The best quiver affix unlocks at item level 5
Most quiver advice starts at the top of the item level curve, where the expensive affixes live. That misses the strongest affix in the slot.
+1 to Level of all Projectile Skills comes from a suffix called of the Archer, and it requires item level 5. It is the only skill-level affix in the entire quiver pool — nothing else on a quiver raises gem levels.
That matters because gem levels scale a bow skill’s damage at every stage of the game, while a quiver’s flat added damage falls off as your weapon improves. A quiver you find in Act 1 that happens to roll of the Archer can out-value a well-rolled endgame quiver for a specific skill.
The rest of this page is the full pool, so you can see exactly what competes with it.
All 11 quiver bases
Level below is the base’s own requirement, and the implicit is fixed to that base — you cannot reroll it as a normal affix.
| Base | Level | Implicit |
|---|---|---|
| Broadhead Quiver | first available | Adds 1 to 3 Physical Damage to Attacks |
| Fire Quiver | 8 | Adds 3 to 5 Fire damage to Attacks |
| Sacral Quiver | 16 | Gain 2 to 3 Life per Enemy Hit with Attacks |
| Two-Point Quiver | 24 | 20 to 30% increased Accuracy Rating |
| Blunt Quiver | 33 | 25 to 40% increased Stun Buildup |
| Toxic Quiver | 39 | 20 to 30% chance to Poison on Hit with Attacks |
| Serrated Quiver | 44 | Attacks have 20 to 30% chance to cause Bleeding |
| Primed Quiver | 51 | 7 to 10% increased Attack Speed |
| Penetrating Quiver | 55 | 100% chance to Pierce an Enemy |
| Volant Quiver | 61 | 20 to 30% increased Arrow Speed |
| Visceral Quiver | 65 | 20 to 30% increased Critical Hit Chance for Attacks |
Two of those implicits are build-defining and the rest are filler.
Primed Quiver is the only base in the game with an attack-speed implicit. That is not a small edge. Attack speed on the implicit means the of Renown suffix — 14 to 16 percent increased Attack Speed — is a second, separate multiplier rather than a replacement. No other base can stack those two.
Penetrating Quiver hands you 100% chance to Pierce an Enemy as a base property, which frees your support gems and your passive points for damage. If your plan is a clear-speed bow build that shoots through packs, this is the base that lets you skip pierce investment entirely.
The prefix pool, by item level
These are the real prefix families on quivers, with the highest tier of each and the item level that tier needs.
| Item level | Prefix | Top-tier effect |
|---|---|---|
| 82 | Nimble | 42 to 46% increased Projectile Speed |
| 81 | Impaling | 51 to 59% increased Damage with Bow Skills |
| 76 | Amazon’s | 451 to 550 to Accuracy Rating |
| 75 | Flaring | Adds 12 to 19 to 22 to 32 Physical Damage to Attacks |
| 75 | Cremating | Adds 25 to 29 to 37 to 45 Fire damage to Attacks |
| 75 | Entombing | Adds 21 to 24 to 32 to 37 Cold damage to Attacks |
| 75 | Electrocuting | Adds 1 to 4 to 60 to 71 Lightning damage to Attacks |
| 46 | Sparking | Adds 1 to 28 to 32 Lightning damage to Attacks |
| 1 | Glinting, Heated, Frosted | Adds 1 to 2 to 3 of the matching element or physical |
Impaling at 51 to 59 percent increased Damage with Bow Skills is the biggest straight multiplier available to a bow character from this slot, and it needs item level 81. That is the prefix people actually pay for.
The four added-damage prefixes all sit at item level 75, which is convenient: once you are at 75 you are rolling the same tier for physical, fire, cold and lightning, and the choice is about which element your build converts or scales rather than which tier you can reach.
The suffix pool, by item level
| Item level | Suffix | Top-tier effect |
|---|---|---|
| 80 | of Splintering | 41 to 60% Surpassing chance to fire an additional Arrow |
| 77 | of Penetrating | 24 to 26% chance to Pierce an Enemy |
| 74 | of the Phantom | 31 to 33 to Dexterity |
| 74 | of Destruction | 35 to 39% increased Critical Damage Bonus for Attack Damage |
| 72 | of Unmaking | 35 to 38% increased Critical Hit Chance for Attacks |
| 60 | of Renown | 14 to 16% increased Attack Speed |
| 56 | of Siphoning | Gain 21 to 27 Mana per enemy killed |
| 55 | of Valour | Gain 41 to 53 Life per enemy killed |
| 5 | of the Archer | +1 to Level of all Projectile Skills |
of Splintering at item level 80 is the headline suffix and the reason high-item-level quivers are expensive. 41 to 60 percent chance to fire an additional Arrow is a raw multiplier on everything your bow does, and it is why a quiver can cost more than the bow it sits next to.
of Renown at 14 to 16 percent attack speed needs only item level 60, which is the cheapest real damage suffix in the pool. On a Primed Quiver you end up with attack speed on the base and the suffix, and that is the combination worth crafting toward.
of Unmaking is the answer to anyone buying Visceral bases. 35 to 38 percent increased Critical Hit Chance for Attacks is available on any base at item level 72, so the Visceral implicit’s 20 to 30 percent is a bonus, not a prerequisite. If your only reason for a Visceral Quiver is crit, you are paying for a stat any base can roll.
of the Archer is the item level 5 outlier from the top of this page, and it is the one suffix whose value does not decay with the rest of the item.
Rolling priorities that survive contact with trade
If you are buying rather than crafting, the order that gets the most damage per currency is:
- of Splintering if you can afford item level 80. Nothing else adds a projectile.
- Impaling for 51 to 59 percent Damage with Bow Skills.
- of Renown attack speed, ideally on a Primed Quiver so the implicit doubles up.
- of the Archer plus one added-damage prefix for a budget setup that still scales.
- of Unmaking or of Destruction only if the rest of your build is already crit.
The trap is chasing four mediocre affixes instead of two good ones. A quiver with Splintering and Renown beats a quiver with six mid-tier rolls every time, because additional arrows and attack speed both multiply, while accuracy and projectile speed mostly do not.
Before you spend anything, check what the item is actually worth — the price checking guide covers how to read a quiver’s affixes against the trade site, and the crafting guide covers how to push a base toward the two affixes you want.
Which base belongs to which build
The base is a solved question once you know your build’s bottleneck.
- Lightning Arrow and other clear-speed bow builds want Primed Quiver for the double attack speed, or Penetrating Quiver if you would rather spend the pierce investment elsewhere.
- Single-target bow builds want the highest added-damage prefix they can reach, and any base will do because the implicit is a rounding error next to item level 75 added damage.
- Poison and bleed builds should look at Toxic and Serrated Quiver respectively, since those implicits apply the ailment the rest of the build scales.
- Crit builds take Visceral if it is convenient and should not pay a premium for it.
- Stun builds are the only real home for Blunt Quiver.
If you have not settled on a skill yet, the Lightning Arrow build and the Deadeye build both show what a quiver is expected to contribute at endgame.
What the level curve actually means for you
The eleven bases arrive between the first act and level 65, and the affix thresholds that matter are 60, 72, 75, 80, 81 and 82. Those six numbers are your shopping list.
Item level 60 gets you attack speed. 75 gets you the top added-damage tiers. 80 gets you an extra arrow. 81 gets Impaling damage with bow skills, and 82 gets the top projectile speed tier. Anything above 82 on a quiver is wasted item level.
The gap between 60 and 80 is where most players overpay. A well-rolled item level 60 quiver with of Renown and of the Archer will carry a bow build comfortably through the campaign and into early maps, which is why the endgame guide treats the quiver as a later upgrade rather than an early one.
The short answer
If you want one line: buy or craft a Primed Quiver, get of Renown and of the Archer on it, and treat of Splintering as the upgrade you save for. That combination gives you attack speed twice, a gem level, and a path to an additional arrow without ever needing the highest-level base in the game.
Everything else on a quiver is a tier roll. Those three are the item.