Total noob, need advice about bowzons in general

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pelirrojo

Diabloii.Net Member
Total noob, need advice about bowzons in general

Hey guys, I'm pretty much a total D2 noob.... I played through single player through nightmare mode (stopped at hell... hah) several times (5x summon necro, 5x jabazon, 5x bowazon).

However I'm a complete noob when it comes to bnet and all that.

So far I've gotten myself an 86 LF javazon and gotten her up to around 400% MF with titans and all that goodness... I'm starting to build up some wealth, I've got around 30 pgems, a good number of uniques and set items from running cows....

In any case, I've been thinking about making a bowazon. I just love shooting bows :grin: The only thing I hesitate about is the fact that I just can't seem to find a decent bow.

First question... How good are bowazons? Really broad question I know, but my javazon, for example, owns extremely hard. Very easy class to play, doesn't need much gear to be able to solo 8-player cows on hell with extreme ease. How do bowazons compare in terms of gear-reliance, and end-game PvM effectiveness (I'm not really interested in PvP yet)?

Give me some examples of how fast a bowazon can kill, say, hell baal? Or a mob of cows on hell in a 1-player game?

I don't care much about MFing since my javazon is pretty much the queen of MF as I see it - fast 8player cow runs at 400+ MF... Doesn't get much better than that, or does it? Please let me know if it does!

Another question... What would be a good build for me? Strafe looks fun to me, but I'd like to also put like 5-10 points into multishot for those big mobs of guys. It seems like both skills are useful in different situations, though I see people generally picking one or the other for some reason. I don't really get why you would need much more than 5-10 in MS - wouldn't the extra arrows eventually not be worth the mana cost? Especially with pierce and each arrow hitting multiple monsters.

So anyways I was thinking something like 20 strafe, 20 valk, 20 Guided arrow (for boss killing and stuff?), 10ish pierce, 10 MS.... Not sure what else I would need. Some points into dodge/evade/avoid, and I'd definitely want to put 1 point into the freezing arrow just for utility's sake...

Does this sound like a good build for me?

Thanks a lot guys, this stuff is all so confusing :laugh:
 
Kijya

Kijya

Diabloii.Net Member
Re: Total noob, need advice about bowzons in general

High end bowzons can compete with most other classes when it comes to killing speed, specially high damage multi shot can clear rooms really fast. For example you might only need 2-3 multi shots to kill an enemy on the lower player counts, meaning you can clear a large mob within a second if you fire at 7 or 8 fpa. On 8 players the killing speed drops in general, however the high end can still kill decently fast, and with the auras of party members they might even beat the hammerdins etc in their team during chaos runs.
On lower budgets you'll see far more problems on 8p, but 1p is still pretty fine with the somewhat cheaper bows, like wws and harmony.

Hell baal is among the worst enemies for a bowzon. A bowzons strength is her wide area attacks, that are of no use when fighting bosses. Took me a bit over two minutes to kill him on 1p with the bowside of my hybrid (damage is still pretty comparable to a pure bow, but they should be somewhat faster of course), with some cb you can reduce the time some.

Cow mob = ~ a second

They are good at running pits for socketables, where you have a chance of finding any item in the game.

Use both multi and strafe, some situations will favor the other, but both are useful at times. Slightly higher then 10 (~15) is pretty useful when clearing large areas, like cs and cows, but on a whole level 10 does fine yeah.

16 critical strike, penetrate until you have 95% chance to hit. Use razortail for +33% pierce, then you only need level 9 pierce to reach 100%. 1 in d/a/e is fine. 20 GA is a bit of a waste in pvm, but will of course work as a boss killer unless you find that strafe does that task just fine.

1 point FA = yes :smiley:
 
killmofasta

killmofasta

Diabloii.Net Member
Re: Total noob, need advice about bowzons in general

OK. I build LFzons, quite a bit, and Nothing can clear a cow level like a LFZon. The ultimate in crowd control. Nothing levels in baal runs like a LFZon. The builds for bowazons focus on either Strafe or MultiShot/ with a bunch of points into Guided for bosses/uniques. If you can poke around in hell, and get items, I would recommend, getting a few 5 socket war bows, and putting 5 perfect emeralds, and 5 ORT runes, and go hunting for Ma'vinas set, a goldstrike arch, and if your really really lucky, a windforce.

Here is a good bowazon strategy guide:

http://www.diabloii.net/strategy/x-guides/bowazon.shtml

Also, in hell, look for 3/4/6 socket Matrical bows, with +2 to bow skills. for EDGE rune word to start with but others here have suggested ICE(Amn + Shael + Jah + Lo_and BOTD( Vex + Hel + El + Eld + Zod + Eth ). Check out this thread for RuneWord Weapons.
( and a great thing about EDGE bows, is after you are done with them, you can hang them off a rogue merc, and have thorns! Great for playing with Necros )

http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=495941

For builds, I woudnt focus on strafe, but rather 20 into Multi, 15 max into valk, 10 into guided, 15 into Crit strike, and with Pen/Peirce, a lot more have to go into those than a LF zon. I usually do 4:2:1 ratio into Cirt/Pen/Peir but with Bowazons, its 3:2:2 so 15:10:10 instead of 16:8:4, ( or 35 vs 28 ). Let + to skills pull up the valk to 20.

And it does get better than 400mf for zons, look at a Dual alibaba barb. There was a post here about the top MF builds, and a barb is the top. I only run around with 100 Max, but do have a barb for runing that has dual Gulls+Full Angelic. ( comes off +260 something )
 
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pelirrojo

Diabloii.Net Member
Re: Total noob, need advice about bowzons in general

Thanks for the helpful replies, guys! I've actually accumulated 3 pieces of Ma'vinas so far. I hadn't really noticed that it was for bowazons!

I really think 20 MS is a bit unnecessary, and the points would be better spent in strafe, but I could be wrong.

I'll check out those guides - thanks again!
 
WrongdayJ

WrongdayJ

Diabloii.Net Member
Re: Total noob, need advice about bowzons in general

The most fun build I have ever played (Bar NONE) was a Strafer.
(Props to CDM for the inspiration- I finally Matriarched one not too long ago. . .)

'Treachery' armor is one of the best things EVER for a strafer. You will need to get yourself a source of some Crushing Blow (Goblin Toe Boots?) to help to take down the big prey.

Now that I think about it. . .I don't think I've ever heard of anyone doing the Ubers with Multi, but there have been Strafers that have (ahem. . .CDM. . cough, cough). Not trying to fire up the old 'Strafe vs. Multi' debate or anything. . . :azn: . . . Multi is a really good skill and it is useful in many areas of the game (like the Chaos Sanctuary where you're in a wide open area and there are bunches of spread out enemies).

Which ever way you go though, I'm sure you'll like Bowies. . .they are loads of fun to play.:thumbsup:
 
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pelirrojo

Diabloii.Net Member
Re: Total noob, need advice about bowzons in general

Sweet :D I've been stocking up on gear, trying to get some stuff to put the char together. I just got a cruel gothic bow that does something like 43-198 damage, but I'm not sure what I do with it now? Or should I just hold out for a windforce or something?
 
MuffinMan

MuffinMan

Diabloii.Net Member
Re: Total noob, need advice about bowzons in general

Are you playing single player or on the realms? (guessing you are since the realms was mentioned) Could give you a free lychanders aim if you are on euscl by any chance
 
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pelirrojo

Diabloii.Net Member
Re: Total noob, need advice about bowzons in general

I am on US east - Lycander's aim sounds great! I have the lycander's spear, could trade you if you want so you're getting something out of it at least! :)
 
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