Best gear for Fire/Cold Bowazon?

[MuffinMan]

Best gear for Fire/Cold Bowazon?

Yes, I already know that this is not an ideal build damage wise. But I want one in my Ama Collection :laughing:
And to make matters worse, it has to be on a tight budget. PvM then ofc rop:
Couldnt find any build guide that was viable for this (probably for a reason...), so i got a few potentially silly questions.

So far Im at lvl68, and stat points as follows:

maxed cold arrow
maxed freezing arrow
maxed immo arrow
+9 to all bow skills from items

1 in all passives
+5 to all passives from items (got razortail to sort out pierce)

Using a rare bow atm
Demon Bolt
Ashwood bow
Damage 28-40
+2 to all amazon skill levels
+2 to all bow skills
28-68 fire damage
5%life stolen per hit

Got vipermagi, lore circlet, and random rares with useless mods on my hands and feet. Dual manalds for some mana leech (this vixen is a still a mad drinker!), but will shift for raven as soon as I get a cheap low one. Using magic amu with 84 to mana to not run dry in 2 seconds. It now takes more like 3 seconds. Pop-a-blue!

NM was a breeze, but it totally lacks damage for Hell.
This will force me to change bow real soon:
I got the runes for both Melody and Harmony, but very unsure of which to use.. love that vigor aura though..

My merc is a A1 rouge with edge bow, which gives me lvl15 thorns aura. With this, I basically use my decoy and valk as landmines for all melee attackers

To the questions:
1. Melody or Harmony?

2. Having problems with cold/fire/physical immunes, got any better suggestions in a budget than the wws on switch? I really suck at waving with charged wands and such... (I know, Im being difficult)

3. Does Immo really suck monkey badtime forever? Its now at level 29, and even i 1 player games it takes forever to kill something.. should maybe remake and go for exploding arrow instead? Any suggestions to help the fire damage issue is welcome. This zon WILL use the firetree, some way or the other

4. Is it safe to use Torch with this build? Compared to strafers and LF zons?
Realmwise ofc..

5. Should I go for any other Merc option? Keep in mind that Im on a tight budget, and heavily rely on my two "landmines".

6. The rest of my skill point distribution/stat points?

7. Any others suggestions or thoughts goes here :wave:
I have no idea what equipment that would suit her well, so speak up now or forever hold your piece.

8. I will not ask if this build is a bad idea. If however soneone should feel the need to tell me so, they are welcome to do so here :laugh:

 

[NASE]

1. harmony, though there are other nice option. Kuko Shakaku give +6 to immolation arrow, fire damage and pierce - only good if you go with immolation arrow. So you don't have to use razortails. You can use one of the other nice belts. To bad it's so slow.

2. problem with monsters that have more then 3 res. I don't get it. If they are cold immune, use fire. If they are FI, use cold. If they are both, use magic arrow? I don't see the problem.

3. I've done one too, immolation and strafe, and yes. Immolation arrow just doesn't cut it if you ask me. Exploding arrow has the advantage of not having a timer, though it will not serve for more then a bad freezing arrow. No freeze and less damage.
Try getting some +fire damage items to use with exploding arrow. You can find very good charms, enchant from that club thing and you can even find circlets with some nice +fire damage.
Although then the question comes, do you want to put up to 40 points in a skill three when most of the damage will come from equipment?
An idea is to stack up on +fire damage and use blood raven charge. Gives you free decent lvl exploding arrow, is fast, cheap and has good cth. Combined with a unique build and you use the only elite amazon only unique bow, something no other build can say.

 

[MuffinMan]

As for 2; Kind of bad put by me: its not that its a big problem, its just slow having to wait for amp damage to kick in. Like say, a monster with both fire and cold resists and stone skin rarely goes down before it triggers. Unless they are hammering on my valk or decoy ofc

Guess its time to start fresh again, that Immo arrow was kind of a brainfart..
And that blood raven looks very tempting, never even thought of it for this! How much should I be able to get a +4bowskills one for?

Thanks for the answers!

 

[Jek]

1) Upgraded Lycanders Aim. Decent damage, leech and +4 bow skills. But of those two, I'd go with Harmony. Melody does zilch physical damage.

2) Maybe try to shop a wand with Lower Resist charges?

3) Yeah, Immolation Arrow are kinda bad sadly. I still hate blizzard for putting a timer on it, shrug. Exploding arrow actually deals kinda nice damage with ~100% pierce, and they compliment each other somewhat nicely. As already said, +fire damage will help explosion damage.

4) I'd guess, unless you're using Strafe as your leech/physical damage.

5) Get an Insight Mercenary, personally I'd get one with Might or Defiance (to help him tank, you should freeze anything CI anyway). Personally I think Insight will be a god-send for this girl, it should help immensely on your mana issues.

6) Two options; Valkyrie or boost Explosive Arrow. Better tanking or better fire damage?

7) Some good and relative cheap additions (+skills are your friend):
Helmet: Andariel's Visage, Valkyrie Wing
Gloves: Try to craft hit-power gloves (+2 bow skills and knockback? Sounds lovely)
Charms: Any cold damage charm, it'll add on to your freeze timer. It's lovely, the more the merrier.
Switch: Lower Resist wand.

8) I LOVED my old magezon, but the timer on immolation arrow is really anoying - I haven't attempted the freeze explosion arrow but it does sound kinda sexy. Now if only we had an item with + fire mastery.

 

[MuffinMan]

With my rising sun amu, torch and anni (all of-ladder.. but Im in no hurry) that should give me another +6 to exploding arrow.. And without that nasty timer too.
But charm-wise, expoding benefits from fire while freezing arrow benefits from cold charms. Should I dump my bow skillers for these, and how should i split it? 50%cold/50%fire? I really need some cold time in hell to keep distance from the monsters

Thanks for input Jek! Loved ur Lightning Ama guide BTW, shes my baddest zon by far

 

[maiku]

Would recommend sticking with as many bow skill GCs as you can, because I think either another member here or at The AB told me that bow skillers add more to a synergized Exploding Arrow in damage than even a lot of good stacked fire charms do. I'd suggest a few cold charms (to get 1-2 seconds of freeze/chill time), then as many good fire charms you can muster for a little more fiery death.

Try to get some Crushing Blow, Amp/Decrepify, Slow, freeze/chill, etc. to help whittle down enemies faster. You need crowd control and other ways to chew up enemies while you're hitting them with Exploding Arrow. Avoid Immo at all costs. Like Jek, I made what I thought would be another "trusty" Mageazon using Immolation Arrow, and I had the worst time in Hell. -_- Avoid it. It's really sad now.

1. Neither. I support Jek's suggestion of a nice upped "Lycander's Aim," but if not LA, then take "Harmony" made in a +3 Matriarchal Bow. You need speed and skills.
2. 1 point Strafe, some way to get Amp or Decrep on enemies, then shoot to death. Will go much faster if you have CB and curse in effect. If you use WWS, combine with CB and you have your problem solved. Can also use WWS's Level 20 Magic Arrow.
3. Immo is really, really bad. I speak from personal experience. Former Mageazon enthusiast, but still a huge Frostmaiden enthusiast.
4. Fairly safe. Strafe + Torch = death. Normal attack + Torch = much less. I use one on my Frostmaiden.
5. Try to get either Holy Freeze or Might Merc. Holy Freeze = crowd control and slowage. Can be combined with other items that slow for ultimate slowage. Might = Merc who can take care of himself and you. Might Merc w/ Reaper's Toll = slow + truly "Mighty Merc"
6. Depends on what you pick...
7. Yes, lots of +skills. Maybe try some Infernostride boots, because they add fire resist and fire damage to your attacks. Lava Gouts, btw, also have fire damage on them, 20% IAS, and cast Enchant on you.
8. Immo build = bad. Exploding Arrow build = no idea.

Good luck with crisping enemies.

 

[MuffinMan]

Lava Gout...ideal for my fire damage (even has built in firedamage like the infernostride), but the lack of KB and no skills nor leech, I dont really know..Will definetly try it out should I stumble across a pair.

The reason I dont use strafe with WWS to cast amp damage quicker, is the torch.. Guess I will stick with the magic arrows attack, even if its slow I have already tried it, and I know that it will get the job done. I guess 2xshael will be the way to go for me? (..man, just typing that makes me afraid of my torch again)

Restarted her last night, got her up to lvl22 just concentrating on the fire skills first (after all we all know freezing arrow works fine, so Ill pump this last). Working fine for now, using a socketed long bow just for style points. 3xrubies of course!
Things will speed up again soon as my merc gets back her edge bow at lvl25; which again gives me that superdeadly decoy. Will test with other mercs as well later on; if I find/make some decent gear. Insight is on top of this list right now..

Will post detailed update later when I have gotten some more relevant equipment and tried Expoding arrows viability in Hell!

Again, thanks for your 5cents guys!

 

[NASE]

Should I dump my bow skillers for these, and how should i split it? 50%cold/50%fire? I really need some cold time in hell to keep distance from the monsters

perhaps have a look at The Eye of Etlich. Gives you +1 to all skill and up to 10 sec freeze in normal. Count in some life leech and this isn't that bad, certainly if you need freeze time.
I think you have to pick one:
-minimal skill points spend (i.e. one point in exploding arrow or a bow that fire exploding arrows) and use things like enchant and good charms with fire damage.
-spend up to 40 points (exploding arrow and synergie) and put the focus on skills by using bow skillers.
As you will be using freeze arrow too and good elemental charms will cost you more then bowskillers, I'd go with the last route. If you could find bow skillers with fire or cold damage, that would be even better.

 

[YogiRat]

This thread has gotten me thinking about a build

I did years ago (1.09). I built a triple tree zon out of 'left-over' items I had onhand. IIRC, her skills were 14FA, 11strafe and maxed EXA with one point in the prereqs since synergies didn't exist then. Her gear was a 290ED Shadow bow shael'd, with a GSA on switch, rare 20IAS bow gloves, Eye of Etlich, Vamp Gaze and Spirit Forge linked mail.

Defense: 380-449 (varies)(Base Defense: 158-172)
Required Level: 35
Required Strength: 74
Durability: 26
+120-160% Enhanced Defense (varies)
+ (1.25 Per Character Level) 1-123 Life (Based On Character Level)
Fire Resist +5%
Adds 20-65 Fire Damage
+15 To Strength
Gem Sockets (2)
+4 To Light Radius

She had a host of elemental charms and a skiller or two.. The Gaze and Spirit Forge were socketed with jewels of Burning. You know, those jewels that look so impressive, (up to 25-50 fire damage) that you end up Charci'ng. The three jewels plus the Forge gave her about 90-200 extra fire damage, more than enough for 1.09. In 1.10 she failed miserably and I deleted her. I pondered her failure and came up with a few things. Too slow attack speed + poor bow choice, non synergized EXA didn't cut it in the 1.10 world and her run speed and resists sucked. If I were to remake her now I'd use

Harmony in -10 speed bow hands down. A Matri would best, but I wouldn't sweat the +skills, a charm or two will take care of that.

Max and fully synergize EXA, this eats a lot of skills but I don't see anyway around it. The other bow skills do fine less than maxed anyway.

Other gear, well, wow, I wished I'd used Lavagouts and Strides on my first build, they are perfect. Ammy, I'd have to go with Highlords. I want the +1 skill and the IAS. Helm and belt would depend a lot on what speed break I want to hit and my leach needs. Armor? Lots of good choices, Viper, Treachery, etc. but I might go with the Forge again just to be different.

 

[MuffinMan]

So, since last this build kind of got my main priority. All of my other ladder characters have been deleted, and all the stuff I had on them traded in favour for things for this baby.

Skills:
Maxed Fire arrow + Exploding arrow
Maxed Frozen arrow + Cold arrow at lvl 19 (next point goes here)
1point in all pre-req, 1 extra on dodge - brainfart.
Missing Izzy quest, doing him tonight.

Gear setup is now as follows:
Faith GMB +3Bow +2allskills / Edge MB on switch, will make harmony next for the revives.
Andys face +2allskills
Eye of Ethlic (spelled right?) +1allskills, and funky cold duration
Vipermagi +1allskills -maybe a upgrade for COH if I can afford it.
Carrion Wind + Manald Heal rings, last one will go in favour for a raven soon I guess.
2 Bow skillers
Low anni +1allskills (didn't expect to find one, so Im kinda high on strenght)
Razortail belt
Sanders Gloves, untill I can get some Lava Gouts. Don't know how that will work, but I'm keen on testing.
Nat's boots for the 40% frw, resists are nice to have too.

Merc is using the cheap Insight to cover my absurd mana needs, need to keep a few blue backups though. Using Holy Freeze Merc.. not so sure about this one though.

With random crap charms this gives the following:

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w155/SuperThomas_jpg/Screenshot006.jpg

Inventory shot

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w155/SuperThomas_jpg/Screenshot008.jpg

as you can see, more dex is really not needed when I get a Torch onboard.

Edit: forgot to say, this zon is the most fun Ive had since I made my first LF zon

 

[NASE]

It may be fun, but how is she holding out? Isn't your fire lacking power as we said? Do you survive unfreezable without the power of freezing arrow? Don't you feel the need to have points in strafe, and don't you feel the urge to use multishot. Can fire compare to these - strafe and multi - , or is it just a theme build?

P.S. why not use peace as armour, cheap as hell and has +2 skill +2 more to critical and ctc valk, for what that's worth.
P.P.S. harmony and revives = lots of gold. Last time I used them, I has to manually repaire my equipment besides the bow because I couldn't get the gold needed to repaire the charges.

 

[MuffinMan]

All Im saying is that making one might not have been a complete waste. And as for freezing arrow, I have it maxed

I stay away from Peace because I need to controll my valk.. She survives good enough for me already anyway.

The fire damage is lacking, yes, but not too bad. Cold Immune groups go down a bit faster with exploding than multi, but then again my dex is quite low. With a lot of fire smallcharms, I hope to help it out a bit.

As for viability; on 8 player baal runs dont expect to be the main killer...
Just an example - Fishyzon is a far faster PvM hybrid; I just wanted to go another way. But I must admit that bumping into annoying Immunes happens more often with this one (Though there is always a way arround them)

She is in no way done, this was just an update. Thanks for the tip on the Harmony! And the revives; if you switch bow they die i guess? I still love having the Edge on switch for the decoy+thorns aura combo.. Might stick with it a while still

Will start from lvl1 again when she is "tweeked" to get the stat points right, whenever that may be.

 

[MuffinMan]

Well, now at least I can safely say my little Theme build can solo the entire game. A few shots from the end (EuScL by the way)

The messed up stats before the final fight, on the remake I will have a lot more life
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w155/SuperThomas_jpg/Lvl85stats.jpg

Little shot of the Lords before they popped
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w155/SuperThomas_jpg/TOD_lords.jpg

Pumping baal with cold ones, exploding for the tentacle-thingies. Had to run to town two times for potions, and merc died once (not any life leech atm, need to get him an andys visage next time.. used howltusk lol)
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w155/SuperThomas_jpg/Baal.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w155/SuperThomas_jpg/Baal_dead.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w155/SuperThomas_jpg/Baal_loot.jpg

Gear:
Faith GMB +3Bow +2allskills / Edge MB on switch
Andys face +2allskills
Maras amu +2allskills
Vipermagi +1allskills (still.. drooling on the Enigma. Can't afford It yet though)
Bul Katho + Ravenfrost
4 Bow skillers
Anni +1allskills
Torch +3allskills
Razortail belt
Lava Gout Gloves (for fire damage boost), but I miss knockback a lot. So some +bowskill gloves with knockback and IAS is next. There is a cube recipie for these, isn't it?

And a question: the AR for Frozen and Exploding, does these add to the physical damage as well?

Edit: had to make a MF sorc again to gain wealth though.. running meph took forever with the bowa

 

[NASE]

ar only counts for the physical part. The explosions, cold and fire, are autohit. Although the ar bonusses (for freezing arrow) might be bugged.
For gloves, you have to craft hitpower gloves using the cube. The chances are low, though if you get one, they probably are the best gloves in the game.

nice job.

 

[MuffinMan]

Ah, it workes the same way as LF then, 95% hit?
Because I hardly ever miss anything, might go a tiny bit lower on dex on the remake I guess? With the miss-spendt points in strenght put in vita, I could go for javazon-like life..

Note: got 8 free slots for charms in inventory, so elemental damage can still get some improvements.

 

[NASE]

no it doesn't, it's more like the poison skills.

Each of those skill - lf, fa, exploding arrow, the two poison skills and immolation arrow - have two seperate damages, the lcs shows them both seperate. One of those damages represent the physical arrow/javelin. Normally, the physical javelin has to pass an ar check in order to hit the monsters - and therefore, to pierce the monster. lf is the only exception. lf has an auto-hit mod that makes the physical javelin hit always. fa and exploding arrow don't have this feature.
The other part of the damage is the explosions or the lightning fury 'strays'. These work just like sorc skills. They always hit, so no ar check and I wouldn't be surprised if they can't be blocked.

So you will always have the damage from the explosions and in order to double damage - once from the explosion and once from the physical hit that caries the same elemental damage and possible a nice amount of physical aswell - you need to pass an ar check.
You probably don't notice this because faith has idt. Try hitting monsters with a bad bow and you should see that not every arrow pierces - and take of those java gounts aswell, enchant has some nice ar bonusses.

 

[Isgarath]

Vipermagi +1allskills (still.. drooling on the Enigma. Can't afford It yet though)

Why Enigma? Since you're PvM you'd benefit more from the CoH resistances.

 

[MuffinMan]

Why Enigma? Since you're PvM you'd benefit more from the CoH resistances.

45%faster run/walk rocks on a bowa. And with tele, you can get out of the tightest spots, and save my merc from doing stupid stuff without having to run in guns blazing every time to save his...behind
And the +2skills ofc
Might go for CoH too, whichever I can get first...both a bit unrealistic for me at the moment though.

Nase: Im not really into the game mechanics so the knowledge is appreciated. Tested with the Edge bow without gloves, and AR dropped to 10k (both exploding/frozen attacks) which is less than Im comfortable with even though its not to bad.
It would probably be doable with a lychanders aim, but I dont know if I could... Got the lychanders now, so will get to test it out on the remake.

Although I think it will be hard to pull off with a strict "budget-setup" as originally intended.

Big note: failed to mention that my merc is wielding a borrowed dragon archon plate for the moment, this was also present at the Baal session. How does the Holy Fire aura affect exploding arrows? Ive heard it adds somehow?
The Holy Freeze from merc also adds to the cold attacks, right?

 

[maiku]

45%faster run/walk rocks on a bowa. And with tele, you can get out of the tightest spots, and save my merc from doing stupid stuff without having to run in guns blazing every time to save his...behind
And the +2skills ofc
Might go for CoH too, whichever I can get first...both a bit unrealistic for me at the moment though.

Nase: Im not really into the game mechanics so the knowledge is appreciated. Tested with the Edge bow without gloves, and AR dropped to 10k (both exploding/frozen attacks) which is less than Im comfortable with even though its not to bad.
It would probably be doable with a lychanders aim, but I dont know if I could... Got the lychanders now, so will get to test it out on the remake.

Although I think it will be hard to pull off with a strict "budget-setup" as originally intended.

Big note: failed to mention that my merc is wielding a borrowed dragon archon plate for the moment, this was also present at the Baal session. How does the Holy Fire aura affect exploding arrows? Ive heard it adds somehow?
The Holy Freeze from merc also adds to the cold attacks, right?

Holy Fire affects exploding arrows if you have it on and the fire damage should be added to your splashes, too, like fire damage from charms, etc. Not from Merc, though. Holy Freeze will also be added to cold attacks if you have an item (like "Ice") on that grants it. Not from Merc, though. Basically, if you want it to add to yourself, you need to have the aura/elemental damage on your person. (This is not the case with certain party-sharing auras like Concentration and Might, where everyone receives and benefits from them.)

BTW, I suggest taking a look at getting fire/cold facets and socketing equipment with them. If you get some that aren't 5/5s, they shouldn't be expensive, and you might be able to add some more punch than loading up on as many +skills as you can get. Lowering enemy resists is a big thing with elemental damage. You can do without it on a Frostmaiden, because FA causes mega-explosion damage...but more never hurts.

 

[MuffinMan]

Man, that kind of makes my mercs current setup a total brainfart.. Better give him back his old Boneflesh then, he seems to miss it anyway. Edit: and make the owner of the Dragon stop naggin about getting it back is a nice bonus as well :evil:

Might try out a facet, but then my Ral in Andys mask will have to go.. Blah, resists are overrated on bowas anyway :grin:
If I get my hands on one, Ill test it