Best Build for me and/or Bowazon questions

Hey all,

My thoughts are kind of all over the place and I'm hoping you can help me. I've never been very good at Median XL. I really want to be, but there's got to be something I'm missing. I've tried several different builds (traprat, summoner necro, barb, lasersin), but my favorite playstyle has been a bowazon. It's the only character I can get to level 50+ while not dying of boredom drudging through the story again and again. I enjoy the fact that it can melt entire screens relatively quickly, but there are a few things about the playstyle, and about Median XL, that are driving me insane. Instead of quitting, I wanted to reach out to all of the experts out here to see if you can help me figure out how to git gud.

Here is my gear: http://imgur.com/a/D2DSV

My questions are as follows:

1) I feel like my gear is total, absolute trash. But I see people throwing around "do abandoned crafted RW with TU chainmail", and even after reading the documentation, that means total gibberish to me. I've made runewords before, but I still have a hard time understanding what to MO and what to look for. What should I do to improve my gear? I'm currently trying to beat level challenge 2 (death projector) and every time I get it low, I die and it fully heals. Is that normal?

2) For those of you who play bowazon, how do you layout your LMB and RMB commands, and what keys do you assign your skills to? I normally use barrage and wyrmshot, but I really need to learn to use phalanx effectively to keep myself from dying so easily. Do you find yourself switching between weapons often? Any tricks to make sure I can easily use all the skills I need to achieve victory?

3)At endgame, do any of you guys use fire elementals to tank for you at the expense of barrage? I feel like that would be way safer, but would I lose all of my kill potential?

4) What do you do against enemies that teleport on top of you? (like those mini-Izuals that cast bone prison and stop you from running away)

5) I realize now that I missed the ennead challenge on this bowazon. Time to start over?

6) Ideally, I'd like to play a bowazon because the playstyle is fun, but are there any playstyles that are less micro-intensive and still satisfying to play? I really enjoy how fast the bowazon can nuke an entire room almost instantly. I also like how I can spam barrage in the middle of a room and just kill everything around me. Is there anything similar to that that's viable for the entire game (from basic leveling/farming all the way up to ubers)?

I've ready almost every single bowazon guide out there (I'm trying to model my character after suchbalance's guide since it seems like the most well-made, shoutout to him for putting in so much work).

I appreciate any help you guys would be willing to provide. M2017 is such a well-made game, but it's largely inaccessible to those who don't enjoy a steep learning curve. This is my 2nd time trying to get through it (last time I got stuck on the ancient's in Terror difficulty) and I really want to get into the meat and potatoes of the game, but I'm having a really hard time with it.

viewtopic.php?t=253

you got t2 gear at level 82 and you wonder why you fail ? you said you've red most guides about bowzons , but it doesn't seam like it . start with using proper gear according to your level and you will feel less pain .

As Gekko linked already, most of your questions are answered in the guide itself, which is confusing since you said you've been reading all the guides and trying to follow SB's anyways.

As for Question 5, no. Just make a new amazon, drop your class charm to the lvl 1. Have the lvl 1 cube it with a jewel (level 80 max, easy fix with a lvl 1), and transfer it back to your main amazon.

As for question 4, just remember in which areas you encounter them, move slowly and spam barrage

I always have Barrage on lmb and switch between phalanx and wyrmshot on rmb

Yes you can summon fire elementals, but dont put more than 1 point in it. And dont summon anything while doing Death Projector, he heals of minions dying, just run around him and spam barrage

Gekko64 wrote:http://forum.median-xl.com/viewtopic.php?t=253

This is the exact guide I'm referencing, but I'm still having trouble following all the of equipment requirements of the build. How do I get a Jitan's Kamen? Do I run Griswold on Terror difficulty until it drops for me?

L H wrote:As Gekko linked already, most of your questions are answered in the guide itself, which is confusing since you said you've been reading all the guides and trying to follow SB's anyways.

As for Question 5, no. Just make a new amazon, drop your class charm to the lvl 1. Have the lvl 1 cube it with a jewel (level 80 max, easy fix with a lvl 1), and transfer it back to your main amazon.

Thanks for the advice about making a new amazon; that makes things a lot easier. As far as reading the guide, I guess I'm having difficulty understanding where to acquire the things he's referencing. I assume I need to uptier my T2 helm now that I look at it (I did that with my bow), and then eventually look for the crown he's referenced and put a high-level runeword in it?

Open gris boxes with a necro or an assassin , a TU armor will always spawn from it, just pray to RNGesus you get jitan sooner rather than later. Or get a splint mail and cube it with 2 arcane crystals + oil of enhancement.

damacon wrote:
Gekko64 wrote:http://forum.median-xl.com/viewtopic.php?t=253

This is the exact guide I'm referencing, but I'm still having trouble following all the of equipment requirements of the build. How do I get a Jitan's Kamen? Do I run Griswold on Terror difficulty until it drops for me?

Read the Documentation. It has most of your answers.

ChuckNoRis wrote:you got t2 gear at level 82 and you wonder why you fail ? you said you've red most guides about bowzons , but it doesn't seam like it . start with using proper gear according to your level and you will feel less pain .

Sorry to seem like a total newb, but yeah, I've read the guide even if my understanding of it doesn't seem like it. I get what you're saying with the T2 thing though (in reference to the helm, correct? I totally forgot to upgrade it). Is my weapon sufficient for my level? Can I MO stuff onto it? How do I find better rings?