Guide written by Paradox on the DiabloII.Net Single Player Forums.
The Amazon class is generally reputed to be a very weapons-based character, with a high degree of reliance on their weapons of choice. Nevertheless, Amazon subclasses like the "mageazon" do not seek to maximise their physical damage, but instead employ the twin elements of fire and ice through Immolation Arrow and Freezing Arrow. The character described in this guide aims to take this concept one step further by introducing yet another element - the powerful shards of pure energy from Lightning Fury.
This guide is written from my experiences with my Single Player character Scythia, and I'll be going through her statistics and skills, as well as other various information about tactics and equipment. Sit down and enjoy the ride - we'll be here for a while!
As mentioned in the introduction, the tri-elemental mageazon will be concentrating in (and maxing) three skills - Immolation Arrow, Freezing Arrow and Lightning Fury. It is similar to a Tri-Elementalist Sorceress build since you are maxing three skills, and it's important to be aware that your points will be very scarce. I will first go through Scythia's skill allocation, then run through the individual skills and comment about each one and its usefulness.
1 Fire Arrow
1 Magic Arrow
1 Cold Arrow
1 Multiple Shot
1 Exploding Arrow
1 Ice Arrow
1 Guided Arrow
1 Strafe
20 Immolation Arrow
20 Freezing Arrow
I have gone and put 1 point in each of the Bow and Crossbow skills, while maxing Scythia's two main bow skills. This allows for a large degree of variability and flexibility when encountering different situations.
1 Poison Javelin
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Plague Javelin
20 Lightning Fury
The barest minimum in this skill tree - only a maxed Lightning Fury and its necessary pre-requisites.
1 Inner Sight
1 Critical Strike
1 Dodge
1 Slow Missiles
1 Avoid
1 Penetrate
1 Decoy
1 Evade
10 Valkyrie
20 Pierce
Nothing out of the ordinary except for a possible lack of investment in Critical Strike - however, I will cover this next. There should be a large emphasis in Pierce for all skills, and with a big Valkyrie tank and maxed Pierce, Scythia will have 1 skill point left once she reaches level 99!
As can be seen, I've maxed three skills in the order: Immolation Arrow, Freezing Arrow, Lightning Fury. Nevertheless, it's entirely up to you as to which skills you want to max first - I didn't have my Titan's Revenge and Lidless Wall until level 60 or so, so I just completed the Bow and Crossbow skills before moving on to Lightning Fury. Max out your skills in the way that best suits your playing style and makes levelling easier.
Fire Arrow: Your first step towards Immolation Arrow. It doesn't really have much of a use at later difficulties, but you can use this as a source of elemental damage in early Act I. You are better off using a more powerful elemental skill against Physical Immune monsters in Nightmare/Hell difficulties, but you can resort to this if your mana is being drained too quickly. Only one point as a pre-requisite.
Magic Arrow: Only a pre-requisite, as it serves no purpose unless you run out of arrows and you can't Town Portal out. You can always switch to your javelin and shield anyway, but nevertheless, put one point in this and move on.
Cold Arrow: I prefer this skill to Fire Arrow in early Acts, primarily because of the chilling effect and the power to break up a group of tough-hitting monsters. Apart from this, Ice Arrow is a much better replacement at level 18, so only one point here.
Multiple Shot: This is a skill that you don't really want to focus in, for rather obvious reasons. I never found a good use for a level 1 Multiple Shot in any part of the game, and I would always pick the cold arrows for slower mana drain and better tactical results. Therefore, put one point in here and wait until you get Freezing Arrow.
Exploding Arrow: Exploding Arrow doesn't really have much use either, unless you have a large pack of Fallen that you want to mop up quickly. The exploding radius doesn't do all that much fire damage, and the initial impact isn't that good either. Like the rest, one point in here.
Ice Arrow: This skill is your saviour at low levels until you get to level 30 and Freezing Arrow. It stops monsters right in their tracks, so use it when taking on a group of monsters so you can finish one off at a time while the others are just ice-cubes waiting to shatter. Only one point as it's still capable of freezing everything around at level 1, and you're not going to turn back after Freezing Arrow, anyway.
Guided Arrow: Guided Arrow is actually quite useful when you want to hit monsters that do a lot of very powerful ranged damage. However, you don't want this to end up as your primary attack, so I would place it on my left-click as a leeching skill while placing your primary attacks on the right-click. You're short on skill points, so put 1 point in here and allow your +skills to bump up damage and bring down the mana cost.
Strafe: Like Multiple Shot, not a skill that you want to invest heavily in. Just put one skill point in whip it out if you're surrounded on all sides by very fast-moving, incoming monsters.
Immolation Arrow: Aha, the first of your primary skills. The cons of a low-level Immolation Arrow centre on the low damage and comparatively high mana cost, so I would recommend sticking to your Ice Arrow and Guided Arrow, while pumping all available points into here to boost the fire damage. This should be maxed first and it will help to speed you through until you can get more skill points to max your next skill.
Freezing Arrow: My skill of choice. I love it because of the freezing effect, and also because of the enormous damage you can do with the piercing and splashing area effect. I will cover this in more detail under the miscellaneous tactics section, but Scythia maxed this right after her Immolation Arrow.
I won't cover the rest of the skills in the tree (since you won't have enough points to use them effectively), and the three pre-requisites are quite useless except for Plague Javelin which has its uses if maxed - and you're not maxing it for this build.
Poison Javelin: I tend to rely on a powerful one-handed weapon while breezing through Act I, so I have no need for the early throwing javelin skills. You can use it if you like, but only 1 point in here is needed as it's useless at later levels.
Lightning Bolt: Similar to Poison Javelin, only 1 point in here and keep going.
Plague Javelin: Granted, Plague Javelin is useful in some circumstances. This requires, however, that you max it (as the poison damage is pitiful at level 1). You won't be able to have the skill points to be using it, although it would be cool, so I just put 1 point in here as a pre-requisite and waited until I got to Lightning Fury.
Lightning Fury: Excellent for killing packs of monsters, like Shenk's entourage, cows or the zombies in Pindleskin's garden. I prefer to max this last because I was more powerful with the bow (more support skills like Guided Arrow) but it is interchangeable with Freezing Arrow. Max it out for the largest number of lightning bolts and extra damage.
Inner Sight: Inner Sight is very useful for seeing monsters in dark areas in all difficulties, and at the cost of only 5 mana, it's exceptionally cheap. Also use it to spot any monsters behind doors, but since you're only using it as an early-warning skill, only 1 point is needed.
Critical Strike: This is a very debatable topic. Critical Strike will double your physical damage, and thus also the amount that you leech back. In later difficulties when leech and the global physical resistance come into effect, this can be very useful. However, being a mageazon of sorts, Scythia isn't that reliant on leech and her +skills increase it by a significant percentage anyway. If you choose to max it, you will have to forgo a strong Valkyrie or a lot of Pierce for your primary skills, and to me that is not worth it. Tips on how to leech effectively will be covered in the tactics section.
Dodge: Being short on skill points, you should plan not to get hit a lot, even while firing. Thus, there should be only 1 point in here.
Slow Missiles: A very handy skill and helps out in areas with large concentrations of ranged attackers (for example, the Chaos Sanctuary and the plateaus of Act V). Your +skills will boost your time duration here, so only 1 point is needed as a pre-requisite. Keep it on a hotkey and whip it out when you start to see those missiles flying.
Avoid: This passive is only as a pre-requisite, like Dodge - therefore, only 1 point in it.
Penetrate: Utterly useless for this character since your main skills (Freezing Arrow, Immolation Arrow, Lightning Fury and even Guided Arrow) are all auto-hit, so your Attack Rating is not even considered. Definitely only 1 point in here and wait for Pierce.
Decoy: A very nice stationary tank that helps you out when you're facing a tough, hard-hitting monster that you don't want your mercenary or Valkyrie to get shredded by. You should be having quite a few +skills on your character, so let that bump up your Decoy's time duration while you increase its life by increasing yours.
Evade: Like Dodge and Avoid, this should be used as a pre-requisite only - 1 point here.
Valkyrie: Your summonable tank with loads of life...although unfortunately, not much brains. I chose level 10 as a reasonable level for hit points and recastability (8 is in fact the recommended level), since when you run very quickly, you will find that your Valkyrie will sometimes disappear. She will be very durable against normal monsters, but you will have an abundance of mana when the mana cost starts to get a bit steep so recasting her will not be a problem.
Pierce: This is the ideal skill to augment your firepower. Pierce is virtually mandatory for Lightning Fury to be effective, and Freezing Arrow and Immolation Arrow also shine with a bit of Pierce. I'm planning to max it out since I haven't got any items that add to piercing, but if you do, then put less points in Pierce and redistribute them in other areas like your Valkyrie or in D/A/E.
Being focused in very mana-intensive skills, you will end up placing the majority of your stat points into energy. Strength should be raised until you can equip all of your items without any +stats bonuses, and vitality should be pumped to your liking. The rest can be apportioned between dexterity and energy, for leeching and mana regeneration/supply respectively. Here is Scythia's base stats:
Now, let's delve into stat point allocation in more detail.
Strength: Used mainly for equipping your bow and your armor. The 110 strength is actually for Thundergod's Vigor, but I had initially planned 95 for Lycander's Aim and War Traveller. It is very possible to play with less strength and more into other stats, but personally I hate to risk the dreaded "body pop" so I erred on the side of caution. Play as you choose.
Dexterity: The point of not pumping dexterity (unless you are a vamp subclass of mageazon) is so you have a significantly larger mana pool to dip into. At very high levels, Freezing Arrow sucks mana like no tomorrow, so having a lot in your blue ball from the start is a great help. I put dexterity up to 110 for Lycander's Aim, then rounded it up to 150 for a bit more leech.
Vitality: Again, I went on the side of caution and invested 100 points into vitality. Life is not that important since you're playing relatively far from the melee action, but my equipment wasn't configured for life steal or % damage reduction so I preferred a lot of life and drinking a healing potion now and then. I would not recommend going below 50 vitality, but the build is definitely doable with it at base.
Energy: This is where any spare stat points will go. More energy adds to mana regeneration and bucketloads of mana, and it makes it just that much easier to recast a high Valkyrie without worrying about your blue ball falling to half. At early levels, energy is not as important (since your primary skills are only available at levels 24 and 30) so concentrate on achieving your strength/dexterity requirements first before concentrating in energy.
You can also follow the conventional mageazon build by employing only very small amounts of strength and vitality, while pumping more into dexterity and energy for a larger mana pool and greater damage (and leech). This type of build will give you a smaller range of equipment choices, but there are a lot of great caster-type items that have comparatively low stat requirements. Some +strength charms would also go a long way, providing that you have enough room in your inventory.
The equipment for the tri-elemental mageazon is a lot different to ordinary bowazons, insofar as you are looking for totally different things. Increased Attack Speed takes a back seat, while +skills, resistances and +mana come to the foreground. I'll cover a rather general list of equipment for both the rich and the not-so-rich, but as with all other builds, remember that the proper equipment really makes this character shine.
Harlequin's Crest A very nice helm that gives +2 to all skills, as well as 10% Damage Reduction and 50% Magic Find. It's probably the best all-round helm for this build, except it doesn't have any life or mana leech and won't appeal to you if you place a high emphasis on how your character looks.
A rare +2 Amazon skills circlet This one looks the best, and is comparable to the Harlequin's Crest with other decent mods. If possible, look for one with dual-leech and resistances to all elements, as they will be desperately needed later in the game.
Valkyrie Wing A medium-high level helm if you can get the right seed on your mods, as if you end up with a perfect +2 to Amazon skills and +4 to mana after each kill, you'll have excellent bonuses to your skills and your mana ball will be replenished faster than if you used leeching alone. Further on, the mods on the Harlequin's Crest or the rare +2 Amazon skills circlet will tend to do better than the Valkyrie Wing, but use this while waiting for the level requirements on both items.
Mara's Kaleidoscope Excellent amulet that provides +2 to all skills and a massive bonus to your resistances. The small bonuses to your stat points aren't really much to talk about, and this amulet is also very rare. If possible, put this on, but there are also a wide range of amulets that you can use instead.
Crescent Moon A brilliant bow for a "vamp" mageazon that is focusing on leech to recover mana. The Crescent Moon provides 11-15% mana leech, as well as 3-6% life leech to ensure that your life stays at a safe level. The large +45 bonus to mana is also a great help, and it's a great amulet to use once you hit level 50.
The Eye of Etlich A superb low-level amulet that gives you +1 to all skills, as well as 3-7% life steal from level 15! The cold damage has a very long duration (2-12 seconds) which keeps your cold arrow skills freezing for a lot longer. This can be supplemented by some cold damage charms to further lengthen your chill/freeze time.
Highlord's Wrath This amulet doesn't really compare in terms of exceptional mods, but the +1 to all skills is very handy and the extra lightning resistance will keep those sparks from hurting so much. The Deadly Strike may be useful if you haven't been concentrating on Critical Strike, and 20% Increased Attack Speed is always nice.
Rare +2 Amazon skills amulet Try to look for some really good modifiers on these rare amulets - look for high mana leech, large bonuses to all resistances and anything else that comes your way. Remember that this will have a comparatively high level requirement of 67, but if you get an awesome one, it's well worth the wait.
Que-Hegan's Wisdom A brilliant caster armor that provides all the mods that you could possibly want. It gives you +1 to all skills, +3 to mana after each kill, 20% Faster Cast Rate and a very useful +15 to energy. The defense is also very high for a relatively low strength requirement (55) but you're not really looking to get hit anyway.
Skin of the Vipermagi Also a very handy armor that gives you +1 to all skills, 30% Faster Cast Rate (even more than Que-Hegan's Wisdom), and most importantly, a whopping +20-35% to all resistances. I eventually chose this over the Que-Hegan's Wisdom because my resistances were very low in Hell difficulty, but if you have both and your resistances are okay, then go for the Que-Hegan's Wisdom instead.
Naj's Light Plate An extremely-high defense armor that is wearable for a comparatively low amount of strength. It also provides +1 to all skills, 25% to all resistances and +65 to life, and the "45% damage taken goes to mana" would be a great help for filling your mana ball if you get hit. Unfortunately the level requirement is a bit steep (and it seems to be very hard to find in Single Player) but if you are prepared to be patient, it could be well worth the wait.
Lycander's Aim My favourite bow, and ideal for this build. The +skills make your Immolation Arrow and Freezing Arrow just that bit better, and the 5-8% mana leech and +20 to dexterity and energy assist with extra leech and more mana respectively. In addition, the 20% Increased Attack Speed makes you fire a bit faster, and the Lycander's Aim is also very good because of its high minimum damage (meaning that you have a high minimum amount leeched back per hit). It doesn't look all that bad, either.
Magewrath This is also a very good bow that provides +1 to Amazon skills and a whopping 15% mana stolen per hit. The +10 to dexterity and +3 to Guided Arrow will help out if you need to whip out your Guided Arrow for quick leeching (and boss killing), while the "Hit Blinds Target" is also helpful if you need to make a quick getaway.
Kuko Shakaku The Kuko Shakaku is also an excellent bow for its +3 to bow and crossbow skills, as well as another +3 to Immolation Arrow for your roasting and toasting. The high fire damage is good all-round, while the extra piercing attack allows you to redistribute some points from Pierce into other skills. Nevertheless, I preferred Lycander's Aim over the Kuko Shakaku in terms of benefits, so I'm maxing out Pierce. Remember that you cannot leech with your normal Attack skill if you're using the Kuko Shakaku.
Eaglehorn An average bow for this build that only provides the notable benefits of +1 to Amazon skills and a nice +25 to dexterity. The high damage is also nice for extra leeching, but apart from that, the rest of the mods are just useless.
Goldstrike Arch Not a bad bow for supplementing some of your elemental damage with the lightning and holy bolts from the periodic casting of Fist of the Heavens. Goldstrike Arch also has 50% Increased Attack Speed on it, which makes it a lot easier to get more speed, and a lot of enhanced damage against demons and undead. Nevertheless, there is nothing else that makes the bow really special, and a Lycander's Aim, Magewrath or Kuko Shakaku is a much better choice.
Windforce The ultimate "bow of bows" which is very expensive and rare that doesn't really help this build excel. The very high damage and 8% mana leech are excellent, while the 20% Increased Attack Speed and +strength and dexterity are also helpful. However, Windforce has Knockback which is a real shocker if you are using Immolation Arrow a lot, because it will push the monster back out of your fire patch. The Knockback is only really useful if the monster is against a wall, but in most cases you won't be so lucky.
Titan's Revenge It's really hard to go past the perennial Titan's Revenge as your javelin of choice. Although you could theoretically pick up any crude Pilum off the floor and use it with only marginally reduced efficiency, the extra +skills, life leech, faster run/walk and massive bonuses to strength and dexterity make it the best for augmenting your Lightning Fury. Since the stack has the "replenish quantity" modifier, repairing your Titan's (if it's not ethereal) costs only 1 gold and above all, it looks pretty damn good.
Magical +6 Amazon-only Javelins Useful for the extra +skills that you may desire. An ideal suffix on your javelins would provide some life leech, but if you're only looking for the extra +2 to your skills then the suffix isn't really of much consideration.
Other Rare Javelins Try to look for some enhanced damage, +2 to Amazon skills, and other useful mods like life leech. These may end up to be rarer than a Titan's and more valued as a result, but if you can find a very good stack of these javelins then by all means, use them.
Lidless Wall The Lidless Wall is the best shield to use, as it provides +1 to all skills, as well as a 10% bonus to your maximum mana and +5 to mana after each kill. Wearing this while chain-casting Lightning Fury will reduce the rate at which your blue ball turns transparent, and the +10 to energy will also help your mana replenishment.
Moser's Blessed Circle An average shield that you can use if you are desperately in need of resistances. Two perfect diamonds socketed into this shield will boost your resistances by a hefty amount, but overall the Lidless Wall is much better.
The Ward Another excellent shield for providing extra resistances, as a perfect one will give you 50% which you can socket a perfect diamond into for some more resist all. Overall, this will provide more resistances than the Moser's Blessed Circle, but the base blocking percentage for Moser's is 11% higher (which will reduce the amount of physical damage that you will take).
Laying of Hands Arguably the best pair of gloves for taking on bosses and most monsters that you will encounter. The massive amount of fire resistance combines well with the fire absorb if you're using a Dwarf Star, the +350% damage against demons will allow you to cut through the Prime Evils with less fuss and the 20% Increased Attack Speed may push you over the next frame breakpoint. You will also get a few style points for the periodic casting of Holy Bolt, too.
Frostburn Excellent for the 40% bonus to your mana - everything else is rather useless. Nevertheless, extra mana is easily acquirable from other sources (and easy to get back through leech), so I would go for gloves that provide better benefits.
Rare 3% mana leech gloves with +2 to bow and crossbow skills and 20% Increased Attack Speed That's what a pair of rare gloves would need to compete with the other possibilities listed here. It is debatable whether these modifiers are really needed (in particular, the 20% Increased Attack Speed and the mana leech which you should have a lot of) but if you find such a pair, you may as well use them if a Laying of Hands or a Frostburn is not readily available.
Raven Frost Personally, I think that this ring should be standard on most characters. It renders you almost immune to anything but the worst cold attacks, and even then, keeps the damage taken down to a reasonable level. The handy bonus to dexterity will also help out with enhanced damage, and the "Cannot be frozen" modifier will keep you from being chilled unless you hit a Holy Freeze monster. The +40 to mana is also very handy, and the extra cold damage never hurts.
Stone of Jordan Generally considered to be a "caster" ring, providing +1 to all skills and adding 25% to your maximum mana. For some reason, this seems to be exceptionally rare in Single Player, but if you can find or trade for one, by all means, use it.
Dwarf Star A very handy ring to complement the bonuses from Raven Frost and the absorb negates a lot of the damage taken from the powerful fire attacks of Baal and Diablo. The extra bonuses to life and stamina are also very useful, and some extra spending money may net you some good items from gambling or shopping.
Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band Somewhat classier than a Stone of Jordan (especially on Battle.net) if you're looking for the "+1 to all skills" bonus on your ring. Unfortunately, the rest of the mods aren't as useful as the massive bonus to mana from the Stone of Jordan, and these rings are also very hard to find.
Rare life-leech ring Use this only if you have no other source of life leech and are going into a place where you will probably get hit often. In most cases though, you will find that you can swap this out for a ring that provides better bonuses.
Razortail Probably the best belt that this build can use - it provides 33% Piercing Attack which will let you reduce the amount of skill points invested into Pierce and allowing you to pump other skills like a Valkyrie or your Dodge/Avoid/Evade. The +15 to dexterity is also a very handy bonus for your bow and javelin damage, although the rest of the benefits aren't so good.
Thundergod's Vigor An excellent belt for adding +3 onto your Lightning Fury, as well as providing a vital +20 to Lightning Absorb that can save your little posterior if you accidentally fill a Lightning Enchanted monster with Freezing Arrows. The strength requirement is a bit steep (but I raised my strength accordingly for it) although you get +20 to both strength and vitality and the opportunity to increase your maximum lightning resistance by 5%. The chance to cast of Fist of the Heavens when struck will also earn you another style point, and can even help you out if you are swamped by undead in the tombs of Act II or the Sewers of Act III.
Gloom's Trap This belt is heavily customised for characters who need a lot of mana, as it gives you another 15% bonus to your maximum mana as well as 15% extra mana regeneration. The 5% mana leech will be very useful as well, since your main skills drain more mana than 200 wraiths hitting you at once.
Wilhelm's Pride A handy 5% dual-leech belt that is useful if you are in need of some life steal. The cold resistance isn't all that useful if you're using a Raven Frost, but if you're using it then anything helps.
String of Ears A nice all-round belt that provides 10-15% Damage Reduction and 6-8% life leech, amongst other things. However, I feel that this belt isn't as useful as others because you're not planning to get hit a lot - nevertheless, if you're desperate for a good belt, then this will do very well until you can find a better one.
M'avina's Tenet Also another belt that provides 5% mana leech, but is also unique because it provides an extra 20% faster run/walk. Apart from that, it isn't of much use unless you have other pieces of the set, so I really wouldn't bother with this belt.
Silkweave A great pair of boots that is designed for mana-reliant characters. It provides a 10% increase to your maximum mana level, and also gives +5 to mana after each kill. If you combine this with another item that gives a bonus to mana after each kill (like Valkyrie Wing or Lidless Wall), you'll find that your mana ball will fill quickly after turning a pack of demon imps into ice cubes.
War Traveller A relatively secondary set of boots that is often over-rated because of the 30-50% Magic Find. Nevertheless, the 40% slower stamina drain will keep you running faster and further, while the +10 to strength helps if you're trying to equip an item with a very high strength requirement. The added damage and +10 to vitality will keep your life ball high (extra damage is affected by your "enhanced damage" modifiers and results in more leeching) and the extra Magic Find may net you some good stuff when doing some runs.
Aldur's Advance Scythia actually used this for a long while until she acquired a better pair of boots. I liked the +50 to life (which is very helpful when you aren't pumping vitality until later levels) and the enormous bonuses to stamina and faster run/walk. The "10% damage taken goes to mana" is useful, but you aren't planning on being hit much so it's made virtually redundant, while the other modifiers aren't much of a benefit.
You may also like to see if you have any luck with crafting some items, particularly the items from the "Caster" recipes. The types of modifiers that you should look for are similar to that of rare items, and notable Caster items include the boots (that provide 1-5% extra mana) and the helm (that provides 1-4% mana steal).
All of Scythia's items aren't socketed, but socketing provides you with extra depth and versatility when taking on the minions of Hell. I'll cover the available stuff for putting into your armor and weapons, and suggest some alternative equipment to allow for more sockets in your items.
The perfect topaz is the general gem of choice when socketing your helms, as the majority of players out there are Magic Find crazy and a topaz will give you 24% extra Magic Find. If you're looking for something else, however, Ber will give you 8% Damage Reduction which takes the edge off physical attacks, while Um is available for a bonus to all your resistances.
Other possible gems include a skull (for life and mana regeneration), a sapphire (for extra mana) and a ruby (for extra life), or you may prefer a very good jewel that provides some bonuses like 15% Increased Attack Speed, enhanced damage or a bonus to your minimum or maximum damage.
An Um in your armor will provide extra resistances (15%) but if you're looking for maximum returns for your rune, put it in a shield. Ith is another option for "15% damage taken goes to mana" which will regenerate your mana if you get hit, although you're not really looking out for that. The perfect skull is a surprisingly viable option, providing 19% mana regeneration which beats Eth (15%). A four perfect skull armor would significantly boost your mana recovery rate, and is good for the Amazon who has no skill-based form of mana regeneration.
Ber also gives you 8% Damage Reduction, although as said above, it's extremely rare and hard to find. A perfect topaz, ruby or sapphire provides bonuses to Magic Find, life and mana respectively, so a four socket armor with a variety of these gems (depending on your needs) would be very useful to supplement your red and blue ball reserves.
Jewels can also be used to boost your resistances, as very high percentages to one element can spawn. The two main elements you should look out for are fire or lightning, since both cold and poison can be negated through potions and "Cannot be frozen" items.
For your bow, you should look for something that increases your leech or stats. Amn and Vex add 7% to life and mana steal respectively, and although a Vex would be ideal, keep in mind that it's unbelievably rare in Single Player. If you're using Lycander's Aim, a perfect skull is also very good because it adds a bit of life steal as well as mana steal.
You may also like a Shael for the extra Increased Attack Speed to push you over the next breakpoint, and it's also useful if you're compromising some other gear for extra Magic Find. A Shaeled Lycander's Aim already puts you firing at 11 fps, which is very good for a mageazon. Other possible options for socketing into your bow include a Ko (for an extra +10 to dexterity) or a Lum (for +10 to energy).
If you're looking for additional resistances, an Um will give you 22% resist all (7% more than if you put it in your armor), while a perfect diamond will provide 19% resist all if you don't have any Ums. If you have an excellent 15% resist all jewel with a great second modifier, then definitely use it. Elds are okay because they give you 7% extra blocking, while a Ber provides 8% Damage Reduction (although they are extremely rare, especially in Single Player). Eth (for 25% extra mana regeneration) and Tir (+2 to mana after each kill) are also viable options, but I would personally go for the extra resistances.
Being a character that uses three elements, you will find that your mercenary choices are reduced to the three Acts - I, II and V. I would tend to not choose the Rogue because you are already projecting a lot of ranged power, and you will most likely need another powerful tank to fight alongside your Valkyrie. The Desert Guard auras are fantastic for helping you and the party out, and due to this distinguishing characteristic, I would choose the Act II mercenary over the barbarians. Scythia has a Holy Freeze guy from Nightmare, and he's the best for her. Nevertheless, I'll examine all mercenaries in turn.
The Rogue is essentially another archer who tags along with you and casts an enchanted arrow and Inner Sight every once-in-a-while. Since you can do all of that (and more), I find the Rogue to be largely redundant once you get past Act I in Normal. Even the +3 skills "bug" that gives the Rogue a lightning bolt attack is also not as powerful as your Lightning Fury when cast in packs, but if you are partial to a Rogue, by all means, go ahead.
Personally, these are the best for this character class. The Blessed Aim, Defiance, Thorns and Prayer mercenaries are largely useless at later levels, so you're picking between Might and Holy Freeze. Out of these two, I would go for the Holy Freeze mercenary since his aura is extremely beneficial against Cold Immune monsters in Nightmare and Hell difficulties, and it allows you to use Immolation Arrow and Lightning Fury without worrying about unchilled monsters running around. On the other hand, the extra damage from Might helps a lot with your leeching, and if you are quick enough on the hotkeys, you can alternately fire Freezing Arrows and your other skills to keep monsters frozen.
It's a matter of personal preference, although I like Holy Freeze better because of the very large radius at higher levels, and because it can still chill Cold Immune and prevent annoying monsters like those Demon Imps from teleporting rapidly.
The Iron Wolves are made redundant because all three elements are already covered by you - I would go right past them and not look back.
The barbarians are extremely powerful tanks that will serve as a good meatshield that takes the heat off you. If you go through the list of Act II mercenary auras and find that you don't need any of them, then the barbarian is probably the next best bet; however, be aware that often the barbarian tends to run off and collect packs of monsters that you won't be happy to meet.
Check out Darkness' Mercenaries FAQ for extremely detailed information regarding mercenaries and other interesting trivia.
For most characters, the dreaded Physical Immune monsters pose as annoying threats. But you're a mageazon, right? Elemental damage is your speciality. Correct, but your primary skills are a real drain on your mana, and if you're focusing on a lot of mana leech, you'll be staring at a transparent mana ball within seconds.
So, we have to find ways to combat Physical Immune monsters. These can be classified into two types - those unique monsters that spawn with modifiers like "Stone Skin" and become Physical Immune, and those that have natural immunities to physical attacks in Hell difficulty.
These monsters aren't so hard to handle. The minions won't be immune to physical, so unleash the big guns on the Physical Immune boss to take off as much life as possible. After you run out of mana, switch to a mana-efficient spell like Guided Arrow and leech back like crazy. Rinse and repeat, and if you're lucky, the Physical Immune boss will die before you run out of minions to leech back from.
Unfortunately, usually this isn't the case. You've got the option of just putting down a Decoy and running along, portalling back to town to heal up, or drinking mana potions. Mana potions are fairly easy to come across, so I would keep a column of super mana potions in my belt and drink them as I need to. In this case, your mana won't last long if you use your primary skills, so switch to a cheap skill like Fire Arrow that works well on single monsters.
These ones are a real pain if they appear in large groups. Notable examples are the wraiths in the Jail/Catacombs and the Arcane Sanctuary, and also the Death Maulers in the Bloody Foothills. In this case, your mercenary can't leech off anyone, so if you don't keep an eye on his life bar, he's often gone in a few hits.
There is a very good trick that I discovered against wraiths in the Arcane Sanctuary, and exploits the fact that they tend to bunch up very tightly and overlap each other. In fact, Immolation Arrow was rather useless on the wraiths for some reason, and the casting delay of 1 second means that your mercenary is probably dead before you toast half of them.
Instead, cast a Decoy between the approaching wraiths and your party, and wait for a few seconds while they cluster around the Decoy (it should last for about 5-10 seconds, which is more than enough time). When you have enough in a large pack, immediately fire about 3 Freezing Arrows into the very centre of the pack, towards your Decoy. If you have enough Pierce, often the Freezing Arrows will travel through the whole lot of them, resulting in a multitude of splashes that ends up shattering the whole pack. Cool, huh?
Against the Death Maulers, I find that they tend to stand still and don't move a lot while they use their ranged attacks. Immolation Arrow works best here, so you can fire one at them while attending to other monsters in the area. With Scythia's level 28 Immolation Arrow, you could kill a Death Mauler (on players 1) with one shot, and on players 8 it takes only 2-3 shots. If you're sneaking up on Shenk from the Frigid Highlands waypoint, then whip out the Lightning Fury which will wipe out all of the minions near him, and will also probably catch a few of the Death Maulers at the side of Shenk's raised platform.
Duriel (a.k.a Baby D) is an absolute shocker on Hell difficulty. On Normal, he is easily tankable with a strong one-handed weapon and shield together with a Desert Guard mercenary, and on Nightmare you simply let him pound on your durable Valkyrie while he gets slowly roasted by your Immolation Arrows.
However, in Hell, you have to be on your guard. His charge will instantly shred your Valkyrie and mercenary to pieces, and often his melee attack will cut them down in two or three hits. The combination of his mods often negates your three main skills, as Immolation Arrow has the casting delay of 1 second (in which time, your mercenary and Valkyrie are most likely dead, and you're next on his list) and he is Cold Immune so Freezing Arrow is largely worthless. Lightning Fury isn't much use, since there is no-one else to get additional hits off, and so you're stuck with the versatile Guided Arrow as your Duriel-killing skill.
At this point in Scythia's journey, she was wearing Chance Guards for the Magic Find. I immediately swapped this out for Laying of Hands and its +350% Damage against Demons, and instantly found that her damage had increased dramatically. The Laying of Hands is almost crucial to taking out Duriel in Hell, since you need to do as much damage as you can before he eats your Valkyrie and mercenary for breakfast.
Before you enter the chamber, put your Guided Arrow on your left-click, and Decoy on the right (and town portal scrolls in your belt). He doesn't start all that far from you, and you want the Decoy to take the initial charge while your Valkyrie and mercenary advance to melee range. The first thing you have to do is cast the Decoy between you and him, and then hit your belt hotkey to cast the portal next to you without the casting animation. Then stand right there and spray Guided Arrow non-stop - the second both your Valkyrie and mercenary hit the dust, get back to town and resurrect/summon both back. Then it's back in there, being careful about his second charge. One portal back to town should be enough before his ugly hide bursts open from your Guided Arrow onslaught.
By the time Scythia went back through the portal, Duriel had only a sliver of his life left. The extra damage from Laying of Hands was literally the key to her survival, and I'd strongly recommend it if you are going in there and you don't want to die.
Another suggested method of killing Duriel is by the faithful point invested into Jab. Nevertheless, Scythia has 100 base vitality and a lot of +life equipment (thus giving her more life than most other mageazons at her level), and her health fell by about one-third with each swipe in melee. I think that the damage done by Duriel is too high to be countered through leeching and a solitary point in Jab, since leech is cut down in Hell and one point in Guided Arrow is much more effective. Beef your Guided Arrow up with some +skills and follow the tactics described above.
The only problems that I've had with Diablo were in Normal difficulty, where my bow damage was very low and I was level 28 with only one point in Ice Arrow. It takes a bit of time to wear him down bit by bit, but you have an easier time since Ice Arrow is auto-hit. If you have a bit of mana leech, then Guided Arrow is also the way to go, and be sure to have a lot of fire resistance to counter the Fire Nova that slowly saps away at your life ball.
In Nightmare and Hell he was no problem - the seal bosses were also very docile and died after a few salvoes of Freezing Arrow. Just be sure to get some Lightning Absorb in case you suddenly see his dreaded Lightning Breath of Death heading your way.
I don't really think that this character is suitable for Magic Finding, as there isn't that much room for squeezing Magic Finding equipment in. Once you get up to Matriarch status and begin doing Hell Cow runs, then resistances aren't so much of an issue. You should go with a standard Magic Finding outfit (for example, Skullder's Ire, Chance Guards, War Traveller etc), but make sure that it doesn't compromise your firepower.
"Increased Attack Speed" is a modifier that is very useful on most Amazon classes. It helps you to fire faster, therefore doing more damage in a certain period of time. I prefer retaining the firepower gained from +skills, rather than going for all-out Increased Attack Speed, but if you can get a [10]-speed Lycander's Bow to 9 fps (which only requires 90% Increased Attack Speed) then you should be able to fire quickly while doing an optimal amount of damage.
I don't believe in firing quickly at the expense of your Immolation Arrow or Freezing Arrow damage, but both is good! Fortunately, the benefit of firing quickly rules out the Buriza Do-Kyanon, which I personally don't like.
The tri-elemental mageazon is a very versatile character that will make some heads turn when you join a game. The use of powerful elemental skills is a pleasant diversion from the repetitive Guided Arrow/Multiple Shot/Strafe Amazons that you seem to encounter so much, and it's really satisfying grilling some cows and then turning around and transforming those teleporting demon imps into ice cubes. The build is easily customisable to your own liking - feel free to experiment and develop a character suitable for your own tastes.
Well...that seems like it! Thanks a lot for reading through this - I hope that you get as much enjoyment out of playing her as I did with Scythia. It's been a blast.