Lld 101 Level 30 Bowa Guide - Topic

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Feb 15 2023 05:41pm

LLD101 LEVEL 30 Bowa

Introduction to PvP and LLD/MLD PvP

Player vs Player (PvP for short) was an integral part of the game Diablo 2 : Lord Of Destruction (D2LOD). While the PvP community as a % of the total D2LOD population was small, the pursuit of PvP gear invariably made Player vs Monster (PvM) players rich, with players repeating the Leveling, Magic Finding, Upgrading and Selling process each Ladder Season. This pursuit of PvP items also applied at lower dueling brackets. Low Level Dueling ("LLD") encompasses the dueling brackets 9, 18 & 30 and 49, both "Click and Hold" MELEE DUELING and "standard" dueling outside town. Level 9 PvP is typically referred to as Very Low Level Dueling or "vLLD" while Level 30 PvP is mainly what people refer to when they say "LLD". Level 49 PvP is typically referred to as Mid Level Dueling or "MLD". There are some slight variations to the dueling brackets from time to time i.e. Level 12's competing with restrictions against level 9's and characters above level 49, with restrictions, competing against level 49's, respectively. Duels take place in the Blood More in normal difficulty ( Melee duels "Click and Hold" might sometimes take place in Inner Cloister) and Mana Potions (and all other potions) are never used. Players have played LLD for decades, spending sometimes years to perfect their characters. Some players to this day are still trying to perfect their characters in D2LOD. The Journey to perfection of a PvP character has restarted in the game Diablo 2: Resurrected (D2r) and with changes to the game (FHR, new mechanic's, new runewords, new charms, new synergies, redundant or missing guides etc.) a new set of guides is being written to support new and old players coming to the game. The pursuit of perfection involves tens of hours of effort - its a labor of love and is often frustrating (item availability in particular!), never the less, we all need a HOBBY, and for some people, THIS IS IT.

As with all PvP dueling brackets in D2r, the goal is to perfect your character as best you can in order to increase your Attack/Defence sothat you can do more damage and defend more. The lower the bracket, the more your gear will play an integral part of your success. For Melee only duels the skill lies in perfecting your character, theory crafting items and jewels (and your overall character) and the more you do this, the closer you will be to a perfected character. In this regard players will always seek to Min-Max their characters to perfection. Min-max is a gaming term used to describe the process of minimizing your weaknesses and maximizing your strengths. This means having your character rushed through normal, nightmare and hell, completing Anya and all Stat/Skill Quests (get a friend to help otherwise you might level up by accident), getting a perfect inventory and equipping your character with the best gear and sockets possible. In D2r, and especially for level 9-30 this also includes know what the best jewels are noting there have been changes since D2LOD.

Introduction to Level 30 "LLD"

As with all brackets, there are two types of dueling : "Open" and "Melee". This guide is specific to OPEN i.e. running around the blood more (and trying to kill your opponent while not dying).

(A) Limitations to dueling at Level 30 : This dueling bracket has skill, stat and item limitations (based on level) not seen at in High Level Dueling. Remember now, the required Level is 30.

(B) Items - As there are so many builds available at 30, there are a host of viable items (and jewels). There are common items across multiple builds (Stones of Jordan, Vipermagi, Frostburns, Mage Fists as well as "Tele-Staffs"). Tele-Staff need their own mention - its basically a staff that grants the skill teleport and you can expect Barb's, nevermind Necro's and Assa's etc, to have one. Bowa's dont use one, as they need a shield on switch vs melee opponents.

(C) Damage modifiers at LLD: All of the high level runewords are off the table due to level requirements. Grief is level 59 so we dont need to talk about whether its allowed or not (hint: its not), but BOTD is also out due to its level requirements. Oath is for MLD so thats out as well, which leaves us with Honor Runeword (typically used on a paladin) or as of D2r - the Insight Runeword (can now be created in bows). The maximum %ED you can get on rare weapons at this level is 165ed (this is 2 mods btw, 100%ed and 65%ed respectively - this is why some weapons with 101 damage are over level 30). In this regard insight can have much higher %ED (275% enhanced damage) with the only drawback being the runeword has no innate IAS. Rare Bows, Rogue Bows, Insight Bow and "Robo's" are all on the table for a 30 Bowa.

(D) Jewels & Runes - for alot of builds, including the bowa, its all about your jewels : The maximum %ed you can get at this level is 20%. The perfected jewels you are looking for look like this:

24 max <- The standard jewel for level 30 Bowa's - Can be put everywhere
20ed, 15 max <- The standard Jewels in a Bow / weapon
20ed, 18 max 9 dex <- A Trophy Bowa Weapon Jewel
20ed, adds 8-18 <- The dream Bowa Weapon Jewel (beats the one above)
adds 12-18 damage <- Can be put in armor / circ or shield
20ed, 18 max, -15% req <- A Trophy Bowa Weapon Jewel (some users put something like this in their bow)
20ed, 6 str, 9 dex, 30 Cold Res (or Light Res or Fire Res) <- Historically this would be BIS in circlet (d2lod) now its just "very very good" and should not be put in bowa armor or circ (max damage is better)
18 max, 6 str, 9 dex <- Can be put in armor or circ
8-18, 9 dex <- Can be put in Armor, Circ or Shield - This is now the dream jewel for bowa's circ and Armor.
20ed 9 dex < - the standard Bowa shield jewel.

Casters would typically use Pskulls or stuff like this:

9 dex, 20 mana
9 dex, 15 all res

Or on the higher end:

6 str, 9 dex, 15 mana, 12 damage to mana
6 str, 9 dex, 15 mana, 30 single res

(E) Charms - Unfortunately, grand charms are not best in slot for most builds at this level, so we need x40 small charms...and small charms (perfected ones anyway) are expensive. For a Bowa you are looking at:

3 Max, 10-20 ar, 15 Life
3 Max, 3 FRW, 10-20 ar
3 FRW, 12 mana
3 FRW, 5 allres -

A comment on resistance here - I recommend making up resistance from charms rather then from jewels. Long term you will get resistance from Rings/Amulet/Circ/Boots, so bite the bullet as it were and get resistance from charms (or boots) rather then putting inferior jewes in your items.

Overview of Level 30 Bowa

Much HAS changed D2LOD to D2r for Bowas. critically the skill, Multiple Shot, now acts in synergy with the skill Guided Arrow to give bowa's a MASSIVE damage boost. Where before a Bowa looked to bench mark 1200 max damage with Guided Arrow (with the dream being 1500 max Guided Arrow), now with standard jewels, we are hitting 1800+ Guided Arrow. The trade off here is to your passives. Below is to my mind the "standard" skill distrbution to a LLD bowa now.

I invite players to experiment with adding more points (1-4) to crit strike rather then the 1 outlined above.

Noting that you have virtually no room for manuever with skill points, my personal preference for Circlet and Amulet (as it was in D2LOD) is +2 Passive & Magic, rather then +1 Amazon Skills.

Furthermore, with this massive damage boots the Stat Distribution now heavily favours playing Vita Bowa (Str/Dex for gear all else to Vit) rather then Dex Bowa (Str for gear all other points to Dex).

Pros to the Build

High Damage
Amazing in Team games
"Guided" Arrows

Cons to the Build

Can be VERY expensive to make
Can be VERY hard to get upgrades
Lack of mobility (no teleport) / Easy to be BM'd

But what about Faster Hit Recovery ?

Bowa's typically had (and have) little or no FHR.

The Items that make the build

Circlets

1. Peasant Crown (Starter Helmet)

2. Magic 2 Passive (or +1 Ama), 30frw, 2sox or 30ed, 30frw, 2sox

3. Rare Circlet 2 Passive (or +1 Ama) 30frw, 2sox + Adds (Life, Mana, Repl Life, Damage, resistances)

Starting out you are really aiming for 30frw and 2sox. if thats with either 2passive or +30ed, great. Put x2 24 maxers in it (or better).

Amulet

1. Rare Amulet 2 Passive (or +1 Ama) with Life and Mana. 30life, 70mana would be basic

2. Rare Amulet 2 Passive (or +1 Ama) with 60 Life and 90 Mana

Your End Goal is something like:

3. 2 Passve, 9dex 60 Life 10 Repl 90 Mana 15 all res

A trophy zon amulet typically needs Replenish life to be "there".

Body Armor

1. 3Sox 80 Life Breast Plate or Mage Plate - put x3 24maxers (or better) in it. do not use %ed jewels

2. Some builds use the unique armor Twiththroe - put x1 24 maxer (or better) in it. do not use %ed jewels

3. If your having trouble with Barbs and you can afford it (and its available) Erep Armor and Erep Shield is something to keep an eye out for. again, maxers here.

The Weapon

You Need a Bow and Javs

The Bow

1. Rogue's Bow Upped.

For Bows, I highly recommend Upped Rogues Bow as the starter weapon of choice - Its easy to obtain and only needs 1 jewel.

Below is Rogues Bow, using the standard jewel "20ed/15max"

2. Robo. A "robo" is a superior Ashwood Bow with 5 Sockets. You want to put x3 Shaels (or 2) in it with x2 (or 3) damage jewels. 3 shaels means you can use KB gloves (recommended) 2 shaels means more damage (not recommended).

The one on the left is x1 20/15 and x1 24 maxer and the one on the right is x2 20/15 jewels.

This post was edited by ferdia on Feb 15 2023 05:58pm

ferdia

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Feb 15 2023 05:41pm

3. Rare Bow.

A rare bow should either be Ashwood or Double Bow. The minimum requirements should be something like: 140ed 20ias 2sox with +max damage. Check max roll to ensure it beats a basic robo. The Dream is a bow that beats a Robo and has CTC Amp. See below as an example.

Javs and Shield

The Javs

Realistically speaking everyone will not be satisfied with their Bowa unless they have Eth Rep Harpoons. At this stage in the game the average damage of harpoons ranges from between 150 and 190 Throw Damage. That equates to :

The Natural upgrade of that is to have 10% IAS, and the Natural upgrade again, is to have 30% IAS. After that you look for a higher %ED and Max Damage (and CTC Amp but dont hold your breath)

1. Harpoon 86-135%ed Eth Rep

At this stage in the game this is about as good as it gets currently:

This post was edited by ferdia on Feb 15 2023 05:59pm

ferdia

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Feb 15 2023 05:55pm

The Shield

1. Artisan's Kite Shield of Deflecting (3 Sox)
2. Rare Kite/Grim 30/20 Block, 2 Sox and 5 Repl + Adds

Inside of which you want to put:

x3 (or x2) 20ed 9dex (or better) Jewels.

Your shield should basically look like this (or better):

[ do not use 24 maxer's in shield, its less damage and you dont get that life boost from the 27 Dex from the 3 Jewels ]

This post was edited by ferdia on Feb 15 2023 06:00pm

ferdia

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Feb 15 2023 06:00pm

Your Bow and Your Build

There are a variety of ways to build your Bowa. Its all about your budget. Below I will outline various setups. To make it easier to quantify the difference, all these builds will be "vita" setup and a 50/50 charm setup (50% 3frw, 50% 15life). It is strongly recommended to try both max vita build and max dex build. Player discretion can be used (for now) to determine how much frw you are comfortable playing with. historically more was always better.

The Basic LLD Bowa - Rogue's Bow

Upped Rogue's Bow and Death Combo: https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/o501067w

Brief outline: In D2LOD it WAS (past tense) optimal to have Max Damage in armor and %ED in circlet. This is no longer the case. With the damage boost from the skill Multiple Shot Synergy you now want max damage jewels in both Armor and Circlet. %ED jewels in Armor and/or Circlet is a thing of the past. This basic setup included Death Set Gloves and Belt - 30% IAS and Cannot be Frozen. This attained a better frame rate then a Robo Bow (read: comparable or better damage) and was what made a Rogue's Bow setup so good. However, this setup is pretty much defunct now noting all of your opponents use teleport and therefore having knockback gloves is almost mandatory. While you can play this setup eventually you will want to upgrade or have a setup including knockback. Some background to this setup : In D2LOD (the old game) the Euro players only allowed teleport on Sorc and Druid, whereas the NA players had teleport for all. With the advent of D2r for a variety of reasons (culture/changes to the game w/e) we adopted the teleport rule (unified servers ergo unified ruleset). In such a scenario a zon basically needs knockback, and therefore the Rogue's setup is just inferior (with KB, less damage, without KB die faster).

Therefore the Basic Zon, with Rogue Bow and Crafted Gloves (and String or Death Belt) looks like this now: https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/2701065m Life: 875, Damage: 88-1397 GA

The Standard LLD Bowa - Using a Robo

Robo Bow with KB : https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/lt0106l8 Life: 875, Damage: 87-1557 GA

the +3 bow skills from the Robo reduces the mana cost of guided arrow. with x2 24 maxers you are beating a Rogues Bow. When you consider that you can use two insane jewels, a Robo is simply better the a Rogue's. If you can afford 24 maxers you therefore should be able to afford a Robo (and never use Rogue's bow). Depending on your build you should determine if 20ed/max is better then using a 24 maxer. At this stage in the game we have already seen close to perfect jewels i.e. 20ed 18max 9dex as well as 20ed adds 7-15 damage (20ed adds 8-18 is perfect).

Delving into Rare Bows - Ashwood, Double, Cedar and Rune Bow's

When considering rare bows you are really for a good damage boost to offset the loss of +3 skills.

Example 1: Ashwood Bow 20ias / 165ed / 20 max / 2 Sox (X2 Shael) : https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/cf010696 Life: 827, Damage : 208-1667 GA
Example 2: Double Bow 20ias / 165ed / 20 max / 2 Sox (x1 24 maxer and x1 Shael) : https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/wn01066x Life: 875, Damage: 135-1633 GA
Example 3: Cedar Bow 20ias / 165ed / 20 Max / 2 Sox (x2 Shael): https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/x10206br Life: 890, 121-1559 GA
Example 4: Rune Bow 20ias / 140ed / 10max / 2sox / -30% requirements: https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/ck0206sq Life: 893, Damage: 153-1550

The New Bow on the Block : Insight Runeword Bow

Example 1: In Double Bow Base: https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/vs0106oh Life: 840, Damage: 310-1470[/B] (Note that you are losing KB here)
Example 2: In Razor Bow Base: https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/b30106i9 Life: 855, Damage: 257-1403 (Note that you are losing KB here)

TLDR: Insight Bow Builds are Viable, but you lose Knockback, Therefore they are optimal in team duels for Multi Spam when defended by allies.

This post was edited by ferdia on Feb 15 2023 06:07pm

ferdia

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Feb 15 2023 06:09pm

Finally this is

Chum

's Bowa which would be regarded as one of the better bowa's runnnig around right now: https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/nz010662

Its always nice to have a goal / comparison