View source for Guide:Lightning Amazon v1.10, by Jek

==Javelin Skills==

This tree will be where we'll spend most of our time allocating skill-points. I've split it up into two discussions, #1-Lightning Skills, #2-Physical Skills, I'll jump right over the Poison Skills since I have little to no experience using these, if anyone could help me out here I'd greatly appreciate it. Enough senseless rambling, unto the skills!

'''Lightning'''

Ah, the source of all our powers - after all we are the Lightning Amazon. This is both our strength and our weakness, while specializing yourself heavily in one elemental you will lose killing speed when encountering LI monsters, while there are methods to slay these foul fiends it is something you should consider. Would I really want to sacrifice flexibility for pure power? If the answer is yes, then read on, if no I suggest going the route of a Poison/Lightning Fury Javazon.

'''Power Strike'''

At first one could be tempted by this skill, it does list some incredible lightning damage. Do not blind yourself, this skill pales in comparison with the later skills. My suggestion, spend one point as a pre-requirement. One could argue it’s worthwhile for starting out; I personally do not have troubles using it until I reach Charged Strike.
Rating: *

'''Lightning Bolt'''

This is an excellent early skill; converting 100% of your physical damage into lightning elemental is very nice against early encounters with demons of the physical immune species. However, it as its low level cousin (Power Strike) pales in comparison with a certain cow frying skill (read: Lightning Fury). But as Power Strike, boosting this a tad might help out the starting procedure; again, I will advice against doing so.
Rating: **

'''Charged Strike'''

Now we are talking, this skill will be your bread and butter when it comes to killing "big" monsters and smaller packs (Hard to explain, but usually around 5 are a good choice for CS). By "big" monsters I mean monsters which are larger than your average size fiend, good examples would be Venom Lords and Act Bosses, their size allows your strike to hit the monster multiple times with the charged bolts which results in a crispy carcass (multiple bolts will hit the same target resulting in massive damage). Until you've tried killing Diablo with this skill and two synergies you haven't seen the build's true power.
NOTE: This skill will probably be your left click if you decide to go the more balanced Lightning route.
Rating: *****

'''Lightning Strike'''

Another excellent skill, Lightning Strike is very effective at bringing down larger packs - in fact in the later acts/difficulties more important than LF. As with CS you'll have to use it against the "right pack", basically any big pack would do. As an additional bonus the skill looks awful when executed on a large group.
NOTE: This skill might be affected by the NextDelay bug. The chain lightning from LS jumps between monsters and if a monster is hit twice within 4 frames then it the last LS will not deal any damage.
Rating: ****

'''Lightning Fury'''

An old friend of many I suspect. We all remember the 1.09 days of slaughtering cows upon cows with this little gem. To all the lovers of it out there, do not moan over this lost friend for it shines again! LF really adds the last piece to the Lightning Puzzle; it gives you great ranged power which most sorceresses would envy you.
Rating: *****

'''Physical Skills'''

'''Jab'''

An excellent early physical skill, this is my skill of choice when dealing with the LIs you will encounter, even if you go all the way of the Lightning Amazon you'd need to get this skill as a pre-req, luckily it's a one-point wonder.
Rating: ****

Javelin "normal" speedtab
{|
! fps
! [20]
! [10]
! [0]
! [-10
|-
| 16/8
| 0
|
|
|
|-
| 15/8
| 2
|
|
|
|-
| 14/7
| 7
|
|
|
|-
| 13/7
| 14
| 3
|
|
|-
| 12/6
| 24
| 11
|
|-
| 11/6
| 39
| 23
| 10
|
|-
| 10/6
| 58
| 39
| 23
| 10
|-
| 10/5
| 65
| 40
| 25
| 15
|-
| 9/5
| 89
| 63
| 42
| 26
|-
| 8/5
| 142
| 102
| 72
| 50
|-
| 8/4
| 170
| 120
| 90
| 60
|-
| 7/4
| 270
| 187
| 133
| 95
|}

'''Impale'''

Some might argue this skill has it uses, personaly I hate it. While it can work it need the entire char to be pretty much build for it. And the entire ideas about destroying your equipment for damage seems rather weak, you’d want those gold coins spend on repairing for gambling/shopping.
Rating: *

'''Fend'''

Fend, while being a decent skill it got one problem, to really make it better than Jab you have to dedicate a lot more points into it. Fend simply can't compete with Jab skill-point economic-vise.
NOTE: Bugged, if you are hit during a fend-cycle the remaining attacks will miss. Quite dangerous – as you will be standing in the middle of combat.
Rating: ***

'''Suggestions'''

Below I've listed my three amazons, one pure lightning, one with FA and one with Guided Arrow. Overall I believe the pure lightning to be the strongest, with a good enough javelin and jab you really don't need another element. It's alot more expensive tho.

Pure Lightning Amazon

* Max Charged Strike
* Max Lightning Strike
* Max Lightning Fury

This will give you great melee both against big and lesser packs (CS and LS) while still having the option of going ranged against great mobs (LF) -- You wouldn't need ranged against single monsters, CS should allow you kill even the strongest mob very fast. A one-point wonder to remember is Jab, this will be your main attack against LI's, and I’ve chosen not to raise it. I've never had the urge for it, this is a personal choice.

Balanced Lightning Amazon

* Max Charged Strike
* Max Lightning Strike
* Level 1 Guided Arrow or going all the way to get Freezing Arrow

This will give you very strong lightning attacks, not as strong as that of a pure lightning build obviously, but enough to handle most monsters with relative ease. LI monsters are handled from range with a high damage bow, Valkyrie and your mercenary. It’s worth mentioning that going the FA route will add a lot of safety to your Valkyrie and mercenary when they fight the foul beats.

End Game Damage (Skill level is 20)

{|
! colspan="3" | Pure Lightning Amazon
|-
| LF
| 21 Bolts
| 1-823
|-
| LS
| 21 Hits
| 1-1286
|-
| CS
| 7 Bolts
| 1-1674
|-
! colspan="3" | Balanced Lightning Amazon
|-
| LF
| 21 Bolts
| 1-707
|-
| Cs
| 7 Bolts
| 3-1030
|}