I switch to a ranger weapon every now and again but that is no substitute for a true ranged mage weapon. something that will have mage modifiers on it and allow a person to shoot shadow lighting from a distance without going into melee with the enemies.

There are a few mythic bows that are very good if you are a shadow merc/dark defender. Demon Sniper has mana steal and +shadow damage and there are others that are all +int.

bilespitter

Thats the one that I couldnt remember

I found a really nice blue shotgun that split end and int but it had no +s to spell instead it had +s to range.

that would be because it is blue. I don't think there are many shotguns or xbows that of blue rarity and have +spell damage