Bow Builds

[diablo1ks]

As usual I'm looking for advise on a new build :P. I would like to use a bow on either an Assassin or a Paladin, here are 2 builds I have planned out:

Paladin... (Ranger)

I read a guide at diabloii.net that was quite useful but appeared to be out of date: http://www.diabloii.net/strategy/x-guides/...ch-ranger.shtml

1) - Fanaticism - 20
- Pre-requirements...
(But then I'm not sure what to do next...)

2) - Holy Freeze - 20
- Resist Cold - 20
- Salvation - 20
- Pre-requirements...

3) - Holy Shock - 20
- Resist Lightning - 20
- Salvation - 20
- Pre-requirements...

Assassin (Bowassin?)

There was a post on Venom and P.Emerald bows that caught my attention in The Amazon Basin but the forums seem to be down at the moment...

1) - Burst Of Speed or Fade - 20
- Venom - 20
- Shadow Master - 20
- Cloak of Shadows and Mind Blast... How many points?
- Pre-requirements...

Also, would such a high Burst Of Speed ruin Venom?

Thanks in advance...

[Sporky Smurf]

I think Venom's duration overrides everything, so no matter how many emeralds you have, it stays at .4 seconds. If this is true. PEmeralds are near useless when paired with venom.

[diablo1ks]

I think you are right about it being set to .4 seconds. It's a shame that the forums are down at the moment, but I remember reading a post in the Assassin forums, explaining how Venom multiplies the poison damage of P.Emeralds when using a bow, this post could be out of date though. IIRC, it said that with MAX Venom and a 6 P.Emerald bow, you can be dealing 10,000 poison damage a shot :rolleyes:

[adeyke]

1.09 poison and venom were quite different from the current 1.10 effects.

In 1.09, there was a bug whereby the rates of poison sources with ranged attacks were added and the durations were also added. In 1.10, this is fixed, so rates and and durations average (the same as what happens with mêlée attacks).

So in 1.09, having a lot of poison sources meant you'd get high rates and high durations, so the total damage could get extremely high. This is no longer the case in 1.10.

Also, venom has been changed. It now sets the duration to a flat 10 frames (.4 seconds). However, it has an extremely high poison rate. Any equipment sources of poison damage are more or less insignificant in comparison.

Example:
Level 20 venom has about 1062-1112 damage per second.
A perfect emerald has about 14 damage per second.
A Tal rune has about 15 damage per second.
A jewel of Envy has about 10 damage per second.
A pestilent small charm of anthrax has about 38 damage per second.

So if you had 6 Tals and 7 Envy jewels, they'd just add 160 damage per second, for about a 14% increase in your total damage.

The small charms do add a lot (about 1520 damage per second for an inventory full of them), but it's not reasonable to expect to have one of them, much less 40.

So if you have venom, you needn't bother with other sources of poison damage.

[diablo1ks]

Thanks for getting that clear and out the way. On my Assassin I was planning on maxing Burst Of Speed and using Shael runes in my bow for a very fast attack speed.

- What would happen if I was firing faster than the 0.4 for Venom?
- Is there a limit to the speed you can attack?

[ShadowHM]

I love Bows. :D

I won't speak to the Rangers, because I have not made one as yet in v1.10.

But I have got an Assassin Sniper™ who just got to Hell.

I am a bit of a purist about them, so mine has only Shadow skills. I have seen those who advocate adding Death Sentry to the mix, though.

So, here is my two gold pieces on Snipers:

Burst of Speed: Worthy of points to be sure, but not maxed. An Assassin can fire arrows at a maximum of 9 fps for bows and 11 fps for crossbows. Figure out what weapon you want to use, how many plus to skills you are reasonably going to have on gear and then you can calculate how much BoS you need.

Fade: This one is worth getting to 50% resist all and then ignoring until later. Your weapon switch will be a bow with elemental damage anyway, and you won't likely need speed to deliver the Venom at the right rate.

Venom: Max

ShadowMaster: Max

ShadowWarrior: Based on the information provided by Crystallion, it may well be worth putting a few extra points (later in life) into her also, due to the annoyance of the timer on Cloak of Shadows. You get one extra slvl in her CoS for every three points you put in her, so it would be a place for skill points later in life.

Cloak of Shadows: Max What's not to like about reducing enemy defences (and thus improving your AR) AND getting to fire under cover of darkness? The down side is the timer on it. I find I want to re-cast long before I am allowed to do it. The work-around is casting a Shadow Warrior and then switching hot-keys to CoS and forcing her to cast it. She cannot cast with the same slvl as you, so you won't get the benefit of the same defence reduction, but you still get the cover of darkness when you want/need it.

Mind Blast: Not worthy of maxing. The knockback is the same, no matter how many skill points you devote to it. And the extra converted monsters are a bloody annoyance to go back and mop up. I would rather stack unused skill points than have any more than about a 30% chance to convert.

This character's need to 'stand and deliver' for shooting makes her vulnerable at times. She got repeatedly pasted by the Ancients in NM (despite the aid of a friendly Enchantress in the game who gave her damn near godly damage for the attempts) because she got whirlwinded to death over and over. But she could take on Baal alone with relative ease.

YMMV Hope you have fun regardless. B)

[diablo1ks]

That post was a great help... Mine too will be a bit of a purist allocating points into the Shadow Disciplines sheet only. I am going to be on Single Player and am going to create a hardcore character for the fun of it.

Stat Allocation?

Strength - I'll see how this one goes, I just want enough for a decent bow and armor...
Dexterity - I think I'll need a lot here...
Vitality - Seeing as though I'm playing hardcore for the first time, I'm going to put a lot of points into this...
Energy - 25 (I don't see any need to waste any points here!)

[diablo1ks]

Yep, looks like it dosen't work in the new patch <_< , but heres the post if anyones interested - http://www.theamazonbasin.com/d2/forums/in...?showtopic=3739

[arrunique]

If you go ranged assassin you might as well go blade fury rather than bow. It is pretty fun, tears through nightmare and does respectable in hell with the right gear.

The best part about the aleternative assassin is shadow master is a pretty sweet tank once you add skills to her. Cloak of shadows is a 1 point wonder. I don't think the defense reduction is worth the timer. I find I'm always wanting to recast. I wish venom added some AR because that seems to be a problem with my assassin.

My assassin at level 76 in act 4 hell is wearing angelic armor and ring just for the extra AR.

[diablo1ks]

Is this too fast for Venom?

- 9 fpa (frames per attack)
- 2.7 attacks per second

(Easily obtained with 10 Burst Of Speed and 20% increased attack speed...)