The Amazon
The Amazon possesses strong
abilities. Her passive skills are employed naturally and easily, no matter
which weapon she has equipped. She should almost always consider
developing her Critical Strike skill, which will double her attack damage.
The Avoid and Dodge skills are also considered essential. Beyond the
passive skills, she has an important choice. Does she wish to equip
javelins or bows?
The Amazon is easier to develop in her
characteristics. While she will require enough strength to wear good
armor, enough vitality to avoid quick death and enough energy to use her
skills, her main concern is dexterity. For the Amazon and her weapon
choices, dexterity increases not only her ability to avoid damage and her
ability to hit her opponent, but it also increases the damage she
inflicts.
In terms of items, it is largely dependent on which path
the Amazon has chosen. If she has chosen the path of the bow, a good
strategy is to aid Charsi in her quest, and upon the completion imbue a
bow with magical abilities. If she has chosen to develop her javelin
abilities, it would be better to imbue a suit of armor or a shield. Rings,
Amulets and Weapons that Steal Mana with each attack will allow the Amazon
to constantly use Bow, Crossbow, Javelin and Spear skills in
battle.
Bowazons
"Bowazon" is the term people have commonly
dubbed an Amazon that focuses on Bow and Crossbow skills.
Bowazons
should focus in Strength (about 95-125), and Dexterity. Dexterity as seen
above is calculated in determining how much damage your bow will do. You
will probably want to raise Vitality to survive higher difficulty levels
and possible find items that add to life. Typically you will not want to
raise Energy, but will instead want to use items that steal % Mana. If
Strength and Vitality are taken care of, dump more points into Dexterity,
which will raise your Defense and Bow Damage.
Skills
Long term,
most Bowazons focus in either Strafe (10-20) or Multishot (6-10). You also
have the option of using both although it's best to focus in one or the
other. Freezing Arrow (1-10), Immolation Arrow (0-10), Guided Arrow (1)
can also be useful for specific situations. For Passive Skills, Critical
Strike (3-6), Inner Sight (1), Slow Missiles (1), Decoy (1), Valkyrie
(20), Dodge (1-3), Avoid (1-3), Evade (1), Penetrate (as needed), Pierce
(3-14). Jab (1 if necessary)
Use Decoys and the
Valkyrie
Valkyries and Decoys are very important to the Bowazon. Since
the Bowazon is a ranged attacker, you want to keep monsters away from you.
You can use Decoys and Valkyries to keep monsters busy and away from you.
They can also help deflect damage while you attack. Valkyries and Decoys
will cause you to fire additional arrows when using Strafe as
well.
Offense and Magical Bonuses over Defense
Defense is
usually not a concern when playing a Bowazon. Keep in mind that with the
best possible equipment (and no shield), 20 Evade/Avoid/Dodge, about the
best you could hope to have is about a 54% of avoiding being hit by a
level 80 monster, depending on your level, your defense, and the monster.
So generally you want to avoid trying for high Defense plates, or raising
Strength beyond 95 (Gothic Bows), 100 (Silk of the Victors), or 125 (War
Boots, War Gauntlets, War Belts). While Defense certainly doesn't hurt,
points in Strength could be better spent in Dexterity or Vitality, and
high Defense items can often be swapped out for items that give you
resistances, bonuses to skills, and other useful Magical Bonuses.
%
Mana Steal and % Life Steal, Cold Damage
Since you won't be raising
Energy, % Mana Steal is very important. This would be important even if
you did raise Energy to be able to constantly use your skills without
running out of Mana. % Life Steal will keep the Amazon at full health and
will allow her to quickly recover from damage, and use minimal to no
potions. Cold Damage is also very useful as it will cause your arrows to
chill monsters. They also have the chance of shattering (leaving no
corpse) which will prevent monsters from raising their fallen friends.
Where you get the Cold Damage, is not important, popular choices are on
the Bow itself, Eye of Etlich, Frostburns, or on other equipment, 1 point
of Cold Damage is all it takes.
Find a Good Bow
The most
important equipment to the Bowazon is of course her bow. Gothic Bows are
the top of the line bows. Gothic Bows can only be found in Nightmare and
Hell Difficulty. Typically they are found in Act III and Act IV but they
can be found wherever Long War Bows can be found. Until you can find a
Gothic Bow, take what you can get, Rune Bows might be good until you find
a good Gothic Bow. Maximum damage is the most important stat on your bow.
Other things that are nice are Elemental Damage (which can be resisted), %
Mana/Life Steal, and +1-2 to Amazon Skills. Weapon Speed is also very
important depending on which skill you use. You may wish to use a lower
damage bow with a higher weapon speed. Any other useful stats are a
bonus.
Imbue a Gothic Bow
Your best chance (if not through
Trading) of finding a good bow is to Imbue a Gothic Bow. Save all 3 of
your Imbues to Imbue Gothic Bows. You can purchase a Gothic Bow from
another player or find one yourself. Keep in mind any non Magical Gothic
Bow can be used for Imbuing. You may also be able to trade for a good
Gothic Bow, but high damage Gothic Bows are rightly highly priced. Usually
it's best to Imbue at around Character Level 34-38. The reason for this is
that at higher levels, more Magical Prefixes and Suffixes will be
available which will improve the chance of you finding your most desired
Magical Attributes. The Prefix/Suffix levels of Kings (35), Merciless
(32), Slaughter (25), Leech (6), Bat (6), Alacrity (8), Archer
(40)
Space
One downside to being a Bowazon is that additional
inventory space is taken up by Arrows or Bolts. Remember that two Horadric
Cube formulae will help you out:
2 Quivers of Bolts = 1 Quiver of
Arrows
2 Quivers of Arrows = 1 Quiver of Bolts You can store extra
Arrows or Bolts in your Horadric Cube, or rely on finding Bolts and Arrows
in the field. You can also just return to town when you run out. Stack up
your arrows every so often so that they are in full packs of 250 or 150
for Bolts.
Parties
Look to team up with a Paladin using high
Level Concentration. Many Bowazons tell tales of that being the ultimate
combination.
Bosses
If you're having trouble with Bosses such as
Duriel, Mephisto and Diablo, you may want to try using Level 1 Jab with a
Lance. Another option is a good shield and one handed weapon if you don't
wish to spend a skill point in Jab. You may find this easier than trying
to kill these bosses with your bow depending on your skills, skill levels,
character levels and playing style.
Duriel
Bring a Hireling
along, use your Valkyrie, and Decoy to distract Duriel. You may wish to
move up to Melee range, even when using a bow to avoid Duriel's Charge
attack (often a one hit kill).
"Spearazon" or "Jabazon"
are the terms people have commonly dubbed an Amazon that focuses on Spear
skills. Spearazons are an interesting and challenging alternative to
Barbarians and Paladins for a melee combat warrior.
Skills
Jab
is essential to a Spearazon. Jab ignores weapon speed so it will allow a
slow Lance to hit very fast. Impale(1), can be used against Lightning
Enchanted Monsters. For Passive and Magic Skills, Critical Strike (3-6),
Inner Sight (1), Slow Missiles (1), Decoy (1), Valkyrie (1-20), Dodge
(3-6), Avoid (3-6), Evade (3-6), Penetrate (as needed).
Use Decoys
and the Valkyrie
Valkyries and Decoys are very important to the
Spearazon. You can use Decoys and Valkyries to keep monsters busy and away
from you. They can also help deflect damage while you attack.
Find
a good Lance
Look for a good Lance. You can save your Imbue for Lance
or try to trade for one.
Equipment
Defense can be helpful to a
Spearazon. Build up your Strength to 170 to wear high Defense Plates, War
Belts, and War Boots. You may wish, however, to always choose resistances
over Defense. Find out what works best for you.
% Mana Steal and %
Life Steal, Cold Damage
Since you won't be raising Energy, % Mana Steal
is very important. This would be important even if you did raise Energy to
be able to constantly use your skills without running out of Mana. % Life
Steal will keep the Amazon at full health and will allow her to quickly
recover from damage, and use minimal to no potions. Mana Steal is
important to recover the cost of casting Valkyries and Decoys. Cold Damage
is also very useful as it will cause your attacks to chill monsters. They
also have the chance of shattering (leaving no corpse) which will prevent
monsters from raising their fallen friends. Where you get the Cold Damage,
is not important, popular choices the Eye of Etlich, Frostburns, or on
other equipment, 1 point of Cold Damage is all it takes.
The Unique
Goblin Toe Light Plated Boots, can be very helpful for their 25% Chance of
Crushing Blow which is a chance of reducing a monster's health by 50% in a
single blow. Although with a high damage spear, boots with Fastest
Run/Walk, Resistances, and Life are also an option. You can also use
Rattlecage, Unique Gothic Plate for another 25% Chance of Crushing Blow if
you find Hit Causes Monster to Flee to be valuable.
The Amazon can
only get +Skills on Bows, so you will not find these +Amazon Skills on
Spears.
It's always best to try to maximize your resistances,
especially to Lightning and Fire.
Strategies
Spearazons require
more strategy and patience. Spearazons can have it rough on higher
difficulty levels due to lack of armor, armor raising skills, and a
shield. Strategy can be very important to your survival. Try picking off
monsters one a time. Use hit and run tactics. Use the Valkyrie and Decoy
to help reduce the number of monsters attacking
you.
"Javazon" is the term people have commonly dubbed
an Amazon that focuses on Javelin skills. A Javazon uses Javelins and a
Shield. When forced to fight in melee combat, the Javazon uses Jab and a
Javelin or Jab with a Spear.
Skills
Poison Javelin(1), Plague
Javelin(1-20), and Lighting Fury(20) are the main skills of the Javazon.
At first Poison Javelin is used, then Plague Javelin, then finally
Lightning Fury once available. Plague Javelin and Lightning Fury can both
be used. For Passive and Magic Skills, Critical Strike (3-6), Inner Sight
(1), Slow Missiles (1), Decoy (1), Valkyrie (1-20), Dodge (5-11), Avoid
(5-11), Evade (1), Penetrate (as needed), Pierce (3-14).
Use Decoys
and the Valkyrie
Valkyries and Decoys are very important to the
Javazon. You can use Decoys and Valkyries to keep monsters busy and away
from you. They can also help deflect damage while you
attack.
Equipment
For Defense, you can decide if you want to
focus in Defense items or treat your Javazon more like a Bowazon which
would mean picking items useful Magical Bonuses over Defense. If you focus
on Defense, raise your Strength high enough to wear high Defense plates,
otherwise you can keep it low and use Mage Plates or Unique Plates such as
Goldskin, Twitchthroe, or Silks of the Victor.
The Unique Goblin
Toe Light Plated Boots, will help make up for your low melee damage with
25% Chance of Crushing Blow (chance of reducing a monster's health by 50%
in a single blow). Most Javazons rely on these exclusively to survive in
Hell Difficulty. This can also be combined with Rattlecage, a Unique
Gothic Plate for another 25% Chance of Crushing Blow if you find Hit
Causes Monster to Flee to be valuable.
% Mana Steal and % Life
Steal, Cold Damage
Since you won't be raising Energy, % Mana Steal is
very important. This would be important even if you did raise Energy to be
able to constantly use your skills without running out of Mana. % Life
Steal will keep the Amazon at full health and will allow her to quickly
recover from damage, and use minimal to no potions. Mana Steal is
important to recover the cost of casting Valkyries and Decoys. Cold Damage
is also very useful as it will cause your Javelins to chill monsters. They
also have the chance of shattering (leaving no corpse) which will prevent
monsters from raising their fallen friends. Where you get the Cold Damage,
is not important, popular choices are on the Eye of Etlich, Frostburns, or
on other equipment, 1 point of Cold Damage is all it takes.
A
Javazon uses a shield which helps protect her in battle, much more so than
a Spearazon. Sigon's Guard (+1 to All Skills, 69% Blocking) is a great
shield. Later on a Socketed Tower Shield with 3 Perfect Diamonds will be
much better on higher difficulty levels for the resistances. The Unique
Armor Twitchthroe might also be an option for it's 25% blocking which
stacks with the 3 Diamond Shield to make 74% Chance to block.
It's
always best to try to maximize your resistances, especially to Lightning
and Fire.
Strategies
Some Monsters you will need to use your
melee attack. When this is the case, use Jab and the Javelin class weapon
with the most damage you can find. You could also carry a spear class
weapon around such as a Lance to use with Jab whenever you need to (or
keep it in your Stash). Jab a few times then finish the monsters off with
Plague Javelin or Lightning Fury.
For Lightning Enchanted Monsters,
it's best to throw Javelins at them rather than using your melee Jab
attack.
Although this term isn't commonly used, a
Tankazon is an Amazon that decides to rely on Passive and Magic skills and
skip both Bow and Crossbow Skills, and Javelin and Spear Skills. The
Tankazon uses a one-handed weapon and shield. This style of play is very
challenging and certainly not as popular as other styles of play. The
Amazon can use her passive skills to help with this style of play, but she
will not be able to use any skills to boost her damage (besides Critical
Strike). She'll have to rely on Critical Strike and her equipment to do
enough damage to kill the enemy. The Tankazon can be a challenging style
of play for those players looking to be different from the hordes of
Bowazons, Javazons and Spearazons.
Attributes
Spend enough
points into Strength so that you can wear the equipment that you wish to
wear. You will probably want at least 103 Strength for Rune Swords, 125
for War Boots and War Belts and 127 for Ancient Swords. Spend enough
points into Dexterity to equip the weapons you wish to use: Rune Swords
require 79 Dexterity, Ancient Swords require 88 Dexterity. Spend the rest
of your points into Vitality.
Skills
Critical Strike (5-7),
Inner Sight (1), Slow Missiles (1), Decoy (1), Valkyrie (1-20), Dodge
(7-20), Avoid (5-10+), Evade (5-10+), Penetrate (as needed). If you run
out of places to spend your points, build up Valkyrie, Penetrate, Dodge or
Evade.
Use Decoys and the Valkyrie
Valkyries and Decoys are also
important to the Tankazon. You can use Decoys and Valkyries to keep some
of the monsters busy and away from you.
Equipment
For Defense
you can decide whether you want to try to maximize blocking by using
Twitchthroe and a 3 Diamond Shield, or try for higher Defense by heading
up to Ornate Plates (170 Strength), and use a little less blocking. You'll
probably have more success sticking with Twitchthroe and a resistance
shield which will bring you up to 74% Blocking (max).
% Mana
Steal and % Life Steal, Cold Damage
Since you won't be raising Energy,
% Mana Steal is very important. This would be important even if you did
raise Energy to be able to constantly use your skills without running out
of Mana. % Life Steal will keep the Amazon at full health and will allow
her to quickly recover from damage, and use minimal to no potions. Mana
Steal is important to recover the cost of casting Valkyries and Decoys.
Cold Damage is also very useful as it will cause your Tankazon to chill
monsters. They also have the chance of shattering (leaving no corpse)
which will prevent monsters from raising their fallen friends. Where you
get the Cold Damage, is not important, popular choices are on the Eye of
Etlich, Frostburns, or on other equipment, 1 point of Cold Damage is all
it takes.
The Unique Goblin Toe Light Plated Boots, will help make
up for your low melee damage with 25% Chance of Crushing Blow (chance of
reducing a monster's health by 50% in a single blow). If you decide to use
something else, try to find Fastest Run/Walk Boots, with Fastest Hit
Recovery and other useful Magical Bonuses.
A Tankazon uses a shield
which helps protect her in battle. Sigon's Guard (+1 to All Skills, 69%
Blocking) is a great shield. Later on a Socketed Tower Shield with 3
Perfect Diamonds will be much better on higher difficulty levels for the
resistances. The Unique Armor Twitchthroe might also be an option for it's
25% blocking which stacks with the 3 Diamond Shield to make 74% Chance to
block.
For a weapon, look for a good Rune Sword, Ancient Sword, or
Battle Hammer. It's best to look for the fastest weapon possible. Find
items that increase attack speed such as Gloves and the Unique Goldwrap
Belt.
It's always best to try to maximize your resistances,
especially to Lightning and
Fire.