...Amazon Setup...

[diablo's death]

I would like to know what is the best Armor, Gloves, Weapon, Boots, Rings, Helm, and Amulet <_<

[Goob]

Taking a general question to the extreme.

What skills do you plan on using? Do you want a Mercenary? which one?

Do you plan on doing solely cow levels or also Act3/4/5?

Do you prefer high-damage, slow-firing, OR medium-damage, fast firing bows?

[diablo's death]

well i perfer a fast fireing weapon(bows crossbows) and i plan to use

20 mult
20 G.A
20 valkire
20 Lighting Fury

I plan to do cows
and i like high damage weapons
and no Mercenary

[Goob]

I'm not sure what others would recommend, but I'd never do that skill setup.

20 Multishot/LF shows you want to use bows AND javelins a lot. well, to really use Lightning fury you'd need maxed Pierce (or 66% with razortail).

Lookie here for 2 options:
1. Pure LF zon. str/dex for equipment, rest to vit. I got about 1600hp with charms on my javazon.

2. Pure bowazon. you said you like high damage and also fast firing...hum, that's basically calls for a WF.

Other options:

Goldstrike Arch Coupled with Atma's Scarab. Goldstrike's Holy bolts (from FOH) each have a chance to cast the amp. Me and a friend used this setup from early in xpac and you can rival eaglezons in terms of killing power. Also, this is CHEAP. you can trade a fingernail for both.

Eaglehorn - some prefer this bow for general amazon use. I find it a bit slow for some reason. Eaglehorn is a solid choice with decent requirements, good damage, *ITD* and...thats it.

M'avina's Caster - you won't see many people use this bow for the simple fact that better bows exist. decent damage and 40% IAS make it quite a nice bow but if you're willing to spend just a bit more you can get something better.

Lycander's Aim - If you can find a 200% one, this is a really nice bow. excellent minimum damage, relatively fast, skills, stats, leech, cheap. Maximum is quite low but meh, not all of us either care or have enough $$ for a WF.

Cruel Matriarchal Bow of xxx with enough IAS will give you decent damage with very fast attack. not really recommended for cows, as it is quite expensive to find a good one and you can get better damage with....

Buriza-Do Kyanon which you surely know. this+multi=dead beef.

For The pure bowazon you should get an Act 2 Might Merc. get him the best equipment you can. Mine uses a Cruel Great Poleaxe, Shaftstop and a Vampire Gaze. they are not very expensive now. A might merc adds a LOT of damage.

3. Hybrid: no experience with this build really...but here goes - maxed LF and very high pierce. no need to waste points on maxing it, use Razortail to get 100%. Maxed GA and 10-15 Multishot. I'd recommend using Buriza as bow, titan's revenge as javelins.

Other than that I'd ask others to contribute their knowledge. See CorwinBrute's new 1.2 LoD Bowazon guide for plenty of info.

[chunkylover53ataol]

i would also like to note, with multishot or lightning fury(i think LF works) laying of hands is AMAZING and just plain cool, u see with laying of hands, u not only get 20 ias, 50 fire resist, and 350 ed 2 demons(#$%& u diablo) but 10% chance to cast holy bolt on strinking so with some decent ias and lvl 20+ multishot u pump out a holy bolt or 2 every second...these are the best legit pvm zon gloves by far

[yangman]

Weapon: Any pike.

Armor: Any gothic plate;

Helm: circlet or none

Everything else, doesn't really matter.

Look! You're a Valkarie now! :D

[Elric of Grans]

[NiteFox]

(nt)

[Guest]

*Smacks diablo's death*
didn't me and aj both tell you what setup to use?
jeez
oh well i guess it doesn't hurt to ask...
although your zon is what 50+ now?

[Occhidiangela]

. . . Make Me Look Fat?

I can see that question coming from a mile away . . .

[Conner Macleod]

No mercenary? My goodness! She'll be firing 33% more arrows without the cookie cutter Might Merc running after her!

Gear:
Well, scratch Burrito, that thing is way too overpowered and just no fun (my opinion). If you have one or have a friend with a legit one, Windforce always. Unless you PvP then cube a Cruel Mat Bow and pray for 2 sockets. Eagle is a good bow at level 90+, other than that I hate that thing (my opinion). If you can't locate any of the uniques, try cubing blue Hydras, Grands, and Crusaders. There is NOTHING wrong with using a blue bow.

Armor: as much ED and IAS as you can find for general play. Sounds like a Hybrid which means you are gonna get close the the monsters on occassion. How fast do you want to fire? You need 150 ias for max fps with Hydra Bows and 145 for Mat bows. Craft some blood gloves with 20ias and dual leech. +Passives are the only skills you need on gloves, the other 2 skill trees just add damage.

Boots? Whatever you want to use for R/W, I like Hi resistance boots. Belts - COMPLETELY depends on the bow and character use. I prefer Wilhelm's Belt coupled with my Windforce and leech gloves, but that is my build. If you are a Gaze/Shaft PvP char, then maybe a String would be the right choice. Not using Windforce? Then Wilhelm's or Nosf Coil for Mana leech support, especially if you are tossing javelins. You can argue that a Gaze would take care of all Mana needs, but when you are lower level, it's VERY hard to get that damage high enough to leech enough.

For a Hybrid, your skill allocation looks fine, but don't forget the Immune/Physical support. Choose Fire Arrow or Cold Arrow or both. Also, maybe load up on some poision and lightning charms to balance this out so you won't get stuck when a boss appears immune to physical/fire/cold. I've had that happen.

My opinion, there are a hundred ways to screw up a zon, and maybe a handful of ways to build a killer. When are to where are very important.

[Occhidiangela]

If you put 6-10 into Multishot, even a modest amount of +skills will put your arrow count up high enough to make Multishop very lucrative. Suggest, as per above, more points into Pierce, which will make all of your attack skills a bit more effective.

For a Helm, I would suggest Steelskull if you can find it, and socket it with a perfect topaz or an Um rune. The dual leech, if you have high damage already, will make some of your Mana leech needs depend much less on other equipment. Perfect Topaz, to boost your MF and the MF already found on SteelSkull, or the UM for resistances. Best of luck on finding an Um.

I have an Amazon who maxed Lightning Fury and Guided Arrow. Her only Mana Steel is on SteelSkull. Her bow is a magical blue Pellet bow that she found, with 186% ED that I put two sockets into via Larzuk. I added Shael and Nef runes, there may be far better choices than that, for example I could have put in a Perfect Skull to boost Leech. But . . . she leeches fine in Hell thanks to her Might Mercenary, so her only problems are Physical Immunes insofar as leechback goes. There are potions in the game for a good reason. Something to put into your belt pouches . . . :)


Armor? I suspect that a great choice is the Skin of the Viper magi, if you can find it. It yields +1 skills and good resistances to all. I wear a three socketed Cuirass, with a Ral rune, Ort Rune, and Perfect Ruby. It seems to take care of me just fine.

I prefer, when I get lucky enough to find a Lum rune, which is not oftern, to socket Smoke armor for the boost in Resistance to all.

You can find four socketed Dusk Shrouds in Hell Difficulty, which would allow you to do a wide variety of things, although not provide +skills.

I would suggest that you gamble gloves in hopes of getting the +2 to Amazon Bow skills. I have such a set, that also has 20%IAS, as well as a rare set with +2 Javeling Skills and 20% IAS. Very nice, accessorize depending on where the battle will be. :) Laying of Hands is handy if you can find it, for sure.

Boots? I would suggest gambling for Rares, you can get 30% faster Walk Run, added resistances, and increased Magic Find or Gold find, which certainly are also handy.

Belts? Hard to say, if you can find a Razortail, that boosts Pierce so you dont have to put so many points into that skill. That allows a chance to boost an elemental skill or to get Valkyrie maxed out sooner.

I personally like to add points to Evade and Dodge, but YMMV. I am also a Huge Fan of Ice Arrow as a back up attack, though many folks prefer Freezing Arrow.

Rings and Amulets? Well, what do you want from them? Resistance? Better Blocking? +skills? Leech? Gambling or Crafting are handy, and the Eye of Elitch has that nice +1 skills and extended chill duration that never hurts, as well as added life leech.

Bows? Plenty of replies already on that score.

[NiteFox]

Does This Golden Ornate Plate Make Me Look Fat?

Nope. Your fat gut makes you look fat. Serious babe, if you lost a couple hundred pounds maybe you'll be able to keep up with the rest of the hirelings.

Tsk. Valkyries, eh? Too much Valhalla, not enough ThighMastah :)

[Elric of Grans]

Hail Nitefox,

Easy way: open your eyes and look :P Summon a valkyrie and see what she is wearing: if the breastplate is black, it's Gothic Plate; if it's as Gold as the rest of the armour, then it's Full Plate. No, we'll not make fun of you for examining a sprite's breasts in this case :P

See: this was my point before. Why use a tool when common sense works? ;)

[NiteFox]

I understood completely, but then there are still people who don't use their eyes for such a simple task.

Anyhoo, there was a :P in my previous comment :)

[Archon_Wing]

but then there are still people who don't use their eyes for such a simple task

This has very disturbing implications. :P

[Wapptor]

Personally I dont mind the buriza, I used it for a long time on my bowazon, but you gotta get used to the slow firing speed. Its really a beginners tool, and a decent boss killer or PI solution. I would suggest starting with a buriza (unless you've got a wf) because most other bows dont pack the punch, and moving to a speedier, less damaging, more strategic bow later on. However if you refuse you to use that massive xbow, I have a suggestion.

Cruel bows, particularly the ward bow make a particularly nice overall bow. I like the ward since it has high end damage but maintains good speed. Other possibilites are the hydra bow for pure and raw damage, or the Matriarchal bow for much less damage but insane firing speed. Pray for 2 sockets and throw a few shaels or ed jewels or at best 2 40/15's into one of these suckers and you have your endgame weapon right there. In the end I think you will prefer to use fast firing bows instead of slow powerful ones.

-Wapptor

[Nicodemus Phaulkon]

When approached by any female that trusts you with the question: "Does this make me look fat?".

Do NOT answer: "Where?"

oo.

100 points lost from the brownie bank, there. :blink:

[Naddybear]

I'm not sure what others would recommend, but I'd never do that skill setup.

20 Multishot/LF shows you want to use bows AND javelins a lot. well, to really use Lightning fury you'd need maxed Pierce (or 66% with razortail).

I think the bow/jav setup he describes is perfectly doable. He just cant have both Guided and Multi maxed, because he needs Pierce as you pointed out, not to mention, isnt he planning on any passives? But, he doesnt need 66% Pierce. Since Pierce caps at 95% like AR etc, he only needs 62%. So minimal investment in Pierce could work if he has lots of +skills gear. Guided is probably the better skill to max, and invest less than 20 in Multi, and plan on using Strafe liberally.

In fact most LFers nowadays put a lot of points in Guided anyway. Really, unless you like Fending as i do, an LF zon has a *lot* of skill points left to dump more points into bows, unless you really, really like investing deep into the diminishing returns zone of passive skills.

But, another skill point strain coming over teh horizon is the change to Fire Arrow in 1.10 that i keep hearing about.