I really canât recommend it. I was following a certain guide [on another Website] to build my Physical Bowazon. Iâm happy with the guide in general but I donât think the people who wrote it actually played that build.
Act 1 Mercenary AI is so horrible, half of the time sheâll be too far away from you to give you the Faithâs Fanaticism Aura. Granted, I got a bad roll on Faith (lvl 13 Aura) but I donât think the 1.7 yard increase from a lvl 15 Aura would fix the problem, and youâre not guaranteed a lvl 15 roll anyway.
Act 1 Mercenary has horrible movement. Sometimes sheâll run away from you instead of following, sometimes sheâll just hang back and stand around. Having to wait for her to eventually catch up to you defeats the entire purpose of giving her a powerful Faith bow in the first place - your Clear Speed will suck.
It might work on a build that uses Enigma because youâll teleport the Merc to you when you teleport yourself, but Physical Bowazon should use Fortitude Armor to maximize Damage.
Long story short, put Faith in a Grand Matron Bow, use the bow yourself and use an Emilio with Might Aura. His Might Aura has a much greater range (~30 yards), and you can give him some Crushing Blow equipment to absolutely murder bosses, which Physical Bowazon is not great against. Emilio attacks so fast with you giving him Fanaticism, he turns into a real powerhouse.
In my experience, Clear Speed with a Might Emilio and Faith on your Bowazon defeats Clear Speed of Might Emilio + Windforce or Faith Merc + Windforce easily. (Plus youâll have an army of Skeletons helping you.)
AND you can give your Emilio a Pride Polearm for an additional DMG Aura (Concentration).
If youâre talking about the portion of my guide here that includes the mention of the old WF/Act 1 Rogue method as one of the potential end-game setups to use Bowazon PvM Walkthrough & End-Game Guide - Amazon - Diablo 2 Resurrected Forums (blizzard.com) you need to actually complete the gear setup on that build for it to be useful.
Although some people swear by that WF/Act1Rogue method, there is a reason why I mention in that guide that I prefer GMFaith/Act2Might method over WF/Act1Rogue for several reasons.
Your Fanata from the merc is fine at level 13. Level 13, 14, 15 will all grant 7fpa with Hydra or GMB so long as you have 95%ias. Level 12 Faiths are the ones that have no value.
To play the WF/Act1Rogue method efficiently, a player needs to be able to well position Valk/Decoy recasts while herding monsters for mass pierce kills.
With any Bowa build, you shouldnât be aiming at running act bosses which are located in places that frequented make mercs get stuck. You want to be running mass mob kills as a Bowazon. Your mercs wonât get stuck in areas like Chaos or Cows. Bowazons cannot effectively stack MF like a Sorc or Hammerin. Bowas are better at MFing for things that MF doesnât effect, like Runes, Jewel drops, Base gear drops for superiors or eth socketables. Thatâs just the way it goes for Bowas.
Also, donât put Enigma on a Bowa. She has by far the worst FCR frames in the game, it removes too much of your DPS value, and the MF% gained isnât worth the kill speed lost. If you are so insistent on wanting teleport on a Zon, you should be running a Javazon or Sorc/Hammer.
The better routine for a MF Bowa is: Eldtrich/Shenk/Pindle, Chaos, Trav, Cows.
Ye I agree with everything you said. (Wasnât talking about your guide btw but Iâm gonna have a look at it.) Iâm doing Cows mostly and Faith Merc couldnât even keep up with me in Cows.
She just wanders around way too much. Iâm so much faster with Might Merc and Faith Bow on my Bowa.
Disagree, using D2 character planner, a 12Fanta bow on merc with me using WF (If I shael rune my WF I donât even need to wear a 20ias HL or Cats to get to 3.57 attks per second)
Furthermore the Faith on Merc, WF on yourself is by far the cheapest end game build as it only requires 1 expensive item (Faith) on ur merc vs Faith on yourself and additionally, pride on your merc running might aura.
To make things even cheaper, you can give your merc the cheapest +1skill 12fanta and easily get to 7 frames 3.57 attks per sec while using a WF as WF has innate IAS where as Faith GMB has no added IAS on the weapon.
Youâre effectively saving yourself half a faith + a Pride rune word in cost if you went with Faith on merc + WF on urself.
Faith on Merc WF on Zon is just a bad setup though, for so many reasons.
Not having an a2 merc to run ahead and tank mobs is bad. The Valk canât do it alone. You end up needing to kite around way too often without an a2 merc. When you are kiting you are not standing and dealing damage. This directly effects your DPS âdamage per secondâ. The Valk also has a cool-down so you canât spam her. Against the more dangerous mobs, if Valk is dying too often you end up getting screwed over because you canât resummon her quickly enough. You need to have the a2 merc and the Valk together, to create that special tank duo that allows you to do a lot more standing still & firing, than kiting and running.
a2 merc deals WAY more damage than a1 rogue with a Faith. His damage output should not be taken lightly. He directly effects your DPS, especially vs. single targets like act bosses. His damage even with Pride, is a lot higher than most people think it would be, after he has triple auras effecting him, Fanat, Might, Conc. a1 rogue with Faith has negligent damage output man. Itâs not even noticeable in hell dif.
WF misses a lot. You have bad attack rating with WF. When youâre talking real end-game setups and not budget setups, you want a Faith on the Bowazon because it doesnât miss. Again, this is a lot more DPS gain that most people realize, the difference between missing some strikes and never missing at all.
Also, your d2 character planner is wrong if itâs telling you that you can achieve 7fpa on a Hydra at 95%ias with only a 12 Fanat touching you. You need a lv 13 Fanat to achieve 7fpa at 95% on GMB & Hydra.
Agree with WF missing but can make it up with higher char lvl and charms, I believe Iâve seen posts suggesting with max/ar charms and lvl 95+ char u can achieve 95% HR with WF
A2 mercâs pride wpn has no inherent ed, u do make a decent point about 3x auras giving him the ED rather than the wpn so probably legit statement.
I think the planner is correct because hydra and gmb have the same base attack speed but wf has an inherent 20ias mod while faith GMB does not.
Furthermore, you can see on the fanatacism table that after L10 u get severe diminishing returns and the diff between 12 and 13 is a mere 1% ias, wf is giving u 20% ias over faith which puts u well over the required ias to be at 7fpa
Level
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Radius(yards)
7.3
8
8.6
9.3
10
10.6
11.3
12
12.6
13.3
Party Damage +%
25
33
42
50
59
67
76
84
93
101
Your Damage +%
50
67
84
101
118
135
152
169
186
203
Attack Speed +%
14
18
20
23
25
26
27
28
29
30
Attack +%
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85
Level
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
25
Radius(yards)
14
14.6
15.3
16
16.6
17.3
18
18.6
19.3
20
23.3
Party Damage +%
110
118
127
135
144
152
161
169
178
186
229
Your Damage +%
220
237
254
271
288
305
322
339
356
373
458
Attack Speed +%
31
31
32
33
33
34
34
34
34
35
36
Attack +%
90
95
100
105
110
115
120
125
130
135
160
So the WF on u + Faith on merc allows you to socket a 40/15ias jewel into ur wf which means you can wear a atmas ammy over highlords to deal with physical immunes, this is a huge bonus over faith GMB on urself.
Your chart is wrong.
You need lv 13 fanat for 7fpa at 95% ias with GMB and Hydra.
Furthermore, there is a lot you are not understanding about âwhat equates to fast clear timesâ in Bowazon play. Over the years, Iâve met many people who ran one Bowa and theoretically believe in this WF/Rogue Faith method. But each and every time we have ran in game tests, Faith Bowa + A2 Pride/Might Merc very seriously clears zones in almost half the time as the Bowa/Faith Rogue setup.
Iâm going to explain why one more time:
With no a2 merc, you have no adequate meat wall to aggro mobs so that you can stand and fire without being interrupted. When you try to use the rogue, she is always behind you or running away, and this makes you have to kite backwards in dangerous zones like chaos or cows, and this problem is exasperated against strong mobs that get good rolls. When you are always dancing around kiting away from things, you are not dealing damage. This is a direct loss in DPS âdamage per secondâ. It also makes you backstep into areas you donât want to be in and then there are monsters behind you and in front of you.
To make up for the loss of the a2 merc, you have to start dumping points into Valk so it can tank long enough for the Bowa to do its job dealing damage or youâre always kiting and this means youâre dealing a lot less damage than you should be. This means that you are subtracting skill points from other important places. The Valk doesnât even deal damage output, itâs just a tank.
The Faith Rogue deals no damage. Itâs damage is absolutely as negligent and unnoticeable in hell diff as the Valk. So now youâre kiting backwards and hoping the Valk can solo tank mobs long enough for you to deal damage on your own. This is a lot of loss of DPS.
Youâre leaning on the idea of Atmaâs for Amp Damage, but it just doesnât proc frequently enough for it to matter at all. Even in 8 player games, if you are standing there striking a mob long enough for that 5% Amp Damage proc to actually activate, this is a prime indication that your damage output is too low. Realistically on a good Faith GMB Bowa setup, even in 8 player while you solo chaos letâs say, youâre going to be mowing down mobs in 2s or 3s and you would never need the Amp Damage to begin with.
You are a Bowazon and your base 1 point into Light Bolt turns ALL your physical throw damage into lightning damage to be able to deal with physical immunes. Itâs a lot faster to kill the physical immunes by throwing Light Bolt at them, than to wait for 5% Amp Damage proc. In the rare event something is phys and light immune, you use Magic Arrow or you can skip the creature if you really dontâ want to pew it with Magic Arrow, but phys and light immune rarely ever happens.
Your fast run/walk speed matters for clear times. When you are in the true end game and have a strong Bowa who is clearing even 8 player areas, you need to be able to run fast. The faster you run forward while pushing and killing, the faster you clear the zone. So with a good A2 Merc next to a Valk, they allow you to progress forward without having to kite all over the place, and you get to wear a Catâs Eye 30% frw while doing it. It matters for places like cows or chaos or anywhere really. With a WF setup you end up having slower frw and it just takes significantly longer to push forward due to less frw.
Against UBERs, you canât use Amp because you have to use Life Tap and you have to stay on jav/shield side if you want to stay safe. There are ways to do it with Bow side, but itâs too dedicated of a build to categorize it as a general PvM character if you build to kill UBERs bowside. Most people just want easy swaps to be able to run UBERs with their Bowa, without needing a Token and a full different gear outfit to be able to do it.
The only real advantage the WF setup with Atmaâs has, is against normal act bosses, and thatâs if the 5% Amp Damage even activates before the boss dies. And even then, youâd be better off using a Lacerator on swap which is 33% chance to Amp with a higher level Amp so it lasts longer. You can also use Lacerator swap proc technique to get better longer larger radius Amp vs mobs as well. You fire a volley of Multi, and you swap and hold the Lacerator while the Multi passes the mob, and the Amp will take effect.
Faith Bow on Zon = lots of little skeles to tank in cows = less kiting you have to do = more standing still and dealing damage. A2 Merc just = a lot more damage than Faith Rogue, which does effect your DPS.
There is no advantage to running WFzon+FaithRogue. Going into 2022 here, Bowazon players have identified that it is an obsolete setup and it doesnât compare to GMB Faith + A2 Pride/Might in clear speeds.
Watch this demonstration and keep in mind that this isnât even a Faith GMB, itâs a Faith Diamond on a Zon that still has pretty budgety gear for an end-game setup. Also keep in mind all of the factors I explained about why that a2 merc is so important, as well as how I am killing quickly enough to where an Atmaâs 5% Amp proc wouldnât be happening very often. Oh and the mercâs damage output, he kills small mobs by himself so you can aim at the larger mobs and not worry about cleaning up small mobs. â Thatâs important to note.
My data isnât wrong, You need lv 13 fanat for 7fpa at 95% ias with GMB and Hydra FAITH bows NOT WF, I was saying u didnât need l13 fant with WF not Hydra Faith bow.
If we compared strictly bow vs bow builds and not switching to Jav, you have no way of dealing with Phys immunes but I agree ur jav method is better by investing a few skill pnts which bowzons have an abundance of, you can Jab single targets or throw 75% wpn conversion lightning bolts so yeah, good guide overall after looking at all the options.
It still requires a lv 13 fanat aura to allow 7fpa with 95% ias. With a lv 12 fanat, youâd need 100% to reach 7fpa.
Even though the WF has 20% ias on it and can be socketed with a 40/15ias or even shael for 20ias, these are irrelevant sources of ias because there are no other better options to use on a Bowa for these reasons:
Atmaâs 5% Amp proc is bad and doesnât end up being useful in the end game. The natural 20ias on WF will replace the 20ias from a Catâs or Highlordâs, but there is no reason to do this as the 30frw on Catâs eye is worth more clear speed than the 5% Amp proc on Atma in the end, when Bowas are killing so fast that the Amp proc rarely ever activates.
A 40/15ias into the WF wouldnât allow you to change gloves with any meaningful alternative option because the gloves will have 20ias. You would need a Shael into the WF to do this and that also isnât optimal in terms of DPS values. The 40/15ias into the WF would allow you an alternative slot into the 3os 120/45ias Diadem which isnât optimal for DPS values. At best the 40/15ias into a WF is allowing you to wear some kind of budget helm option with only 2os, which again isnât optimal for DPS values. Also with gloves, you wouldnât want to wear anything other than LoH for 350% vs. demons, which will always give you 20% ias anyway.
Not only is none of this optimal for DPS values or good for creating alternative gear selections, but it also removes IAS on your javside, which is a bad thing. You want to also have that 95%ias on Jab and Light Bolt when you swap. Losing 35% to 40% ias into your WF is bad for javside boss kill side. It just isnât optimal.
This chart doesnât make any sense though. Itâs telling me that lv 13 fanat is granting me +32%ias? Thatâs just not accurate. I donât know whatâs labeled wrong or misworded or what is going on there, but that is not an accurate estimation of what a lv 13 fanat is doing at all. Without a fanat aura, a Hydra or GMB requires 295%ias to reach 7fpa. It tells me that effectively the attack speed is like adding +32%ias? With a natural 95%ias that would only be 126% and wouldnât even reach 8fpa, which requires 150%ias without a fanat aura on GMB & Hydra. Again, I donât know if the wording is mislabeled to misrepresent what those numbers mean, but a lv 13 fanat is not simply adding +32%ias. That does not work that way. And it isnât simply lowering your WSM by 32% either, otherwise weâd be looking at needing around 200%ias for 7fpa rather than 95%ias. So I donât know what that is supposed to mean but it saying âAttack Speed +32%â is just not accurate.
^ Thatâs what confused me. Rereading your post I see what you meant though, that the 20%ias off WF natural allows you other gear options. Gotcha.
I have recently started playing a Bowazon. I traded for a GMB Faith (2 to all skills, 3 to bow, lvl 12 Fanatism) and a Cryptic Axe Pride with lvl 17 concentration aura. I have also equipped her with a Fortitude armor; everything else is pretty standard. I donât think I can hit the 7f breakpoint with that GMB, however, I am wondering if I should really try to get rid of the GMB faith I have and get another one with high level of Fanatism? Or do u think my current set up is okay? I wonder how much difference in game play it would make if I had say a GMB with lvl 14/15 fanatism. I am still very new to Amazon, and Iâve been reading a lot online but canât seem to find a good answer. Thank you very much.
Itâs not that slight stat increases on a single item really makes a significant impact. Itâs that slight stat increases on every item worn definitely adds up to significant impact in performance.
I would make a decision on whether you want to go the long haul or not with the Bowa, as Bowa is one of the most expensive builds you can strive to build. Either plan to upgrade and go for near perfects on everything, or just leave it all mediocre.
Either way, you definitely want to get a Faith bow with at least lv 13 fanat so you can hit 7fpa with the GMB at 95%ias, which allows you to wear Laying Of Hands 20%ias and War Traveler for the best damage output. If you are using a lv 12 fanat, youâll need to wear IK gloves/boots for the 25%ias combo to hit 7fpa.
On a side note though, I would highly suggest getting moving now on trading that lv 12 fanat. Try to get as much back from it as you can and roll a new bow. If you wait until the new ladder season starts, the value on that lv 12 fanat is going to drop through the floor and youâre going to lose a lot of trade resource. IE: If you were to trade that lv 12 bow NOW and then wait for things to hit non-ladder, you could probably take what you get from the bow NOW and trade it to get a lv 14+ fanat on non-ladder when all the values go down. If you wait though, youâre gonna be **** out of luck.
