Whats better for a HC Bowazon? Botd Hydra or Windforce

Im leaning towards Botd because it has Dual Leech but Windy has Knockback so im unsure..

Also if anyone knows of another good bow then please let me know.

Also im not useing a Faith simply because it isn't going to keep me alive. Too my knowledge it does not contain Mana or Life leech.|||WF WF WF, its max damage at high levels blows BOTD out of the water. BOTD is fools gold for bowazons.

You dont need dual leech, as you're going to have LL from something else anyway - Andy's is the obvious source, since you want the IAS and STR anyway, but if not then a leech ring (with +res or what have you) is usually the other place to get it. WF has enough ML to fill your bulb with every volley usually, and yes KB is an absolute must-have for bowas, and a lot harder to find elsewhere than LL.

Same deal for Faith...it will keep you alive because its an awesome bow and the bowazon's best defensive strategy is always "kill them before they can hit you". Aside from Ravenfrost, there isnt a "must have" ring for bowazons - many just double up on Ravens - so that second ring slot is always available for a dual leech ring to solve your leech needs.|||BOTD aint that good, the leech is obtainable from things like dual leech rings, andy's face, etc.

however Faith has some really nice mods especially for HC

it has ITD, so you wont need AR. also the 10% chance to reanimate as returned

it has even got some @

so i would choose between faith and WF, because BotD aint that usefull on a bow

if you get a faith GMB you should try to get the aura atleast 14 i thought, otherwise you wouldnt need a certain IAS BP

it would also be usefull to get knockback from other equipment if you use faith|||1) dont make botd in a bow.

2) if you do, use a crusader.

3) dont make botd in a bow.

dual leech is easy easy easy to get on helms. it's also fairly easy to get on rings and other equipment.

ps. dual leech isnt going to "keep you alive" in HC with a bowazon. proper play > leech. you're not a tank, dont act like one.|||Actually bowas are a tank, out of necessity at least. Though it rarely happens(but more often for aggressive players engaging in herding etc, desiring to kill faster), sometimes it does that bowas have to take blows from monsters and survive. There are so many death reports in the hc forum where characters fail because an unlucky boss pack/lag/whatever bad combination happens and their low life/low res character didnt have a buffer to handle it. Dont make the same mistake. Remember, monsters can do 1500+ damage in a single hit, be prepared|||sounds like poor play style.|||Well, lag can cause horrible things to happen.

I've always wanted to attempt to find a use for BOTD crusader, though.|||That is a value judgment. However the objective truth is, that for speed optimal game play, taking hits is a necessity.

The fundamental precondition of damage output alteration is the concept of movement dependent damage characteristics. In the sense of the planar domain of input specification dynamics, solutions exist between the characteristics of subjects of damage and object of damage output.|||Quote:








sounds like poor play style.




For hardcore yes. But in softcore, I find myself rushing into battle on several occasions. I survive, but I wont reccomend it for Hardcore.|||Quote:








That is a value judgment. However the objective truth is, that for speed optimal game play, taking hits is a necessity.




How fast will your gamespeed be in HC if you get killed? I thought the whole point of HC was that you play with a more conservative (if not paranoid) mindset than SC...yes, you sacrifice some killspeed but thats the price you have to pay not to get ghosted.

Even then, I wonder if its "necessary" at any time for a bowie to take hits in the name of faster running. With skills like Strafe and MS that can KB and hit well off-screen, and merc/valk/decoy to tank, there's really never an excuse to let a monster get into melee range, even in monster-stuffed levels like Cow.

Its always ranged monsters that are the biggest problem for my bowazon in SC. Getting alphastruck by a boss pack of archers with nasty mods is my #1 cause of non-lag-related death. Lag is probably your biggest enemy in HC, too, I would imagine, so that's probably going to be the biggest "bottleneck" you have to build around. You never want to run into a combat scenario so aggressively that a 3 second lag spike will leave you dead, so that means unless you're playing on Blizzard's servers themselves, that you're forced to take a more conservative tack regardless.