Got any bow/Xbow builds? (other than Zon)

[twizted_diablo]

So bored right now with the same builds over and over again. I want to experiment with some bow/Xbow builds that does not involve the amazon. Please post any ideas for a build. I am trying to figure one out for each class. So far I have thought of a Fire Bow Sorc.

Sorc
20 Enchant
20 Warmth
20 Fire Mastery
20 Energy Shield
1 Pt into Static Field
1 Pt into Tele
Was looking to dump rest either into Inferno, Blaze, or Firewall. thoughts?

Gear I would like to roll with
Brand Runeword Weap
Dream Runeword Helm
Dragon Runeword Armor
Up'ed Magefist Gloves
Cow King Hooves
Nosferatu's Coil
Raven Frost Ring
BK Ring
The Rising Sun Ammy
S Torch
Anni
Fire Skill GC's
FHR Charms

Not sure on the Merc yet.

Other Possible Weaps
Brand Runeword Weap
Faith Runeword Weap
Hellrack Colossus XBow

Other Possible Armor
Dragon Runeword Armor
Duress Runeword Armor
Fortitude Runeword Armor
Dream Runeword Helm
Up'ed Magefist Gloves
WarTrav Boots
GoreRiders
Silkweave Boots
Cow King Hooves
Nosferatu's Coil
Arachnid Belt
Razortail Belt

Other Possible Rings/Ammys
BK Ring
SoJ Ring
Raven Frost Ring
The Rising Sun Ammy
Mara's
Cat's Eye

[Berto]

The sorc idea isn't so bad, after some thinking. Although I wouldn't rely so much on enchant, considering it only adds like 50% ranged damage. I would however, concentrate on the holy auras (Holy shock, holy fire, and holy freeze). I believe that fire/cold/lightning mastery amplifies any and all elemental damage you have, so I would focus on that. Then again, enchant would add a nice amount of AR for you, so I suppose it deserves at least one point.

How about a necro? A nice bow combined with amp damage, and some summons/revives would be really nice. Also, all of the auras that benefit your summons (Might, fanaticism, etc.), would also benefit you.

[twizted_diablo]

Please go into details if you got a Necro bow build in mind. I am interested.

How about an Assassin build?

Skills
20 Burst of Speed
20 Fade
20 Venom
20 Cloak of Shadows
20 Shadow Master*

I was thinking of maxing Mind Blast but with max points the stun length is only 5.8 seconds. Without a multi or strafe shot that seems pointless when it comes to a group of monsters.

*With Shadow Master, once I cast it will they have a bow too?

With the right gear this would seem like a hard to hit and catch character. I have not ate lunch yet so I am starving. I will think about a gear set up and post when I come back later.

[Asian_Menace]

Howabout a few loopholes:

Buriza Fury Druid

[twizted_diablo]

Originally Posted by Asian_Menace

Howabout a few loopholes:

Buriza Fury Druid

Ahhh come on Asian, please go into details. I wanna see what you are talking about.

After looking at the Buriza Xbow, it is a pretty sexy weapon:

Two-Hand Damage: (82-99) To (139-412) (110.5-255.5 Avg)
Required Level: 41
Required Strength: 110
Required Dexterity: 80
Base Weapon Speed: [10]
+150-200% Enhanced Damage (varies)
+ (2.5 Per Character Level) 2-247 To Maximum Damage (Based On Character Level)
Adds 32-196 Cold Damage - 8 Second Duration
Piercing Attack (100)
Freezes Target +3
+75-150 Defense(varies)
+35 to Dexterity
80% Increased Attack Speed

Sounds great for an Ice Sorc. Could also go with an Ice Runeword Bow if your rich.

100% Chance To Cast Level 40 Blizzard When You Level-up
25% Chance To Cast Level 22 Frost Nova On Striking
Level 18 Holy Freeze Aura When Equipped
+20% Increased Attack Speed
+140-210% Enhanced Damage (varies)
Ignore Target's Defense
+25-30% To Cold Skill Damage (varies)
-20% To Enemy Cold Resistance
7% Life Stolen Per Hit
20% Deadly Strike
3.125-309.375 Extra Gold From Monsters (Based on Character Level)


Skills
20 Frozen Armor
20 Shiver Armor
20 Chilling Armor
20 Energy Shield?
20 Blizzard?
1pt Tele
Rest into Cold Mastery, if you use Blizzard.
Rest into Telekinesis, if you go Energy Shield.

Gear
Nightwing's Veil Helm
The Eye of Etlich
2x Raven Frost Rings
Snowclash Belt
Up'ed Frostburns
Not sure on boots. Maybe Wartravs or Silkweaves.

[twizted_diablo]

Assassin Build

Skills
20 Burst of Speed
20 Fade
20 Venom
20 Cloak of Shadows
20 Shadow Master*

I was thinking of maxing Mind Blast but with max points the stun length is only 5.8 seconds. Without a multi or strafe shot that seems pointless when it comes to a group of monsters.

*With Shadow Master, once I cast it will they have a bow too?

Gear
Buriza Crossbow
Shadow Dancer Boots
Andariel's Visage
3os Nat's Armor (throw in 3x 40/15 if you can afford it)
Cat's Eye
Raven Frost
BK Ring
Nosferatu's Coil

I can only imagine the IAS and the FRW this char could have...lol

[Asian_Menace]

Well you asked for it

I made a fury druid a while back, but never found a weapon for it... so I ended up using a buriza, to surprisingly effective results! What's great about buriza + fury, is that when transformed, the buriza for some reason doesn't have its trademark, painfully slow firing speed, but rather, the weapon's IAS modifier somehow makes it really, really fast, in addition to freezing monsters and doing great cold damage. You'll be hitting some of the upper fury breakpoints :O

You also don't need arrows when attacking with fury, but you do however, need arrows to normal attack (not like you'll be using it anyway).

This might not be an actual "ranged" druid that actually fires arrows, but I think it's an acceptable and entertaining loophole if you're looking for something interesting... you'll get a lot of comments walking around town with a big ass crossbow

Skills:
20 Werewolf
20 Lycanthropy
20 Fury
20 Heart of Wolverine
+ Prereqs

You should finish around level 70ish, so you're free to put the rest of the points into whatever... summons, cyclone armor, hurricane (mini holy freeze), etc.

EDIT: As for gear, the standards are Jalals, some -DR%, and mana/life leech

EDIT2: Oh yeah, forgot to mention, since you're using Buriza, the game registers it as a "ranged attack" even when using fury, so you shouldn't have any problems with IM

EDIT3: You could also make a skellimancer/bow (or revive/bow) hybrid using the runeword "Edge" (lvl 15 thorns when equipped, and maybe if yer a bit rich, throw on bramble. Works much the same as a regular skellimancer, except instead of fanatacism and +skills to boost damage on skellies, you use your thorns aura + bow damage to get the first monsters in a pack to drop, then start spamming corpse explosion

[Berto]

To be quite honest a lot of the builds here are all interesting, and most are probably viable. One of the biggest problems I see is attack rating, however. Angelics can only go so far. Then again, Widowmaker can easily take care of that, with its +3 - 5 guided arrow, and its Ignore Targets Defense.

Just a few comments on the builds...

As for my necro idea, I feel a standard summoner build would suffice, maybe with some tweaks. As for the bow, as I stated above Widowmaker wouldn't be a bad idea. Your strength would increase by a lot using a might merc holding the runewords that gives concentration (I forgot what it was).

On the Assassin build, attack rating would be a little bit less of a problem due to Cload of Shadows, which should complement you very well, considering it both lowers monsters defense, making them easier to hit, and lowering their vision, indirectly protecting you.

As for the druid build, aww now, that's just cheating!

[Asian_Menace]

Originally Posted by Berto

As for the druid build, aww now, that's just cheating!

Pffft, it's still badass

[twizted_diablo]

Hmmm interesting

Burst of Speed and Fade do not stack onto each other.
Looks like I am going to max Burst of Speed over Fade, not I need to find something else to max.

[Funky]

Paladin bow?

Blessed aim + Faith runeword (Fanatiscism) or Concentration + Faith or Fanaticism + Any Great bow

[Jibblet]

Enchant w/ ES etc.

Burst of speed with venom etc.

Pally auras etc.

Druid etc.

[Asian_Menace]

Interesting tidbit about a Venom Bowsin I found:

Originally Posted by The Amazon Basin

Check out the stats and you'll see at slvl-20, Venom does about 400 poison damage over 2 seconds - that's 200 dmg/sec. This is the highest poison damage rate in the entire game. While a Necro's slvl-20 Poison Nova can do almost as much damage (185 dmg/sec), its 2-second duration cannot be extended. Likewise, a Zon with slvl-20 Plague Javelin can do 165 dmg/sec, but throwing weapons can't be socketed with Emeralds or runes to extend their poison duration.

...

The secret part of the weapon is this: unlike melee weapons which average the duration of multiple poison sources, bows add the poison durations together. Drop five perfect Emeralds in a socketed Battle Axe, and it'll do about 500 poison damage over 7 seconds. Those same five Emeralds in a Long Bow would do 2500 damage over 35 seconds. Add slvl-20 Venom, and a single arrow would do 10,000 damage over 37 seconds. You could think of Venom as a sort of "Poison Mastery" for Assassins, boosting a 5-pEm bow's damage by 400%.

Whole Thread Here:
The Assassin's Secret Weapon - VENOM - Diablo II Forums

If I were to make a build around it:
20 Venom
1-20 Shadow Warrior or Master (Warrior works well with attack on left and Death Sentry on right. Master would potentially mindblast more. Alternatively, you can dismiss their AI as retarded and go a more trap-heavy route.)

5 Burst of Speed (Diminishing Returns hit it hard, +skill is enough)
1-5 Fade (Depends on armor choice, I'd use "Treachery" Runeword anyway, which gives CtC lvl 15 fade when struck)
1+ Cloak of Shadows (Irrelevant if using Demon Machine, Chu-Ko-Nu, see link)
1+ Mindblast (To taste, chance to convert monster can make things slower)

20 Death Sentry (Practical for PvM)
3 Fire blast (for +1 shot on Death Sentry)

At Base, this build finishes with 78 Skill Points (with a maxed Shadow), therefore finishing at level 66 with all skillquests. With the other 20 skillpoints, you can put points in CoS, Mindblast, or even max out Lightning Sentry. If you didn't max a Shadow, you can even max a 3rd lightning trap, making you deal very high amounts of Poison and Lightning Damage (not to mention Fire/Physical from Corpse Explosion)

With the Demon Machine, Chu-Ko-Nu crossbow, and respectable stash of Poison SCs, you have a 100% chance to hit and rather insane poison damage. (Exploding arrows always hit, regardless of mlvl).

The strategy would be fairly straightforward, kill one monster with your obscene poison damage, then death sentry kicks in and blows up the entire room. By maxing Lightning Sentry, you get an option to deal with Poison Immunes, making this a pretty damn flexible build.

What makes this build great is it's extreme affordability, hell I might just make an HC character of it. It requires nothing good; a 5 Pemerald (or tal rune)/1 Eth Rune bow, and some other scrapped together gear. You can use a Demon Machine Chu-Ko-Nu and just stack up on crappy poison SC's to make an even better build. I also like the viability of 60 points in lightning traps as a strong second element and opening up corpse explosion for packs. You'll also be doing well over 10k-20k poison damage over 30ish seconds with cheap gear, great for bosses and monsters alike

Possible Gear:
Helm: Shako
Armor: Treachery (Shael Lem Thul)... Bramble (Ral Ohm Sur Eth)... Smoke (Nef Lum)...
Gloves: IAS gloves, Trang Gloves
Belt: Anything Really, nightsmoke... String... Dungos...
Boots: Waterwalks
Rings: Ravenfrosts or Angelics (no angelics if using Demon Machine)
Ammy: Maras, Highlords, Trap Ammy, Angelic
Weapon1: Demon Machine, Chu-Ko-Nu or 5PEmerald (or 5Tal'd)/1Eth Bow
Weapon2: Venom Prebuff Claws or Trap Claws or Bartucs
Charms: Poison SC's if using Demon Machine. Anything if using 6os Bow.

[Asian_Menace]

I also put some thought into the Fire-Enchant sorceress that you proposed earlier, and came up with this:

20 Warmth
20 Fire Mastery

20 Frozen Orb
20 Icebolt/CM

Wait what, no Enchant?

Well as it turns out, Enchant Charges can be synergized by skills, which can save us skillpoints and free us up for a secondary attack. I chose Frozen Orb because it's a great skill and slows crowds with minimal point investment. There are two weapons that are required to make this build effective:

Weapon 1: Demon Machine, Chu-Ko-Nu - It fires explosive arrows and pierces. Great thing about explosive arrows, all monsters in the damage range take enchant damage. But we dont have enchant...
Weapon 2: Demon Limb - ...yes, we have enchant. Demon Limb gives level 23 enchant charges that are synergized by warmth and fire mastery. It saves us 20 points, though unfortunately, + fire skills wont affect it. That means we can stack on +Cold Skills for Frozen Orb Effectiveness.

There are many other routes to go other than the Cold Tree. High level static field is a great option, as is the lightning tree in general. You can even go all fire, choosing firewall, fireball, meteor, or whatever.

I'm not a fan of energy shield, and I prefer to stack life charms. ES is viable, but Manaburn = you're screwed.

[twizted_diablo]

Question about the Sorc bow build. If I equip her with a 'Dream' Helm and max out the skill, Lightning Mastery, will they work together? Is it worth the 20 points to put into? Is it effective?

[Asian_Menace]

I'm very sure it works, but as for effectiveness, I have no idea, you'd have to calculate the damage, though I highly doubt it would be more effective than firewall or a unsynergized frozen orb.

[Coldstone]

Originally Posted by twizted_diablo

Question about the Sorc bow build. If I equip her with a 'Dream' Helm and max out the skill, Lightning Mastery, will they work together? Is it worth the 20 points to put into? Is it effective?

Yes they will work together, no it isnt really effective

[twizted_diablo]

Originally Posted by Asian_Menace

Armor: Treachery (Shael Lem Thul)... Bramble (Ral Ohm Sur Eth)... Smoke (Nef Lum)...
Weapon1: Demon Machine, Chu-Ko-Nu or 5PEmerald (or 5Tal'd)/1Eth Bow

Hmmmm interesting. Why would they choose Treachery over Bramble? Because of the IAS from Treachery? You get about 1K more dmg from Bramble

Also, Demon Machine over Widowmaker?

[twizted_diablo]

Originally Posted by Coldstone

Yes they will work together, no it isnt really effective

Most common bow sorc build go with Lightning Mastery.

20 Warmth
20 Enchant
20 Fire Mastery
20 Energy Shield
20 Lightning Mastery

If I do not go the route of Lightning Mastery, what should I max? Shiver Armor?

[Coldstone]

Lm would work for the aura of Dream, this doesnt give much damage, it doesnt work on ranged combat damage although the damage screen shows it, so there are two possible ways for me, either pump TK and get ES to suitable level or get hybrid and max FO and get a bit in CM or boost static to get a bit of range for it. ES without TK is quite pointless imo.