Hi. So.

I've been toying around and wondering what's the best or how to make the best armor?
No cheating or looping. But I heard you need to be at 100 smithing + wear enchanted armor that gives +50% and drink a potion that gives +40% for a grand total of 90% increase.

Is that correct or?..
Same question for weapon. Bow specifically.

Thanks :3

Depends on your definition of cheating. You can get insane items with potions but it is an ingame mechanic and therefore not cheating (game-breaking yes).

If you want to avoid making the game too easy just obtain some smithing bonuses (ring of extreme smithing for example) and make a nice set of legendry daedric armor. Then drink a nice enchanting potion and enchant with something useful.

For a bow, I use legendry ebony bow enchanted with soul trap and shock/frost/fire damage (I think mine is 26 elemental damage on top of base bow damage).

Well I think what I'm asking is how to make the best gear, which means not worrying about loot ever, but still not being op and keep the game challenging. Where's the fine line?

Daedric.

Everything can be found. Some things are just not dropped as often as others.