I have played necromancers pretty hardcore in the past, without much experience as an amazon. The Amazon skills do not have many synergies like the Necromancer skills do, which leaves me a little confused as to what stats are optimal to max and why.
I've done a little research at some "builds" that are available through google and even the d2 wiki, but some of the suggestions make little or no sense. So here are some simple questions I would like to request some input, guidance or even your personal opinions (keep in mind I am playing on Hardcore Ladder, with the goal of hitting 99):
Guided Arrow:
- Seems like an no-brainer to max! Multi-Shot vs. Strafe:
- I have read many times about getting "strafe-locked" and dying. I have no points in Strafe and have opted for Multi shot. What are the pros and cons of each?
- Should these skills be maxed after I choose which one I want to keep? Elemental Arrow Skills (Fire/Ice Trees):
- One guide mentioned pursuing one tree and focusing on its synergies, while another guide didn't even mention the elemental trees. Any suggestions/feedback/personal opinions? Valkyrie/Decoy:
- I have Valkyrie at level 6 (I just hit lvl 50) and am very comfortable with her so far. She does great! Is it recommended to max this skill? It seems like it should be a no-brainer! Penetrate:
- One "build" I read recommended maxing this skill, while another suggested 5 points at max. I am level 50 and have it at 12 points and realize I could have made a mistake by pursuing this skill to its fullest. What do you think about it? Absolutely necessary to max? Pierce:
- All of the builds I have seen so far recommend one point only. Do you agree? Dodge/Avoid/Evade:
- Are these worth maxing? If anything I would love to max Evade as I spend most of my time running around packs of mobs
I have played necromancers pretty hardcore in the past, without much experience as an amazon. The Amazon skills do not have many synergies like the Necromancer skills do, which leaves me a little confused as to what stats are optimal to max and why.
I've done a little research at some "builds" that are available through google and even the d2 wiki, but some of the suggestions make little or no sense. So here are some simple questions I would like to request some input, guidance or even your personal opinions (keep in mind I am playing on Hardcore Ladder, with the goal of hitting 99):
Guided Arrow:
- Seems like an no-brainer to max!
I never really used Guided Arrow, would be good for the main skill and having an elemental arrow as secondary.
Multi-Shot vs. Strafe:
- I have read many times about getting "strafe-locked" and dying. I have no points in Strafe and have opted for Multi shot. What are the pros and cons of each?
- Should these skills be maxed after I
choose which one I want to keep?
Strafe was my choice. The only reason people died to strafe-lock is because they weren't repositioning themselves between each volley. Plus Strafe puts all damage mods on each and every arrow, whereas Multi-shot puts effects on the middle 2 or 3 arrows while the rest are normal arrows (no poison or fire). Knockback kicks ass here, since that also helps deal with the strafe-lock. I would not recommend immolation arrow with a knockback bow because it defeats the purpose of the insta-campfire.
Elemental Arrow Skills (Fire/Ice Trees):
- One guide mentioned pursuing one tree and focusing on its synergies, while another guide didn't even mention the elemental trees. Any suggestions/feedback/personal opinions?
Go with what you like. Cold is good as it can help keep the monsters away from you, whereas fire does more damage and can allow for crowd control. Try Maxed Immolation Arrow with full Pierce, you get several campfires going.
Valkyrie/Decoy:
- I have Valkyrie at level 6 (I just hit lvl 50) and am very comfortable with her so far. She does great! Is it recommended to max this skill? It seems like it should be a no-brainer!
Valkyrie is a no-brainer, just make sure to invest a little bit into decoy for life bonuses for the valk.
Penetrate:
- One "build" I read recommended maxing this skill, while another suggested 5 points at max. I am level 50 and have it at 12 points and realize I could have made a mistake by pursuing this skill to its fullest. What do you think about it? Absolutely necessary to max?
It's there to help with hitting the monsters. Elementalists only need this if they want to get better piercing. Pierce won't work if the arrow gets blocked by a shield or hits armor.
Pierce:
- All of the builds I have seen so far recommend one point only. Do you agree?
1 point is a little to small, try to get a few into it.
Dodge/Avoid/Evade:
- Are these worth maxing? If anything I would love to max Evade as I spend most of my time running around packs of mobs
Don't max them since you generally don't want to expose yourself to begin with, due to low health concerns. A few points into each will benefit you and your Valkyrie.
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Just as the Scorpion hunts...
Silently Lurking...
"Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted." ~ Ezio Auditore de Firenze
I generally use a Magic Arrow/Immolation Arrow combo myself, or Magic Arrow/Strafe with a good Knockback bow imbued with toxins. Critical Hit is one of those 1 point skills that do nothing but help. I tend to put a few into it to get a higher percentage. A cold rogue (act 1 normal > act 1 nightmare > act 1 hell) with a nice bow and a Valkyrie are my entourage.
Remember, do not allow yourself to get surrounded.
A Witchwild String socketed with a Nef rune and another socketable of your choice (I like Tal rune) works well with a strafe build. The Brand rune word works nicely as well for Strafers. And for my cold rogue.
For my Immolation Build, I use a good bow with life/mana leech, poison damage (obviously), and +skills. I have used the Ice Rune Word to surprising effect, helping me deal with immunes.
Those weapons are the goals to reach. Generally go for weapons that help power the build as you level.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Just as the Scorpion hunts...
Silently Lurking...
"Nothing is True. Everything is Permitted." ~ Ezio Auditore de Firenze
This isn't so much about string bow-a-zon play, but I have tremendous success with Amazons using Lightning Fury as my primary attack and Ice Arrow as my secondary. Sounds crazy, but it's easy enough to switch weapons (and selected skills) with the W key. The build requires some gear, but it's HC-ready, Hell-ready, and a monster would need to be immune to physical, immune to cold, and immune to lightning in order to be unkillable. Cold Aura merc is a must-have for this to slow enemies and keep them away. Also, the Delirium rune word is simply a godsend for all ranged builds.
20 Lightning Fury
20 Valk
20 Freezing arrow
20 Cold Arrow (just for the bonus damage to Freezing arrow)
1 point each in: Inner Sight, Slow Missiles, Decoy, Dodge, Avoid, Evade (pre-reqs for Valk)
1 point each in: Critical Strike, Penetrate (pre-reqs for Pierce)
1 point in Ice arrow (pre-req for Freezing Arrow)
1 point each in: Poison Jav, Lightning Bolt, Plague Jav (pre-reqs for Lightning Fury)
All the rest of your points should go into Pierce. In fact, if you want to lean on Lightning Fury instead of Freezing Arrow, I'd max pierce once Cold Arrow is at 10 so you can get up to 100% pierce, which is godly with Lightning Fury.
A buriza has 100% pierce and is a great weapon until you can get near that number without it, then you can switch to a rune word bow of your choice.
Titan's Revenge and eventually Thunderstroke are the must-haves for javelins.
For play:
Le the Valk and your Act 2 Merc tank for you. Stay behind them and blow stuff up. Put as many points in vit as you feel comfortable with, and then max the heck out of dex. You want to be around 300 dex as an endgame goal to get loads of physical damage in addition to your skills. Put no points in Energy (use lots of mana pots). Look at the gear you want to use and plan Strength accordingly. Get a frost merc once you hit nightmare is amazing, before then use a defense merc. For gear, you want to focus on +skills as much as possible. With a relatively weak play schedule and the more common gear, I found it fairly easy to get up to +11 javelin skills / +9 bow skills. Once you're annihilating everything, start upgrading to -resist stuffs. If you can get an insight pole arm for your merc, you'll be able to ditch the mana pots and the extra healing pots, though rarely needed, just might save your life. This build takes little to no damage because of range, speed of kills, and the two badass tanks. it's my preferred build for farming Hell Cows.
I've done a little research at some "builds" that are available through google and even the d2 wiki, but some of the suggestions make little or no sense. So here are some simple questions I would like to request some input, guidance or even your personal opinions (keep in mind I am playing on Hardcore Ladder, with the goal of hitting 99):
Guided Arrow:
- Seems like an no-brainer to max!
Multi-Shot vs. Strafe:
- I have read many times about getting "strafe-locked" and dying. I have no points in Strafe and have opted for Multi shot. What are the pros and cons of each?
- Should these skills be maxed after I choose which one I want to keep?
Elemental Arrow Skills (Fire/Ice Trees):
- One guide mentioned pursuing one tree and focusing on its synergies, while another guide didn't even mention the elemental trees. Any suggestions/feedback/personal opinions?
Valkyrie/Decoy:
- I have Valkyrie at level 6 (I just hit lvl 50) and am very comfortable with her so far. She does great! Is it recommended to max this skill? It seems like it should be a no-brainer!
Penetrate:
- One "build" I read recommended maxing this skill, while another suggested 5 points at max. I am level 50 and have it at 12 points and realize I could have made a mistake by pursuing this skill to its fullest. What do you think about it? Absolutely necessary to max?
Pierce:
- All of the builds I have seen so far recommend one point only. Do you agree?
Dodge/Avoid/Evade:
- Are these worth maxing? If anything I would love to max Evade as I spend most of my time running around packs of mobs
Die fr00b, die~
I never really used Guided Arrow, would be good for the main skill and having an elemental arrow as secondary.
Strafe was my choice. The only reason people died to strafe-lock is because they weren't repositioning themselves between each volley. Plus Strafe puts all damage mods on each and every arrow, whereas Multi-shot puts effects on the middle 2 or 3 arrows while the rest are normal arrows (no poison or fire). Knockback kicks ass here, since that also helps deal with the strafe-lock. I would not recommend immolation arrow with a knockback bow because it defeats the purpose of the insta-campfire.
Go with what you like. Cold is good as it can help keep the monsters away from you, whereas fire does more damage and can allow for crowd control. Try Maxed Immolation Arrow with full Pierce, you get several campfires going.
Valkyrie is a no-brainer, just make sure to invest a little bit into decoy for life bonuses for the valk.
It's there to help with hitting the monsters. Elementalists only need this if they want to get better piercing. Pierce won't work if the arrow gets blocked by a shield or hits armor.
1 point is a little to small, try to get a few into it.
Don't max them since you generally don't want to expose yourself to begin with, due to low health concerns. A few points into each will benefit you and your Valkyrie.
Die fr00b, die~
I generally use a Magic Arrow/Immolation Arrow combo myself, or Magic Arrow/Strafe with a good Knockback bow imbued with toxins. Critical Hit is one of those 1 point skills that do nothing but help. I tend to put a few into it to get a higher percentage. A cold rogue (act 1 normal > act 1 nightmare > act 1 hell) with a nice bow and a Valkyrie are my entourage.
Remember, do not allow yourself to get surrounded.
A Witchwild String socketed with a Nef rune and another socketable of your choice (I like Tal rune) works well with a strafe build. The Brand rune word works nicely as well for Strafers. And for my cold rogue.
For my Immolation Build, I use a good bow with life/mana leech, poison damage (obviously), and +skills. I have used the Ice Rune Word to surprising effect, helping me deal with immunes.
Those weapons are the goals to reach. Generally go for weapons that help power the build as you level.
20 Lightning Fury
20 Valk
20 Freezing arrow
20 Cold Arrow (just for the bonus damage to Freezing arrow)
1 point each in: Inner Sight, Slow Missiles, Decoy, Dodge, Avoid, Evade (pre-reqs for Valk)
1 point each in: Critical Strike, Penetrate (pre-reqs for Pierce)
1 point in Ice arrow (pre-req for Freezing Arrow)
1 point each in: Poison Jav, Lightning Bolt, Plague Jav (pre-reqs for Lightning Fury)
All the rest of your points should go into Pierce. In fact, if you want to lean on Lightning Fury instead of Freezing Arrow, I'd max pierce once Cold Arrow is at 10 so you can get up to 100% pierce, which is godly with Lightning Fury.
A buriza has 100% pierce and is a great weapon until you can get near that number without it, then you can switch to a rune word bow of your choice.
Titan's Revenge and eventually Thunderstroke are the must-haves for javelins.
For play:
Le the Valk and your Act 2 Merc tank for you. Stay behind them and blow stuff up. Put as many points in vit as you feel comfortable with, and then max the heck out of dex. You want to be around 300 dex as an endgame goal to get loads of physical damage in addition to your skills. Put no points in Energy (use lots of mana pots). Look at the gear you want to use and plan Strength accordingly. Get a frost merc once you hit nightmare is amazing, before then use a defense merc. For gear, you want to focus on +skills as much as possible. With a relatively weak play schedule and the more common gear, I found it fairly easy to get up to +11 javelin skills / +9 bow skills. Once you're annihilating everything, start upgrading to -resist stuffs. If you can get an insight pole arm for your merc, you'll be able to ditch the mana pots and the extra healing pots, though rarely needed, just might save your life. This build takes little to no damage because of range, speed of kills, and the two badass tanks. it's my preferred build for farming Hell Cows.
I did not know about the level 9 pierce and Razortail combo though. Thank you for sharing that.