Single Best Boss killing Ama skill Hi there! I was just wondering which of all the amazon skills work best to kill bosses? Any skill on its own or combination of 2, 3 skills is good too (for those that might need synergies to deal the damage). Any replies would be great! Thanks alot.
Strafe, because it's capable of firing mutliple arrows into one target per volley. Guided Arrow might still be good because of its ITD-like property, but its significantly weaker now that it can't pierce.
I heard it depends on how fast you fire, and it doesnt completely ruin it. If you fire a volley of 10 arrows into a target, 3-4 of them should still hit. I think. Thats almost comparable to GA in 1.09
i use valk + GA for andy, duriel. GA only for meph, diablo. FA + GA for Baal. for regular bosses, 3/4 of them die as I LF the group, often a minion or two will survive them. for those that survive their minions, i use either ga or FA depending on resists.
Next-delay does not ruin strafe versus a single target. There have been several threads recently that discussed strafing and the next-delay issue. Next-delay keeps strafe from being rediculously overpowered, but a level 20 strafe will do similar damage to guided arrow over time. Even with next-delay, most every strafe speed will result in getting more hits in fewer frames than guided arrow will. For example, a 9/3 strafe speed will net you 4 hits in 27 frames. Compare this to a 9-frame guided, where 4 hits will take you 36 frames. The only downside is that strafe does a little less damage than guided arrow, and is dependant upon attack rating. However, strafe is a perfectly viable boss-killing skill, which is also useful killing packs, which is much more than could be said for guided arrow. As for what skill that an amazon has that will take out bosses the fastest, I have to throw my vote in with charged strike. My lightning-zon with max charged strike, lightning strike, and lightning fury can kill single targets faster with charged strike than any other character I've seen, regardless of class.
I think Strafe does a little less damage over time than GA against a single target once you've taken into consideration that Strafe hits only do 75% damage and GA is autohit. Even if we assume a 95% hitrate, a level 20 Strafe at 9/3 will hit on average 3.57 times per second (see the full numbers here) which must then be corrected for the damage penalty to 3.57 * 0.75 = 2.68. GA will hit 25 / 9 = 2.78 times, and has no damage penalty. For lower hitrate, GA will do even better - for the more realistic 85% hitrate, Strafe will hit 3.24 times, corrected to 3.24 * 0.75 = 2.43, while GA stays at 2.78 hits. GA and Strafe have very similar damage enhancers, so I've ignored that. Still, as Strafe is so much more versatile, maxing GA is imho not worth it any more - at least not for a Strafeazon. Agreed - though a Blizzard sorceress or Hammerdin may be able to compete
What skill do you recommend instead? I've got a strafeazon and I need a boss-killing skill as a secondary skill.
Just stick with Strafe - it's quite good, really, even though it's not the best. The points you save on another attack can be spent in the passives to make it even better - Critical Strike, Penetrate and Pierce make your Strafe shine all the brighter. Otherwise, you may consider going hybrid - CS and LF are a very effective duo. I can't really recommend it wholeheartedly for the Strafeazon, though, as they don't go that well with the optimal passives/gear selection for the Strafeazon. A third option is to have a very fast melee weapon on switch with some Crushing Blow equipment. A variant would be to put one point in Jab and use javelins for it. The point is here to just get a lot of hits in and let CB take the boss down to a fraction of their health, then pull back and Strafe them to death.
So strafe the entire game? (!) What about PIs? Currently I have to either avoid them or tp home and get hellrack out
Well, a big elemental damage bow on switch is an option, but even better is Atma's Scarab. The Amplify Damage will break more than 90% of the Physical Immunities you meet. You can also use WWS on switch which will give you both Amp and a level 20 Magic Arrow for the very rare PI that Amp won't break.
