Rune Words

There are a good amount of rune words at this level, many of which can carry a bowazon all the way into Hell.

More information on runes and rune words can be found at the Runes and Rune Word sections of the Arreat Summit. If you want to know how a particular suit of armor will look on your amazon, please refer to inDiablo.de's "Modenschau" fashion guide.

Exceptional Rune Word Weapons

There are a few rune words for bows at this level, though a bowazon would be advised to look over Passion and Harmony.

• 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.

Ladder-only Rune Word Weapons

• Harmony 4-socket missile weapon (Tir + Ith + Sol + Ko): slvl-10 vigor aura when equipped, +200-275% enhanced damage, +9 minimum damage, +9 maximum damage, adds 55-160 lightning damage, adds 55-160 fire damage, adds 55-160 cold damage, +2-6 valkyrie, +10 dexterity, regenerate mana 20%, +2 mana after each kill, +2 light radius, slvl-20 revive (25 charges), rlvl-39.

Exceptional Rune Word Armor

There are a couple of good options for rune word armor at this level, but for the bowazon, Treachery just about takes the cake.

• Smoke 2-socket armor (Nef + Lum): +75% enhanced defense, +280 defense vs. missile, all resistances 50%, 20% faster hit recovery, slvl-6 weaken (18 charges), +10 energy, -1 light radius, rlvl-37. While it offers a bit less than Lionheart, the extra 20% to resistances and extra defense against missiles can be a lifesaver for some bowazons, especially those in HC.
• Lionheart 3-socket armor (Hel + Lum + Fal): +20% enhanced damage, requirements -15%, +25 strength, +10 energy, +20 vitality, +15 dexterity, +50 life, all resistances 30%, rlvl-41. An upper-middle tier rune word, Lionheart doesn't offer enhanced defense, but does give the bowazon a substantial boost to damage in the form of enhanced damage, extra dexterity, and prismatic resists. The package is rounded out by the extras given by the runes themselves and the flexibility that could only come with rune word armor.
• Treachery 3-socket armor (Shael + Thul + Lem): 5% chance to cast slvl-15 fade when struck, 25% chance to cast slvl-15 venom on striking, +2 assassin skills, +45% increased attack speed, +20% faster hit recovery, cold resist +30%, 50% extra gold from monsters, rlvl-43. Oh God: get this armor ASAP. 45% IAS in armor with a 25% chance to cast Venom — for those not in the know, at slvl-15, Venom inflicts 305-325 poison damage over 0.4 seconds. At slvl-15, Fade reducescurse duration by 79%, confers 60% prismatic resists, and 15 pDR.
• Wealth 3-socket armor (Lem + Ko + Tir): 300% extra gold from monsters, 100% better chance of getting magic items, +2 mana after each kill, +10 dexterity, rlvl-43. An excellent option to the unique Skullder's Ire, Wealth also offers an incredible 300% extra gold…quite useful for compulsive gamblers.
• Duress 3-socket armor (Shael + Um + Thul): 40% faster hit recovery, +10-20% enchanced damage, adds 37-133 cold damage, 15% chance of crushing blow, 33% chance of open wounds, +150-200% enchanced defense, -20% slower stamina drain, cold resist 45%, lightning resist 15%, fire resist 15%, poison resist 15%, rlvl-47. This rune word is only available on the Realms.
• Gloom 3-socket armor (Fal + Um + Pul): 15% chance to cast slvl-3 dim vision when struck, 10% faster hit recovery, +200-260% enhanced defense, +10 strength, all resistances 45%, half freeze duration, 5% damage taken goes to mana, -3 light radius, rlvl-47.
• Stone 4-socket armor (Shael + Um + Pul + Lum): 60% faster hit recovery, +250-290% enhanced defense, +300 defense vs. missile, +16 strength, +16 vitality, +10 energy, all resistances 15%, slvl-16 molten boulder (80 charges), slvl-16 clay golem (16 charges), rlvl-47.