What You Didn’t Know About Forging A Branded Bow For Your Bowazon In Diablo 2

Brand is a runic word that is placed on bows or crossbows, making it an option for Amazons who use bow / crossbow.

Requirements:

A projectile weapon with 4 sockets

Runes (in order): Jah + Lo + Mal + Gul

The statistics:

35% chance to cast Level 14 Amplify Damage on Hit

100% chance to cast level 18 bone spear on hit

+ 260-340% Enhanced Damage

Ignore target defense

20% bonus to attack score

+ 280-330% Damage to Demons

20% death blow

Avoid monster healing

Recoil

Shoot explosive arrows or bolts (up to 15)

Requirements -20%

Here’s a look at some of the cool mods in Brand Runeword:

35% chance to cast Level 14 Amplify Damage on Hit

Being able to deal incredible damage is a badge of pride for any seasoned Diablo 2 player, and Amplify is the prime candidate for the favorite curse due to its ability to make all hits deal double damage to the cursed enemy.

However, the strange condition of this mod means that you would have to take a hit to activate it. Most players are trying to avoid getting hit in the first place, so the usefulness of this ability is seriously compromised by the odd conditional,

100% chance to cast level 18 bone spear on hit

After taking into account the physical stamina of monsters in Hell mode, this could add around 100 damage to your attack. Nothing to sniff about, but when you’re doing thousands of damage, this is just a regular mod.

Ignore target defense

This ability does not work on champions, uniques, bosses, or players.

20% bonus to attack score

A good mod to have, as the higher your attack rate, the more likely you are to hit your target.

+ 280-330% Damage to Demons

Another nice mod to have as many of the unique monsters tend to be Demons.

20% death blow

Mortal Strike in Diablo 2 gives your character an X% chance to deal double damage. Damage is doubled after all other bonuses are taken into consideration (except the Critical Strike bonus which also deals double damage). If you play an Amazon who uses this runic word and has points in the Critical Strike skill, the game goes to one of the first two (Mortal Strike or Critical Strike). If the roll fails, then the game rolls for the other bonus. If the first roll is successful, a second roll is not required.

Avoid monster healing

It does not work on boss monsters or players.

Recoil

This will cause the monster to be downed and thus help keep your enemies at bay, but Knockback tends to make it difficult for the Amazon to target the monster in question.

Summary:

While Brand Runeword offers some nice mods, the six required Runes are pretty rare, making this Runeword very expensive. Most players who trade Diablo 2 will be able to get weapons with better damage and mods by trading just one of the six runes listed above.