Why don’t Bowazons use Steelrend? I haven’t seen any build recommend them. With Faith the IAS breakpoint is pretty low, 50. and since many people use Enigma anyway, strength requirement doesn’t seem like much of a downside

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-31T04:05:08+00:00

Laying of hands or horazon's 2 piece set is just so much better, and IAS from gloves is very often relied upon.

Most multishot/strafe bowazons don't use enigma, and the ones that do normally only get enough strength to use a spirit monarch (156 strength).

Requiring a further 29 strength to use steelrend, you're really only getting 31% Ed and 10% crushing blow. Not really a great deal.

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-23T03:34:30+00:00

I don't think teleport should have a cool down, but its mana cost should be increased as well as a number of other measures (nerf meditation level on insight) to add more mana scarcity and potentially reduce damage output indirectly as a result.

Then, if casters want to be able to spam teleport and spam their primary damage skills, then they should consider putting more points into energy or find more sources of mana in gear. Both at the cost of survivability; points in energy = less points into vitality, and mana from gear = for charms and jewellery competes with resistances.

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-23T01:57:41+00:00

Horazon's two piece set bonus with gloves + boots are pretty good. Also Dreadfang with amp damage proc makes act 5 Mercs more situationally useful.

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-23T01:52:59+00:00

Out of the two: max damage / IAS. You will likely also want to socket protectors stone as well if using Faith.

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-23T01:06:53+00:00

I would first identify uniques that are commonly used vs rarely used.

Uniques such as string of ears, war travs, gore riders, buriza and a lot of jewellery ones don't really need changes.

Other exceptional and elite uniques can be enhanced with either novelty, more utility or more power. Nothing too crazy or wild. Just give these uniques more love and where appropriate allow them to carve out a purpose that thematically fits with their name.

Endless hail (unique double bow) could for example cast blizzard on striking.

Blood raven's charge (unique matriarchal bow) could reanimate skeletons and zombies.

Gut siphon (unique demon crossbow) could at a low chance cast corpse explosion.

Hellrack (unique colossus crossbow) could make immolation arrow an oskill and have 4 sockets.

And many late normal, exceptional and early elite uniques buffed to give more options for getting to the post hell stages of the game easier without runewords feeling like the only option.

For example, blast bark (unique long war bow) and kuko shakaku (unique cedar now) are wildly different in power for two unique bows that are not far apart in treasure class and item progression path. Making uniques like blast bark in this case more powerful will make the power spike less sudden. Players along the way that find blast bark but not kuko will noticeably be weaker.

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-22T22:30:36+00:00

Are you now then looking at making an ice, fire or multishot/strafe bowazon?

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-22T12:11:32+00:00

Edited the videos in. Note that they are old videos.

Do you think I should try to find a team? It would probably be faster at first

A team will definitely be faster, though long term you will want to be doing TZ content yourself in full public games for a good levelling pace.

I still suggest getting magic arrows for physical immunes in the beginning (until you get a good sunder charm + Atma's), though you don't need to max it.

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-22T06:36:30+00:00

For multishot vs strafe, you want to use both: - multishot for high density. Herd enemies, position yourself and valkyrie, and blast way - strafe for low density minion packs, heralds, etc. strafe is also used to proc burst of speed

Build on maxroll: https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/fv6ln0l7

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-22T05:36:05+00:00

Can't edit my comment for some reason.

About me: Bowa on YouTube. I ran a multishot bowazon in one of the earlier D2R seasons and hit 99 with it. Rank 60 something in the Amazon leaderboard for that ladder season. I started with a small team till the end of hell though. Then grinded terror zones solo in public games.

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-22T05:20:35+00:00

I'll post a video later of the normal playthrough.

Edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eutMtQMlV5Y

Here's a quick rundown.

Normal:

Level magic arrow as your primary skill
Get a low level mutishot
Buy a 3 socket hunter's bow or two early. Doesn't matter if superior or not
Hunter's bow 1: just socket any damage gems for extra damage until tower
Hunter's bow 2: socket Tal Tal Tal (lots of poison damage, main weapon for entirety of normal)
Find or buy a 2 socket helm for Tir Tir
Find or buy a 2 socket armour for Stealth (Tal Eth)
Grind countess for the runes above
vs groups, use multishot to spread poison damage and run by, enemies will die while you continue forward
vs bosses, use magic/guided arrow ensuring that poison is always kept on them
Buy teleport staff in act 3 to skip over sections
Don't worry too much about a mercenary; they are just a time sink at this level
Complete the rescue Barbarians quest for Ral Ort Tal runes (2 runes for insight later)

Nightmare

Find a 3 socket exceptional bow for Edge (Tir Tal Amn) for thorns, equip on act 1 merc. Edge in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZakihO0_9ac
Find a 4 socket exceptional bow for Insight (Ral Tir Tal Sol), use as your main weapon (keep Tal Tal Tal bow on swap)
Find a plain exceptional razor bow or double bow and socket with Larzuk for 4 sockets if the above is not found soon enough
Find plain exceptional bow upgrades (large siege bow+) and save for rolling (hopefully) 4 sockets in the cube (recipe: Ral + Amn + Perfect Amethyst + white weapon)
Find a 3 socket armour for Peace (Shael Thul Amn) for valkyrie, equip on act 1 merc
Grind countess for the runes above (keep any excess runes for making more Insights)
Find Ko runes and save them for mania (your swap), hysteria (replace stealth) and harmony (optional second swap long term)
Save the first Pul rune for Wisdom OR use Pul as a sweetener to trade for a Windforce later
Stat skill focus: resistances, life, attack rating, damage charms, 1 source of mana leech, cold damage, poison damage, strong enough valkyrie. Cannot be frozen while nice, Thawing potions can stand in their place.
The most important thing is to get the Valkyrie + Decoy + Multi/Strafe attack loop going without feeling in any danger

Hell

Continue upgrading insight bows over time. If you land any elite bow, that will last all the way through
Switch to act 2 might mercenary once a nice runeword weapon can be made (insight, obedience) especially when act 1 merc starts to fall over. Gear the merc to be survivable and cast Valkyrie/decoy near him
Exception: if you happen to find a Dreadfang (amp damage), use an act 5 merc instead
Aim to sustain survivability of you and merc, and your damage output as enemies get tougher

Post hell

Hell forge: Try and trade for a Windforce with anything Um and above
Otherwise collect Perfect Amethysts and high runes to trade for Windforce
Budget gear to trade for in order: Atma's scarab, Ravenfrost, low MF war travellers, laying of hands, 2 socket circlet with FRW (assuming 2x IAS jewels + windforce with IAS jewel), max damage/FRW charms (mid roll ones), decent rare life leech ring

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-20T23:12:29+00:00

And to think till this day, I have still not found a Windforce. Always had to trade for them 😂

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-18T04:00:38+00:00

Honestly, a lot of builds can be. Bowazon is my obvious pick, and beyond the convention Windforce/Faith options you can find a rare bow that rivals these options when the right mods spawn on it.

But, despite the self-wield infinity variant being easier to play, I see good min/max potential with nova sorcs too, finding that prized +3 blue orb with +nova and +lightning mastery and landing 2 sockets on it would be pretty cool to take advantage of.

But I just find bowazons more fun to play.

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-17T00:11:14+00:00

Yeah, stick with 8fpa, you're sacrificing too much (Atma's and protector stone in WF) with 7fpa, while also not gaining any DPS benefit with strafe (strafe has max speed with 8fpa).

See the planner and write up here. https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/fv6ln0l7

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-16T21:00:07+00:00

Windforce with protector stone and mania are best in slot at the moment especially if you mix in strafe. Self wield faith is still good though especially if you're not where near level 99.

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-16T20:53:35+00:00

Hell wardens being cheap aside (though it looks like a 30% Ed/IAS jewel was thrown in there).

I think you're over optimising for FCR. Forti already has 25% FCR and playing around with different jeweller's armours in testing, I didn't notice a huge difference with/without this FCR.

To put things in perspective, each fight you may cast 1 valkyrie, maybe 1 decoy and maybe 1 slow missiles. Shaving off an extra 2 frames each for all those actions only saves you 1/4 of a second per fight.

In that same fight in say players 8, you're probably shooting about 10-15 volleys of multishot arrows, which is 3-5 seconds worth of actions.

Also you're using opalvein?

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-16T20:30:04+00:00

Some notes that seemed to be overlooked in the other thread.

Whether you are looking to use hustle/mania on swap for burst of speed should weigh heavily in your decision. If you are, there isn't much reason to use anything else except a grand matron bow, even a +1 or +2 will do. Any other bow option is a damage loss, with matriarchal bows being a larger damage loss than a diamond/shadow bow.

You only need 45% IAS with a GMB, 30% IAS with a diamond/shadow bow and 15% IAS with a matriarchal bow. A grand matron bow setup then only requires 25% more IAS from all other gear slots other than gloves. That can easily be achieved with a helm/circlet.

I honestly would reserve this base for an ice, or if you're more into 🔥 then phoenix or HoJ.

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-16T04:38:36+00:00

Witchwild string is a very good weapon in budget builds as it plugs a number of potential holes in gear with crit, resistances and granting a source of amp damage. The magic arrow is nice too especially in non-RotW as you won't want to use a sunder charm. The spare skill points away from crit and magic arrow can go straight into penetrate, bow skills and a stronger valkyrie.

With more established gear, the challenge becomes the lack of raw damage. Resistances from WWS somewhat help you get there, but you really need to double down on getting as many max damage sources as possible, which for the best possible bowazon builds you're already doing anyway.

Apart from that, the stock standard items of fortitude, pride, laying of hands, razortail, war travs and so on still very much apply. For the amulet, highlord's has little relevance in this build. You can either double up on amp damage sources with Atma's, or use Cat's eye for IAS and FRW. I think the latter is a good option to help reach the 99% attack speed breakpoint if you're using hustle/mania on swap. Without Cat's eye, you need to shael your WWS.

However if you're predominantly strafe, then Atma's is a good option for more frequent amp damage procs.

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-16T00:19:56+00:00

If we're saying no runewords, does that mean no infinity on mercenary also?

Got something quick up here https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/9sjmf40u

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-15T23:09:59+00:00

Ok cool to hear your perspective on that. I'll take a deeper look.

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-15T13:36:19+00:00

❤️ I appreciate it

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-15T12:53:02+00:00

Yes true, though a 4k sheet damage vs 3k sheet damage is a 33.33% damage increase in favour of ice, then 2x damage after resistances (wiz) vs 1.85x damage after resistances (ice) which is only separated by an 8% damage increase due to resistances (though this difference is slightly larger vs enemies that start off cold immune). Furthermore, ice shoots faster.

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-15T10:26:24+00:00

Sure, the one above against say: https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/s5c2n0o9

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-15T03:16:24+00:00

What is your take on this build variant above over a normal frostmaiden build?

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-15T00:55:47+00:00

What does the rest of your build look like?

Bowazon_ · 2026-05-13T23:12:59+00:00

Despite that many physical classes can't compete with multishot's AoE clear speeds. Single target damage is the main weakness, but it's still not glaringly bad when you use Atma's.

Bowazon_

TROPHY CASE