Wealthy patrons invited Ikkyu to a banquet. Ikkyu arrived dressed in his beggar's robes. The host, not recognizing him, chased him away. Ikkyu went home, changed into his ceremonial robe of purple brocade, and returned. With great respect, he was received into the banquet room. There, he put his robe on the cushion, saying, "I expect you invited the robe since you showed me away a little while ago," and left.
— Zen Story
You aren't your job: you're not how much money you have in the bank, not the car you drive, not the contents of your wallet. You aren't your f*cking khakis.
— Tyler Durden
Rule #1: The most important piece of equipment for the bowazon is the bow. In terms of trading, effort, gold, and time, you'll probably spend more on obtaining a good bow than just about any other piece of gear. Every other piece of equipment your bowazon gets should be centered around making that bow more effective, as well as keeping the bowazon alive; if it doesn't, then it's probably useless.
Despite the demand for top-of-the-line gear, start simple then get the fancy stuff to suit your needs: higher-end equipment is made to complement your skill as a player, not to cover your lack thereof. If you're a poorly-skilled player with a Goldstrike Arch gothic bow who obtains a Windforce hydra bow, nothing changes: you're just a poorly-skilled player with a better bow. However, if you're a good player, then you'll be able to outperform a less skilled player any day of the week because the real thing always shines through.
In LOD, there is an incredible variety of weapons and the use of charms and runes can boost the capabilities of a character without taking up valuable equipment slots or even more valuable attribute points. Bowazons have the most overall variety when it comes to ready-made end-game equipment within a single item class, most of which are exceptional and among the most powerful items in the game, easily obtaining her end-game weapon by the time she hits clvl-50 or so (around A2-3NM), while other warrior classes don't obtain suitable elite weaponry until clvl-70 and up.
Still, what was true in CD2 is true in LOD: not even all of the bowazon's strengths and perfect equipment can compensate for a lousy player. Despite the amount of space given to items, skill and understanding are still the most important aspects of the bowazon, especially the changing demands of her equipment. For this reason, all general stages of a bowazon's equipment will be covered, starting with weapons, followed by jewelry and armor, then finishing with sets, runes, and jewels appropriate to the bowazon's level of development; this will be divided into three sections:
For more information on items and affixes, please refer to the Horadrim Library and items section of the Arreat Summit. For more information on bows, please refer to ZenDragon's Bow Bible v2.0. Also check the Premium Bow Comparison and Bow Comparison & Socketing Guide articles at diabloii.net.
last updated: Monday, November 03, 2003
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