[Ladder only] The ultimate pvm Bowazon guide

[djnat]

Nat's Bowazon (PvM)



With the new runewords, some builds have to be completely revised.

I write now a fast build to make a fantastic bowazon in Ladder. Since gear can be a pain in the ass (= very expensive), this build is not easy to complete. But if you're rich, you can do it.

~

Stat points allocation

Strength: minimum to wear gear. Your max req = 106 for Giantskull (it also gives +25-35 str).

Dexterity: 400+ points. Or all.

Vitality: base, or minimum to survive in hell.

Energy: a point here = :nooob


Skill points allocation

MAX Critical strike
MAX Strafe
MAX Valkyrie
MAX Magic arrow

5-6 into Penetrate (you must have, with your final gear, 69% Penetrate)
10 Multiple Shot
1 in all pre-reqs
all the rest, at very high levels, into Decoy.

Why?

Crit strike has to be maxed, imho. Simply because there aren't better skill choices. Even a 5% more chance to have a critical strike means that you have a 5% more average damage. With yor final gear, you should have 70-71% critical strike.

Strafe is a good skill for single enemies or for little groups of 2~5 enemies. When there are multiple enemies, you just have to use multiple shot, that is your main attack skill.

With the new runewords and all their "auras when equipped", the Valkyrie now becomes a very strong tank. She is quite damaging, and resistent, especially if you max it. Very helpful for you.

Magic arrow has to be maxed, cuz it's the only skill which is really effective vs physical immunes with only 20 skill points spent. There are also Freezing arrow or exploding arrow, but they need 40 points to be really effective (max the skill + max the synergy). And I think that 40 points to kill the few phys immunes you will meet in the "important" zones of the game (Chaos Sanctuary, Baal's Throne, Pindle runs, Eldritch / Shenk runs, and so on) are a total waste. Magic arrow converts a part of your physical damage to pure magic damage. And it's really effective vs immunes, trust me. Plus, it has an immense attack rating when maxed, so you will be hitting, at high levels, always (or nearly always) @ 95%.

Pierce has to be @ 69% chance cuz you will use razortail and, when using multiple shot, having 69+33 = 102% = max (= always) pierce is a godly choice. Very destructive.

And Multiple shot is really useless after 17-18 arrows (about lvl 10+skills from your gear), cuz if you go over this value, arrows will be too many, and lots of them will not hit enemies. So, I think 10 points are more than enough.


Gear (the most difficult part)

"Faith" Great Matron bow with +3 to bow / crossbow skills (better if "superior")
"Fortitude" Archon plate
Giantskull with 2 socks, filled with 2 ed / ias jewels
Razortail
Laying of hands
War travelers (or Gore rider if you like the crushing blow / open wounds)
Ravenfrost (20 dex / 250 ar if perfect)
Rare ring with dual leech / ar / resists (and also stats like +str or +dex are welcome)
Atma's scarab

Switch: "Call to arms" crystal sword + Lidless wall. Used to have Battle orders and Battle command.

Charms

Annihilus
Resist small charms to have 80% lit res in hell an 75% fire res
Once you have teh resists, you have to fill the remaining space in your inventory with max / ar / life charms of all types (small, medium, grand).

No skiller charms: they suck a lot.


Hireling (the other difficult part)

Might merc. Hired @ Nightmare difficulty, "offensive" choice.

Cheap solution

Eth Reaper's toll [Shael]
Eth Gaze [Shael]
Upgraded Shaftstop [Um]

Godly / expensive solution

"Pride" eth Cryptic axe
"Fortitude" eth Archon Plate
Eth Gaze [Shael or ed / ias jewel, but since this merc is a real tank, I think fhr is better than little more dmg]


EnjoY.

 

[_CM]

looks good, might get one as soon as I have a second fortitude and a spare cham rune for pride, great build tho!

 

[djnat]

Yes, it's a great build. It's tested in hell difficulty. If you have the right gear / charms, you can go over 1k life (after Battle orders) even with base vitality.

However, I think that having about 850-900 life in hell, for a ranged character like a zon, is more than enough.

This zon can do insane physical damage per second with multiple shot / strafe, and with Faith, which is an ITD bow, this is really pwnz0r.

And the insane attack rating of this zon (over 15k @ about level 90) is very helpful when ITD doesn't work (bosses, uniques, super uniques).

When Atma's scarab casts Amp, it's a complete destruction. You can play even players 8 baalruns alone (except for Baal, which is very annoying in players 8), it takes some more time but makes you gain nice experience.

However, this amazon is designed to own especially in players 1~4. If you go over players 4, you will be a little slower. In players 1, you can kill all non - immunes in a few arrows, and all immunes with a few magic arrows.

 

[Trojan]

lidless < spirit shield for cta switch

 

[djnat]

To have a Spirit shield, you must spend at least 156 points into strength, cuz the shield to make spirit (4 socks) that requires less str than other 4-socks shield is the Monarch.

You have 86-96 base str for your gear, with annihilus you can go up to 106 to wear Giantskull.

If the giantskull is perfect, it has +25-35 str: ok. You now have 131-141 str.

You need 15-25 additional points into str to use Spirit. Why should you spend 15-25 more points into strength to have only a +1 to battle orders? If you want a little more life, you'd better invest those stat points into vitality, thus having more "final" life than the one you would have using Spirit instead of Lidless.

 

[Guest]

Can you make this char in single player? Please? . If this works I can baalbot her and my otehr chars .

 

[djnat]

The problem is that runewords like fortitude, faith and pride don't work on single player chars, but only on BattleNet's realms, and only in Ladder.

 

[Aqua-THF]

Sorry made a mistake, GOOD BIULD!

 

[Ntrik_]

For Weap:
Last wish is better

For Armour:
CoH/Stone ish better me thinks.

And get night mare act 2 defensive merc, I think that might work well.

 

[Aqua-THF]

Last Wish ONLY works in Swords, Hammers, and Axes. Fortitude gives 300 ED...

 

[djnat]

For Weap:
Last wish is better

For Armour:
CoH/Stone ish better me thinks.

And get night mare act 2 defensive merc, I think that might work well.

Last wish doesn't work on bows.

And even if it was possible, I wouldn't have chosen it. Cuz it has no speed = suxx0r weapon on a zon.

Fortitude is a lot better of CoH. It has 300% ed, resists, good defense and life, replenish, damage on mana.

Ah, information on Arreat Summit about the new runewords = totally wrong. Fortitude's stats (when made on armor) are different from the ones you can read in the site.

 

[Trojan]

so just put a lil extra it doesnt have to be perfect...

 

[Ntrik_]

Last wish doesn't work on bows.

And even if it was possible, I wouldn't have chosen it. Cuz it has no speed = suxx0r weapon on a zon.

Fortitude is a lot better of CoH. It has 300% ed, resists, good defense and life, replenish, damage on mana.

Ah, information on Arreat Summit about the new runewords = totally wrong. Fortitude's stats (when made on armor) are different from the ones you can read in the site.

what made you think I was talking about zon? I was talking about act 2 merc...

and well then, in that case, I guess you're right about Fortitude, I never get to see these high rune words in my life.

 

[djnat]

@ Trojan man: why should anyone put more extra points (15-25) into strength, to have about 20 more life? Putting those points (15-25) into vitality gives you 45-75 life, even more after the battle orders...

@ N: Pride is better cuz it has concentration aura, and if you use a Might merc, you can have 3 damage auras: Fanaticism (from your bow), Concentration (from Pride) and Might (from Merc).

I like the Might + Conc combo, for a bowazon, a lot more than Defiance + Might.

And about Stone: think of the fact that fortitude has 300% ed, better resists and the chance to cast chilling armor when hit, thus increasing merc's defense a lot.

 

[SoD-GoD]

Build looks great...but very expensive, specially on West...but nuntheless, great lookin build

 

[Ntrik_]

@ Trojan man: why should anyone put more extra points (15-25) into strength, to have about 20 more life? Putting those points (15-25) into vitality gives you 45-75 life, even more after the battle orders...

@ N: Pride is better cuz it has concentration aura, and if you use a Might merc, you can have 3 damage auras: Fanaticism (from your bow), Concentration (from Pride) and Might (from Merc).

I like the Might + Conc combo, for a bowazon, a lot more than Defiance + Might.

And about Stone: think of the fact that fortitude has 300% ed, better resists and the chance to cast chilling armor when hit, thus increasing merc's defense a lot.

hmm might + defensive + fanat combo seeems better, while conc gives you 315%, last wish can givey ou 375% with ignore target def, life tap, fade on merc! crushing blow and blind target.

well.. then again, you can get benefits from conc,

so NVM

 

[djnat]

I've tried all the new runewords, and I've found that now the mercenary is only an useful way to make a higher damage on your zon.

Enemies will never be near you, cuz you will always attack with multiple shot or strafe and knockback them away, so the merc will rarely have the chance to kill faster than you.

Last wish can be a good choice (only if used on a non-Might merc) cuz it has higher damage on merc's weapon, but Pride has higher damage for you. And Last wish is a lot more expensive than Pride...

 

[Trojan]

good build didnt see the points u had =/

 

[Aqua-THF]

Whats the final damage lookin like on this zon?

 

[djnat]

You can make some simple calculations.

Faith on a Grand Matron bow (perfect) has 62 - 320 damage. With war traveler and razortail, this damage becomes 77 - 355.

Let's suppose you have the perfect gear I suggested.

You have various ed (enhanced damage) from your gear:

- 400% (and more @higher levels) ed from your dexterity
- 300% ed from fortitude
- 80% ed from your helmet
- 288% ed from fanaticism (faith)
- 315% ed from concentration (pride, merc weapon)
- 230% ed from might (merc)

= 1613% total ed.

Plus:

- 135% additional ed from Strafe (skill)
- 27% phys damage converted into pure magic damage (Magic arrow)
- 71% deadly strike
- 10% crushing blow
- 350% extra damage vs demons
- 75% extra damage vs undeads

Ok, let's consider the skills you will use. Remember the base damage of your bow: 77-355.

~

Strafe: attack @ 2 fpa (12,5 arrows per second), 1748% ed, damage is 1067-4920.

Average damage is 2993; this becomes 5118 average with 71% deadly strike.

Vs undeads: 1110-5119, 3114 average; 5324 with your deadly strike.
Vs demons: 1269-5852, 3560 average; 6087 with your deadly strike.

~

Multiple shot: attack @ 8 fpa, 3,125 (x 18) arrows per second, 100% piercing, 1613% ed. Damage is 989-4560.

Average damage is 2774; 4743 with 71% deadly strike.

Vs undeads: 1032-4760. Average is 2896; 4952 with deadly strike.
Vs demons: 1191-5492. Average is 3341; 5713 with deadly strike.

~

Magic arrow: attack @ 8 fpa, 3,125 arrows per second. 27% damage converted to magic, 1613% ed, +27 to min final dmg. Damage is 1346-6081.

Average damage is 3713. 6349 with deadly strike. 1714 average magic damage per arrow.

Vs undeads: 1403-6347. Average is 3875; 6626 with deadly strike. 1789 average magic damage per arrow.
Vs demons: 1615-7323. Average is 4469; 7641 with deadly strike. 2063 average magic damage per arrow.


These calculations don't include:

- Elemental/poison damage from gear / eventual charms
- Damage from charms (and charms can increase maximum damage A LOT)
- Crushing blow effect (10% from your helmet)
- Amplify damage (casted by atma's scarab) effect; this can multiply your effective damage by a factor 2~11, depending on your enemies' physical resist.

And since you have ITD (your attacks always hit non bosses-uniques-super uniques enemies when your level > 0.9*their level), and tons of AR (when ITD doesn't work), this is really a great damage. If you play in players 1, you'll want to increase the number of players in your game, otherwise the killing of enemies would result too easy and ridicolous.