Bolty's Note: The Buriza-Do Kyanon is a popular item for Amazons. While it is slow due to it being a crossbow, it deals such a vicious amount of damage and has such a low level requirement in Diablo II v1.09 that it remains the weapon of choice for a large majority of Amazon players on Battle.Net. Its major drawback is its lack of speed, so that's what made Dyre_Wulf's suggestion in the Amazon Basin forums so bizarre at the time...

Hey friends,
I have never heard of any shapeshifter using the Buriza do Kyanon as a main weapon. Why? The way I see it:

1. Speed Kills, right?: The Buriza, last I checked, is the fastest unadulterated weapon in the game. So speedy, it could be a werebear's dream, or a werewolf's pimp-slapping device.
2. Damage: The Buriza has damage rivaling that of most top mauls, which are the preeminent weapon of choice for shapeshifters. The ungodly cold damage (up to around 200) has to be good for something, yes?
3. Low level: Unlike weapons like the Cranium Basher, or the IK Maul, Burizas can be used at level 41. Drooling yet?

Yes, you have to buy a hella lotta bolts. But when was the last time that anyone over lvl 2 had trouble coughing up for those?

Bolty's Note: Dyre_Wulf's suggestion hadn't been tested, and a number of posts in reply to his idea stated that the Buriza, being a crossbow, would be far too slow for use by a shapeshifting Druid.  That is, until KZIN chimed in that he had tested this:

Just tried this recently and OMG he is 10 times faster attack with Buriza when using Feral or Fury than when using Stormrider Tabar. However when in human form using normal shoot xbow attack the Buriza seems to be just as slow as it is on a zon. Only when in WW form does it really shine. My attack speed is tons faster than with any other weapon I have used on him yet.

Bolty's Note: EbonyFlame, among others, posted in the thread with more technical information to explain this.

The true base speed for a WW is 12 frames (11 for a WB). And this is used for all attacks (there are only 2 animations in wereform--left paw or right paw). But this doesn't tell the whole story (and to a large extent is irrelevant). Instead the wereform speed depends mostly on the amount of IAS on the weapon and the type of weapon (and in this context weapon IAS is NOT capped or subject to diminishing returns).

I don't know what the effective base speed for wereform crossbows is (nor that of a bow), but I've heard rumors its relatively low compared to other weapons (the wereforms have very high base speeds overall--see my chart). Add in its huge weapon based IAS and it will be very fast (since that IAS not only applies in the normal fashion, but also reduces the effective base speed). Thus the Buriza is very likely to be faster than a Goldstrike Arch. And a CKN with 5 Shael blindingly fast (perhaps a theoretical 3 frame normal attack).

In single player at least, 4 frame attacks are known to be possible (Giant thresher with 6 shael) for the werebear. They're only 5 frames for the werewolf (regardless of the level--since the WW speed increase is subject to the cap after being combined with the second application of the weapon IAS).

Bolty's Note: Credit goes to Dyre_Wulf for thinking of using the Buriza and KZIN for actually testing the radical idea, along with the members of the Amazon Basin forum for digging through the ramifications of this discovery.  When you combine the high speed of the Buriza (it's possible to get as low as ~7 frames per attack with a socketed Shael and other speed additions) with its decent damage, low level requirements, and indestructibility (no repair costs, and Dyre_Wulf's initial belief that you'd need many bolts is false - just one bolt will do), it's quite a viable weapon choice for the shapeshifting Druid.  As long as the weapon isn't nerfed in a future patch.