Quote (Taurean @ Jun 7 2021 03:56am)

Yes, kind of.

Place first 4 (3 + den of evil) points in critical strike. Then 1 in magic arrow, and the next 3 in multishot, so you get 4 arrows. Use multishot when necessary.

Keep skilling critical strike. You can place 1 point in dodge. At level 12, have 1 point saved, place in avoid and penetrate.

When you get upwards to level 18, it is important that you start skilling guided arrow. This will be your main skill when you get it to a decent level. You can use guided arrow already at level 1 for bosses, if you have manage to attain a decent mana pool. Since each arrow cost 8 mana, you will have to use mana pots, but it is very nice to have every arrow it. Hopefully you have found 1 or 2 good gear pieces to help you out, and maybe a few charms. Socketed armors and helms is good help too.

Strafe is a good skill to use, but one thing that will become a problem with bowa, is attack rating. If you are not lucky with gear, you will start to struggle in act 4-5, and especially in nightmare. This is why emphasis on guided arrow is important. When you get it upwards to level 15-20, it cost 4.5-3.2 mana each. Now it becomes easier to use all the time.

Of course you must save a few points for valkyrie, which is a very important skill to try to constantly skill. When you hit 30, you will most likely have guided arrow at level ~10. If you feel you are getting by quite good with guided arrow's mana cost not being too much of a nuisance, keep skilling valkryie.

Act 2 merc is of course the merc of choice.

This ladder, i made a barbarian to accompany the bowa. The reason was to quest bug diablo. I play legit, so the way i do it, is to first do den of evil and blood raven with both characters in different games. Then run through entire act 1 with bowa, so that you get the important waypoints and can easily find them and the route with the barb (or your character of choice). You must skill the barb up so he can take the act boss, so this is important. If nothing else, you can make 2 bowas if that is the most comfortable.

Do this with each act. When you get to act 4, run through with bowa, but stop at river of flame with both characters. Make a new game with the barbarian. Run forward with bowa, getting diablo down to ~90% hp. Then quit and rejoin with the barbarian, and kill diablo, advancing to act 5. Now you can make games with the barbarian, and rejoin with the bowa, doing diabloruns and getting quest drops infinitely! This vastly increases drop rates! I found quite good gear from normal diablo, and within 2 weeks of regular gameplay (average 3-4 hours a day), i was in act 4 nightmare, and had found buriza-do kyanon for bowa, also having made a harmony rune bow! Also found bonesnap for barb on normal diablo, which i skilled with concentrate, bashing nightmare bosses down in surprisingly few hits! Made it a joy to use the barbarian! (Continues in next post)

Quote (Tarisus @ 7 Jun 2021 03:19)

Can you clarify on skill the barb so he can take on bosses? I assume you mean the bettles in act 2 are dangerous, what is the mob that shoots lightning balls?For diablos prison, I usually just tp and re-enter, then you’re not locked anymore.

Thank you for the time for writing this up. :thumbsup: Bowazon is one of my less played spec, but my friend is playing one atm, running through self found with me.

Quote (Taurean @ Jun 7 2021 07:44pm)

That was more because i found the bonesnap unique maul. Whatever you do, 1 handed big damage weapons with concentrate. When starting out, i use spear, until i can use polearm class weapons. It is a difficult decision to make when starting out with a barbarian, if you are going to skill any weapon mastery at all, because that is usually best to wait with until you find a good unique weapon. Then you build the mastery around that. Although, this ladder, i simply went with scimitars/fast swords, double swing, and sword mastery, simply because in the beginning of the game, there are typically a lot of lower hit point monsters that dies fast, so there is no need with a big damage 1 swing weapon that just slows things down.

But when you get to act 4-5, you should consider switching. If you don't save the skill points then, and use them for a polearm weapon instead. That will make it easier to deal with bosses too, since you will do damage in the hundreds.

Quote (Tarisus @ 7 Jun 2021 14:34)

What about gear for amazon?

Quote (Taurean @ Jun 7 2021 09:24pm)

That is one of the challenging parts. There is generally no magic tickets for hc amazons starting out. You have to play by ear. That is why i find it fun. It teaches you to use every arena of the game to find good gear. Gambling, the imbue quest, crafting, socketed gear. You use whatever you find. If you are lucky enough to find jewels of envy, they give a huge damage boost, 20 poison damage over 2 seconds.

I recommend looking through the crafted items to see what may benefit you a lot. I also recommend trying to make a blood helm for your merc, that will give him life leech and deadly strike.

http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/crafted/blood.shtml

http://classic.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/crafted/caster.shtml

In the beginning, 3 socketed hunter's bow with chipped/flawed gems will be your best bet to find. If you are lucky enough to find 3 chipped topaz, that will be a powerful early weapon. Although your focus is physical damage, they give such a huge damage boost that they should be used for that.

Using act 2 merc with blessed aim aura is the best way to boost damage through boosting attack rating. You are focused on staying ranged, not taking damage, so the other two auras is not as useful.

Quote (Tarisus @ 8 Jun 2021 13:20)

I still got amazon and necro to play through in HC. Doing Sin right now. I figure Java might be too easy. Also will restart a barb cause of Dr.

So likely a Bowazon over java, always thought they were badass.

Quote (Taurean @ Jun 8 2021 09:42pm)

If you are on europe, i am trying to get a bowa/necro/pala team together, you are free to join for a reset team if you want. My thread: https://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=85073453&f=102&o=0

Bowa is a challenge, i recommend it :)