The amazon's passive/magic skills are the most powerful and useful skills that the amazon possess because all of the skills in this tree are used simultaneously without penalty or problem; they're not flashy, but they work. Each skill in this tree has a unique effect or statistical enhancement that works with anything the amazon is trying to do. This means that a bowazon can have as many as six to seven skills (Inner Sight/Slow Missiles, Decoy, Valkyrie, Critical Strike, Penetrate, Pierce, D/A/E) activated simultaneously in addition to her attack skills.
A strong set of passive/magic skills is the foundation of an effective bowazon: I strongly suggest at least one point in all of them, using either blanket +skills or +passive/magic items to boost their effectiveness. A bowazon should strive to find as many +passive/magic items as she possibly can, as passive/magic skills generally have no or low mana cost (with the exception of Valkyrie) and are not penalized by increased difficulty level, more players or stats. However, they need not be maxed — most passive/magic skills either suffer from diminishing returns or being outperformed by equipment. Passive skills also require a sense of timing: when to pump a passive skill is just as important to your bowazon as knowing how many points in a skill you plan to give her. Passive/magic skills require the most thought, so give them some.
With the introduction of synergies in v1.10, passive/magic skills bear another look because while everything that was true about passives before is still true, there's one big change to this tree that every amazon player should pay attention to: the valkyrie is the major recipient of synergies from passive skills, making them not only one of the most dangerous minions in the game, but also (and finally!) incredible combatants in their own right. Whether or not you think that using the valkyrie as a "second merc," so to speak — since hirelings can't possibly act as "second valks," not with their comparative fragility — is completely up to you, though I have my own thoughts on the subject (discussed later).
This section is divided into three parts:
For more information on the amazon's passive/magic skills, please refer to the amazon's passive/magic skills section of the Arreat Summit and the irreplaceable Chippydip's Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Skill Information.
last updated: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 — version 0.10
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