Exploding Arrow (none or one point)

Clvl: 12
Prerequisites: Fire Arrow, Multiple Shot.
Effect: Adds fire damage to normal arrows and explodes on impact.
Properties: Can be blocked, dodged, doesn't work with Critical/Deadly Strike, 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 areas; what makes this skill more useful than Multiple Shot is that it has a blast radius, which enables it to strike everything within a 3.3 yard radius, regardless by how many targets happen to be in the area. For example, a slvl-10 Multiple Shot fired at a group of 15 monsters is going to hit eleven targets, and only eleven targets (barring pierce), but if all of those monsters are within a 3.3 yard radius, a slvl-1 Exploding Arrow is going to hit them all.

But first, let's go over what the blast radius (or splash) means for the bowazon. She possesses three skills with a blast radius, also known as "blasting skills": Exploding Arrow, Immolation Arrow, and Freezing Arrow. These skills have two parts: we'll go over splash damage first. Splash damage is the blast radius, that 3.3 yards of pure elemental damage. The amazon can augment her splash damage with matching elemental damage items. In this case, fire damage from equipment and charms is added to and spread with the blast radius of Exploding Arrow. So if your bowazon throws on something like 400-500 fire damage, all that is added to the splash which will affect everything within its 3.3 yard blast radius — and yes, this does include the sorceress's Enchant skill.

"How big is 3.3 yards in the game?" you might ask. Let's take a look:

That's pretty big. It's not huge, but it's big enough.

However, matching elemental damage is the only thing that can be added to splash damage: non-elemental effects like PMH, Slows Target, Critical Strike, and so forth aren't — neither is leeching or non-matching elements (in this case, cold, lightning, and poison). These are added to the other part of the bowazon's blasting skill: the actual arrow itself, also known as the point of impact. This part contains mostly physical damage with a coat of the skill's elemental damage (non-matching elemental damage is added to the point of impact). In the beginning, the point of impact and splash cause the same amount of damage, but with better items (particularly items with percentile-based bonuses to elemental damage), more skill points (especially synergies), and higher levels, eventually the splash will overtake the damage of the point of impact.

When a bowazon uses a skill with a blast radius, the splash is always going to hit. The point of impact, however, is dependent on the bowazon's AR, just like all her other attacks. This is important because the point of impact not only transmits those nifty non-elemental effects, but it's also needed to pierce: every time the point of impact of blasting skill pierces a target, it's "cast" again, with the damage from every subsequent blast overlapping over the last, but it needs to actually hit the target first. (This is discussed in more detail under "Pierce.") Just remember: if the point of impact doesn't hit, the skill doesn't pierce.

Three things to remember about splash damage: first, splash damage doesn't miss. It can be resisted or negated by resistance or immunity, but it doesn't miss. Second, splash damage disregards hard cover: if a target is hiding behind a wall and Exploding Arrow hits the wall, the splash damage will still hit so long as the target is within the blast radius. Third, splash damage is capable of sending targets into hit animation.

That being said, there's not much to say about Exploding Arrow. If you want to beat Normal difficulty, then Exploding Arrow is an excellent skill to invest in; because of the casting timer on Immolation Arrow, you'll probably find yourself using this skill most often if you've decided to take the fire damage route. However, if you intend on moving into Nightmare or Hell, then investing in this skill is not recommended for two reasons: the large amount of fire-resistant/immune monsters in the game and the bowazon can access Freezing Arrow at clvl-30. (A good party, can get around this, of course.)

Oh yeah, one more thing. If you use any blasting skills with any sort of regularity, your bestest friend in the whole wide world is the paladin with the Conviction aura. The guy with the slvl-25 (and up) Conviction gets glomps from the gunbunny with luxury upholstery. No, not Fanaticism; that only raises your firing speed, AR, and damage, but you're still facing the same monsters with the same high resistances and same high defense ratings, who're still gonna be tough to kill. Conviction reverses that formula by making your targets really weak, and when the monsters are 10-20 levels higher than you, trust me, it makes a difference because it totally throws off the To-Hit formula that was previously in the monsters' favor. At the upper levels, Conviction inflicts up to a -150% elemental resistance penalty on its targets, as well as a -94% defense penalty: that's like Lower Resist emanating from a walking Jah rune, and with the nature of her blasting skills, the bowazon is in a perfect position to take advantage of both. So do it.