Bowzon 1-30 Introduction
Guide assumes you skip skill and stat quests. All skill and stat quests are simply bonuses for you to spend at your leisure. My only recommendation through the process is to pump the “penetrate” skill with any bonus skill points you get along the way. I do not recommend skipping anything valuable in hardcore until you’re very comfortable with the build, play style, and hardcore in general.
Stats -
Level 2 - 2 into Strength, 3 into Dexterity
Level 3 - 5 into Strength (27 str total, able to equip best 2os armor from charsi)
Level 5 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 6 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 7 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 8 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 9 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 10 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 11 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 12 - 5 into Energy
Level 13 - 5 into Energy
Level 14 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 15 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 16 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 17 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 18 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 19 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 20 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 21 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 22 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 23 - 5 into Vitality
Level 24 - 5 into Vitality
Level 25 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 26 - 5 into Dexterity
Level 27 - 5 into Vitality
Level 28 - 5 into Vitality
Level 29 - 5 into Vitality
Level 30 - 5 into Vitality
Talents
Level 2 Inner Sight Level 1
Level 3 Critical Strike Level 1
Level 4 Magic Arrow Level 1
Level 5 - Save Point
Level 6 - Multishot Level 1 & Used 1 of 1 saved point for Dodge Level 1
Level 7 - Multishot Level 2
Level 8 - Multishot Level 3
Level 9 - Multishot Level 4
Level 10 - Multishot Level 5
Level 11 - Multishot Level 6
Level 12 - Multishot Level 7
Level 13 - Avoid Level 1
Level 14 - Slow Missiles Level 1
Level 15 - Cold Arrow Level 1
Level 16 - Save Point
Level 17 - Save point
Level 18 - Penetrate Level 1 & Use 1 of 2 saved point for Guided Arrow Level 1
Level 19 - Penetrate Level 2
Level 20 - Penetrate Level 3
Level 21 - Penetrate Level 4
Level 22 - Penetrate Level 5
Level 23 - Evade Level 1
Level 24 - Decoy Level 1 & Use 1 of 1 saved point for Evade Level 1
Level 25 - Strafe Level 1
Level 26 - Penetrate Level 6
Level 27 - Penetrate Level 7
Level 28 - Penetrate Level 8
Level 29 - Penetrate Level 9
Level 30 - Valkyrie Level 1
Level 31+ - Penetrate to 20 first, then follow up with a stronger Valkyrie, and a few levels into pierce during your mid-high 40’s and early 50s.
General strategy from start to end;
At level 1, just use the javelin you’re given to get a few gold and level 3. Once you get to level 3 and acquire a couple gold, switch to a hunter’s bow.
Your main focus is level 1-8. During these levels, you’re simply leveling to follow the stat/skill guide, and acquire as much gold as you can. During these levels, you need to shop and or find 3 items. Charsi sells ALL 3 of these items. You need a 2 socket Studded Leather, a 2 socket Skull Cap, and a 3 socket hunter’s bow. Just these 3 items along with some farming in act 1 will carry you EASILY all the way to nightmare with virtually 0 fear of death.
As a bow amazon, skill points early game are much less useful than they are for most other classes. I usually skip over the den of evil so I can get to the next part faster, but this is up to you.
If you happen to get chipped gems, use them like this;
Chipped Emerald’s - If you manage to get 2-3 of them, socket the 3 socket bow with all chipped emeralds to start the mayhem early. If you do this, you will need to shop more than 1x 3 socket hunter’s bow.
Chipped Topaz - If you happen to find a bunch of these, you can also craft a secondary early bow with these that will take you from 1-16 quite nicely. If you do this, you will need to shop more than 1x 3 socket hunter’s bow.
Chipped Ruby - Save for Act 2 Mercenary. Always keep a chipped ruby in your inventory in case you find a gem shrine.
Chipped Diamonds - Vendor for gold
Chipped Amethyst - Vendor for gold
Chipped Sapphire - Vendor for gold
When you get to level 8 or as soon as possible, get to the black marsh, get the WP, and just start farming countess for runes. You need 7 runes in total. You need 3 Tal runes, and 4 Tir runes.
Once you have those runes, that’s it. You’re done. The rest of your gear is simply optional and the rest of the acts will be a complete joke. If you want to make act 4 even easier, hold on to any RAL’s you get as well.
Take 3 Tal runes and equip them into a 3 socket Hunter’s bow
Take 2 Tir runes and socket them into your 2 socket Studded Leather
Take 2 Tir runes and socket them into your 2 socket Skull Cap
This gives you a bow that does 226 damage over 5 seconds (45.2 dps), where the damage happens while you can simply keep moving.
The armor and head piece will each restore 4 mana per kill, for a total of 8 mana restored per kill, as long as your poison gets the killing blow.
Unlike the proc for CTC (Chance To Cast), poison applies to EVERY multishot arrow, not only the center 2. This is why you get to level 7. At level 7, you shoot 8 arrows total, for a total cost of 10 mana. At this point, even if you want to be lazy and shoot a single mob with multishot, you only use 2 mana. This entire strategy allows you to stock up on stamina pots which last for quite a long time, and simply “Run & Gun” the entirety of the game. Even zones like maggot lair are turned into mush and become oddly easy. It is important to note that having a bow that does all poison damage makes shooting mobs more than 1 time virtually useless. Poison damage does not stack, so shooting a mob a second time only resets the duration of the poison. Generally speaking, you should simply multishot everything until the mobs are all green from the poison then keep running for more mobs. Never stop moving. They will die while chasing you with a single shot almost 100% of the time with the exception of only a few mobs.
If you have a DECENT few runs, you should have all 7 of these runes by the time you hit level 13. This sets you back a bit in time, but gives you a level of ease and safety for the rest of the acts that well more than makes up for the time lost.
If you manage to get all the runes by level 13, that is when the Tir runes can be equipped. At this point, I recommend using a 3 socket hunter’s bow that has 3 chipped emeralds in it. You will get a very similar feeling effect all the way until you’re 17 with just chipped emeralds. You can use other chipped gems in a 3 socket bow and have a decent killing machine, but the mana restoration / run and gun portion of the strategy doesn’t work quite the same. It’s still effective, just be patient for the strategy to come together until level 17, when you can finally socket 3 Tal runes into the hunter’s bow. Once you have all of these, you will simply fly through the game with very little resistance. The only places you will notice any amount of difficulty at all are Duriel, Act 3 Spiders, Act 4 Venom Lords, and Diablo himself, although Diablo won’t be difficult to kill per se, just a very long fight.
Your mercenary for the beginning of your game should be an act 2 mercenary with the Blessed Aim aura. Blessed aim increases your chance to hit even further, allowing less nonsense missing and run and gun to function better. For all practical purposes, it’s best to put rubies on a chest piece and helmet for extra health for your mercenary, but as far as a weapon goes, unless I am going to fight a boss, I don’t even like him doing damage. Every mob he gets a killing blow on is less mana returned to me, and since mobs are all 1 shots, it’s not a big deal. Just use him as a tank. Once I get to Duriel, that dynamic changes. If I had bad countess runs and end up with a few extra Ral runes, I try to shop my mercenary a 3 socket polearm off of Fara and give him a 3x Ral polearm. He will hit like a monster truck, but after act 2 it’s not a big deal. The mob density in act 3 is generally so much that if he gets a few killing blows it matters a grand total of none.
If you’re doing this in single player, once you get to act 5, I recommend getting to the Frigid Highlands waypoint, and then farming Eldritch and Shenk continuously until you’re comfortable with your survivability.
Best farm areas for Rattlecage Armor;
Act 5 Abaddon (N)
Pit of Acheron (N)
Infernal Pit (N)
The Worldstone Keep Level 1 (N)
Act 1 Tamoe Highland (NM)
Pit Level 1 (NM)
Hole Level 2 (NM)
Tower Cellar Level 2 (NM)
Tristram (NM)
Best farm areas for Face of Horror;
Witch Doctor Endugu (N) (Flayer Dungeon)
Geleb Flamefinger (N) (Travincal)
Ismail Vilehand (N) (Travincal)
Toorc Icefist (N) (Travincal)
Bremm Sparkfist (N) (Durance of Hate)
Maffer Dragonhand (N) (Durance of Hate)
Wyand Voidbringer (N) (Durance of Hate)
Act 4 IzualIzual (N) (Plains of Despair)
Hephasto the Armorer (N) (River of Flame)
Grand Vizier of Chaos (N) (Chaos Sanctuary)
Infector of Souls (N) (Chaos Sanctuary)
Lord de Seis (N) (Chaos Sanctuary)
Diablo (N) (Chaos Sanctuary)
Shenk the Overseer (N) (Bloody Foothills)
Eldritch the Rectifier (N) (Frigid Highlands)
Eyeback the Unleashed (N) (Frigid Highlands)
Bonesaw Breaker (N) (Glacial Trail)
For Later Game Reference -
Hardcore Strafe Play Explanation
In hardcore, 90% of the deaths are from being locked to the floor (At least for early/mid game). Either you get stunned or something holding you down like strafe. Strafe is very dangerous in hardcore unless you know EXACTLY what to expect from your gear.
Level 1 strafe shoots 3 arrows, but the higher level you push strafe, you continuously increase the arrows shot, up to 10 arrows. 10 Arrows is more damage, but 10 arrows isn’t always a good thing. 10 arrows means you’re stuck to the floor for a longer period of time, unless you have increased attack speed at a good spot.
When you start using strafe, you should get it as level 1, and never increase it until you get a LOT more increased attack speed. At this phase of the game, you’re using strafe as a “Chance To Cast” burst fire machine.
What I mean by this is, every strafe arrow can cause any of your gear’s “chance to cast on striking” to work. This makes strafe ideal for causing certain spells to cast. Most importantly, in the early and mid game, you want to aim for abilities that help keep you safe. The easiest and most efficient to get is “monster flee”.
Early in the game, you can get 2 specific items. “The Face of Horror”, and “Rattlecage Armor”. Those 2 items together will give every strafe bullet 90% chance to fear mobs. This helps keep them off of you for nightmare and even hell. It is a very good combination of gear you can get by farming normal mode, and just those 2 pieces alone can and will end up carrying your safety factor throughout all of nightmare and hell with ease, if you manage to get both. Often times farming these for yourself is not necessarily realistic, so what I advise is to save anything you find during your normal run that has some value, and trade for those 2 items as fast as you can.
But until you get very high increased attack speed, do NOT increase your strafe level. You want strafe to only shoot the 3 arrows so that it unlocks you from the floor SOONER. This gives mobs as little chance to swarm you as possible.
Once you build up your life leech, or get life tap, AND have a lot of increased attack speed and can tank the mobs, you can then increase strafe’s level and grow with it.
After level 30, It’s kind of a spread. Get the penetrate maxed out, and get your Vaklyrie to a level where it acts as a reliable tank for your nightmare push.
Nightmare -
Looking for a Ko rune for a harmony bow
Make harmony in a Razor bow only. (save larzuk socket quest for this)
Harmony / Face of horror / Rattlecage would carry you through all of nightmare and the vast majority of hell comfortably.
Happy hunting! =D