In this Elden Ring Best Bows and Ranking Guide, we’ll be taking a look at the 7 Bows 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 Bows in Elden Ring

1. Albinauric Bow
2. Erdtree Bow
3. Pulley Bow
4. Black Bow
5. Longbow
6. Serpent Bow
7. Horn Bow

Best Bows in Elden Ring – Ranked

Bows are one of the 31 Weapon types in Elden Ring, soon to be 39 when Shadow of the Erdtree releases on June 21st. Bows have a higher attack rating than Light Bows. They are more versatile when it comes to Ashes of War compared to Greatbows, and they’re only slightly heavier than Light Bows, which can be an insignificant number. They are tied with Greatbows for the longest range.

However, you can not move and shoot with Bows, making them more difficult to use in tight quarters vs. Light Bows. It has a slightly longer draw speed than Light Bows. You also can’t find the good Bows early on in Elden Ring, so you will get to use them much later on in the game.

PROS

• Higher Attack Rating than Light Bows
• More versatility of Ashes of War compared to Greatbows
• Only slightly heavier than Light Bows
• Tied with Greatbows for longest Range
• Can be used from horseback

CONS

• Cannot land and shoot, sprint and shoot and roll and shoot like Light Bows
• Slightly longer draw speed than Light Bows
• Very few early game choices

Horn Bow – #7 Best Bow in Elden Ring

The Horn Bow does Physical and Magic Damage, and is tied for second heaviest Bow in Elden Ring, weighing 4.5. It requires 10 Strength, 14 Dexterity, and 12 Intelligence in order to use effectively.

Attack Rating with 35 STR, 49 DEX & 16 INT: 232 Base + 76 Scaling (308)

Conclusion: The Horn Bow is arguably the worst Bow in Elden Ring as it does terrible damage compared to most other Bows in just about every instance. However, you can change its Ash of War, you can find it pretty early on in Siofra River, and it increases the damage ratio of Dwelling Arrows to more Magic Damage, allowing you to boost their damage more easily with things like Magic Scorpion Charm, Magic-Shrouding Cracked Tear and Terra Magica.

This weapon scales the best with DEX up to 50, then STR. INT scales horribly with this weapon, which is a shame as this can help boost magic damage.

If you’re going to use this weapon you pretty much must use Dwelling Arrows exclusively or you might as well use another Bow. However, since the scaling is mostly DEX, you could use a second Bow with regular Arrows and swap to this one when you want to deal Magic Damage with Dwelling Arrows without sacrificing damage on the other Bow.

Serpent Bow – #6 Best Bow in Elden Ring

The Serpent Bow does Physical Damage, and is the lightest Bow in Elden Ring, weighing 3.5. It requires 8 Strength, 15 Dexterity, and 11 Arcane in order to use effectively.

Attack Rating with 34 STR, 55 DEX & 11 ARC: 183 Base + 103 Scaling (286)

Conclusion: The Serpent Bow is a strange weapon. It adds 15 Poison build up to any Arrow it fires, it’s the lightest Bow in Elden Ring, and its native Arcane Scaling means that arrows fired from it like Blood, Poison or Sleep will have more build up than other Bows.

However, and this is a big HOWEVER: placing points into Arcane does not increase arrow damage, and only increases these Status Effect build ups. This means you must choose between more damage, or more Status Effects with your arrows, and since even when optimized for the most damage possible the Serpent Bow still has lower damage than other Bows, you should really only be using this weapon if you plan to go this route.

Mighty Shot does not make this easy in close quarter boss fights though, and you cannot roll and shoot or land and shoot like a Light Bow, making this a tricky Bow to use.

Longbow – #5 Best Bow in Elden Ring

The Longbow does Physical Damage, and is tied for the second lightest Bow in Elden Ring, weighing 4. It requires 9 Strength and 14 Dexterity in order to use effectively.

Attack Rating with 40 STR & 60 DEX: 196 Base + 101 Scaling (297)

Conclusion: The Longbow is a solid all-around Bow. It does decent damage, you can acquire it very early in Roundtable Hold, and it’s one of three Bows that can change Ashes of War.

The scaling on it is very slightly better with DEX than STR, making it viable for either type of Build. It’s the best Bow you can use early on in the game if you want to swap out Mighty Shot for Rain of Arrows, but eventually you’ll likely want to replace it with the Albinauric Bow.

Black Bow – #4 Best Bow in Elden Ring

The Black Bow does Physical Damage, and is tied for the second lightest Bow in Elden Ring, weighing 4. It requires 9 Strength and 20 Dexterity in order to use effectively.

Attack Rating with 40 STR & 60 DEX: 171 Base + 101 Scaling (276)

Conclusion: The Black Bow is unique for a Bow, since it operates identically to a Light Bow except that it’s a bit heavier and has much better range. It also has very low damage for a Bow which is better than all Light Bows, but worse than nearly every other Bow, and has Barrage as its weapon skill, just like a Light Bow.

The weapon scales slightly better with DEX than STR, but not by much, making it suited for either type of build. The scaling of this weapon is better than Light Bows and some Bows, but is not great in general.

Pulley Bow – #3 Best Bow in Elden Ring

The Pulley Bow does Physical Damage, and is the heaviest Bow in Elden Ring, weighing 5. It requires 11 Strength and 11 Dexterity in order to use effectively.

Attack Rating with 45 STR & 55 DEX: 188 Base + 139 Scaling (327)

Conclusion: The Pulley Bow is fantastic. It has the best range of all Bow weapons in Elden Ring, it has the lowest requirements of all Bows and has the highest damage on average of all Bows. However, you don’t get it until the Mount Gelmir area of the game, and it is the heaviest Bow in Elden Ring.

Scaling-wise, DEX is just ever so slightly ahead of STR making it perfectly viable for both types of Builds, and it does have the best scaling of all Bows, so investing points is definitely worth it.

Erdtree Bow – #2 Best Bow in Elden Ring

The Erdtree Bow does Physical and Holy Damage, and is tied for the second lightest Bow in Elden Ring, weighing 4. It requires 8 Strength, 12 Dexterity, and 14 Faith in order to use effectively.

Attack Rating with 8 STR, 12 DEX & 80 FTH: 220 Base + 66 Scaling (286)

Conclusion: The Erdtree Bow is interesting because it does increased damage with both Fire and Golden Arrows due to Faith scaling, though performs much better with Golden Arrows than Fire. And this damage is higher than any other Bow in Elden Ring, but only when using Golden Arrows.

The downside is that you cannot find this weapon until the Leyndell Royal Capital, Holy Damage is resisted by bosses, and when you don’t use Fire or Golden Arrows it deals the lowest per shot damage with any other Arrow type.

Scaling-wise, it scales best up to 80 FTH with minimum points in STR and DEX, making it perfect for FTH builds that spell cast wanting a long-range way of picking off enemies. This also allows you to use Golden Vow, Flame, Grant Me Strength or Howl of Shabriri easily, further increasing your damage.

Albinauric Bow – #1 Best Bow in Elden Ring

The Albinauric Bow does Physical Damage and is tied for the second heaviest Bow in Elden Ring, weighing 4.5. It requires 7 Strength and 18 Dexterity in order to use effectively.

Attack Rating with 20 STR & 80 DEX: 200 Base + 114 Scaling (314)

Conclusion: The Albinauric Bow is often overlooked by many would-be Bow users, and that’s probably because you cannot get it until Consecrated Snowfields, and it can take some time to farm. However, it has the highest damage of any Bow that can use Rain of Arrows, and it has the highest Base Damage of all Bows so it doesn’t rely as much on scaling as the Pulley Bow.

The scaling of the weapon is mostly DEX making this arguably the best choice of Bow when playing a DEX build if you don’t want to use Mighty Shot or Barrage.

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)

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