Diablo 2: The Brother (And Sister)hood of EoFF

[Captain Maxx Power]

Two socketed helms are very easy to find, so noth worth mentioning. Lore (Ort Sol), that it is! Barbarian Helms and Druid Helms are less popular variants on the Lore, and are class-only.

Lored Barb-helms with +3 to BO can be very popular.

Any three or four socketed armor, with a defense rating of at least 425-450+, and of the following classification: Mage Plate (preferably above 250 defense), Dusk Shroud or Archon Plate. Also acceptable are (in order or priority), Wire Fleece, Boneweaves, Scarab Husks, and Wyrmhides. These are found in frequently used runewords, such as Fortitude (El Sol Dol Lo; the Mercenary must), Chains of Honor (Dol Um Ber Ist), and the ever-popular Enigma (Jah Ith Ber). These armors also have the property of being worth a high rune.

Don't forget Treachery (Shael Thul Lem), which is one of the best defensive armours in the game, and a damn sight cheaper than Fortitude, CoH or Enigma. The major disadvantage is it's lack of +ED%, but on characters like Amazons that's not much of a concern (plus it comes with 45%(!) IAS, which is the most IAS you can get besides a 4-fevored jewelled armour).

Hydra Bows. Diamond, Crusader, and Ward bows are also accepted.

In most cases, a Crusader bow is preferrable to a Hydra Bow since the Minimum damage on a Crusader is more than a Hydra, and higher minimum damage is preferrable to a higher maximum damage if the average damage is the same (it's all maths apparently, but I have it on good authority that min damage is always better).

You can ignore Crossbows. They are not fast enough, and their requirements often too high. Also ignore Daggers and Javelins. In fact, I'm not even sure that they support any runewords.

Don't put crossbows by the wayside so quickly! Shapeshifting Druids (and even Barbs if you're feeling fruity) can use Crossbows in their shifted form. With a high amount of IAS they can get as fast as many two-handed weapons. Anyone who's made a Buri druid will know the fun you can have. Javelin's don't support runewords, but Daggers do. Fanged Knives can have any "melee" runewords up to three sockets, and Legend Spikes can accomodate anything up to two sockets. Unfortunately most of the better weapon runewords are four sockets up.

Four or five socketed Flails. This is most popularly used with Hoto (Ko Vex Pul Thul) and Call to Arms (Amn Ral Mal Ist Ohm). These "caster" runewords are not recognized by Diablo II's runes system, as the note says, as are used because of their anemic requirements.

Don't forget Oath. In an ethreal Scourge the damage is just sickening.

Ignore Scepters, Throwing items, Wands, Sorceress Orbs, and Necromancer Shrunken Heads.

Don't discount Scepters, Wands and Shrunken Heads entirely. +3 Holy Shock scepters can be used with Holy Thunder for a rather chunky +6 to Holy Shock for Tesladins. Wands can accept White, which is the best runeword for any Bonemancer with the exception of a perfect Boneshade. Necro Heads can accept Rhyme, a rather neat MF/Mid-level caster shield.