Exceptional Armor and Jewelry

For more information on gems, runes, jewels, unique and set items, please refer to the Horadrim Library and the Arreat Summit.

Amulets

As before, rare amulets are generally the bowazon's best excellent option; the most favored are +2 skill amulets with prismatic resists and leech. Other attributes — one or two high (31-40%) resists (16-20% prismatic is nice), +41-60 life or mana, 5-35% MF, +skills when available, triggered spells (like Chain Lightning) and remedial attributes like Thawing/Warmth or 25-75% poison damage reduction — are up to the preference of the player.

• Saracen's Chance Amulet: 10% chance to cast slvl-2 iron maiden when struck, all resistances 15-25%, +12 all attributes, rlvl-47. This amulet has excellent resists and attribute boosts, as well as a very high chance of casting Iron Maiden when hit. While this is more a melee fighter's amulet than anything else, it still has its uses for the bowazon, though moving to another amulet — perhaps a +skills or another unique — is recommended. A quick review of the noteworthy v1.08 Saracen's can be found here.
• Cat's Eye Amulet: 30% faster run/walk, 20% increased attack speed, +100 defense vs. missiles, +100 defense, +25 dexterity, rlvl-50. The first IAS amulet your character will be able to access, Cat's Eye has everything a bowazon may want: IAS, a large dexterity bonus and 30% faster run/walk. However, the amulet has no resists, so think carefully before committing yourself to Cat's Eye, or consider Highlord's Wrath.
• Crescent Moon Amulet: 10% damage taken goes to mana, +45 mana, 3-6% life stolen per hit, 11-15% mana stolen per hit, magic damage reduced by 10, -2 light radius, rlvl-50. This dual leech amulet is particularly useful to magezons, as it has the single highest source of mana leech available on jewelry.

Though the Crescent Moon gives dual-leech, another way to get one is to craft a Horadric Blood amulet. The recipe is: magic amulet + magic jewel + Amn + perfect ruby; the standard attributes that come with every Blood amulet are 5-10% faster run/walk, 1-3% life stolen per hit, +10-20 life. There is a possibility for +skills, 3-8% mana leech and 16-20% prismatic resists.

Rings

Rings have one primary offensive use for the bowazon: life leech. The other stuff — +100-120 AR, +damage, +10-15 dexterity — is nice, but for the most part, it's all about leeching. The assumption here is that leeching jewelry will be used. After leeching, rings are primarily reserved for defense against the elements.

Good attributes include one or two high (31-40%) resists (12-15% prismatic is nice), +31-40 life, +41-60 mana, 5-25% MF, +skills when available and remedial attributes like Thawing/Warmth or 25-75% poison damage reduction. Dual leech jewelry is desirable (and extremely hard to obtain), but in my personal experience, a character with two excellent pieces of single-leech jewelry is much better off than a character with two mediocre pieces of dual leech jewelry, even if the latter can leech for more.

• Dwarf Star Ring: fire absorb 15%, heal stamina +15%, +40 maximum stamina, +40 life, 100% extra gold from monsters, magic damage reduced by 12-15, rlvl-45.
• Raven Frost Ring: +150-250 attack rating, adds 15-45 cold damage (duration: 4 sec), cannot be frozen, +15-20 dexterity, +40 mana, cold absorb 20%, rlvl-45. Raven Frost has the highest AR and dexterity bonus available on a ring, both of which are very useful to the bowazon. The cold damage and 'cannot be frozen' properties are also very useful.

Life leech rings can be obtained via crafting; the recipe for Horadric Blood rings is: magic ring + magic jewel + Sol + perfect ruby. The standard attributes that come with a Blood ring are +1-5 strength, 1-3% life stolen per hit, +10-20 life — when combined with its preset 1-3% life leech, a Blood ring can have up to 10-11% life leech. With its relatively low cubing cost and highly desirable properties, these are arguably the best life leech rings a bowazon can hope to have…if the right mods can be rolled up, of course.

To get much dexterity from a ring as possible without using Raven Frost, the recipe for a Hit Power ring is magic ring + magic jewel + Amn + perfect sapphire; the standard attributes that come with a Hit Power ring are +1-5 dexterity, 5% chance to cast slvl-4 frost nova when struck, attacker takes 3-7 damage. This type of ring can have up to +16-20 dexterity. Both crafted rings can spawn with 12-15% prismatic resists, +1-15 strength/dexterity and 3-8% life leech.

Armor

As mentioned before, armor isn't important when attacking from a distance and using tanks, so it isn't chosen on the basis of defense, but attributes. (And looks, of course; other people have to look at your bowazon in the channel too, you know.) What this basically means is that when it comes to armor, anything goes, so check every rare you can. The only restrictions a bowazon should observe are to avoid heavy armor like scale, plate and full plate (and their exceptional/elite equivalents) and to avoid armor that requires more strength than her bow.

Desired attributes for rare armor are +10-15 dexterity, reduced requirements for heavier armor, 31-40% resists, +41-60 life, +31-40 mana and 10-24% FHR. Enhanced defense isn't a priority. Note that all LOD armors can be socketed; recommended runes for a bowazon would be Tal, Ort, Thul, Ral or Um, though a scintillating jewel can give 11-15% to all resists with lower level requirements and the chance of a good suffix.

• Spirit Shroud Ghost Armor: 257.5-295 defense, +150% enhanced defense, cannot be frozen, +1 skills, replenish life +10, magic damage reduced by 7-11, rlvl-28. Like Greyform, the Spirit Shroud offers everything a bowazon wants for armor: it's lightweight, has +skills, the 'cannot be frozen' property and a high amount of replenish life.
• Skin of the Vipermagi Serpentskin Armor: 246.4-279.4 defense, +120% enhanced defense, +1 skills, 30% faster cast rate, magic damage reduced by 9-13, all resistances 20-35%, rlvl-29. Though this is more a magic-user's armor, a bowazon fits well in this lightweight armor with its excellent resists and +skills, but it makes her look fat. The Skin of the Vipermagi is a great option to the standby of resist armor, Goldskin; it can be socketed with an Um rune, though I'd recommend a scintillating jewel to keep the level requirement low.
• Duriel's Shell Cuirass: 609-(610.25-732.75) defense, +160-200% enhanced defense, +(1.25/clvl) defense, +(1/clvl) life, resist fire 20%, resist lightning 20%, resist poison 20%, resist cold 50%, cannot be frozen, +15 strength, rlvl-41.
• Shaftstop Mesh Armor: 517.4-684.8 defense, +160-220% enhanced defense, damage reduced by 30%, +250 defense vs. missile, +60 life, rlvl-38.
• Skullder's Ire Russet Armor: 587.6-732 defense, +160-200% enhanced defense, repairs 1 durability in 4-5 seconds, +(1.25/clvl)% better chance of getting magic items, +1 skills, magic damage reduced by 10, rlvl-42. The armor of treasure hunters, the %MF of Skullder's Ire overtakes the efficiency of the Wealth rune word armor at clvl-81 (when it hits 101%MF); other than its scaling %MF bonus, Skullder's Ire has no attributes of note. If you find it, an ethereal Skullder's is a keeper.

Though they aren't listed, Spirit Forge linked mail, Griswold's Heart ornate plate and Black Hades chaos armor can also prove useful with sockets; 2-3 IAS jewels with +ED% can result in a 30-45% increase in attack speed. In addition, a 4-socket armor can offer as much as 60% IAS and up to +160% ED (or if you wish, 60% IAS and up to 60% to all resists); in this case, I would strongly advise passing over non-magical socketed armors in lieu of a jeweler's armor of the whale, precision, amicae, stability or what have you.

Exceptional Rune Word Armor

There are a couple of good options for rune word armor at this level, including the near-ubiquitous Lionheart.

More information on runes and rune words can be found at the Runes and Rune Word sections of the Arreat Summit.

• Smoke 2-socket armor (Nef + Lum): +75% enhanced defense, +280 defense vs. missile, all resistances 50%, 20% faster hit recovery, slvl-6 weaken (18 charges), +10 energy, -1 light radius, rlvl-37. While it offers a bit less than Lionheart, the extra 20% to resistances and extra defense against missiles can be a lifesaver for some bowazons, especially those in HC.
• Lionheart 3-socket armor (Hel + Lum + Fal): +20% enhanced damage, requirements -15%, +25 strength, +10 energy, +20 vitality, +15 dexterity, +50 life, all resistances 30%, rlvl-41. An upper-middle tier rune word, Lionheart is, for the runes you'll be using, the best armor for the bowazon; it doesn't offer enhanced defense (not that it matters anyway), but does give the bowazon a substantial boost to damage in the form of enhanced damage and extra dexterity. In addition, the blanket resists place this armor ahead of Goldskin, but just behind Skin of the Vipermagi and Tal Rasha's Guardianship. The package is rounded out by the extras given by the runes themselves and the flexibility that could only come with rune word armor.
• Wealth 3-socket armor (Lem + Ko + Tir): 300% extra gold from monsters, 100% better chance of getting magic items, +2 mana after each kill, +10 dexterity, rlvl-43. An excellent option to the unique Skullder's Ire, Wealth also offers an incredible 300% extra gold, which is useful for compulsive gamblers.
• Duress 3-socket armor (Shael + Um + Thul): +40% faster hit recovery, +10-15% enhanced damage, adds 37-133 cold damage, 15% chance of crushing blow, 33% chance of open wounds, +180-200% enhanced defense, -20% slower stamina drain, cold resist 45%, lightning resist 15%, fire resist 15%, poison resist 15%, rlvl-47. This armor is only available on the Realms at the moment. Because it hasn't been documented on the Arreat Summit, the range of its enhanced damage and defense have yet to be confirmed.
• Gloom 3-socket armor (Fal + Um + Pul): 15% chance to cast slvl-3 dim vision when struck, 10% faster hit recovery, +200-260% enhanced defense, +10 strength, all resistances 45%, half freeze duration, 5% damage taken goes to mana, -3 light radius, rlvl-47.
• Stone 4-socket armor (Shael + Um + Pul + Lum): 60% faster hit recovery, +250-290% enhanced defense, +300 defense vs. missile, +16 strength, +16 vitality, +10 energy, all resistances 15%, slvl-16 molten boulder (80 charges), slvl-16 clay golem (16 charges), rlvl-47.

Belts

As with armor, belts aren't chosen for defense, but attributes; thus, any type of belt will work. Desired attributes to belts are +16-19 dexterity (pre-v1.08), +16-20 strength, 10-24% FHR, 1-4 cold damage, 31-40% resists, +41-60 life and +11-20 mana.

• Razortail Sharkskin Belt: 85-108 defense, +120-150% enhanced defense, +15 defense, +10 maximum damage, +33% piercing attack, +15 dexterity, attacker takes damage of (1/clvl), rlvl-32. This belt has a property not found on any belt: piercing. This makes spreading arrows much easier for a bowazon, as it stacks its percentage on top of the bowazon's Pierce skill: this belt and eight points invested in Pierce will result in 98% piercing.
• Gloom's Trap Mesh Belt: 80-103 defense, +120-150% enhanced defense, 5% mana stolen per hit, increase maximum mana 15%, regenerate mana 15%, +15 vitality, -3 light radius, rlvl-36. This is one of the three mana leech belts in the game. A spellcaster's belt, Gloom's Trap has two more attributes of special interest to magezons; it increases maximum mana and its regeneration by 15%. When used with a magezon kit, it can be a very dependable source of mana. It also has quite a sizable bonus to vitality.

Upgraded Belts

Armor is usually upgraded for a boost to defense; because bowazons have no need for defense ratings, they usually don't need to upgrade armor. Goldwrap is a notable exception: the armor upgrade formula is Shael + Tal + perfect diamond.

• Goldwrap Heavy Belt: 34-35 defense, +40-60% enhanced defense, +25 defense, 10% increased attack speed, 30% better chance of getting magic items, 50-80% extra gold from monsters, +2 light radius, rlvl-35. Upgrading Goldwrap isn't difficult: the strength requirement is raised to 88, but the belt gains another important potion slot, which is the only reason to upgrade this belt.

For bowazons who can't or don't want to use the IAS belts, there is always the Horadric Blood belt. The recipe is: magic belt/mesh belt/mithril coil + magic jewel + Tal + perfect ruby; the standard attributes that come with Blood belts are 5-10% chance of open wounds, 1-3% life stolen per hit, +10-20 life.

Gloves

For gloves, you want +10-15 dexterity (pre-v1.08 gloves can spawn up to +19), 10-20% IAS, +21-30% resists, +31-40 mana, +skills, 3% life/mana leech and 5-25%MF or 41-80% more gold. After Strafe is developed past slvl-10, the value of IAS gloves becomes apparent, as they dramatically cut down attack time. All exceptional unique gloves are good for bowazons (though the only ones with IAS are Lava Gout battle gauntlets with 20% IAS), depending on your skills of choice and for the sake of space, are not listed here.

• Hand of Broc Leather Gloves: 13-14 defense, +10-20% enhanced defense, +10 defense, 3% life stolen per hit, 3% mana stolen per hit, poison resist 10%, +20 mana, rlvl-5. With no strength requirements, Hand of Broc is an excellent choice for beginning bowazons, providing both life and mana steal, reducing the need to locate these attributes on jewelry. Because amazons gain so little mana per level, the +20 mana is a boon as well. These gloves have the lowest requirements of any dual-leech item in the game. Rare and magical gloves and circlets with leech or even dual leech, do exist, but can't be worn until clvl-21.
• Bloodfist Heavy Gloves: 15-17 defense, +10-20% enhanced defense, +10 defense, 10% increased attack speed, 30% faster hit recovery, +40 life, +5 minimum damage, rlvl-9. These are the only set of normal unique gloves with IAS. Because magical gloves of readiness are not available until clvl-15, Bloodfist would be the first pair of easily-equippable IAS gloves your bowazon could use. (Though Arctic Mitts are available for use at clvl-3, they require 45 strength.) The faster hit recovery, addition to minimum damage and extra life are also very good for a low-level bowazon.

The best gloves for the bowazon, however, are Horadric Hit Power chain gloves. The recipe is: magic chain gloves/heavy bracers/vambraces + magic jewel + Ort + perfect sapphire; the standard attributes that come with Hit Power gloves are 5% chance of casting slvl-4 frost nova when hit, attacker takes 3-7 damage, knockback.

For bowazons who already have knockback, there are always Horadric Blood heavy gloves. The recipe is: magic heavy/sharkskin/vampirebone gloves + magic jewel + Nef + perfect ruby; the standard attributes that come with Blood gloves are 5-10% chance of crushing blow, 1-3% life stolen per hit, +10-20 life. Like Blood rings, these gloves can have more life leech than usual — around 4-6%. Either glove can spawn with the coveted 20% IAS, +skills to bow or passive skills, leech and %MF. With its relatively low cubing cost and highly desirable properties, these are arguably the best gloves a bowazon can hope to find…if the right mods can be rolled up, of course.

Footgear

Desired qualities for boots are +10-15 dexterity, 31-40% resists, Tireless (heal stamina 50%) and 10% FHR (higher amounts do not spawn post-v1.08). One attribute that must always be on boots is 10-30% faster run/walk (pacing, haste, speed). As a bowazon, you want to keep a safe distance from your opponents and the best way to do that is to run faster. All unique boots are good for a bowazon.

• Waterwalk Sharkskin Boots: 95.2-124 defense, +180-210% enhanced defense, 20% faster run/walk, +100 defense vs. missile, +15 dexterity, +5% maximum fire resist, heal stamina +50%, +40 max stamina, +45-65 life, rlvl-32.
• War Traveler Battle Boots: 100-139.2 defense, +150-190% enhanced defense, 25% faster run/walk, +10 vitality, +10 strength, adds 15-25 damage, 40% slower stamina drain, attacker takes damage of 5-10, 30-50% better chance of getting magic items, rlvl-42. These boots are almost too good to be true: bonuses to vitality, strength and damage coupled with faster run/walk and lowered stamina drain. Make no mistake about it, that 15-25 damage counts when a bowazon's relatively low minimum damage is taken under consideration. Everything else — including the much-touted %MF — is just a bonus.
• Gore Rider War Boots: 114.4-162 defense, +160-200% enhanced defense, 30% faster run/walk, 10% chance of open wounds, 15% chance of crushing blow, 15% deadly strike, requirements -25%, +20 maximum stamina, rlvl-47.

Please note that set or unique boots generally do not have resists. If your bowazon needs resists, a good pair of rare CD2 boots (pre-v.07) would be the best solution. In LOD, small and large charms of inertia give 5% faster run/walk and grand charms give 7% faster run/walk.

If more life leech is needed, there are always Horadric Blood boots. The recipe is: magic light plated/battle/mirrored boots + magic jewel + Eth + perfect ruby; the standard attributes that come with Blood boots are replenish life +5-10, 1-3% life stolen per hit, +10-20 life.

Headgear

For the LOD bowazon, the best options lie in circlet-class items (circlets, coronets, tiaras, diadems). Circlets have lousy defense (the base varies from 10-60), but helms aren't chosen for defense but attributes and circlets have the best pool of attributes in the game. Desired attributes to circlets are +16-20 stats, +skills, 10% FHR, +damage, 10-30% FRW, 31-40% resists (with 16-20% prismatic being the best), +41-60 life/mana, 3-9% life/mana leech and Visionary (+(1/clvl)% AR). Circlets do not have strength requirements.

In the end, the choice of a helm is all up to you, though I'd recommend something with high resists, FHR (which does not spawn on helmets as of v1.08) and dexterity. All exceptional unique helms are good for bowazons. Note that all LOD helms can be socketed; all rules that apply to armor apply to helms.

• Rockstopper Sallet: 137.8-201.6 defense, +160-220% enhanced defense, damage reduced by 10%, 30% faster hit recovery, cold resist 20-40%, fire resist 20-50%, lightning resist 20-40%, +15 vitality, rlvl-31. Do not make the mistake of overlooking this helm: with its vitality bonus, the highest FHR on a ready-made helm, three high resists and physical resistance, this is one of the best defensive items a bowazon can get her hands on. The recommended sockets include the Shael, Io or resist runes.
• Stealskull Casque: 192-248.2 defense, +200-240% enhanced defense, 10% increased attack speed, 10% faster hit recovery, 5% life stolen per hit, 5% mana stolen per hit, 30-50% better chance of getting magic items, rlvl-35. The Tarnhelm of fighters, Stealskull offers dual leech, IAS and FHR, all of which are very desirable to a bowazon, but its 30-50% MF makes it among the best %MF helms in the game.
• Valkyrie Wing Winged Helm: 215-297 defense, +150-200% defense, +1-2 amazon skills, 20% faster run/walk, 20% faster hit recovery, +2-4 to mana after each kill, rlvl-40. Better off as a melee-oriented amazon helm, the +skills, faster hit recovery and mana per kill were almost tailor-made for javazons. The v1.08 rendition of this helm (120-133 defense, +35 defense, 30% faster cast rate, 30% faster hit recovery, 30% faster run/walk, 30% increased attack speed, rlvl-40) is notable for being one of two ready-made helms to offer 30% IAS. It was also more focused on speed than its successor. As of v1.09, this helm can no longer be found.
• Vampire Gaze Grim Helm: 122-252 defense, +100% enhanced defense, adds 6-22 cold damage (duration: 4 sec), 15% stamina drain, 6-8% life stolen per hit, 6-8% mana stolen per hit, damage reduced by 15-20%, magic damage reduced by 10-15, rlvl-41. Arguably the best helm in the game for melee characters, Vampire Gaze offers a plethora of excellent options to the bowazon, including dual leech, cold damage and physical resist. It's also ugly as hell. Note that the leech percentages and physical resist come in varying amounts, with the v1.08 having the maximum amount of leech (8% for both) and 25% physical resist, but no cold damage.
• Blackhorn's Face Death Mask: 154-278 defense, +180-220% enhanced defense, slows target by 20%, attacker takes lightning damage of 25, prevent monster heal, +20 lightning absorb, lightning resist 15%, rlvl-41. Blackhorn's features the much-dreaded slows target property, as well as the useful lightning absorb and Prevent Monster Heal. If you find your bowazon just isn't doing enough damage, then the Prevent Monster Heal attribute will come in handy, especially on Nightmare and Hell difficulty, as it prevents monsters from regenerating life.
• Crown of Thieves Grand Crown: 205.4-342 defense, +160-200% enhanced defense, 9-12% life stolen per hit, fire resist 33%, +35 mana, +50 life, +25 dexterity, 80-100% extra gold from monsters, rlvl-49. The Crown of Thieves has the highest life leech and dexterity bonus available on a helm, with a hefty life bonus and more gold for raising your mercenaries from the dead. The strength requirement can be lowered to 88 with a Hel rune; Ort, Tal, Thul or any resist jewel with IAS would make this a good dual-resist helm.

If ready-made helms are unavailable or more life leech is required, there are always Horadric Blood helms. The recipe is: magic helm/casque/armet + magic jewel + Ral + perfect ruby; the standard attributes that come with Blood helms are 5-10% deadly strike, 1-3% life stolen per hit, +10-20 life.