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Archerdoom
04-22-2008, 12:06 AM
I had one of these before the reset, she did ok.

Introduction
A Frostmaiden is a Bowazon that uses the 3 cold damage oriented skills in the Bow and Crossbow skill set, Cold Arrow, Ice Arrow, and Freezing Arrow. A Frostmaiden is unique in the way that her damage is dependant on her +skills instead of the raw power of her weapon, much like a caster. Unfortunately, a Frostmaidens straight-forward damage isn't very impressive. +Skills are EXTREMELY important to a Frostmaiden. As far as I'm aware, this character has little use for PvP.


Skills
20-Cold Arrow
20-Ice Arrow
20-Freezing Arrow
20-Pierce
1-Prerequisites to Valk and Pierce-8 skills

Thats 108 Points total, achievable at level 97 (which is unnecesary)

Cold/Ice Arrow-Syenergies, you won't be using these.

Freezing Arrow-Your main skill, it flies through the air and, when it his an enemy, explodes in a cloud of Ice, damaging the monster. The handy thing about this is that when it pierces an enemy, the cloud will appear at every single enemy it hits and goes through after that, damaging several enemies at once.

Pierce-An extremely important skill for the Frostmaiden, I just explained why. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of this skill drops significantly per level at level 9, so at first, only get this skill to level 10.After you max out Valk, then finish it off, if you get the chance.
http://www.diablo2.com/article/skills/passive-and-magic/classes/amazon/pierce.html

Valkyrie-A useful ally, give it about 5-10 before Pierce, then return here again.

Attributes
These are self-explanitory and are re-occuring unless the build says so.

Strength-You'll need around a base of 60-80, depending on what you make your Armor out of and what gloves you're using. Hopefully not too much more, less is always better.

Dexterity-Your Gm Bow takes 152 dexterity. You might want a base of 100-120, once again, depending on the quality of your torch and anni.

Vitality-Everything else! The more the better, you gotta stay alive, eh?

Energy-Nothing, nothing at all. I'm probably sounding like a broken record, but theres a reason for that. The first stages might be hard, once again, Freezing Arrow takes a lot of mana, but you'll make it through.

Equipment

Weapon-"Ice" Runeword-Make this in a GM Bow with +3 to Bow skills. A real given, with its aura, damage, speed, and +to cold skill damage, it's perfect for a Frostmaiden.

Shield Space-Whenever I use bows, I usually like to stick some arrows into this slot. I don't know, they usually increase my damage by quite a lot. If anyone tells you not to use arrows with your bow, do not listen to them.

Helm-I used a Cold-Faceted Andys. The +skills and IAS really helps. Also useful are a Shako and even a Dream, if your arrow damage is too low.

Armor-Unlike most other builds, body armor does not play such a crucial role in this build. I used a Chains of Honor of the ever-so-sought-after +skills and resistances. I've never tried it, but a 4x Cold-Faceted armor [I]might work as well.

Gloves-You absolutely cannot go without a pair of rare or crafted gloves with +bow skills and IAS.

Boots-I'm not really sure about this area, a guess any pair that might help with FR/W. I myself used Travs for MF.

Belt-I like to use Verdungo's for that ever-juicy life increase.

Rings-Sojs for +skills and mana (Freezing Arrow uses a lot)

Amulet-Highlords for IAS and +skills

Inventory-Torch and Anni, of course, are extremely important. Also bow skillers help a lot.

Mercenary
A force in himself, your mercenary can be a powerful ally.

Helm-Andys, for strength, IAS, and Life Steal

Armor-Fortitude, for defense, damage, and resistances

Weapon-Could be a lot of different things. One option is an Infinity, which would increase your overall damage, and break those pesky immunes, but not all of them. I used an Insight, because Freezing Arrow takes a lot of mana.

kwittstruck
04-22-2008, 12:17 AM
i wasnt aware infinity broke cold, acording to runeword listings it only breaks lightnings. but anyway

Layout is decent easy to read
Id suggest a stratigy section for various places.

It still seems to be lacking in something i just cant place it atm.
Anyway a few edits and such could be a little better

butfor now id give this a 6.5

Archerdoom
04-22-2008, 12:21 AM
Infinity will break some cold immunes.

Oh, I was missing the Stats, I'll get those in now

kwittstruck
04-22-2008, 12:22 AM
Must be a hidden bonus or something thats not listed, Thanks for the info though :)

Phoenix13
04-22-2008, 02:37 AM
Ice arrow is a useless synergy, only adds lenght which his stupid. I would max strafe.

saracen85
04-22-2008, 03:24 AM
Ice arrow is a useless synergy, only adds lenght which his stupid. I would max strafe.

seconded.

Veneteaou
04-22-2008, 06:46 AM
I definitely agree that Ice Arrow is a waste; maxing Strafe is just as stupid. See, this is a caster build with very little if any fighter gear (damage, CB, OW, etc.), so using a skill that relies almost exclusively on those mods is stupid.

Max Valk, Decoy, or drop points in D/A/E, or even max Lightning Fury (a rocking backup skill) instead.

Second - There is only one (and I mean ONE) belt for this build, a Razortail. Getting Pierce to 100% is ESSENTIAL for maximizing this builds damage. This build has no need for a life boost or DR because it is gonna die anyway if it is getting hit.

Taurean
04-22-2008, 09:30 AM
If you insist that you need Razortail, you could edit your guide and lower the points spent into Pierce from 20 to 9. At 9 pts into Pierce, you have 69% chance to Pierce, add 33% from Razortail, that`s 102%. I believe that 95% is the highest chance to pierce, but i don`t know if it is because monsters have a 5% chance to block, or if the skill itself is capped at 95%. If you need to hit 95% only, you would need 7 pts into Pierce. Your call x) But you get the idea, i think you knew this..

Those saved pts could go into survival skills, like D\A\E maybe?

I also miss some lower-cost gear choices. My bowzon uses M`avina`s set and shines with that! I also tried some other gear that i don`t remember and that worked great too. I have around 2k-2.5k Cold dmg, with very high Pierce.
I must add that Valkyrie is a necessity if you want to survive in hell, good that you cared for maxing that skill.

Would also like some PvM surviving strategy ^_^

7\10

saracen85
04-22-2008, 01:03 PM
well, if you use fort, maxing strafe is quite viable for 2 things..

1. physical damage as back-up.

2. leech.

or at least get it to 10 arrows per volley if you insist of saving points.

Veneteaou
04-24-2008, 06:51 AM
Fort is a horrid armor choice for a frostmaiden.

Peirce maxes at 100%, just like all other % mods. The 95% ceiling on CtH means that certain mods only get applied that often, but they all top out at 100%.

saracen85
04-24-2008, 09:24 AM
Fort is a horrid armor choice for a frostmaiden.

for a pure frostmaiden, maybe.. but since it's pvm, having 2 types of damage is the basic requirement to get thru the game without hassle. unless going for fire/lightning route, having some physical damage isn't too shabby.

Taurean
04-24-2008, 11:24 AM
My Frostmaiden uses Strafe and it does help quite a bit. I have my inv filled with dmg\ar\other mods SC`s and other charms.. they boost dmg a lot! I think my Strafe dmg is around 800 - 1500 now.