Exceptional Bows (clvl-25 to 46)

By the time you get to A4, obtaining an exceptional bow would be a good idea. All exceptional items are rlvl-25; most rare exceptional bows with the King's and Merciless prefixes (the most appropriate damage modifers for these levels) have an rlvl of 25-30. The "target weapon" for most bowazons is the gothic bow, though most will also be satisfied with the rune bow, chu-ko-no and, in some cases, the double bow.

The general rule for the bowazon is that, due to strength requirements and weapon speed, exceptional crossbows aren't recommended: the exception is the Buriza-Do Kyanon unique ballista. While crossbows do hit harder, they also hit slower, and when using skills like Strafe, Guided Arrow, Freezing Arrow, and Multiple Shot as your primary attacks, you might want to compromise a little power to gain a lot of speed. Overall, amazons are better off taking advantage of the faster bow.

• Double Bow (exceptional composite bow): 73 dexterity, 58 strength, 11-26 damage, very fast attack speed (-10); sockets: 4; rlvl-25. This is the choice of some dedicated (or just plain addicted) CD2 speedazons because the double is the most damaging -10 speed class bow in CD2. Because the strength requirement is low, more points can be invested in dexterity for higher damage potential over time, especially with a high CS. Compared to the higher-damage rune or CKN, the faster double makes an excellent alternative.
• Long Siege Bow (exceptional long battle bow): 95 dexterity, 80 strength, 10-42 damage (26 avg), fast attack speed (10); sockets: 6; rlvl-25. An alternative to the gothic, the damage and speed of a long siege bow is comparable to the gothic with lower strength and dexterity requirements. It's at this point that the balance between bows and melee weapons begins to tip in favor of bows: their damage is beginning to catch up to their counterparts while keeping the advantage of range.
• Rune Bow (exceptional short war bow): 103 dexterity, 73 strength, 14-35 damage (24.5 avg), fast attack speed (0); sockets: 5; rlvl-25. Rune bows have a lower maximum damage, but higher minimum damage than a gothic; a bow with more consistent average damage is just as good as a bow with high maximum damage, but an inconsistent average. In addition, a rune is faster than a gothic; a standard rune is as fast as a 10% IAS gothic.
• Gothic Bow (exceptional long war bow): 118 dexterity, 95 strength, 10-50 damage (30 avg), fast attack speed (10); sockets: 6; rlvl-25. For pure smash mouth damage, most CD2 and "old-school" bowazons strive to use a gothic, as they are the yardstick of what a good exceptional bow should be. For those unable to find a decent rare gothic, find a superior gothic with 6 sockets and fill them with rusty jewels of freedom (anything with a level requirement below 25), resulting in a bow with up to +66-135% enhanced damage and -90% requirements.
• Ashwood Bow (exceptional stag bow): 77 dexterity, 56 strength, 16-29 damage (22.5 avg), fast attack speed (0); sockets: 5; rlvl-29. These aren't too bad at all: less attribute investment than a short seige bow but with rune bow damage and +bow and crossbow skills. (Thanks to Torrilin for the heads-up.)
• Ceremonial Bow (exceptional reflex bow): 110 dexterity, 73 strength, 19-41 damage (30 avg), fast attack speed (10); sockets: 5; rlvl-35. An LOD weapon, the ceremonial is as fast as a gothic with lower requirements, a higher minimum and lower maximum damage; its average damage is about equal to the gothic. As an amazon bow, it automatically has +1-3 to bow/crossbow skills. There are few good reasons to not use a ceremonial over a gothic.
• Ballista (exceptional heavy crossbow): 80 dexterity, 110 strength, 33-55 damage (44 avg), very slow attack speed (10); sockets: 6; rlvl-25. A rare ballista may not be the best option for a high-level bowazon: it just isn't fast enough. However, Strafe isn't radically affected by weapon speed and the ballista packs quite a punch when you consider its more consistent damage. If you use a ballista, I'd recommend one with -20% IAS to make up for the loss in speed. For bowazons in LOD, the infamous Buriza-do Kyanon is a definite option.
• Chu-Ko-Nu (exceptional repeating crossbow): 90 dexterity, 80 strength, 12-32 damage (23 avg), very fast attack speed (-60); sockets: 5; rlvl-25. The CKN has low damage compared to a gothic, but the extremely fast attack speed of a high-damage CKN can more than make up for this. Note that a CKN with 10% IAS has already reached its maximum frame rate for an amazon. If your bowazon's primary attack is Strafe and you don't have a lot of IAS or a heavy-hitting -5, 0 or -10 speed class bow available, then a CKN is a decent choice to use, as it reaches a three-frame Strafe with just 8% IAS.

A lot of factors go into the perfect bow, and while damage is the most important thing about a weapon, damage isn't the only thing. A truly good weapon will have at least five attributes, two of which will be dedicated to damage, leaving one prefix and three suffixes open. IMHO, the most important things on a bow are (in order):

1. Enhanced Damage: This is the most important property, but not the only property. A decent rare or magical bow has at least +140-250% enhanced damage, you shouldn't be looking for another. Two special prefixes to keep an eye out for on rare bows are Fool's (+[16.5/clvl] AR, +[0.5/clvl] to maximum damage) and Screaming (+[0.75/clvl] maximum damage), as these raise maximum damage by clvl.
2. Increased Attack Speed: All bow/crossbow skills are based on weapon speed: the faster you shoot, the more damage you cause per second. Increased attack speed is available in 10% (readiness) and 20% (alacrity) on bows. See Increased Attack Speed for more information on sources of IAS and speed breakpoints.
3. Bonuses to Attack Rating: In most rares, this will be included with enhanced damage. The most AR a bow can get (not counting Fool's) is 300, from either a Steel + King's combination or a Grandmaster's bow. In LOD, a Fool's bow or a Hawkeye circlet will help greatly.
4. Mana/Life Leech: Leeching on bows is good, and if it's dual leech, even better..
5. Casts "XX" on attack/striking: For some setups, this attribute is extremely important, as stacking multiple skills that activate upon striking mean that some hits will do far more damage than usual. There is a distinction to be made between "cast upon attack" and "cast upon striking:" the former means that a skill has a chance to cast even if an attack fails to connect; the latter means that the attack must connect for the skill to cast. Currently, the only spell available on rare and magical bows that can be cast upon striking is Amplify Damage.
6. Bonuses to Skills: Amazon-specific bows spawn with +0-3 bow/crossbow skills without using an affix, so it's possible to have an amazon-specific bow with +skills and +3 bow/crossbow skills. Bows don't spawn with bonuses to passive skills.
7. Elemental Damage: See Elemental Damage.
8. Reduced Requirements: Reduced requirements range from 15-40%, but will mostly be available in 20-30% varieties. Without reduced requirements, a bowazon won't be able use a gothic bow without +strength and +dexterity equipment before clvl-35-37. For those obsessed with dexterity or HC players, reduced requirements is a very desirable trait to have.
9. Other Assorted Crap: Light radius, resists, life replenishment, each kill regenerates mana, HCMTF, sockets.

The more properties a bow can satisfy on the top five of this list, the more satisfying it'll be; a god-like 180% is much better than a featureless 275%. Again, the most important attribute on a bow is damage. Personal playing style will dictate what kind of bow you want.

Unique Exceptional Bows

If basic unique bows were made to be disposable with a clear hierarchy of power, unique exceptional bows and crossbows are another matter entirely. The choice of bow depends entirely on playing style, skills, tactical choices and taste: for the most part, unique exceptional bows (but not crossbows) are relatively well-balanced, with each having some quality that equalizes it with the others. Unique bows of note are:

More information on all these bows can be found at the Horadrim Library. Also check the Premium Bow Comparison and Bow Comparison & Socketing Guide articles at diabloii.net.

• Skystrike Edge Bow: 21-57 damage (37.5 avg), +150-200% enhanced damage, adds 1-250 lightning damage, 2% chance to cast slvl-6 meteor on striking, 30% increased attack rate, +100 attack rating, +1 amazon skills, +10 energy, rlvl-28. I've got a soft spot in my heart for this bow; it's fast, easy for any bowazon to use, has a ton of elemental damage and a low level requirement. Though lightning damage bows can approach the 600 damage mark, they don't give +skills, IAS and a chance to drop meteors. This is an excellent bow for any bowazon, but if you want to use a skill like Strafe or Multiple Shot as your primary attack, it's best to move onto a bow with higher amounts of physical damage as soon as possible. (Personally, I recommend the Witchwild String.)
• Riphook Razor Bow: 25-70 damage (47.5 avg), +180-220% enhanced damage, slows target by 30%, 30% chance of open wounds, 30% increased attack speed, 7-10% life stolen per hit, +35 mana, rlvl-31.
• Kuko Shakaku Cedar Bow: 28-81 damage (54.5 avg), +150-180% enhanced damage, fires explosive arrows [slvl-7], piercing attack (50), adds 40-180 fire damage, +3 immolation arrow (amazon only), +3 bow/crossbow skills (amazon only), rlvl-33. Like Skystrike, the Kuko is an excellent elemental damage bow; a condensing bow of incineration has up to 179-260 fire damage (219.5 average), but the Kuko also fires exploding arrows, has a sizable bonus to Immolation Arrow, and a tremendous boost to piercing. The exploding arrows from this bow won't be as effective as Raven Claw because monsters at this level have higher amounts of life and fire resistance, but with its piercing, you'll be hitting more, and well, you're still causing more damage.
• Endlesshail Double Bow: 35-83 damage (59 avg), +180-220% enhanced damage, adds 15-30 cold damage @ 3 seconds, cold resist 35%, +50 defense vs. missile, +40 mana, +3-5 strafe (amazon only), rlvl-36.
• Witchwild String Short Siege Bow: 35-81 damage (58 avg), +150-170% enhanced damage, fires magic arrows [slvl-20], 2% chance to cast slvl-5 amplify damage on attack, (1/clvl)% deadly strike, all resistances 40%, sockets (2), rlvl-39. Another one of my favorites, Witchwild String is a deceptively powerful bow — it has a scaling chance of deadly strike (see Deadly Strike), so it consistently causes twice its listed damage, which skyrockets again when Amplify Damage is applied: this curse cuts physical resistance by -100%, making it very handy against physical immune monsters. WWS also has 40% to all resists, unheard of in any bow, making it very good for HC characters or bowazons strapped for resists. It also has two empty sockets. WWS fires magic arrows, but only when using a normal attack; all other bow skills will override the magic arrow property of this bow.
• Cliffkiller Long Siege Bow: 43-168 damage (105.5 avg), +190-230% enhanced damage, adds (5-10) to (20-30) damage, +2 amazon skills, +80 defense vs. missile, +50 life, knockback, rlvl-41. Cliffkiller has no particular virtues, though it's a sound weapon of first-class quality. A bowazon in HC could appreciate the +50 life, knockback and +skills; a common practice is to socket it with an Amn rune and give it to a rogue mercenary.
• Lycander's Aim Ceremonial Bow: 80-176 damage (128 avg), +150-200% enhanced damage, adds 25-50 damage, 20% increased attack speed, +2 amazon skills, 5-8% mana stolen per hit, +20 energy, +20 dexterity, +20% enhanced defense, +2 bow/crossbow skills, rlvl-42. If you're lucky enough to obtain this bow, odds are you won't be letting it go for a very, very long time. This weapon gives a long list of useful attributes, like an incredible +4 to bow/crossbow skills and +2 to skills: it's excellent for the middle to high-level bowazon. None of its effects particularly stand out, but the entire package is subtly strong. It's not as damage-heavy as GSA, but Lycander's will give you benefits for just about anything you're trying to do.
• Magewrath Rune Bow: 60-137 damage (98.5 avg), +120-150% enhanced damage, adds 20-50 damage, +200-250 attack rating, +1 amazon skills, hit blinds target, 15% mana stolen per hit, magic damage reduced by 9-13, +10 dexterity, +3 guided arrow (amazon only), rlvl-43. An excellent choice for bowazons who almost exclusively use mana-intensive skills, the incredibly high mana leech and speed of this weapon will allow a bowazon to use those skills with abandon.
• Goldstrike Arch Gothic Bow: 35-175 damage (105 avg), +200-250% enhanced damage, +100-200% damage to demons, +100-200% damage to undead, 50% increased attack speed, 5% chance to cast slvl-7 fist of heavens on attack, replenish life +12, 100-150% bonus to attack rating, rlvl-46. Goldstrike Arch (originally Godstrike Arch, renamed for unknown reasons) is one of the fastest hardest-hitting bows a bowazon can hope to obtain. It may not pack the punch of Eaglehorn, Windforce or Buriza-Do Kyanon, but it's a powerful weapon in its own right and as the name implies, it is about as close to godly as any bow could get: its enhanced damage creeps into Cruel territory, it's faster than any of the aforementioned bows and quite reliable. It is a worthy end-game bow for single-player bowazons and is more than capable of holding its own in multiplayer, as its speed and AR bonuses, combined with a bowazon's naturally high dexterity, serve to make this one of the most dangerous and versatile weapons in the game: there is no bow/crossbow skill that doesn't work well with GSA. All in all, an excellent bow for the middle to high-level bowazon.

Unique Exceptional Crossbows

Unique crossbows are a bit more problematic for the bowazon — they were designed to be used by other classes, and while all exceptional unique bows look good, the Buriza-Do Kyanon ballista clearly sits on the top of the heap of exceptional unique crossbows.

More information on all these bows can be found at the Horadrim Library.

• Langer Briser Arbalest: 42-111 damage (76.5 avg), +170-200% enhanced damage, +10-30 maximum damage, 33% chance of open wounds, adds 1-212 lightning damage, +30 life, knockback, 30-60% better chance of getting magic items, rlvl-32.
• Pus Spitter Siege Crossbow: 64-134 damage (99 avg), +150-220% enhanced damage, +150 poison damage over 8 seconds, requirements -60%, 9% chance to cast slvl-6 poison nova when struck, 4% chance to cast slvl-1 lower resist on striking, +(5/clvl) attack rating, 10% increased attack speed, +2 necromancer skills, rlvl-36. With its lowered requirements, scaling AR bonus, relatively high poison damage (for a crossbow of its level), and bonus to necromancer skills, there's little need to speculate who was meant to use this weapon.
• Buriza-Do Kyanon Ballista: 99-(142.5-412.5) damage (110.5-255.5 avg), +150-200% enhanced damage, +(2.5/clvl) maximum damage, adds 32-196 cold damage @ 8 seconds, piercing attack (100), freezes target +3, +75-150 defense, +35 dexterity, 80% increased attack speed, rlvl-41. When the GA + Pierce bug was fixed, this weapon took a sudden drop in power, but for those who weren't dependent on that sort of cheese, the Buriza is still efficient. Compared to bows, the ballista is slow and unwieldy, but the Buriza is a very good weapon; in terms of hitting power, no exceptional weapon can beat it: its minimum damage is incredible, its average exceeds all but Windforce, it has the highest cold damage of any ranged weapon, it's the only exceptional unique with scaling damage and 100% pierce. Modifications to this weapon aren't recommended, as Buriza is already perfect as-is.
• Demon Machine Chu-Ko-Nu: 31-137 damage (84 avg), +123% enhanced damage, +66 maximum damage, fires explosive bolts [slvl-6], +632 attack rating, piercing attack (66), +321 defense, +36 mana, rlvl-49.

Exceptional Rune Word Weapons

There are three rune words for bows at this level: a quick look at the attributes should tell you which is the best of the three.

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

• Melody 3-socket missile weapon (Shael + Ko + Nef): +50% enhanced damage, +300% damage to undead, +3 bow/crossbow skills (amazon only), +3 critical strike (amazon only), +3 dodge (amazon only), +3 slow missiles (amazon only), 20% increased attack speed, +10 dexterity, knockback, rlvl-39. This rune word is an oddity and a waste of perfectly good runes: skip it. By the time you're ready to use Melody, there are so many other better bows to choose from that it just doesn't make any sense. If you want, you can slap this into an ashwood or ceremonial bow with +3 bow/crossbow skills for laughs, but aside from variants that are dependent on elemental arrows, I don't see much use for this weapon.
• Passion 4-socket weapon (Dol + Ort + Eld + Lem): 25% increased attack speed, +160-210% enhanced damage, 50-80% bonus to attack rating, +75% damage to undead, +50 attack rating against undead, adds 1-50 lightning damage, +1 berserk, +1 zeal, hit blinds target +10, hit causes monster to flee 25%, 75% extra gold from monsters, slvl-3 heart of wolverine (12 charges), rlvl-43. Not an especially difficult of rune word to create (all of the runes are mid-level), it has a lot of nice mods, but what really raises my eyebrows is that you can raise a Heart of the Wolverine spirit. If you're also using a Might merc, that's a nice little boost to your damage and AR, meaning that you're getting a lot more than the rune word suggests. I'd suggest popping this one in a matriarchal or blade bow to take advantage of its inherent speed bonuses. Note that Berserk and Zeal are melee-only attributes, so don't plan on using them with a bow. And if you need a reason to pace your bowazon for as long as humanly as possible, know that spirits are both immune to poison and physical damage on Nightmare difficulty level, but not in Hell.
• Venom 3-socket weapon (Tal + Dol + Mal): hit causes monster to flee 25%, prevent monster heal, ignore target's defense, 7% mana stolen per hit, slvl-15 poison explosion (27 charges), slvl-13 poison nova (11 charges), +273 poison damage over 6 seconds, rlvl-49.