Freyas said:
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.
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.
Freyas said:
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.
Agreed - though a Blizzard sorceress or Hammerdin may be able to compete
