History of Eaglehorn
Hello everyone and welcome back to another short article on the history of an item that has appeared in multiple Diablo games. Today we are going to take a look at Eaglehorn. This was a unique bow that originated from Diablo I. Originally it was a Long Battle Bow that gave very strong damage and massive chance to hit which certainly made life easier when having to attack ranged mobs in Diablo I. Ranged mobs were super super frustrating at times in Diablo I because if you had no ranged attacks you had to literally chase them into a wall or corner or some type of barrier that would stop them from just constantly running away from you. This bow made short work of those little buggers trying to escape our justice! Let us take a look at the stats from the games it was in, shall we?
Eaglehorn (Diablo I)
Long Battle Bow
- Damage: 1-10
- +20 Dexterity
- +50% Chance To Hit
- +100% Damage
- Durability: Indestructible
- Requirements:
- 30 Strength
- 60 Dexterity
If this is a bow that you’re searching for in Diablo I then you’ll be happy to know that the Eaglehorn is the only unique Long Battle Bow in the game. There is another unique bow called Deadly Hunter and looks exactly the same as the Eaglehorn but it’s actually a Composite Bow base and not a Long Battle Bow.
In Diablo II there are typically different versions of a base item that upgrade in stats and requirements to use as you climb higher difficulty levels of the game. The Eaglehorn has always been an incredibly powerful bow and as such it wouldn’t be much of a powerful weapon if they left it as a “normal” version of the bow so in Diablo II they made the Eaglehorn an “elite” version of the Long Battle Bow called a Crusader Bow. Just for reference there are normal, exceptional and elite versions of most equipment items in Diablo II. Let's take a look at the changes to this bow’s stats for Diablo II.
Eaglehorn (Diablo II)
Crusader Bow
- Two-Hand Damage: 45 to (190-313)
- Required Level: 69
- Required Strength: 97
- Required Dexterity: 122
- Bow Class - Slow Attack Speed
- +200% Enhanced Damage
- +2-198% Enhanced Maximum Damage (+2 Per Character Level)
- +1 To Amazon Skills
- +6-594 To Attack Rating (+6 Per Character Level)
- +25 To Dexterity
- Ignores Target’s Defense
This unique bow has kept its theme of powerful damage and extremely high accuracy rating that it had in Diablo I. I’m not going to bother explaining in detail what all the math behind the formula used for calculating “To Hit Chance” is but basically the gist of it is that Hit Chance is determined by monster Defense and Level vs your Attack Rating and level and by removing the defense of a monster (ignore target defense) you get a much higher chance to hit the same mob, not just hit it harder which will happen as well of course.
Diablo IV actually released this bow in Season 1 as a unique Rogue bow! It’s so good to see my old friend Eaglehorn making its way to Diablo IV. Diablo IV takes a different approach to unique items than Diablo I and Diablo II which is that they basically get one affix on the item that can’t be rolled or found on other items but the rest of the item kinda just rolls like a rare or magic item would. Let's take a look at the stats.
Eaglehorn (Diablo IV)
Unique Bow
+[6.0-40.0]% Damage to Distant Enemies
Penetrating Shot has a [30-80]% chance to fire an arrow that bounces off walls and scenery. Hitting enemies from behind with Penetrating Shot will make them Vulnerable for 3 seconds. (Rogue Only)
This bow has such a soft spot in my heart because back in the day when I was a wee lad I grinded Mephisto Magic Find runs in Diablo II on xmas break back 20 some years ago and the Eaglehorn dropped for me as I was barely able to keep my eyes open. Zombified from doing so many Magic Find runs I was just about to quit for the night and suddenly the adrenaline rush that we all know and love happened… BAM! I GOT THE BOW! I was pumped to say the least and that memory has stayed with me for 20+ years. I hope that you are well and have a wonderful day.