Guide: WS K Amazon

Dadou said:
Your preferences go in order of dmg, speed attack, mods ?
If I had 2 Ko i'd try both and compare. Since I don't have them I'm seeking advice to make up my mind ;o)
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Overall damage. +Skills (or in the case of Wizendraw -res) is the key. The physical damage is irrelavant as with the horrible AR the physical part doesn't hit enough. I find Insight is the best solution for the mana.

But those are my preferences, as you said, give it a try and post back. :smiley:



 
Finally located a mat bow with the appropriate number of sockets and built myself a Melody bow to replace my upgraded Lycander's Aim (Shael).

According to the display, the effective Freezing Arrow damage is about 200 points greater with the Melody. BTW, I'm running with Archer's Gauntlets and enough pluses to skills to produce a level 34 FA which gives 2126-2168 FA damage with the Melody.

Mana is still a problem. Now that I Mat'd her in plain vanilla, I'm debating an Insight polearm and letting her just run wild in the WS K. All that blue potion chasing and swigging disrupts her killing rhythm.
 
What do you usually make Insight with ?
I used to make it in a Colossus Voulge, but with the high str req. I have to give the merc an armor with Gems in it giving strength.
I recently tried a Grim Reaper but the dex req. is also quite high.
I wonder which is the best compromise ?
 
Dadou said:
What do you usually make Insight with ?
I used to make it in a Colossus Voulge, but with the high str req. I have to give the merc an armor with Gems in it giving strength.
I recently tried a Grim Reaper but the dex req. is also quite high.
I wonder which is the best compromise ?
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The only reason for using a Colossus Voulge is the fact that it's easy to get 4 sockets due to it's cap being 4 sockets.
Great Poleaxe is the best all-round but it can be hard to get it with 4 sockets. Thresher and Cryptic Axe aren't bad either.



 
I read this guide, killed my very recently born bowazon off, and started a new one from scratch. This one sounds like fun :P
Besides, I had erred in my buildfocus. But then again, I'm a n00b when ot comes to those things really. But building a (SC) java/bowazon with this build sounds like a blast :P
 
My Fishyzon just entered hell. Has three stacks of assorted javelins, Kuko Shakako, Duriels, Frostburns, and rare amulet +1 skills. Was able to clear out Blood Moor before I remebered to turn down from players 8 to players 1. At players 1 she clears the house, but I expect this to change.
 
Nay it's pretty much the same all Hell long... Just switch FA when encoutering LI monsters and you're good. Only touchy moments might be the Trav/Durance and ancients.
You say you have several javelins, no Titans ? That's a must, you'll be playing a different game with those ! Besides find a 3os MatBow and make Melody in it (didn't have the time to test Harmony yet but Melody rocks it).
Be sure you have max light. res when facing lightning immune and switching with the bow.
 
Harmony makes for an interesting bow but I wouldn't go so far as saying it's a better choice for this build than Melody.

On the plus, you get a valk without the problems associated with D-A-E for as long as you have the bow active. You can also raise up some help with the Revive charges. Vigor will help you scoot if the situation goes really bad. Then there's three flavors of elemental damage assuming you can hit something. The 20 percent to mana regeneration is probably the Harmony's best feature relative to this build.

On the down side, you will not get the +3 to Bow Skills that you REALLY need. Less importantly because your AR isn't so hot, you won't get knock back nor the 300% damage to undead. Ultimately what you do on your own PC is your business but Harmony requires the RWM and Melody can be made in Plain Vanilla.

Both bows are usable but for me Melody is the best choice. Your mileage may vary.

There's just something about a lvl 36 Freezing Arrow that appeals to me.
 
A kwestion (or 2) :P
1) With FA, you only boost the damage with cold arrow. Now, Ice arrow adds nothing but freeze length of course.Now the arreat summmit sez that Freeze length drops to .5 seconds in hell. The question is : Is this hardcoded, or does it increase with added points in Ice arrow? In other words, is the Freeze length reduction in Hell based on a formula, or is it fixed? It would be unfair to those who boost Ice arrow if the value is, in fact, hard coded.

2) Your guide points out that a decent sized mana pool is useful. Seeing that FA costs about 20 mana for each bolt, I can Totally see why :P
So what IS a decent sized mana pool? Should I make this TOTALLY item dependent, or can I boost Energy a bit? Your build seems to leave some room there, but I am not sure. In my build, since 1 energy point adds 1.5 mana, I put two levels in energy to add 15 base mana pool points.
I ask this only since most players seem to feel that it is a sin to boost mana with statpoints...

Merlin, the happy Charge striking wizzard.
 
Merlin The Wizzard said:
A kwestion (or 2) :P
1) With FA, you only boost the damage with cold arrow. Now, Ice arrow adds nothing but freeze length of course.Now the arreat summmit sez that Freeze length drops to .5 seconds in hell. The question is : Is this hardcoded, or does it increase with added points in Ice arrow? In other words, is the Freeze length reduction in Hell based on a formula, or is it fixed? It would be unfair to those who boost Ice arrow if the value is, in fact, hard coded.

2) Your guide points out that a decent sized mana pool is useful. Seeing that FA costs about 20 mana for each bolt, I can Totally see why :P
So what IS a decent sized mana pool? Should I make this TOTALLY item dependent, or can I boost Energy a bit? Your build seems to leave some room there, but I am not sure. In my build, since 1 energy point adds 1.5 mana, I put two levels in energy to add 15 base mana pool points.
I ask this only since most players seem to feel that it is a sin to boost mana with statpoints...

Merlin, the happy Charge striking wizzard.
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1) Freeze duration is cut to 1/4 in Hell. Thus, 2s becomes 0.5s. However, the best way to add duration is by using items with cold damage (charms, amulet etc). Each one you add increases the duration. Eg with enough extra sources you get get your duration to 12s (note, this won't be displayed anywhere, its just what happens). In Hell this would be reduced to 3s.

All this said, points in ice arrow don't increase the length long enough to be useful. I hope for your sake you haven't put too many in Ice arrow. Also, all you'll really need in terms of freeze duration is enough to keep mobs forzen between your arrows. Assuming you have a decent IAS this shouldn't be a problem even with 0.5s freeze.

2) I wouldn't add anymore to energy, but I wouldn't also worry about putting those points in. Just get some items. If it comes to it, PSaphires in your equipment, or charms is a much better way of boosting mana.



 
There is no such thing as too much mana for a WS K Runner.

Equipping the merc with an Insight polearm will help but you may still run out of mana occasionally. Sometimes the Meditation aura seems to go on hiatus and you must re-equip the merc with the Insight polearm to get the aura to kick back in. If the merc dies in battle, you may also find yourself mana starved.
 
2) just drink potions.

I do WSK runs without Insight (I use a Reapers on my merc). The thing is, because you kill so many boss and champion packs there are plenty of mana potions on the ground. I never have to buy them.

On the other hand:

I ask this only since most players seem to feel that it is a sin to boost mana with statpoints...
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don't feel too bad if you do. Personally, I find the stat points you get from lvl ~75 and up not really needed (unless it is to keep max block) and I usually never spend them in case I need some strength or dex to try some other gear. If you feel you need more mana, might as well spend them there.
 
+ mana per kill is great.
OrtSol helm and Silkweave can be a real boost for your mana, since you'll toast so many monsters with few LF released. or you can use TIR runes as well.
I don't put points in mana, there's indeed so many mana pots on the floor... besides, you can always go buy some more.

Note : when your merc dies, so does his aura. You have to unequip-reequip his insight to have meditation running again.
 
What about the peace runeword armor gives you lvl 17 valk without wasting skill points. And spirit monarch , It gives +2 skills , some resists but lousy blocking? and requires huge dex for 75% block.
 
druidravi said:
What about the peace runeword armor gives you lvl 17 valk without wasting skill points. And spirit monarch , It gives +2 skills , some resists but lousy blocking? and requires huge dex for 75% block.
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Just my 2ct

The +skills on spirit would only help for LF and LF works fine already. A splendor would be more interesting, it's only 1 skill point but with some better blocking and a bit of MF.

As for the lvl 15 valk, it's activated on "striking". This build is focused on the auto-hit features and no or bad AR. Most hit's will not physically hit and I expect you have big problems actually getting the valk.

Randall



 
Randall said:
The +skills on spirit would only help for LF and LF works fine already. A splendor would be more interesting, it's only 1 skill point but with some better blocking and a bit of MF.
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Splendor has no increased chance to block, so it's not really any better than spirit in that regard.
Spirit has the huge mana bonus as well, though splendor can be made in a lighter shield.
For either of them though, max block is definitely out.

Randall said:
As for the lvl 15 valk, it's activated on "striking". This build is focused on the auto-hit features and no or bad AR. Most hit's will not physically hit and I expect you have big problems actually getting the valk.
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LF will hit all the time, so getting the valk to spawn shouldn't be a problem. Not sure how long she'll last without at least one hard point though.



 
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