Bowazon by lMarcusl

Bowazon

Game

Diablo II

Class

Amazon

Primary Attack

Strafe, Freezing Arrow

PvM/PvP

PvM

Can Solo Hell?

Yes

Creator

lMarcusl

The Bowazon is an Amazon build based around long range combat and mobility, preferring
to keep her enemies at arm's length while she peppers them with arrows. While her attacks
are not as potent as those of other characters, she compensates for this with unparalleled rate
of fire, as well as a multitude of abilitites which allow her to fight unthreatened and
uninterrupted by enemy attacks.
This guide was written and tested for single player playthrough across all difficulties using
patch 1.13. It is intended for untwinked play and will assume that the player has to rely solely
on the items they find when playing the character. As the guide is written for a complete
single player playthrough, the target character level will be 84.

Contents

1 Playstyle

2 Attribute Point Allocation

3 Skill Point Allocation

4 Gear

Playstyle
The Bowazon is a firm believer that every demon has a God given right to have an arrow in
the face (or the knee), and she is here to deliver. Hiding behind the tanky Valkyrie, she
dispenses large amount of aerodynamic pointy sticks through the enemy exterior, essentially
transforming them into a glorified pin cushion. While her quickness in engaging the enemy is
unrivaled, as she can easily deliver damage to her targets long before they even appear on the
screen, she pays for this with a number of disadvantages when compared to other characters
and builds, creating a need for tactical and careful play. Her skills and weapons generally do
not deal as much damage as would be desired, necessitating a strict skill build and attribute
allocation to make the most of her potential.
Fortunately for her though she does not kill as fast as others, she has the advantage of long
range engagement, a very tanky summon, as well as a number of other skills such as Freezing
Arrow or Decoy which serve to help her stay safe while she wears the enemy down from afar.
Due to this, despite her lack of damage, she is a very powerful build, which can solo Hell just
as easily as her physically more impressive friends.

Attribute Point Allocation

Proper allocation of the Bowazon's attributes is vital to her success and she needs to spend
her points very carefully in order to be effective all the way through the Hell difficulty. The
biggest issue the Bowazon has to deal with is that unlike the Assassin, Paladin or Barbarian,
she has no Mastery skills or Auras to help her in combat. This creates two fundamental issues
for the build: a) her attack rating is anemic to say the least b) her damage is nowhere near
where it could be. To make things worse, most of her skills do not particularly help in these
departments, especially when it comes to attack rating.
Therefore, Strength needs to get only as many points as is absolutely necessary and not a
point more. The highest Strength requirement for bows is 140, while for crossbows it goes up
to 165 (163 to be exact). It is NOT recommended to aim (pun freaking intended) for

crossbows from the get-go as while they do provide better damage than bows, they do not
possess supreme attack speed (except for Repeating Crossbows which act more like bows but
with even higher attack speed and even less damage). I would only recommend Crossbows
for advanced players with good ability to judge a situtation or for those who have already
found a decent rare/unique crossbow during their playthrough which they intend to finish the
game with. I would think that I fulfill both criteria and it didn't pay off anyway (I found
Hellcast, added a Shael Rune and intended to upgrade the weapon all the way to Colossus
Crossbow, but unfortunately didn't find the necessary runes and never made it past Ballista).
It is a big gamble to go for Crossbows as you don't know if you'll ever get a good one and
putting points in Strength hurts. Honest! It physically hurts to click the button to add
Strength. The attribute gives you NOTHING. Your damage is determined by Dexterity alone,
so the only thing Strength does for you is fulfill item requirements. Also, the Bowazon is a
ranged build so high armor is useless to you making the stat even more useless. Spend extra
points at your own peril (I'll find you and beat the crap out of you if you get it above 165!).
What you see in the picture is the absolute maximum of what Strength you should ever have.
If you don't want to go for crossbows, feel free to move 25 points from Strength
to...something else.
Dexterity is the very essence of this build. Not only is it required for bows (highest
requirement being around 190), it also adds damage which you sorely need, as well as
increases your attack rating, which you need even more desperately. This should and will be
your primary stat, so pour as many points as you can spare here. You'll not like your
gameplay experience if you don't.
Vitality is the hairy stat in this build. There is no strict limit how high you should get it unlike
Strength, yet it is still needed. Keep in mind however, that you are a ranged and ranged only
character. You are not a Javazon who needs to close in every now and then, or a Sorceress
who can pummel anyone with Fireballs if they get in her face. You kill slowly, so you need to
do it from range. Never ever have an enemy right in front of you, always kite them away or
you'll stand no chance (the only exception being if the enemy is being Freezing Arrowed to
death, then it's ok). Therefore, your Vitality investment doesn't need to be as high as with
other characters IF you play carefully and always mind your surroundings (Batman reference
FTW). Large AoE spells and stray missiles still do pose a problem however and your
resistances might not be all that great since you are not using a shield and other affixes on
items might be more important, so you still need to get your Vit up. I wouldn't recommend
going lower than 80, even with a hundred there was a bunch of close calls in my playthrough
and its better to be safe.
Last and by all means least there is Energy. Even though your character is in a way a hybrid
between a fighter and a caster (you do use your weapon to attack but you also spam skills
from range like crazy), do not invest any points into Energy. You need Dexterity too damn
much to waste points here and more importantly, even 60 points in energy wouldn't save you,
as Freezing Arrow eats mana for breakfast. Getting out 4-5 extra arrows for your Mana isn't
worth the investment. At the start of the game Mana will most likely be your biggest problem
and in fact will remain so even in Hell, as regardless of your mana steal, Freezing Arrow
deals very little physical damage from which you can steal mana. The rest of your skills are
not that Mana intensive, but unfortunately also need to be spammed a lot. The only way your
mana will be pretty ok will be if you get ca 10% mana steal or you use a crossbow
(crossbows deal more damage per shot, giving you more mana stolen, plus enemies will die

with fewer uses of your skills due to the increase in damage). Even then, it is still better to
drink potions than waste stat points; potions are aplenty, stat points are not.

Skill Point Allocation

Moving on to skill points, the issue doesn't become any easier. To be frank, most bow skills
suck. That goes especially for Strafe. While it does provide a great firing speed and also
autoaims for you, better yet even fires at enemies off screen giving you a great head-start into
every fight, it suffers from three issues. Firstly, it provides absolutely no attack rating bonus.
That means your chance to hit will rely solely on your Dexterity, while other characters can
rely also on a Mastery or Aura, plus extra attack rating from the attack they use. You get
nothing. Second, its damage per shot is actually lower than the damage of your normal attack,
as it only takes 3/4 of your weapon damage into consideration. Even at level 20 you'll still be
sacrificing damage with Strafe, though in exchange you get a large amount of shots off,
helping either with focusing down a single monster or covering a larger cluster of enemies
with arrows. Admittedly, enemies will not be dying that fast if you spread out your shots a lot
(sometimes it's better to use Freezing Arrow if you want to nuke something down) but on the
other hand, when enemies do start to drop, they will most likely all drop at the same time due
to the way you divide your damage. Still, I believe it absolutely necessary that you have the
Might Mercenary from Act 2 Nightmare along with you as you really need that extra damage
from his aura, and he can add entire hundreds for you. Until then, make do with Blessed Aim.
Third, the skill has no synergies. Level 20 is as good as it's ever going to get. Despite all these
disadvantages though, it is worth it putting all 20 points into it. While the damage doesn't
increase very much, what does increase is the minimum amount of shots you will fire with
each use of the skill, starting at 2 and finishing at 7. Thus while the initial levels of Strafe

make it barely worth using against single monsters, with additional levels, the amount of
arrows fired will be significant enough that the decrease in damage will be all but irrelevant.
Freezing Arrow will be another basic pillar that will hold your build up. Not only is it
priceless against monsters which can be resurrected (Fallen, Skeletons etc.), it also provides
you with a vital survival skill, as before you gain this skill you will have trouble dealing with
enemies who charge directly at your character, as well as enemies who deal significant
enough damage that they need to be killed ASAP. Finally, it will also be your main source of
non-physical damage, useful against Ghosts, Itchies etc. It also increases your attack rating
quite a nice amount, giving just a little extra incentive to use it against monsters you have
trouble hitting (such as Act Bosses). While its damage even at level 20 will require you to
spam a lot until you down a monster, it provides you with a War Cry-like effect, essentially
giving you as much time as you need to kill the group of enemies targeted. Note however that
the freeze duration isn't all that great, meaning you will barely have enough time to fire off a
Strafe before you have to use the skill again. You'll get the biggest kick out of the skill
towards the end of Hell, as the synergy with Cold Arrow will give it a very nice and so, so
much needed damage boost.
The final skill maxed out in this build is of course the Valkyrie, without which this would all
fall flat on its face. She is the best. Tank. Period. And you won't be able to make any progress
without her later in the game. In fact, it won't be until level 30 that the build will start
showing its true potential for greatness, as your Strafe will start getting decent amount of
shots off, and you'll finally have a good summon to tank for you (your low amount of life will
mean that Decoy will serve as nothing but a temporary distraction).

However, with these skills alone, you wouldn't make it very far. There are another six skills
that I need to mention, as even though they are not maxed, you will not be able to live long
without them.
Due to the fact that the life of the Bowazon is so plagued with problems concerning attack
rating, it is necessary, and I mean absolutely necessary to get Penetrate to at least level 10
(you could move some points from Cold Arrow to Penetrate if you really really have to but
you'll be sacrificing power on one front or the other; it's best to just keep it balanced). Even
with Penetrate at 10 and Dexterity above 200, your chance to hit will suffer a lot, sometimes
dropping as low as 60% and only rarely getting higher than 80%. Unfortunately, there simply
aren't enough points, otherwise, Penetrate would definitely deserve more. Though the few

percent off of your low attack rating don't amount to much, things would be much worse
without it.
Pierce is another necessity of this build. While the number of points could be debatable, I
would argue to dedicate a full 5 points into it, as pierce will make your mana go a lot lot
further when it comes to Freezing Arrow. Not only will it make the skill an overall better
crowd control ability, it will also greatly boost up your damage which becomes vital
especially against Physical Immunes such as ghosts. Remember to always try to lure them
into a position where they will be close to a wall or another obstacle, against which you can
make the arrow explode if it pierces through your target. Freezing Arrow will hurt your Mana
reserves either way but this will make the little mana you have do a lot more for you.
Similarly, Pierce greatly benefits your Strafe as you will be able to strike past the initial wall
of monsters, essentially increasing the amount of shots which your Strafe can fire.
Next on the list is Critical Strike and while you do not dedicate any points into it, it is
essential that you keep this skill in mind. It is mainly because of this skill and Penetrate, that
finding +skills for the Bowazon may be kind of a big deal. While you cannot exactly stack up
on +skills and expect to do great, it is important that you keep in mind what it provides you.
Extra damage and attack rating is exactly what you need so +skills become a lot more
important than they would otherwise be for a straight up fighter class.
As mentioned before, Decoy will become an important trick for you later in the game as even
though your Decoy won't live very long, at least you will. If attacked you will drop like a fly
so you very much need to keep this skill ready to occupy any monster who finds its way past
your defensive wall of the Valkyrie and the Mercenary you will be running around with.
Another important skill I need to mention is Slow Missiles. Since you will most of the time
avoid melee enemies like the plague, the other issue arising is of course the fact that you can't
exactly kite all the projectiles and fight at the same time. It is important that you use this skill
when engaging groups of ranged enemies, as otherwise you'll just find yourself running
around between shots and not actually doing any damage (or worse yet you'll just straight up
die). Slow Missiles will help you deal with this problem, as well as give you more time to fire
off Strafe when dueling with a ranged monster which picked you as its personal nemesis. In a
ranged fight, its all about who gets shot first, so make sure your shots travel faster than theirs.
The skill also decreases range of several annoying projectile types, such as Charged Bolts
from lightning enchanted, and Inferno from Venom Lords and Fetish Shamans, which will
help a lot with your survivability.
Last, there is the Guided Arrow skill. While you won't be putting any points into it, it is an
extremely important ability to have. First off, it always hits, meaning it will come in handy
against enemies with high defense (extremely efficient against Madawc) plus it allows you
guaranteed hits which you might need for various reasons (such as delivering the Amplify
Damage curse, Crushing Blow etc). It is also able to chase down enemies which try to run (a
speciality of Baboon Demons and Oblivion Knights) and it passes through monsters to its
target, making it ideal for picking off specific monsters behind a crowd (Unravellers, Fallen
Shamans, Hierophants etc). All this makes it a good skill to have on your left mouse button.
Do NOT have Strafe on your left mouse button. When using strafe, just as any other multi hit
attack (Zeal, Fend, Fury) you will be locked in place and unable to move, making you a
prime target for a quick kill if you are not in good position. The last thing you want when
running away is to misclick and start firing Strafe in the middle of a group of monsters. The

thing will get you killed if you are not careful which is why I don't recommend crossbows to
less advanced players. Stand in the wrong spot one second too long and you're dead. You
need to keep mobile.
As far as your level progression is concerned, I know you will hate me for this but I have to
say it anyway. Do not invest any extra skill points into any of your skills until you get to
Penetrate and Strafe. That means that pretty much until level 24 you will only be using skills
on level one but trust me, you need that. It will make your progression after level 24 much
faster and the points in Cold Arrow wouldn't do anything for you anyway. Up to level 24 your
best friends will mostly be Cold Arrow and Guided Arrow as you won't have much else to
down Bosses with but after that things will get a lot better - around level 27-28 you should
really start feeling the strength of Strafe kicking in and after level 30, your new skills will
start kicking ass very quickly as well. As soon as you gain access to Penetrate, start putting
points into it until it's level 10 and similarly, increase your Strafe level until you simply run
out of points (which won't happen until after level 30). Once you hit 30, you should start
spreading out skill points between Valkyrie, Strafe, Pierce and Freezing Arrow (Penetrate will
be level 10 by then) and continue doing so until all these skills are at the level shown in the
picture. Only after that should you start putting points into Cold Arrow, which you will be
increasing until the end of your Hell playthrough.

Gear
Finally, there is the issue of gear, and here the Bowazon becomes surprisingly simple. You
don't really need that much. Your resists don't need to and most likely won't be very high
since you are not trying to stand in the thick of things, your defense is mostly irrelevant and
really, what else is the gear for? Well, there are a few things we need and there are also a few
things we can do about it.
First off, attack speed is key. The Strafe lock is a nasty thing and you want it to be as short as
possible. This goes double if you are using crossbows. Never ever use a weapon that has less
then fast attack speed and even then you better have at least 30% increased attack speed off
the weapon or you'll be putting yourself in danger. The Shael Rune will become your very
good friend very quickly as any ranged weapon you can put it in should have it. Also, screw
gloves with their +skills into passive or bow skills or whatever, you should have at least 20%
IAS there since it's the most likely spot you can find it at. Never sacrifice attack speed for
damage and that goes especially for your gloves.
As for your armor, there is a very neat and easy to find runeword called Peace (Shael + Thul
+ Amn). While it does not provide great resists, it does provide a couple of very important
things. +2 to all Amazon skills = extra crit chance (it adds and extra +2 to critical strike for
good measure as well), extra attack rating, extra pierce, extra damage on your Freezing
Arrow. Faster hit recovery = you not really as much dead as you'd have thought. But the
greatest gem of all, it gives you chance to summon Valkyrie on striking. While that might not
seem as much, not only is the rune word available already at level 29 and will get you level
15 Valkyrie right from the start, it also allows you to resummon her without expending mana
(plus valkyrie has a cooldown otherwise, making it impossible to resummon often) and will
more often then not put her in more advantageous position than she was in before (which is
nice since she walks very slowly.) Though you might later replace it with some better armor, I
have used it for the entirety of the game and was pretty satisfied with my choice.

A great problem you might run into (and most likely will) is finding a good weapon. The
esential thing needed is to define what a good weapon is. A good weapon is either a bow with
greatly increased damage or a crossbow with greatly increased attack speed. And since
greatly increased attack speed is something not very common, we shall focus simply on the
bow for now. The damage of bows is overall nothing great so you need to forsake other
bonuses you might desire and focus on damage. It is important that you remember that a good
bow can be bought, not just gambled or found. It is very much possible to buy an elite bow
with over 150% enhanced damage which will last you through the rest of the game (been
there, done that). Anything extra you can get on it is just icing on the cake. Remember that
rare and unique items can be upgraded through the horadric cube to the next tier (normal to
exceptional, exceptional to elite) if you find the right runes, so even though you may have
found a silly rare long bow, think about whether it might not be useful later on. If it has
significant enough % enhanced damage, it most likely will, so don't just throw it away. There
are also two rune words you need to be aware of, namely Ort + Eth and Shael + Ko + Nef.
Both are specifically for ranged weapons and both provide very decent attack speed and
damage increases. While for bows this damage increase might not be enough, it is good
enough for some faster crossbows and with the extra attack speed might make it a viable
investment. Also, you can make your job a lot easier if you keep a bow with Amplify Damage
on striking, ideally also with some poison damage on it as in some cases it will be faster to
just remove Physical immunity from monsters, rather than spam Freezing Arrow on them.
Plus, monsters immune to both Cold and Physical damage are not a rarity on hell.
Last thing I need to mention is some modifiers you should keep an eye out for. A decent
amount of mana steal will be of great help to you as you will be eating through your mana
very quickly without it and the multi-hitting nature of Strafe allows you to drain a lot of mana
back to pay for your spells. Life steal will not be as important as you shouldn't be getting hit
too much, but you should definitely have at least 3% mana steal if you want to be selfsufficient. You should always carry around with you a charm with some cold damage or some
other item that you know you will be keeping until the end of the game. Strafe will become a
much better crowd control tool when everything you hit with that huge volley of piercing
arrows gets slowed down considerably. Your Valkyrie and your Mercenary will thank you for
the extra survivability, especially since you can't afford to have Holy Freeze Merc along with
you. Unless you have an item with Prevent Monster Heal on you, you should also carry some
charm with poison damage, because since you don't deal much damage, monster regeneration
can become a problem. Beside these basics, the Bowazon is one of the few builds which
greatly appreaciate Knockback, Hit Blinds Target or Hit Causes Monster to Flee as it helps
keep enemies at bay and allows your tanks to survive a lot longer. Also, since Strafe is such a
global attack, Crushing Blow and Open Wounds do a lot more for you than they would on
any other character so if you can get some gear with these, keep it at least for the Boss fights,
if not for the entirety of the playthrough.