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With skills sets focusing specifically on bows and crossbows or javelin and spears, it's important for the Amazon player to make a selection early to maximize skill choices. This section examines the Amazon's possibilities and the useful skills along each route. The Bow and Crossbow Route Choose the bow and crossbow skills should you desire to emphasize pure ranged weaponry. The magic arrow skill is especially useful, both early and throughout the entire game. The more points added to the magic arrow, the cheaper the mana cost. By its 13th tier, magic arrow is free, though it's cheap and efficient at sixth or seventh tier. Magic arrow is nice because it doesn't require arrow ammunition, which could prove helpful in a pinch. You'll find both the cold and fire arrows useful; the higher cold arrow skills can freeze opponents as well as inflict cold damage. Slowing opponents down is often as useful as inflicting damage points. You'll likely want to select both cold and fire arrows for the early and mid game; use the cold arrows against fire-enchanted unique enemies, while employing fire arrows against the cold-enchanted unique enemies. TIP: The Amazon's bow skills can provide fire- and ice-enchanted arrows. Instead of attempting to acquire all the skills, use gems to alleviate additional skill needs. For instance, if you wish to study skills in fire arrows (and subsequent exploding arrows and immolation arrows), try to find sapphires to place in a socketed bow to provide cold damage. Then again, if you choose to acquire the cold-arrow skills, such as cold arrow and ice arrow, try to find rubies to use in a socketed bow. Critical strike is an important passive Amazon skill used in both ranged and melee attacks - don't neglect critical strike even if you're a bow player! Critical strike works best around level 6 or 7, where you've raised the chance for double damage to approximately 50 percent. Be prepared to use a lot of hit-and-run tactics with ranged weaponry. With bows, you can't afford to get trapped inside a horde of monsters. Use inner sight to decrease a monster group's defense rating and slow missiles to slow down enemy ranged attacks. Penetrate and pierce are also important higher-level bow skills (though in the magic portion of the Amazon's skill tree). The Javelin and Spear Route Selecting the javelin or spear route offers both melee and ranged opportunities with skills associated with each style of play. The jab and critical strike combination is the Amazon's melee bread and butter. As mentioned in the bow section, boost critical strike up to its sixth or seventh level to inflict double damage approximately 50 percent of the time. Couple this with the fast jab attack (and eventually with a powerful weapon), and you can dish out significant damage. Jab also operates at the same speed regardless of your weapon's speed; for instance, if you are holding a slow pike, jab performs at the same level of quickness as if you were holding a basic spear. The Amazon's javelin skills emphasize both poison- and lightning-based attacks, with separate skills for thrusts and thrown strikes. Lightning is the most powerful elemental attack and should certainly be explored by the javelin Amazon player. Poison can prove effective, but lightning is typically more efficient; though you'll likely place points in the poison skills, use more in the lightning-based attacks. Even with the powerful throwing skills, a javelin-based Amazon player will likely come back to jab and the passive critical strike time and time again. A strong Amazon player can take out tough, Act IV bosses with a beefy jab and critical strike rating (assuming a powerful thrusting weapon is being held). Be ready to cycle through other skills, particularly the throwing lightning skills (or poison if you prefer), should you desire to switch to ranged combat and knock down enemy health from the safety of long range.
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