In this Elden Ring Best Greatbows and Ranking Guide, we’ll be taking a look at the 4 Greatbows in Elden Ring and discuss why you might use them in combat. We’ll take a look at attack power, damage type, length, Weapon Skills, and other factors such as how long it takes you to acquire them, to determine if they are best suited for you. We are doing a guide for all Weapon types in Elden Ring, and these will be updated to reflect those added with Shadow of the Erdtree as well.

Best Greatbows in Elden Ring

1. Lion Greatbow
2. Golem Greatbow
3. Greatbow
4. Erdtree Greatbow

Bow Talismans in Elden Ring

• Arrow’s Sting – Increases Arrow damage
• Arrow’s Reach Talisman – Increases Arrow Range. Arrows fired outside their listed Range deal reduced damage the further from the target they go. I find that only Light Bows need this Talisman in general, as Mighty Shot increases the Range for that Arrow. Note that status effect build up is unaffected by Range, and does NOT suffer a penalty from firing outside the weapon’s Range.
• Ritual Sword Talisman – Increases damage when at max HP. This is a good way to boost damage if you can keep from getting hit.
• Shard of Alexander/Warrior Jar Shard – These Talismans boos the damage of your Weapon Skills, which helps a lot.
• Blue Dancer Charm – Increases the damage you deal the lighter equip load you have on a sliding scale. The lighter the better. Good for Bow Builds that sacrifice protection for damage.
• Spear Talisman – Increases the damage of Arrows that hit enemies that are mid attack animation. Great for Light Bows that can bait attacks and then jump or roll and shoot. Keep in mind it only boosts Physical Damage, so make sure to use Arrows that deal Physical Damage when using it.

Bow Weapon Skills in Elden Ring

• Barrage – 33% Damage penalty per arrow and reduced Status Effect build up, in exchange for a 50% increased fire rate vs. normal arrows (2 FP cost)
• Mighty Shot – 75% more Damage and 75% more Status Effect build up per arrow, as well as adding Range to arrows fired and dealing some damage through Blocks (6 FP)
• Enchanted Shot – Increases Damage by 50% of arrows fired as well as 50% increased Status Effect build up, and homes onto the target, curving to hit them (8 FP)
• Sky Shot – Does 33% more Damage than a regular arrow and arcs very high into the sky coming down on the head of the target, though this cannot be used in places with a ceiling as it blocks the arrow. Head shots typically deal more damage than body shots, depending on the enemy, which can make this skill outperform Mighty Shot in terms of overall damage for less FP. However, hitting the enemy’s head is not guaranteed, and it often hits their upper back, so positioning to the side or front of the enemy is important when using this skill.
• Through and Through – Does +30% Damage with Great Arrows, piercing the target and hitting enemies behind the target (9 FP)
• Rain of Arrows – 50% less damage and Status Effect build up per arrow but can hit with multiple arrows in one use allowing for more overall damage than other Bow Weapon Skills and decent Status Effect build up (20 FP)

Best Greatbows in Elden Ring – Ranked

Greatbows are one of the 31 Weapon types in Elden Ring, soon to be 39 when Shadow of the Erdtree releases on June 21st. They have the highest attack rating of all bow-type weapons. Greatbows are the only weapon that can use the Ash of War Through and Through. Also, every Greatbow in the game can be found in the first half of the game, and it is tied with Bows for the longest range.

However, Greatbows are the heaviest Bow-type weapons. They also have a longer time to draw, and their weapon skills are pretty much limited. Lastly, their ammo capacity is considerably less than the other Bow-type weapons.

PROS

• Highest Attack Rating of all Bow type weapons
• Only weapon that can use Through and Through Ash of War
• All can be found in the first half of the game
• Tied with Bows for longest Range

CONS

• Much heavier than other Bow type weapons
• Longest draw speed of all Bow type weapons
• Very limited weapon skill selection
• Less ammo capacity than other Bow type weapons

Erdtree Greatbow – #4 Best Greatbow in Elden Ring

The Erdtree Greatbow does Physical and Holy Damage, and is the second heaviest Greatbow in Elden Ring, weighing 11. It requires 20 Strength, 14 Dexterity, & 14 Faith in order to use effectively.

Attack Rating with 36 STR, 15 DEX & 50 FTH: 306 Base + 100 Scaling (406)

• Through and Through Damage (with Golden Great Arrow): 1085
• Through and Through Damage (with Golden Great Arrow, Sacred Scorpion Charm & Holy-Shrouding Cracked Tear): 1332

Conclusion: The Erdtree Greatbow is by far the worst of the Greatbows except when using Golden Great Arrows, and when using the Sacred Scorpion Charm and Holy-Shrouding Cracked Tear. This combo allows it to catch up to the Greatbow and Lion Greatbow in per arrow damage, but you have to have these things to pull this off. However, you can get this Greatbow earlier than any other Greatbow in the game, has the lowest requirements of all Greatbows, and native Faith scaling allows you to buff with Golden Vow easily, pushing your damage up to the Golem Greatbow when using it.

Through and Through is not likely to benefit you as much with this weapon as the damage is much lower than other Greatbows, particularly since 9 FP is not a small amount early game. I don’t recommend using it if you’ve grabbed this bow early on, but if you’re later in the game and have more FP and the proper spacing you definitely should when needed.

This weapon scales better with FTH up to 50, and then STR, and then DEX, making this a good pairing with STR/FTH builds, and Golden Great Arrows scale with FTH so you should prioritize this before STR. Additionally, the scaling of this weapon is poor in general compared to other Greatbows, so you shouldn’t focus on increasing your stats to maximize its damage, but rather whatever other weapon you are using.

Greatbow – #3 Best Greatbow in Elden Ring

The Greatbow does Physical Damage, and is the second lightest Greatbow in Elden Ring, weighing 10. It requires 20 Strength and 20 Dexterity in order to use effectively.

Attack Rating with 50 STR & 50 DEX: 306 Base + 209 Scaling (515)

• Through and Through Damage: 1332
• Rain of Arrows Damage: 2592

Conclusion: The Greatbow is not the worst Greatbow, even though it deals less damage than all but the Erdtree Greatbow. However, it can be infused with Rain of Arrows if you don’t like Through and Through and does slightly less damage than Radahn’s Rain when fully buffed, but slightly more damage when not buffed with Exalted Flesh or Flame, Grant Me Strength.

Through and Through does about 30% more damage for 9 FP, which is not a terrible trade if you have the time and FP to use it, as it takes a bit longer to setup than a normal shot on a Greatbow. The damage Through and Through deals on the Greatbow is about 15% less than the Golem Greatbow, and about the same as the Erdtree Greatbow when using the Sacred Scorpion Charm, Holy-Shrouding Cracked Tear and Golden Great Arrows on that weapon.

The Greatbow has the same scaling for both STR and DEX allowing you to use it in either type of build effectively, but getting the most damage out of it requires a Quality build.

Golem Greatbow – #2 Best Greatbow in Elden Ring

The Golem Greatbow does Physical Damage, and is the heaviest Greatbow in Elden Ring, weighing 14.5. It requires 24 Strength and 18 Dexterity in order to use effectively.

Attack Rating with 55 STR & 45 DEX: 318 Base + 302 Scaling (620)

• Through and Through Damage: 1589

Conclusion: The Golem Greatbow is the pound-for-pound king of Greatbows if you’re talking about per shot damage, or Through and Through Damage, and you can also get it rather early on in the game by farming Golems that use Bows in Limgrave. However, it is the heaviest Greatbow by a good margin making it hard to use early on when trying to manage your weight.

Through and Through does more damage with this weapon than any other Greatbow, but the downside is that you cannot change to Rain of Arrows when you may want it for certain bosses or enemies. This means if you like Rain of Arrows you should either use the Greatbow or Lion Greatbow, despite their lower per shot damage.

This weapon scales very slightly better with STR than DEX, making it viable for both type of Builds. However, to get the most from this weapon you will need to go the Quality route, so keep that in mind when using it. Since it has the best scaling of all Bow type weapons in Elden Ring, you definitely should consider doing this when using this weapon.

Lion Greatbow – #1 Best Greatbow in Elden Ring

The Lion Greatbow does Physical Damage, and is the lightest Greatbow in Elden Ring, weighing 9.5. It requires 22 Strength and 18 Dexterity in order to use effectively.

Attack Rating with 50 STR & 50 DEX: 294 Base + 224 Scaling (518)

• Rain of Arrows Damage: 2592

Conclusion: The Lion Greatbow is solid. It has excellent Base Damage and scaling considering it is the lightest Greatbow, and it visually looks better than the other 3 Greatbows. It also natively increases Radahn’s Spear damage by 20%, and if you hold a second Lion Greatbow in your offhand you can double this bonus.

Radahn’s Rain is a solid weapon skill and can hit over 3k damage when fully buffed and using Radahn’s Spears as ammo. It’s great for co-op when someone has a boss distracted, or for leading off a fight against a difficult enemy that hasn’t seen you yet. It’s easily the best Weapon Skill of Greatbows, typically being slightly better than Rain of Arrows when fully buffed.

The Lion Greatbow has nearly identical scaling with STR and DEX making it viable for both types of Builds. But, just like the Golem Greatbow, you will need to build for Quality if you want to get the most damage from it, and it does have relatively good scaling so putting points for damage is worth it.

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If you enjoyed this Greatbows Ranked Guide, be sure to check out our other Weapon Guides, and also our article on how to Prepare for Shadow of the Erdtree!