| Stats Strength: Raise your Strength to 100 as soon as possible so that you can use Ancient Armour and Gothic Bows; later on, increase it to 125 so that you can use any good items you find apart from Ornate Plates and Chaos Armour. An Ornate Plate with decent attributes (read: +Dexterity, Fire/Lightning/Cold resist), you may wish to increase this attribute 170 so that you can wear it; if not, 125 Strength will do, as Dexterity is more important.  Dexterity: A very important attribute; a high-level (over Level 70) Bowazon should have over 300 Dexterity after bonuses from items are counted. Each extra Dexterity point will add 1% more damage to your Bow attacks, as well as increasing your Attack Rating and Defence. Once at 170 (or even 125) strength, stick every point you receive into this. Also, make sure that you have 118 Dexterity as soon as possible, to use Gothic Bows. Vitality: Not the most important attribute, as a decent Bowazon should almost never get hit. However, it is advisable to (later on) raise your Life to around 450-500 so that you can survive a few hits (especially from monsters with Multi Shot,). Energy: This attribute is useless. You can never run out of mana if you are using a mana-stealing item (which is mandatory) - later on, every Strafe attack you make will be able to completely refill your Mana orb. So dont bother. Ensure that before you equip any item that you can use the item on your base attributes alone - if you must have another item equipped before you can equip a certain item, don’t use it yet. The reason for this is the Diablo II engine - should you happen to die, then return to pick up your corpse, you pick up your items from smallest to largest. This means potions and jewellery first, followed by belts, then helms, boots and gloves and, lastly, weapons, shields and armour. If you are able to equip all your items all is well but if you cannot, your larger (and possibly most valuable) items - your bow and your armour - will simply drop to the ground because your inventory is already full of whatever potions you were carrying (since potions are smaller than belts, your potions will be picked up before your belt and will go into your inventory) - the items are then free for others to steal. Also, should your connection fail, your items will be lost forever - since the items are now on the ground rather than on your corpse they are not saved. If you value your equipment, don’t equip any item until you can use it by yourself. Other Attributes Damage: The most important attribute. Maximise this at almost any other cost; however, at higher levels don’t factor elemental damage into your calculations because it is not increased by Dexterity. Also, don’t count poison damage at any stage - it takes too long to take effect and is useless. Attack Rating: Very important, but still secondary to Damage. Always make sure that you are hitting at least 90% of the time; if you are not, find an item which increases Attack Rating, or add more points to Penetrate. Defence: The second least important attribute (after poison resistance). Only useful against ranged attackers and against other players - it’s worth sacrificing Defence points if you can get an item which increases your Defence against missile attacks. Again, your Valkyrie is taking all the damage, so there is no point making it difficult for melee monsters to hit you if they aren’t attacking you anyway. Anyway, in Acts 3 and 4 in Hell difficulty, should they actually attack you, melee monsters will hit you regardless of your armour class. If you find a good ornate plate with good resistances, however, wear it - it will significantly reduce your chance of being hit by stray shots from ranged attackers (i.e. those which miss the Valkyrie and hit you) and hostile players. Don’t worry about it - resistance is far more important than defence, except against Barbarians. Cold Resistance: Important even against monsters, Cold Resistance is vital in PvP engagements - all smart players who cannot kill you outright will use Cold attacks whenever possible. Remember, if you are slowed for more than one or two seconds (and even that in the case of enemy Amazons) you are finished. Also vital against the Abyss/Oblivion Knights in Act 4. Forget about trying to Resist Mephisto’s ice ball-type attack - if even one of those hits you in Nightmare or Hell difficulty, you will almost certainly die regardless of your resistance. However, maximise this attribute. Lightning Resistance: Maximise this attribute. At higher difficulty levels, Lightning Enchanted monsters (which become increasingly common) will release Charged Bolts so powerful that two or three will kill you if you have no resistance (remember that all resistances are -50% in Hell difficulty, and -20% in Nightmare). Also very important against Diablo and many Act 4 monsters. Fire Resistance: The most common elemental attack used by monsters; however, most Fire attacks (not counting the Fetish Shamans’ Inferno and the Fire attack used by Abyss/Oblivion Knights) do little damage, even in Hell difficulty. Maximise this if possible, but not at the cost of Lightning and Cold resistance - just make sure you avoid the fire attacks of Abyss/Oblivion Knights, as they will do significant damage even with 75% resistance. Poison Resistance: The least important attribute - Poison is just not dangerous, as you will be able to steal life faster than it can damage you. Equipment: Bow The most important attribute in a bow is damage - this should be maximised at all cost, including +Spell Levels, +Attack Rating, +Dexterity (except when this raises the overall damage above that of the other bow). Avoid crossbows - they shoot too slowly and don’t do enough damage to make up for it. When comparing damage, don’t take poison damage into account - it is useless. Try to find one that does at least 140 max damage (despite the recently-reported bug with bow damage, this is still advisable, as the bug should be fixed in the 1.04 patch). Desirable attributes (apart from +Damage): +Dexterity, Mana Steal, Life Steal, +Amazon Skills, Cold Damage Spear Above all, make sure that you have substantial mana steal and life steal - 8-10% mana steal and 6-8% life steal is plenty, although more is better. Other than that, go for resistances, +Dexterity and +Amazon Skills. Desirable attributes: +Resistances, +Dexterity, +Life, +Mana, Mana Steal, Life Steal, +Amazon Skills. Helms Always go for equipment that gives you increased run/walk speed, fastest hit recovery, cold damage, +Dexterity and +Resistances (poison doesn’t count). Earlier in the game, Vidala’s Fetlocks or the Treads of Cthon are useful, as the Fastest Run/Walk and stamina bonuses outweigh the lack of resistances. Desirable attributes: +Resistances, +Dexterity, +Life, +Mana, Cold Damage, Fastest Run/Walk, Fastest Hit recovery Amulets and Rings Even if you are a Bowazon, always carry a rare Pike (or Lance, if you can get one). For pikes, damage is by far the most important thing - Penetrate will take care of your accuracy, and Attack Speed is irrelevant if you are using Jab. Cold damage is also useful - not for the damage, but for the cold effect.Desirable attributes (apart from +Damage): +Strength, Mana Steal, Life Steal, Cold Damage Gloves, Belts and Boots Go for anything which increases Fire/Lightning/Cold Resistance, as well as having the highest armour class possible. If you don’t have anything which gives Fastest Hit Recovery, make sure your Helm has that attribute. Desirable attributes (apart from +AC): +Resistances, +Life, +Mana, +Dexterity Armour Go for anything with high Resistance, +Life and +Dexterity. Resistance should take a higher priority than AC (except poison resist). If you can’t find anything like that, look for Silks of the Victor (unique Ancient Armour) - the 5% Mana Steal and +1 Skills can be useful. Avoid heavy armour (Scale Mail/Tigulated Mail, Plate Mail/Templar Coat, Gothic Plate/Embossed Plate, Full Plate Mail/Chaos Armour) as they will drain your stamina too quickly - for an Amazon, mobility is the key to survival. Desirable attributes (apart from +AC): +Resistances, +Life, +Mana, +Dexterity Skills: Bow & Crossbow Magic Arrow: This skill is worthless - arrows are cheap and plentiful, and the extra damage is simply not worth it - other skills, such as Strafe, also give the same extra damage, and have other advantages. Multiple Shot: Although it may seem very powerful initially, points invested in Multiple Shot will be wasted in the long run - unlike Strafe, Multiple Shot does not convey a damage bonus and, unlike Strafe, it is not auto-targeting. Save your points for something more worthwhile. Guided Arrow: A very useful skill against some bosses (namely Mephisto and Hephasto), Guided Arrow is also indispensable in PvP engagements - other players are able to do little but run as the arrows track down and kill them. However, don’t sink more than one point into this - Strafe is a better investment. Strafe: The best mass kill skill/spell in the game. This skill must be maxed out by any Strafe Bowazon - not only does each extra point add a huge amount of damage (5% per level might not seem like a lot, but read on…), but it also increases the number of arrows you fire by two per extra spell level. The reason the 5% damage bonus per level is so significant with Strafe is that, unlike most other skills, the 5% is applied after bonuses due to Dexterity is taken into account; therefore if you have a bow which does 75 damage, 100 Dexterity and Level 15 Strafe your actual damage will be 75 x [(100+100)/100] x [(15 x 5)/100] = 262.5 rather than the usual 75 x [(100+100+(15 x 5))/100] = 206.25 - this makes Strafe even more powerful than one might think. Furthermore, Strafe is an auto-targeting skill, and has a constant mana cost regardless of your skill level. Also, although only one arrow would normally be fired at each monster, the number of arrows you fire per attack increases by one for each ally in the game - be it another player, a Valkyrie, a Decoy, a golem, a skeleton, a skeleton mage or a Revived monster - until you reach the maximum possible number of arrows you may fire (this is dictated by your spell level). If more arrows are fired than there are monsters, the extra arrows will be fired at whatever monsters are available (43 arrows from a powerful bow will cause serious damage even to Hephasto in Hell difficulty). Finally, a monster can be hit by more than one arrow in any Strafe attack, unlike with Multiple Shot. As soon as you find an item with decent mana-stealing properties, this will become your primary attack (the so-called Strafe Lock problem will not affect you if you have a Valkyrie, as the monsters will be too busy attacking your Valkyrie to bother attacking you). Cold Arrow: Not much use, as it only chills a single enemy and deals little damage. Only invest one point in it, as it is a prerequisite for Guided Arrow. Ice Arrow: Similar to the Sorceress’ Ice Blast, Ice Arrow is capable of freezing enemies; however, for the Strafe Bowazon, it is superfluous, as Strafe is your primary attack. Freezing Arrow: Similar to Glacial Spike, but with a larger blast radius, Freezing Arrow is a fairly expensive skill to use and should be left to cold-specialist Amazons. Fire Arrow: Similar to the Sorceress’ Firebolt, Fire Arrow loses its value rather quickly. It is also comparatively more expensive than its counterpart, and is not worth investing in. Exploding Arrow: Like Fireball, Exploding Arrow has a small blast radius and may seem to be effective at lower levels; at later difficulty levels, however, it is not damaging enough to be a viable option. Immolation Arrow: Although impressive, Immolation Arrows have one major flaw - they cause no physical damage, only fire damage. Hence, they are of little use against many enemies and are not worth investing in. Elemental attacks should be left to the Sorceress and for Cold specialists - for a Strafe Bowazon they are a waste of points and mana. Spear & Javelin Jab: Always worth having at least one point in (6 points negates the damage penalty entirely), this skill allows you to hit not once, but three times in the space of one Fast attack with any Spear-class weapon - even Pikes and Lances (if you’re lucky enough to get hold of one). Very useful against bosses, especially ones with Teleportation, as well as in PvP engagements against Bowazons. Impale: This skill is utterly worthless - although it does 300% damage, it is so slow that in any given period of time, Jab causes considerably more damage. Invest no points in it. Fend: Fend is useless - it is slower than Jab, causes considerably less damage over a given period of time and leaves you vulnerable while attacking. Power Strike: Slower than Jab, and considerably less damaging, Power Strike is of very little use to a serious Amazon. Charged Strike: As with Power Strike, Charged Strike is less damaging than Jab, and considerably more expensive. Not worth investing in. Lightning Strike: Although it looks rather impressive, Lightning Strike is a useless spell - the additional lightning bolts are so weak and ineffectual that they can barely kill anything more powerful than a Quill Rat (in Hell mode). Poison Javelin: As a Javelin skill, Poison Javelin is worthless to a Bowazon. Lightning Bolt: Like Poison Javelin, Lightning Bolt is useless to a Bowazon, who already has a ranged attack. Plague Javelin: Although fairly powerful and reasonably effective, Plague Javelin, like other Javelin skills, is not worth investing in as a Bowazon. Lightning Fury: Highly impressive and with damage to match, Lightning Fury is nevertheless worthless to a Bowazon; since you already have a powerful ranged attack, Javelins are superfluous and of little use. Passive & Magic Inner Sight: This skill is worthless - it only reduces enemy AC by a small amount, which is hardly significant given the degree of accuracy granted by Penetrate. Only invest one point in it, so that you can get Valkyrie. Slow Missiles: Mostly useless, but occasionally handy against large groups of ranged attackers or in PvP against Amazons, Sorceresses and Necromancers. Only invest one point in it, however - additional points only increase the duration of the spell. Decoy: Quite a useless spell, as Decoys only have as many hit points as you do; in later difficulty levels they will fall long before their time expires. Invest one point into it, however, as it is a prerequisite for Valkyrie. Valkyrie: Your shield and decoy. Stick at least 10 points onto this skill. Although it has an apparently high mana cost, this cost is insignificant compared to the protection a Valkyrie provides - in any case, one or two Strafe attacks using a mana-stealing item will fully recharge your mana. The reason for putting so many points in this skill is that in the later acts of Hell difficulty many enemies will cut down a low-level Valkyrie in one or two hits (Hephasto the Armourer, some Act bosses and even unique monsters with Extra Strong/Cursed/Might Aura can do this in Nightmare difficulty). During a game, always keep Valkyrie on - not only is it an excellent decoy (since all the monsters are attacking the Valkyrie instead of you, and the Valkyrie has a rather high durability) but it also adds an extra arrow to your Strafe.
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