In this final section, I answer some bowazon questions that I seen too often in chat and forums. Please remember to keep an eye on the "big picture," which includes your skills, stats, items, charms, playing ability, intent, hireling and team play.
What's better, Strafe or Multi?
This is more a question of personal preference, as Neither skill is better overall than any other. Rather, each is better for certain applications, while being inferior for others. Both skills are highly useful; it's quite possible to put a few points in each and switch between them as the situation warrants. For example, Multi is generally used for range, spread, mobility and strong crowd control. Strafe is used for higher damage, auto-aim and the possibility of many hits per monster. Both skills are plagued by a hefty damage penalty and the lack of an AR bonus. Despite this, many users of Multi tend to use it in situations where that skill isn't optimal. Some examples:
There are points of character development where Multi is generally better than Strafe. When you have weak equipment (low resists, life and damage) you generally have less capability to withstand punishment and less ability to kill quickly in a toe-toe position. In these cases, Multi is safer. However, once you pick up your valkyrie or hireling, the minion compensates for the safety factor of Multi.
Multi is most useful against large numbers of enemies grouped together at medium or long range, as melee-range monsters will force a wide Multi arc in order to hit multiple monsters. At higher levels, it can put out as many as 2-3 times as many arrows per unit time as Strafe. It can be used to efficiently attack enemies such as abyss or oblivion knights that attack from beyond the edge of the screen. However, this skill isn't as effective against enemies that are scattered around the screen, since the odds of hitting all of them with a single attack is rather slim. It is also ineffective against groups of tightly packed targets at any range — at least when compared to elemental arrows with a blast radius.
Strafe is superior against small numbers of monsters as many arrows will hit a single target. It is also superior if you're close to the mob, as its dispersal pattern will adjust. Strafe is particularly effective in narrow corridors as a single target can be hit multiple times, as each arrow will pierce and hit the next target behind. The key benefit to this skill is auto-targeting, which is helpful if you're lagged; Strafe isn't fooled by lag since it's aimed by the same server that controls its targets. Strafe fires one arrow for each target in range, which brings us to "Strafe Lock": because every arrow from Strafe is sequential, the amazon is locked into place while firing her arrows — which range between the minimum of targets around you and ten arrows. While the amazon is under strafe lock, she's vulnerable to any targets that are coming her way or targets she missed or otherwise could not lock onto because she can't move. This is especially evident when Strafe is used with bows that have traditionally slow attack speeds, as the opening and closing attack sequences tend to be a liability; not even the Buriza-Do Kyanon with its 80% IAS is immune. Despite this "weakness", Strafe is more effective at close engagement ranges (enemies are inside the screen) than Multi.
Or you can screw all that and just use Multi exclusively. A level 20 Multi spits out 21 arrows for 23 mana. A level 20 Strafe chokes out 10 arrows for 11 mana. Damage bonuses and penalties aside, all that really matters is how many arrows you can fire at the enemy versus how much mana you're going to blow doing it. After 251 mana (23 × 11), Multi can do 231 arrows, while Strafe does 230. Same amount of arrows, right? And Multi has a penalty while Strafe has a bonus, right? You can aim Multi, prioritizing the most dangerous targets in your sights; Strafe is sequential. Both have the possibility of missing against moving targets, but again, look at how you can shape Multi to work for you. Check the bugginess of Strafe again: if you could hit an enemy with multiple arrows from Strafe, I'd say use Strafe because Strafe is supposed to have a damage bonus that works, but because you can't and it doesn't, so screw that. Use Multi and back up often, and laugh because Blizzard apparently doesn't understand that a level 24 skill is supposed to be superior to a level 6 skill (but then again, Blizzard also doesn't apparently know to keep competent employees, so maybe it isn't their fault. Maybe we can blame the stupid fairies: every time you lose a brain cell, the stupid fairy puts a Benjamin under your pillow. This might explain why Blizzard employees can manage to be so rich and so stupid at the same time. Actually, stupid fairies explain a lot of things…).
What do I invest my attribute points in?
Standard softcore bowazon build is 90-100 strength (depending on the end bow), a varying amount of vitality, base energy and lots of dexterity. My personal recommendation is for vitality is 100: it isn't so much that I feel I am cheating myself out of damage and it isn't so little that my bowazon crumbles in less than ten hits.
What's the best bow?
That's a nebulous question.
How do I ensure myself a steady supply of Horadric gloves and rings?
If you're at all like me, then cubing is going to be a compulsive habit. Crafting ensures you'll be playing your character long after Magic Find runs have long lost their appeal. My tip here would be to always keep a set of Sol, Nef (keeping an eye out for Tir runes, as three Tirs can be cubed into one Nef) and Ort runes (keeping an eye out for Ral runes) and perfect rubies and sapphires on hand at all times: even if you have no use for one type of glove, it's inevitable that you're going to run out of runes or gems for the glove that you do use, and with the worthless jewels you'll be picking up, you want to clear out your inventory of current crafting stock as quick as possible to make room for the flawless rubies and sapphires you'll be sure to find along the way.
Remember, heavy gloves and Nef for Blood crafts, chain gloves and Ort for Hit Power crafts, and rings and Sol for Blood rings.
I want to trade for Windforce (or Eaglehorn, a cruel bow, Silence, etc.), but I am afraid I am going to trade my hard-earned items a dupe. Is it safer to trade for an unidentified item?
No. Here are three reasons why:
How much leech does my bowazon need?
Start with around 10% life and 7% mana. When you get to Nightmare, try to keep the leech percentages even, as leech is cut in half and rounded down. In Hell, you want your leech percentages to be divisible by three, as leech is cut by 33%.
Wow, you must know bowazons like the back of your hand.
When's the last time you've really taken a good look at the back of your hand?
last updated: Monday, September 22, 2003
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