Diablo 2 Walkthrough :
This walkthrough for Diablo 2 [PC] has been posted at 25 Aug 2010 by romeo aka b-rad and is called "Amazon Guide". If walkthrough is usable don't forgot thumbs up romeo aka b-rad and share this with your freinds. And most important we have 29 other walkthroughs for Diablo 2, read them all!
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Walkthrough - Amazon Guide{{{---((--$ THE AMAZON'S GUIDE TO DIABLO II $--))---}}} {{{---((--$ THE AMAZON'S GUIDE TO DIABLO II $--))---}}} {{{---((--$ THE AMAZON'S GUIDE TO DIABLO II $--))---}}} version 1.23 07-18-00 by Nicholas Yu azif@hotzp.com http://www.hotzp.com/ http://www.hotzp.com/badboys/ **---------------------------------------------------------------------------** * DISCLAIMER: This FAQ is Copyright 2000 Nicholas Yu under the international * | Copyright laws. Please contact the author via e-mail if you | | wish to publish or reprint this work. Anyone attempting to | | pass this work off as his own will be sent to bed without | | dinner and laughed at, because really, who would be lame enough | * to pretend to have written a game FAQ? * **---------------------------------------------------------------------------** The Amazon's Guide to Diablo II Contents: I. FAQ A. General Information i. Introductory Ramblings ii. Why Choose the Amazon? iii. Starting Statistics iv. Recommended Growth a. Bowazon Sample b. Javazon Sample c. Spearazon Sample B. Skills i. Bow and Crossbow ii. Passive and Magic iii. Javelin and Spear C. General Strategy i. Bowazon ii. Javazon iii. Spearazon II. Walkthrough A. Act I i. Den of Evil ii. Sisters' Burial Grounds iii. The Cairn Stones iv. The Forgotten Tower v. Tools of the Trade vi. Sisters to the Slaughter B. Act II i. Radament's Lair ii. The Horadric Staff iii. Tainted Sun iv. The Arcane Sanctuary v. The Summoner vi. The Seven Tombs C. Act III i. The Golden Bird ii. Blade of the Old Religion iii. Khalim's Will iv. Lam Esen's Tome v. The Blackened Temple vi. The Guardian D. Act IV i. The Fallen Angel ii. The Hellforge iii. Terror's End E. Cow Level III. Miscellany A. Stress Test Thoughts B. Props and Slops C. Other FAQs 07-18-00: Version 1.23 -Minor revisions -Many reader strategies added 07-13-00: Version 1.22 -Minor revisions -New key mapping tips added to General Strategy section -Spearazon strategies added for Duriel and Diablo 07-13-00: Version 1.21 -Minor revisions -Cow Level added to the Walkthrough Section 07-13-00: Version 1.20 -Minor revisions -Spearazon variant added -Acts III and IV added to the Walkthrough section 07-12-00: Version 1.10 -Minor revisions -Acts I and II added to the Walkthrough section 07-11-00: Version 1.00 -FAQ released I. FAQ FAQ FAQ FAQ FAQ FAQ FAQ FAQ FAQ A. GENERAL INFORMATION i. INTRODUCTORY RAMBLINGS First of all, let me explain why I'm partitioning this walkthrough into five different ones. Each of the classes in Diablo II is so different from the other that they each warrant their own FAQ and walkthrough. I'm not ambitious enough that I'd attempt to write an all-encompassing guide for all of them at once. Instead, I'll tackle it piecemeal and complete the game with one character at time. Also, this guide will not address too many things which I consider information minutiae; I'll just address the larger issues of playing strategy where applicable. Sometimes I'll need to discuss the nitty gritty details such as when dealing with skills, but I'll leave the other bare facts to the other guides which are likely to spring up around this game and the excellent Diablo II Official Strategy Guide by Bart Farkas which is probably available at your local gaming or electronics store. Now as far as e-mailing me goes, I enjoy reading e-mail and make as great an attempt as humanly possible to answer each and every e-mail I receive. Unfortunately, I learned this was simply not possible after getting literally thousands (!) of e-mail about my Planescape: Torment FAQ. So if you send me e mail and I don't reply, don't take offense, or even worse send me several other e-mail asking why I haven't replied yet. I will hopefully get around to answering your query, but keep in mind that we're dealing with a popular game and that I will be bound to receive a hefty amount of e-mail. I list my e-mail address because I do truly want you to e-mail me with pertinent information or sound questions, but please try to limit the spam. Using the following examples, please evaluate into which category your potential e-mail falls. GOOD e-mail example: "While I thoroughly enjoyed your guide and consider you to be the greatest FAQ writer ever, perhaps with the exception of the ever prolific Kao Megura, I strongly disagree with your assessment of the Pierce skill. I have found it to be useful on many occasions, examples being ..." BAD e-mail example: "d00d! |-|0\/\/ d0 j00 |-|4X0r b100D r4\/3|\|?" There will be many spoilers in this guide, especially in the Walkthrough section; so I suggest skipping over that area if you don't want to ruin all the surprises for yourself later. ii. WHY CHOOSE THE AMAZON? Quite frankly, I believe the Amazon to be the best single player character in the game. That being said, she is arguably the weakest in multiplayer. Not that she's a bad character to have in multiplayer, but she really doesn't have the teamwork skills that the other character classes have. She has very few and relatively weak skills to contribute in a team effort, but is totally self reliant and can zip through the single player mode without too many bumps in the road. STRENGTHS: - Ranged Attack: Always a plus. - High Dexterity: And consequently high Attack and Defense Ratings as well. She does less damage per hit but is more likely to hit and hits more often, especially with a bow. - Decent Fighter: Not as good in melee as the Barbarian or Paladin, but stronger than the Necromancer and Sorceress. This is not her main strength, but she won't embarrass you if you need to engage enemies in close quarters. - Good High Level Skills: The Amazon becomes a scourge of the Nine Hells after reaching level 18. Very powerful and always useful skills will be made available to you then and at the subsequent tree levels. - Low Mana Usage: Many of the Amazon's best skills are Passive and many of the skills you'll be using the most have relatively low Mana costs. - Most Balanced Character: These always tend to be the best in the single player mode. The Amazon has no glaring weaknesses. WEAKNESSES: - Worst Multiplayer Character: Again, this is worst in terms of what she can lend to your party, not any individual weakness. - Low Damage Potential: Unless you focus exclusively on Dexterity to get that ranged damage up, the Amazon is not going to be the damage-dealing whirlwind of death that the Barbarian is or be able to lay the smack down to multiple enemies at once like the Sorceress. Fortunately, she makes up for this in many other ways. iii. STARTING STATISTICS As we can see below, the Amazon has very balanced beginning statistics, except for a slight bonus in Dexterity and an equally slight penalty in Energy. This will give you a lot of control in terms of molding your character to your liking. I like to pump a lot of points into Strength so that she can wear the best armors in the game, but some people will no doubt prefer a more nimble or more Mana-based warrior. The Strength needed for better armors is less necessary for Javazons as they will be utilizing shields as well, but I was able to skimp out on Vitality somewhat by making my Amazon harder than heck to hit. Strength: 20 Dexterity: 25 Vitality: 20 Energy: 15 Strength is the attribute you'll want to focus on to raise your melee damage for Spearazons, but Dexterity is what you want to raise the ranged attack damage. Dexterity will also help out with Attack and Defense Ratings, so it's the most critical attribute for any ranged Amazon. Take a care not to ignore Vitality or Energy, either. iv. RECOMMENDED GROWTH There are two fairly straightforward paths to take when becoming an Amazon. Either you specialize in the Bow or Javelin skill trees but not both. Trying to take such diverse skills in two diametrically opposed trees will only result in a watered-down Amazon who is not very proficient with either the bow or javelin. They are opposing trees in that the Amazon will either be using a bow or a javelin, but never both at once. I heartily recommend choosing one of the paths when creating the character and then sticking with it, no matter what cool item you may find. If you switch very early on, you may have some time to recover. The further you progress, the more skill points you'll be dumping into a particular tree; and you don't want to waste all those points that you spent later on by switching into another skill tree. Having played both extensively, I found that I liked the bow version of the Amazon better (Bowazon) better than the javelin-based Amazon (Javazon). The Javazon does more damage, but runs out of ammunition more frequently and does not attack as quickly. On the other hand, she is much better equipped for melee combat and will typically have a better Defense Rating as she can wield javelins and wear a shield simultaneously. I liked the Bowazon skill tree slightly better, but they are both quite good. The third skill tree, Passive and Magic Skills, is also full of tasty goodness. Here are two sample Amazons, made with the excellent Character Planner utility written by Basilisk and Silver the Paladin. It's available at DiabloII.net (http://www.diabloii.net) -- an excellent resource for all of you information junkies out there. This is a good tool to plan out your characters from the get-go so that you don't waste skill points. The sample characters use up 29 points, as that is the number of skill points you'll acquire if you finish the game as a level 30 character. Clvl stands for Character Level and Slvl for Skill Level. You will also acquire 4 skill points to divvy up as you see fit after completing certain quests in the game. You will be around the levels 5 (+1), 15 (+1), and 25 (+2) when you receive the rewards for those quests. This is a pretty good progression of a fairly standard Bowazon, but there is always room for great variation; and that's what makes Diablo II so great a game. (In fact, why am I writing this and not playing?) Also, you'll note that the Beta skill names are being used here and not the final (Dopplezon = Decoy, et al). NEW TO V. 1.20: Due to a massive amount of reader input, I have decided to include a third Amazon variant, the Spearazon. She's the melee intense version of the Javazon who concentrates more on close quarters combat and largely forgoes the use of ranged attacks. This variant is said to be able to hold her own against even the Barbarian when it comes to in-close fighting due to the strength of the Passive and Magic skill tree. Vitality will be more important for her than the other Amazon types as she will be in close quarters more often, though Energy cannot be overlooked. More discussion will follow in the General Strategy section. a. BOWAZON SAMPLE Bowazon Sample Class: Amazon Level: 30 --------------------------------------------- Clvl 1 Slvl 0: Starting Level Clvl 2 Slvl 1: Critical Strike Clvl 3 Slvl 1: Fire Arrow Clvl 4 Slvl 1: Magic Arrow Clvl 5 Reserved For Later Clvl 6 Slvl 1: Dodge Reserved Slvl 1: Cold Arrow Clvl 7 Slvl 1: Multi-Shot Arrow Clvl 8 Slvl 1: Inner Sight Clvl 9 Slvl 2: Critical Strike Clvl 10 Slvl 2: Dodge Clvl 11 Reserved For Later Clvl 12 Slvl 1: Avoid Reserved Slvl 1: Exploding Arrow Clvl 13 Slvl 1: Slow Missiles Clvl 14 Slvl 3: Critical Strike Clvl 15 Slvl 2: Exploding Arrow Clvl 16 Slvl 3: Dodge Clvl 17 Reserved For Later Clvl 18 Slvl 1: Penetrate Reserved Slvl 1: Ice Arrow Clvl 19 Slvl 2: Penetrate Clvl 20 Slvl 4: Critical Strike Clvl 21 Slvl 2: Avoid Clvl 22 Slvl 5: Critical Strike Clvl 23 Reserved For Later Clvl 24 Slvl 1: Dopplezon Reserved Slvl 1: Immolating Arrow Clvl 25 Slvl 1: Evade Clvl 26 Slvl 2: Immolating Arrow Clvl 27 Slvl 2: Dopplezon Clvl 28 Slvl 2: Evade Clvl 29 Reserved For Later Clvl 30 Slvl 1: Valkyrie Reserved Slvl 1: Freezing Arrow --------------------------------------------- You'll no doubt notice that I skipped a few high levels skills in favor of a few others, but there are plenty of options; and the ultimate choice is in the hands of the player who's spending all of that time earning those experience points. b. JAVAZON SAMPLE Javazon Sample Class: Amazon Level: 30 --------------------------------------------- Clvl 1 Slvl 0: Starting Level Clvl 2 Slvl 1: Critical Strike Clvl 3 Slvl 1: Jab Clvl 4 Slvl 1: Inner Sight Clvl 5 Reserved For Later Clvl 6 Slvl 1: Poison Javelin Reserved Slvl 1: Dodge Clvl 7 Slvl 1: Power Strike Clvl 8 Slvl 2: Critical Strike Clvl 9 Slvl 2: Dodge Clvl 10 Slvl 3: Critical Strike Clvl 11 Reserved For Later Clvl 12 Slvl 1: Lightning Bolt Reserved Slvl 1: Avoid Clvl 13 Slvl 1: Slow Missiles Clvl 14 Slvl 1: Impale Clvl 15 Slvl 2: Lightning Bolt Clvl 16 Slvl 4: Critical Strike Clvl 17 Reserved For Later Clvl 18 Slvl 1: Plague Javelin Reserved Slvl 1: Penetrate Clvl 19 Slvl 1: Charged Strike Clvl 20 Slvl 2: Penetrate Clvl 21 Slvl 3: Dodge Clvl 22 Slvl 2: Avoid Clvl 23 Reserved For Later Clvl 24 Slvl 1: Fend Reserved Slvl 1: Dopplezon Clvl 25 Slvl 1: Evade Clvl 26 Slvl 3: Penetrate Clvl 27 Slvl 2: Evade Clvl 28 Reserved For Later Clvl 29 Reserved For Later Clvl 30 Slvl 1: Lightning Strike Reserved Slvl 1: Zeus Bolt Reserved Slvl 1: Valkyrie --------------------------------------------- Again, there's great room for variation here. For even more specialization, you can focus on a Javazon who is great at melee or one who focuses on thrown javelins. Again, the final decision rests with you in terms of what type of character you'd like to create. Obviously, this will affect where you will place your attribute points as well. c. SPEARAZON SAMPLE Spearazon Sample Class: Amazon Level: 30 --------------------------------------------- Clvl 1 Slvl 0: Starting Level Clvl 2 Slvl 1: Jab Clvl 3 Slvl 1: Critical Strike Clvl 4 Slvl 1: Inner Sight Clvl 5 Slvl 2: Critical Strike Clvl 6 Slvl 1: Dodge Clvl 7 Slvl 1: Power Strike Clvl 8 Slvl 1: Poison Javelin Clvl 9 Slvl 2: Jab Clvl 10 Slvl 2: Dodge Clvl 11 Slvl 3: Critical Strike Clvl 12 Slvl 1: Avoid Clvl 13 Slvl 1: Impale Clvl 14 Slvl 1: Lightning Bolt Clvl 15 Slvl 1: Slow Missiles Clvl 16 Slvl 4: Critical Strike Clvl 17 Slvl 3: Dodge Clvl 18 Slvl 1: Penetrate Clvl 19 Slvl 1: Charged Strike Clvl 20 Slvl 1: Plague Javelin Clvl 21 Slvl 2: Penetrate Clvl 22 Slvl 2: Avoid Clvl 23 Reserved For Later Clvl 24 Slvl 1: Evade Reserved Slvl 1: Dopplezon Clvl 25 Slvl 1: Fend Clvl 26 Slvl 5: Critical Strike Clvl 27 Slvl 2: Evade Clvl 28 Slvl 6: Critical Strike Clvl 29 Reserved For Later Clvl 30 Slvl 1: Valkyrie Reserved Slvl 1: Lightning Strike --------------------------------------------- This sample is based off of the e-mail input I've received, and from all accounts, you'll want to put the Quest skill points you receive into Jab (which has been re-evaluated and re-graded) or use them to shore up whatever weaknesses you have in the Passive skill tree. This example uses some of the distance attacks so that you have something to fall back on, but you may want to ignore them entirely so that you have more points to dedicate to your melee combat skills. B. SKILLS And here is where I'll list and evaluate the skills as I see them. Obviously, not everyone will agree and you are quite welcome to hold the opposite opinion so long as somewhere in the dark recesses of your mind you acknowledge the superiority of my wisdom. ;) I'll only go so far as to list the effects of up to 5 Slvls of any particular skill as I think it exceedingly unlikely that anyone will dump too many more levels than that into any one particular skill. If you really want to know, then you should snag a copy of the Official Strategy Guide or look at the comprehensive Diablo II FAQs. Also, it's pretty easy to extrapolate the necessary data as the skills follow pretty linear trends. These numbers are not exact as the game went through some tweaking in the final version, and even the Official Strategy Guide is wholly inaccurate with regards to certain skills. Feel free to e-mail me if you've compiled the correct information and I'll make you get properly credited in the next version of the guide. i. BOW AND CROSSBOW MAGIC ARROW (Clvl 1) Skill Level Mana Cost Damage Modifier Slvl 1: 1.5 0 Slvl 2: 1.3 +1 Slvl 3: 1.2 +2 Slvl 4: 1.1 +3 Slvl 5: 1.0 +4 Grade: F As the grade indicates, I believe this is a pretty worthless skill to take as you should never run out of arrows as a Bowazon. Paying Mana for them is just ridiculous and you have to dump an exorbitant amount of skills into it to make it worthwhile. You will take one level of it, though, just to get access to the later skills in the tree. FIRE ARROW (Clvl 1) Skill Level Mana Cost Fire Damage Slvl 1: 3 1-4 Slvl 2: 3.2 3-6 Slvl 3: 3.5 5-8 Slvl 4: 3.7 7-10 Slvl 5: 4 9-12 Grade: C This is a fairly decent introductory level skill, but I wouldn't spend more than one, at most two, skill points in it as you will soon get access to more beefy goodness at later levels. COLD ARROW (Clvl 6) Skill Level Mana Cost Cold Damage Cold Duration (s) Slvl 1: 3 3 4 Slvl 2: 3.2 5 5.2 Slvl 3: 3.5 7 6.4 Slvl 4: 3.7 9 7.6 Slvl 5: 4 11 8.8 Grade: B- This is a solid skill to have if your bow doesn't inflict any type of cold damage on its own and it wouldn't be a bad idea to reinforce this skill with one or two levels if you're not lucky enough to have a bow that deals cold damage. Slowing down your enemies is a vital aspect to playing the Bowazon. The longer it takes to close the distance, the more time you have to pepper them with arrows. They will also attack less frequently; add to this your high Defense Rating and Passive evasive skills, and you just won't get hit very often. However, if you have a bow with a natural cold attack, then you won't need to put in more than one skill level here. MULTIPLE SHOT (Clvl 6) Skill Level Mana Cost Number of Arrows Slvl 1: 4 2 Slvl 2: 5 3 Slvl 3: 6 4 Slvl 4: 7 5 Slvl 5: 8 6 Grade: C+ Although the Official Strategy Guide seems to swear by this skill, it just didn't toot any of my proverbial whistles. It works quite well when you have a powerful bow with magical properties, but I thought the Mana cost was a bit high for the effect. I believe there are better skills to come later and in the Passive and Magic tree where the points may be better spent. NEW TO V. 1.23: A lot of readers have also written in about the wonders of this skill, and I'll quote David Brady here who wrote in one of the best e-mails I've received in regards to any of my FAQs. I've quoted the e-mail in its entirety so as not to spoil its wondrous beauty. --- BEGIN BLOCKQUOTE --- NYu, While I thoroughly enjoyed your guide and consider you to be the greatest FAQ writer ever.... Hey, loved the FAQ. It's helped me re-evaluate my character and my strategy. I have a suggestion, however. I'm playing D2 for the first time, and am not even through Act II yet, so I'm hardly an authority, but I find Multiple Shot far more useful than your FAQ suggests. How much more? If Multiple Shot was an ugly man, I'd sneak out on my wife and let him bugger me every night. And I'm FROM Utah. Here's the deal. I call Multiple Shot the "streetsweeper" of Diablo II. When you're getting mobbed by a swarm of low-level bad guys, Multiple Shot lets you shoot at several of them at once. Be aware that MS does NOT let you shoot a single monster more than once; the trick is to stand where you can see all of the monsters at once, then shoot a spread of arrows into the crowd. Multiple Shot is controllable! ...but there's a trick to it. You don't want to actually right-click on a monster. You want to hold down shift, then right click on the ground in the direction of the swarm. If you click far away, your arrows will fly out in a tight grouping. If you click on the ground at your feet, the arrows will fly out in all directions, almost in a 180-degree arc. It absolutely rules to be able to carry on a two-way firefight with ALL of the horror archers in the room at once.... Now, couple that with a bow of frost and your critical strike skill (each target has the chance of x2 damage) and you can clear out a mob of bad guys in a hurry. ...disclaimer: my Amazon is 20th level, and doesn't have immolation arrow or freezing arrow. And I got good at Multiple Shot by virtue of the fact that I never really could get the hang of exploding arrow, the skill which you claim is pretty great. My guess is that they both take a little bit of work to get right. Hope you find this useful. Enjoy! -dB --- END BLOCKQUOTE --- I'm going to stick by the current grade, but I will agree that it can be a useful skill. Some people like it, some people don't, so go ahead and test it out for yourself. EXPLODING ARROW (Clvl 12) Skill Level Mana Cost Fire Damage Slvl 1: 5 2-4 Slvl 2: 5.5 7-9 Slvl 3: 6 12-14 Slvl 4: 6.5 17-19 Slvl 5: 7 22-24 Grade: B This is a fairly useful skill and you get it early on in your career, too. This will probably become your primary right-click skill for a few levels as it is great tool to use to give a warm reception to thhe rushing hordes of Diablo's minions. You'll most likely want to invest an additional skill level or two here. ICE ARROW (Clvl 18) Skill Level Mana Cost Cold Damage Freeze Duration (s) Slvl 1: 4 6-10 2 Slvl 2: 4.2 10-14 2.2 Slvl 3: 4.5 14-18 2.4 Slvl 4: 4.7 18-22 2.6 Slvl 5: 5 22-26 2.8 Grade: B+ Now this is quite a nice skill in that you can totally freeze an enemy (merely slows down Champions and Uniques) and then pick it off at your leisure. Great for one-on-one fighting or just buying yourself some time. The Mana cost is quite low for such a good effect which is why I give it such a high grade. This skill is worthy of perhaps an additional skill level or two. GUIDED ARROW (Clvl 18) Skill Level Mana Cost Damage Modifier (+%) Slvl 1: 7 0 Slvl 2: 6.5 5 Slvl 3: 6 10 Slvl 4: 5.5 15 Slvl 5: 5 20 Grade: C- I didn't care for this skill much at all. Basically I think it's paying an exorbitant Mana cost to do a trick shot. It's kind of a nifty skill to have in certain situations, but I don't think it stacks up well against the other Clvl 18 skills. People have written in and told me of its usefulness against Uniques in certain situations and how it could be used to theoretically clean out the Arcane Sanctuary with ease, so I've upgraded its grade from D+ to C-. NEW TO V. 1.23: Kevin Goding wrote in and told me how he used Guided Arrow to kill Mephisto before he was even "activated" in a multiplayer game. Another character scouted ahead while the Amazon stayed back and fired Guided Arrows when Mephisto's glow came on-screen. Other people have written in expounding upon the virtues of Guided Arrow, forcing me to re-evaluate the skill slightly. It's still not one of my favorite skills, and I wouldn't invest too many points here (if any); but it definitely has its advantages in certain situations. New Grade: C+ STRAFE (Clvl 24) Skill Level Mana Cost Damage Modifier (+%) Max. Enemies Attacked Slvl 1: 11 5 5 Slvl 2: 11 10 7 Slvl 3: 11 15 9 Slvl 4: 11 20 11 Slvl 5: 11 25 13 Grade: C+ This really isn't such a bad skill, and the steady Mana cost is certainly nice; but I'm not sure how worthwhile it is to acquire this spell because you have to largely waste a point in Guided Arrow first. Also, Immolation Arrow is so good that any extra points you have will be better spent there. IMMOLATION ARROW (Clvl 24) Skill Level Mana Cost Explosion Damage Fire Duration (s) Average Fire Damage Slvl 1: 6 4-10 4.6 8-10 Slvl 2: 7 10-16 5.6 14-16 Slvl 3: 8 16-22 6.6 19-22 Slvl 4: 9 22-28 7.6 25-28 Slvl 5: 10 28-34 8.6 31-33 Grade: A If Immolation Arrow was an attractive woman, I'd marry her. That's how much I love this skill. Never mind the fact that I'm already engaged, I'd just move to Utah. Immolation Arrow kills Uniques dead. It also works hand-in-hand with Decoy and Valkyrie. Just let your Decoy or Valkyrie/Hireling do the distracting while you let loose with a few choice Immolation Arrows. It'll take down a crowd or a Unique in a hurry. Well worth any additional skill points you choose to place. FREEZING ARROW (Clvl 30) Skill Level Mana Cost Cold Damage Freeze Duration (s) Slvl 1: 9 6-10 2 Slvl 2: 10 12-16 2 Slvl 3: 11 18-22 2 Slvl 4: 12 24-28 2 Slvl 5: 13 30-34 2 Grade: A If Immolation Arrow was an attractive woman and I married her; and if Freezing Arrow was also an attractive woman, she'd be the one with whom I'd ultimately end up having a torrid affair and running away to the Bahamas. This skill will probably become your semi-permanent right-click skill. It does significant damage (for the Bowazon), can freeze a large group of 5-6 enemies if placed correctly, and doesn't cost much Mana compared to equivalent skills. It even does windows! This skill also works pretty well in conjunction with other Amazon skills, notably Valkyrie. Basically, you set 'em up and she knocks 'em down. Unfortunately, they won't take Immolation Arrow damage when frozen, but it gives you a good opportunity to create some space if needed and set up your next flurry of attacks. ii. PASSIVE AND MAGIC INNER SIGHT (Clvl 1) Skill Level Mana Cost Radius Duration (s) Enemy Defense Slvl 1: 5 13.3 8 -46 Slvl 2: 5 13.3 12 -50 Slvl 3: 5 13.3 16 -54 Slvl 4: 5 13.3 20 -57 Slvl 5: 5 13.3 24 -60 Grade: C- This is a fairly average skill. It's okay to have one level in it, but it doesn't improve that significantly when you dump skill points into it. It's a must-have, though, as it leads to some pretty good stuff later on. This skill will either be used often or not at all, depending on how your Amazon develops. This is one of the few Amazon skills which can be useful in multiplayer. CRITICAL STRIKE (Clvl 1) Skill Level 2x Damage Chance (%) Slvl 1: 16 Slvl 2: 25 Slvl 3: 32 Slvl 4: 38 Slvl 5: 42 Grade: A+ Personally, I think this is one of the better skills in the game overall. You won't ever go wrong with a point in this skill until you get at a level where the difference between skill levels is miniscule. This is one of the few skills in which I'd consider adding more than 5 levels. If Immolation Arrow was an attractive woman and I married her; and if Freezing Arrow was also an attractive woman and I had a torrid affair and ran off to the Bahamas with her; and if Critical Strike was an attractive man, I'd fly to some random Nordic country to get a sex change operation so I could bear his child. (Okay, that's probably as far as I can take that joke.) DODGE (Clvl 6) Skill Level Dodge Melee Chance (%) Slvl 1: 18 Slvl 2: 24 Slvl 3: 29 Slvl 4: 34 Slvl 5: 37 Grade: B+ Since you're almost always fighting or standing still, this is a great skill to take. Coupled with a good Defense Rating, a good mix of Dodge, Avoid, and Evade can make the Amazon a very slippery target indeed. I'd recommend taking at least 3 skill levels of Dodge. SLOW MISSILES (Clvl 12) Skill Level Mana Cost Radius Duration (s) Slvl 1: 5 13.3 12 Slvl 2: 5 13.3 18 Slvl 3: 5 13.3 24 Slvl 4: 5 13.3 30 Slvl 5: 5 13.3 36 Grade: C+ This is another one of the select few Amazon skills which are useful in multiplayer. It's nice to have one skill point, but I never really desired investing more. In fact, I always forgot I had this skill and it consequently never saw much action. There's nothing wrong with this skill, but the Amazon typically doesn't have any problems with ranged attackers, as that is her forte. AVOID (Clvl 12) Skill Level Dodge Missile Chance (%) Slvl 1: 12 Slvl 2: 18 Slvl 3: 24 Slvl 4: 30 Slvl 5: 36 Grade: B This isn't quite as useful as Dodge or Evade, but it's still very worthwhile to invest several skill points here. This will just make it that much harder for ranged attackers to threaten you in any way whatsoever. PENETRATE (Clvl 18) Skill Level Ranged Attacks Attack Rating (+%) Slvl 1: 35 Slvl 2: 45 Slvl 3: 55 Slvl 4: 65 Slvl 5: 75 Grade: A- A very sound skill in which just taking one level helps tremendously, but taking several rewards you greatly. This is one of the few skills in which I don't object to having more than 3 skill levels. The Amazon needs to connect with as many attacks as possible as hers do typically less damage. This is also an important skill against Uniques as they are much harder to hit and have many more hit points. DECOY (Clvl 24) Skill Level Mana Cost Duration (s) Slvl 1: 19 10 Slvl 2: 18 15 Slvl 3: 17 20 Slvl 4: 16 25 Slvl 5: 15 30 Grade: A+ This is an absolutely essential skill in the Amazon's awesome arsenal of advanced abilities (alliteration!). It makes fighting Uniques a snap. By the time you get it, you'll probably be in Act IV and you'll find that you're using it constantly in concert with Immolation Arrow. This is a sound strategy both against large mobs and boss characters. Izual and Hephasto the Armorer will both fall like ... I don't know, something that falls, or whatever ... before the might of the Decoy/Immolation Arrow combination. EVADE (Clvl 24) Skill Level Dodge Chance (%) Slvl 1: 18 Slvl 2: 24 Slvl 3: 29 Slvl 4: 34 Slvl 5: 37 Grade: A- Another eminently useful skill. Having 3 or 4 levels of Evade will you let you dodge attacks on the run, so that you don't have to worry about things as you retreat ... er ... regroup for your next attack. VALKYRIE (Clvl 30) Skill Level Mana Cost Hit Points Damage (+%) Attack (+%) Defense (+%) Slvl 1: 25 377 0 0 0 Slvl 2: 29 453 25 25 25 Slvl 3: 33 528 50 50 50 Slvl 4: 37 604 75 75 75 Slvl 5: 41 679 100 100 100 Grade: B+ These numbers are not correct even though they were pulled from the Official Strategy Guide. Evidently, the Valkyrie was too powerful in this form and was drastically weakened in the final release of the game. She has fewer hit points than listed here and also smaller bonuses to her Damage, Attack, and Defense Ratings. Weakened as she is, the Valkyrie is nonetheless a mighty ally, especially in Act IV where you cannot hire any people to serve the function of the redshirts on Star Trek (namely, die in your stead). And no, I'm not a big Trek fan, I just thought I'd make that joke. And no, I don't know why I'm getting defensive about the possibility of being a Trek fan, either. PIERCE (Clvl 30) Skill Level Pass Through Chance (%) Slvl 1: 16 Slvl 2: 20 Slvl 3: 24 Slvl 4: 27 Slvl 5: 30 Grade: C- I've heard some pretty bad things about this skill, so I didn't really invest in it. Basically, it's good for your regular attacks but it can really muck up your special ones. If an arrow pierces through an opponent on a special arrow attack, the special attack won't trigger. Instead, it'll travel through until it hits an opponent that it does not pierce through. In other words, that Freezing Arrow you meant to use as crowd control might pass through relatively harmlessly instead and detonate on a straggling enemy far behind the crowd. In the Beta it was said to be too powerful as it would always trigger the special arrow whenever it struck an enemy, that way you could get multiple shots of Immolation or Freezing Arrow with this skill. Now, though, the ability seems rather weak, especially compared to the rest of the level 30 skills. The numbers here are wrong as well, as the skill starts at 23% in the game. iii. JAVELIN AND SPEAR JAB (Clvl 1) Skill Level Mana Cost Attack Rating Damage Modifier (+%) Slvl 1: 2 +10 -15 Slvl 2: 2.2 +15 -12 Slvl 3: 2.5 +20 -9 Slvl 4: 2.7 +25 -6 Slvl 5: 3 +30 -3 Grade: C This is a nice starting skill for your right-click attack, but you'll forget about it after you get Power Strike at clvl 6. Nothing fancy here. NEW TO V. 1.20: Okay, based on what everyone tells me about Jab and further testing on my part (taking a new Amazon through most of Act I), I have a newfound respect for Jab. It's a lot more solid and carries over surprisingly well into the later stages of the game, something I simply assumed (and, in retrospect, rather hastily at that) it wouldn't do. It's fantastic for the Spearazon variant, though it's not quite as useful for the ranged Javazon. Jab also makes up nicely for a normally slow attack speed on some of the heftier Spears in the game. New Grade: A- Not a full-on A because it's not always useful, but I'd say this skill needs a couple of points for any Amazon who envies the Barbarian's ability to engage enemies up close and personal. I'm not too proud to say that I was wrong about this skill, so thanks to everyone who wrote in. Hats off to Ty Hansen and Mike Hoeder especially for writing in with an amazing amount of depth, providing some nice hardcore numbers and facts (and written with such glowing courtesy, I might add), about the crucial nature of Jab to the Spearazon. I also wanted to toss in here as a side note that I had received 10 e-mail about this FAQ before it had even been up for a full day and the requests to post the incomplete FAQ started popping out of the woodwork. Not quite Planescape: Torment numbers (which is a far more Walkthrough-oriented game), but not bad, not bad at all. All the attention has also rocketed me to being the 8th Most Popular FAQ Contributor over at GameFAQs (http://www.gamefaqs.com). Boo-yah. NEW TO V. 1.23: Okay, now having played a Spearazon all the way through the game has given me yet another perspective on the Jab skill. It owns you. That's how much I've fallen in love with it. I've heard of some amazing Spearazon characters who've invested 20 points in it. That's just crazy, but it is definitely an excellent skill. You don't need more than a couple of points in this skill, really, to be successful. Also, as Dan "DemonBite" wrote, the speed of Jab attacks is unaffected by your character being frozen, so it's just another extra bonus. New Grade: A+ POWER STRIKE (Clvl 6) Skill Level Mana Cost Lightning Damage Attack Modifier (+%) Slvl 1: 2 1-8 10 Slvl 2: 2.2 4-11 15 Slvl 3: 2.5 7-14 20 Slvl 4: 2.7 10-17 25 Slvl 5: 3 13-20 30 Grade: C+ Again, a good early level skill that will serve you until the next branch in the tree comes along. This should immediately replace Jab when you decide to chose this skill. POISON JAVELIN (Clvl 6) Skill Level Mana Cost Poison Damage Duration (s) Slvl 1: 4 9-14 3 Slvl 2: 4.2 14-18 3 Slvl 3: 4.5 18-23 3 Slvl 4: 4.7 23-28 3 Slvl 5: 5 28-32 3 Grade: B- A decent skill which will be your primary thrown javelin attack until clvl 12, but will still see some usage then. Sometimes you may want to intentionally miss your target with this skill so that the poison trail hits several enemies. This skill is not particularly good against the undead (and there are a lot of them in the game) as they are resilient against poison in general. IMPALE (Clvl 12) Skill Level Mana Cost Attack Modifier (+%) Weapon Durability (%) Slvl 1: 3 25 50 Slvl 2: 3 32 51 Slvl 3: 3 39 52 Slvl 4: 3 46 53 Slvl 5: 3 53 54 Grade: C+ This is not a bad skill, but I personally prefer Power Strike as I found the constant repair costs to be annoying. If you always equip a thrown javelin type, though, then you won't need to worry about repairs. However, if the weapon degradation occurs, then you will lose one of the javelins you're equipping. LIGHTNING BOLT (Clvl 12) Skill Level Mana Cost Lightning Damage Slvl 1: 6 1-40 Slvl 2: 6.2 1-48 Slvl 3: 6.5 1-56 Slvl 4: 6.7 1-64 Slvl 5: 7 1-72 Grade: B This is where the Javazon really starts to take off. I would give this skill a much higher rating due to its excellent damage, but it tends to chew through the Amazon's Mana very quickly, and she will typically not have a lot of it to spare in the first place. CHARGED STRIKE (Clvl 18) Skill Level Mana Cost Lightning Damage Slvl 1: 4 1-15 Slvl 2: 4.2 6-20 Slvl 3: 4.5 11-25 Slvl 4: 4.7 21-35 Slvl 5: 5 26-40 Grade: B At this point in your character's career, this skill is basically a no-brainer. It will replace Power Strike or Impale as your standard right-click if you're a melee-oriented Javazon. Good for taking out bunched-up crowds in a hurry. Ranged attack Javazons will probably want to invest more in Plague Javelin, though. PLAGUE JAVELIN (Clvl 18) Skill Level Mana Cost Poison Damage Duration (s) Slvl 1: 7 9-14 3 Slvl 2: 8 14-18 3 Slvl 3: 9 18-23 3 Slvl 4: 10 23-28 3 Slvl 5: 11 28-32 3 Grade: B+ This skill will you be your standard right-click ranged attack until level 30, so you might want to start dumping points into it and making sure you have enough Mana to last it out. I'd give it a higher rating but poison attacks just aren't as effective against the undead as they are against others. This is a very powerful skill, though, and nails various and sundry enemies with the poison trail and the explosion upon impact. FEND (Clvl 24) Skill Level Mana Cost Attack Modifier (+%) Damage Modifier (+%) Slvl 1: 5 10 25 Slvl 2: 5 15 28 Slvl 3: 5 20 31 Slvl 4: 5 25 34 Slvl 5: 5 30 37 Grade: B- I consider this skill to be pure gravy. It's a nice skill to have, but I think the Javazon is most powerful when you concentrate more heavily on her ranged attacks. NEW TO V. 1.23: A few people wrote in defending the Fend skill, but none more eloquently than Illusion: --- BEGIN BLOCKQUOTE --- Primarily, this conflict comes with fend. A B-?! As a level 32 Spearazon, this is ALL I use. First of all, I had played several amazons, so this one I streamlined (i.e. I wasted no points to help me in earlier levels). Also, I largely neglected mana since jab was so cheap and really only necessary against bosses. So, when level 24 came around, fend proved immensely useful. The mana is constant at 5, which compared to everything else, is so cheap that fend can almost become your left-click attack. Furthermore, when you get this skill, you should be on your way to using a pike, if you don't already have on in your possession. Pikes, as you know, along with dealing incredible damage, also have a slow attack. Paired with fend, the attack speed can be quickened to at least normal levels. And its not like you don't need an area attack like this in hell...I don't see how spearazons utilizing charged strike can actually be effective vs. the spawning capability of some of hell's minions. With my level 32, I just run into the center of a group of guys and start right clicking like a madman. In the space of 1 or 2 regular attack lengths I'm dealing about 150-175 average damage to EVERY monster surrounding me..compare this to charged strike which does a lucky 40 max damage to surrounding enemies and will still have a slow attack (not to mention it has to deal with resistances). Finally, you rated Jab an A-...well, if you can manage to save any points you were going to waste on jab for fend, fend will add more damage and more attack rating per level than fend will. With my personal experiences, fend deserves at least the same grade as jab...I would give it an A or an A+, its my "Critical Strike"...Lastly, using fend and decoy exclusively, my amazon was able to clear hell and the cow level with no problems, even in her early/mid 20s...as compared to the barbarian and paladin I played with who either experienced problems, or took far too long to clear a group of enemies. Oh well, thanks for listening to my fend rant. I||usion P.S. Using the fend approach, a large amount of mana/energy is NOT needed, and the points would be much better applied to any of the other 3 attributes. My amazon, however, has still not made much use of lightning strike...and this might require much more mana for her to use efficiently. --- END BLOCKQUOTE --- I tested it some more and found it slightly more useful than I had originally written, but it's still a bit too slow for my tastes, especially when you compare it against Jab. Nonetheless, the original grade was too low. As always, the grades are subject to my individual leanings and open to interpretation depending on your own slant. New Grade: B LIGHTNING STRIKE (Clvl 30) Skill Level Mana Cost Lightning Damage Bolts Bolt Damage Slvl 1: 9 1-14 2 5-25 Slvl 2: 9.5 1-16 3 15-35 Slvl 3: 10 1-18 4 25-45 Slvl 4: 10.5 1-20 5 35-55 Slvl 5: 11 1-22 6 45-65 Grade: A- This is a nice skill to use when you're up close and personal with the enemy. It does massive damage to the enemy that gets hit with the main strike and does decent damage with the bolts that shoot out. The main damage also powers up considerably with each level and the addition of an extra bolt is nice, too. Good for crowd control in melee, but you'll want to stick additional points into Lightning Fury. LIGHTNING FURY (Clvl 30) Skill Level Mana Cost Lightning Damage Bolts Bolt Damage Slvl 1: 10 1-40 2 1-40 Slvl 2: 10.5 1-44 3 11-50 Slvl 3: 11 1-48 4 21-60 Slvl 4: 11.5 1-52 5 31-70 Slvl 5: 12 1-56 6 41-80 Grade: A+ This skill is obscenely powerful, although it does suck up your Mana like something that sucks very quickly, and I'm trying very hard not to make a ribald joke here. At slvl 3 and higher, you will be able to wreck hordes of enemies with a single javelin. Just make sure to invest some points into Energy or you won't be able to use this ability very frequently. C. GENERAL STRATEGY i. BOWAZON Basically, the Bowazon is the master of hit-and-run tactics. Make sure you have a Fast Run/Walk item so that you can beat feet when you're being pressured. Also, it's not such a bad idea to invest a hefty amount of points into Strength so you can wear the better armor types; that, in combination with 3 or more skill levels in Dodge, Evade, and Avoid, will you make you a slippery target. Don't be too proud when playing this character: When the time comes to run, it's the time to run, damn it. You will probably want to hotkey Town Portal and will burn them up at a tremendous rate when fighting the more difficult Uniques. You can skimp out on adding points to Vitality as she shouldn't be hit that often and Energy as her skills are less Mana-intensive. Dexterity should always be your most prized attribute, though. Level 6 Bowazon: Left-click: Attack Right-click: Fire Arrow, Cold Arrow, Multiple Arrow Level 12 Bowazon: Left-click: Attack Right-click: Exploding Arrow, Cold Arrow, Multiple Arrow Level 18 Bowazon: Left-click: Attack Right-click: Exploding Arrow, Ice Arrow, Strafe, Decoy Level 24 Bowazon: Left-click: Attack Right-click: Immolation Arrow, Ice Arrow, Strafe, Decoy Level 30 Bowazon: Left-click: Attack Right-click: Immolation Arrow, Freezing Arrow, Decoy, Valkyrie GENERAL PLAYING TIP: I received a great tidbit from Eli White that I'll just place here verbatim as he explains it more clearly than I probably could: --- BEGIN BLOCKQUOTE --- Your 'clicking scheme'. You might want to offer an alternative way. I personally assign all my attack skills to the left click, and 'other skills' to the right click. So: left-click: Attack, exploding arrow, ice arrow, Multiple Arrow, (etc) Right-click: Inner Sight, Decoy, Valkryie, Town Portal (etc) This way first of all it works great for using inner sight all the time (might as well, it helps ya hit), and quickly hitting the decoys, valkyries, etc. Secondly, having all your attack skills in the left mouse, gives you something GREAT. switching ammo types without having to re-aim! If you have 'clicklocked' onto a creature with the left button, and then have to switch to the right button for a new skill - but the creature has left the screen, you can't re-aim ... BUT, with all attack skills on the left mouse, you just hit the appropriate F-key, and the new type of ammo starts flying at the same creature, then |
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Another Diablo 2 Walkthrough :
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