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.

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 +6-9 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. 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, can't 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 'can't 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. 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%, can't 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.

Belts

As with armor, belts aren't chosen for defense, but attributes; thus, any type of belt will work. Desired attributes to belts are +16-20 strength, 17-24% FHR, 1-2 cold damage (duration: 2 sec), 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 row for potions, 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 + 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, 20% IAS, 21-30% resists, +31-40 mana, +skills, 3% life/mana leech and 16-25% 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, aren't listed here.

The best gloves for the bowazon, however, are Horadric Hit Power chain gloves. The recipe is: magic chain gloves/heavy bracers + 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 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.

Footwear

Desired qualities for boots are +6-9 dexterity, 31-40% resists, Tireless (heal stamina 50%) and 10% FHR. One attribute that must always be on boots is 20-30% faster run/walk (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 don't have resists. If your bowazon needs resists, a good pair of rare CD2 boots 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 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.

Helmets

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, +61-90 mana, 5-6% life/mana leech and Visionary (+(1/clvl)% AR). Circlets don't 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, +life, and dexterity. All exceptional unique helms are good for bowazons. 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 @ 4 seconds, 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. 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 PMH 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 + 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.