Elite Bows/Crossbows (clvl-39+)

After a bowazon reaches a certain level, they'll be able to use elite weaponry, which is LOD-only. These are available in the last stages of NM and all of Hell. Elite bows are rlvl-39 to 63. For the bowazon, all elite bows are equally good: there is no progressive scheme to elite bows. All of them are fairly balanced in terms of average damage/time, though what is desirable for rare and magical exceptional weapons still applies to elite weapons: magical Cruel (+201-300% ED), Master's (+101-150% ED, +151-250 AR) and Grandmaster's (+151-200% ED, +251-300 AR) bows are exceptionally good end-game weapons and elite unique bows are among the best weapons in the game.

• Matriarchal Bow (elite stag bow): 187 dexterity, 87 strength, 20-47 damage (33.5 avg), fast attack speed (-10); sockets: 5; rlvl-39. An excellent balance between speed and damage, the matriarchal has a relatively low strength requirement and usually comes with a bonus to bow/crossbow skills. If you're looking for a cruel bow to use, matriarchals are among the most popular choices, as a cruel matriarchal of alacrity with two sockets has a potential IAS of 60% in addition to its inherent 10% IAS bonus. For those into dirty clvl-39 twinking tricks, a superior matriarchal bow with five realgar jewels of fervor can have +120-165% enhanced damage with 75% IAS.
• Spider Bow (elite short bow): 143 dexterity, 64 strength, 23-50 (36.5 avg), fast attack speed (-5); sockets: 3; rlvl-41.
• Blade Bow (elite hunter's bow): 119 dexterity, 76 strength, 21-41 (31 avg), very fast attack speed (-10); sockets: 4; rlvl-45. The blade bow has the lowest strength requirements and highest minimum damage of the -10 speed class elite bows, but it also has the lowest maximum and average damage.
• Shadow Bow (elite long bow): 188 dexterity, 52 strength, 15-59 (37 avg), fast attack speed (0); sockets: 5; rlvl-47. This bow has the lowest strength and highest dexterity requirement of the elite bows, making it an excellent choice for bowazons who want to maximize damage via dexterity. This bow can go head-to-head against a matriarchal bow for speed and damage: it's a 0 speed class bow, but its average damage is higher and it isn't difficult for a bowazon to achieve 7/2 with this bow.
• Great Bow (elite composite bow): 107 dexterity, 127 strength, 12-52 (32 avg), fast attack speed (-10); sockets: 4; rlvl-51. This bow has low dexterity requirements, the highest maximum damage of the -10 speed class bows and decent average damage, but a high strength requirement.
• Diamond Bow (elite short battle bow): 132 dexterity, 89 strength, 33-40 (36.5 avg), fast attack speed (0); sockets: 5; rlvl-54. This is an excellent bow due to its minimum damage. Because it's so close to its maximum damage, its average damage will be more consistent than any bow in the game. A weapon's maximum damage will always be at least one point higher than its minimum damage: with this in mind, a player desiring a diamond bow is well advised to search for a cruel diamond bow of transcendence (or any suffix that adds minimum damage), supplementing it with charms of +minimum damage.
• Crusader Bow (elite long battle bow): 121 dexterity, 97 strength, 15-63 (39 avg), fast attack speed (10); sockets: 6; rlvl-57. While all elite bows are viable choices, the crusader is a more natural progression from the gothic, as its requirements are just a little bit higher. Note that while its maximum damage is 5 points lower than the hydra, its minimum is 5 points higher, making them rougly equal for much less strength.
• Grand Matron Bow (elite reflex bow): 152 dexterity, 108 strength, 14-72 damage (43 avg), fast attack speed (10); sockets: 5; rlvl-58. The GMB is an amazon bow; with its comparatively low strength and dexterity requirements, bonuses to bow/crossbow skills and the highest average damage of any bow, it can be classified as the "best" bow available. Its disadvantage is that it's a 10 speed class bow.
• Ward Bow (elite short war bow): 146 dexterity, 72 strength, 20-53 damage (36.5 avg), fast attack speed (0); sockets: 5; rlvl-60. With its low strength requirements, the ward bow is the elite choice of HC bowazons. While the shadow bow has an even lower strength requirement, the ward bow doesn't have its stupendous dexterity requirement.
• Hydra Bow (elite long war bow): 167 dexterity, 134 strength, 10-68 damage (39 avg), fast attack speed (10); sockets: 6; rlvl-63. It's called a "Arc De L'Hydre" in France because they use the metric system. The high-powered elite long war bow is a specialty item, as it's outperformed by the lighter grand matron bow and its average damage is matched by the lighter crusader bow. The only reason to raise an amazon's strength this high is to use the unique Windforce or a cruel hydra bow of evisceration.
• Colossus Crossbow (elite heavy crossbow): 77 dexterity, 163 strength, 32-91 (61.5 avg), very slow attack speed (10); sockets: 6; rlvl-56. The colossus crossbow has very high average damage, but this weapon's strength requirement and speed would make any bowazon think twice before attempting to heft this weapon. Another good reason to avoid this weapon is that not even a perfect cruel colossus crossbow (128-364 damage, 264 avg) with any suffix can outperform the Buriza-Do Kyanon ballista in terms of damage, speed or utility.
• Demon Crossbow (elite repeating crossbow): 98 dexterity, 141 strength, 23-30 (26.5 avg), very fast attack speed (-60); sockets: 5; rlvl-63. This is mostly for those players who've used CKNs in the past and don't feel like changing their ways. First, all rules that apply to the CKN apply to the demon crossbow. The demon has a lower maximum but higher minimum than the CKN, a strategy might not be to look for maximum damage, but more consistent average. For example, a perfect cruel CKN of evisceration has 48-191 damage (119.5 avg); a cruel demon crossbow of evisceration is slightly better at 92-183 (137.5 avg), but note that the gap between the CKN's minimum and maximum is 143 points while the demon's is only 91. This isn't the most efficient weapon in the game, but it's fun to play with and that's all that really matters, right?

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 +250-450% enhanced damage. Two special prefixes to keep an eye out for 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. In LOD, a Fool's bow or a Hawkeye circlet will help greatly.
4. Casts Amplify Damage striking: For some setups, this attribute is extremely important, as this curse not only ensure that your hits will do double their normal damage, but it also does away with Physical Resistance on most monsters.
5. Mana/Life Leech: Leeching on bows is good, and if it's dual leech, even better..
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 275% is much better than a featureless 300%. Again, the most important attribute on a bow is damage. Personal playing style will dictate what kind of bow you want .

Unique Elite Bows

Though v1.10 introduced more unique elite bows to the game, their power has been somewhat overshadowed by quality rares and rune words. However, as a whole, they're still a force to be reckoned with.

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.

• Widowmaker Ward Bow: 60-159 damage (109.5 avg), +150-200% enhanced damage, ignore target's defense, 33% deadly strike, +3-5 guided arrow, fires magic arrows [slvl-11], rlvl-65. This is a ladder-only unique. At first glance, this bow looks to be inferior to the other elite unique bows, with very little use to the bowazon — and you'd be right. The Widowmaker, with its magic arrows, ITD, DS, and the Guided Arrow oskill, was meant for every other class that would like to use a bow, but had no compelling reason to do so, like Venom-using assassins, paladins with Fanaticism, sorceresses with obscene levels of Enchant, druids, or necromancers moving on from the Pus Spitter. If your bowazon finds this bow, by all means, trade it off for a bow better suited to fully exploit her natural abilities.
• Eaglehorn Crusader Bow: 45-(190-313) damage (117.5-179 avg), +200% enhanced damage, +(2/clvl)% enhanced maximum damage, +1 amazon skills, +(6/clvl) attack rating, +25 dexterity, ignores target's defense, rlvl-69. I remember crying tears of joy when I got my first Eaglehorn...in the first week of LOD...so I have a big squooshy soft spot in my heart for this bow. It's one of the best bows in the game, partly because of its damage (though it can't hope to compare to Windforce for damage), but also due to its scaling AR bonus and ITD; this is quite nice in HC as well, as it means not needing +AR items so much. Note that ITD won't work against champions, uniques or superuniques; it's ineffective against other players, diminishing its power in PvP. I tend to carry Eaglehorn on my Windforce-toting bowazon, as its lack of knockback can actually be an advantage at times. All in all, the Eaglehorn is a well-balanced bow: it's very very good at what it does, but has just enough missing to be imperfect (for example, it has no IAS or leech), unlike Windforce.
• Blood Raven's Charge Matriarchal Bow: 66-155 damage (113.85 avg), +180-230% enhanced damage, +200-300% bonus to attack rating, fires explosive arrows [slvl-13], level 5 revive (30 charges), +2-4 bow/crossbow skills, rlvl-71. While I love the idea of a bowazon having a small army of revives (though you're restricted to five, the possibilities here are near-limitless) with a healthy AR bonus, this weapon has relatively low damage and no IAS. You can do better.
• Windforce Hydra Bow: 35-(241-547) damage (138-291 avg), +250% enhanced damage, +(3.125/clvl) maximum damage, 20% increased attack speed, 6-8% mana stolen per hit, heal stamina +30%, +10 strength, +5 dexterity, knockback, rlvl-73. If you can get it, this is the best damned unique bow for physical damage in the game (discounting the upgraded Witchwild String diamond bow), because Windforce 3:16 said so: big damage, fast speed, what's not to like? Take note, however, that its knockback is permanent, which will cause problems for melee-minded party members (detailed in Ms. Gentur's Knockback Bow Guide): Knockback is powerful, but it literally kills teams as it tends to render meleers next to useless. If you use it strategically, then knockback won't be a problem as you pin targets against the wall, unable to attack. But using Windforce in large areas will turn teammates into little more than tagalongs. In a single-player situation, spray away, but when it comes to multiplayer, carry around a spare bow, saving the Windy for calculated strikes when knockback would work best.

Upgraded Unique Elite Bows

In addition to new unique elite bows, v1.10 also introduced weapon upgrades. While upgrading an exceptional weapon to its elite equivalent can only be done on the ladder using Lum + Pul + perfect emerald + exceptional unique weapon, the result is almost always worth it.

More information on unique and rare weapon upgrades can be found at adekye's weapon upgrade calculator.

• Riphook Blade Bow: 67-131 damage (99 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-52.
• Witchwild String Diamond Bow: 89-108 damage (98.5 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-61. Even more powerful than its exceptional incarnation, the WWS's low physical damage is offset by the deadly strike, Amplify Damage, and incredibly steady average damage. Recommended sockets are +8-10 minimum damage jewels with IAS or +40% enhanced damage, but any combination of Shael, Nef or Eth runes would work just as well. WWS fires magic arrows, but only when using a normal attack; all other bow skills will override the magic arrow property of this bow.
• Lycander's Aim Grand Matron Bow: 67-266 damage (166.5 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-65. If you're lucky enough to obtain this bow, odds are you won't be letting it go for a very, very long time: with its high damage and long list of attributes, the Lycander's Aim GMB is among the best weapons in the game.
• Magewrath Ward Bow: 75-182 damage (128.5 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-67. 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 as much abandon as she can spare. What's interesting here is that the added 20-50 damage counts as another +100% enhanced damage on this bow, meaning that a Magewrath ward bow really has around +250% enhanced damage.

Of all the upgraded unique bows, my personal favorite is the Witchwild String. Get one as soon as possible, make sure it's around +165~170% ED, and upgrade it as soon as your bowazon hits clvl-61. This is one of the best weapons to take into Hell difficulty not because of the low requirements, the high resistances, or fast firing rate, but because of the ease that it cuts through almost any mob when Amplify Damage is cast. When faced with a physical immune enemy (and there are many in Hell difficulty), simply switch over to the WWS's normal attack and fire away until the curse kicks in. Because physical immunity is the bane of any bowazon, the WWS would make an excellent alternative weapon to carry for bowazons with heavier-hitting weapons. However, once it's been upgraded, few weapons hit as hard as a Witchwild String diamond bow.

Unique Elite Crossbows

• Gut Siphon Demon Crossbow: 83-128 damage (105.5 avg), +160-220% enhanced damage, piercing attack (33), 12-18% life stolen per hit, 33% chance of open wounds, slows target by 25%, rlvl-71.
• Hellrack Colossus Crossbow: 105-300 damage (202.5 avg), +180-230% enhanced damage, 100-150% bonus to attack rating, adds 63-324 fire damage, adds 63-324 lightning damage, adds 63-324 cold damage, 20% increased attack speed, slvl-18 immolation arrow (150 charges), socketed (2), rlvl-76. A ranged version of Baranar's Star, this weapon's incredible elemental damage is matched only by its ungodly strength requirement. If you've planned a bowazon around Hellrack, blowing 161 strength to use this weapon is a fair trade because this is the best damned weapon for elemental damage in the game; after all, dexterity doesn't increase elemental damage, you're just going to need it to hit things. Because the colossus crossbow is so incredibly slow, the two sockets seem to beg for dual Shaels. However, in this case, a pair of IAS jewels with some sort of prefix would have pretty much the same effect. A pair of Hel runes would knock the strength requirement of Hellrack down to 97.

Upgraded Unique Elite Crossbows

In addition to new unique elite bows, v1.10 also introduced weapon upgrades. upgrading an exceptional weapon to its elite equivalent can only be done on the ladder using Lum + Pul + perfect emerald + exceptional unique weapon. Unlike unique bows, I would not recommend upgrading any of the unique crossbows.

More information on unique and rare weapon upgrades can be found at adekye's Diablo 2 Weapon Upgrade Damage Calculator.

• Langer Briser Pellet Bow: 84-249 damage (166.5 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-49.
• Pus Spitter Gorgon Crossbow: 80-278 damage (179 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-57.
• Buriza-Do Kyanon Colossus Crossbow: 96-(275-522.5) damage (180.5-258.75 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-63. Do not upgrade this to a colossus crossbow; not only will you increase the strength requirement to 163, but because most of the Buriza's power comes from the scaling max damage, you will not see a substantial improvement to damage.

Unique Elite Weapons of Interest

• Demon Limb Tyrant Club: 105-189 damage (148 avg), +180-230% enhanced damage, +50% damage to undead, +123% damage to demons, adds 222-333 fire damage, 7-13% life stolen per hit, fire resist 15-20%, slvl-23 enchant (20 charges), repairs 1 durability in 20 seconds, rlvl-71. This weapon is quite heavy, but with 20 charges of slvl-23 enchant, it might just be worth it: the fire damage — a mere 29-37 damage (cut down from the original 87-111 because you're using a ranged weapon) — means nothing at all, but the +218% AR bonus the spell confers lasts for up to 627 seconds. Pop a Hel rune in it to drop its strength requirement down to 106, then place this on a weapon switch for an easy source of AR for your bowazon and her minions.

Elite Rune Word Weapons

In a classic demonstration of Blizzard North's Hell-fixiated mentality, there are many rune words at this level.

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

• Call to Arms 5-socket weapon (Amn + Ral + Mal + Ist + Ohm): +2 all skills, 40% increased attack speed, +200-240% enhanced damage, adds 5-30 fire damage, 7% life stolen per hit, +2-6 battle command, +1-6 battle orders, +1-4 battle cry, prevent monster heal, replenish life +12, 30% better chance of getting magic items, rlvl-51. This rune word enables your bowazon to cast Battle Command, Battle Orders, and Battle Cry, all of which can be raised with +skill items (like the rune word, for example). Of course, the variables on this rune word (the skills, +ED%, and warcries) mean that CtA is a gamble of two very high-end runes: the chances of even getting a perfect Battle Command and Cry are quite low, much less a perfect CtA. Consider yourself warned.
• Silence 6-socket weapon (Dol + Eld + Hel + Ist + Tir + Vex): +200% enhanced damage, +175% damage vs. undead, requirements -20%, 20% increased attack speed, +50 attack rating vs. undead, +2 skills, all resistances 75%, 20% faster hit recovery, 11% mana stolen per hit, hit causes monster flee 25%, hit blinds target 33%, +2 mana per kill, 30% better chance of getting magic items, rlvl-55. One of the better rune words, reserved for elite weapons, this used to be the top-of-line rune word until v1.10 came along. Just don't bother.
• Hand of Justice 4-socket weapon (Sur + Cham + Amn + Lo): 100% chance to cast slvl-36 blaze when you level-up, 100% chance to cast slvl-48 meteor when you die, slvl-16 holy fire aura when equipped, 33% increased attack speed, +280-330% enhanced damage, ignore target's defense, 7% life stolen per hit, -20% to enemy fire resistance, 20% deadly strike, hit blinds target, freezes target, rlvl-67. What makes this weapon really nice (aside from the IAS, +ED%, ITD, DS, freeze, and life steal) is that the only variable on this thing is the +ED%, which is still very tight. Compared to other runewords, the HoJ is a very sure bet on a nice rune word weapon. (Many thanks to kevinsteele for pointing this out.)
• Breath of the Dying 6-socket weapon (Vex + Hel + El + Eld + Zod + Eth): 50% chance to cast slvl-20 poison nova when you kill an enemy, indestructible, 60% increased attack speed, +350-400% enhanced damage, +200% damage to undead, -25% target defense, +50 attack rating, +50 attack rating against undead, 7% mana stolen per hit, 12-15% life stolen per hit, prevent monster heal, +30 all attributes, +1 light radius, requirements -20%, rlvl-69. Some may like this rune word in a bow, but it's a total waste in anything but an ethereal melee weapon.
• Faith 4-socket missile weapon (Ohm + Jah + Lem + Eld): slvl-12-15 fanaticism aura when equipped, +1-2 skills, +330% enhanced damage, ignore target's defense, 300% bonus to attack rating, +75% damage to undead, +50 to attack rating against undead, all resistances +15, 10% reanimate as: returned, 75% extra gold from monsters , rlvl-65. This is a ladder-only rune word. With a slvl-12 Fanaticism aura, you will hit a 7/2 Strafe on any bow without any IAS equipment whatsoever; with one glaring exception (explained later), it's strongly recommended that you put this rune word in a GMB, and only a GMB.