance of the enemies, which means you need to cast less Freezing Arrows to kill them.

And, of course, make sure you carry a lot of mana potions until you can get Insight for your merc.

The +5 Mana after each kill from Silkweave is quite useful for this build.

Wisdom also provides several useful affixes for keeping your mana topped off.