Dragnskull
Retired Staff
Updated version of my zon, the last build i ever made, including strats, gear, and skills. I wouldn't normally do this, but I have quit diablo for months, all characters have expired, and i have no plans to join again anytime soon. With that said, injoy.
=============================
Dragn's Bowzon -
Introduction: In this post I will be revealing every aspect of my Amazon to everyone here in BF. If you don't know me, I am Dragnskull, I have played diablo (USEast) for over 6 years, and have proven to myself and others that I am one of the best dueling bowzons in East over the corse of years inside Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. I have dueled everyone from random pubs that run thier mouth, to top rated "Number# zon in *insert realm here)" on multiple websites, the last of which was the "Second best zon on West" about 4 months ago on the JSP website. I have dueled alongside COTA-God for many years, and he has a very high reputation with bowzons in this site unto itself. I have learned from his builds as well, and will share his views vs my views throughout the corse. The following guide will teach you exactly how I built my zons (What I always aimed for, as I build mulitple, and none were ever the exact same) and what I would have liked to change that I never had a chance to try out.
What this zon is: This is a hybrid of Life and Dex, with maxed out dodging and maxed ias Framerate (meaning she is shooting as fast as possible) She is a little on the weak side with her damage, but more than makes up for it by not dieng after only 1-2 hits. I have done S4S (Shot 4 Shot) with multiple other zons, and, though I admit there are times when I lose (dodge is luck based in the end) I always won about 90% of them, and thats not bad.
What is this zon designed to fight: She was built purely for PVP. I originally had my zons built as ZvZ, but over the years I have found extra's and techniques that will allow you to decimate nearly everyone without a second thought.
What can beat her: Smiters have been a problem, though with my new technique I was beginning to render them useless for the most part, if a teleport barbarian with freeze aura comes in, you will probably be screwed, along with the occasional zealer. One thing that has always been horrible (and probably will always be) are Javazons, if there is a Javazon in the game, leave, you will not stand a chance. Anything else, you should be able to take perfectly fine.
Your part in the duel: Zons are not for someone who thinks the game is nothing but mash on the right/leftclick buttons of your mouse. Using a zon DOES take some knowledge and skill, mostly just macro reflexes, you need to have your hotkeys assigned correctly, and know when to use what tactic.
So, now for the fun part:
What gear do you wear: I've probably tested every build out there, and this is the final product from what I've learned and what I -always- use now. If you can't afford any of this, you need to save up, other stuff will work for a bit but I wont be mentioning them, as those are not my build.
Head: 40ed/15ias Shako - I've always chosen the shako as the only option for zons. I've tried everything else from Howltusk to 40 lifers w/ 3x 40/15's, and nothing has ever shown the ability that shako does. The amount of what it gives you is great, +2 skills, tons of life, a couple points into dex, some extra mana, it's all there. this is your ONLY choice as a main helmet. Some say the IAS is important here, tell them to STFU, because you will still be hitting 7fps with this build. the only thing those duped helms give you as an advantage, is more ED, but they will lack in giving everything else. It's a trade well worth it.
Amulet: Cats Eye - No reason to explain this.
Body: Dusk shroud FORT: Sure, you can buy one, but I, always, make my own, knowing my zon is the first to wear it is always fun if you DO make one, ONLY use a fort that is above 500 Def.
Weapon1: Mat bow Faith (NOT GM)- MUST BE MAX STATS. 15-2-3. This bow is a bit weaker than GM, but I like its speed. you can go GM if you can adjust the gaer to make max FPS, if you can do it, then go for it, but ive always used mat (req = less, keep in mind), i like the way it looks better too
Weapon2A: Max CTA - i always wanted a CS CTA, but never got one, get MAX BO cta.
Weapon2B: Sigons shield (SHAEL) : +1 skills, and HUGE blockrate, I've tried using spirit, and the str just isnt worth it.
Belt Nofs coil - 10ias, if you can rework the build and get 10 extra FPS, feel free to use dungos
RingA: 220//20 Raven - the dex wil lbe nice, the 220ar isn't manditory, but it's nice
RingB: 220//20 Raven - the dex wil lbe nice, the 220ar isn't manditory, but it's nice
Boots: Sandies are great. try to get max stats, if not, war travs can work, but I prefer sandies.
Gloves: you need max ias possible (10 if memory serves), +str/dex is a huge plus, but you HAVE to get some with 15+ res to fire and ice, lightning is nice too.
Stash:
Kiras (UM) : this will be worn whenever facing a sorceress, or possibly a druid, basically any elemental characters.
Rings: you need 2x of every elemental ring, dwarf, etc etc. Apply as the situation requires.
Dungos: helps out with the occasional barb/smiter
Gloves: you need to get some Lifetap + knockback gloves, this is for smiters.
Howltusk: only get this if you cant find lifetap + knockback gloves
Enigma dusk shroud: This will ONLY be used in duels with necros (bonewall sucks.)
Charms:
-perfect anni
-perfect torch
-9x skillers (life skillers are great of corse) with either all passives, or a combination of passive + bow (more passives than bow, decide how you want it setup, i reccomend 3x bow and 6x passives)
-10x ar/dex/life, 5all res/other stat, or res charms. go with what you can afford. I never bought the sc's i wanted, but ar/dex/life was always what I wanted.
STR: Enough to use gear (Counting all str buffs from gear)
DEX: Enough to use your bow, then 5 points every other level
LIFE: Everything else
MANA: N/A
First off, if you think you're needing mana, X this window out. Still here? Good. so let me explain this setup. Get your Str up (do your math before you make your character people) and then your dex, followed by pounding into life. You want to have about 1.4k+ life before you stop (without BO). Once this is accomplished, begin adding dex every other level (though once in a while, I would feel i need more life/dex, and would skip putting into one of them, giving the other a bit more, go with how you feel, just test her out some in duels, if you think your life dropped too low, then put some life, if you think you hit a ton but it was doin nothin, put some dex, this is your character, remember that) Most every time I built a zon (and thats 20+ zons over 6 years) I have always used this method, and have for the most part never shown above 1.6k life (without BO). Once this is complete, congradulations. It's time to play.
Skills:
Guided arrow: Max
Guided arrow is your bread and butter. Use it on your leftclick. You want every shot you send out to be a Guided arrow for most cases.
Strafe: 1
This will only be used when dueling smiters/zealers. switch to your knockback gloves, and let a rip, the goal is to blast them with a million arrows before they can touch you, run back after every burst to create some distance. hopefully you have a bit of cold damage from your charms so you can freeze them.
Multishot: 1
This is your distance keeper. When an enemy is trying to approach you, and being sparadic in movement, blast a few multishots at them to delay the approach, follow it with some guided arrows, try to pinpoint there location, and if you see the leech hit from a GA, let 'em have it.
Evade: Maxed
This is the second skill to max, this compliments Avoid excelently, allowing you a chance of escape without damage, this also helps a LOT when you mess up a dode of attacks and get smacked by one or two firebolts/orbs/blizzards/etc.
Avoid: Maxed
This is the first dodge to max, this is to keep you alive in about 70% of duels. most characters are casters, and this will save your ass time and time again.
Dodge: Maxed
This is the last of the dodges to max, this is to compliment the ranged attack dodge, by allowing you a few knocks to the skull without dieing, however, keep in mind most melee classes will destroy you in 1-4 landing blows, so try not to allow this to happen. this is just for added protection, but is not going to save your life if you abuse it.
Crit strike: 13
This is a must, needed for your damage. your low damage, this will allow you a huge up in your damage, it works behind the scenes, but it is great. the reason why we dont max it, is because after this, it only ups by 1%, and the skill points can be better used elsewhere.
Penetrate: 1
This is to compliment your multishot and strafe, allowing more accuracy and thus giving you more hitting shots.
leftovers: now, it is not hard to max this character out, once she is maxed, you can choose what you want to do, personally I recommend the rest into Penetrate, Crit strike, or a valk, but some people swear by maxing multishot out with them, im not one of those people, because honostly, 8-10 arrows is fine by me with multi.
How to fight with this character: for the most part, dueling is the same for everything, keep your distance, figure out there pattern, zig zag up and down to dodge the attacks, and get a few in when you can. duels against melee classes will probably take a while, and this is where your skill in dodging, along with the maxed dodges will come in handy.
zons: if they are java, leave, hybrid java/bow, you can take them, just keep your distance so they dont stab you, and bow, lol...90% of zons today are "Glass cannons" ie all damage, no life. Dodge up and down to avoid arrows, blast them with some of your own, and they will go down without a fight.
assassins: ww assassins are just tiny barbs, avoid there ww (sometimes they wont even hurt because of the amount of dodge you have lol) and blast them hard, in my entire time in diablo only one ww assassin has been unbeatable, i have no idea wtf was up with her but my arrows didnt even faze her. the other build are trap sins, avoid there stunlock, and circle there traps (the traps will shoot behind you if you do this) while launching some arrows. however, if you have a kiras + sorb rings, about 40% of trapsins wont be able to zap you, you can tank those by blasting right through there defense and lighting them up. EASY KILL
barbarians: if they have the freeze aura, leave. other then that, just run strait, when they get close (learn when barbs like to ww) juke up/down/left/right as the situation calls and blast the snot out of them, rinse and repeat, no problems, easy kill.
paladin: if its a smiter, you can try your luck with knockback/lifetap + strafe combo, it works sometimes, but its all chance, so dont expect it to win hands down. if its a hammerdin, run in strait lines, up/down/left/right, when they tele on you and hammer, get some distance so the first 2 circles of hte hammer will not touch you, load them with 2-4 shots, rinse and repeat, EASY KILL. they pose no threat, just play calm, it may take a while and they will probably hill, but you will pull out a vicotry every time. if its an auradin, put your kiras on and blast the snot ouf of them, 80% of the time you will beat 'em that way. EASY KILL IF HAMERDIN
Druid: Fire and nado druids are laughable, just keep on the move, shoot a few arrows behind you as they chase. ALWAYS TAKE OUT THE OAK SAGE FIRST, this drops there life dramatically and you can capitalize before they can resummon, normally I let them come to me, blast there oak sage into the dirt on there way torwards me, and by the time they get on screen there toast if they dont stop to resummon, if they retreat and come back, expect to take that oak sage out again. if its a fire druid put your kiras and rings on. EASY KILL
Necro: PUT ON YOUR ENIGMA. they are probably either summon/bone spirit, bone spirit + bone wall, or poison. if they are poision, just dont let there teeth/bonespear/spirit/summons hit you and you wont die, dodge there attacks. when they put you in a bone prison (and 95% will) wait until they come in for the kill, teleport out, and blast them with arrows (lock target) and watch as they retreat in horror, most will instantly die from this, for summon necros, use the same method as druids with oak sage. EASY KILL
Sorceress: they all fight the same, and 95% of them are firesorces now. Put on your rings, put on your kiras, get out there, and zig zag. you can probably take 1-5 hits if they are fire before dieing, they will be on your ass. when they come in for an attack multi them until they are in range of your GA, launch some GA's at them as they appear, dodge, and as they run off to make another pass, try and namelock them. EASY KILL
Tips: Dual with a friend, try to dual multiple kinds of characters, the goal is to get the feel for your zon, and to understand how these tactics work. Buisnessmen don't build multibillion dollar corporations without going to school, the same rule applies with diablo dueling.
=============================
Dragn's Bowzon -
Introduction: In this post I will be revealing every aspect of my Amazon to everyone here in BF. If you don't know me, I am Dragnskull, I have played diablo (USEast) for over 6 years, and have proven to myself and others that I am one of the best dueling bowzons in East over the corse of years inside Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. I have dueled everyone from random pubs that run thier mouth, to top rated "Number# zon in *insert realm here)" on multiple websites, the last of which was the "Second best zon on West" about 4 months ago on the JSP website. I have dueled alongside COTA-God for many years, and he has a very high reputation with bowzons in this site unto itself. I have learned from his builds as well, and will share his views vs my views throughout the corse. The following guide will teach you exactly how I built my zons (What I always aimed for, as I build mulitple, and none were ever the exact same) and what I would have liked to change that I never had a chance to try out.
What this zon is: This is a hybrid of Life and Dex, with maxed out dodging and maxed ias Framerate (meaning she is shooting as fast as possible) She is a little on the weak side with her damage, but more than makes up for it by not dieng after only 1-2 hits. I have done S4S (Shot 4 Shot) with multiple other zons, and, though I admit there are times when I lose (dodge is luck based in the end) I always won about 90% of them, and thats not bad.
What is this zon designed to fight: She was built purely for PVP. I originally had my zons built as ZvZ, but over the years I have found extra's and techniques that will allow you to decimate nearly everyone without a second thought.
What can beat her: Smiters have been a problem, though with my new technique I was beginning to render them useless for the most part, if a teleport barbarian with freeze aura comes in, you will probably be screwed, along with the occasional zealer. One thing that has always been horrible (and probably will always be) are Javazons, if there is a Javazon in the game, leave, you will not stand a chance. Anything else, you should be able to take perfectly fine.
Your part in the duel: Zons are not for someone who thinks the game is nothing but mash on the right/leftclick buttons of your mouse. Using a zon DOES take some knowledge and skill, mostly just macro reflexes, you need to have your hotkeys assigned correctly, and know when to use what tactic.
So, now for the fun part:
What gear do you wear: I've probably tested every build out there, and this is the final product from what I've learned and what I -always- use now. If you can't afford any of this, you need to save up, other stuff will work for a bit but I wont be mentioning them, as those are not my build.
Head: 40ed/15ias Shako - I've always chosen the shako as the only option for zons. I've tried everything else from Howltusk to 40 lifers w/ 3x 40/15's, and nothing has ever shown the ability that shako does. The amount of what it gives you is great, +2 skills, tons of life, a couple points into dex, some extra mana, it's all there. this is your ONLY choice as a main helmet. Some say the IAS is important here, tell them to STFU, because you will still be hitting 7fps with this build. the only thing those duped helms give you as an advantage, is more ED, but they will lack in giving everything else. It's a trade well worth it.
Amulet: Cats Eye - No reason to explain this.
Body: Dusk shroud FORT: Sure, you can buy one, but I, always, make my own, knowing my zon is the first to wear it is always fun if you DO make one, ONLY use a fort that is above 500 Def.
Weapon1: Mat bow Faith (NOT GM)- MUST BE MAX STATS. 15-2-3. This bow is a bit weaker than GM, but I like its speed. you can go GM if you can adjust the gaer to make max FPS, if you can do it, then go for it, but ive always used mat (req = less, keep in mind), i like the way it looks better too
Weapon2A: Max CTA - i always wanted a CS CTA, but never got one, get MAX BO cta.
Weapon2B: Sigons shield (SHAEL) : +1 skills, and HUGE blockrate, I've tried using spirit, and the str just isnt worth it.
Belt Nofs coil - 10ias, if you can rework the build and get 10 extra FPS, feel free to use dungos
RingA: 220//20 Raven - the dex wil lbe nice, the 220ar isn't manditory, but it's nice
RingB: 220//20 Raven - the dex wil lbe nice, the 220ar isn't manditory, but it's nice
Boots: Sandies are great. try to get max stats, if not, war travs can work, but I prefer sandies.
Gloves: you need max ias possible (10 if memory serves), +str/dex is a huge plus, but you HAVE to get some with 15+ res to fire and ice, lightning is nice too.
Stash:
Kiras (UM) : this will be worn whenever facing a sorceress, or possibly a druid, basically any elemental characters.
Rings: you need 2x of every elemental ring, dwarf, etc etc. Apply as the situation requires.
Dungos: helps out with the occasional barb/smiter
Gloves: you need to get some Lifetap + knockback gloves, this is for smiters.
Howltusk: only get this if you cant find lifetap + knockback gloves
Enigma dusk shroud: This will ONLY be used in duels with necros (bonewall sucks.)
Charms:
-perfect anni
-perfect torch
-9x skillers (life skillers are great of corse) with either all passives, or a combination of passive + bow (more passives than bow, decide how you want it setup, i reccomend 3x bow and 6x passives)
-10x ar/dex/life, 5all res/other stat, or res charms. go with what you can afford. I never bought the sc's i wanted, but ar/dex/life was always what I wanted.
STR: Enough to use gear (Counting all str buffs from gear)
DEX: Enough to use your bow, then 5 points every other level
LIFE: Everything else
MANA: N/A
First off, if you think you're needing mana, X this window out. Still here? Good. so let me explain this setup. Get your Str up (do your math before you make your character people) and then your dex, followed by pounding into life. You want to have about 1.4k+ life before you stop (without BO). Once this is accomplished, begin adding dex every other level (though once in a while, I would feel i need more life/dex, and would skip putting into one of them, giving the other a bit more, go with how you feel, just test her out some in duels, if you think your life dropped too low, then put some life, if you think you hit a ton but it was doin nothin, put some dex, this is your character, remember that) Most every time I built a zon (and thats 20+ zons over 6 years) I have always used this method, and have for the most part never shown above 1.6k life (without BO). Once this is complete, congradulations. It's time to play.
Skills:
Guided arrow: Max
Guided arrow is your bread and butter. Use it on your leftclick. You want every shot you send out to be a Guided arrow for most cases.
Strafe: 1
This will only be used when dueling smiters/zealers. switch to your knockback gloves, and let a rip, the goal is to blast them with a million arrows before they can touch you, run back after every burst to create some distance. hopefully you have a bit of cold damage from your charms so you can freeze them.
Multishot: 1
This is your distance keeper. When an enemy is trying to approach you, and being sparadic in movement, blast a few multishots at them to delay the approach, follow it with some guided arrows, try to pinpoint there location, and if you see the leech hit from a GA, let 'em have it.
Evade: Maxed
This is the second skill to max, this compliments Avoid excelently, allowing you a chance of escape without damage, this also helps a LOT when you mess up a dode of attacks and get smacked by one or two firebolts/orbs/blizzards/etc.
Avoid: Maxed
This is the first dodge to max, this is to keep you alive in about 70% of duels. most characters are casters, and this will save your ass time and time again.
Dodge: Maxed
This is the last of the dodges to max, this is to compliment the ranged attack dodge, by allowing you a few knocks to the skull without dieing, however, keep in mind most melee classes will destroy you in 1-4 landing blows, so try not to allow this to happen. this is just for added protection, but is not going to save your life if you abuse it.
Crit strike: 13
This is a must, needed for your damage. your low damage, this will allow you a huge up in your damage, it works behind the scenes, but it is great. the reason why we dont max it, is because after this, it only ups by 1%, and the skill points can be better used elsewhere.
Penetrate: 1
This is to compliment your multishot and strafe, allowing more accuracy and thus giving you more hitting shots.
leftovers: now, it is not hard to max this character out, once she is maxed, you can choose what you want to do, personally I recommend the rest into Penetrate, Crit strike, or a valk, but some people swear by maxing multishot out with them, im not one of those people, because honostly, 8-10 arrows is fine by me with multi.
How to fight with this character: for the most part, dueling is the same for everything, keep your distance, figure out there pattern, zig zag up and down to dodge the attacks, and get a few in when you can. duels against melee classes will probably take a while, and this is where your skill in dodging, along with the maxed dodges will come in handy.
zons: if they are java, leave, hybrid java/bow, you can take them, just keep your distance so they dont stab you, and bow, lol...90% of zons today are "Glass cannons" ie all damage, no life. Dodge up and down to avoid arrows, blast them with some of your own, and they will go down without a fight.
assassins: ww assassins are just tiny barbs, avoid there ww (sometimes they wont even hurt because of the amount of dodge you have lol) and blast them hard, in my entire time in diablo only one ww assassin has been unbeatable, i have no idea wtf was up with her but my arrows didnt even faze her. the other build are trap sins, avoid there stunlock, and circle there traps (the traps will shoot behind you if you do this) while launching some arrows. however, if you have a kiras + sorb rings, about 40% of trapsins wont be able to zap you, you can tank those by blasting right through there defense and lighting them up. EASY KILL
barbarians: if they have the freeze aura, leave. other then that, just run strait, when they get close (learn when barbs like to ww) juke up/down/left/right as the situation calls and blast the snot out of them, rinse and repeat, no problems, easy kill.
paladin: if its a smiter, you can try your luck with knockback/lifetap + strafe combo, it works sometimes, but its all chance, so dont expect it to win hands down. if its a hammerdin, run in strait lines, up/down/left/right, when they tele on you and hammer, get some distance so the first 2 circles of hte hammer will not touch you, load them with 2-4 shots, rinse and repeat, EASY KILL. they pose no threat, just play calm, it may take a while and they will probably hill, but you will pull out a vicotry every time. if its an auradin, put your kiras on and blast the snot ouf of them, 80% of the time you will beat 'em that way. EASY KILL IF HAMERDIN
Druid: Fire and nado druids are laughable, just keep on the move, shoot a few arrows behind you as they chase. ALWAYS TAKE OUT THE OAK SAGE FIRST, this drops there life dramatically and you can capitalize before they can resummon, normally I let them come to me, blast there oak sage into the dirt on there way torwards me, and by the time they get on screen there toast if they dont stop to resummon, if they retreat and come back, expect to take that oak sage out again. if its a fire druid put your kiras and rings on. EASY KILL
Necro: PUT ON YOUR ENIGMA. they are probably either summon/bone spirit, bone spirit + bone wall, or poison. if they are poision, just dont let there teeth/bonespear/spirit/summons hit you and you wont die, dodge there attacks. when they put you in a bone prison (and 95% will) wait until they come in for the kill, teleport out, and blast them with arrows (lock target) and watch as they retreat in horror, most will instantly die from this, for summon necros, use the same method as druids with oak sage. EASY KILL
Sorceress: they all fight the same, and 95% of them are firesorces now. Put on your rings, put on your kiras, get out there, and zig zag. you can probably take 1-5 hits if they are fire before dieing, they will be on your ass. when they come in for an attack multi them until they are in range of your GA, launch some GA's at them as they appear, dodge, and as they run off to make another pass, try and namelock them. EASY KILL
Tips: Dual with a friend, try to dual multiple kinds of characters, the goal is to get the feel for your zon, and to understand how these tactics work. Buisnessmen don't build multibillion dollar corporations without going to school, the same rule applies with diablo dueling.
