PVM Frostmaiden Guide (Updated)

CONTENTS
0. Intro
1. Breakpoints
2. Gear
3. Stats, skills & magezon
4. Final word


0. INTRO

This is a "new" version of my love letter to Amazons, a Frostmaiden guide I posted a year ago. I wanted to edit it properly, but apparently it's impossible after 3 days have passed.
So! An old-new guide, more compact, more gear options, less fluff. I started with breakpoints and gear section since most of you just want a quick recap. If you're new to Frostmaidens, Amazons or Diablo in general, I recommend to start with Section 3.
Again I want to make it clear - this is just one of dozens writeups on Frostmaiden. I do not claim my take is original nor the best. I DO hope, however, that you enjoy this read and (maybe) feel inspired to build your own Zon. They're great.


1. BREAKPOINTS






2. GEAR

Obviously you can gear Frostmaiden in a number of ways. Some of us prefer full Freezing Arrow bonanza with sporadic Strafe, while others look for balance and stuff items with IAS/@/ED% jewels instead of Facets.
So I'm gonna list the most common items, opening with favorites and moving on to more exotic choices, providing some comments. It should all help you with building your own Frostmaiden.
There will be a couple of pieces I don't really recommend for they are too expensive or impractical - I only listed them for completeness sake. Let's rock.

Bow
Ice (Amn Shael Jah Lo) Grand Matron Bow or Matriarchal Bow

• +1-3 Bow skills, depending on base. Always take +3
  
• -20% to enemy cold resist. Great vs high res monsters, such as Urdars, Balrogs, Moon Lords, Succubi and broken immunes
  
• +25-30% to cold damage. Works with Pierced shots
  
• lvl 18 Holy Freeze Aura while equipped. Crowd control, ~160 cold dmg before mods
  
• 25% CtC lvl 22 Frost Nova on striking. Crowd control, looks cool
  
• 20% IAS
  
• 20% Deadly Strike
  
• 7% Life Stolen per Hit
  
• Ignore Target's Defense
  
• 140-210% Enhanced Damage

This my favorite bow for flavor and fun, but low ED% is a concern. Even great rolls in Superior base (15%) barely break 200% bar. Deadly Strike is less useful for Amazons (high Critical Strike %), too.
If your bow of choice is GMB, make sure to have ED% mods elsewhere, i.e. Forti, Might/Conc aura, 40% ED jewels. Definitely use Laying of Hands for ED% vs Demons, consider War Traveler for weapon dmg mod. All these are mentioned later in the guide. Also, if you play with A2 merc (instead of A1 Faith rogue), forget about 8 FPA breakpoint. 10 FPA is more likely as it requires only 56% IAS (your bow, gloves, amulet). It's more than enough for Freezing Arrow, but Multishot feels a bit slow - if you use it.
For Matriarchal Bow users I simply recommend a 2nd bow on switch to Strafe/MS. Otherwise your physical dmg is much lower than Grand Matron and you'll struggle in Chaos/WSK. The upside? You'll be spamming Freezing Arrow much faster because 8 FPA breakpoint is easy to get (75%).

Faith (Ohm Jah Lem Eld) Grand Matron Bow

• +1-3 Bow skills, depending on base. Always take +3
  
• +1-2 To All Skills. Sizeable boost to cold dmg
  
• Level 12-15 Fanaticism Aura When Equipped. Best mod here, gigantic boost to AR/IAS/phys dmg, makes Strafe powerful
  
• +330% Enhanced Damage. Much higher than Ice, no surprise rolls
  
• Ignore Target's Defense. Same as Ice
  
• 300% Bonus To Attack Rating. We can actually ignore Penetrate skill
  
• +75% Damage To Undead
  
• +50 To Attack Rating Against Undead
  
• +120 Fire Damage
  
• All Resistances +15
  
• 10% Reanimate As: Returned
  
• 75% Extra Gold From Monsters

The best thing about Faith: we instantly get very good Strafe and Multishot damage, which makes for a more balanced build. It's still not enough to kill Baal under 5 seconds, but regular cold immune monsters are dispatched quickly. You will also reach 8 FPA with ease (50% IAS), although your cold dmg will take a noticeable hit. You can still one-shot some mobs on /players 1, but Ice does that trick much better, with more fireworks.
I'd definitely pick this bow if I wanted to spam Multishot often; also, if you don't mind more "hybrid" feel of this bow, Strafing/Freezing for roughly the same amount of time, this should do the trick.

Windforce Hydra Bow

• +309 max damage (at clvl 99); ~280 dmg at clvl 90. It turns our Amazon into a great Strafer right off the bat
  
• 250% Enhanced Damage. This value is constant so every Windforce owns
  
• 20% IAS. Same as Ice
  
• 6-8% Mana Stolen per Hit. Any roll will do
  
• Knockback. If you can't live without it, Windforce frees up your gloves/headgear
  
• 10 Strength, 5 Dexterity. Not that important since Windforce is your most requiring item
  
• 1 socket potential

The craziest Elite bow out there, notoriously underrated. I used Windforce for entire Hell mode last year. It doesn't have nearly as many sexy mods as its rival, but makes up for it with MASSIVE raw damage. You can customize it slightly with socket (Larzuk), I used to recommend 5/5 facet here, but IAS jewel is better in many scenarios. Other ideas: Jah (Ignore Target's Defense), Ohm (50% ED), Shael (IAS but cheaper).
You can also consider going for 8 FPA breakpoint (89%), or even 7 FPA if your merc uses Faith (99%). It requires IAS jewels in your helm/circlet (Andy's, Giant Skull, 3 sox tiara) or something like Treachery runeword.
Again, this bow is great if you don't mind Strafing a lot, plus it's cheaper than options above.

Some other, budget options:
Melody (Shael Ko Nef) Grand Matron Bow. Budget option, potentially +6 Bow skills are sweet, but you need good physical bow on switch. Good for Magezons, too
M'avina's Caster Grand Matron Bow. Decent budget set, you can get 3.000+ dmg Freezing Arrow or ~1.5k Strafe with good Eq
Wizendraw Long Battle Bow. We're only here for-35% to Enemy Cold Resistance mod, nice for broken immunes, otherwise it's entry level bow at best


Switch
If you went with Ice (especially Matriarchal Bow) or Melody (any), you might be better off with a 2nd bow on switch:
Faith. Already covered.
Windforce. Ditto.
Harmony (Tir Ith Sol Ko). Vigor aura, Valkyrie boost, +Mana After Each Kill, +elemental dmg, Revives. Awesome bow for mobility.
Wrath (Pul Lum Ber Mal). CTC Decrepify, 20% crushing blow, 375% ED vs Demons make this bow a terrific boss killer. Big thanks to Cantero for this idea!
Call to Arms (Amn Ral Mal Ist Ohm). It has 40% IAS and okay damage (~270% ED), but it's used mainly for style points - if you want CTA, make it in a 1H weapon and get a shield.
Phoenix (Vex Vex Lo Jah). Very pricey, no IAS, but can be used for quick life/mana refill and style points. Perhaps an option for Magezons, but I never used it that way.

Wizardspike + Spirit Monarch. It really IS viable option for Enigma users, providing up to 85% FCR and 55% FHR for Teleport. Get another 20% FCR item (Arach) and you'll get a somewhat respectable 12 frames breakpoint (99%, so you don't need high Spirit rolls, 29% will do). Normally we don't need FHR as Bowazons, but Tele is different story, so it makes for a nice combo - with great res and extra safety.
Demon Limb + sk shield. You shouldn't have any problems with hitting stuff, but if you do, 20 charges of Enchant will help.
CTA + sk shield. Default option for most builds, same here - if you don't need anything else.


Armor
Enigma (Jah Ith Ber). I moved this one up because maneuverability translates to killspeed and safety in this game. Teleport breakpoints are horrible, but it can be mitigated with FCR switch. You won't get Pally/Nec speed flying across levels, but it still works on shorter distances and repositions your Merc (aura) and Valk whenever you want. You also get the same +skills and DR% as COH, but Enigma dominates in Strength (70 > 20) and magic find (90 > 25), not to mention 45% Faster Run/Walk. Low resists can be solved with charms, so the only real drawback is physical damage, or lack of thereof.
Fortitude (El Sol Dol Lo). It's all about 300% ED. This mod is huge for any bowazon, even if we kill 80% of stuff with Freezing Arrow. If you are fine with a character not using Teleport, if you don't mind running, if you farm areas (Pits/Tunnels/CS/WSK etc.) or play with friends exclusively, this might be your best option. Honestly, it really boils down to your playstyle and Frostmaiden uses. More ED% = better Strafe = free slots (switch, merc, boots...).
Treachery (Shael Thul Lem). This is IAS paradise for pennies. Makes reaching 7 FPA (Faith) or 8 FPA (Ice MB) a piece of cake. You also get extra safety with Fade (res, dmg reduction). Unfortunately no ED%, no +skills, no cold dmg, so it's worth a hassle only for select number of builds.
Chains of Honor (Dol Um Ber Ist). I changed my mind on this armor once I realized that 50% fire/light res is enough, and I don't need COH to get there. Not to mention that, under normal circumstances, cold and poison damage is rarely dangerous on PVM. Chains have other nice mods - life leech, skills, some ED% vs demons/undead, dmg reduction - but I think Enigma and Fortitude have better bonuses, ultimately.
4 sox Armor (+mods). Richest players might prefer this for customization. Cold Facets, 40/15, 15@/15 IAS and rare jewels can be mixed exactly to your liking. You can also get huge +life (Jeweler's Armor of the Whale) or esthetic blue color, if that rocks your boat. I wouldn't ever spend a fortune on PVM character that's not likely to pay it back though.
Tyrael's Might Sacred Armor. Some FRW, Cannot Be Frozen, socket possibility, but let's be honest - people take it for style points. You might like it if you pursue 8 FPA breakpoint (75 IAS for Mat bow) though.


Helm
Nightwing's Veil. +2 skills, 8-15% cold damage, 10-20 Dex, cold absorb. Make sure to get +14-15% cold mod, it's still much, much cheaper than high-end Griffons for Java. You can also socket it with 15 IAS jewel if it helps you reach a breakpoint (say, 8 FPA for Faith GMB requires 50%, gloves and amulet are 40%, one jool and you're good to go).
Andariel's Visage. You're losing out on cold damage significantly in order to get 20% IAS and some life leech. I only like it with high breakpoint builds, like 75 or 89%. Negative fire res isn't that bad if you use LOH.
Harlequin Crest aka Shako. Again, sacrifice a good deal of cold damage (likely 300-400 per hit) to get hefty life, mana and DR% for a modest price. Good budget option, maybe more than that for Hardcore players.
Guillaume's Face. I don't think crushing blow (35%) is worth losing out on +skills. Still, you can keep it stashed and equip just before Baal, he's tedious without CB.
Giant Skull. Less crushing blow (10%), but it has 2 sockets and knockback. Decent option if you like customization and can't get KB elsewhere. Again, watch breakpoints and plan accordingly.
3 sox tiara (+mods). These are extremely expensive if mods are good (like FRW or life), better to use that on PVP build. If you need that much IAS, consider M'avina's True Sight with socket from Larzuk (up to 45% IAS that way).


Jewelry
Highlord's Wrath. 20% IAS is almost mandatory for amulet. Couple that with +1 skills, light res, some deadly strike - and we have a winner for most itemsetups.
Cat's Eye. This one is sexy, aside from 20% IAS you get a heckload of FRW (30%) and some Dex to boot. Unfortunately Frostmaidens really, really need every inch of damage, so Cat's Eye is less favored - unless you're doing great there and prefer movement bonus.
Atma's Scarab. If you don't need any IAS from Amulet, this might be the best option - coupled with Strafe of course (otherwise Amp Damage won't proc often). It might be a good idea to keep one in your bag for unbreakable immunes, too.
Mara's Kaleidoscope, Seraph's Hymn, Metalgrid, Saracen's Chance, Crescent Moon etc. aka Non-IAS options. A lot of great mods here, including fat resists, +2 skills, hundreds of AR and some ED% against demons/undead. Crescent Moon is quite different, with good roll it looks like a leech ring on steroids. It's all very nice, but I would only consider them if @res was abysmal... and Faith gives me good breakpoints already.

Raven Frost. DEX, Attack Rating, cold dmg, mana. Also provides CBF (slow zon is a dead zon). You can grab low rolls for peanuts. Best ring out there, imho.
Dual Leech ring (crafted/rare). The limit is 6% for mana and 8% for life leech (11% for the best crafted Blood rings). Many builds want these so expect steep prices. I currently run with modest 7% ll, 5% ml, 70 mana and some AR / MF on top. Other good (and expensive) mods include: 10-20 Strength, 10-15 Dex, 20-40 life, up to 11 allres and 30% for single resistances. Some rings have up to +9 minimum damage and life replenishment, these are nice too. Leech is most important tho, unless you play full elemental build (Magezon).
Stone of Jordan, Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band. Great +1 skills rings, if other needs are covered. BK helps with leech and SOJ = windfall of mana.
Wisp Projector. Some players have it stashed for Burning Souls, often found in WSK lvl 2 and Throne room. Personally, I would only use it on Hardcore (prefer Decoy and max light res).


Gloves, Belts, Boots
Laying of Hands. Three awesome mods here: 20% IAS, 50% Fire res (works nice with Highlords) and whopping 350% damage bonus vs Demons. It means your Strafe will be much, much more effective in critical areas such as River of Flame, CS, Throne of Destruction and Act Bosses. These are go-to PVM gloves imo, you can't pass up these mods honestly.
3/20 Archer's Gloves of Alacrity or 2/20 (crafted/rare). I used to run 3/20 gloves a lot, and then realized my Freezing Arrow damage is already sky high, while Strafe/MS could use a boost. That's why I consider LOH superior lately, although 3/20 or 2/20 could still be useful for Faith Frostmaidens (already having enormous phys damage), or if you run Ancient Tunnels most of the time.
Lava Gout and Magnus Skin. Lava Gout has CTC Enchant mod, resulting in 101% AR (constantly recast because we Strafe much). There is also +100 AR mod on Magnus, both have fire res. I consider LOH superior though and only mention these because I used Lavas for most of Hell mode.

Razortail. Massive boost to Pierce (33%) alone would get this slot, that's how good it is. Each successful Pierce inflicts cold burst dmg to all creatures in the area; now imagine how devastating it is for tightly packed groups, getting pierced 3,4, 5+ times a shot. With Razortail even modestly geared Amazons can get 100% chance. Other than bug belt, I don't know how you top that.
Nosferatu's Coil. Mana after kill, 10% IAS, Strength, slows target, life leech... If not for Razortail's jawdropping Pierce, these would be my favorite. Some builds will need it for IAS, and it's 10x better than Goldwrap for sure.
Arachnid Mesh. Good option for Enigma users, with Wizzy and Spirit you will hit 99% FCR breakpoint and have some dignity teleporting.
Verdungo's Hearty Cord, String of Ears, Thundergod's Vigor. Incredible belts from safety point of view, 15 DR% / 20 light absorb are really dope for HC mode. Less useful for Softcore though, two options above provide better killspeed.

War Traveler. "Adds 15-25 Damage" is the sexiest mod. Doesn't sound like much, but it's actually a pretty big deal for any Bowazon trying to up her physical damage (it's applied before ED% in damage formula). Magic find is just gravy.
Silkweave. Charming +5 Mana after kill mod. I used them on Javazons a lot. In theory, every time you one-shot a group of 5+ creatures, Freezing Arrow pays for itself. Worth a look.
Gorerider or Goblin Toe. Just like Guillaume, it's worth stashing if you fight Baal often and can't finish him off efficiently. Gores can be used as main boots thanks to FRW mod.
Aldur's Advance and Natalya's Soul. For those in desperate need of res, Aldur and Natalya's are good budget options. Especially Aldur with massive FRW and life bonus. Still, I prefer damage or MAEK.
I removed trires boots from the list because I believe that resistances should come from other slots and we don't need max values really.


Charms
Amazon Torch and Annihilus
It goes without saying - massive skills boost = much stronger FA, better Valk, Pierce, Penetrate. You also get a ton of life and much needed resists. Actually res > stats this time, again we're playing PVM so ~100 life either way isn't much of a difference if you can bump your fire/light res. Amazon torches happen to be quite cheap so maybe you can have 18/19 roll for a good price.
Skillers
They boost Freezing Arrow to high heavens, but don't help Strafe dmg too much. It's good to have 2-4 of them, but I'd try to get other mods in my inventory as well.
Gheed's Fortune
There are better MF chars out there, but if you have spare Gheed's and some space, it's better to have them ofc.
Small charms
There is a bunch of sweet mods we can get here, all depends on our budget and luck:

• 5% @res
  
• 11% single res
  
• 5% FRW
  
• +2 Strength
  
• life, mana, MF
  
• AR and min/max damage. Grand Charms have higher ceiling though. These are extremely pricey
  
• cold damage. I've never seen perfect 15-29 cold damage scs, but it's good to have lower rolls in your inventory as they improve Cold duration

Merc
I currently use Act 2 Nightmare Offense Merc (Might aura), for obvious reasons. There are 2-3 top choices for his weapon imho:
Infinity (Ber Mal Ber Ist). Conviction aura (lvl 12) won't break all immunes, but it still softens up non-immune mobs and lowers enemy's defense. The only problem is that we're shooting from mid-long distance so first volleys hit monsters BEFORE Conviction actually kicks in. You need to wait for your merc or reposition him with Teleport.
Pride (Cham Sur Io Lo). It's all about Concentration (lvl 16-20) which improves Strafe/MS damage. Very good for low ED% builds (ie. Enigma, Ice or both), although merc himself won't deal much damage. Conc should work on our Zon pretty much all the time though.
eth Reaper's Toll. Cheaper than runewords above, life leech frees up a slot (so you can pair it with Guillaume for quick boss killing) and Decrep also improves physical dmg, of course it takes a while to proc.

When it comes to armor/helm, you all know the options so just a brief mention:
Andariel's Visage, Vampire Gaze, Guillaume's Face. IAS + leech, DR% + leech, or huge Crushing Blow. Depends on merc weapon and needs, you can socket it with IAS/ED% jewels, Ral, Perfect Skulls...
Fortitude, Treachery ebug. I used to go with Forti every single time but now I mix it up with Treachery. I like the IAS, leech/CB proc'ing more often, Fade... both options are good, if you want to know what's better check other detailed guides on the matter.

If you'd like to reach higher IAS breakpoint but simply can't get there with Ice/Windforce, Act 1 Rogue with Faith is an option to consider.

3. STATS, SKILLS & MAGEZON

Now we can finally slow down a bit and just cover the basics.
Frostmaiden is simply a bow oriented Amazon whose primary attack is Freezing Arrow. In its purest form she's using Bow and Passive & Magic skills exclusively, never relying on javelins or spears. It doesn't mean the two skill trees don't mesh well - actually there is a number of efficient hybrid builds, such as Lightning Fury/Frozen Arrow zon by Nightfish (aka Fishyzon) or Kijya's Gunslinger. Both are recommended reads. Since Freezing Arrow and its main synergy (Cold Arrow) only need 41 skill points to max, Frostmaiden has plethora of points to spend. The best thing you can do is build up another bow attack to deal with cold immunes and beef up her summons; improving passive skills is also neat. This particular build invests points in physical attack (Strafe), attack rating (Penetrate) and gets a very formidable Valkyrie on top.

Priorities:

• cold damage: +% to cold dmg, -% to enemy's cold res, longer freeze duration
  
• physical damage: ED%, +min/max dmg, Attack Rating also affects our killspeed
  
• +skills: to improve our Valkyrie, Pierce and damage - especially Freezing Arrow
  
• life and mana leech: keep both bulbs full, chug fewer potions
  
• mana: +mana, +% to max mana, +mana after kill, faster mana regeneration
  
• faster run/walk: we need maneuverability to keep her safe, especially important with no-Teleport setups
  
• resistances: Fire and Lightning res should be maxed, the rest is optional
  
• improved attack speed: Grand Matron Bow and Hydra Bow both require 56% (10 frames attack) and 42% (5 frames Strafe) to hit a sweet spot

Also important, second priority:

• life: yeah, I said it. I find 1.2k life very comfortable and played mostly with ~1000 after BO. We need some items/points to get there, but it's not necessary to get 300+ Vita to succeed. Of course it becomes #1 goal if you're playing Hardcore
  
• knockback: cold attacks already slow monsters down, but KB is useful with Strafe, especially if we deal poor physical damage. Gear section includes a bunch of knockback items so give it a try and test yourself
  
• crushing blow: only half of your CB counts with distance weapons. It still helps with Hell Baal and other tough baddies, you might want to stash CB% items for that occasion
  
• deadly strike: it only kicks in once you fail the Critical Strike test. Chance for CS is usually over 55%, so there's that. Similar to Crushing Blow - nice to have, not gamebreaking

Irrelevant:

• defense: my girl has less than 2.000, and since I can't get 8-10k, I'm not concerned with this one at all
  
• faster hit recovery: bowazons should rely on footwork, tactics, long range stuff etc., with Merc and Valk absorbing most of the damage. We rarely engage in close combat, if at all.
  
• faster cast rate: it becomes priority ONLY if you get Enigma, period

Strength - enough for items
Bows don't get STR bonus, we only care about requirements. Some of the heavier items mentioned in this guide are: War Traveler (95 Strength required), Nightwing's Veil (96), Andy's (102), Grand Matron Bow for Ice runeword (108). We also need an armor - most likely a runeword made in a Dusk Shroud (77), Wyrmhide (84), Scarab Husk (95) or Archon Plate (103). You can also consider Wire Fleece (111) and Great Hauberk (118), especially if you're going for Windforce (134) or Spirit Monarch on switch (152). Exceptional armors (Mage Plate, Cuirass etc.) are also nice, but only the heaviest spawn with 4 sockets, limiting runeword selection.

Dexterity - most of your points [400+]
There are two approaches: either you rely on Conviction and Ignore Target's Defense mod, or pump a significant number of points in DEX and Penetrate to skyrocket Attack Rating. I prefer #2, mainly because I don't find Life that important on Softcore. Besides, ITD doesn't work vs Act Bosses, so AR is still needed for versatility. You want to reach 15k+ with Freezing Arrow and at least 10k with Strafe, roughly speaking.
Also, for ranged attackers, 1 DEX = 1% ED. It's not much, but reliable Strafe damage is extremely important.
I suggest you put most of your stat points here (~3/4 after meeting Str requirements). Faith users can get away with less Dex and get more Vita though.

Vitality - enough for comfort [120+]
She is not a pure glass-canon (doesn't need to), but as I see it, 1000 life is good enough, while 1.2k+ is a breeze. You could even play with as little as 650 hp, but casting Decoys and careful maneuvering in hot areas (i.e. Travincal, Chaos, Cows, WSK) will slow you down too much. How many points you spend here really comes down to personal preference and gear; I kinda like ~1/4 ratio (after Str req).

Energy - base
Frostmaiden needs gallons of mana, but you should get it from rings, gloves, charms; mana leech, mana after kill, pots, maybe Insight/Phoenix if you must. Of course it's not a crime to put 20-30 here if you need it desperately (as you see the stat distribution is less strict than for pure Strafe-MS bowazons). My char, while far from godly, had 550+ Mana after BO, all from gear.


Skills
20 Freezing Arrow
20 Cold Arrow
20 Strafe
1 Multi Shot
1 Ice Arrow
1 Magic Arrow
1 Guided Arrow

1 Critical Strike
1-20 Penetrate
1 Pierce
1 Dodge
1 Avoid
1 Evade
1 Inner Sight
1 Slow Missile
1 Decoy
10+ Valkyrie

Freezing Arrow - Primary attack. On top of solid cold damage (3-4k) and AR (+300-400%), the arrow explodes and hurts all creatures near the point of impact. What's more, high Pierce % multiplies your dmg to thousands because each creature on its path triggers another cold explosion. A terrific group killer, usually decimating whole mobs in one blow. Max it.

Cold Arrow - Synergy. Despite the numbers in LCS, it's immeasurably weaker than Freezing Arrow since it doesn't deliver that humongous splash damage.

Strafe - Secondary attack. This is your answer to cold immune monsters and how you refill life bubble with leech. It also comes in handy against weak monsters swarming from all directions, such as fallen, flayers or imps. The only problem is killing speed - our equipment has to facilitate both elemental and physical damage - so I suggest you max it and then try to incorporate ED% mods in your gear without hampering the main attack. Quite a challenge, maybe the most problematic area to deal with.

Multiple Shot - Tertiary attack. Unfortunately there is no way to increase its damage with +skills (it only adds arrows to a volley). One arrow can only hit one monster... and just the middle two trigger effects such as Crushing Blow. Since we already have it as a prerequisite, we can use it from time to time in vast, open areas like Far Oasis or River of Flame. Personally, I have it on left mouse button all the time and spray a few volleys at scattered enemies, especially when I don't want to risk a strafelock.

Ice Arrow, Magic Arrow, Guided Arrow - Prerequisites. Ice Arrow only adds cold duration, thanks but no thanks. We have enough from items. Guided Arrow used to be fantastic in the old days of Diablo, now it's nerfed a bit and doesn't really work with this build. I'd rather Strafe/FA Act Bosses.

Critical Strike - Typical one point wonder. With +skills on board, it warrants 50-60% chance to inflict double damage for physical part of your attack. It doesn't stack with Deadly Strike found on Gorerider, Highlords etc. Pumping more points here becomes inefficient after slvl 13, when % gains drop from 3 to 1 point per level (to be specific, the pattern is irregular and goes like 1-1-2 or close to it).

Penetrate - I like it maxed (or close to max) to make Strafe shine against bosses. Its usefulness is very dependant on gear selection, but honestly, I don't see a better use of skill points for my playstyle.

Pierce - Everyone knows that 9 levels in Pierce is enough to cap 100% chance with Razortail. Most Frostmaidens will have Torch, Anni, +4 from armor and headgear - already enough. If you don't have Razor and put more points here, be sure to check out skill progression - it really slows down after slvl 16.

Inner Sight, Slow Missiles - Prerequisites. Very situational skills, rarely needed, although Slow Missiles saved my butt a few times against Dark Rogue archers. You can do without them if you're not going for Valkyrie.

Dodge, Avoid, Evade - They get a lot of bad rep because most people play Javazons and engage enemies at closer distance, proc'ing D/A/E too often. Frostmaiden shoots from afar so I don't find these problematic... or helpful, either.

Decoy - Perhaps my favorite Amazon magic skill, very effective crowd control tool. More safety from ranged creatures + herding melee monsters = pure win. I deem it good enough with 1 point and +items, but feel free to add more.

Valkyrie - Once I'm satisfied with AR and bow attacks, I dump all remaining points here. Not that she needs it, slvl 15-20 is very tough already. Many players advise slvl 17 as bottom line (she gets rare War Pike), but keep in mind her equipment improves steadily all the way up to slvl 27 (rare Tiara). Javazons have neat synergies, we don't, so feel free to spend here big time.


Magezon
Physical attacks require a much different set of items and properties than elemental arrows. Frostmaiden with Strafe and Multishot will always struggle to balance these skills and Freezing Arrow for optimal killing speed.
The alternative for you might be a hybrid Freezing Arrow + Exploding Arrow build, also known as Magezon. You can focus all your equipment on +skills, mana, life and ias, without breaking a sweat for more +dmg, ED%, AR or leech.

Magezon skills:
20 Freezing Arrow
20 Cold Arrow
20 Exploding Arrow
20 Fire Arrow
1 Ice Arrow
3 Critical Strike, Penetrate, Pierce
then Valkyrie (optional)

The upsides of this build are obvious. Once you give up on physical mods, gear selection becomes easier and there is less strain on some slots (like amulet and boots). Exploding Arrow is certainly less impressive than FA in the long run, but with 1600-1800 area damage (achievable with high end gear, +20 skills total), you should do well against cold immunes. On the other hand, very low physical dmg and AR renders life/mana leech useless, so Magezon has to come up with something else. One way is amassing "+ X after kill" items - which in turn hampers our "newly attained" flexibility. The other is transfering points from Dexterity to Vita and, dare I say it, Energy. Prayer merc with Insight would help, but then again, do we really want to ditch Infinity and compromise our killing speed? Finally, we can always collect and rebuy potions.

Another issue is functionality. While Exploding Arrow works quite well against cold immunes, it's very similar to Freezing Arrow - both skills are slow heavy hitters that work best vs tightly packed monsters. Strafe is the opposite: auto-targeting rapid shots, perfect against scattered packs, low HP creatures or "machine gun style" weapon vs bosses... not to mention mana costs (24 vs 11) and fantastic leech. There are multiple scenarios where Strafe/MS combo shines brighter than Exploding Arrow really. It doesn't mean the "physical route" is superior - it boils down to your playstyle and available equipment.

In any case, Exploding Arrow is a terrific LEVELING tool.
First off, EA main synergy (Fire Arrow) is available from get-go, while you have to wait for Cold Arrow until clvl 6. Second, you can pump Exploding Arrow from level 12, while Freezing Arrow is in the last tier of skills. It means that EA gets a huge head start and takes care of entire mobs already in Act 2 Normal, while cold attacks are really tame.
If you put all skill points into elemental arrows, here's how fire and cold trees damage compare in early stages:


Once you find Lore (Ort + Sol), Maiden amulet and a good bow, EA deals 600+ splash dmg per arrow- with chances to Pierce on top. Make no mistake, this route is insanely efficient all the way from Tristruns to Nightmare Diablo, certainly outclassing Cold Arrow during most exhausting parts of your run... and you can always respec once monsters catch up with you (clvl 40 or later).


4. FINAL WORD
I'd like to thank Nightfish, Kijya, mysticc and izParagon for insightful Amazon/Frostmaiden strategies. They are always a great read; I keep coming back to them after all those years.
Also a big thanks to need_stuff4 for his donations, as well as good folks who commented on the previous version and inspired me to review it, hopefully improving a bit this time.
I hope you find this guide fun & informative. If not - please criticize, I know it's not perfect. Anything regarding Diablo II is more complicated than it seems at first, so I'm sure there's plenty of room for future upgrades.

Awesome guide mate!
Wrath power

Good read, sounds fun! Might try in d2r.

I went Faith route with the 1st skill set you listed

Overall good guide

I did some further "testing" today, trying to learn which itemsetup clears Chaos (p1) in least amount of time. For this exercise, I measured times between CS door and Diablo kill (River of Flame run times excluded).

The bottom line was my old COH build (Ice GMB, Nightwing 5/5, LOH, HL, Raven, Dual leech, Wartrav, BO, T, Anni, 3 skillers, some frw/res charms). Merc: Infi, Treachery and Andys (15 ias).
For later tests, I moved some items around and respec'd. Of course I matched lacking res here and there, but without cheating - no additional skillers, AR/ED/cold dmg charms etc.
All setups have maxed FR/LR, ~40 CR/PR (doesn't matter) and 1k+ life (Enigma builds exceed 1.4k with BO).
Moving pieces:
Faith GMB, Ice Mat, Fortitude, Enigma, Nightwing 15% ias and FCR switch in different configurations.

Average times
Set 1 (Ice GMB, COH)__________10 FPA______3:42
Set 2 (Ice GMB, Forti)__________10 FPA______3:35
Set 3 (Faith GMB, Forti)_________8 FPA______3:16
Set 4 (Faith GMB, Eni)__________8 FPA______3:08
Set 5 (Ice Mat/Faith GMB, Eni)___8 FPA______3:10

I don't think it's be-all end-all because each build takes some time to get used to, and I only did 40-50 runs. It's possible that later sets got better times because I warmed up a bit.
Also, let's not forget that Chaos on p1 is just a tiny fraction of D2 PVM gameplay, and RNG is very significant factor (number/placement of mobs, cold immunes, fana/physical/stoneskin bosses etc.)
So it's far, FAR from "scientifically meaningful" test Having said that:

• 8 FPA generally > 10 FPA in areas where FA, MS and Strafe are used all the time
  
• Faith Multishot takes care of scattered enemies very quickly, even without Forti
  
• better crowd control and cold dmg from Ice GMB isn't that important here. Maybe if I ran WSK (much more dangerous area) or Ancient Tunnels (no cold immunes), it would come out on top. But on /p1 Chaos, Freezing Arrow from Faith is doing just fine
  
• 300% ED you lose with Forti to Enigma switch is mitigated with much better FRW and Tele. It also helps your merc placement as he covers more mobs with Conviction and proc's CB
  
• juggling CTA and Wizzy might be tiring after a while, but ultimately you don't have to use BO, you just get used to it

I'd like to play Ice Mat + Faith GMB combo some more, spamming FA with this speed (and proc'ing Novas all over screen) is too much fun

Tyvm

It is Fun

Mostly use Ice then switch to faith for cold imm