LLD101

[badguts]

Recently been messing with an 18 bowa and its really fun. Here is a guideline for people who may not know how in the hell to make one.
I'll cover a few different build types in this guide. Just so you know from the start, a max block switch is crucial to being competitive. Your main damage will come from your bow but the switch can own too, which i will get into.

Few basic things to know about zons
-Starting stats- (Directly off arreat summit)
Strength: 20
Dexterity: 25
Vitality: 20
Energy: 15

Hit Points: 50
Stamina: 84
Mana: 15

Each Character Level
Life +2
Stamina +1
Mana +1.5

Attribute Point Effect
1 Vitality point gives 3 Life
1 Vitality point gives 1 Stamina
1 Energy point gives 1.5 Mana

Amazon
FHR Frames
0% 11
6% 10
13% 9
20% 8
32% 7
52% 6
86% 5
174% 4
600% 3

*Gear*This will pretty much be the same no matter which route you go.

Helm - If you are on a budget, a simple 3 socketed mask filled with 15 max jewels will work. Once you start upgrading or if you can afford it from the start, you will want to move onto a circlet with mods like 20 frw, life/mana, lightning damage, 1 passive skill tree. I use a Serpents circlet of haste right now on mine filled with 2 15 maxers.

Armor - Twitch, no other substitute. You will need it to get enough ias as well as fhr bps. The str/dex is very helpful too of course. Put a 15 maxer in this.

Gloves/Belt - Use deaths set. Will need the 30 ias to hit the bp with bow. Takes 40 ias total to hit 10 fpa with stag bow. Easiest way to get this is deaths + twitch. Also gives cannot be frozen off belt which is very helpful as well as 15 all resists and makes you pretty much immune to poison.

Ammy/ring1 - Angelic is the best choice. You get 10 dex points from em, 75 life, dtm and life rep. All of these are good things.

Ring2 - Use a rare ring ideally with stats like str or dex and mana. Mana will be a big prob so try to get as much as you can. 40 is max for an 18 ring. If you can't afford or get your hands on one of these rings use a manalds as temp. The life rep an mana regen really help.

Boots - Cow kings. Gives 30 frw and a huge 20 dex.

Bow - Your main form of damage. Only possible choice is a stag bow. They spawn with a random 1-3 bow skills and can get 5 sockets. A perf one would look like 3 bow skills, 5 sockets, 15 ed, 3 ar. Get as close to it as you can. Fill with 15 maxers. Some people like to put 4 15's and a Nef in it for the knockback, but i don't feel it is needed on your bow.

Switch weapon - Have a variety of tspears or war javelins here. I like to keep an amp tspear in stash vs. most chars (you can shoot arrows then switch and the %ctc amp works). I also keep a knockback tspear for zealots and chargers. They are the gayest most overused characters ever and deserve this. Use it well. You can use eth/rep spears if you want but they aren't needed. It's also nice not having to wait forever between rounds for them to rep.

Switch shield - I just use a sworback with a 15 maxer in it. You get 50% open wounds off of it is the main reason. Though open wounds doesn't do much at level 18 (its damage scales with character level) i like to use it since you will always have a 1/2 chance of it triggering since lightning bolt always hits. It's nice for draining down zealers or other characters in conjunction with your kb jav. If you don't feel the open wounds is necessary, you can use a 2 socket vulpine bone shield of deflecting with 2 15 maxers. The dtm helps vs melee.

Charms - 10 grand charms with mods like 6 max/ar/dex or life. 7 frw/6max/ar gcs are ideal for zons but can be very expensive. Fill the rest of your inv up with 15 lifers, with mana if you can afford em. If mana is really killing you a cheap alternative is to use a few mana gcs in place of max ones. Max mana on 18 gc is 33. If you go glass cannon, use charms with life. If you go vit, use charms with dex. Always try to get as much frw as you can. 90+ is usually a good amount but its ok to use less.

*Skills* (you get 29 with hell rush)
1 guided arrow
1 lightning bolt (main switch skill, always hits)
1 jab (optional. I like to have it for close hits but is not needed)

The passives are a big portion of choice. Because lightning bolt and guided arrow always hit, you have no dire need of attacking rating, so inner sight and penetrate are not really needed.

Get crit strike up to 50+%. Mine on my bowa is at 52 which i find works just fine. This means 1 of every 2 attacks has a chance of doing double damage. Very useful.

Playing style is a big part of how you choose to skill dodge/avoid. I generally like to keep them both about equal, but that is by no means set in stone. If you are going to be up close in melee (which you shouldn't really be) put more in dodge. If you will be running more put more in avoid. Many people worry about dodge lock (continuous dodging triggered by fast hitting enemies) but you shouldnt be in the thick of melee anyway so i wouldn't worry much about it.

*Stats* (You get 100 with hell rush)
Most people choose either a vit build or a dex build, also known as glass cannon. The difference between these two builds is that with the vit build you have much more life, but less damage. A glass cannon puts all points in dex, thus achieving very large bow damage, at the cost of life.

Str - shouldn't need more than 27 for twitch, which lets rest of gear be put on. Could get away with none if you are getting stats from other gear pieces.
Dex - Either just enough for max block with your switch shield (should get automatically if using recommended gear) or all.
Vit - Either the rest of your leftover points or none.
Energy - none of course. Get mana from your ring or charms.

When i made my first 18 zon i chose a vit build, because it helps you survive longer if you mess up or aren't great at switching quick enough. Now i use the dex build though, because i feel the huge damage outweighs the loss in life. Ultimately i feel vit build is better vs other zons, and dex is better for generally fighting all.

*How to go about fighting*
I won't go into big details about strategy, but i like to have jab and lightning bolt set on my shield side, and multi arrow and guided on bow. If they are casters or are a good distance away, shoot some guided at them. Multi comes in handy if they are running around a lot or desynching. Be careful of pallies who charge when your bow is out. Versus melee who try get close up on you, always walk. Your blocking % goes down while running. Shoot lightning bolt as you walk out of their reach (always hits). Knockback javs come in really handy vs zealots or kickers who are on your tail constantly. Lightning bolt works with things like amp and knockback. Some get annoyed with kb javs but i say who gives a fuck. Get skilled at shooting a couple quick arrows then switching to shield for the block.

I don't think i've missed anything, but i probably have. If you are bored with your noob ass zealot try a zon. They are really fun and can own anyone if you're careful.

[Magi]

Good guide. I've got a friend of mine who is in the process of making one, and I was debating ditching my bone necro for one of these as well.

I only have one question: Does fhr change the recovery time of the dodges? (avoid/dodge/evade). I had read somewhere that they were always set at a certain recovery time and no amount of fhr would be able to help them.

Thanks for a clean and easy-to-use guide!

[badguts]

[Magi]

After reading your reply, and checking out this thread:
http://forums.diii.net/showthread.php?t=582627
I think I now understand. All doge/evade/avoid animations are fixed at 8 frame.

Lets say we have an Amazon with level 7 Avoid (50%) and her only sources of FHR are from Twitchthroe (20%) and a Grand Charm (12%)

She stops to shot at arrow at the same time a fireball is cast at her. The Amazon gets a 50% chance go avoid the fireball. If the roll is successful, she goes into an 8 frame avoid animation. If the roll is not successful, then she goes into a 32% (7 frame) fhr animation.

Do I have that right?

I guess the logical next question would be: Is there ever a point where it's better to have higher fhr and NO dodge/block/avoid? Sometimes it's tough to break free from an 8frame dodge/avoid/evade when you get caught by a steady stream of fireballs (etc). Understandably, I may only get hit by one or two from a sizeable volley, but with better fhr and no dodge/block/avoid, might I only get hit by one?

[badguts]

[Jerkazoid]

[badguts]

Ah 1/12 thanks, wasn't exactly sure. I don't really like lvl 21s personally, because they tend to think its perfectly ok to fight 18's but cry when 30's want to fight. Not a real lvl >.< But if you don't really care i suppose it could be fun.

[mungloid]

how much mana does your bowzon have and is it enough?

[badguts]

[Young]

hey Badguts, thanks for writing up a nice guide. I'm the friend Magi was referring to who is making a level 18. As ive discovered, mana is the #1 problem. I also don't really enjoy shooting at 10fps, but I guess that's as good as it gets. I'm curious as to what rare ring you're using that gets you up to 140sh mana? Are you using any mana charms at all? Once I finish mine, i'll take some screen shots and post it up to compare with yours. If you're on east ladder, i'd love to meet up and compare notes / duel sometime.

Cheers

[badguts]

[Young]

yeah i figured as much. I think i'm just spoiled, coming from an 8fps level 39 harmony zon who ran at desynch speeds heh.

As far as ladder, magi and I both play on ladder and Roy is dabbling a bit on ladder too. If you want to remake your level 18 bowa on ladder, I can help you out with some equipment. I have a spare maxer'd superior 3 skill stag bow you can use. I also have two plain 20 run walk circlets that haven't been socketed yet.

Now i just need to get some decent javs and a swordback... grrr

[badguts]

[Young]

will do. my account is young-vgs1. currently hanging out in low duels if you want to join and see my level 18

[volka]

I was in progress of writing a lvl 18 bowie guide myself (lil more detailed) when i saw this. I have a few disagrees/ additions:

Think about using irathas glowes/belt/amu!
it gives a awesome bonus of 20 frw, 20 ias, 5 min damage, 15@ and 10 dex!
With twich it hits the same bp with a stag bow.

i dislike swordback bacause of the lacking fbr.

a plain 20frw is easy gambled with some lvl 25-30 char ( didnt look up perf lvl )

stash some rare frw/resis boots

The in my eyes ultimate bow for a lvl 18 bowie would be some insane rare double bow:
20ias/60+ed/15+maxdam mod/2 sox
it hits 9 fpa with either deaths or irathas combi and even or maybe higher damage then 5x maxd stag. only drawback is the loss of +3 in guided and the higher mana costs by that.

My bowies stats are:
418life/206 mana
54-644 guided damage (10fpa)
64-536 jab damage
70-488 lb damage
117-633 throw damage
91 frw (pumpable to 125)
58% crit
37% dodge
45% avoid
1.9k ar jab w/o anglics

possibilty to get all resis to 75 after anyabug with rare boots.
Those stats are on ladder 5 using a plain 75 max +3 stag atm, waiting for good doublebow/ jewels for my stashed 15ed/+3


I guess ill add more when it comes to my mind