Guide: WS K Amazon
- Thread starter Nightfish
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Re: Guide: WS K Amazon
The problem with Gloams are that they like to move and spread out in a room invisibly. So you have to hunt them down one by one. Decoy might help, but that IMO is not enough.
Try Tgods.
The problem with Gloams are that they like to move and spread out in a room invisibly. So you have to hunt them down one by one. Decoy might help, but that IMO is not enough.
Try Tgods.
Re: Guide: WS K Amazon
@greebo: Well, the Gloams usually shoot me from way off screen before i ever see them, so I dont usually even have time to switch over to my bow before I'm frantically just trying to hit the ESC key to save and exit before I die (so I dont have to pay for my merc rez). Decoy often makes it worse since casting it ahead triggers all of them to shoot down the hall. Even when I cast her ahead and to the side, sometimes they were off to the side as well, so the lightning still comes straight at me.
I do have a level 88 pure blizzard sorceress with max resists, max block, +6 skills and around 300% MF (or 250% or so if I dont weapon switch). Where are the Ancient Tunnels? I guess I'll google it. Should I run Ancient Tunnels on Players 3 like I do Hell Meph? I guess I can experiment with it.
@robbyD: I can't make a Silence bow. I don't have a Vex, and in fact I am pretty poor, being in single player mode. I have only seen 1, maybe 2 Ists in my entire career of playing Diablo 2. If hell meph doesn't drop it, I probably don't have it.
@all: thanks for any ideas or even encouragement, and thanks for taking the time to respond.
BTW, what is the minimum amount of MF that would be worth my time?
Oh and as an aside, I really just want the Natalya's Mark and the Earthshifter maul. I'm sure the other top items are awesome, but I wanted to make a druid based on the elite maul with +7 to elemental skills (there is a guide for it) and I'd like to complete my Nat's set. Anything else is a bonus.
OK, that's all for this post. Thanks again!
@greebo: Well, the Gloams usually shoot me from way off screen before i ever see them, so I dont usually even have time to switch over to my bow before I'm frantically just trying to hit the ESC key to save and exit before I die (so I dont have to pay for my merc rez). Decoy often makes it worse since casting it ahead triggers all of them to shoot down the hall. Even when I cast her ahead and to the side, sometimes they were off to the side as well, so the lightning still comes straight at me.
I do have a level 88 pure blizzard sorceress with max resists, max block, +6 skills and around 300% MF (or 250% or so if I dont weapon switch). Where are the Ancient Tunnels? I guess I'll google it. Should I run Ancient Tunnels on Players 3 like I do Hell Meph? I guess I can experiment with it.
@robbyD: I can't make a Silence bow. I don't have a Vex, and in fact I am pretty poor, being in single player mode. I have only seen 1, maybe 2 Ists in my entire career of playing Diablo 2. If hell meph doesn't drop it, I probably don't have it.
@all: thanks for any ideas or even encouragement, and thanks for taking the time to respond.
BTW, what is the minimum amount of MF that would be worth my time?
Oh and as an aside, I really just want the Natalya's Mark and the Earthshifter maul. I'm sure the other top items are awesome, but I wanted to make a druid based on the elite maul with +7 to elemental skills (there is a guide for it) and I'd like to complete my Nat's set. Anything else is a bonus.
OK, that's all for this post. Thanks again!
Re: Guide: WS K Amazon
It's been a while since I run WSK with a Fishyzon. I don't recall having such problems and I'm not really sure why at this point. Weird. Maybe the mercenary is what makes the difference? I think I went Holy Freeze.
I've found a Death's Fathom and 5 Griffon's, and no Earthshifter yet. It's a hard item to find.
Ancient Tunnels is one of those extra areas, entrance to which is located in the Lost City. /p1 is my recommendation.
This is a video [highlight]by Corrupted[/highlight], showing how AT is done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3zHcuxgVvQ, but since that doesn't fit in this thread, if you have some more questions, I suggest you start a new thread and ask them there.
It's been a while since I run WSK with a Fishyzon. I don't recall having such problems and I'm not really sure why at this point. Weird. Maybe the mercenary is what makes the difference? I think I went Holy Freeze.
I've found a Death's Fathom and 5 Griffon's, and no Earthshifter yet. It's a hard item to find.
Ancient Tunnels is one of those extra areas, entrance to which is located in the Lost City. /p1 is my recommendation.
This is a video [highlight]by Corrupted[/highlight], showing how AT is done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3zHcuxgVvQ, but since that doesn't fit in this thread, if you have some more questions, I suggest you start a new thread and ask them there.
Re: Guide: WS K Amazon
Some twitch skills help, too. Like, gloams will always fire right at you. They're not going to anticipate your movement so as long as you don't stand still 24/7 or run right at them, they can't hit you. If there's a lot of them, shoot, move, shoot, move, etc.
Still, the only time they should give you trouble is if they're sporting conviction. That can really mess up your day.
Some twitch skills help, too. Like, gloams will always fire right at you. They're not going to anticipate your movement so as long as you don't stand still 24/7 or run right at them, they can't hit you. If there's a lot of them, shoot, move, shoot, move, etc.
Still, the only time they should give you trouble is if they're sporting conviction. That can really mess up your day.
entwilighter
Well-known member
Re: Guide: WS K Amazon
I just took this character into Hell. She's incredibly fun, and switching between bow and javelin feels so stylish. Surprisingly, I find I relish the areas with both lightning immunes and cold immunes.
Something I noticed when running NM Meph was that FA is really handy at a lower level for freezing Dolls but NOT killing them, giving you time to run a few yards away to avoid having them blow up in your face. I found they became a lot more dangerous once I started pushing FA while Meph running. If you're going to spend some time on NM Meph with this build (re: looking for Titan's) I'd actually suggest saving your points until you move on, and pumping FA up in NM Act 5.
Anyway, great build and great guide, Nightfish. Thanks for this.
I just took this character into Hell. She's incredibly fun, and switching between bow and javelin feels so stylish. Surprisingly, I find I relish the areas with both lightning immunes and cold immunes.
Something I noticed when running NM Meph was that FA is really handy at a lower level for freezing Dolls but NOT killing them, giving you time to run a few yards away to avoid having them blow up in your face. I found they became a lot more dangerous once I started pushing FA while Meph running. If you're going to spend some time on NM Meph with this build (re: looking for Titan's) I'd actually suggest saving your points until you move on, and pumping FA up in NM Act 5.
Anyway, great build and great guide, Nightfish. Thanks for this.
Re: Guide: WS K Amazon
I'm without, and I don't do! Does anyone else have a good tip on getting the ancients down with this build, just me and the merc?
I'm without, and I don't do! Does anyone else have a good tip on getting the ancients down with this build, just me and the merc?
Re: Guide: WS K Amazon
It seems the extra MF doesn't get much use, as the gloams promptly chase you out :wink: Unless your runs are consistent, do not bother with MF. You did well switching to TGods.
I suspect even a very short gambling session would improve your gear by miles. Your damage comes from +skills and pierce!
First of all, ditch the WWS. This bow is mediocre even on builds it was "designed" for (Strafers, MS-zons). I know it has resists, but you can fix them in slots where getting +skills would be far more expensive. Try e.g. Kuko, it drops every now and then, has +3bow skills and 50% pierce, which gets you to 99% with mere +3 to passive tree.
Note that you barely do any physical damage to leech from. This means your amulet is about as good as +45 to mana. Try gambling a rare with +1zon skills and some resists. Getting gloves with +2bow/something useful is also doable. You can use Enchant from Demon Limb - it has higher level and lasts the entire run, which makes the charges affordable. Use some lower level character to gamble boots with FRW and dual resists if needed. This takes a little longer, but it can be done. As for the helm, discount the leech and compare with other choices..
@strategy: the key moment is to shoot groups of gloams before they spread out to multiply your damage through piercing. A well placed Decoy makes them shoot rather than reposition. Take one step to the side (to get away from the merc-gloams axis) and take them out. You cannot freeze them as Greebo suggests (Hell gloams have 0% chill effectiveness), but you can certainly kill them..
It seems the extra MF doesn't get much use, as the gloams promptly chase you out :wink: Unless your runs are consistent, do not bother with MF. You did well switching to TGods.
I suspect even a very short gambling session would improve your gear by miles. Your damage comes from +skills and pierce!
First of all, ditch the WWS. This bow is mediocre even on builds it was "designed" for (Strafers, MS-zons). I know it has resists, but you can fix them in slots where getting +skills would be far more expensive. Try e.g. Kuko, it drops every now and then, has +3bow skills and 50% pierce, which gets you to 99% with mere +3 to passive tree.
Note that you barely do any physical damage to leech from. This means your amulet is about as good as +45 to mana. Try gambling a rare with +1zon skills and some resists. Getting gloves with +2bow/something useful is also doable. You can use Enchant from Demon Limb - it has higher level and lasts the entire run, which makes the charges affordable. Use some lower level character to gamble boots with FRW and dual resists if needed. This takes a little longer, but it can be done. As for the helm, discount the leech and compare with other choices..
@strategy: the key moment is to shoot groups of gloams before they spread out to multiply your damage through piercing. A well placed Decoy makes them shoot rather than reposition. Take one step to the side (to get away from the merc-gloams axis) and take them out. You cannot freeze them as Greebo suggests (Hell gloams have 0% chill effectiveness), but you can certainly kill them..
entwilighter
Well-known member
Re: Guide: WS K Amazon
Okay, so I Matriarched (my first Mat) her a few nights ago and have started WS K runs. She's already paid off as far as I'm concerned, finding a Griffon's in WS K and a Lo in the Pit last week. Fun stuff! Anyway, I have some feedback, comments and general thoughts:
The Ancients were a cinch once I switched out Insight for a Hone Sundan. I had been really clinging to Insight for much of her game, but when battling bosses you're CSing which is much less mana-intensive than LF/FA, so it works fine. Kelpie vs. Baal is also awesome, but we should all know that.
I played around with the Griffon's but I just didn't like the mana deficit it left me with. I was potting every few seconds, even with Insight. Fury killed quickly, but it kills quickly anyway, so I went back to Shako. She's easy on the eyes in Griffon's though.
You use Griffon's, don't you Nightfish? Do you socket up a bunch or Tirs/MPK jewels or something?
Also, shout-out to Wizendraw. I played with a +6 Melody Mat for a while, but again I was struggling with mana. I put a Shael in my -32 Wiz (a -34 one dropped shortly after socketing it, of course), and find this kills WS K Lightning immunes at pretty well the same rate, and is much less mana-intensive if you're having problems with that.
Anyway, again, really fun build.
Okay, so I Matriarched (my first Mat) her a few nights ago and have started WS K runs. She's already paid off as far as I'm concerned, finding a Griffon's in WS K and a Lo in the Pit last week. Fun stuff! Anyway, I have some feedback, comments and general thoughts:
The Ancients were a cinch once I switched out Insight for a Hone Sundan. I had been really clinging to Insight for much of her game, but when battling bosses you're CSing which is much less mana-intensive than LF/FA, so it works fine. Kelpie vs. Baal is also awesome, but we should all know that.
I played around with the Griffon's but I just didn't like the mana deficit it left me with. I was potting every few seconds, even with Insight. Fury killed quickly, but it kills quickly anyway, so I went back to Shako. She's easy on the eyes in Griffon's though.
You use Griffon's, don't you Nightfish? Do you socket up a bunch or Tirs/MPK jewels or something?Also, shout-out to Wizendraw. I played with a +6 Melody Mat for a while, but again I was struggling with mana. I put a Shael in my -32 Wiz (a -34 one dropped shortly after socketing it, of course), and find this kills WS K Lightning immunes at pretty well the same rate, and is much less mana-intensive if you're having problems with that.
Anyway, again, really fun build.
Re: Guide: WS K Amazon
Probably. Shako is just too damn ugly so I try not to use it if at all possible. I don't have my saves handy to check, though. To be honest, the griffins makes no real difference in terms of efficiency. Once everything dies almost instantly it's hard to improve beyond that.
Offhand I know I socket Ort Runes in armour if I need more LR, PTopaz if my MF is under 200 and if neither of those applies I use a plain Ruby.
I never used mana per kill things on my zon beyond what came naturally on gear. Then again, I'm not too lazy to pick up and use blue pots if I cannot / will not use an insight merc.
Probably. Shako is just too damn ugly so I try not to use it if at all possible. I don't have my saves handy to check, though. To be honest, the griffins makes no real difference in terms of efficiency. Once everything dies almost instantly it's hard to improve beyond that.
Offhand I know I socket Ort Runes in armour if I need more LR, PTopaz if my MF is under 200 and if neither of those applies I use a plain Ruby.
I never used mana per kill things on my zon beyond what came naturally on gear. Then again, I'm not too lazy to pick up and use blue pots if I cannot / will not use an insight merc.
AwesomeDude
New member
Re: Guide: WS K Amazon
This is a fantastic build. I switched over my furyzon in A2 Hell once she hit that brick wall called the Maggot Lair filled entirely of LI scarabs, and luckily I'd had a Wizendraw drop for me already. Not only did I clear that stuff with ease, but I took a side trip into the Ancient Tunnels afterward, and one of the first things to drop was a +3 skill 3 OS Mat. bow! Of all the luck, huh?
This is a fantastic build. I switched over my furyzon in A2 Hell once she hit that brick wall called the Maggot Lair filled entirely of LI scarabs, and luckily I'd had a Wizendraw drop for me already. Not only did I clear that stuff with ease, but I took a side trip into the Ancient Tunnels afterward, and one of the first things to drop was a +3 skill 3 OS Mat. bow! Of all the luck, huh?
Re: Guide: WS K Amazon
Just out of curiosity, what level/how many +skills are you at? I feel like my killing speed is much lower than it should be, but I'm not sure if it's because I don't have 'enough' or because I was expecting WSK to be a cakewalk
My gear is the standard Titan's/Shako/Razortail, gloves are +2 bow / 20 IAS, Highlord's Wrath instead of Mara's, using Lycander's Aim until 3os bow drops.
I'm at slvl28 while wielding javelin, 30 while wielding the box. Lightning Fury works as advertised but the bow is sooo slow - is melody that much of an improvement or was I just expecting too much from FA?
Just out of curiosity, what level/how many +skills are you at? I feel like my killing speed is much lower than it should be, but I'm not sure if it's because I don't have 'enough' or because I was expecting WSK to be a cakewalk
My gear is the standard Titan's/Shako/Razortail, gloves are +2 bow / 20 IAS, Highlord's Wrath instead of Mara's, using Lycander's Aim until 3os bow drops.
I'm at slvl28 while wielding javelin, 30 while wielding the box. Lightning Fury works as advertised but the bow is sooo slow - is melody that much of an improvement or was I just expecting too much from FA?
Kretschmer
New member
Re: Guide: WS K Amazon
Have you tried a Wizendraw? It'll increase your damage substantially if enemy resists are your problem.
Have you tried a Wizendraw? It'll increase your damage substantially if enemy resists are your problem.
Re: Guide: WS K Amazon
No, FA is not on par with one of the Top5 skills of D2. Obviously. If it were, that would be the cookie cutter skill. The mindset you need when you look at FA is "What is the best thing I can have to kill LIs?". The answer is: FA by a landslide. Also, try using LF was 3-4 targets. It is not going to be as fast as FA vs 3-4.
No, FA is not on par with one of the Top5 skills of D2. Obviously. If it were, that would be the cookie cutter skill. The mindset you need when you look at FA is "What is the best thing I can have to kill LIs?". The answer is: FA by a landslide. Also, try using LF was 3-4 targets. It is not going to be as fast as FA vs 3-4.
