Overview:

According to Blizzard, the Amazon was supposed to be a versatile, skilled warrior; an expert at missile weapons yet able to hold her own in hand-to-hand combat. And to put it shortly - she's all that!

I LOVED playing the Amazon. Having wrecked many a monster with my bow-equipped Rogue in Diablo 1, I was very impressed at the progression from Rogue to Amazon. In virtually all aspects of the game, the Amazon truly shines.

Just like her Rogue predecessor, she excels at ranged combat. Unlike the Rogue, she also has an entire skill tree devoted to melee combat (javelin and spear). This is an important new addition since it offers some diversity in how the Amazon is played. From the start, you can see that she is meant to be a warrior who can do very well in combat, picking and choosing her methods of destruction. To me, this was the kind of class most suited to my style of play - skilled, powerful and able to slay from a distance. Diablo beware! I laugh in your general direction.

Starting Out

The first thing I checked when I found myself in the Rogue encampment, was my inventory screen. The Amazon starts with javelins (about 50 of them) in one hand and a buckler in the other. Both thrown and one-handed damage are good. Unlike in D1, some weapons - such as the javelin - can be thrown OR wielded in melee combat.

I also noticed the new stamina attribute which is directly related to vitality. In D2, you can walk (normal mode) or run. I was worried about overusing the run mode and depleting my precious stamina. What if I had to flee from a creature? Well, I needn't have worried. The Amazon's stamina bar is pretty high and stamina replenishes very quickly. Just stand still for 5 seconds and your bar is at full again. Don't bother picking up stamina potions - they are a waste of inventory space.

After reacquainting myself with the controls and exploring my character's skills and attributes, I ran around the encampment talking with all the NPC's. I'll leave the description of the sounds, graphics, gameplay and storyline to my good friend Bolty. See Bolty's Beta Reports for more info on the plot.

After thoroughly exploring the encampment and receiving my first quest, I was ready to head out and see what my Amazon - Kellara - could do. I hurriedly ran into the Blood Moors, anxious to prove my prowess. It was not long before I encountered my first quill rat. My heart leapt as it fired its dart at me, but I quickly dodged aside. Rushing in, the bloodlust upon me, I charged the foul beast. A quick, violent jab and the rat became intimately acquainted with the pointy end of my javelin. Dinner is served. Muahaha! Die little beasties, die!

The excitement was coursing through my veins now as I ran to and fro marveling at the stellar outdoor landscapes, smacking at anything that looked like it needed a smacking. With the autorun toggled on, Kellara just flew. I was actually getting dizzy watching her race across the Moors.

Boy were the Moors fun! There were just enough creatures to give me a taste of what was to come without seriously endangering my newly created first-level character. One hit with my javelin either thrown or in melee was enough to dispatch even the nasty-looking zombies milling aimlessly about. Quickly I accumulated the 500 xp necessary to advance a level and now it was time to give some thought to my skill progression.

Climbing the Skill Tree

The three Amazon skill tabs are:
1) Javelin and Spear
2) Passive and Magic
3) Bow and Crossbow

As you can see, this covers a lot of territory. Spear for melee combat, Bow for ranged attacks and Passive and Magic for...passive and magic!

The beauty of the Amazon is that no matter what skill you choose to develop, (with 1 or 2 exceptions) you will be developing something useful. All her skills are great so it was tough deciding what to focus on.

After much consideration, I began pumping my 1st level passive skill: Critical Hit. Not only does the Amazon have more passive skills than most other classes, in my opinion, they're also much better.

Critical Hit gave Kellara a base 29% chance to do double damage with whatever weapon she was using. Always a strong skill!

True, there were choices from the Bow and Spear tabs, but for now, I decided to get Kellara's damage boosted as much as possible. Critical Hit works no matter what weapon you're using.

After selling off the few items I had found to scrape together a few gold pieces, I was ready to head back for more mayhem. Needless to say gold is an issue in the beginning part of the game so I was grabbing every little thing that was dropped.

Back in the Moors, I noticed something new in my battles. Now when I hit a creature, there was a little splat above it's head to indicate a critical hit that did double damage. While the zombies hadn't become any more dangerous, I had! Die bigger beasties, die!

These early levels seemed to fly by pretty quickly and I spent most of my skill points pumping Critical Hit. However, the more I pumped it, the less improvement there was at each level. In other words, I gained an 8% bonus increasing the skill from level 1 to level 2. But I only gained a 7% bonus for increasing it from level 2 to level 3. Disappointing as this is, it's probably necessary to maintain at least some semblance of balance.

This Law of Diminishing Returns means that it becomes virtually pointless to continue increasing passive skills beyond 50 or 60%. Fun as it may be to have Dodge (avoid taking damage in a melee attack) up at 100%, the character would quickly become all-powerful. The Amazon is already pretty buff. No matter, there were plenty of other interesting skills to develop.

The next things I had to consider were armour and weapons. I know a lot of people will agree with me that a bow-equipped Rogue in Diablo 1 rocked. I was looking forward to more long-distance death in Diablo 2. The changes in the game and to the Amazon looked promising for such a creation.

One of the all-around changes that I like is the need to maintain a supply of arrows (or bolts) for your bows (or crossbows). Unlike Diablo 1, you can't simply fire at will for as long as you will. Each quiver holds 250 arrows, which goes a lot quicker than you'd think in some of those pitched battles. But with the bow's increased fire rate compared to most weapons, I think this is a good way to balance its power.

While it is somewhat annoying to keep extra arrows in your already limited inventory, the Amazon's skills with the bow certainly made up for it. Multiple Shots, Exploding Arrows, and more, meant making an already deadly weapon, something to truly fear. Despite all the factors in favour of being Bow Babe, I ended up NOT developing that set of skills for my Amazon.

Now hang on a second - relax. I know a lot of D1 fans out there would roast me slowly over a low heat and garnish me with green peppers upon hearing me say this (a lot of Beta testers too), but bear with me...

First of all, the javelin I started out with was doing more damage than the crude short bows I was finding. So I continued using the javelin. Besides, using it one handed and having the added defense of a shield, I could still throw the suckers when necessary. This was some nice versatility.

But the real kicker came soon after completing my first quest. I found a magical spear that had some nifty enchantments on it - including life steal. Not only did a spear do decent two-handed damage, it did SIGNIFICANTLY more damage than the bow. Plus it had the same "fast" attack rating. Once I checked out the available spear skills, I had made up my mind: no bow for Kellara.

One of the first level spear skills for the Amazon is "Jab." At level 1, this skill delivers 3 quick thrusts at an opponent, each doing -15% damage (yes, that's a minus sign). It costs 3 mana but is exceptionally useful. 3 hits at once, plus once you've hit a creature, it takes them a while to recover. This allows you to pop them a few more times to kill them off before they can get their claws into you, or run away if you must (not something an Amazon has to do very often).

As you power up this skill, it improves. The amount of damage you do with it goes up +5% per hit per level, as does the chance to hit. By 5th level (where I am currently), I'm doing 3 hits, each with a +20% chance to hit and +5% damage - all for the cost of 3 mana! It may not sound like much in comparison to the Paladin's Sacrifice or Zeal, but I assure you, this is a VERY effective form of monster killing - especially the bigger monsters. It's cheap, it's quick and there's no downside.

Add to Jab, the enhanced damage of my magical "Gale Gutter" spear; add to that my critical hit percentage...I think you see where I'm going with this. With Jab, Critical Hit and my particular rare weapon, I'm doing 42-300 points of damage for the cost of only 3 mana. You can wreck bosses PDQ let me tell you! Just try doing THAT with a bow!

Please Insert Coin to Continue

At experience level 6, I was able to add the passive skill Dodge. At level 12, I had access to Avoid. Both are incredibly useful. Dodge, gives you a base 21% chance to dodge out of the way of a melee attack. Applying more points to it improves the base percentage, but like before, with diminishing returns.

Avoid works the same way but allows you to sidestep missile weapons directed at you. Both skills are in effect if you are standing or fighting (i.e. not running around). So now Kellara was increasing her ability to avoid taking damage while still being able to do increased damage. Pretty nifty. I liked the fact that these were always in effect and I think this is part of the reason Amazons are so powerful. They are one of the stronger classes and as of last night, the number 1 player on the standard ladder (with over 1.5 million xp's) is playing an Amazon. So is the number 3 player.

While other classes rely solely on their armour, strength and attack ratings , the Amazon also has her passive skills. With these added bonuses to avoid damage, she could last that little bit longer in combat. This means more dead beasties, less dead Kellara!

By 8th level or so, Kellara was becoming a force to be reckoned with. No longer afraid of wading in and "mixing it up" with the monsters, I began to enjoy watching the creepy crawly things sail through the air after only one powerful thrust of my mighty spear. Magically enchanted bosses with fire, poison, cold or lighting spells were still a challenge, but I feared little else. And the only reason they were a challenge was because they actually did magic damage to me, which I couldn't avoid. The nice thing was, they didn't usually last for more than a few seconds as 3 or 4 "Jabs" finished them off in short order.

To give you an idea of how strong she is in combat, I never had to use a Town Portal spell to escape while using the Amazon. In fact, I never ran from a single battle until I started using other classes!

The Road Less Traveled

Now I know most of you are out there saying: forget the damn spear, what about the bow, man? WHAT ABOUT THE BOW?

Well, the short answer is: I don't know. I haven't played an Amazon with a bow yet, so I can't speak from experience. However, several factors lead me to believe that an Amazon with a bow is also pretty kickass.

1) Most Amazons I've seen are using bows
2) Most people in the chat are surprised that I'm NOT using a bow (when they saw my necromancer equipped with one they laughed. Well, laugh on little people, laugh all you want. Laugh until Kellara comes to hunt you down, ties you to Charsi's forge and...uh...ahem...never mind).
3) Chatting with people about the Amazon's bow skills confirms that they are as good as they look. Multiple Shot for instance splits the arrow +1 for each skill point you apply to it. This is a fantastic way to clean up on swarms of creatures quickly. Same thing with Exploding Arrow - does great damage to a single target and all adjacent. These two skills alone make the bow-equipped Amazon something to behold. Just don't run out of mana!
4) The ability to insert gems into socketed bows means you can customize your weapon to suit your personal taste/skills - a build-your-own-bow if you will.

When I am done reviewing all 5 character classes, I will likely start another Amazon - one who specializes in long distance death for the simple reason that it looks like so much fun!

Tipping the Scale

The ultimate test of the Amazon's worth came of course, in the lower "dungeon" levels facing the tougher creatures. Happily I report, this is where the Amazon truly shines. With Avoid, Dodge, Critical Hit and Jab each at level 4 or so, Kellara was a pretty potent warrior. She moves quickly, strikes hard and doesn't have to worry too much about getting hit. An occasional healing potion keeps her alive long enough to polish off the swarms that attack.

With bosses, a few Jabs and they're taken care of. Which is exactly what happened with Andariel at the end. When I found the demoness (or rather, she found me), she scared the bejesus out of me. Huge, ugly and spitting massive gobs of poison in all directions, I was worried I was in for a butt-kicking. But Kellara held her ground, used up about half her mana and vanquished the unholy terror with only a few minor scratches. All in all, a good show for the Amazon.

No Thanks, I'd Rather Play with Myself

As one of the three warrior classes, you'd expect her to do well in combat. She does. In fact I would argue she is the superior melee (or missile) warrior. Compared to the Barbarian, there's no question - she's the hands-down winner. With powerful combat skills in Bow and Spear, combined with her passive skills, an Amazon can last longer, hit harder and kill more than the weak and pathetic Barbarian (more on him later).

Compared to the Paladin, it's a little bit of a tougher call. The Paladin has something going for him that kind-of evens things out: versatility. His diverse array of skills allows him to adapt to many different situations. He has resistances, healing, superior damage vs. a single creature and multiple attacks for handling swarms. All of these skills allow him to adapt to situations better than does the Amazon. Even so, it's a lot ofhotkey juggling in a combat situation. For ease of play, you pick 1 or 2 Amazon skills and charge! The result is pretty predictable. Many dead monsters, 1 grinning Amazon.

So what does all this mean? It means that the Amazon is better in single player mode than in multi-player adventures.

First of all, the more players in a game, the bigger, badder and nastier the monsters. Because of this, even the weaker creatures start giving the Amazon a hard time in large groups. She can still do well, but it means using up more healing potions than normal.

Just to give you an idea, I entered a game with about 5 or 6 other players. I decided to go through a teleport one of them had left and was immediately surrounded by SWARMS of creatures. Whoever had made the portal had obviously fled from the hordes. But I didn't.

I put my Jab skill to good use applying some hit and run tactics. It took a while but Kellara survived. She also gained a ton of experience. Needless to say, when I was finished (and healed back to full), I expressed my disgruntlement to the character who had left the portal to destruction. To avoid such situations again, we agreed to go adventuring together and after partying up with 5 of us, we headed down to the lower level catacombs.

Well! Now there were 7 players in the game and we were on the lower levels. I have only one thing to say: OUCH! I quickly discovered that although she may not get hit very often, with super-tough creatures taking out 40-50% of her health with each hit, it was better not to get hit at all!

One-on-one, Kellara still cleaned up, but in a massively multi-player arena against multiple opponents, there was one strategy I quickly learned: HIDE BEHIND THE SORCERESS. While not the greatest character in the early levels, her mass damage spells kept EVERYTHING well back - long enough to allow Kellara to gather her potions, retighten her armour and wade back in.

There was simply no doubt that against really tough hordes, the Amazon suffers. Still, she has numerous skills to balance this. As I said, her primary strengths are the fact that she can last in combat and do some major damage (albeit against a single opponent).

Although I didn't come through unscathed, I did come through alive. Not all the members of my party can claim the same (some were higher level than me too). This was an important victory for the Amazon. I haven't played a lot of multi-player games with the other classes yet, but from what I've seen, only the Sorceress and maybe the Paladin would have survived that onslaught.

One last point about multi-play. Finding items is one of the big thrills in the game - especially now that everyone who's playing the Beta has played the entire story many times over. As an Amazon equipped with a bow, you will likely be at the back of the fight. This means that when a creature dies and drops its gold or items, you'll be furthest away from picking it up. Unless you're playing with friends, you may have to rely on other players' charity to get anything of value.

Conclusion

To put it simply: The Amazon rocks! Strong, capable and able to enter virtually any situation, the Amazon is probably the best character to play in single player mode. Her skills are the most useful and versatile I've yet seen (well, the Paladin is good too) and her passive skills make her very deadly in combat.

I love the Amazon and would highly recommend her as the easiest, most versatile and capable of the classes. Not quite as strong in multi-play as she is in single mode, the Amazon is still an easy to manage, powerful and fun character. If you want to mop up the meanies, you can't go wrong with this skilled babe with a bow (or spear).

Stay tuned for my next report outlining the Barbarian: He's the Man with the Axe, Jack.

From worst to best, the ratings are:
Poor, Weak, Average, Good, Strong, Excellent

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