DEXTERITY

Dexterity is the lifeblood of every Bowazon. It is by far the most important stat for a Bowazon to have. It is not unheard of for high level Bowazons to have 300 or more Dexterity. Why such an emphasis on Dexterity? Because damage with bows and crossbows is linked to Dexterity rather than Strength. The formula for Dexterity bonus damage is:

+ Bow's Base Physical Damage * (Dex / 100)

What this means in practical terms is that you get a increase to your total damage score equal to 1% of your bow's damage for each and every point of Dexterity your character has. So if you have a bow that does 10-50 physical damage, and you have 200 Dexterity, you get 20 points added to minimum damage (10 * 200 / 100) and 100 points added to your maximum damage (50 * 200/100). Assuming no other damage modifiers, your damage will be 30-150 damage. In addition to increasing damage, each point of Dexterity also adds 4 points to Attack Rating (AR), and every 4 points of Dexterity adds 1 point to Defense Rating (DR)(more on DR and why it doesn't matter later, in the Equipment section). Taking all this together, every spare stat point should probably go to Dexterity.

VITALITY

Vitality seems like an amazing stat to invest in. For the Amazon, each point of Vitality grants 3 points of Life, and one point of Stamina. Sound like a good deal? It is. How many points do I recommend putting here?

NONE.

Here's the reason: A good Bowazon can and should be able to avoid almost all enemies on foot. When forced to go into melee range, a Bowazon needs to:

(1) Get Away and

(2) Get Away.

Did I mention you should Get Away? Good. That said, there will be times when you mess up, or can't find a place to run, or are getting hit by missile attacks, and that's when it's a good time to have lots of Life. Even so, however, it is far better to find items that grant Life than to waste valuable stat points on Vitality (later on you can find items of the Colossus which can add more than 50 life apiece - each of which worth as much as 15+ Vitality - see the Equipment section for more details).

HIGH VITALITY: There is a growing minority of high-level players who advocate adding points into Vitality(at the cost of Dexterity) at later levels, to increase longevity and decrease the frustration factor of XP loss at higher levels. The point of this is that after a certain point, damage takes a back seat. If you do 200 damage per arrow, and a monster has 300 hit points, you could just as well do 170 damage and still kill the same monster with 2 arrows. If you take this approach, I don't recommend adding points to vitality until rather high levels(35+), as you will probably need the stat points to use the bow of your choice.

ENERGY

Ahhhh, mana. The thing that makes all the wonderful effects in Diablo 2 go. The Amazon starts with a paltry 15 points in Energy, and many of her skills require mana. So how many points in Energy should you add, you ask?

And the audience says...

Drum roll and the envelope please....

Zero! What? How do you manage to play with only 15 in Energy? To that I would reply: Mana Steal. Items, which allow you to steal a % of the damage you deal, are worth far more than investing points in energy. You can steal back 100 times your energy orb's worth of mana by using mana steal in the same time that you'd regenerate naturally with extra points in Energy. As with Vitality, later on in the game, if you absolutely need the mana (for a high level Valkyrie for example), you can find Wyrm's items, which can grant more than 50 mana apiece - that's worth over 30 stat points in Energy, as the Amazon gets only 1.5 mana per point in Energy.

THE SKILLS

Another question often asked is: What skills should I invest in as a Bowazon?

THE SPEAR/JAVELIN TREE

As a wielder of the Bow, you have little or no concern for other weapons. The only skill you might possibly want from the Spear/Javelin tree is...

JAB: 0 or 1

Many experienced players like to put 1 point in Jab to speed through the early stages(through about level 30 or so), and against some of the nastier bosses. It is often recommended that if you are having problems against Duriel or Diablo, or any other tough boss, go find yourself a good Pike and put a point in Jab. If you're a purist though, you CAN get by without it , but be warned that it may take some deviousness to kill some of the tough bosses (see the Strategy section below).

NOTES:

Jab speed is unaffected by the slowing effects of cold damage(chill effects from things like Frost Novas), Holy Freeze(Aura Enchanted Bosses), and is uninterruptible(no stun animations when you get hit).

You can Jab with only Javelin(1 handed) and Spear(2 handed) class weapons.

 

THE BOW TREE

MAGIC ARROW: 1

As they say, Just Say No. One Point. Period. Arrows and bolts are cheap. BUY THEM.

NOTES:

Magic Arrow does NOT automatically hit.

Magic Arrow can be Blocked by a shield.

Magic Arrow can be Avoid/Evaded.

Magic Arrow can score Critical Strikes.

Magic Arrow can steal mana/life.

Some early Amazon guides support bringing this skill to 13 to drop the mana cost to 0. Don't believe the hype. You'll be wishing you had the extra points in other skills at higher difficulty settings.

Unique Bows that fire Magic Arrows still use arrows for all other Bow skills.

Magic Arrow's additional magic damage is added onto the normal arrow(level 1 means that if your normal arrows deal 100-200 damage, your Magic Arrow will deal 101-201 damage).

FIRE ARROW: 0 or 1

Flame-tipped arrows look cool. Flame-tipped bolts also look cool. Fire Arrows do zilch for damage, however. Unless you want Immolation Arrow (see below), skip this skill entirely.

NOTES:

Fire Arrow always hits.

Fire Arrow can be Blocked by a shield.

Fire Arrow can be Avoided/Evaded.

Fire Arrow can NOT score Critical Strikes.

Fire Arrow can steal life/mana.

COLD ARROW: 1

Ice blue-tipped arrows look just as cool as flame-tipped, and have about as much effect. One Point.

NOTES:

Cold Arrow always hits.

Cold Arrow can be Blocked by a shield.

Cold Arrow can be Avoided/Evaded.

Cold Arrow can NOT score Critical Strikes.

Cold Arrow can steal life/mana.

MULTIPLE SHOT: 7+

Multiple arrows spraying forth look awesome. Good rate of fire, no mobility issues. A great skill.

NOTES:

Multiple Shot does NOT automatically hit, but it DOES tends to hit a lot, particularly at close range. Each arrow which passes by a target will check to hit. If it is a miss, it will keep flying past the target, and the next arrow in range will be checked. This means at close range you get multiple chances to hit a target(although as noted, only one arrow will hit)

Multiple Shot can be Blocked by a shield.

Multiple Shot can be Avoided/Evaded.

Multiple Shot can score Critical Strikes.

Multiple Shot can steal life/mana.

Under the 1.03 and later patches, it is impossible to hit a monster with more than one Multiple Shot arrow, regardless of what the graphics look like or how big the monster is (Duriel for example).

Maxing this skill out is pretty pointless, as the extra arrows end up getting wasted except against very large groups (Act IV, Moo Moo Farm) of monsters, and the mana cost starts getting extravagant at high levels.

You can use the above trick to "pierce" past monsters to hit monsters in the back of a pack, such as Shamans, Mummies, or Bosses.

You can control the spread of Multiple Shot's fire pattern by clicking closer(wide spread) or farther(tight spread) using the Shift key.

EXPLODING ARROW: 0 or 1

Exploding arrows look even cooler than Fire Arrows. Unfortunately, they're just as worthless. No points here, unless you want Immolation Arrows (see below).

NOTES:

Exploding Arrow always hits.

Exploding Arrow can be Blocked by a shield.

Exploding Arrow can be Avoided/Evaded.

Exploding Arrow can NOT score Critical Strikes.

Exploding Arrows can steal life/mana.

The splash damage range for Exploding Arrow is very small.

Ravenclaw, the unique bow that fires Exploding Arrows, will only do so when using Normal Attack, or Exploding Arrow. All other bow skills will override the Exploding Arrow property of this bow(sorry, you can't Multiple Shot Exploding Arrows).

ICE ARROW: 1

One Point, only. This skill is a great option for the left mouse button, and can get you out of sticky situations by freezing monsters in place to clear a path to safety.

NOTES:

Ice Arrow always hits.

Ice Arrow can be Blocked by a shield.

Ice Arrow can be Avoid/Evaded.

Ice Arrow can NOT score Critical Strikes.

Ice Arrow can steal life/mana.

Additional points in Ice Arrow are not recommended, as the increase in freeze time is minimal, and the increase in mana cost becomes a liability.

This skill is of particular use against monsters that can be resurrected (Carvers, Fetishes, any undead when there are Mummies around) as well as the Maw Fiends in Act IV, as any Ice Arrow that deals lethal damage will always shatter a corpse (except for Bosses, who have their own death sequence).

This skill combines especially well with items that add cold damage. See the section below titled Put Them On Ice for more information.

GUIDED ARROW: 1+

Guided Arrow was typically a PvP skill in previous versions, but 1.04 brought Guided Arrow into its own. With Guided Arrow finally dealing the damage it is supposed to, there are now valid reasons for maxing this skill to take out single monsters. It's particularly handy against Teleporting Monsters, Leapers, and Fetishes. It doesn't deal the kind of damage over time that Strafe does, but it makes up for it by allowing you to fire around corners and other obstacles.

NOTES:

Guided Arrow always hits, and homes in on targets.

Guided Arrow can be Blocked by a shield.

Guided Arrow can be Avoided/Evaded.

Guided Arrow can score Critical Strikes.

Guided Arrow can steal life/mana.

You can use Guided Arrow to shoot enemies around corners, through doorways, and around other obstacles. The arrow will fly to the point you click, then select a target and lock on from there.

Guided Arrow only has a target acquisition range of somewhat over half a screen when blind fired(untargeted fire).

If you have a click-lock on a target, it will track the target anywhere up to its range limit.

If you have a click-lock on a Teleporting boss, and they somehow manage to Teleport outside of your mini-map range, you will lose your click-lock.

IMMOLATION ARROW: 0 or 10+

My experience with this is that it is of particular use against Insect Swarms in act II/III, and against Wraiths in act II, as they cluster together. Combine with Valkyrie and/or Decoy to pin the monsters down. Also of use against some bosses (Duriel, Izual, Coldworm). If this seems like a waste of time to you, you can just as easily skip it. This skill offers some additional damage in terms of explosive damage, so at high levels, combining this skill with Pierce can get you multiple hits from explosive damage, along with a stackable Fire Wall-like effect. This skill is weaker under 1.04 due to Valkyrie's lower effectiveness, and increased physical bow damage. See the section below titled Burn Them To A Crisp for more details about Immolation Arrow.

NOTES:

Immolation Arrow always hits.

Immolation Arrow can be Blocked by a shield, but the Fire Wall effect will still hit the target.

Immolation Arrow can be Avoided/Evaded.

Immolation Arrow can NOT score Critical Strikes.

Immolation Arrow can NOT steal life/mana.

Immolation's fire-wall effect can be stacked multiple times on the same spot, increasing the amount of damage done.

Immolation's explosive damage is equal to your Immolation skill damage, plus half of your normal arrow damage, and appears to have a range of 3.3 yards(about 2 inches onscreen).

STRAFE: 1+

Strafe is weaker than it was in 1.03, but remains a very good skill to use. Offering auto-aiming and somewhat increased damage, and a higher rate of fire than normal (though not as fast as multiple shot, on a per-arrow basis),. It offers multiple hits per target, if monsters are standing near each other or in a line, and combines nicely with Pierce. As the mana cost never increases, any mana steal item should allow you to strafe all day long with a decent damage bow (and eventually, net huge amounts of mana).

NOTES:

Strafe does not always hit.

Strafe can be Blocked by a shield.

Strafe can be Avoided/Evaded.

Strafe can score Critical Strikes.

Strafe can steal life/mana.

There is a note in the Blizzard press release about the 1.03 patch fixing the extra arrows you get from minions and decoys and allies being fixed. This is patently Not True as of 1.05b.

Under 1.05, Strafe's damage bonus now functions as it should in both Single Player and Realms play.

Unfortunately, the damage bonus for Strafe is not nearly as large as previously, and basically adds 5 "virtual dexterity" for purposes of damage per level. So a Bowazon with 300 Dex(+300% damage) and Level 1 Strafe(+5% damage) will do EXACTLY the same damage as a Bowazon with 205 Dexterity(+205% damage) and level 20 Strafe(+100% damage). See the Bow Damage section below for more details about how this calculation works.

COMMON QUESTIONS:

What is this Strafe-Lock thing I keep hearing about?

Strafe-lock is a term used to describe what an Amazon does while using the Strafe ability. The concept is that when you activate Strafe, you start pouring out arrows at an amazing rate. While doing so, you are standing still, turning only to aim at enemies (this happens automatically). The problem is that you Can Not Move while you are still firing arrows. And if you have anything over about 3 points in Strafe, your maximum number of targets for the skill is very high (max targets = 3 + (2xStrafe), so at level 10, you can potentially shoot at 23 targets, which takes a while even when Strafing). This means you are a sitting duck if a monster decides to come after you while you're firing away (the only thing you can do while Strafing is Dodge/Avoid, or pray they miss entirely).

How do I deal with Strafe-Lock?

First, it's important to note that if you are hit while Strafing, you immediately stop Strafing. This is a Good Thing. It means you can get out of the way before they can hit you again. Also, the Decoy (and eventually Valkyrie) skills can distract monsters away from you entirely when used properly. Make sure the monsters are focused on something else before you start Strafing, and you should have little or no trouble with Strafe-Lock.

What's this deal about extra arrows for Strafe? What are they talking about?

Strafe will fire as many arrows as enemy units plus friendly units(your minions, your allies, and their minions) plus neutral units(non-allied, non-hostile players and their minions), not counting yourself. So if you have a Decoy, a Valkyrie, another player(allied or not, doesn't matter), and there are 2 monsters, you'll fire 5 arrows, 3 at the monster you clicked on, and 2 at the other. If you don't click on a monster, the game generally selects the nearest monster for the "odd" extra arrows. This is a bug which Blizzard has neglected to correct as of 1.05b.

Is this skill better or worse than Multiple Shot?

Not better, not worse, just different. Multiple Shot is generally used for its extreme arrow range, good spread, high mobility, and strong crowd control. Strafe is used for its somewhat higher damage, auto-aim, and the possibility of many hits per monster, making it a good skill to use against bosses.

I play only Single Player, or Open. What should I do?

Strafe had "awful" range in Open games under 1.04. Blizzard has corrected this problem on the Battle.Net servers, and the 1.05 patch corrects this issue for Open games.

FREEZING ARROW: 0 or 1+

Not a necessity by any means, but this ability is incredibly party-friendly if you're in multiplayer games. Your Paladin and Barbarian friends will truly appreciate Freezing Arrows combined with Pierce. Additional points only increase damage, and your precious skill points are likely better spent elsewhere. Freezing Arrow's damage is dependent on the damage on your bow, and can score multiple hits against groups of monsters when you make your Pierce.

NOTES:

Freezing Arrow always hits.

Freezing Arrow can be Blocked by a shield.

Freezing Arrow can be Avoid/Evaded.

Freezing Arrow can NOT score Critical Strikes.

Freezing Arrow can NOT steal life/mana.

Freezing Arrow "splashes" your full normal arrow damage in addition to its elemental damage, which can inflict some serious damage to groups with high level Pierce, as each successive hit will generate another explosion.

Additional points in Freezing Arrow can be useful, but only for extra damage. Freeze times do not increase with additional points, nor does splash range. At high levels, the increase in mana cost can become a liability.

This skill is of particular use against monsters that can be resurrected (Carvers, Fetishes, any undead when there are Mummies around) as well as the Maw Fiends in Act IV, as any Ice Arrow that deals lethal damage will always shatter a corpse (except for Bosses, who have their own death sequence).

This skill combines especially well with items that add cold damage. See the section below titled Put Them On Ice for more information.

PASSIVE AND MAGIC SKILLS

INNER SIGHT: 1

If this weren't required for Valkyrie, I'd say 0. Mostly useless, as the defense penalty is negligible except at the lower difficulty settings.

NOTES:

This skill suffers from the range calculation fixes in 1.04 in Open games. Battle.Net Realms have corrected this issue for Closed play, but this already-marginal skill is totally useless in Open 1.04.

This skill has a side effect of "lighting up" enemies hidden behind physical barriers like doors, but Slow Missiles has a similar effect at the same mana cost, and with a longer duration.

DODGE: 1+

Most experts dislike Dodge because the theory is that, as a Bowazon, you shouldn't ever be in combat if you're doing things right. Personally, I'm not perfect, and once in a while monsters get the jump on me. At those times, Dodge is a lifesaver, as it pretty much serves the purpose of a shield for the Bowazon.

CRITICAL STRIKE: 9+

This skill is Good. No, it's Better than Good. Double damage on a hit is amazing with multiple shot or strafe. Note that this skill will double only the physical damage of your bow - not any elemental additions. There is a diminishing return on skill point investment in this skill - the percent chance to do double damage goes up less per skill point you invest, but it affects virtually every attack you have. This skill is worth maxing if you have nowhere else to put points.

SLOW MISSILES: 1

While it's cool to see missiles fired by enemies move at 1/3 speed (and run rings around them), I usually have better things to do with my time and mana - like KILL said enemies.

NOTES:

This skill does have good applications in areas with doors, as you can use it to "light up" enemies behind a doorway before you open it.

This skill works well against Archers of any type, Spear Cats, Skeleton Magi, Fetish Shamans(reduces the Inferno range), Lightning Enchanted bosses(slows down and reduces the range of the charged bolts), and Abyss/Oblivion Knights(slows down and reduces range of the magic blasts and Bone Spirits).

Open players beware: Slow Missiles has terrible range in Open games under 1.04. Blizzard corrected a range calculation bug which had existed until 1.04, but in the process, it destroyed the effective range for several skills. Slow Missiles, Inner Sight and Strafe had their range drastically reduced. Blizzard has since fixed the problem on the Realm servers, but Open games are still victim to the reduced range, making Slow Missiles a very bad skill to use in Open 1.04 games. This was corrected in version 1.05.

AVOID: 1+

Typically, Bowazons are in danger only when attacked from range, so Avoid becomes particularly useful. Early points are probably better spent in offensive skills, but you'll get a strong appreciation for Avoid against Archers, Spearcats, Fetishes, and Abyss/Oblivion Knights.

PENETRATE: 1+

At least one point here is good. Depending on your Dexterity, you may need 1 point here, or 5, or 10, or 20. As long as you're hitting with your arrows, things should work fine. Many recommend getting a hit percent of 90% or better, and this is one of the most efficient ways to do so.

DISSENT: I have personally become an opponent to placing more than 1 point in Penetrate, as Penetrate's AR bonus does very little for the overall damage capacity of a Bowazon with high Dexterity. I still remain in the minority, however.

NOTES:

Penetrate works for all attacks at the listed bonus, but actually provides DOUBLE the bonus(i.e. +70% instead of +35% at level 1) for ranged attacks.

Beware placing too many points in this skill. Penetrate experiences some severe drop-off in effectiveness due to the way attack rating affects your chance to hit. Many Bowazons do just fine with 1 point in Penetrate. This skill becomes largely meaningless at very high character levels(70+).

DECOY: 1

1 Point. Period. Many people confuse the longer duration to mean that the Decoy will last longer in combat. This is Not True. The Decoy has as many hit points as you do, and has no defense or resistances, so when it takes enough damage to kill you, it disintegrates, no matter how much time should be left. This is still an amazing skill, though. USE IT.

EVADE: 1

A potentially useful skill that shows its design flaws against the Big D - his Lightning Hose and Flame Twist will obliterate you if you accidentally make your Evade skill check. It will also cause you to stop for a moment if a monster takes a swing at you while running, allowing its friends to catch you. 1 Point for PvM characters.

VALKYRIE: 1+

No question about it, this is one of the most useful skills in the game, Valkyries were apparently much stronger in Beta testing, but they're still amazing. Many are of the opinion that level 1 is fine, and just recast her when she dies - this works well in multiplayer games, where the Valkyrie gets the same multiplied hit point bonus that monsters get (Total HP = Base HP x # of players). Others like a somewhat sturdier Valkyrie, and invest around 5 points in this skill to get a more durable Valkyrie. If you do a lot of solo playing, you may want to consider maxing Valkyrie for the extra durability, but beware the mana cost, as it starts at 25 and increases by +4 per additional level.

PIERCE: 7+

This skill, once reviled for its once-detrimental effect on elemental arrow attacks such as Cold Arrow and Immolation Arrow, has become one of the most useful skills for the Bowazon since the 1.03 patch(and later versions). In a nutshell, under 1.03 and later versions, each time you successfully pierce a monster, the arrow strikes as normal (with any elemental effects), and continues on to hit the next monster (and if you succeed in pierce again, it keeps going, etc.). This skill now combines exceptionally well with Ice Arrow, Freezing Arrow, Multiple Shot, Strafe and Immolation Arrow, allowing you to do many times the listed damage when fighting groups of monsters. It is not out of the question to max Pierce, as it makes most of the other arrow skills much more effective.

NOTES:

Pierce does NOT work with Guided Arrow.

There is a bug in the hit/damage calculation which causes arrows which Pierce the same monster from the same position to always hit and always do the same damage (D2 for whatever reason doesn't recalculate the damage off of each successive hit).

EQUIPMENT: THE BOW

It can't be stressed enough that you must ALWAYS be on the lookout for a good bow. What is a good bow? Here's a list of criteria, in order of importance:

Base physical damage

Do NOT add elemental effects to this damage when evaluating a bow, as they are not affected by any other damage modifiers (Dexterity, Strafe, Guided Arrow, Critical Strike). See the Bow Damage section below for information about how to calculate your average damage per hit.

Attack speed

The faster you can shoot arrows, the more damage you can do per second. Bows with Slightly Increased or Increased Attack speed are equivalent to bows with higher damage capability (although there are ways to get around this - see Equipment below).

+1/+2 to Amazon Skills

More skills means more points in your attack skills, which translates to higher damage. It also increases passives like Dodge, which means you get hit less.

+Dexterity

Bonuses to Dexterity increase your attack rating and overall damage.

Cold Damage

Bows that add cold damage can Chill a monster for a short while after a hit, slowing them down, making them attack less often, and making them easier to hit the next time (because they haven't moved as much, though they can still Block). This property also makes Cold Arrow, Ice Arrow, and Freezing Arrow chill/freeze monsters longer. See the section below titled Put Them On Ice for more information.

Mana Steal

High damage bows with built-in mana steal are very useful, as you won't need to use mana-stealing jewelry.

It is possible to use the Imbue quest reward from Charsi to get a good bow (sometimes). See the Imbue section below on how to use your Imbues.

NOTE:

None of the Unique Bows is of particular use to Amazons at high levels. At low levels, Blastbark offers good damage with no level requirement. The Piercing Attack bows Ichorsting, Doomslinger, and Stormstrike are interesting for Sorceresses, as it makes their missile attack spells(Frost Bolt, Ice Bolt, Glacial Spike, Fire Bolt, Fireball) Pierce as per the Amazon Pierce skill.

OTHER EQUIPMENT

So what sort of equipment should you look out for? The answer to this depends on level.

Low levels (up to level 23)

Bows with Cold damage are priceless at these levels, as they buy you more time to shoot more arrows without resorting to using mana.

A socketed helmet with skulls is a good investment in time and resources at low levels.

Life and mana regeneration means you'll spend less time retreating and waste less time going back to town for potions.

A socketed bow is an excellent investment if you can find sapphires, skulls, and/or topazes to socket them with. The higher the quality of the gem, the more potent the abilities.

Gloves of Readiness (slightly increased attack speed) are a huge blessing at all levels.

As with all classes, any boots with Faster/Fastest Run/Walk are a high-priority item. The faster you can move to a good shooting position, the more time you have to fire.

Mana steal rings are good to have. Even though they won't have any spectacular effects until later levels, they're still very useful at low levels.

Getting some strength to use better belts is a must. The best belts available on Normal setting are Plated Belts, which have a 60 Strength requirement, so it might be wise to get some extra strength early.

Getting decent armor is okay on Normal setting, but avoid Plate Mail and Full Plate Armor, as the stamina drain associated with heavy armor will become annoying very quickly (and sometimes get you killed).

Higher levels (through level 30)

Start looking for good Rare and Unique items. Stats should be similar to the items you need at lower levels, but with more modifiers like elemental resistance, fast/fastest hit recovery, +life, +mana, and +to all skills. +Dexterity is always a good modifier, and can appear on many types of equipment. You may also want to look for items with bonuses to find magic items, as they will help you get better equipment.

Very high levels (30+)

Once you're established at this point, start hunting for the best equipment possible. Good items to search for include:

NOTE: I use the following abbreviations with regard to item properties, with relevant notes on Unique items.

+M - Adds to Mana

+L - Adds to Life

+M% - Steals % of damage as Mana

+L% - Steals % of damage as Life

+Res - Adds to (F)ire, (L)lightning, (C)old, or (ALL) Resists. Poison resistance is worthless.

+Dex - Adds to Dexterity

FHR - Fast/Faster/Fastest Hit Recovery

SIAS - Slightly Increased Attack Speed Weapon

A Good Bow (see notes above for what a Good Bow is).

Helmet

Tarnhelm(Unique Skull Cap): +1 to all skills

Rare helmet. Look for +M, +L, +F/L/CRes, +Dex, FHR

Iratha's Coil(Set Item Crown): +30FRes, +30LRes

Armor

Greyform(Unique Quilted Armor): +L5%, +20FRes , +20CRes, +10 Dex, -3 Magic Damage

Twitchthroe(Unique Studded Leather): SIAS, +10 Dex, +10 Str, Increased Blocking(+25%, does NOT work with a bow)

Rare light armor: Look for +L, +M, +F/L/CRes, +Dex, FHR. Do NOT try for Ornate Plate, the strength requirement is outrageous, even with -requirements, and the payoff is marginal.

Goldskin(Unique Full Plate, BEWARE! This item has a heavy stamina drain. I recommend boots with Fastest Run/Walk and Heal Stamina 50%, Vidala's Fetlock, or Treads of Chton when using this armor): +30ALLRes

Belt

Goldwrap(Unique Heavy Belt, only 12 potion slots): SIAS, +30% Find Magic Item

Rare belt: Look for +Cold Damage, +Dex, +L, +M, FHR, +F/L/CRes

Hands

Rare gloves: Look for SIAS, +F/L/CRes, +Dex, +L, +M

Boots

I don't recommend any Unique boots. Until you can find some decent Rare boots, you might consider using Vidala's Fetlock(Fastest Run/Walk, +150 Stamina), or the Treads of Chton(Fastest Run/Walk, Stamina Drain 50%).

Rare boots: Look for Fastest Run/Walk, +50% Heal Stamina, +Dex, FHR, +F/L/CRes

Rings

I would recommend rare rings with: +MS%, +LS%, +F/L/C/ALLRes, +L, +M, +Dex

Many recommend The Stone of Jordan(Unique Ring): +25% max mana base, +1 skills. I don't.

Amulet

The Eye of Etlich(Unique Amulet) : +1 to skills, +Cold Damage, +LS% (see notes below in the Gambling section for information about chill duration of the Eye of Etlich)

Rare amulet: Look for +1 to skills, +Dex, +MS%, +LS%, +L, +M, +Cold Damage, Negation(see below)

NOTES:

+2 skill amulets do exist, but you need to be level 67+ to use them, and you can only get them by Transmuting(see section below on the Horadric Cube) or (rarely) by killing Diablo in Hell mode. You can also Gamble for +2 skill amulets, but that requires a character at level 84+.

Amulets with the Negation Attribute(-4 magic damage) are very rare, and very useful. Combined with high elemental resistances, these amulets allow you to pretty much ignore poison attacks completely, as well as fire wall effects produced by Fire Wall or Meteor spells. This is of particular use in areas with a high number of magic-wielding enemies, such as the Arcane Sanctuary in Act II, Travincal in Act III, and the Durance of Hate in Act III, as well as against Diablo's deadliest attacks(Lightning Hose and Flame Twist). Greyform armor provides a -3 magic damage modifier, which may serve you as well.

IMBUE

An often-asked question is "What do I imbue, and when should I do it?" This is a question that is at once easy and difficult to answer:

What to Imbue

A Bow. No question about it. Use your Imbues on Gothic Bows, Chu-Ko-Nus, Rune Bows, or Double Bows, depending on what your taste in weaponry is. Don't waste them on Armor.

Early Imbue: Normal

One philosophy is to Imbue a good bow(long war bow if possible) early to make your life easier. I personally think a socketed bow will get you much farther than an Imbue will at these early levels(and it's certainly much more reliable). If you can't stand the thought of "wasting" an imbue, you can save the imbue from Normal, Nightmare, and Hell until you're ready to use them, although the Hell imbue may be fiendishly hard to get to before you past the "ideal" levels. See below for more information.

When to Imbue

It's common opinion that the levels between 29 and 38 are the "ideal" levels to Imbue a bow. At level 29, all the most important damage modifiers - "King's," "Merciless," and "Slaughter" become available. At level 34, the "Archer's" prefix (+2 to amazon skills) becomes available. At higher levels, new modifiers become available which may not be desirable(several high level elemental resistances appear at level 41+), but if you get beyond level 38 before you use your imbues, don't worry too much about it(it's not like you can do much about it, short of cheating, which I don't condone). Imbues are great if they work out, but they're pretty random, and you shouldn't depend on your imbues to get a good bow. Also note that if you Imbued a Chu-Ko-Nu, Rune Bow, or Double Bow you can "try again" using 6 perfect skulls in the Horadric Cube(see the section on the Cube below for more information).

THE HORADRIC CUBE

This amazingly handy quest item serves many purposes for the Bowazon. Besides being necessary to complete several quests, and being a useful "extra storage" space, there are a few tricks that can make your life easier:

Bolts to Arrows

Put two quivers of bolts in the Cube, Transmute, and get a quiver of arrows.

Arrows to Bolts

As above, only in reverse. Two quivers of Arrows produce one quiver of Bolts.

+2 Amulets

It is possible to produce a +2 to skills amulet. Take any amulet that you don't want, like an Amulet of Health, put it in the Cube with 3 Perfect Gems (of any type). You will get a randomly generated normal magic (blue) amulet that can have any of the possible modifiers for amulets. Be warned that this method produces +2 amulets rarely if at all, but it is the only way to get a +2 amulet short of killing Diablo in Hell over and over (well, you "could" Gamble for amulets at level 84+). It is NOT possible to produce a rare, unique, or set item using this technique. This method also works to produce normal magic items for other types of equipment, but I don't recommend using it for anything except amulets.

Prismatic Rings

It is possible to Gamble for prismatic resistance rings beginning at level 49, however, if you don't want to wait that long, you can attempt to use the Cube to produce one using the same formula as with amulets, only you should use any blue magic ring. This also works using the transmuted rare formula below.

Transmuted Rares

The newest addition to version 1.04 is the discovery of a new Horadric Cube recipe which allows you to turn awful rares into potentially excellent rares. 6 Perfect Skulls + 1 Rare item yields a Rare item of the same type but with new magical properties. Note that this will not work for Gothic Bows(since the Cube is a 3x4 space, and you can't fit a 2x4 Gothic with 6 perfect skulls), but will work for Rune Bows, Chu-Ko-Nus, and Double Bows. You can use this trick to "fix" truly awful imbues, provided you can find enough perfect Skulls. You can also generate rare +2 skills amulets this way by transmuting worthless rare amulets.

BOW DAMAGE

WARNING! If you hate math, skip this section entirely, and just rely on the character screen - it's "mostly" accurate.

There has been a lot of confusion about how to go about calculating how much damage your shots actually do. Here's a run-down of how to calculate the actual damage you do under 1.04: (NOTE: It is unknown at this time whether the 1-handed bug was fixed. I suspect is was not, but haven't been able to prove it one way or the other yet. These calculations assume the 1 handed bug was fixed. The impact overall is small at best, either way. See the Bow Bug section below for more information).

Total damage = Physical Damage + Elemental Damage

Average physical damage is defined as: (Average Bow Damage) * (1 + Dex/100 + BONUS) * (1 + Crit%/100)

For Normal Arrows and Multiple Shot, BONUS = 0

For Strafe and Guided Arrow, BONUS = the +damage%, represented as a fraction(i.e. 35% bonus is .35), or 35/100

If you are under the effects of a Might and/or Concentration Aura, increase the value of BONUS by adding +damage%/100 for each Aura.

Elemental damage is: Fire Damage * (1 - Monster Resistance%) + Cold Damage * (1 - Monster Resistance%), etc.

Let's break it down slowly with examples:

Let's say you have a Rare Gothic Bow that has the following statistics:

24-116 Damage

Enhanced Damage

+99 to Attack Rating

Adds 1-4 Cold Damage

Adds 4-17 damage

First, we need to see how to interpret this information. Let's say you have a level 40 Bowazon with Strafe at 7, Critical Strike at 5, Guided Arrow at 5, Cold/Ice/Freezing/Fire/Exploding/Immolation Arrow at 1, and 170 Dexterity. Let's assume you're using a rare ring with +2 to minimum damage.

So what sort of "actual" damage should you expect? Let's take a look: The Enhanced Damage and +99 to attack rating indicate a Knight's prefix. The "Adds 1-4 cold damage" indicates the "of Frost" suffix. The "Adds 4-17 damage" indicates the "of Performance" suffix (+4 minimum damage) and the "of Slaughter" suffix (+17 maximum damage) The +2 minimum damage from your ring is ignored because of a bug.

So the actual physical damage of your Gothic Bow is:

Average Bow Base Damage = (24 + 116) / 2 = 70.0 average damage

With a Normal arrow, your average damage looks like this:

(without Critical Strike)

(Average Bow Damage) * (1 + Dex/100) = (70) * (1 + 170/100) = 189 average physical damage

(with Critical Strike)

(Average Bow Damage) * (1 + Dex/100) * (1 + Crit%/100) = (70) * (1 + 170/100) * (1 + 42%/100) = 268.38 average physical damage

Our calculated damage for Strafe is:

(Average Bow Damage) * (1 + Dex/100 + Strafe%/100) * (1 + Crit%/100) = (70) * (1 + 170/100 + 35%/100) * (1 + 42%/100) = 303.17 average physical damage

Our calculated damage for Guided Arrow is:

(Average Bow Damage) * (1 + Dex/100 + Guided%/100) * (1 + Crit%/100) = (70) * (1 + 170/100 + 30%/100) * (1 + 42%/100) = 298.2 average physical damage

Now let's calculate elemental damage: + 1-4 Cold Damage = 2.5 cold damage average

OK, given these numbers, we can figure out what kind of damage our theoretical Amazon deals:

Normal Arrow and Multiple Shot use the standard Normal Arrow damage with Critical Strike = 268.38 + 2.5 cold damage average

Cold arrow Physical damage is halved, so you would deal (189 / 2) physical + 2.5 + 3 cold damage, or 94.5 physical + 5.5 cold damage with Cold Arrows.

Ice Arrow and Freezing Arrow add their damage to your physical arrow damage, so you would expect a damage of 189 physical + 2.5 + (6 to 10 for both Ice and Freezing, 8 average) cold or 189 physical +10.5 cold damage average with Ice Arrow and Freezing Arrow.

Fire Arrow and Exploding Arrow add fire damage to your Normal attack and are calculated the same way. Fire will deal 189 physical + 2.5 cold + 2.5 fire damage, and Exploding Arrow will deal 189 physical + 2.5 cold + 3 fire damage.

For Strafe, you will deal an average of 303.17 physical + 2.5 cold damage with Strafe.

Guided Arrow will deal 298.2 physical + 2.5 cold damage.

THE PATH OF SPEED

One of the best ways to increase the effectiveness of your bowazon is to obtain items(especially good bows) with Increased Attack Speed modifiers. Bowazons who maximize their attack speed are often called Speedazons. Bows and Crossbows can receive a Slightly Increased Attack Speed(SIAS) modifier or an Increased Attack Speed modifier(IAS). Magical gloves can receive a SIAS modifier. The Unique Heavy Belt Goldwrap and Twitchthroe, the Unique Studded Leather armor, have a SIAS modifier.

SIAS modifiers confer a +10 speed increase. IAS modifiers confer a +20 speed increase. These bonuses stack, so the maximum speed increase is an IAS bow with Goldwrap, SIAS gloves, and Twitchthroe, yielding a +50 speed increase.

You can get more information about weapon speeds here:

http://lurkerlounge.net-games.com/2i/speeds.shtml

The definitive guide for Speedazons, however is Double_Trouble's Speedazon guide, which can be found here:

http://www.elvardan.org/rebill/speedazon.html

PUT THEM ON ICE

With the release of new information from the Chaos Sanctuary about freeze and chill durations provided by various items, it is now possible to calculate how long a typical monster will be chilled/frozen by your cold damage effects. Note that it is now known that Chill and Freeze times are interchangeable, based on the primary type of the attack (i.e. cold damage items add their duration to ANY physical attack, and are cumulative). In Nightmare, these times are reduced by 50%, and in Hell, they are reduced by 75%.

Examining the possible equipment-based sources of cold damage available to a Bowazon, we have the following:

Bow with 3 Perfect Sapphires: 9 seconds

Bow with "of Frost": 5 seconds

Frostburn (Unique Gauntlets): 2 seconds

Amulet "of Frost": 5 seconds Belt "of Frost": 5 seconds

The Eye of Etlich (Unique Amulet): 2-12 seconds (see notes below under Gambling about chill duration of the Eye of Etlich)

So for maximal useful cold duration, we can use a socketed Gothic Bow with Frostburn, a Belt of Frost, and a maximal Eye of Etlich (11.96 seconds), and combine it with a level 1 Ice Arrow (2 seconds Freeze) to get a Freeze time of: 9 + 2 + 5 + 12 + 2 = about 30 seconds in Normal. This translates to about 15 seconds in Nightmare. This translates to about 7.5 seconds in Hell. You can fire a lot of arrows in 7.5 seconds. This calculation also holds for Freezing Arrow, which has a fixed 2.0 second base Freeze duration.

Note that Iceblink armor, the Unique Splint Mail, has the property "Hit Freezes Target", but due to the Special Effect Bug(see the Bow Bugs section below for more information), Iceblink's Freezing ability will NOT work with a bow. The same problem exists for the complete set of Vidala's Rig, which is also supposed to Freeze Targets - and does not.

In actuality, Frostburn gauntlets are not optimal. It is likely that you'll get better results with a pair of rare gloves with Slightly Increased Attack Speed. The 2 second additional chill time is pretty pointless considering how long other items chill things, as in Hell setting, Frostburns will only net you half a second of chill duration.

BURN THEM TO A CRISP

This is a long-standing issue of discussion amongst experienced Amazons:

How good is Immolation Arrow?

The answer to this question lies in several factors.

Bow Damage

Bows with low physical damage can sometimes be eclipsed by the massive fire damage Immolation can put out. Users of high damage bows, on the other hand, can depend more on the other bow skills to deal damage(Ice Arrow, Freezing Arrow, Strafe, Multiple Shot, Guided Arrow).

Skill Commitment

The problem many players have with Immolation Arrow is that it requires investment in 2 worthless skills(Fire Arrow, Exploding Arrow), and that it requires many points(at least 5 or more) to be worthwhile. To max out Immolation requires spending 22 skill points, and none of those points are prerequisites for any other skills.

Play style

Depending on how much moving around you do, and how much repositioning the monsters you fight do, you may find that Immolation will not work for you, particularly if you have a low level Valkyrie and/or low life(making your decoy far too easy to kill).

Resistances

Many monsters at the higher difficulty settings gain elemental resistances, and Fire Resistance is the most common type of resistance. Also, bosses who are Fire Enchanted or Magic Resistant will take significantly less damage from Immolation Arrows.

So why use Immolation Arrow?

Here are a few reasons:

Fire Wall damage is stackable. You can put multiple Immolation Fire Wall effects on the same area, increasing the damage many-fold.

Immolation works with Pierce, thus you can hit multiple monsters with the same volley.

Immolation is an elemental arrow effect, and thus always hits(Fire Wall effect is always generated)

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE

Ah, poison. One of the more maligned elemental effects in D2, poison damage is not useful past Normal for killing things. What is IS good for, and something that Javazons have known for some time, is stopping monsters from regenerating. In multiplayer games, particularly Nightmare and Hell, monsters can regenerate lost life, making it harder to kill them. Poison turns this ability off, making a small amount of poison damage advantageous, particularly in large multiplayer games.

NOTE: Poison damage on bows will negate the stun effect of high-damage hits, which may make killing monsters much trickier. Use poison damage with caution, as you will not be able to interrupt approaches with your arrows or bolts when they have poison damage.

STRATEGY/GENERAL PLAYING TIPS

Use your Decoy! Even when you have a Valkyrie, a Decoy is a good thing to use. My best advice is to put a decoy directly in front of you right at the beginning of a fight. That way, if any monsters walk past your Valkyrie, they'll hit your decoy, not you. This tactic will significantly reduce the amount of damage you take.

When fighting bosses without the aid of Immolation, Strafe is your key skill. Use your Valkyrie and Decoy to provide additional Strafe arrows and Strafe the boss (you'll get 3 arrows per volley, plus the slight damage bonus per arrow).

Strafe is great for taking out small packs of annoying monsters that move around a lot, such as Burning Souls and Cave Leapers.

Guided Arrow is great for killing off stragglers.

Guided Arrow is the key to defeating bosses with Teleportation. You can pretty much hit them no matter where they go.

The best way to use Guided Arrow is to get some separation, and always click towards the corners of the screen. This will make your Guided Arrows fly farther before they start tracking, as the tracking range is measured from the point you click on.

If you have Freezing Arrow, use it under severe lag conditions to buy yourself time to get away from a pack of monsters. Additionally, Freezing Arrow can save you when you are surrounded, as it will cause everything to freeze around you.

If you have Immolation Arrow, use it against bosses that block a lot or don't move around much(Andariel in particular is very vulnerable to Fire, but it's also very effective against The Smith, Duriel, Hephaesto, and Izual). Even if they block, the Fire Wall will still appear and cause damage.

Ice Arrow on the left click is a Good Idea. Not only will this explode anything you hit with your main attack (to foil those pesky Shamans, Mummies, and Corpse Eaters) but also the low base mana cost means you can get your mana back fairly easily with some mana steal.

Armor rating is generally meaningless. Mana and Life Steal are much more important. There are numerous articles on the net describing just how worthless Defense Rating is. Suffice to say that you should Never look at the defense rating of an item to determine its value, because Bowazons should avoid melee combat like the Plague.

When playing with Valkyrie, be careful not to run too fast. If you let your Valkyrie get too far off the map, she'll disappear and you'll have to recast her (every once in a while she'll teleport next to you instead).

Guided Arrow is exceptionally useful against some monsters. Soul Burners, Cave Leapers, and Fetishes are particularly difficult to deal with, but Guided Arrow hunts down stragglers very well.

The Paladin is your best friend in multiplayer. The Concentration and Might Auras of a Paladin can significantly increase your arrow damage at high levels. Fanaticism can increase your firing speed significantly. Smite is the most amazing boss-killing skill in the game against Hepheasto the Armorer and most other non-Super-Unique Bosses. Party with friendly Paladins at every opportunity.

Sorceresses can provide exceptional damage in the form of Static Field. Make sure to protect partied Sorceresses and coordinate to ensure they don't Teleport into danger.

Necromancers offer large amounts of extra Strafe arrows with their minions. They also offer excellent Curses: Amplify Damage, Decrepify, Lower Resist, and Dim Vision.

Barbarians in a party can increase your survival chances with Battle Orders. War Cry, Bash, and of course, Whirlwind can make your party killing speed much faster. Make sure to kill Fetish Shamans and Oblivion Knights as quickly as possible, to prevent Barbarians from getting hit by an Iron Maiden curse.

Of course, other Amazons are great to party with as well. Extra Valkyries and Decoys are always useful to soak up damage, and for extra Strafe arrows.

GAMBLING

Gambling is an overlooked activity in the game for many players. However, it is one of the best ways to obtain good equipment for your character. Some simple rules of thumb:

It is not possible to gamble Exceptional equipment(Ornate Plate, Gothic Bows, etc.) via Gambling. So don't Gamble on that Long War Bow in hopes of getting a rare Gothic Bow. It won't happen.

Defense is meaningless for a Bowazon. Don't spend a ton gambling on armor - it isn't necessary.

You can not Gamble a Unique which has already been in the current game. This is true regardless of whether the Unique is in someone else's inventory, on the ground, in the Cube, in a Stash, or whether it has been Identified or not.

The percent chance to get specific types of items from gambling is:

Blue Magic item 85%

Rare Magic item 7%

Set Magic Item 5%

Unique Magic Item 3%

If there is no set item of that item type, D2 will generate a blue magic item.

If all possible Uniques already exist in the game for that item type, a Rare Magic item is created instead. That means if you have all 3 unique amulets in the game, you have a 10% chance of Gambling a Rare amulet. If you have the Hand of Broc in the game, then you will have a 10% chance to Gamble a pair of Rare Leather Gloves.

For a Bowazon, since Defense does not matter, you can often gamble very good Bowazon equipment without spending a ton. Good, inexpensive equipment to gamble for includes(see the Equipment sections above to see what sort of modifiers on items you'd like to get from a Gamble):

Leather Gloves

Heavy Gloves

Boots

Heavy Belts(Goldwrap only)

Plated Belts

Quilted Armor

Studded Leather Armor(Twitchthroe only)

Caps

Skull Caps(Tarnhelm only)

Rings

Amulets

Under NO circumstances should you gamble for bows, unless you have some reason for wanting a Unique.

Unique Rings and Amulets

There are 3 unique rings and 3 unique amulets in Diablo 2. Of these, The Stone of Jordan and The Eye of Etlich are the most sought-after. What many do not know about these items is that they appear in a specific order.

The three rings are:

Nagelring

Manald Heal

The Stone of Jordan

The three amulets are:

Nokozan Relic

The Eye of Etlich

The Mahim-Oak Curio

In order for a unique ring or amulet to appear, the item above it on that list must already be present in the current game. Thus, the first unique ring that will appear will always be the Nagelring. If the Nagelring is present, then a unique ring that is generated by the game will be the Manald Heal. And if both the Nagelring and Manald Heal are in the game, then the Stone of Jordan will appear.

The same rules apply for amulets. The first unique amulet to appear will be the Nokozan Relic. For The Eye of Etlich to appear, the Nokozan Relic must already be in the game.

Special notes: The Eye of Etlich

The Eye of Etlich is the best unique amulet in the game, hands down. It has a special hidden feature which is not shown on the item screen: chill duration. The Eye of Etlich ranges from as little as 2 seconds of chill to as much as 12 seconds of chill. Because this is not shown on screen, the best way to test the duration of an Eye is to unequip everything except the Eye, go out to the Blood Moor in Act I of Normal, punch a monster, and count how many seconds the monster stays blue.

SPECIAL COMBAT TIPS

Boss Special Abilities

Lightning Enchanted (LEBs)

Shoot the boss from "above" or "below" them. The lightning travels out in a starburst pattern, but never directly up or down. If Valkyrie is available, you can also hide behind your Valkyrie as she soaks up the charged bolts.

Use Slow Missiles against these bosses to make their bolts slower

Multiple Shot

Depending on the monster, this can be anything from amusing to deadly. Stay on the move, and be ready to dodge anything coming at you, or hide behind a Valkyrie. Beware! This ability combines with Lightning Enchanted to produce "waves" of lightning that cut through your life orb like a hot knife through butter.

Teleportation

Probably the most annoying ability for any boss to have, your best bet is to lock a target on them using Ice Arrows or Guided Arrows and hope you hit them as they arrive to prevent the healing effect.

Aura Enchanted

There are several annoying auras that bosses can have. Most are not a problem for a Bowazon, with the single exception of...

Holy Freeze

This aura slows you down to a fraction of your normal speed, both in movement and attack speed. There is no good way to deal with this aura, just use high impact/damage to kill the boss as quickly as possible.

If you have Immolation, and can pin down the boss, Immolation Arrow is your best bet against these bosses, as its damage is the least dependent on your firing speed.

NOTE: "Can Not Be Frozen" items will NOT protect you against Holy Freeze - it is classified as a Slow effect, not a Cold effect.

Stone Skin

The high damage resistance granted by this power means your arrows will do very low amounts of damage. Use elemental arrow attacks (Immolation Arrow is best for this, as all of the damage is elemental) to hurt bosses enchanted with this power. If you don't have Immolation, Ice Arrow is a decent second choice.

Unique Bosses

Most unique bosses in the game (Rakanishu, for example) differ from normal bosses only in that their base abilities are always the same (plus 1 additional ability in Nightmare, and 2 additional in Hell settings). There are some Unique Bosses who are difficult to defeat under the best of circumstances, however:

Bremm Sparkfist

The deadliest of the Council Members in Act III, this denizen of Level 3 of the Durance of Hate normally comes Lightning Enchanted and Extra Fast. To defeat him, pin him with a Valkyrie and use Ice Arrows to slow his attacks and deal damage to him. Otherwise use the standard tactics for fighting Lightning Enchanted bosses noted above. In higher difficulty settings, watch out for this boss when he gets Teleportation, Multiple Shot or Holy Freeze, as those abilities can make him very hard to defeat.

Hepheasto the Armorer

The infernal guardian of the Hellforge in the River of Flames (Act IV) comes with the Extra Strong, Cursed, and Magic Resistant properties. His powerful attacks can quickly destroy your Valkyrie, your Decoy, and then you, especially so in the higher difficulty settings. The simplest way to kill him is to lead him to one of several "islands" in the River of Flames, pin him down with your Valkyrie while you make a break for the island, and then fire Guided Arrows from the safety of the other side of the lava until he dies (if you do it right, you should be able to establish a click-lock target with Guided Arrow while being out of his "I know where you are so I'll come around to the entrance" range. If he has teleportation, try to establish your click-lock when you can just barely see him on the screen, so that you won't trigger his Teleport. Watch out if he gets Teleportation, Lightning Enhanced, Stone Skin or Holy Freeze.

Lord de Seis

This Oblivion Knight boss lurks behind the 3rd seal of the Chaos Sanctuary, at the far end facing the entrance. His varied magical attacks can make short work of any player who isn't fully prepared. Before opening the seal, make sure to have a Decoy (and Valkyrie if available to you) active near you so you can get out of the very tight hallway into more open territory to fight and maneuver. Once in the open, you should have much less trouble killing this boss.

Beware: if he gets the Multiple Shot ability, he will fire 3(Normal) to 5(Hell) magic blasts or Bone Spirits at you, which will usually mean instant death if he hits you.

Also watch out for his Conviction Aura(a sickly lime-green wavy aura will appear under your feet). This aura will severely reduce your resistance to elemental attacks, and make his already-damaging spells extremely lethal. Another way to deal with him in Single Player, or small multiplayer games, is to Town Portal immediately after opening the Seal, and then running back from the Waypoint, to avoid getting surrounded.

THE "BIG 3" BOSSES

Duriel

This universally hated boss is the Kingpin of Act II. His lair in Tal Rasha's Tomb is tightly enclosed, with very little room for running. Worse yet, his Holy Freeze Aura will slow you down enough for him to use his Charge attack and kill you. The Bowazon has very few options against Duriel.

Tip #1: Town Portal. Cast a town portal just outside the entrance to his lair. This will give you time to do things like cast a Valkyrie before entering his chamber, as well as recast Town Portal before engaging him again if you die. Do NOT open a Town Portal inside his lair. If you die, you'll have to waste precious time casting a new Town Portal while Duriel eats you for breakfast.

Tip #2: Hire a mercenary. Duriel's opening attack when you first enter his chamber is almost certain death. Bring along some hired muscle to take the heat while you're "in transit."

Tip #3: Very far away, or right in his face. There are 2 ways for the Bowazon to fight Duriel - In melee range, and from a distance. Beware Duriel's Charge attack (similar to the Paladin skill), as it is pretty much instantly fatal in every difficulty setting.

Tip #4: Duriel's Holy Freeze aura works exactly like the Paladin aura. You CANNOT use the "Can Not Be Frozen" attribute items (Death's Guard, Arctic Set, etc.) to offset this.

The following strategies are offered to deal with Duriel:

The Cop-Out: Many advocate using 1 point in Jab with a good high-damage Pike to kill Duriel. Close in, Jab, Jab, Jab. Be warned that this ploy is very dangerous in Hell setting, as even his melee attacks do insane amounts of damage at that level.

The Run n' Gun Ploy: With Fastest Run boots, you might be able to get a couple of shots, run, fire, run, wash, rinse, repeat. Have some Stamina Potions handy, and use Ice Arrows to slow him even more, as his Holy Freeze will make it hard to keep your distance. You can try using Decoys or Valkyries, but Duriel makes very short work of both unless playing in multiplayer. This method is NOT for the faint of heart, or those who are slow on the trigger finger.

The Pin to Win Ploy: This doesn't work until you hit level 30+ and have Valkyrie (i.e. don't try this in Normal, it'll take you forever to get level 30 before getting to Duriel). Go down with a mercenary and a Valkyrie, avoid his Charge, and then recast the Valkyrie RIGHT NEXT to him. Shoot him with ice arrows (this works best with mana steal) and/or immolation arrows, and recast the Valkyrie when she's about to die. If you do it right, Duriel will not notice you and will instead focus his attentions on the Valkyrie.

The Stand Your Ground Ploy: Duriel's melee attacks are far weaker than his Charging attack (which is nearly always fatal). It is possible to stand your ground, possibly with a decoy and/or Valkyrie, and shoot him to death at pointblank range. Chug lots of potions, and pray you kill him before he kills you. As with the Pin to Win Ploy, immolation arrow is also useful here. This strategy works well in Normal and even Nightmare, but be warned that this approach is very dangerous in Hell setting, as Duriel's "weak" melee attacks can nevertheless kill you quite quickly.

BUG: Can I have that with Extra Cheese? There is apparently a bug in the code for Duriel's chamber which allows Crushing Blow items to work on him(reduce his life by half per successful crushing hit). The catch? Someone has to die. Once you reenter his chamber and re-equip, Crushing Blow works on him, making him very easy to kill with melee weapons(switch to a weapon and shield for this). This doesn't work well in Hardcore, for obvious reasons.

Mephisto

Mephisto is not particularly hard to kill with a Bowazon. The Council Members in Level 3 of the Durance of Hate are arguably tougher than Mephisto (particularly the infamous Extra Fast, Lightning Enchanted Bremm Sparkfist). Once you defeat all the council members, you can either use Guided Arrow to kill Mephisto from off the screen, or just Run 'n Gun him. I do not recommend using either Decoy or Valkyrie against Mephisto on any setting. Just remember to use the walls and doorways to your advantage when you can. If you're finding the Council Members too difficult or not worth your while, just lure them to a corner of the Durance, Town Portal back to town, and come back down the stairs to take on Mephisto.

Diablo

The "Big D" is not too hard to beat - IF you know what you're doing. Take down a lot of arrows, run to a corner of the Chaos Sanctuary which looks like a "+" (the walls extend from the corners slightly) and get Diablo on the other side of one of the "short" walls from you. Make sure you have some mana steal. Then happily plunk away at him with Guided Arrow (fire at an angle - the arrow will "bounce" back and hit him), settle down, drink a cup of coffee, and wait for the Quest dialog box to appear. You may need to shift positions once in a while, as Diablo sometimes has a tendency to poke his head around the corner. Do not use Decoy, do not use Valkyrie, do not pass Go(but feel free to grab the $200, er... rare or Unique magic item Diablo will drop for you). It is also possible to fight Diablo at close range. His Lightning Hose does lower damage at close range, and can be easily shrugged aside by drinking a potion with some -magic damage equipment and decent resistances to fire and lightning.

THE BOW BUGS

Under version 1.03, there were many bugs associated with bows. Patch versions 1.04 and 1.05 corrected some, but not all of these problems. They include the following:

1) Prefix Bug. This is what is most commonly referred to as the "bow bug", which kept %damage magical prefixes to not work property. Items affected had the text "Enhanced Damage", which ended up being a measly +1 to minimum and +1 to maximum damage. This bug was fixed in 1.04.

2) +min/+max Damage Bug. Bows with additions to damage like "+19 maximum damage" or "+1 to minimum damage" or "Adds 2-14 damage" are OK - those modifiers work fine. However, any OTHER item other than a bow which grants those bonuses will provide NO bonus. This includes items such as Bloodfist, Duskdeep, or any other item that mentions +x min or max damage. This bug was not fixed in 1.04.

3) 1 Handed Damage Bug. Bows use the 1 handed damage(which is not shown on screen) instead of their 2 handed damage. This causes some bows(such as Gothic Bows) to do less than their listed base damage. 1 Handed Damage on a Gothic is 10-48, not the 10-50 claimed by the item description. In general, you can assume any high-end bow deals about 1 less average damage than expected because of this bug. This bug appears to be not fixed in 1.04.

4) Pierce Bug. Pierce is really strange. When an Amazon successfully Pierces a monster with a Freezing attack, as long as both the Amazon and the monster do not move, all arrows fired by the amazon at the monster will (a) always hit, (b) always pierce, and (c) always deal the same amount of damage. This bug was not fixed in 1.04.

5) Special effect bug. The only special effects known to work with bows are Piercing Attack and Elemental Damage. Any item or set that provides Enhanced Damage works as listed in bug #1 above. Freezes Target, Blinds Target, Slows Target, Open Wounds, Crushing Blow, Monster Flee, %damage to Undead(from Socketed Diamonds or other sources), and Knockback do not work no matter what item produces the effect. This bug was not fixed in 1.04.

6) Guided Arrow bug. Guided Arrow's damage bonus did not exist. Instead, Guided Arrows used to deal only 95%(5% penalty!) of Normal Arrow damage, regardless of sLvl. This bug was fixed in 1.04.

7) Strafe Damage bug. Strafe's calculation was incorrect. It multiplied, instead of added to, Dexterity, making Strafe significantly more powerful in terms of damage than normal arrows. This bug was fixed in 1.04.

8) Strafe Extra Arrow bug. Strafe fires a minimum number of arrows equal to the number of monsters PLUS the number of neutrals (non-allied players and their minions) PLUS the number of friendly units(allies and their minions) in range, not counting yourself (limited, of course, by your current sLvl arrow limit). This bug was not fixed in 1.04.

9) Freezing Arrow bug. Freezing Arrow appears to "splash" its physical damage, as well as its cold damage, on all targets within its area of effect. It is not known whether this is a bug or intended, but I believe it is a bug. This bug was not fixed in 1.04. For the bugs which affect damage, reference the examples in the Bow Damage calculations above for more details.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

Magic Finding

One of the most interesting things to do in D2 is to find rare and unique items. To that end there are a number of items which can increase your chance to get a good item from monsters. Boots, Rings, Amulets, and Gloves can all possess the Magic Find property naturally. The Unique Heavy Belt Goldwrap has a 30% chance to find magic items. Tarnhelms(Unique Skull Cap) possess between 25% and 49% magic find, and a socketed helmet with 2 perfect Topazes can have between 42 and 48% magic find.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information, the Amazon Basin site has a number of detailed Amazon-class specific guides:

http://jamesbroome.thehospital.com/amazonbasin/guides.htm

AK404 also has an excellent guide for Bowazons. You can find it at:

http://www.freespeech.org/ak404/readme/game/amazon_ak404.htm

Diabloii.net also sports a number of guides:

http://www.diabloii.net

Hope this helps some of you out there.

Happy Hunting,

Icemage

Baroness Lolita, Open cLvl 68 Bowazon

Baroness Lolita_Ice, clvl 64 Bowazon, USWest