Elite 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

Amulets have one primary offensive use for the bowazon: leech. The other stuff — +10-20 AR, +damage, +16-20 dexterity — is nice, but for the most part, it's all about leech. The assumption here is that leeching amulets will be used. Aside from this, amulets are primarily reserved for defense against the elements, attribute bonuses and +skills.

Rare amulets are an excellent option; the most favored are +2 skill amulets with prismatic and mana 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 (direct-damage skills like Chain Lightning or Ice Blast that activate upon striking does not work with bows) and remedial attributes like Thawing/Warmth or 25-75% poison damage reduction — are up to the preference of the player.

• Atma's Scarab Amulet: 5% chance to cast slvl-2 amplify damage on attack, 20% bonus to attack rating, 29-40 poison damage over 4 seconds, poison resist 75%, +3 light radius, attacker takes damage of 5, rlvl-60. While Atma's high bonus to AR and focus on poison damage are good attributes, but what makes this amulet shine is the chance to cast Amplify Damage, which happens with startling regularity with the bowazon's high rate of fire. Because Amplify Damage will override the physical resistances and immunities of almost every monster in the game, this is an extremely useful amulet for a physical-dependent bowazon to use. Atma's curse covers a 2.6 yard radius for 11 seconds.
• Highlord's Wrath Amulet: +1 skills, 20% increased attack speed, +(0.375/clvl)% deadly strike, lightning resist 35%, adds 1-30 lightning damage, attacker takes lightning damage of 15, rlvl-65. Highlord's Wrath is outstanding: if your bowazon needs IAS, there are few better options. However, for pure damage, the bowazon can get more mileage out of Atma's Scarab or Saracen's Chance (v1.08) for their Amplify Damage curses.
• Seraph's Hymn Amulet: +2 skills, +1-2 defensive auras (paladin only), +20-50% damage to demons, +150-250 attack rating against demons, +20-50% damage to undead, +150-250 attack rating against undead, +2 light radius, rlvl-65. This is a ladder-only unique.
• The Rising Sun Amulet: +2 fire skills, 2% chance to cast slvl-13-19 meteor when struck, +(0.75/clvl) fire absorb, adds 24-48 fire damage, replenish life +10, +4 light radius, rlvl-65.
• Mara's Kaleidoscope Amulet: +2 skills, all resistances 20-30%, +5 all attributes, rlvl-67. Mara's offers very desirable attributes: +2 skills and prismatic (the highest possible on an amulet). However, it lacks the little nuances that make rare and Horadric amulets so nice to have, like 10% faster cast rate, mana leech, damage reduction and so forth. For this reason, I consider Mara's to be a placeholder until something more suitable can be found; keep in mind that rare +skill amulets cap at 16-20% prismatic resists, meaning that extra mods on a rare amulet have to be extremely good to compensate for the lost resists.
• Metalgrid Amulet: +400-450 attack rating, slvl-22 iron golem (11 charges), slvl-12 iron maiden (20 charges), all resistances 25-35%, +300-350 defense, rlvl-81. This is a ladder-only unique. The AR bonus and high resistances will prove useful to the bowazon, as will the Iron Maiden charges (475% damage returned) when her valkyrie is being swarmed. The most attractive property this amulet has doesn't seem so great when the numbers are laid out flat: a slvl-22 Iron Golem has 980 life with a 770% defense bonus and 465% damage returned from thorns. Compared to the valkyrie, its use to the bowazon as a tank is questionable. In addition, you have to find a metal object to transform into a golem — an item of the whale for an extra 80-100 life or a shield with high resists might come in handy. You might also want to use an item like Nature's Peace to take advantage of its Oak Sage.

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.

• Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band Ring: +1 skills, +(0.5/clvl) life, 3-5% life stolen per hit, +50 maximum stamina, rlvl-58. While this offers two attributes that would appeal to the bowazon — +skills and life leech — the lack of resists hurts. Give it to a barbarian, it complements his skill trees well.
• Carrion Wind Ring: 10% chance to cast slvl-10 poison nova when struck, 8% chance to cast slvl-13 twister on striking, 6-9% life stolen per hit, +100-160 defense vs. missile, poison resist 55%, 10% damage taken goes to mana, slvl-21 poison creeper (15 charges), rlvl-60. An amusing ring to carry around, the attributes that immediately benefit the bowazon are the life leech, poison resist, Vulpine, and defense against missiles. The poison creeper has barely 300 life and not a lot of poison damage (90-92 poison damage over 4 seconds), making it an easy target against monsters; I would suggest using this in large games where there are many things to distract monsters from attacking your vine. The twister that is cast upon striking carries some interesting possibilities for the bowazon: the damage is only 37-39, but it disperses is a wide pattern and stuns targets for 0.4 seconds. For a bowazon who doesn't use knockback or inflict much in the way of stunlock, this can be very nice, given that the twister comes out so often.
• Nature's Peace Ring: slain monsters rest in peace, prevent monster heal, poison resist 20-30%, damage reduced by 7-11, slvl-5 oak sage (27 charges), rlvl-69. This is a ladder-only unique. Aside from its lack of leech, this is a very nice ring to carry around: it summons an Oak Sage that applies a 50% bonus to life for everyone in the party, it prevents monster heal, and it has a healthy amount of poison resistance. However, its one outstanding attribute, "Slain Monsters Rest in Peace," is a double-edged sword; while party members might hate it, this ring is a godsend when your bowazon is alone in areas where Horadric Mummies and the undead are in abundance.

"Slain Monsters Rest in Peace" means that the bodies can't be resurrected or they can't be used to raise skeletons (Necromancer). They can't be used for Corpse Explosion either. It will work only if you kill the enemy with a physical damage and not magical damage.

— Arreat Summit

• Wisp Projector Ring: 10% chance to cast slvl-16 lightning on striking, lightning absorb 10-20%, 10-20% better chance of getting magic items, slvl-7 spirit of barbs (11 charges), slvl-5 heart of wolverine (13 charges), slvl-2 oak sage (15 charges), rlvl-76. While the attention of most will immediately be fixated on the ability to summon spirits — 170% damage returned on Spirit of Barbs, a 48% defense & 46% AR bonus with Heart of Wolverine, and a 35% bonus to life with Oak Sage — other attributes that are just as important to the bowazon are the high chance to cast 1-192 lightning damage upon striking and the high lightning absorb.

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 always, the same rules that have applied to the bowazon since Normal apply now: armor isn't chosen for defense, but attributes. 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. Because of this, only two elite unique armors can be seriously considered by the bowazon player; the rest are simply too heavy.

• Ormus' Robes Dusk Shroud: 371-487 defense, +10-20 defense, +20% faster cast rate, +10-15% cold skill damage, +10-15% fire skill damage, +10-15% lightning skill damage, +3 bonus to a random sorceress skill, regenerate mana 10-15%, rlvl-75. Don't pick this armor thinking it'll work for your traps — it won't. However, the bonus to elemental skill damage will increase the damage from elemental damage equipment. The bonus to mana regeneration could also come in handy, but the skill bonuses are of little consequence, as they don't work on anybody but the sorceress.
• Tyrael's Might Sacred Armor: 1322-1502 defense, +120-150% enhanced defense, +50-100% damage to demons, 20% faster run/walk, +20-30 strength, all resistances 20-30%, cannot be frozen, requirements -100%, slain monsters rest in peace, indestructible, rlvl-84. This is Blizzard making their very own attention whore. "Hi, I'm a monstrosity of an item, and I can only be found on the ladder. Call me." This armor, like Nature's Peace, bears the double-edged "slain monsters rest in peace" attribute.

Elite Rune Word Armor

Elite rune word armor is among the best in the game.

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

• Prudence 2-socket armor (Mal + Tir): +25% faster hit recovery, +140-170% enhanced defense, all resistances 25-35%, damage reduced by 3, magic damage reduced by 17, +2 mana after each kill, +1 light radius, repairs 1 durability in 4 seconds, rlvl-49. 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 resistances and defense have yet to be confirmed.
• Bramble 4-socket armor (Ral + Ohm + Sur + Eth): slvl-15-21 thorns aura when equipped (varies), +50% faster hit recovery, +25-50% poison skill damage (varies), +300 defense, increase maximum mana 5%, regenerate mana 15%, +5% maximum cold resist, fire resist 30%, poison resist 100%, +13 life after each kill, slvl-13 spirit of barbs (33 charges), rlvl-61. The main attractions here are the boosted poison skill damage and Thorns aura, but it's more suited for a character who's more dependent on poison damage and minions than a bowazon, say, a necromancer, rabid werewolf, or venom-based assassin.
• Chains of Honor 4-socket armor (Dol + Um + Ber + Ist): +2 skills, +200% damage to demons, +100% damage to undead, 8% life stolen per hit, +70% enhanced defense, +20 strength, replenish life +7, all resistances 65%, damage reduced by 8%, 25% better chance of getting magic items, rlvl-63. Okay, now this is some nasty armor for any warrior for obvious reasons: incredible resistances, life leech, skill bonuses, and a heavy damage bonus to demons.
• Enigma 3-socket armor (Jah + Ith + Ber): +2 skills, 45% faster run/walk, +1 teleport, +750-775 defense, +(0.75/clvl) strength, increase maximum life 5%, damage reduced by 8%, +14 life after each kill, 15% damage taken goes to mana, (1/clvl)% better chance of getting magic items, rlvl-65.

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.

• Nosferatu's Coil Vampirefang Belt: 56-63 defense, slows target by 10%, +2 mana after each kill, 5% life stolen per hit, +15 strength, 10% increased attack speed, -3 light radius, rlvl-51. "The Coil" is a personal favorite; I consider it the premier bowazon belt. Almost all the attributes are useful: it's light with a relatively low level requirement, offers life leech, and a high bonus to strength. It offers the same IAS as Goldwrap, but the Coil also slows target movement down slightly, giving the bowazon more time to react than usual. For example, it's a simple matter for a bowazon with a high rate of fire to slow a pack of rushing moon lords down to a crawl. (The 1.09 version of this item is called Siggard's Stealth once you upgrade to 1.10.)
• Arachnid Mesh Spiderweb Sash: 119-138 defense, +90-120% enhanced defense, slows target by 10%, +1 skills, 20% faster cast rate, increases maximum mana 5%, slvl-3 venom (11 charges) rlvl-80. This belt is notable for being the only +skills belt in the game. It'd be nice for trappers and Blade Fury-focused assassins, mostly, who could benefit from the +skills, mana bonus, and slows target.

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.

• Soul Drainer Vambraces: 129-149 defense, +90-120% enhanced defense, 4-7% mana stolen per hit, 4-7% life stolen per hit, -50 monster defense per hit, 8% chance to cast slvl-3 weaken on striking, rlvl-74.
• Dracul's Grasp Vampirebone Gloves: 125-145 defense, +90-120% enhanced defense, +10-15 strength, +5-10 life after each kill, 25% chance of open wounds, 7-10% life stolen per hit, 5% chance to cast slvl-10 life tap on striking, rlvl-76. A super-powered version of Horadric blood craft gloves, these are incredible for the bowazon sporting a small-sized army, but the less and less minions a bowazon has or the more cautious the bowazon is, the less need she has for these gloves, as they're much more suited for melee characters who have a dire need of 50% life leech.

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.

• Sandstorm Trek Scarabshell Boots: 158-178 defense, 60-110 kick damage, +140-170% enhanced defense, 20% faster hit recovery, 20% faster run/walk, +(1/clvl) maximum stamina, +10-15 strength, +10-15 vitality, 50% slower stamina drain, poison resist 40-70%, repairs 1 durability in 20 seconds, rlvl-64. These combine the best attributes of some of my favorite boots, like slower stamina drain, stamina bonuses, attribute bonuses, and FR/W. There's no gimmick to these, they're simply a very good, very steady set of all-purpose boots.
• Marrowwalk Boneweave Boots: 183-204 defense, 69-118 kick damage, +170-200% enhanced defense, 20% faster run/walk, +1-2 skeleton mastery (necromancer only), +10-20 strength, +17 dexterity, regenerate mana 10%, heal stamina +10%, half freeze duration, slvl-33 bone prison (13 charges), slvl-12 life tap (10 charges), rlvl-32. Another good set of boots with some very nice attribute bonuses, you might be tempted to give these to a necromancer, but the thirteen charges to a ~4,000 hit point Bone Prison are invaluable for those times you need to contain a monster that absolutely, positively must stand still. Likewise, Life Tap will last for 42 seconds — very handy for monsters that are giving you too much of a pounding.
• Shadow Dancer Myrmidon Greaves: 122-144 defense, 83-149 kick damage, +70-100% enhanced defense, +1-2 shadow disciplines (assassin only), 30% faster run/walk, 30% faster hit recovery, +15-25 dexterity, requirements -20%, rlvl-71. This is a ladder-only unique. Dual faster boots with skill bonuses and a hefty bonus to dexterity are wonderful. Pity about the strength requirement, though.

Please note that set or unique boots generally do not have resists. If your assassin needs resists, a good pair of rare boots would be the best solution.

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.

• Harlequin Crest Shako: 98-141 defense, +2 skills, +(1.5/clvl) life, +(1.5/clvl) mana, damage reduced by 10%, 50% better chance of getting magic items, +2 all attributes, rlvl-62. A stronger version of Tarnhelm, Harley's offers a substantial bonus to life, mana, stats, defense and skills, as well as a solid 50% MF.
• Giant Skull Bone Visage: 350-477 defense, +250-320 defense, 10% chance of crushing blow, knockback, +25-35 strength, socketed (1-2), rlvl-65.
• Nightwing's Veil Spired Helm: 218-352 defense, +90-120% enhanced defense, +2 skills, +8-15% cold skill damage, +10-20 dexterity, +5-9 cold absorb, half freeze duration, requirements -50%, rlvl-67. This item, with its relatively low strength requirement of 96, +skills, bonus to cold damage, and high dexterity bonus, literally calls out to frostmaiden builds, who could benefit greatly from all of these attributes.
• Kira's Guardian Tiara: 90-170 defense, +50-120 defense, 20% faster hit recovery, cannot be frozen, all resistances 50-70%, rlvl-77. A good all-around warrior's circlet with FHR and cannot be frozen, even a low-end version of one of these is better for resistances than any other helm in the game. However, it doesn't have anything special, like +skills, IAS, or bonuses to attributes, so if resists are all you want, then by all means, use this circlet. For anything else, use a rare circlet.
• Andariel's Visage Demonhead: 310-387 defense, +100-150% enhanced defense, +2 skills, 20% increased attack speed, 8-10% life stolen per hit, +25-30 strength, +10% maximum poison resist, fire resist -30%, poison resist 70%, 15% chance to cast slvl-15 poison nova when struck, slvl-3 venom (20 charges), rlvl-83. This is a ladder-only unique.

Rune Word Headgear

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

• Delirium 3-socket helms (Lem + Ist + Io): 1% chance to cast slvl-50 delirium when struck, 6% chance to cast slvl-14 mind blast when struck, 14% chance to cast slvl-13 terror when struck, 11% chance to cast slvl-18 confuse on striking, +2 skills, +261 defense, +10 vitality, 50% extra gold from monsters, 25% better chance of getting magic items, slvl-17 attract (60 charges), rlvl-51. Delirium morphs your character into a Bone Fetish for a period of about a minute. You can't do any special attacks once you have transformed, but you can do normal attacks in the form of a headbutt.

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.