Hola,
Below is a guide put together long ago by longtime Gat-East member Braveicus. Hope you find it useful.
-Bass
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Memoirs Of A Bowmancer
Authored by Braveicus
Introduction: I hope these notes of mine find you in good health my comrade. As the shadow grows darker in fair Sanctuary I feel my time is drawing near. As a final effort to confront the tide of hellish demons that have invaded our homelands I leave these notes. This is my legacy so to speak. The following are the ramblings of an old and tired Necromancer who chose the path of an archer over our death magics. Learn the ways of the warrior from me and go forth to protect all that is right and true in our land.
The facts contained herein are correct in compliance with Diablo2: Lord of Destruction version 1.09.This guide is also Hardcore biased.
Table of Contents
Section one: The Skills of the Bowmancer
Section two: The Stats of the Bowmancer
Section three: Training to aim
Section four: The Hired Help
Section five: The Armory of the Bowmancer
Section six: Variants and Tricks of the Trade
Section One
The Skills of the Bowmancer: You will need little magical support to start and complete your life as a warrior. Your curses, a soulless yet faithful golem and a hired mercenary from the lands of Sanctuary will be your strengths. In time, you will learn to wield them naturally as an extension of yourself.
The Curse Tree: The true power of the Necromancer lies in his knowledge of this school of magic. Here you will find your greatest assets. You can increase the damage your arrows cause, make enemies susceptible to the elements or even cause rapid aging decreasing their ability to confront you.
Amplify Damage 10 Points: With a simple incantation you will increase the damage your arrows do by two fold in the Normal and Nightmare sections of Sanctuary. When you reach the real challenge of Hell difficulty this curse will cause triple the damage. It completely negates the 50% global physical resistance all enemies receive. A skill level of 10 will give you a radius of 8 yards and duration of 35 seconds.
Weaken 1 Point: This curse has no place in your arsenal of spells. It is important however, as a stepping-stone for more powerful curses.
Dim-Vision* 1 Point: Do not let the power of this curse go unused. A blinded target cannot attack you if you strike from a distance.
*Suffers from ½ duration loss in Nightmare and is ¼ in Hell*
Iron Maiden 1 Point: This curse at one time was the staple of the many great Classic Necromancers of times forgotten. It is best to learn in its most basic form and move on to other s.
Terror* 1 Point: A powerful ally in your battle against the Prime Evils. Do not let the small investment of this skill fool you. Terror will save your life. It can force all normal monsters far away from you while you aim arrows into their unprotected backs.
*Terror will not work on any champion, unique, super unique or act boss type creatures*
Confuse* 1 Point: Learn it in its simplest form and move on. It is the foundation for one of your greatest curses.
*Suffers from ½ duration loss in Nightmare and is ¼ in Hell*
Life Tap 1 Point: The vampirism qualities of this curse make it essential to the survival of yourself and your allies. It is so powerful, that a novice in this curse can attain a way to take 50% of his damage back in the form of lost health.
Decrepify 1 Point: The power of rapidly aging your enemies comes with many benefits. You can increase the damage they receive by 50% slow their speed by 50% and weaken the damage they cause by 50%. This power comes with a small price however. No Necromancer has ever succeeded in increasing the radius of this curse. No one has ever been able to have it last for a long duration. It may serve you though, on solitary monsters, which attack with savage ferocity such as Duriel, Diablo and the Ancients.
Attract 15 points: The power over an enemies mind is indeed great. This curse can afflict only one target per casting, but affects many monsters within its sphere of influence. A strong devotion to this curse of 15 skill points shall create duration of 62.4 seconds in Normal difficulty and an area of effect of 6 yards. Enemies within this area will savagely attack what was once their ally. A cunning Bowmancer may even cast Amplify damage first then attract several monsters for maximum effect.
*Suffers from ½ duration loss in Nightmare and is ¼ in Hell*
Lower Resistances 3 points: The power of the elements of ice, poison, fire and lightning shall be increased when an opponent is afflicted with this curse. In the Hellish areas of Sanctuary you will invariably stumble upon demons so foul they can resist physical damage altogether. You may consider creating a special bow on your weapon switch for these monsters. Socketed gems that cause elemental damage and jewels are one course you can take. A devotion of 3 points on this curse shall drop an enemyâs defense to the elements 41%.
As you Journey throughout Sanctuary you will learn these powerful aids. You will have full mastery of these skills with the modest devotion of 35 skill points. Learn the nuances of each curse. Even those with a single level of devotion can be very powerful if used in the correct situation.
The Poison and Bone Tree: This branch of magic is where we Necromancers get our direct combat spells. There is a mixture of offensive and defensive spells that will aid you on your long journey. While other members of the Priests of Rathma may indulge in these spells heavily, we Bowmancers simply become familiar with a few. We kill with our weapon, not with our magic. Remember this and you shall have a long life as a warrior.
Bone Armor 1 point: The defensive power of this spell goes far beyond its low dedication. A fully cast Bone Armor will stop even the strongest of physical attacks from killing you.
Bone wall 1 point: Call upon the remains of numerous slain creatures to rise up and create an impassable obstacle between you and your enemies. This wall will help you quarantine packs of monsters you wish not to engage at the moment.
Bone Prison 1 point: Where bonewall is useful for stopping packs, bone prison excels in stopping single monsters. Lock up a particularly powerful monster with this spell.
Teeth 1 point: Learn it with a single point of devotion only. It is the backbone of the path to stronger spells.
Corpse Explosion 10 points: This spell is arguably the most powerful spell we Necromancers have mastered. Its main advantage lies in that it can deal large amounts of damage to many monsters very quickly. We Necromancers are no equals for the Amazons in bow skills and we cannot fill the air with hundreds of arrows to weaken crowds, but we can use this spell as the great equalizer. We are a warrior and not a caster however, bear in mind that this spell requires much energy that we warriors do not possess.
Bone Spear 1 point: Do not waste your time with this spell. Your bow will grow stronger in time.
Bone Spirit 1 point: While many of our brothersâ master this spell of destruction, we do not. There is however, a use for it with only the smallest of devotion. You can use this spell as an indicator to a possible threat through doorways or around corners that our own eyes cannot see.
Poison Dagger* 1 point: If you wish to learn the spell Poison Nova you will need a small understanding of this spell.
Poison Explosion* 1 point: Learn about it in its basic form if you wish to pursue Poison Nova.
Poison Nova* 20 points: Some of our fellows Bowmancers devoutly master this spell. You must follow your studying through to the end if you wish to make this spell a strong ally.
As you have no doubt noticed, these spells exist merely to aid you in your semi-passively. If you choose not to learn the ways of Poison Nova you will spend the minimal amount of 16 point of devotion. If you feel Nova is a spell you would wish to pursue then you shall spend 38 points here.
Summoning Tree: We Necromancers are well known throughout Sanctuary as manipulators of the dead. We find ease in summoning the remains of the fallen enemy to fight against their former allies. While many of our order learn to wield massive amounts of skeletons and mages we Bowmancers do not. We rely on our lifeless golem to charge the battle lines and hold attackers at bay while we attack safely from a distance. Some Bowmancers wish to also employ the services of Revived creatures. You may wish not to have their services, but I would encourage you to pursue that skill slightly. More minions make it safer for us to launch our attack from behind the lines.
Skeleton Mastery No Points: The horde Necromancers does well to fully understand the ways of the dead. We however, have no use for their services and hence no use for this skill.
Raise Skeleton* 1 Point: If you do not wish to learn the ways of the dead do not waste your precious time studying this branch of magic.
Raise Skeleton Mage* 1 Point: I encourage only 1 level of devotion to learn about Revived Monsters if you choose this path.
Revive* 3 Points: A small amount of studying is required if you wish to use the strongest of all the dead. 3 levels of devotion will provide a strong shield for you to stay behind while you take aim with your bow.
Clay Golem 1 Point: Early on you will learn to appreciate the simple services of a golem. With no regard for his own life he charges blindly into battle. He causes a needed distraction for you to work behind. The clay golem is the simplest of the 4 types. Learn about him as soon as you can.
Golem Mastery 20 Points: A Necromancer well versed in this magic shall have superior control over his artificial creation. You would be wise to follow the skill to the end. Your golem shall be faster and stronger the more versed you are here.
Summons Resist 1 Point: I suggest you investigate this skill with only a single point of devotion. It shall allow your minions to better bear the attacks of the enemy magic users.
Blood Golem 1 Point: An intimate golem in that your life is his and his is yours. You may wish to use him over clay for his life stealing property.
Iron Golem 1 Point: The iron golem requires you to create him from a metallic object. Until you are able to summon the dynamic fire golem, I would suggest you dabble in the ways of iron.
Fire Golem 1 Point: Although you will only put minimal knowledge into this golem, the rewards are great. He will have the ability to heal himself if attacked with flame. He has an aura of Holy Fire, which will naturally cause monsters to be attracted to him. With full knowledge of Golem Mastery this golem will follow you to the end of your journey.
As you can see, we Bowmancers do not heavily depend on the use of minions as others of our order do. You can spend as little as 25 devotion points in here if you choose to forsake Revives or you can spend 30 to have a few more minions. The choice is yours.
Now, with the skills I have suggested you spend your time studying you could be fully knowledgeable with 76 points of devotion if you choose to forsake learning Poison Nova and Revives. If you choose to learn both of those skills you will finish at 103 points of devotion. You will have to achieve a high level of commitment in order to do so which is level 91 if certain denizens of Sanctuary help your studies along the way.
The beauty of being an archer as opposed to a wizard is that you do not need to strongly focus your learning on one skill for too long a time. Feel free to build evenly amongst all skills. A Bowmancer should wield several seemingly weak attacks into a large cohesive assault for the best results.
Section Two
The Stats of the Bowmancer: Thus far, we have covered the super natural aid that will carry you through your journeys. Your body however, will need constant physical exercise to increase your strength, dexterity and your ability to withstand injury. I shall lie out a path for you to follow in your physical endeavourers.
Strength: Your raw physical strength is very important to you. Without it you will not be able to use stronger bows or don heavier armor. I recommend that you build your strength to only a level that will coincide with your heaviest gear. A goal to aim for would be approximately 100 with items and charms supplying the bulk of your strength. This is so you can use Crusader Class bows.
Dexterity: I recommend you build only so that you no longer find the bow too cumbersome to use. A number to aim for is 120. Like your strength, a large part of your dexterity points should come from items and charms
*Each point in dexterity is the same as adding 1% enhanced damage to your bow*
Vitality: You will take injury as you travel throughout Sanctuary. You must build yourself to be able to withstand large amounts of pain. Focus most of your attention here. You should train to have a minimum of 800 to 900 hitpoints by level 70.
Energy: The lifeblood of our mage counterparts. It is unimportant to us. No points here.
*One thing you may consider strongly is to obtain a 4 socket armor and place four perfect rubies in it for a boost of +96 hit points. This equates to 48 stat points put into vitality since Necromancers only receive +2 HP per stat point. Hopefully you can get a 4 socket armor with the suffix âof the whale/colossusâ attached to it for an even greater boost to hitpoints.
This method for gaining a huge boost to hitpoints could allow now freed up points to go into strength and dexterity. The reqs on some of the elite bows are very high. Hydra class bows for example are:
Str: 134
Dex: 167
CLvl: 66
Make your decisions carefully. The trick is to plan the character out the best you can.
Section Three
Training to aim with your bow: Unfortunately, we Necromancers are not a warrior people and require the aid of magic to further our proficiencies in the way of the bow. There will be a time in your adventures, where the monsters you encounter will have a high defense. This means, that your ability to hit monsters, now to be referred to as attack rating, will drop considerably. Large amounts of physical training in dexterity are not the most efficient way to increase attack rating. Rather, we seek magical aids that can help us achieve this feat. Below is a list of possible solutions I have gathered here for easy reference for the unaware.
Mercenary: In the arid town of Lut Gholien the desert mercenaries reside. One mercenary type in particular may interest you. He is easily referred to as the Blessed Aim Mercenary. While fighting, his aura of Blessed Aim will dramatically increase your attack rating. However, he comes with a small price. If you choose to rely on his aura to keep your aim true, you will have to also rely on him to stay alive at all times. Should he perish and you cannot resurrect him for any reason, you will be unable to hit monsters with your bow. This mercenary should be your last resort as a way to increase your attack rating.
Charms: Charms that are placed in your backpack can increase your attack rating as well. The types of charms you are looking for include: Bronze, Iron, Steel, Fine and Sharp. These will add considerable amounts to your attack rating. Also, you will have to find a balance of charms in your backpack if you wish to also include + resistance, + hp, + strength or + dexterity as well. Which to keep and which to throw away will be one of your hardest decisions. Charms are very important to the Bowmancer.
Set Items: Many magical weapons and armor reside in Sanctuary. Among them are the set pieces worn by heroâs that walked the lands well before your or even my time. In particular there are only two sets that concern us. The Angelic Raiment and Hsarusâ Defense. From the Angelic set we are only interested in the jewelry. You can wear the ring and the amulet to receive a large bonus to your attack rating based on your character level. The Hsaurus boots and belt will also offer you the same attack-rating bonus. These cheap items will drastically increase your aim. I suggest you find them and keep one set for the duration of your life.
Angelic Raiment: With the amulet and ring from this set you can add up to 95 hit points and a bonus of +3 to attack rating based on your character level. After charms and dexterity bonuses this will lead to a huge boost to your attack rating. For an even higher bonus try adding a second ring. This will give you a total of +115 hit points and an attack rating boost that is easily in the neighborhood of about 1700 just from these three pieces once you hit level 70 or so.
Hsarusâ Defense: The boots and the belt from this low level set will offer you an attack rating bonus of +2.5 per character level. Although not as high as the Angelic Raiment this is easily another plausible choice of gear to keep your attack rating up from the very beginning of the gamesince it is available as early as level 3. You will also gain 20% cold resist, 25% fire resist, +20 hit points and 30% faster run/walk speed.
Explosive Bows: There are some bows that have the ability to shoot explosive arrows and bolts. The Kuko unique cedar bow, the Demon Machine repeating crossbow and the Hellcast heavy crossbow are perfect examples of this. The advantage of using these bows is that they disregard defense rating all together. They will hit monsters 95% of the time regardless of your attack rating. It should be noted here that monsters still could block the physical attack however, but will still suffer fire damage from the explosion.
Monster Level: The difference between your level of experience and a monster will also effect how often you can score a hit on a given attack. Try to remain within + or â 5 levels of the monsters. Not only will you learn from your experience faster doing this, you will also maintain a higher attack rating while doing so.
Typically, I would follow this guideline for what level you should be finishing each act for normal difficulty
Normal Difficulty
Act 1: Lvl 12+
Act 2: Lvl 20 +
Act 3: Lvl 24+
Act 4: Lvl 30+
Act 5: Lvl 45+
*After Normal I find the experience really slows down in Nightmare. So, from there on you judge. As Nightmare and Hell will be much more exciting and I would hate to hold your hand all the way through the game. Progress in Nightmare and Hell as you feel comfortable. I finished Hell difficulty with one of my Bowmancers at CLvl 67. This I feel is a tad low, but he was very twinked as well.*
Section Four
The Hired Help: In each town of Sanctuary there will be mercenaries you may higher. I have documented the most important ones below for you:
Act1 Rogue Merc: If you prefer to have another archer accompany you then perhaps the Rogues will suit you well. I encourage you to equip her with items that will give her +3 to her skills. She will then be able to attack with a deadly lightning bolt that can burn through most monsters and more importantly through physical immune creatures.
Act2 Normal or Hell Offensive Merc: This Blessed Aim Mercenary shall increase your attack rating dramatically. He should be used as a last resort though to increase your attack rating for there are others more worthwhile.
Act2 Nightmare Offensive Merc: This mercenary is the might merc. He will increase the damage of your arrows by a large margin. With his aura and our Amplify Damage curse you can cause serious physical damage with normally weaker bows.
I will advise you to take good care of your mercenary and equip them as best as possible. For your Act 2 Mercenaries try to give them a form of life leech and if you can a way to increase their attack speeds. This will increase their chances of survival.
The Act 1 Rogue can either be equipped with bows, but not xbows or Amazon specific bows. Try to give her gear that will increase her attack speed, as she is good at staying away from monsters for the most part. A simple way to reach +3 skills for her, if you decide to go this route, is to equip her with the unique bow Cliff killer and a Tarn helm. There are many combinations of gear you can use to achieve this however.
*Try to avoid the urge to be Power Acted. Mercenaries quickly fall behind in levels. You will regret it later if you have to back track to level your mercenary*
Section five
The Armory of the Bowmancer: What I have not shown you thus far, is the gear of the many great Bowmancers of the past. A warrior can often be measured in the terms of his equipment. Trust me, you will need to know your gear well.
The value of Increased Attack Speed and Break Points for the Necromancer:
Below you shall see two sets of tables. Naturally, we Necromancers are slow at drawing the string of a bow, fortunately though, magic will aid our cause here. Increased attack speed, now referred to as IAS, is a magic enchantment on armor or weapons that will increase the speed at which you can attack.
The following table pertains to bows only. Necromancers attack with a base speed of 17fps for a bow. There are 25 fps so a Necromancer without any IAS boost will fire approximately 1 and 1/2 attacks every second. You should also be aware that all weapons have a base speed. From the value of zero being normal they scale up and down from there. A weapon with a base speed of 10 is naturally a slower to attack weapon, where one with â10 is a much faster weapon for its class. Depending on the weapons natural base speed, you will need more IAS for some weapons than others in order to reach a high rate of attack per second. IAS should be an important part of your equipment. Please study the following chart well. The numbers in the left hand side are the Frames per second. The numbers above represent the base speed of the weapon. Cross-reference them to find the amount of IAS you will need to achieve the attack speed break point for that bow.
<Table here soon>
As you can see, a Necromancer will never achieve faster than 10fps with a bow. If you do get to this speed however, remind yourself that you are attacking 2.5 times per second. This is a respectable attack speed and will aid you greatly in your travels.
<Table here soon>
If you compare the charts you will notice that it is much more difficult to achieve a fast attack with x-bows when compared to standard bows unless you use a repeating x-bow of course.
Specific Bows and X-Bows
Now that we have covered the technicalities of attack speed, we can take a closer look at the individual bows throughout Sanctuary. These weapons are your life. I will list some of the more useful bows I have used and how well I feel they will hold up in your travels.
The following bows are recommended for character between the 1st and 30th level of experience
Weapon: Raven Claw
Damage: 6-(17-1
Base Speed: 0
Str/Dex/Lvl reqs: 22/19/15
Notes: 50% AR bonus is very useful. Unfortunately, this bow will only pull its weight going into act 4 normal.
Weapon: Arctic Horn
Damage: 9-21
Base Speed: 0
Str/Dex/Lvl reqs:33/55/3
Notes: Available at an early level of 3 this bow will get you through act 4 normal and possibly through act 5 with a bit of persistance. HIGHLY recommended with use from the complete Arctic set as possible starter gear.
Weapon: Doom Slinger
Damage: (11-14)-(20-26)
Base Speed: -70
Str/Dex/Lvl reqs: 40/50/28
Notes: +15 to life and a 35% chance to pierce. The firing rate on this x-bow is very fast. Too bad the level req is so high. Useful though up to act 5 norm mostly due to itâs sheer speed, but may be possible to start NM with as well.
Weapon: Hellcast
Damage: (25-27)-(45-4
Base Speed: -10
Str/Dex/Lvl reqs: 60/40/27
Notes: Explosive bolts and moderate damage make Hellcast very viable into NM difficulty. This is a relatively easy item to obtain as well.
There are of course other low level unique/set bows you may use, please click HERE, for a complete listing of the unique bows and crossbows, but these four I have found are cheap and effective. If you cannot get any of these bows before hand fear not. Any 3-socket bow you come across Socketed with elemental gems or jewels will provide a strong offense early in your travels. Also, do not forget about the merchants who offer gambling services, they may offer up very useful bows for you.
The following bows I recommend characters from the 31st level of experience and beyond
Weapon: Kuko Shakaku
Damage: (27-30)-(75-84)
Base Speed: 0
Str/Dex/Lvl reqs: 53/49/33
Notes: Explosive arrows, 50% piercing as well as good damage make this the bow of choice through NM. If you can procure one of these bows do so. It is one of my personal favorites. Kuko also makes a viable choice for a weapon against physical immune monsters when coupled with the Lower Resistances curse due to its innate fire damage.
Weapon: Goldstrike Arch
Damage: (33-3 -(155-17
Base Speed: -40
Str/Dex/Lvl reqs: 95/118/46
Notes: If you can afford the strength and dex reqs on this bow it is a strong choice. Good bonuses to demons and undead as well as a 5% chance to cast a lvl 7 Fists of Heaven. Currently, FoH is bugged on this bow. The holy bolts that are emitted are not supposed to carry over the initial lightning damage from the lvl 7 FoH, but they do. I used this bow through Hell difficulty.
Weapon: Pusspitter
Damage: (52-67)-(107-137)
Base Speed: -10
Str/Dex/Lvl reqs: 32/28/36
Notes: Very low reqs make this a viable choice. +2 to skills, 150 poison damage over 8 seconds and +10 to AR per character level among other mods. The only problem I have with this x-bow is its speed. I find it to slow for my tastes. You could start Hell with this, but I would upgrade it as soon as I could.
Weapon: Demon Machine
Damage: 33-139
Base Speed: -60
Str/Dex/Lvl reqs: 80/95/49
Notes: A huge bonus to AR of 632, 66% piercing and explosive arrows make this a fine weapon. The damage is sort of low for Hell, but with its sheer speed and persistence you can do Hell with it.
Again, there are many more bows and x-bows to consider, however I favor these in particular. For those young Necromancers who may not have access to these weapons I have advice for you. Look for bows at the venders with pre-fixes that add damage. You can also try cubing a new bow:
3 Perfect gems of any type + any magical bow will result in a bow with randomly selected mods.
Persistence will be your ally when it comes to acquiring a strong bow. Do not be discouraged. Your ace card is your curse Amplify damage. Remember, it doubles your physical damage in Normal and Nightmare and triples your damage in Hell.
Weapon Switch: Most likely you will be carrying a bow that does elemental damage on your weapon switch to deal with the physical immune monsters you will encounter. However, some of my order prefer to keep a wand and totem on their switch. They will switch to the wand and totem while casting golems and bonewall because you will be casting them at higher levels due to the numerous + skills on these items. They then switch back to their weapon and continue the fight.
Armor and Accessories
Your choice in armor and accessories comes down figuring out which magical modifications are going to help you the most. Most useful to us Bowmancers will be items that offer IAS, Life Leech and resistances to the elements. Here is a short list of items to consider. I have only listed a few in hopes you will discover your own path. Use these as a guide as what magical modifications to look for.
Armors
Armor: Twiththroe
Defense: 47-60
Str/Lvl req: 27/16
Notes: +10 Str and Dex as well as +10% IAS make this an armor you can depend on as early as level 16 and even as far as late NM difficulty. There may be better choices, but Twitch is dependable early on.
Armor: Skin of the Viper Magi
Defense: 246-279
Str/Lvl req: 43/29
Notes: + 1 to all skills and a variable 20%-35% resistance to elements make Skins a suitable armor. Unfortunately, it does not have IAS or any other helpful mods. If you have an UM rune I recommend socketing it in this armor.
Armor: Smoke Armor (Runeword Nef + Lum)
Defense: Variable
Str/Lvl req: variable/37
Notes: If resistances are what you are looking for then look no farther. 50% to all. Too bad the other mods arenât as helpful.
Armor: Lionheart ( Runeword Hel+Lum+Fal)
Defense: Variable
Str/Lvl req: variable/41
Notes: This should probably be your final armor. 20% enhanced damage, -15% reqs, 30% all resistances, +50 hitpoints, +10 energy, + 20 vitality, + 15 dexterity and + 25 strength make this the most desirable armor.
There are many more armors for you to explore. Keep in mind that you are looking for anything that will add to your resistances, hit points and stat points.
Helmets
Helmet: Tal Rashas Horadric Crest
Defense: 99- 131
Str/Lvl req: 82/66
Notes: 10% Dual leech, +30 mana, + 60 life and 15% to all resists make this an end game helm.
Helmet: Natalyas Totem
Defense: 195- 260
Str/Lvl req: 58/59
Notes: +25 dexterity, + 10 strength and 10% all resists. Strong helm if you are lacking stat points in dexterity and strength.
Helmet: Guillames Face
Defense: 187-245
Str/Lvl req: 115/34
Notes: 35% chance of crushing blow, 15% chance of deadly strike and +15 strength. High strength req. but the chance for crushing blow is high and very useful
Helmet: Rockstopper
Defense: 137-201
Str/Lvl: 43/39
Notes: +20-40 lightning resist, physical damage taken reduced by 10%, 20-50% fire resistance, 20-40% cold resistance and +15 vitality makes the Rockstopper a great easy to obtain helm.
Your search for a helmet should include adding to your resistances or as a source of life leech. Additions to physical stats are notable as well. There are many helms for you to choose from.
Gloves
Gloves: Sanders Taboo
Defense: 25-31
Str/Lvl req: none/28
Notes: +40 hit points and 20% IAS make for a cheap and useful pair of gloves.
I find the choices of gloves useful for a Bowmancer to be sorrowfully lacking. Instead may I suggest that you create your own pair? The crafting recipe you are looking for is as follows:
Magical chain gloves, heavy bracers or vambraces + any jewel + an Ort rune + a perfect sapphire
This will result in a new pair of gloves with the following magical modifications and numerous allowances for many other randomly selected mods:
5% chance of casting level 4 Frost nova when hit
+3-7 damage to attacker
and most importantly Knockback
Hopefully you will create gloves that will offer IAS and resistances. I encourage you to keep crafting until you get a pair with those modifications on them.
For more information on crafting click HERE
Belts
Belt: Razor Tail
Defense: 85-107
Str/Lvl req: 20/39
Notes: 33% chance to pierce; +15 dexterity and +10 to maximum damage make this a great choice of belt. The pierce will help deliver more damage to packs of monsters.
Belt: Goldwrap
Defense: 34-36
Str/Lvl req: 45/27
Notes: mainly used solely for its 10% IAS. The 30% magic find is also a nice subtle bonus
Belt: Immortal Kings Detail
Defense: 77-88
Str/Lvl req: 110/29
Notes: +28% fire resistance, +31% lightning resistance and +25 strength. Great bonuses to resists and the +25 to strength will make it easier to reach high strength reqs for bows or armor.
Do not overlook the power of rare belts. These can be either obtained from the corpses of your enemies or from gambling at local merchants. Often times, a rare belt will far outweigh any of the unique belts you may happen across in terms of overall usefulness.
Boots
Boots: Natalyas Soul
Defense: 112-119
Str/Lvl req: 65/25
Notes: 40% faster run/walk as well as +15% to cold and lightning resistances make for a strong choice here.
Boots: Goblin Toe
Defense: 30-34
Str/Lvl req: 50/22
Notes: Only suggested for the 25% chance of crushing blow. Best used in conjunction with Guillames face and Rattle Cage armor for an overall 85% chance of crushing blow.
*Crushing blow when calculated for a ranged weapon will reduce a monsters remaining hp by 1/12. Although this may not be as useful for monsters with low hit points; monsters such as Hell Diablo or Izual will definitely feel the sting of crushing blow*
Boots: Waterwalk
Defense: 94-123
Str/Lvl: 47/32
Notes: 20% faster run/walk, +15 dexterity, +45-65 life and +5% to maximum fire resist are fantastic bonuses on a set of boots. To bad they lack any big resists.
Boots: Aldurs Advance
Defense: Indestructible
Str/Lvl req: 95/45
Notes: +50 life and 40% faster run/walk are the key points on these boots. These are easily obtainable as well.
Jewelry
*Remember, most likely you will be using the Angelic amulet and ring for the bonus to attack rating. The following rings and amulets are suggestions in place of the Angelic Raiment. If you have decided to use the Hsarus set instead then the variety of jewelry is more open to you. Again, I urge you not to forget the rare jewelry in Sanctuary. It can be very useful to you as well*
Jewelry: Marias Kaleidoscope
Lvl req: 67
Notes: +2 all skills, +5 to all stats and 20-30% all resists. A fantastic high-level amulet.
Jewelry: Saracens Chance
Lvl req: 47
Notes: +15-25% all resists and +12 to all stats. This is a much more affordable and just as useful amulet. This is another high-level choice for your Bowmancer.
Jewelry: Ravenfrost
Lvl req: 45
Notes: Adds 15-45 cold damage for 4 seconds, Cannot be frozen, absorbs 20% cold damage, +15-20 dexterity, +150-250 attack rating. I strongly encourage this ring. The bonuses to dexterity and attack rating are the main attractions, the cannot be frozen mod is very useful as well.
*There are virtually limitless ways to arm yourself and I have purposely not listed them all for you. Find items that increase your damage, hitpoints, attack rating and resistances as your primary concerns. Explore the arms that Sanctuary has to offer for you for yourself. You will eventually fall into a set up that will serve you well*
Section 6
Variants and Tricks of the Trade: Thus far, I have focused on teaching you the ways of the bow with your main source of damage being the physical type. There are others amongst our order that prefer to deal death through the elements of nature. They use the powers of lightning, fire, cold and poison in conjunction with the curse Lower Resistances to deal elemental rather than physical damage. You may do well to follow their lead and keep a bow filled with gems or jewels to cause elemental damage to the eventual physical immune monsters you will no doubt encounter. They will also fill their inventory with charms of the elements to further increase their damage and lethality.
In particular I shall quickly summarize a highly specialized order of Bowmancers known simply as the Poison Bowmancers. They for the most part use the same equipment as us with a few distinct differences:
Weapon: 6 Socket bow with 6 perfect emeralds or Tal runes
Helm: Wormskull
Gloves: Venom grips
Belt: Snakecord
They fill their inventory with poison charms and increase its lethality with the Lower Resistance curse. They use minions to hold back monsters while the poison runs it course. I recommend you read the Tao of Poison to fully understand the lethalness of poison and bows, click HERE to learn more about poison and bows.
Other Necromancers learn to use javelin or throwing knives with a shield or totem in their off hand. Although highly uncommon these Necromancers also have studied my ways and arm themselves almost the same as I have suggested above. Find the path of the warrior that you prefer, as my advice is correct for any of the aforementioned styles.
Tricks of the Trade: Now that we have discussed how to train and the armory you shall use I shall also list for you my experiences from the battlefield. Remember to use all of your abilities to create a large cohesive assault, as this is where the true power of the Necromancer lies.
Amping and Attracting: Your general strategy as you come across packs of monsters will be to increase the damage of your bow with the Amplify Damage curse. Immediately after, follow up with a quick usage of the Attract curse. This will virtually guarantee you will be the least tempting target to the foul army of Hell. Your Fire Golem and hired mercenary should be doing a reasonable job at holding the enemies at bay, but Attract will cause the monsters to also fight amongst themselves.
Bonewall and Prison: Although these are defensive spells they can easily change the attack of your offense. A monster that cannot reach you cannot attack you. Learn to create a wall to hide behind while dealing with lightning enchanted monsters. Step from behind the safety of it to fire off a few arrows then duck behind the wall until the sparks die down again. Use Bone prison to quarantine a particularly problematic monster until you can focus your full attention to him.
Dim Vision: If you find yourself being entirely overwhelmed curse the monsters with Dim Vision. This will cause them to stop attacking anything that is not within melee range. Fall back, regroup then press the attack again.
Terror: If a pack of monsters is too dense for you to deal with send some of their ranks away through use of this curse. You will find the pack a smaller and more importantly more manageable size that can be easily dealt with.
Conclusion: If you have read this far there is no more that I can teach you. We must each find our own way through life. I can only hope that my notes above have started you in the right direction. I assure you however, follow my notes and you shall soon find yourself as a great hero of Sanctuary. I pray that my knowledge be passed on for generations to come to counter the flood of evil on our land. Good luck young ones and may the light shine on you.
Braveicus
Thanks to everyone who had lent me gear to build my Hard Core Bowmancers. wildBill, Daver, D-Benz and Bytor in particular. If anyone has any questions or comments for me regarding this build by all means feel free to contact me on the diabloii.net HC forums either with a post or private message.
regards
