Fire arrows are all bow/crossbow skills that are at the right of the skill tree. All elemental arrows are based on the principle that its "higher" counterpart is more effective — the apex of the fire tree is Immolation Arrow. Unlike magic arrows, fire arrow skills are situational in that every skill has its uses, strengths and weakness.
Personally, I am not a big fan of the amazon's fire skills. I feel that, even with synergies, none of them cause enough damage, Exploding Arrow has no uses outside of normal, the casting timer on Immolation Arrow was unnecessary, its three-second duration is laughable, and the utility and cost-benefit ration of the cold arrow branch of the bow/crossbow tree far outweighs any advantages that a fully-synergized Immolation arrow could possibly offer. According to Chippydip's Diablo II: Lord of Destruction Skill Information, a fully-synergized Immolation Arrow with +12 to skill and bow/crossbow skills (not unimaginable in LOD) does 2244-2274 fire explosion damage, which is impressive, but only 379-384 fire patch damage per second: that's not good. I would rather quickly skip over these and recommend avoiding them altogether, placing the bulk of your skill points elsewhere.
Clvl: 1
Prerequisites: None.
Effect: Enchants an arrow with the additional damage of fire.
Properties: Can be blocked, dodged, does not work with Critical/Deadly Strike or Penetrate, does work with Pierce, steals life/mana, elemental portion always hits, can be resisted/negated/absorbed via fire resistance/immunity/absorption.
Synergy from: Exploding Arrow: +12% fire damage/slvl.
Synergy to: Exploding Arrow: +12% fire damage/slvl, Immolation Arrow: +5% average fire damage per second/slvl.
Fire Arrow converts a percentage of your physical damage to fire damage, around
If Fire Arrow is chosen, an assigned hot key is recommended. Fire Arrow will not trigger bolts from an LEB.
Clvl: 12
Prerequisites: Fire Arrow, Multiple Shot
Effect: Adds fire damage to normal arrows and explodes on impact.
Properties: Can be blocked, dodged, does not work with Critical/Deadly Strike or Penetrate, does work with Pierce, steals life/mana, elemental portion always hits, can be resisted/negated/absorbed via fire resistance/immunity/absorption, 2 to 3.3 yard explosion radius.
Synergy from: Fire Arrow: +12% fire damage/slvl.
Synergy to: Fire Arrow: +12% fire damage/slvl, Immolation Arrow: +10% average fire damage/slvl.
You'll first run into this skill at a point in the game when enemy packs become more dense in narrow hallways; what makes this skill more useful than Multiple Shot is that it strikes everything within a 3.3 yard radius, unhampered by how many targets happen to be within range. It's the first skill with an explosion radius your bowazon will have; the other skill is Freezing Arrow. Because it has an explosion radius, Exploding Arrow can stop entire groups dead in their tracks with stun lock. This skill is very useful against tightly-packed groups with low fire resistance like the undead hordes in Act 2, the flayer packs in Act 3, or the spawners in Act 4, but it's easily trumped by the superior Freezing Arrow. If you decide upon the fire route, don't invest more than one point because of Immolation Arrow unless you intend on using Exploding Arrow as a primary attack.
Blood Raven's Charge matriarchal bow (slvl-13), Demon Machine chu-ko-nu (slvl-6), Hellcast heavy crossbow (slvl-5), Kuko Shakaku cedar bow (slvl-7), and Raven Claw long bow (slvl-3), the unique bows and crossbows that fire explosive arrows and bolts, will only do so when using a normal attack or Explosive Arrow. All other bow skills will override the Explosive Arrow property. The properties of exploding arrow make them ideal for non-amazon bow users.
Clvl: 24
Prerequisites: Fire Arrow, Multiple Shot, Exploding Arrow
Effect: Enchants an arrow that does fire damage and explodes into a patch of fire on the ground. Creatures passing through the flames take additional damage.
Properties: Can be blocked (but the fire wall effect will still hit the target), dodged, does not work with Critical/Deadly Strike or Penetrate, does work with Pierce, steals life/mana, elemental portion always hits, can be resisted/negated/absorbed via fire resistance/immunity/absorption, three-second duration, two yard fire radius, 3.3 yard explosion radius, add physical damage to exploding arrows.
Synergy from: Fire Arrow: +5% average fire damage per second/slvl, Exploding Arrow: +10% average fire damage/slvl.
Synergy to: None.
Immolation Arrow launches an exploding arrow that leaves a small patch of burning flame whenever it hits an enemy. When it is used against individually-strong slow enemies or large groups of slow-moving monsters (either by design or with Freezing Arrow and Pierce), Immolation Arrow is very useful, as it causes more damage per second per mana point spent than any other bow/crossbow skill.
…or would, if it wasn't crippled by a three-second duration and a spell timer. The spell timer lasts a second, the patch of flame lasts for three. That means this skill cannot be stacked, and given the healing rates of monsters in hell, and this skill's weak fire damage, even with full synergies, Immolation is a joke.
If these were replaced with Immolation Arrow's old gradual duration and the timer were say…forgotten, then of all the fire skills, Immolation Arrow would deal the most damage over time and have the most utility, making it the skill of choice against non-fire resistant physical immunes, especially when used with Conviction or Lower Resist. Immolation Arrow is unique among the bow/crossbow skills in that it's the only skill that does not scale with added dexterity of higher damage bows; though the damage of Immolation Arrow's explosive arrow is stacked on top of a bowazon's physical damage, the damage of the patch is independent of your bow and based entirely on slvl. Immolation Arrow is best used in tight areas where the flames can be absolutely devastating and dominates stationary targets. Immolation Arrow can be compared to the sorceresses' Fire Wall skill; Immolation Arrow causes less damage but is less situational and easier to aim. Unlike Fire Wall, Immolation Arrow does not cause much lag: this is not because of the skill timer, it's because nobody uses the damned skill. Immolation Arrow's explosive damage appears to have a range of 3.3 yards and its effectiveness climbs with Pierce. As the difficulty levels climb, so will the target's fire resistance, so if you intend on using Immolation Arrow as a secondary attack, max this skill as soon as possible, as it's totally worthless at any slvl lower than 30…I mean, 10. Immolation is the most situationally-dependent skill the bowazon has; with the right situation or weapon, nothing can compare to Immolation's usefulness, but used in the wrong situation or with the wrong weapon (like a bow with knockback, for example), it's so inefficient that you'll be chewing your fingernails in frustration.
As it is, however, this skill is weak with a capital "W." If you're bound and determined to make this skill work, be prepared to scratch sixty skill points and cry once you run into your first fire/physical immune. Otherwise, avoid this skill like a plague.
If Immolation Arrow is chosen, an assigned hot key is highly recommended. A high-level valkyrie is also recommended, as you'll need her to survive a massive beating from the targets she'll be holding back while Immolation Arrow takes full effect. Some exceptionally good strategies for using Immolation can be gleaned from the Fire Wall section of VenomousVixen's Complete Sorceress Guide.
last updated: Monday, December 29, 2003 — version 0.10
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