Multi or Strafe?

[Cadet]

Multi or Strafe?

I've been looking at the two skills to gine my Ama a more efficient pvm ability, and I can't decide which is better. Multi looks decent, being it's available at an early level, shoots a "shotgun" spread of arrows, and can hit numerous targets at once. Strafe, same with the hitting a lot of targets at once, but Strafelock has me wondering about it... I like to hit and run a lot with my ranged chars, and it doesn't seem possible with Strafe. But on the same note, while Multi doesn't lock you in place, the damage of the arrows doesn't go up, which lowers its potential somewhat. Also, is Strafe capped at firing 10 arrows, or is that just the number of targets that can be attacked in one Strafe?

Really confused here...

I'll eventually be using Faith, if that helps any (will use Edge for most of the early game).

 

[Grobyc]

I personally go with Strafe. The damage increase helps because most bows are low in damage, it also shoots a lot faster. As for your concern for Strafe lock, it's not much of a concern if you have a high level Valkyrie/merc and/or knockback, the mana cost is also stable at 11 while multi's mana go up which could be a concern sometimes.

 

[Omikron8]

1.09 multishot
1.10 strafe

 

[Leohappy]

Multishot + Faith is a devastating PvM combo. Just make sure you're hitting 7fpa.

Strafe is just plain too slow with insanely fast Faith bows. I mostly use strafe against small packs of unleechable Skeletons, or against bosses. But my main attack skill is Multishot.

To offset somewhat lower damage on MS, you'll have to pump dex to at least 300.

Also, Faith users don't really need Knockback that much, since sheer speed keeps many monsters in what is almost a permanent state of stunlock.

 

[wookie919]

1.09 multishot
1.10 strafe

Second that.

 

[itsPizzarific]

8 fpa multi is just fine with faith also pvm, might be too slow pvp.

as long as you can maintain your 8 or 7fpa multi, along with your high damage, leech, etc. then i would say multi. however, your equipment is quite limited.

something to think on:

strafe = 10 arrows max per shot, 8/2 fastest speed. the fastest possible is a 26 frame strafe (8+2*9) - thats basically 10 arrows per second (one sec = 25 frames)

lets assume your multi is level 15 with +skills

thats 16 arrows per shot, and you can acheive 7fpa (we'll use 8 for this calculation though since we're also doing an 8/2 strafe). you can fit 3, 8 frame multis in in one second. 3*8 = 24 frames. 3 multi * 16 arrow = 48 arrows per second.

thats a pretty big difference.

however, multi has its drawbacks .. many mods only work on the middle two arrows .. knockback, ctc etc.

however i would still say strafe if you arent using faith, since a 9fpa multi is pretty annoying. if you have faith and can hit 7 or 8 fpa, go with multi.

 

[Cadet]

Hmm, well I've already maxed Strafe, and with +skills from gear (also using Faith), I have lvl 29 Strafe and Guided, and enough in the passive skills to serve my purposes. I'm gonna try find some passive gc's to up them even further and save on skills from there, and I decided to skip on a Valkrye for now (yes, I'm serious), and focus on Multi. Also, about how much more IAS do I need to get to 7 or 8 fpa if the only IAS I have is from Faith (it has lvl 15 Fanat)?

 

[rockboy888]

I've made a maxed strafe zon mainly for pits but I find killing stuff in pits a little difficult and slow without a merc or valkerie to tank the monsters

Then I made a pvp maxed guided and 10 multi and it cleans pits faster

I prefer multi but strafe is cooler

 

[creatine_rage_2002]

Do both.

I have a Pit Strafer with max strafe and i have enough points in multi to have a 10 arrow spray.

Fire off a few volleys of multi...critical strike will thin the herd.....then blast away at the rest with strafe.

Slap on an atmas ammy and watch the bodies fall!!

 

[Leohappy]

Hmm, well I've already maxed Strafe, and with +skills from gear (also using Faith), I have lvl 29 Strafe and Guided, and enough in the passive skills to serve my purposes. I'm gonna try find some passive gc's to up them even further and save on skills from there, and I decided to skip on a Valkrye for now (yes, I'm serious), and focus on Multi. Also, about how much more IAS do I need to get to 7 or 8 fpa if the only IAS I have is from Faith (it has lvl 15 Fanat)?

Maxing Strafe, Guided and adding into MS is probably a bit too much. You will definitely need high level Valkyrie in Hell, because if you don't, she will be totally useless, and merc won't be able to handle all the heat...

I'd go with one of these combos (but that would mean rebuilding your zon):
Guided+MS+Valky
Strafe+MS+Valky

If you're using Grand Matron Faith, 95% ias is needed to reach 7fpa.

 

[XZON]

Faith = multi (8 frames is fine for GMB, 7 frames for MB)
WF = strafe (because extremely tough to hit 8 frame multi)

9/2 strafe much better than 9 frame multi as long as you have high pierce and knockback. This is true for about 85% of the game. There are a few area's where multi would be better even at 9 frame but not too many. Once you can get to 8 frames with a high damage bow this flip flops. Multi will be better for 85% of the game compared to an 8/2 strafe.

If you have a lower damage bow and need procing skills like amp from WWS or Atmas ammy in order to kill, Strafe will always be better.

Basically, there is no clear cut answer and really depends on available gear.

 

[lCE]

Check my thread below this : I believe WF multishot with a faith merc is the ultimate pvm setup. (92% ias required with lvl 14 fana for 7 fpa). However theres another setup, Im still awaiting comments on that.

 

[HCTwinJava]

Just a few comments to add to the thread:


- there is now also a bow called BOTD hydra = a very high dmg bow.

- WF, once sold for $1000 at a time, is now as cheap as an upper mid rune.

- there are a whole array of xbows not mentioned here yet. About 2 years ago when I was still actively playing this game, I started to prefer Strafe with a xbow: chu-ko-lu, demon machine, or buriza. There are now new choices: up'ed buri, hellrack, and any nice runewords made (= spoiled) on a 4s xbow.


Anyone tried a Faith xbow or something close?

 

[Leohappy]

Check my thread below this : I believe WF multishot with a faith merc is the ultimate pvm setup. (92% ias required with lvl 14 fana for 7 fpa). However theres another setup, Im still awaiting comments on that.

Don't forget that only your merc gets full Fanaticism damage bonus. You only get half of the bonus, since you don't use the weapon itself.

I'd say might merc with Pride and bowzon using Faith GMB, is a better combo. There's just so much damage stacked up it has to be much better than a measly Act1 merc with just the (halved) Fanaticism bonus.

 

[lCE]

Dont forget: Even the best Faith GMB barely crosses 300 max dmg mark while WF does over 550 at high levels, if your dexterity is high it may well outdo the GMB.
BoTD bows are crap, Faith >>>> BOTD any day.

 

[HCTwinJava]

BoTD bows are crap, Faith >>>> BOTD any day.

Can you elaborate a bit?

 

[Cadet]

- WF, once sold for $1000 at a time, is now as cheap as an upper mid rune.

Normally, I'd say that you gotta be kidding me, but I've read a few histories of the game and seen old screenshots from eBay (not only WF but also numerous other items), and yet I still find it hard to believe.

As far as my Zon is now, she just got to lvl 81, and I stopped putting points in Multi at lvl 10, being at that lvl +skills put it high enough so that no more points there are really needed, so I figured I'd stop there. I decided to go with a Valk after all, but even though it's lvl 13 now (10 w/o +skills), I find that I really don't use her much, if at all, and I don't have a merc either. Despite what a lot of you would think or say, she does quite well in Hell without either merc or Valk, or maybe that's just because I'm used to not playing with a hireling. And she doesn't have to worry much about elemental attacks (her res. in Hell are 75/75/64/75); Kira's, Metalgrid, and Durial's (looking for CoH though; it'll also be just enough to replace the Kira's too) have been very good to me resistance-wise.

Here's the bow if anyone was interested:

http://img249.echo.cx/img249/5180/screenshot0269ck.jpg

 

[lCE]

Can you elaborate a bit?

Well a good superior faith can have 345% ed, lvl 15 fanaticism, can be made in any speed bow, BOTD is limited to the slowest bows only, sure it can have 50% ed more but i dont think it compensates for the fanat, (even with 60% ias). The stats on it is just gravy.

 

[Damric]

If you plan on using Faith, it seems more designed for a multi/guided zon. There are 3 other good new bows for strafers though, Phoenix, Ice, and the godliest of all---Brand. Now if you really want to shred PvM with strafe you forget all that ed% crap, get a matriarchal Brand, marrows, duress, guillames, and some poison charms. Your killing speed will be godly even if your stats screen shows only like 2k damage. It's the onslaught of bizzillion bone spears piercing and piercing and piercing and piercing combined with superfast crushing blows that makes it so good. (Yes 1/16 is a lot of damage when in half a second you just shot a cubic @$$-ton of arrows at something.) Deadly strike, open wounds, and poison are gravy. Now if you are even wealthier, make your Brand in a Grand Matron Bow and get a Faith mercinary. Don't forget you need some super high pierce to get the chain reaction going with the bone spears. Now get out there and nuke those Pits.