Brand is a Runeword that is placed in Bows or Crossbows, thus making it a choice for bow/crossbow-using Amazons to consider.
Requirements:
A Missile Weapon with 4 sockets
Runes (in order): Jah + Lo + Mal + Gul
The Stats:
35% Chance To Cast Level 14 Amplify Damage When Struck
100% Chance To Cast Level 18 Bone Spear On Striking
+260-340% Enhanced Damage
Ignore Target's Defense
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
+280-330% Damage To Demons
20% Deadly Strike
Prevent Monster Heal
Knockback
Fires Explosive Arrows or Bolts (up to 15))
Requirements -20%
Here are a look at some of the interesting mods on the Brand Runeword:
35% Chance To Cast Level 14 Amplify Damage When Struck
Being able to dish out incredible damage is a badge of pride for any experienced Diablo 2 player, and Amplify is a prime candidate for favorite Curse due to its ability to cause all blows to do double damage on the cursed enemy.
However, the strange conditional on this mod means that you would have to get struck to trigger it. Most players are trying to avoid getting hit in the first place, therefore the usefulness of this ability is severely compromised by the strange conditional,
100% Chance To Cast Level 18 Bone Spear On Striking
After factoring in physical resistance for the monsters in Hell mode, this might add about a 100 or so damage to your attack. Nothing to sniff at, but when you're doing damage in the thousands, this is only a so-so mod.
Ignore Target's Defense
This ability doesn't work on Champions, Uniques, Bosses or Players.
20% Bonus to Attack Rating
A nice mod to have since the higher your Attack Rating, the better chance you have of actually hitting your target.
+280-330% Damage To Demons
Another nice mod to have as a lot of the unique monsters tend to be Demons.
20% Deadly Strike
Deadly Strike in Diablo 2 gives your character an X% chance of dealing double damage. The damage is doubled after all other bonuses are taken into consideration (except for the Critical Strike bonus which also deals double damage). If you are playing an Amazon who uses this Runeword and has points in the Critical Strike skill, the game rolls for one of the two first (either Deadly Strike or Critical Strike). If the roll for that fails, then the game rolls for the other bonus. If the first roll succeeds, then no second roll is needed.
Prevent Monster Heal
Doesn't work on either boss monsters or players.
Knockback
This will cause the monster to be knocked back, and thus help keep your enemies at bay, but Knockback tends to make it harder for the Amazon to target the monster in question.
Summary:
While the Brand Runeword does offer some nice mods, the six Runes required are quite rare, making this Runeword a very expensive one. Most players that trade in Diablo 2 will manage to get weapons with better damage and mods by trading just one of the six runes listed above.
