Revision as of 18:45, 3 February 2007

Introduction

Bows are the best ranged attacking weapon in the game. They fire very quickly in the hands of an Amazon, and derive their bonus damage from your points in Dexterity. Amazons have a bow & crossbow tree, but other characters can be effective with them as well, especially Druids and Necromancers, who can take cover behind their minions and shoot from a distance. Necros and Druids tend become less useful with bows as they advance in levels, since their Dexterity isn't high enough, and they don't have any skills to boost their bow attacks.

Bows were a specialized weapon in Diablo. Any character could equip and fire one, but only the rogue did not suffer a large damage penalty when using a bow, and she also had a substantially faster firing rate. Her attributes helped out as well, for she possessed far more dexterity than any of the other characters, which gave her superior to/hit. Bows are not as specialized in Diablo II: every character will be able to wield one and do moderately well with it. However the Amazon will be the best, with a faster firing rate, excellent Attack Rating, and of course her bow & crossbow Skill Tab, as well as useful passive skills such as Critical Strike, Penetrate, and Pierce.

Obviously, the main benefit of a bow is that it provides a ranged attack that doesn't require constant mana expenditure, and can't be resisted. Successfully hitting the target is based on your to/hit (called Attack Rating in Diablo II) and also their armour class (called Defense in Diablo II.) Another added wrinkle in Diablo II is that monsters with shields can now block, rather than just carrying them for decoration, as they did in the first game. It is not known how skillful they will be with shields, but the prospect of a higher level monster being able to block all, or most, of an attack of arrows is an interesting one.

Monsters in Diablo II are fast and have variety in their AI, and stun lock isn't so easy to obtain, so it shouldn't be as easy to line up your enemies and fill them full of arrows from a distance. The change from a floor tile set to a fully 360 degree movement system makes shots easier when monsters are coming in a straight line at you, since they won't do the old over, over, down, over, down, over, over, down, etc movement pattern that the floor squares forced them into in Diablo.

There are of course magical and unique bows in Diablo II. The magical and Rare bows will boast a huge variety of modifiers, including familiar ones from Diablo, but also many others that are totally new. The Unique Bows and Unique Crossbows are very nice, and we only know of the weaker ones at this point, from the beta. Like all weapons, bows and crossbows can be socketed with gems, to add various sorts of magical damage to every shot.

Ammunition is required for every shot. You must have a quiver equipped in one hand, while your bow or crossbow is in the other. Quivers are frequently dropped by monsters, and sold by NPCs for low prices, so keeping enough arrows or bolts around isn't a real problem for an Amazon.

The venerable bow is the weapon of choice for those who prefer to destroy their enemies from a safe distance. Consisting of a flexible length of wood or other material, drawn back by a bowstring, bows can range from commonplace short wooden bows to the enormous long war bows, usable by only the strongest and most dexterous archers. A skilled bowman can easily decimate oncoming enemies before they have a chance to close in, and in Diablo II, bows are effective at point blank range as well.

The weapon requires a quiver full of arrows equipped, and arrows can either be obtained from NPC merchants, or scavenged when dropped by the monsters you kill. Of all the classes in the game, the Amazon can lay claim to being the master of the weapons, and she has a skill tree devoted to various magical enhancements to the weapon. Bows occupy either a 2x3 or a 2x4 space in the inventory.

• Sockets: Item sockets changed a lot in D2 v1.08, changing to match the sockets in D2X items. You will tend to find more sockets in items on higher difficulty levels.
• Damage Bonus: This determines how you multiply the item damage by your stats to reach the actual damage. Each 100 points in that stat doubles your weapon's total physical damage. All Bows are 100 Dex, which means every point in Dex adds 1% of your weapon's total physical damage, thus each 100 points in Dex will double your bow damage.
• Item Level: Used in many in-game calculations. Monsters must be of this level to drop the item, and your Clvl must be equal to or higher to have that item offered to gamble on.
• Weapon Speed: A relative comparison of one bow to another. 0 is the base, negative ( -10, -20, etc) is faster, 10, 20, etc is slower. The "fast", "normal" etc displayed in the game is a very imprecise measurement. The numbers are the exact speeds used. Each 10 is equivalent to a normal SIAS item. Characters are abbreviated to their first letter: Am = Amazon and As = Assassin.

Normal

Item	Item Name	Properties	Misc Stats	Attack Rate
	Short Bow	1-4 Damage Str Req: None Dex Req: 15 Item Level: 1 Clvl Req: None	Sockets: 1-3 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x3	Weapon Speed: 5 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/As/B/D/P/S Normal: N
	Hunter's Bow	2-6 Damage Str Req: None Dex Req: 28 Item Level: 5 Clvl Req: None	Sockets: 1-4 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x3	Weapon Speed: -10 Firing Rate: Very Fast: Am/B/D Fast: As/N/P/S
	Long Bow	3-10 Damage Str Req: 22 Dex Req: 19 Item Level: 8 Clvl Req: None	Sockets: 1-5 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x4	Weapon Speed: 0 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/As/B/D/P/S Normal: N
	Composite Bow	4-8 Damage Str Req: 25 Dex Req: 35 Item Level: 12 Clvl Req: None	Sockets: 1-4 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x3	Weapon Speed: -10 Firing Rate: Very Fast: Am/B/D Fast: As/N/P/S
	Short Battle Bow	5-11 Damage Str Req: 30 Dex Req: 40 Item Level: 18 Clvl Req: None	Sockets: 1-5 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x3	Weapon Speed: 0 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/As/B/D/P/S Normal: N
	Long Battle Bow	3-18 Damage Str Req: 40 Dex Req: 50 Item Level: 23 Clvl Req: None	Sockets: 1-6 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x4	Weapon Speed: 10 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/B/D Normal: As/N/P/S
	Short War Bow	6-14 Damage Str Req: 35 Dex Req: 55 Item Level: 27 Clvl Req: None	Sockets: 1-5 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x3	Weapon Speed: 0 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/As/B/D/P/S Normal: N
	Long War Bow	3-23 Damage Str Req: 50 Dex Req: 65 Item Level: 31 Clvl Req: None	Sockets: 1-6 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x4	Weapon Speed: 10 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/B/D Normal: As/N/P/S

Amazon Class-Specific Bows

See all Amazon Items here.

Item	Item Name	Properties	Misc Stats
	Stag Bow	Damage 7-13 Str Required: 35 Dex Required: 55 Item Level: 18 Clvl Req: 14	Sockets: 1-5 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x4 Weapon Speed: 0 Amazon: Fast
	Reflex Bow	Damage 5-22 Str Required: 50 Dex Required: 65 Item Level :24 Clvl Req: 20	Sockets: 5 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x4 Weapon Speed: 0 Amazon: Fast

Quivers

Arrows and Bolts/Quarrels are necessary to use a bow or crossbow, and they must be equipped in one hand, with the bow/crossbow in the other. They have no purpose otherwise, and are one of the simpler weapon-type items in the game.

In early versions of Diablo II arrows and bolts were sold in stacks of varying size for varying prices, and NPCs only stocked a few of each at a time. With v1.03 the variety was removed, as was the limited number of stacks. Quivers are now always the maximum stack, prices are fixed, and you can buy as many quivers at a time as you'd like. Monsters drop quivers of arrows or bolts quite frequently as well.

Item	Item Name	Properties	Misc Stats
	Quiver of Arrows	D2: Up to 250 D2X: Up to 350	87 gold for 350

Exceptional Bows

Exceptional Bows are found in late Normal, and then all through Nightmare and Hell. Prior to v1.08 D2, they were only found on Nightmare and Hell.

Item	Item Name	Properties	Misc Stats	Attack Rate
	Edge Bow	6-19 Damage Str Req: 25 Dex Req: 43 Item Level: 30 Clvl Req: 18*	Sockets: 1-3 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x3	Weapon Speed: 5 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/As/B/D/P/S Normal: N
	Razor Bow	8-22 Damage Str Req: 25 Dex Req: 62 Item Level: 33 Clvl Req: 21*	Sockets: 1-4 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x3	Weapon Speed: -10 Firing Rate: Very Fast: Am/B/D Fast: As/N/P/S
	Cedar Bow	10-29 Damage Str Req: 53 Dex Req: 49 Item Level: 35 Clvl Req: 23*	Sockets: 1-5 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x4	Weapon Speed: 0 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/As/B/D/P/S Normal: N
	Double Bow	11-26 Damage Str Req: 58 Dex Req: 73 Item Level: 39 Clvl Req: 25	Sockets: 1-4 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x3	Weapon Speed: -10 Firing Rate: Very Fast: Am/B/D Fast: As/N/P/S
	Short Siege Bow	13-30 Damage Str Req: 65 Dex Req: 80 Item Level: 43 Clvl Req: 25	Sockets: 1-5 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x3	Weapon Speed: 0 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/As/B/D/P/S Normal: N
	Large Siege Bow	10-42 Damage Str Req: 85 Dex Req: 95 Item Level: 46 Clvl Req: 25	Sockets: 1-6 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x4	Weapon Speed: 10 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/B/D Normal: As/N/P/S
	Rune Bow	14-35 Damage Str Req: 73 Dex Req: 103 Item Level: 49 Clvl Req: 25	Sockets: 1-5 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x3	Weapon Speed: 0 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/As/B/D/P/S Normal: N
	Gothic Bow	10-50 Damage Str Req: 95 Dex Req: 118 Item Level: 52 Clvl Req: 25	Sockets: 1-6 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x4	Weapon Speed: 10 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/B/D Normal: As/N/P/S

* All Exceptional items are Clvl 25 in Diablo II. Some lower-quality ones are slightly lower in D2X.

Elite Bows

Elite Bows are Expansion only since Elite items do not exist at all in Diablo II. You can find Elite bows in Acts 4-5/Nightmare and then all through Hell, though like all Elite items, they drop very rarely.

Item	Item Name	Properties	Misc Stats	Attack Rate
	Spider Bow	23-50 Dmg Str Req: 64 Dex Req: 143 Item Level: 58 Clvl Req: 50	Sockets: 1-3 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x3	Weapon Speed: 5 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/As/B/D/P/S Normal: N
	Blade Bow	21-41 Dmg Str Req: 76 Dex Req: 119 Item Level: 60 Clvl Req: 52	Sockets: 1-4 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x3	Weapon Speed: -10 Firing Rate: Very Fast: Am/B/D Fast: As/N/P/S
	Shadow Bow	15-59 Dmg Str Req: 52 Dex Req: 188 Item Level: 61 Clvl Req: 53	Sockets: 1-5 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x4	Weapon Speed: 0 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/As/B/D/P/S Normal: N
	Great Bow	12-52 Dmg Str Req: 121 Dex Req: 107 Item Level: 64 Clvl Req: 56	Sockets: 1-4 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x3	Weapon Speed: -10 Firing Rate: Very Fast: Am/B/D Fast: As/N/P/S
	Diamond Bow	33-40 Dmg Str Req: 89 Dex Req: 132 Item Level: 67 Clvl Req: 59	Sockets: 1-5 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x3	Weapon Speed: 0 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/As/B/D/P/S Normal: N
	Crusader Bow	15-63 Dmg Str Req: 97 Dex Req: 121 Item Level: 70 Clvl Req: 62	Sockets: 1-6 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x4	Weapon Speed: 10 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/B/D Normal: As/N/P/S
	Ward Bow	20-53 Dmg Str Req: 72 Dex Req: 146 Item Level: 72 Clvl Req: 64	Sockets: 1-5 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x3	Weapon Speed: 0 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/As/B/D/P/S Normal: N
	Hydra Bow	10-68 Dmg Str Req: 134 Dex Req: 167 Item Level: 74 Clvl Req: 66	Sockets: 1-6 Dmg Bonus: 100 Dex Inv Size: 2x4	Weapon Speed: 10 Firing Rate: Fast: Am/B/D Normal: As/N/P/S