Bowazon D2R 2.7 Build - Multiple Shot Strafe Amazon

Melee damage builds in Diablo II: Resurrected are popular, but what if you want a character that utilizes the ranged archetype? What if you prefer killing Hell's minions from afar? If you're looking for a build that can eliminate enemies from a distance, then we have something for you!

Today, we are going to talk about a build that is actually pretty good no matter the difficulty level. If anything, it excels really well the more investment you put into it.

Do we have your attention now? If so, read further! This is our ultimate guide for the D2R Bowazon build!

Build Introduction

The Bowazon is one of the strongest missile builds in Diablo II: Resurrected. That said, there are a couple of popular variations of this build which you can try out for yourself.

The first one relies on the skill called Multiple Shot skill. This version of the build is also known as the "Multishot Bowazon." Now, this skill prompts you to shoot up to 24 arrows simultaneously, all of which are able to hit targets far away and have a decent chance of piercing through them and dealing physical damage in the process.

Another popular Bow Amazon build focuses on freezing and decimating enemies with arrow skills that deal damage. For this variation, you will use Freezing Arrow along with a bow that is specifically made for the build.

Now, the Bowazon relies on running for movement. It is a decent choice for a ladder starter, with several budget gearing options available.

With monsters having immunity to certain damage types, you can use the appropriate Sunder Charm to eliminate them. These will be discussed later on in the build guide, so do read further to learn more.

Gameplay

Attacking skills

For the physical damage version of the build, your main skill is Multiple Shot. As the name implies, this skill prompts you to unleash a volley of arrows that hit multiple enemies at once. If you like to farm the secret cow level, this is the perfect build for that!

While Multiple Shot has the potential to slay groups of monsters with ease, it does suffer from mediocre single-target damage. For this reason, you will supplement your attacks with Guided Arrow. With a chance to deal Crushing Blow on your gear, you can quickly reduce the enemy monster's life considerably.

How about the cold damage Bowazon? Your main attack skill is Freezing Arrow - a skill that lets you fire a magical arrow that freezes entire groups of monsters. This is quite an effective skill for farming, so use it diligently.

Even though Freezing Arrow is great at deleting enemies from existence, there is a huge problem with it in that you cannot steal life or mana from your enemies. That is just the nature of elemental damage in Diablo II: Resurrected.

To rectify the issue, you will use a max-level Strafe to deal physical damage. This is important because only attacks that deal physical damage can leech life and mana from monsters.

So in summary, use Freezing Arrow to clear hordes of enemies and then utilize Strafe if you need to recoup your life and mana.

Movement

Amazons are not fast at teleporting because they are built in a way that does not stack Faster Cast Rate high up, so even if you could afford an enigma, running is a better option for movement.

By having modifiers that affect run/walk speeds (aka FRW) on your gear you will be able to move quickly. Items like The Cat's Eye amulet, Grand Charms, or even an Enigma Archon Plate can greatly help with that.

Survivability

Amazons rely on their Passive and Magic skills for survivability, so if you want to play in Hardcore Mode, you should consider having grand charms that raise the level of your skills in your inventory.

Investing in a Call to Arms weapon swap can double your life and mana. Even though it is a bit expensive, we recommend that you buy one. Aim to have 75% of all resistances regardless of whether you are playing in Hell Difficulty or not. Physical damage reduction mods on your gear can help improve survivability immensely. Some of the best for these are the Crown of Ages helmet and a String of Ears belt.

Party and Solo play

The playstyle of the Bowazon remains the same even if you are playing in a group. You use Multiple Shot or Freezing Arrow to slay the minions of Hell.

For the cold damage Bowazon, use Strafe occasionally if you need to top up your mana. Otherwise, just spam your main skills until the enemy is dead.

Magic Find

Gearing options specifically for boosting Magic Find (MF) are somewhat limited for Bowazons. A Harlequin Crest Shako, Enigma, War Traveler, or any jewelry with Magic Find bonuses can definitely be utilized.

In addition, you could add Gheed's Fortune and a number of 7% MF small charms in your inventory if you have the budget for them.

Stats

• Strength: Put 118 (lower if you are using a bow that requires less STR to wield)
• Dexterity: Put 152/167 (for GMB/Windforce Physical Bowazon) and 187 (for Matriarchal Bow Ice Bowazon)
• Vitality: Balance this with Energy
• Energy: Depends on your gear

The Bowazon is a rather complex build when it comes to stat distribution. Unlike other builds in D2:R where you put only enough points on strength and dexterity for your gear and then dump all of the remaining ones on vitality, that is not the case for the Bowazon at all.

The amount of strength and dexterity that you need hinges on the bow and equipment you want to use. For the physical damage Bowazon, you will need only a maximum of 167 DEX for Windforce. However, you need a bit more to wield the Matriarchal Bow, especially if you intend to play the cold damage variant of the build.

Because of how fast the Bowazon attacks, you will find yourself starving for mana in most cases. Unless you have "mana on kill" mods on your gear, you will rely on Mana Potions to top your mana up. To maximize such potions, you need to have a considerable amount of mana in your tank to begin with. Hence, how many points you allocate to Energy really depends on your current gear.

Once you are satisfied with your mana pool, then and only then will you dump points on vitality. So really, stat allocation on this build is a balancing act. As to how many points you spend on a particular attribute, that all boils down to your preference.

Skills

Physical Bowazon

• 20 points on Multiple Shot
• 20 points on Guided Arrow
• 20 points on Penetrate
• 20 points on Critical Strike
• 3 points on Pierce
• Put 1 point on the following:
• nner Sight
• Dodge
• Avoid
• Evade
• Slow Missiles
• Decoy
• Valkyrie
• Cold Arrow
• Strafe
• Spend the remaining points on Magic Arrow

There are a couple of skills at your disposal no matter which version of the Bowazon you choose. For the Physical Bowazon, in particular, your main one is Multiple Shot. This thing allows you to fire up to 24 arrows that have the potential to destroy anything in your path.

Due to the nature of Multiple Shot, most of the arrows will be dispersed, which is why it is not a good skill to take down single targets. For this reason, you use Guided Arrow to deal with lone monsters and bosses.

Valkyrie allows you to summon a powerful minion that soaks damage for you. She also attracts attention, enabling you to fire at enemies without them targeting you while doing so. Even a single skill point is enough for this companion. Just let the "+ to all skills" from your gear take care of the rest.

For Pierce, you want to achieve a 100% chance to pierce targets with every cast of your skills. The Multishot Bowazon needs this in order to maximize her damage potential. Having said that, the number of skill points you spend on Pierce depends on whether you have Razortail equipped or not.

If you have Razortail equipped, three points on this passive skill should suffice. However, if you opt for another belt, then you have to spend more points to achieve the full 100% (about nine skill points will do).

Cold Damage Bowazon

• 20 points on Freezing Arrow
• 20 points on Strafe
• 20 points on Cold Arrow
• 20 points on Valkyrie
• 11 points on Penetrate
• 8 (or 9) points on Pierce (3 if you have Razor tail)
• Put 1 point on the following:
• Inner Sight
• Slow Missiles
• Decoy
• Dodge
• Avoid
• Evade
• Critical Strike
• Magic Arrow
• Multiple Shot
• Guided Arrow
• Ice Arrow

Freezing Arrow is your bread and butter for the cold damage Bowazon. This skill allows you to freeze and hit multiple targets with a single arrow, making it one of the best map-clearing skills in D2R.

Since elemental damage does not let you leech life or mana off of your enemies, you have Strafe to rectify that. Utilize Strafe whenever you need a top-up of the said resources.

If you noticed, 20 points are spent on Valkyrie for this setup primarily because you want a beefier ally that can take more damage. This makes it a lot more comfortable for you to fire arrows from a safe distance while your powerful Valkyrie soaks up all of the damage.

Attack rating does not matter much on the Freezing Arrow Bowazon, which is why you allocate only 11 points on Penetrate. As to how many points you need to spend on Pierce, that rests on the premise that you have Razortail on. If you choose to wear another belt, spend eight or nine points on the said passive skill to achieve a 100% chance to pierce targets with your arrows.

Breakpoints

There are a couple of breakpoints that you need to focus on when you play as the Bowazon in Diablo II: Resurrected.

The first is increased attack speed or IAS. This is highly gear-dependent because each bow base has a different base attack speed. But, for the purposes of this guide, aim to attain at least 75% IAS to reduce your attack frames to just seven (down from 11). You can use the IAS calculator to find out how much attack speed you need to hit in order to maximize your efficiency.

The second breakpoint that you need to hit is Faster Hit Recovery of FHR. This refers to how fast you can get a hold of your character after suffering from a hit stun. That said, you can settle with just 20% FHR since you do not get hit that often anyway (assuming that you have Valkyrie up at all times). However, if you want a relatively comfortable cushion against hit stuns, then go for 52% FHR.

For detailed breakpoints, check out this guide.

Gearing

There is no denying that the Bowazon is very gear-dependent. Sure, you can use any bow that you can get your hands on and spam any of the skills mentioned above, but if you truly want this build to shine, you need to be willing to invest in expensive gear.

The listed items are organized by slots.

• The usefulness rating of an item is based on how good it is for farming.
• The price rating reflects the cost of the item (cheaper ones are available after ladder starts as budget options) higher price ratings reflect exponentially higher costs for an item.
• Magic Find ratings are added to items that are good options for MFing.<

Adding sockets and improving your items

• If you complete the Act 5 quest Siege on Harrogath, Larzuk will grant extra sockets to your items. Use the quest to add sockets to your gear and put useful jewels, runes, or gems in your item sockets.
• You can also upgrade your unique items from normal to exceptional quality and from exceptional to elite by using Horadric Cube recipes. After upgrading, your armor pieces will have more defense, and your weapon pieces will have more damage. The downside of upgrading is the increased strength/dexterity requirements.

Helm

• 3-socketed helm with 3*15% Increase attack speed jewels - usefulness 5/10, price 3/10
• Guillaume's Face - usefulness 8/10, price 4/10
• Andariel's Visage unique helm - usefulness 7/10, price 5/10
• Nightwing's Veil - usefulness 10/10, price 8/10
• 30% Faster run and Walk 3 Socketed Circlet with 3*15IAS/30%+ Enhanced damage jewels - usefulness 10/10, price 10/10
• Harlequin Crest Shako unique helm - Usefulness 5/10, price 6/10, Magic Find - 10/10

Guillaume's Face is a pretty awesome helmet to use if you are playing the Multiple Shot Bowazon. This thing gives you a considerable chance to land a Crushing Blow. This is even more pronounced since you attack quite rapidly with Guided Arrow or Multiple Shot.

There is a reason why Andariel's Visage is quite popular in D2R. This helmet provides a 20% boost to attack speed when equipped, thus giving you an easier time to reach the desired IAS breakpoint. Moreover, the "+2 to all skills" makes your Multiple Shot or Freezing Arrow more devastating.

If you play the Freezing Arrow Bowazon, then you need to wear Nightwing's Veil. This thing also raises your skills by two similar to Andy's Visage. However, this helmet gives you an increase in cold damage as well. As if that is not enough, Nightwing's Veil can give you up to 20 dexterity, alleviating the need to spend more points on the said attribute to satisfy gear requirements.

As we have mentioned earlier, the Bowazon is not particularly the build that you want to run if you want a bonafide MF character. But, that does not mean that you cannot wear items that boost your character's Magic Find percentage.

If you want to go the Magic Find route, then the Harlequin Crest is a no-brainer. Also known as the "Shako" due to the item's base type, this thing grants a huge 50% increase in MF, in addition to +2 to all skills and +148 to life/mana.

Amulet

• Any amulet with +1-2 to amazon, or +1-3 to bow and crossbow skills - usefulness 4/10, price 1/10
• Mara's Kaleidoscope unique amulet - usefulness 8/10, price 7/10
• Highlord's Wrath unique amulet - usefulness 8/10, price 5/10
• The Cat's Eye - usefulness 8/10, price 3/10
• Atma's Scarab unique amulet - usefulness 8/10, price 3/10
• Magic amulet with 40-50% to magic find - price 5/10, 10/10 for magic find

Mara's Kaleidoscope is one of the most famous amulets for any build in Diablo II: Resurrected. It does not have any modifiers specific to a certain class, but what it does offer is +2 to all skills and +30 to all-resists. If you are on the fence about what amulet you should use, you can never go wrong with Mara's Kaleidoscope.

If you have the need for speed, then the Highlord's Wrath is the one for you. This amulet provides you with a 20% increase in attack speed. Moreover, you gain a hefty chance to hit enemies with a Deadly Strike, which is essentially the critical strike of D2:R.

The Cat's Eye is a fantastic amulet to wear for the Bowazon, especially if you need help with satisfying the DEX requirement of your gear. This unique amulet grants 30% FRW and 20% IAS, making it quite an appealing choice for Bowazons. The only downside to this amulet is that it doesn't give you +1 to level of all skills. Still, The Cat's Eye is certainly one of the amulets you can consider for this build for sure.

If you are playing the physical damage Bowazon, you could consider Atma's Scarab as a viable option for the amulet slot. This unique amulet provides you with a 20% bonus to attack rating, which is quite useful for this version of the build.

More importantly, you have a chance of cursing enemies with Amplify Damage. As you can tell, this is a curse skill that reduces the physical resistance of affected monsters, making the arrows from your Multiple Shot even more lethal.

Just like The Cat's Eye, Atma's Scarab does not have any "+ to all skills" modifier. Still, that should not deter you from considering this amazing amulet!

Weapon

• Witchwild String unique bow socketed with 2 Shael runes - usefulness 4/10, price 3/10
• Harmony Runeword in an elite bow - usefulness 5/10, price 4/10
• Windforce unique bow - usefulness 9/10, price 5/10
• Faith Runeword grand matron bow with +3 to bow and crossbow skills - usefulness 10/10, price 8/10
• Ice Runeword matriarchal bow - usefulness 10/10, price 9/10

If you are still in the process of leveling your character, the Witchwild String can help make your journey a whole lot better. There are a couple of things that are noteworthy on this unique bow. For one, it allows you to cast Amplify Damage while attacking enemies, making it a solid choice for the Multiple Shot Bowazon.

In addition, the Witchwild String lets you fire Magic Arrows, which is quite helpful in dealing with monsters that are immune to physical damage. The Witchwild String is so good that you can use this until you get your hands on a better weapon.

Harmony is incredible for the Freezing Arrow Bowazon. Aside from providing flat elemental damage, this Runeword raises the level of Valkyrie by up to six points! Besides that, this thing grants a level 10 Vigor Aura, which allows you to move around the map without worrying about stamina and stamina regen. If you like to go for this one, get a good elite bow base with four sockets and insert the following runes in order: Tir, Ith, Sol, and Ko.

The Windforce has been one of the best bows for the Bowazon and that still holds true today. That is because this unique bow contains modifiers that are quite useful for this build, including +250% Enhanced Damage (ED), +309 Maximum Damage, 20% IAS, and up to 8% mana stolen per hit.

If there is one bow that can trump Windforce, it would be one with the Faith Runeword in it. Faith is just so amazing that it is definitely worth the investment.

For starters, this thing grants you the Fanaticism Aura, which boosts your attack damage, attack rating, and attack speed so long as you are using the said Runeword.

On top of that, Faith ignores the target's defense. This ensures that you deal the maximum amount of damage each and every time you use any of your primary skills.

Other useful modifiers found in this Runeword are +2 to all skills, 330% ED, and the ability to "reanimate" dead monsters, making them fight alongside you.

Take note that Faith is one of the most expensive Runewords in the game. But, if you are so inclined, get a good bow base (preferably a Grand Matron Bow with +3 to Bow and Crossbow Skills) and then insert the Ohm, Jah, Lem, and Eld runes.

Freezing Arrow Bowazons will find great value in Ice. You could say that this Runeword is made specifically for the said build due to the many modifiers that enhance cold damage.

Equipping a good bow with the Ice Runeword grants you the power to activate the Holy Freeze Aura. As you can tell by the name, this aura not only slows nearby enemies down, but also freezes them in place just by standing still for a few seconds.

Aside from that, Ice provides you with a 30% boost to cold skill damage, a 20% chance to land a Deadly Strike, and 210% ED, among others.

When it comes to the item base type, you have a couple of options to choose from. The Grand Matron Bow is a weapon that can roll the "+3 to Bow and Crossbow Skills" bonus. On the other hand, the Matriarchal Bow is a good alternative due to its high base attack speed.

If you ask us, we would advise you to use the Matriarchal Bow. But, you cannot go wrong with either of the two. Once you have decided on which bow base to use, make sure that it has four sockets and insert the Amn, Shael, Jah, and Lo runes into it.

Shield

• None

This build does not use a shield on the main setup, though you will need one for the weapon swap.

Switch Weapon

• Call to Arms Crystal Sword - usefulness 10/10, price 7/10

In the endgame, you will have to invest in a good switch weapon with the Call to Arms Runeword slapped onto it.

Call to Arms is a staple among many builds in D2:R and for a good reason! It lets you cast three Barbarian-exclusive skills, namely Battle Command, Battle Orders, and Battle Cry. You only need to cast the first two, but Battle Cry is not bad at all.

For the weapon base, we highly recommend that you use a Crystal Sword for its relatively low attribute requirement. Make sure that it has five sockets so that you can put the following runes inside: Amn, Ral, Mal, Ist, and Ohm.

Switch Shield

• Lidless Wall unique shield - usefulness 8/10, price 3/10
• Spirit Monarch -usefulness 10/10, price 3/10

As we have alluded to earlier, you will need a shield for your weapon swap. The reason for this is simply to boost the effects of Call to Arms. For this reason, you have a couple of options to choose from.

The Lidless Wall is quite affordable, so you should have no reason not to get one. This thing grants that all-important +1 to all skills and a small boost to Faster Cast Rate.

In the endgame, however, we highly recommend Spirit. This Runeword is usually paired with CTA because of its "+2 to all skills" bonus. On top of that, it has a much higher FCR compared to the Lidless Wall, making this the obvious choice.

The Spirit Runeword is a lot more expensive than the Lidless Wall for the reasons stated above. So really, it all depends on your budget; you cannot go wrong with either one. Anyway, the specific runes that you will need for Spirit are Tal, Thul, Ort, and Amn.

Body Armor

• Peace - usefulness 5/10, price 2/10
• Treachery Archon Plate - usefulness 7/10, price 4/10
• Fortitude Archon Plate - usefulness 10/10, price 7/10
• Magic Archon plate with 80+ life and 4 socket, socketed with 4*15IAS 30%+ ED jewels - usefulness 10/10, price 10/10
• Skullder's Ire unique armor - usefulness 4/10, price 5/10, magic find 10/10

When you do not have access to endgame gear just yet, you could wear body armor with the Peace Runeword on it. This RW raises the level of Amazon skills by two and grants you the ability to summon a level 15 Valkyrie just by attacking the enemy.

Do you want to learn a neat trick? The Valkyrie ally that is summoned this way will not despawn when you un-equip the Peace armor. So, if you do not have a high-level Valkyrie (from your skill tree), then you can summon your powerful ally using this Runeword. Anyway, get a three-socketed body armor and insert the Shael, Thul, and Amn runes.

This next Runeword was made for the Assassin, but that does not mean that you cannot benefit from it in some way. Treachery is a popular Runeword in D2R because of that Fade buff that you get when you are struck by the enemy.

Additionally, this Runeword gives you a huge 45% boost to attack speed, allowing you to hit the higher IAS breakpoints with ease. The RW's +20% FHR and +30 cold resistance aids in improving your survivability as well.

To form the Treachery Runeword, you must insert the Shael, Thul, and Lem runes into a three-socketed body armor.

If you do not mind sacrificing IAS for MF, then Skullder's Ire is a viable option. This armor reduces the magic damage you receive while wearing it. On top of that, the +200% Enhanced Defense ensures that you won't go down without a fight.

Arguably the best body armor you can wear for the Bowazon is one with the Fortitude Runeword on it. This thing has all of the modifiers that you could want on a single item, such as +300% ED, +200% Enhanced Defense, +30 to all-resists, and a 20% chance to land a Deadly Strike, among others.

Fortitude, due to its usefulness in almost all builds in D2R, is understandably expensive. However, if you wish to form this one, you have to secure the El, Sol, Dol, and Lo runes and find a suitable body armor with four sockets to put them inside.

Belt

• Nosferatu's Coil - usefulness 7/10, price 4/10
• String of Ears unique belt - usefulness 10/10, price 5/10
• Razortail unique belt - usefulness 10/10, price 4/10
• Goldwrap unique belt - magic find 10/10, price 3/10

Any item that increases your attack speed is always welcome here. Hence, the inclusion of Nosferatu's Coil in our recommendations. This is a unique belt that has a couple of notable modifiers. First, it has a unique effect that lets you slow down enemies by 10%. This is pretty useful from a survival standpoint because enemies will not have enough time to reach you.

Second, Nosferatu's Coil is one of the only unique belts in the game that provides you with a slight increase in attack speed. And oh, didn't we mention that this belt allows you to gain life and mana as well?

The String of Ears does not increase your IAS whatsoever. But, this is an incredible belt that heavily improves your survivability due to its two damage reduction modifiers. On top of that, this belt gives you some life leech for sustainability.

Any build that relies on piercing attacks will greatly benefit from this unique item. The Razortail provides a significant increase in pierce chance, which greatly alleviates the need to invest more skill points on the aptly named Pierce (passive).

Contrary to what is stated in the item's description, this thing only grants a 33% increase in pierce chance and not 100%. So, you still need to invest in Pierce regardless. However, the skill points you could save just by wearing this belt justify wearing one.

Remember what we said earlier about Nosferatu's Coil being one of the only unique belts in D2R that grant IAS? Well, the other one is actually Goldwrap. Yes! A Magic Find item that contains bonuses that can improve the Bowazon in more ways than one!

Rings

• Manald Heal unique ring - usefulness 4/10, price 2/10
• Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band unique ring - usefulness 6/10, price 6/10
• Raven Frost unique ring - usefulness 9/10, price 4/10
• Rare or Crafted rings with % life and mana stolen per hit - usefulness 10/10, price varies
• The Stone of Jordan - usefulness 8/10, price 7/10
• Nagelring unique ring - magic find 10/10, price 3/10

The Bowazon is a very mana-hungry build in Diablo II: Resurrected. Early on, you will need to carry with you some Mana Potions just to get by. However, if you have the budget, we highly recommend that you obtain Manald Heal.

Manald Heal is an awesome ring that allows you to steal up to 7% mana from enemies per hit. What's more, this thing replenishes your HP, and provides you with a 20% increase in mana regeneration for good measure.

Since you only have a couple of ring slots in D2R, you will have to replace Manald Heal with better rings later down the line. Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band is a staple ring in this game mainly because of that huge increase in HP and +1 to all skills.

Whether you play the physical damage or cold damage variants of the Bowazon, you will still get tremendous value by wearing Raven Frost. This ring is typically used for its "Cannot Be Frozen" modifier. However, for the bow-wielding Amazon, in particular, you get a few noteworthy inclusions, such as +250 attack rating, +45 cold damage, and +20 dexterity.

If you want to have a higher mana pool, then you should reserve one of your ring slots for The Stone of Jordan. This ring also grants you +1 to all skills similar to Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band, albeit it increases your maximum mana by 25% as well.

You could also invest in a rare ring that contains some useful bonuses, such as elemental resistance, attack rating, and strength/dexterity.

Did you know that there is a unique ring in D2:R that has MF and attack rating modifiers? Yes, there is! That ring is none other than the Nagelring! It grants up to 30% MF and a +75 attack rating, making it an impeccable choice if you decide to increase the Magic Finding capability of the build.

Gloves

• Rare or Magic gloves with +bow and crossbow skills - usefulness 3/10, price 2/10
• Laying of Hands set gloves - usefulness 8/10, price 4/10
• Frostburn - usefulness 8/10, price 3/10
• Magic gloves with +3 to bow and crossbow skills, 20% increased attack speed - usefulness 8/10, price 5/10
• Rare or Crafted gloves with +2 to bow and crossbow skills, 20% increased attack speed and other useful stats - usefulness 10/10, price varies

Frostburn is a pretty good pair of gloves that you can wear in the early game, particularly when you are playing the Freezing Arrow Bowazon. These gloves give you some added cold damage, putting more oomph in every bow you unleash.

What's more, Frostburn significantly increases your mana pool, which is always a good thing for the cold damage variant of the build. With these gloves on, you rarely ever need to use Mana Potions to top up your blue resource!

Planning on taking on the Uber Bosses in Diablo II: Resurrected? If so, you need to be well-equipped, especially with items that greatly increase your damage against them.

Laying of Hands is one such item. This thing grants a significant boost to damage against demons. In case you do not know, Diablo, Baal, and Mephisto are considered "demons" in this game, so it is only fitting that you wear this pair of gloves in order to destroy them without breaking a sweat!

While Laying of Hands is pretty good, you can actually replace that with equally good rare gloves or better. The reason why a pair of rare gloves can trump Laying of Hands is that they can roll modifiers that can greatly benefit your class. Furthermore, they can roll other amazing bonuses, including IAS, Crushing Blow, and life/mana leech, just to name a few.

Boots

• Gore Rider unique boots - usefulness 10/10, price 5/10
• War Traveler unique boots - usefulness 5/10, price 5/10, magic find 10/10

There are only two boots that you need to concern yourself with when it comes to the bow-wielding Amazon. Gore Rider is the best there is if you are dealing with Uber Bosses in Diablo II: Resurrected. That is because it gives you the power to inflict Open Wounds, as well as land a Crushing Blow or a Deadly Strike.

That's not all! The Gore Rider gives you +30% FRW, +200% Enhanced Defense, and +20 to maximum stamina! What is there not to love about these boots?

Okay, what if you just want a well-rounded pair of boots that you can use well into the endgame? Well, the game happens to have that in the form of the War Traveler!

The War Traveler comes with the usual goodies, including bonuses to Enhanced Defense, stamina, and faster run/walk speeds. But, the main draw here is that huge 50% bonus to Magic Find!

If those still do not convince you to get the War Traveler, these boots provide you with a sizable increase in damage, as well as strength and vitality!

No matter which one of these boots you end up wearing, they are both pretty solid options for the Bowazon, without a doubt!

Charms

• Any charm with +skill, life, faster hit recovery, or faster run and walk - usefulness 4/10, price 1/10
• Annihilus unique small charm - usefulness 10/10, price 8/10
• Hellfire Torch unique large charm - usefulness 10/10, price 6/10
• Magic grand charms with +1 to bow and crossbow skills - usefulness 7/10, price 5/10
• Magic grand charms with +1 to bow and crossbow skills and +life, +faster hit recovery or +faster run and walk - usefulness 8 to 10/10, price 6 to 10/10
• Magic small charms with resistances and life - usefulness 8 to 10/10, price 6 to 9/10
• Bone Break Sunder Charm - usefulness 10/10, price 8/10
• Cold Rupture Sunder Charm - usefulness 10/10, price 8/10
• 7% to magic find magic small charms - magic find 10/10, price 3/10
• Gheed's Fortune unique grand charm - magic find 10/10, price 4/10

There are several unique charms that you need to obtain in order to maximize the effectiveness of the Bowazon. The first is Annihilus, which is a small charm that grants +1 to all skills, +20 attributes, and +20 all-resists. Get this as soon as you are able!

The Hellfire Torch is another amazing unique charm that you can acquire. This is used primarily for its +3 to all skills of a particular class. For this reason, get one that specifically states: "+3 to Amazon Skill Levels."

Next is your choice of Sunder Charms depending on your damage type. For the uninitiated, Sunder Charms are a new breed of unique charms that "sunders" the defense of monsters that are naturally immune to certain damage types. So long as you have them in your inventory, you can defeat any enemy you encounter.

That said, if you are playing the Multishot Bowazon, get Bone Break. Conversely, if you went for the Freezing Arrow Bowazon, then you need to acquire Cold Rupture. They are a bit expensive considering the value they provide. But, trust us when we say that they are worth the heavy investment!

Gheed's Fortune benefits any build in D2R because of its MF and Gold Find modifiers. This unique grand charm also gives you a 15% discount when purchasing from any vendor in the game.

Once you have acquired the four charms just mentioned, you can populate the rest of your inventory with a combination of small charms and grand charms that contain the following bonuses:

• +% Faster Run/Walk
• + to Maximum Damage
• + to Attack Rating

Mercenary

Have a Nightmare Act 2 Offensive Mercenary to provide you with Might aura.

Ethereal items don't lose durability if your mercenary wears them, so having ethereal item bases for each gear slot is preferred due to their increased defense on armor items and increased damage on weapons. In many instances, ethereal items that are great for mercenaries will be much more expensive than non-ethereal ones.

Mercenary gear

Helm

• Any 3-socketed helm with 3 perfect diamonds to increase mercenary resistances and survivability - usefulness 5/10, price 1/10
• Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest - usefulness 6/10, price 3/10
• Vampire Gaze unique helm - usefulness 7/10, price 4/10
• Guillaume's face set helm - usefulness 8/10, price 4/10
• Andariel's Visage unique helm - usefulness 10/10, price 5/10

Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest is a very useful helmet for your Mercenary, particularly because of its inherent mana and life leech. Besides that, this helm provides increases in life, defense, mana, and resistance to all damage types.

Once you have farmed enough high runes, you can trade for Vampire Gaze. What makes this helmet special is that it reduces the physical damage and magic damage received by your Merc by 20% and 15%, respectively. That is in addition to life and mana leech as well.

Weapon

• Insight Ethereal Cryptic Axe - usefulness 6/10, price 3/10
• Obedience Runeword preferably in elite base - usefulness 6/10, price 4/10
• Ethereal The Reaper's Toll unique weapon - usefulness 9/10, price 6/10
• Pride Runeword in elite base - usefulness 10/10, price 8/10

Your Mercenary is sort of an extension of your character in that this hireling can be equipped with anything that also benefits you in a way.

Having said that, Insight is a common Runeword that is placed on a poleaxe for your hireling to wield. This grants the Meditation Aura, which boosts your mana regeneration significantly. If you are having trouble sustaining mana, then this is the Runeword to use! Anyway, this requires a four-socketed weapon since you have to place the Ral, Tir, Tal, and Sol runes into it.

Another popular choice of weapon for the Act 2 Mercenary is one that has the "Pride" Runeword on it. This RW grants the Concentration Aura - a Paladin-exclusive skill that ensures that your attacks will not be interrupted by the enemy. More importantly, Concentration Aura grants a sizable damage boost to you and your Merc, making it a prime choice if you are able to get your hands on the Cham, Sur, Io, and Lo runes at relatively inexpensive prices.

Pride can get really expensive due to some of the runes that you need to use in order to form the Runeword. However, if you want an alternative, then you might want to look into Obedience.

Obedience is formed by inserting the Hel, Ko, Thul, Eth, and Fal runes into a two-handed weapon with five sockets. This Runeword does not offer any auras, but it makes up for it by giving your Mercenary a chance to imbue their weapon with fire via the level 21 Enchant spell.

The Runeword itself provides even more than that. Its 370% Enhanced Damage coupled with the -25% target defense make your Mercenary a true killing machine!

Speaking of killing machines, The Reaper's Toll is a great way to boost the damage of your hireling without having to acquire specific runes. This unique Thresher allows your Merc to cast Decrepify while attacking monsters. Those that are affected by the said curse will have their physical resistance reduced by a whopping 50% That is why The Reaper's Toll is also ideal for the physical damage Bowazon!

Body Armor

• Treachery Archon Plate Runeword - usefulness 9/10, price 4/10
• Fortitude Ethereal Archon Plate Runeword - usefulness 10/10, price 7/10

Treachery and Fortitude make a comeback here because they are just incredible Runewords for your Act 2 Merc. The former not only increases attack speed but also your hireling's chance of survival thanks to the Fade buff. The latter, on the other hand, is used to raise the damage of your Merc to the roof!

Alternative Mercenary

If you prefer to use a Windforce- Atma's Scarab setup, it's best to have an Act 1 Rogue mercenary with a Faith Runeword bow, Andariel's Visage for helm, and an Ethereal Treachery Runeword or an Ethereal Fortitude Runeword for the body armor.

Conclusion

The Bowazon is an awesome ranged attacker who does not have a problem eliminating enemies from afar. There are two variations of this build - one that deals physical damage via Multiple Shot, and the other dealing cold damage with Freezing Arrow.

The Multishot Bowazon takes full advantage of the pierce mechanic, allowing her to quickly dispatch hordes of enemies without a hitch. The Freezing Arrow Bowazon is amazing because of the AoE damage of the said skill, as well as the ability for the Amazon to freeze enemies in place.

It is important to keep in mind that the Bowazon requires heavy investment due to the fact that it needs certain equipment to flourish. You could say that this build is quite gear dependent unlike the other D2R builds.

If you have trouble acquiring any of the gear mentioned in this build guide or you just do not want to go through the hassle of farming the items yourself, then do not worry. We've got you covered!

Rpgstash.com will have D2R items in its Ladder selection already on day 1. We will be doing our best to let you buy ladder items right at the beginning of the season including the new Runewords, so you can climb the ladder rankings as fast as possible!

If you want to get the best items and Runewords in the game, check out our D2R Store.