D2R Solo Amazon Leveling Guide

This guide is going to be able to give you valuable information and strategies so that you will be able to efficiently level an Amazon whether it be in Ladder or Non-Ladder. This guide is going to go into specifics but should remain as a guideline to help you determine what you think the best way for you to level in D2R is. D2R is a constantly evolving game so make sure to always be open to learning.

Mainly this guide is going to teach you how to be able to optimize your skills. Some skills are only good when they scale and some skills don’t scale so well. Although they can assist you in leveling. We are also going to be tackling the stats so that you will be able to transition through your gear efficiently. Hopefully, by the end of this guide you are going to be able to breeze through the game, overcome an area where you were stuck, or improve your leveling strategy.

Skill & Stats

The Amazon utilizes the Poison Javelin through the early stages of leveling due to its AOE potential and high damage at early level but slowly tapers off. This is going to bring us to the use of Exploding Arrow for the later stages of Normal to Nightmare Act 3 since this is going to have higher damage and scaling. 

Your last transition is going to be into Lightning Fury and Charged Strike for the remainder of the leveling process since the wave clear and single target damage of these skills is extremely powerful. Although a Sunder Charm and some gear is going to be needed to fully utilize both skills.

For your stats you are going to want to focus on Vitality and only add enough Strength and Dexterity to be able to equip and transition smoothly with your gear. Your leveling stats and skills are going to look something like this.

Skills distribution:

Level 2-5:  Fire Arrow

Den of Evil:  Magic Arrow

Level 6-10:  Poison Javelin

Level 11:  Multiple Shot

Level 12-13:  Exploding Arrow

Level 14: Exploding Arrow

Radament Skill Point: Fire Arrow

Level 15-20: Exploding Arrow

Izual: Fire Arrow

Level 21-26: Exploding Arrow

(At this point we assume you have already completed Normal)

Level 27:  Exploding Arrow

Den of Evil:  Fire Arrow

Level 28-31:  Exploding Arrow

Level 32-38:  Fire Arrow

Radament:  Fire Arrow

Stats distribution:

Level 2-11: All into Vitality

Level 12: 3 into Dexterity & 2 into Strength

Level 13: Dump into Strength

Level 14-16: Divide among Strength and Dex enough for equipment.

Level 17-26: Dump into Vitality.

(At this point we assume you have already completed Normal)

Level 27-38: All into Vitality

Respec

Once you hit level 38-39 you are going to want to respec your skill and distribute them this way.

 Pierce - 5 Points

 Dodge - 1 Point

 Avoid - 1 Point

 Evade - 1 Point

 Lightning Fury - 9 Skill Points

 Charged Strike - 19 Skill Points

Max out in Order

 Lightning Fury

 Charged Strike

 Lightning Bolt

 Power Strike

Important note:

Make sure that when you reset you will want to allocate enough Strength to be able to wear all of your gear and enough Dexterity to be able to reach 50% Chance to Block.  Dump the remaining Stat Points into Vitality.

Level 39 - 75: Every time you level up here on out until 75 you are going to need to allocate enough Dexterity to remain at 50% Chance to Block. Then you can dump the remaining Stat Points into Vitality.

Progression & Leveling:

Level 1 - 13

When you start you are going to want to run through the first quest which is Den of evil. At this point you are going to want to use and collect the gear that drops from monsters. You can slowly start to skill your Poison Javelin or you can start to spec Fire Arrow and Magic Arrow and throw your javelin until lvl 6.

Be on the lookout for Ruby Gems. When Rubies are slotted in your weapon they increase your fire damage helping you deal more damage with Exploding Arrow. Make sure to also be on the lookout for Gem Shrines. If you only have your Ruby in your inventory the Gem Shrine is going to upgrade it. Make sure to drop or store in your Cube other gemstones so that you can focus on upgrading the Ruby.

At this point you are going to have the optimal skill levels in Poison Javelin. First thing you want to do is to locate the Black Marsh when able. You are going to want to find The Book and the Tower to initiate the Countess Quest. You are going to be staying here for a while depending on how good your RNG is. You are going to want to farm the Countess until you get the runes: Tal and Eth. These rune words make Stealth.

Stealth

Magic Damage Reduced By 3

+6 To Dexterity

+15 To Maximum Stamina

Poison Resistance +30%

Regenerate Mana 15%

25% Faster Run/Walk

25% Faster Cast Rate

25% Faster Hit Recovery

Stealth is going to be a powerful rune when going through normal and earlier stages of nightmare. Now you are going to need a base for the Stealth. When you go into town you are going to want to find a good (2) slotted Studded Leather or any armor piece from Charsie. Don’t worry since you are not going to be able to use Sealth until level 17. 

Which means you have enough time to refresh Charsie from time to time until you find a base. While doing so you are also going to want to find a (2) or (3) slotted Hunter’s Bow. This is going to be the base for your Ruby Gems later on.

Note: 

Make sure that the (2) slotted armor and (2) or (3) slotted bow is not Magical since runewords don’t take effect if slotted in a Magic base.

By level 13 you are going to want to have 27 points allocated in strength. This is going to allow you to equip the Studded Leather with Stealth when you reach level 17.

Level 14 - 20

By this time you will already have points in Exploding Arrow. Now you are going to want to transition from Poison Javelin to Exploding Arrow. Insert your best Rubies into your Hunter’s Bow but leave a socket open. By this point you are about to finish Act I and Andariel has a chance to drop a Ruby if she does then socket it in your last open socket.This is going to give you a significant boost in damage and allow you to breeze through the earlier areas. Make sure that you have at least 28 points allocated into Dexterity to be able to wield the Hunter’s Bow.

During Act I you are going to want to shuffle through your Poison Javelin and Exploding Arrow. Although when you arrive at Act II you are going to want to drop your Poison Javelin since this skill is going to be obsolete from now on.

When you arrive at Act II you are going to want to buy a belt from Farah so that you can hold more potions. You will also want to refresh Drognan to see if he is selling a (2) Bone Shield. If you happen to find one then you will want to stash it for a rune word later on. Don’t worry if you don’t find one immediately you are going to be using this a little later into your run.

When you hit level 17 you are going to want to combine or start equipping your Stealth rune word. To do this you are going to want to insert Tal first and then Eth. Make sure that you socket the runewords in order or else you won’t be able to create Stealth.

If at this point you still don’t have your (2) Armor then go back to Act I and refresh Charsie by going in and out of town. The reason I recommend the best in slot (2) Studded Leather Armor is because you are going to be keeping this runeword until Hell difficulty and having that extra Enhanced Defense is going to make your leveling experience smoother.

When you hit Act IV you are going to want to return to Act II where you are going to hire an Act II mercenary if you haven’t yet. Make sure that you buy a pike from Halbu and equip it to your mercenary. Your mercenary is going to be playing an important role with dealing with Fire Immunes that you are going to be encountering like The Grand Vizier and Colenzo. 

When you reach level 20 you are going to want to shop from Ormus in Act III for a Staff ofTeleportation. This allows you to move quickly through maps and physical barriers like walls, closed doors, etc. You will only be able to equip the staff when you reach level 24. The reason we are going to be shopping for the staff at this level is because it is going to save us time, since we are only looking at the staff with a red colored background for Teleportation.

When you finally finish the Final Act of Normal and defeat Baal you are going to want to go back to Normal and run the secret cow level. The reason for this is the sole purpose of gaining levels until you are 25. You are going to want to do this so when you transition to Nightmare you will be able to maximize the EXP gain. You won’t need to worry about the drops yet since it is still normal.

To open the Secret Cow Level you are going to want to go to Stony Fields and find the portal that leads to Tristram. From there you are going to want to run to the west end wall where you will find Wirt's body and Wirt's Leg. You will want to then go back to town and place a tome of town portal and Wirt’s Leg into your Horadric Cube. That will create a red colored portal leading to the Secret Cow Level. You will be able to repeat this indefinitely by logging in and out of your game.

Nightmare Level 25 - 29

The first thing that you are going to want to do is walk to Charsie and buy the following:

• Glove that give IAS (Increase Attack Speed)

• A belt that give life and/or resistance

• Boots that give FRW (Fast Run/Walk) & Resistance

You are going to then want to farm Nightmare Countess for these Runes:

• Shael

• Eth

• Ort

• Sol

A thing to note here is that when you hit level 29 you are going to want to travel back to Act VNormal and go to Anya and buy 2-3 stacks of Javelin of Swiftness. These javelins add 30% IAS with your gloves. That's going to be a total of 50% IAS which is going to be important for the next respec. When you are done you can resume farming the Countess or progress wherever you stopped.

When you have the Ort and Sol rune words you are going to then want to purchase a (2) socketed helm preferably a Skull Cap and insert the Ort and Sol in that order to create the Lore rune word. This is an important rune word that you will be able to carry until the end game.

Lore

+1 To All Skill Levels

+10 To Energy

+2 To Mana After Each Kill

Lightning Resistance +30%

Damage Reduced By 7

+2 To Light Radius

When you finally have the Shael and Eth rune you are going to want to socket it into the (2) Bone Shield that you bought from Drognan in that order. This is going to make the rune word Rhyme.

Rhyme 

20% Increased Chance of Blocking

40% Faster Block Rate

All Resistances +25

Regenerate Mana 15%

Cannot Be Frozen

50% Extra Gold From Monsters

25% Better Chance Of Getting Magic Items

You won’t be able to use this now since we are still using a bow. You are going to want to keep this in your storage until we respec into a Javazon. Rhyme is going to be important due to the fact that you Cannot be Frozen.

Level 30 - 35 & 36

By the time you reach these levels, somewhere in between you are going to want to shop for a Wand of Lower Resistance. Akara will be selling this in Act I and Drognan will be selling this in Act II. Again we are going to be using the red background trick so that you won’t need to read each and every wand.

When you reach level 36 you are going to want to use the wand as much as possible on almost any boss. This is going to assist you and make sure that you deal more damage with your Explosive Arrow.

Nightmare ACT IV or Level 38

When you reach ACT IV this is going to be the prime time to respec. Almost every monster from here on out is going to be fire immune. One thing to note is that you are going to want to respec at level 38. If you happen to be skillful and reach ACT IV before reaching level 38 then you are going to want to farm until you reach level38 so that you can respec.

Another case is if you love to clear our areas and have reached level 38 before you have even reached ACT IV. You are going to want to keep dumping points into Exploding Arrow until you finally reach ACT IV.

At this point you are going to be in ACT IV around level 38 or 39. Now you are going to want to respec. Travel back to ACT I Normal and ask for her respec. This is going to reset all your attribute points and all your skill points. 

Once you have respec, you are going to be dropping your bow. This time you are going to want to equip the Javelin of Swiftness & Rhyme Bone Shield. For your backup you are still going to want to keep the staff of teleportation for mobility to get out of those tight situations. 

For reallocation you are going to follow this simple rule. Put enough Strength to be able to comfortably equip all your gear. Put enough Dexterity to ensure that you always have 50% Block Chance (Make sure that you always check your advance tab). When you are done allocating your attributes to be able to accommodate for your gear and block chance you are going to want to dump the rest in Vitality.

From here on out you are going to want to check your Block Chance when you level up. Make sure to put enough points in Dexterity to ensure you always have a 50% block chance. Whatever you have extra you can place it all in Vitality

For your skill points are going to want to allocate it this way:

Passive & Magic

• Critical Strike - 1 Point

• Penetrate - 1 Point

• Pierce - 5 Skill Points

• Dodge - 1 Skill Point

• Avoid - 1 Skill Point

• Evade - 1 Skill Point

Javelin & Spear

• Jab - 1 Point

• Power Strike - 1 Point

• Poison Javelin - 1 Point

• Lightning Bolt - 1 Point

• Charged Strike - 19 Skill Points

• Plague Javelin - 1 Point

• Lightning Fury - 9 Skill Points

Due to the scaling of the skills you are going to want to level up your skill in order:

• Lightning Fury

• Charged Strike

• Lightning Bolt

• Power Strike

Your main skill and damage right now is going to be Lightning Fury. Combined with Pierce this skill is going to be able to clear large amounts of monsters. For your single targets like bosses, or leftover mobs you are going to want to use your Charged Strike. 

When you find yourself in a bind you are going to want to use your Wand of lower resist to be able to fight Lightning Immune monsters. Although you have the option of teleporting away also.

Level 44

At this point you are going to want to find or buy yourself a pair of Gloves of Alacrity. These gloves give 20%IAS. You will be able to find these gloves being sold by either Gheed or Charsie. This pair of gloves are important and you are going to be keeping them until the end of your leveling. These gloves give you 20% IAS which is going to give you a total of 50% IAS.  If you are lucky they are going to all have + to javelin skills as an option. Keep an eye out.

Note: As a tip for buying your 1*2*3/20 gloves you are going to want to open the portal to the Secret Cow Level beside Charsie. This is going to give you access to a reset point so you won’t need to walk all the way to the waypoint. Happy shopping!

At this point you are going to be encountering 3 bosses. 1 that is lightning immune and the other 2 having a chance to be. If you encountered the 2 with lightning immunity and cannot sunder it with your Wand of Lower Resistance. Sadly, you are going to have to restart your game and hope to get better spawns in the next one.

Another challenge that you are going to encounter is fighting The Ancients in ACT V. Madawc, one of The Ancients, is always going to be lighting immune. If you encounter an Ancient with the following properties. Lightning Immune, Spectral Hit, or Magic Resistant. What you are going to want to do at this point is to reset the fight with a Town Portal. Doing so will stop the fight allowing you to retrigger it and reset their options.

Gear Options or Alternatives

In this section I am going to run you through some items that I didn’t include since they are very RNG reliant. If you are lucky enough to be able to find one via SF (self find) or you have some that are stashed in your storage from another character you will be able to utilize these uniques and set items.

So if you happen to find the Death's Guard or Death's Hand you can complete the 2 set bonus of Death’s Disguise Set. The 2 set bonus gives you All Resistances +15 & 30% Increased Attack Speed. Aside from that you will have Cannot be Frozen from the Death’s Guard.

Death's Guard

Cannot be Frozen

+20 Defense

All Resistances +15 (2 Items)

Death's Hand

Poison Length Reduced by 75%

Poison Resistance 50%

30% Increased Attack Speed (2 Items)

This allows you to be able to remove your Rhyme and instead build an Ancients’ Pledge (Ral, Ort, Tal) inside a (3)Socketed Shield. This is easy to obtain since this is a quest reward from Khek in ACT V. This is going to add a lot of resistance but you are going to lose a lot of block chance.

If you lose block chance do not try to pump dex to increase block chance since you are going to be losing too much life. A thing to note is that In patch 2.4 you can upgrade set items. To upgrade the Death's Guard simply place it into your Horadric Cube together with a Tal, Shael, & a Perfect Emerald then hit transmute. 

Now it is going to be an upgraded Sash that can hold an extra row of potions. One thing to note is that make sure you do not do this before you reach level 29 because you are going to need to be level 29 to equip the upgraded version.

Another item that you can note is finding a Raven Frost Ring. This is going to be another source of Cannot be Frozen you can switch out your Rhyme Bone Shield for an Ancients’ Pledge.

Raven Frost

+150-250 To Attack Rating

Adds 15-45 Cold Damage, 4 sec. Duration (Normal)

Cannot Be Frozen

+15-20 To Dexterity

+40 To Mana

Cold Absorb 20%

Another notable drop is Hsarus’ Iron Heel; it gives20% FRW (Fast Run Walk) and 25% Fire Resist. Another is Sander’s Riprap with a great boost in FRW and other stats like Attack Rating and +10 Dexterity.

Hsarus' Iron Heel

20% Faster Run Walk

Fire Resistance +25%

+ (10 Per Character Level) 10-990 Attack Rating (Based On Character Level) (2 Items)

Sander's Riprap

+40% Faster Run Walk

+100 To Attack Rating

+10 To Dexterity

+5 To Strength

Now if you are lucky enough to find a Titan’s Revenge Javelin even if it is a low roll it is going to be your best in slot weapon. Although you are going to allocate some points from your vitality to dexterity to be able to equip the Titan’s Revenge Javelin. Aside from the vitality loss you will also lose the attack speed from the Javelin of Swiftness. 

Although this is not the end because you are going to be able to get the IAS from your other gear. Even with what you think is a significant loss the Titan’s Revenge Javelin is worth it. Aside from having +2 to Amazon skills it gives you massive damage and FRW.

Titan's Revenge

+150-200% Enhanced Damage

Adds 25-50 Damage

+2 To Amazon Skill Levels

5-9% Life Stolen Per Hit

+30% Faster Run/Walk

+20 To Strength

+20 To Dexterity

Replenishes Quantity [1 in 3 sec.]

Increased Stack Size [60]

+2 To Javelin and Spear Skills (Amazon Only)

Instead of having Stealth in your armor. Another alternative is Twitchthroe which is another source of +20 IAS. Other stat bonuses you get are 20% FHR (Fast Hit Recovery) &  25% IBC (Increase Block Chance).

Twitchthroe

+25 Defense

25% Increase chance of blocking*

20% Faster Hit Recovery

20% Increased Attack Speed

+10 To Dexterity

+10 To Strength

If you are able to get your hands on an SoJ (Stone of Jordan) then you are going to want to equip it. It provides +1 to all skills and some lightning damage.

Stone of Jordan

+1 To All Skills

Increase Maximum Mana 25%*

Adds 1-12 Lightning Damage

+20 To Mana

Any unique amulets that you find that give +1 to all skills, +1Amazon skills, or Increase Attack Speed. Some notable amulets are The Eye of Etlich, Highlord’s Wrath, The Cat’s Eye. Which give IAS or + to skills.

The Eye of Etlich

+1-5 To Light Radius 

+1 To All Skills

3-7% Life Stolen Per Hit 

Adds (1-2) to (3-5) Cold Damage

Cold Duration: 2-10 Seconds 

+10-40 Defense vs. Missile

Highlord's Wrath

+1 To All Skills

+20% Increased Attack Speed

+ (0.375 Per Character Level) 0-37 % Deadly Strike (Based On Character Level)

Lightning Resistance +35%

Adds 1-30 Lightning Damage

Attacker Takes Lightning Damage Of 15

The Cat's Eye

+30% Faster Run/Walk

+20% Increased Attack Speed

+100 Defense Vs. Missile

+100 Defense

+25 To Dexterity

If you happen to collect the entire Cow King's Leathers Set you can combine it with the Death’s Disguise Set giving you a total of +60% IAS.

Cow King's Horns

+75 Defense

Half Freeze Duration

Attacker Takes Damage of 10

35% Damage Taken Goes To Mana

Cow King's Hide

+60% Enhanced Defense

18% Chance To Cast Level 5 Chain Lightning When Struck

All Resistances +18

+30 To Life

Cow King's Hooves

+25-35 Defense (varies)

+30% Faster Run Walk

Adds 25-35 Fire Damage

+20 To Dexterity

25% Better Chance of Getting Magic Items

Cow King's Leathers Set

Partial Set Bonus

• +25% Poison Resistance (2 items)

• 5-495 Defense (+5 Per Character Level) (2 Items)

Complete Set Bonus

• +25% Poison Resistance

• 25% Chance To Cast Level 5 Static Field When Struck

• +100 Maximum Stamina

• +20 To Strength

• +30% Increased Attack Speed

• 100% Better Chance Of Getting Magic Items

• 100% Extra Gold From Monsters

• 5-495 Defense (+5 Per Character Level)

• +100 to Life

• +1 To All Skills

Lastly, if you find a Razor Tail unique belt then this is going to be another best in slot piece for a Javazon. This belt adds pierce which synergizes well with your Lightning Fury because your attack will continue to go through all the opponents while triggering the lightning discharges.

Razortail

+120-150% Enhanced Defense (varies)

+15 Defense

+10 To Maximum Damage

Piercing Attack (33)

+15 To Dexterity

Attacker Takes Damage of (1 Per Character Level) 1-99 (Based On Character Level)

Conclusion:

The Amazon is going to be a fun character to play while leveling up as you feel her power grow and her equipment change. As an endgame character she is going to be powerful enough to solo most areas and be able to farm for her own gear. All in all the Amazon is a good character to focus on and level for someone who likes to clear content and farm alone for the most part.