There’s also different ash of war you can get for the bows, I love the enhanced shot, the arrows track and has a bonus magic damage if I remember correctly, basically a better version of mighty shot
the reward for the “redmane” painting is and ash of war for the bow that fires 1 arrow into the air and rains arrows down on the target great for aplying statis 1 arrow = 4-5 hits
Shattershard makes sound while hitting surfaces for distraction for leading enemies to different areas. Leading the big birds in the blood area to the blood geysers is an example of a decent way to take care of enemies indirectly with these arrows.
Because the bows don't scale well with stats and don't hit hard enough, originally wanted to do a bow only build, but people who did archer builds for previous games (dark souls) and tried in Elden Ring said it wasn't worth it.
@@shimmyking4 True, there's a few builds out there using the black bow with barrage that did well. They still had to fall back on melee weapons though.
Nahh.. it's a real stretch to make bows work in this game. Sure you can break some stuff late game, but that is true with anything in elden ring. The early and even some of the midgame is criminally bad for bows as a main weapon
Misbegotten Bow is worth mentioning for strength builds. It has the lowest dex requirements for bows at just 8, shorter range than most bows, but increased damage. The utility is nice. It's been surprisingly effective tool for me during invasions.
Bows have been such a large part of my whole playthrough. After I found the Black Bow I've never taken it off. They are a ton of fun, expand the gameplay and offer great utility. Love em.
My go to is the Serpent Bow, i actually never found the Black Bow on my first playthrough, and i never went to that area on either of my other 2 playthroughs.
The fletched arrows don't do more damage, they only have longer range. The fire arrows you showed with 95 damage aren't the fire arrows from item crafting but rather the ones you find or buy. Those do a bit more damage.
Something that I see many ppl ommit while talking about ranged combat - in slow and methodical exploration, it works very well, since in ER limitation of X arrows per rest is removed. I can use 30 great arrows to snipe 1 enemy groups... and instead of being out of ammo I can craft 30 more fr 6 great bones (3k runes total). It helps and in longer explorations, or coop it really boost archers to keep them up in
I like using the Black Bow and running. It can even shoot while mid jump. Also a lesser known thing about bows is that you can snipe with both barrage or might bow/through and through by holding both L1 and L2.
@@evilmac9623 poison itself is really slow, doing very small % max hp damage, but there are talisman and armor that give attack boost when poison procs. Combine with bleed version you can get ridiculous attack boosts
Poison becomes super powered when combined with mushroom crown or rot talisman, because it can proc multiple times in succession the damage bonus is also stacked. Someone used it against Malenia and was getting 900 damage per serpent arrow
I remember someone using the jar cannon on me and a friend. They were up on the branch before millicent fight. It was easy to dodge, i just moved to the side when they fired a shot. Then my friend suggested we just stand in front of the branch to block their line of sight so they had to move to us.
Oh man, it is the great bows’ Ash of war that makes them so insane IMO. The golem bow with “through and through” regularly hits for 1150-1400 when aimed at a humanoid head. That specific ash of war goes through enemies and causes full damage to every enemy in the path.
My favorite strategy right now is to use the Serpent Bow to tag people with poison, then swap over to blood arrows for the burst damage. The arcane scaling from the bow gives you a boost!
Crepus' Black Key Crossbow is a good early game weapon. It has a little more range than other crossbows, and the bolts fly faster so they are harder to dodge. You can get it in the Roundtable Hold, just need a key to unlock the gargoyle in the downstairs hall.
You forgot an option. Quick weapon in right hand with crossbow in left. Free aiming explosive bolts and shooting the ground at people's feet takes some practice learning how to free aim, but it's incredibly flexible and with a weapon you have constant mixups
Something to note, I have used mighty shot with the serpent bow and can confirm that if you somehow land the hit, mighty shot applies 50% more, not just damage but also status effects, +7 serpent bow, basic poison arrows vs basilisk and 20ish arcane, normal shot won't trigger poison but mighty shot will on only one shot. I'd seen it commented on wiki's, but I can confirm entirely that it worked very efficiently when tested vs them in the Auzira heroes grave from the beam right bellow the boss door was my test bed since he can't get up to me
@@StoverXIII just be careful of nightfall, the bell bearing hunter hits about as hard as Mohg, don't know who that is? don't engage yet till you either got really good allies or are that deep to know who that is lol i have them, but i make a lot of poison arrows as well and i don't know how they stack up cause the bow says it stacks poison on every shot but i don't know if heavy and basic stack together.
You're sleeping on bows even more than you probably realize. There's so much more potential and tech to be discovered than is covered in this video. I would highly recommend anyone watching this to attempt to use Black Bow in PvP as their main weapon and attempt to get good with it, you can outplay mindless Rivers of Blood spammers quite effectively, and become quite a dangerous pest as an invader fighting a 3v1 gank. Also, stealth archery is completely viable in pvp, trust me.
@@hay_aye_ron pvp is player vs player so invading is the very definition of pvp stealth or not Second you should search some videos on the bow pvp, I have seen multiple guys doing duels with a bow and dominating all kinds of builds.
I started as a samurai so i started out with the base longbow and I have been using it quite a lot since you can just range enemies down with just a couple of mighty shot arrows in most situations. I didn't know that the pulley crossbow was a triple shot though so I might have to look into especially since I just picked it up.
Yep. I've been using a bow since day 1. I didn't approach Elden Ring like "what's my build, what weapon and stats am I go to hyper specialize in?" I approached like it was an RPG, there are the enemies and situations I have to overcome and here are my weapons and tools I have to do it with. The bow imo isn't a main battle weapon for boss fights but it does make an excellent weapon for clearing out groups, anti sniping, weakening a tough enemy before it gets close and of course being the ultimate cheez weapon, for hitting enemies and some bosses from a place they can't hit you (I carry 500+ arrows of all types, I'll drop that boss... eventually).
I mostly use the bow in new areas, since I want to get to the next site of grace without using up all my flasks. It's great for pulling one enemy from a group, or sniping some annoying enemy that you know is hard to kill without trading hits.
I may have missed it in the video, but the serpent bow is nice. Adds poison damage and status even using regular arrows. Adds the status faster if using poison arrows with it
a fun note, rain of arrows only uses 1 arrow but each hit can build status. also there are actually 3 types of each arrow. there's the bone arrow, bone arrows with feathers and then the purchasable arrows (always with feathers) and all their variants. bone arrows with feathers only increase the range effectiveness of regular bone arrows (which is a huge help) and the purchasable ones have the range of the bone arrows with feathers AND add the damage increase. I've been doing a pure bow only playthrough, and while certainly hard at times, it has been amazingly satisfying. something ive found while testing to try and increase my damage output is that the bows that say the 'unlock the true potential' such as the erdtree bow with holy arrows, or horn bow with magic arrows, will just straight up do better damage with those arrow types than other bows using them with the same state spreads and buffs.
A good alternative for the black bow when applying status is throwing knives, especially kukiris. A guy I watched doing a ranged only build switched to throwing about half way through since the knives are easier to get than arrows
The distinction between Greatbow and Ballistas is pretty simple actually. Greatbow is immobile while lining up a shot with the ability to move immediately after. Ballista is the exact opposite, mobility while prepping a shot but immobile afterwards. Though the Ballista also pierces with no damage falloff (haven't seen a Greatbow do this) They actually do pretty similar damage otherwise.
would love to, but I accidently said "no" to roundtable cutscene and she hasn't returned and I've been to at least 10 new graces.. just my luck I guess 😅
I acctualy plan to do a "gunner" build thats basicaly just bows and crossbows with throwing pots as the extra gimmick for grenades glad to know the weapons i plan to use dont suck like pervious games
Funny enough, I used the pulley crossbow for a while and learned that if you enchant your weapon in your right hand with blackflame or bloodflame then pull the crossbow out on your left it actually gives the bow those effects such as tick damage and progressive bleed. It's honestly disgusting.
the first canons were basically ballistic bolt launchers. the idea is launching metal balls came much later, and didn't really treasure off until gun powder was invented as a replacement for black powder.
IMportant part about Great bows that many neglect is CC -> it can knock enemy down, even something like Rot Knights will be flat on its golden butt. Consider it great weapon when you are cooperator protecting host - just knock enemy down. It also works on some bosses, even Hand of Miquela can be knocked down (unless she is in her animation chain).
The main issue with bows is the cost. Doesn't matter if you want to craft arrows or buy them, the cost is just insane. You WILL lose many levels worth of ruins just to keep a rather small stock of arrows or bolts. This fact is even worse if you try to go the bow-only route. The cheapest arrows are about 60 for 1 arrow and most are around the 120 for 1 arrow range. if you want to buy thin bones you can get 1 bone for about 60 (I'll have to double-check that number) for 1 thin bone. This is your best option for economy because 3 thin = 10 arrows. But the damage is so bad on bows that even with stats and the arrow damage talisman you are getting the short end of the stick. And God forbid you want to do status arrows. You'll be farming more than playing the game regardless of how your go about farming your materials. The cherry on top ofc is that bows have the worst scaling of anything in the game even at max upgrade and not great base damage to boot. Sorry for the rant but, I spent way too much time trying to get a bow-only run to be worth playing. Can you do it? technically. Is the juice worth the squeeze? Not even almost.
- Great video. (Sorry for the paragraphs..) HP END STR DEX. Main stats. Arcane and faith are optional if you want things like “golden Vow” “flame. Give me strength” erdtree bow / serpent bow. Personally I run the Pulley bow (best physical dmg.) and the black bow (move set of a shortbow / dmg and range of a long bow) utilizing no armor w a blue dancer charm + ritual sword talisman w full hp will help boost your damage considerably. I prefer low weight armor / dex boost gear. Armor - Okinas Mask. Fell Omen Cloak. Bandit Manchettes. Sorcerer leggings. (Fashion souls BB) Weapons - Black Bow. Pulley Bow. Pulley crossbow. Bloodhound claws (for the WA) Things to note - Thrown items scale incredibly well. A STR - S DEX. (Castle morne rampart merchant sells ♾ kukri) - Bell bearing Hunter (Warmasters shack) will allow you to take the bell to the twin maidens for unlimited bones. - Multiple merchants sell special arrows @ 120 runes each. Poison arrows Golden arrows regular arrows even bloodrose (800 each for roses) - ALT option for Bloodrose is the rose church where you meet White Mask finger boy. There is only one of the blood enemies who spawns inside the church and you can find over 10 bloodrose per trip and yes they respawn. (This is how I stocked up on Blood arrows early.) Perfume arts are Slept on. Perfumers Cookbook 2 is the recipe for the damage increase Vial. Im just over 100 hours in on bow only run (first character and this is the best info i can give) Goodluck and best wishes :D
Glad bows are getting some recognition. If I'm not leveling a caster Stat I always have some kind of crossbow or range weapon in my offhand. PSA: kukri do a LOT of damage with a str or dex or quality build.
Fr on the kukris - I learning the gui mechanics early game and accidently threw one instead of healing... Was like - oh snap - these things got some pop.
"Madman who use bow in pvp" I take offense to that ! No one expects an arrow to the knee inquisition! :p Also as a dex/int hybrid caster, shooting stuff with a bow helps save my precious fp. As a hoarder i've got 99 of every arrow and even more raw materials to craft even more arrows anyways. For ashes of war on a bow you missed "enchanted shot" it works on longbows tho i think it might work on shortbows too. It works and looks similar to mighty shot, the difference is instead of simply more damage, it makes the arrow fly faster + makes it track and follow a target. The tracking works like loretta's greatbow, just vastly less damage. The arrow tracking is great in pve if your enemy likes to move side to side after you failed to kill it. I tested damage between mighty shot and enchanted shot and while mighty does do more damage, the difference is minimal and you'll miss less often with enchanted shot, which can save time trying to murder something and save your more expensive arrows(cough scarlet rot arrows cough). Its down to personal preference of missing less often or doing more damage.
I have been cheesing field bosses 20 or 30 levels too high for both my Char and skill level from day 1 with poison arrows and it felt nothing but satisfying.
Full moon Crossbow is mistranslated. It gives a bonus to MAGIC bolts (magicbone and meteorite bolts). Also Full Moon Crossbow isn't completely worse than Pulley. Pulley has a longer animation and reload so in a close quarters duel, if you miss, you can eat a roll attack. Full Moon has so fast a firing and reload animation that you're never going to get punished from reloading it when close to an opponent
The video says Ash of War: Rain of Arrows is not good because even slowly moving enemies will just walk away from it. It may be true, I didn't use it. But I used Radan's great bow in my playthrough and it has barrage ability which looks exactly like Rain of Arrows. And it does not miss. On top of that, enemies will not evade barrage. Some enemies will evade regular shots, and it makes regular bows useless after first hit. But no one evades the barrage, and it deals great damage.
Man; I miss infusing ranged weapons from DkS2. Those were some good times; rocking bows with different elements and whatnot. Also I'd love it if they walked back the lack of ashes of war for crossbows; or at least gave us some more options to play with. While status is ok on them, the elemental shots could be made a lot better; as they really fall off late game.
Here's to cool more things about the bows. First when you're riding torrent, if you are dashing and use a longbow you'll slow down to a walk while you aim and release. But if you are dashing and use a short bow you can keep your speed while drawing and firing. For all of the adventurers and lore hunters, Arrows Reach Talisman also increases the zoom on your monocular.
I got absolutely wrecked by a bow only player in a pvp duel. They used a bow with backwards jumping attacks which fired out very fast. They were using ghost flame arrows and I literally could not chase them down. They were very evasive and the jumping backwards with the rapid fire was quite the assault.
I actually enjoy skyshot for pve, for the niche feature of almost always hitting someone in the head. That, and the fact that it's "range" is as far as you can auto target something. Thay way you can fire regular arrows at super long distance to get aggro, then spam fletched arrows for the rest of the shots.
Bows certainly allow for the most versatile choice in dmg type. Usually you are kind of tied to one or two elements/status effects. One of the usefull tricks with bows is to shoot enemy with frost buildup arrows/bolts (barrage or pulley crossbow), trigger the frostbite, then shoot a single fire arrow at them. This resets the frost stack and they can be frostbitten again immediately. Repeat the process for fun and profit. If you can be bothered to play a bow build.
jar cannon is great for clearing the branches and other tight walk ways. the 4 types of great bolts are pretty interesting the all fly differently the thunder bolts have the best range.
I did something not too dissimilar from this but ONLY bows and crossbows, so no buff weapon arts or anything else, still used the black bow and pulley crossbow and they were very helpful for the whole run
The main benefit of the Black Bow is that it can fire most of the same quickshots that shortbows can. I feel like it would have been good to go into that more. With the BB you can get quick shots of by jumping and firing, firing as soon as you land and firing after a backstep. This is so, so much faster then a standing R1 shot and these three shot types will be your bread and butter. The Pulley Bow is absolutely not the best bow for direct damage, because it cannot do these shots, and thus is practically useless in a real combat situation. Whether you want to use status or not, it is Black Bow or bust, in my opinion.
I still can't figure out which descripition is true. The Full Moon CB (Reveals true worth when used with holy-infused bolts) or the Meteor Bolt (Enchanted work of craft made in tandem with Full Moon Crossbow).
I love my bows, that being said, the biggest problem, by far, is that it does NOT scale up very much (C or D I think) and "farming" arrow material and currency to purchase arrows. An example was helping at a boss, I kept putting status on the boss, but the person I was helping had some dodge issues ( don't we all) and I ran through 300 arrows really quick. By the time you go farm the material or the money to make the arrows ( fletched fly farther) your out time and currency. If they had some kind of bell so you could get thin bones and feathers, sure. You can only carry 99 of two different kinds, a hard boss fight will use all of those, you can only store 600, and only 30 of arrows ( for the Lion Bow) are 300 each. Sure, love your bow but bring back up, personally, I am collecting katanas.
There us a bell that gives you thin bones.The guy that sells you AOW at stormveil has an optional boss during night time, if you beat it rewards you with a bell that sells you infinite bones.
There's a bell for thin bones, sadly not the feathers tho. But i found a good ish farm spot IF you're a mage. At the four bellfry site of grace you can find 3 eagles chilling on the cliff. I farm them by casting a cloud of night maiden's mist at them, the eagles have very luttle hp and will instantly die to it, the mist also doesnxt make any noise so the eagles wonxt fly away from you when you cast it as long as you didnxt alert them with your loud stomping. Once they die, grab the feathers quickly (night maidens mist also damages the caster!) Then sit back on the grace to respawn the eagles before mist dissipates. Because the mist stays on even when you're sitting on the grace, those eagles will instantly die again from the mist the moment they respawn and you can harvest the feathers again. If the mist runs out simply recast before going back to the grace And dont worry, the mist is unlikely to kill you while you collect them as long as you go in and out quickly(unless you have 0 vigor). If there are other(and safer) ways to put a damaging cloud besides night maiden's mist on the eagle spot it should also work. As for other raw materials like poisonblooms for poison arrows or smoldering butterflies for fire ones, unfortunately you're going to have to become a chronic murderer :). Personally not a problem for me since i slaughter every animal i see out of habit for the loot. Note however that by the time i was over lvl 150+ i had so many runes i could afford to buy large numbers of arrows from certain merchants. For example, dwelling arrows from the merchant at mogwyns palace, holy arrows from the merchant at altus plateu inside. fire arrows from the caelid merchants and so on. There are also serpentbone arrows for poison but i forgot where the merchant was. And of course, regular old arrows. For small arrows , bolts, great arrows and gretabolts thon i didn't really pay attention to tho as i'm a longbow user.
@@kairitrioncerulean8502 Im pretty sure its more efficient to use a rune farming spot and then buy your arrows then farm crafting mats to make them, you get 13k runes per kill of the bird in the mogwyns palace farming spot that you can get to very early , which is like 650 normal arrows, though it is only like a 100 blood arrows and you have to craft buy the mats to craft the blood arrows which is kind of a pain. but still thats per bird kill which only takes like 15 seconds to kill then respawn once youve got to the farming spot. which i feel like is probably still more time efficient then farming the mats. And yeah for some reason in almost all fromsoft games bows do kinda miserable damage for the investment. They are pretty much always primarily a way to cheese things and not ever ideal as a primary weapon
@@ryanjones7569 i think it depends on what arrows you're using too, the rare arrows like scarlet rot arrows or sleep arrows for example arent sold anywhere. Or the solt counterparts come in limited quantity / playthrough(st trina arrow).
Bone arrows are crafted and can be feathered for longer range. Arrows are purchased from merchants, come with higher base damage, and are feathered by default. Little bit of misinfo there. Full bow builds should work on finding the merchant's with the arrows they want and stocking up on those. (you can kill the merchant and get his bell to buy arrows at the round hold)
So there's a few comments noting it, but I'll throw my opinion on as well. In PvE, one of the best status buildup bows is definitely the Serpent Bow. It has Mighty Shot, which let's you one tap apply a poison arrow to the majority of enemies in the game. I've found it incredibly useful throughout my playthroughs, being able to hit most enemies once for poison, then sniping them with other arrows. Obviously, in a ranged only build, you can swap to other bows for more damage after the initial shot, but as a one off, the Serpent Bow has been the MVP of multiple builds for me.
I wish you could put ashes of war on staffs and seals. they should be limited to magic or faith ashes but still. it would be nice to have a quick button for pebble or slicer while keeping a memory slot free.
Carian regal scepter has an ash of war to spin it right in front of you, kinda risky to use and i have only mostly used it by accident, when trying to swap weapons but accidentally still using the scepter or accidentally swapping to the scepter. It actually does good damage, but really risky to use since you really don't want an enemy to be close enough to get hit by the scepter.
A video on another channel showed an absolutely brutal "true combo" that can be made with the Greatsword and the Pulley Crossbow. Unfortunately, I do not know what the Ash of War they were using on the Greatsword for the finale (it did cause the target to be knocked airborne), but either way, this was super-effective in PvP. The combo was Greatsword poke (running/dodge/crouch/whatever attack) > Pulley Crossbow (with sleep bolts) > Ash of War. The poke stuns most players/human targets long enough for the 3 bolts to hit, causing the sleep to proc. As soon as you're able, 2-hand the Greatsword and use [insert ash of war here] and it would do a ton of damage. If the target got hit by the first hit, the combo was all but guaranteed, dealing well over 1000 damage. In the PvP test vids, it killed in 1-2 rotations easily.
One thing to also mention is if you can get 2 pulley bows by new game+ or trade with a friend. You can get 6 shots in a sec and reload for about 2 it’s super quick reload so dual wielding the crossbow is really fun.
I am trying some kind of Bow / Craft build (craft i think use craft think like bomb and arrows) and ye it is fun. But what is most op ash of war for bow ?
It really feels like miyazaki is fighting you on some builds, bows are just perpetually shat on in his games. It fit the ‘realism’ of the early games, where youre a weakling progressing slowly, hiding behind a shield etc. But the games have long since gone full anime, and we’re all just spinning about shooting lasers and shit. Its time for the bows to get the same love. Make it less awkward with needing to farm and craft, buff base damage/scaling. And put some sick arts of war out. Like, a bow version of lightning spear. Charge it to do a hyper armor jump in the air. A close range ‘shotgun blast’ of arrows for those wanting to get up close and personal. A good ol explosive shot, maybe. So many possibilities
I used a basic long bow to kill those pesky imps that would hang out on the walls in the catacombs. It worked pretty well! Picking them off one by one is better than them attacking you all at once!
I'm doing a no melee run with bows and throwing items right now. It's quite fun but it takes a long time to set up and is quite rune heavy or farm heavy. If anyone is planning a similar run I recommend the following. 1.) Get the talisman on top of stormgate. 2.)Get the book at fort height to craft blood arrows. 3.) +3 your bow 4.) Kill the boss at night that spawns at storm hill shack. (Gives a bellbearing to buy thin beast bones) 5.)Rush storm veil castle and varres questline to farm the chicken at mohgs palace. 6.) Go to roundtable and buy max thin beast bones. 7.) Farm blood roses at Rose church in liurnia. Have fun.
Small correction, the bell bearing hunter boss spawns in the warmasters shack at night, you have to buy some ash of war from bernahl before the boss can replace him though, wait until nighttime then talk to bernahl once at night then rest on the grace again and he should be gone, instead spawning the boss.
If they’re going to nerf bleed they either need to make it so the debuff degrades very quickly or make it so you need to lane more hits so you can only get like one or two procs. I quite like the damage it’s just the frequency with how often it goes off. I shouldn’t be able to run curved blades and do 4K off a running attack when I’ve got my blood boil perfumers bottles and sepuku plus bleed grease with all the talismans that have great synergy with that
For people who play with bows, do any arrows or like Explosive bolts maybe bypass/stagger shield users or are you just looking to attack when they attack? I wanted to try a bow build next knowing that people don't like them but that's the one thought I constantly have. Like I feel like no shields get slaughtered and shielded enemies might be a hard counter
A bit of a misconception in this video. You have crafted ammo and bought/looted ammo. Bought/looted ammo in general outperforms your crafted ammo (except stormwind arrows) with more damage or more status buildup. Specifically crafted arrows come in 2 types, fletched or not. Fletching will increase the range on the arrow allowing it to maintain its maximum damage for as long as possible. Crossbow bolts or people who shoot short bows at point blank will not need to worry about finding feathers.
I've been using the red branch shortbow with Mighty Shot because I am too early game for the black bow. It got me through Stormveil Castle, as fire arrows are great for taking out enemies when they are in large packs, and for those annoying torchbearers that accompany some knights. I understand about the status buildup using short bows, but I actually think I prefer the sniping with mighty shot. I had to go farm sheep and such to get more bones to make more arrows, and it was super tedious, so I don't think I am going to go pure bow, or use barrage, as it is just too much grinding. I know you can buy bones and arrows later, but it's very expensive. I'd rather just use the bow occasionally to take out annoying enemies (birds, for example). I'm not building strength, so I need to find a decent longbow with a low (10 or less) strength requirement. Although, I noticed my +4 shortbow does the same damage as a +0 longbow, so given the convenience of the light weight and rapid firing, maybe I should stick with the shortbow. It definitely has higher DPS. Another RUclipsr mentioned that Mighty Shot doubles the status buildup of a single shot. I do not know if that is true, although I have had quite a bit of success proccing bleed even with Mighty Shot.
first merchant in the game sells regular arrows for 20 runes a pop. i went there with like 20k souls and got 1000 arrows. pretty cheep by late game standards.
I’m using a bow with the jar cannon. Planning to use the assassin’s gambit ash of war with this build for pvp and snipe people from afar with explosive great bolts.
I use the serpent bow because I have a dex/arc build. It says it is best if used with poison arrows. I guess it procs poison better. It is a longbow, but it is really small like a shortbow
I did a strength based bow build with the misbegotten and the golem bow. All great bows are a much better option for trash clearing and are a lot more useful than most people give them credit for. You can stunkock several enemies and 1 shot tons of enemies with headshots. In pvp using 1 or both of the total invis options can give you a great ambush chance. All longbows besides maybe the serpent bow seem pretty bad though.
RIP no power stancing crossbows though. You will (not) be missed Havelyn. Lately, been loving doing trolling with rainbow arrows and the arrow rain ash. The shatter shard arrows are funny too.
I love how viable bows are now. They're basically the best range options for pure Dex or Strength users, giving a fully variety of options for any build
If you go to the lake and use lightning arrows with black bow you can barrage free aim the floor it cant be dodged and kills in a few secons use alexanders
I think the most effective way to use crossbow is using it the way Gael/Page does, a melee+crossbow. Crossbow has no stats scaling so it can reach its peak potential easily, its role is to keep your opponent occupied while they're not in melee range. Not that I'm the best player out there, but I love swapping between shield and crossbows on my left hand.
Builds like these is why playing on PC is so much better. You can just use Cheat Engine to gives yourself max of each arrow in the game and not worry about farming or crafting for hours.
➖ *Time Stamps* ➖
00:00 Intro
00:48 Why Bows are good
02:11 Different Bows
02:38 Short, Long, and Great Bow
➖ *Movesets* ➖
02:44 Short Bows
03:13 Long Bows
03:22 Great Bows
03:44 Crossbows
04:01 Pulley Crossbow
04:21 Full Moon Crossbow
04:52 Hand Ballista
05:11 Jar Cannon
➖ *Ammunition* ➖
05:42 Ammunition Types
06:32 Ammunition Crafting
06:52 Cookbooks
07:06 Ash of Wars
➖ *Weapon Skill* ➖
07:12 Short Bow - Barrage
07:16 Long Bow - Mighty Shot
07:23 Greatbow - Through and Through
07:36 Ash of War: Rain of Arrows
07:57 Immobile Target
08:09 Fast Damage, Status build up, Single Target
08:21 Crossbow (No Ash of Wars)
➖ *Talisman* ➖
08:26 Arrow's Reach Talisman
08:46 Arrow's Sting Talisman
➖ *Recommended to Use* ➖
09:06 Best Bow and Crossbow
09:16 Black Bow
09:45 Pulley Bow (Alternative)
10:22 Erdtree Bow (Faith or Holy build)
10:42 Pulley Crossbow (Triple Shot)
➖ *Location* ➖
11:03 Black Bow
11:51 Pulley Bow
12:08 Pulley Crossbow
12:19 Route to Craftsman's Shack
12:32 Outro
13:52 Outro Rap
Thank you!
Thanks bro
thx
There’s also different ash of war you can get for the bows, I love the enhanced shot, the arrows track and has a bonus magic damage if I remember correctly, basically a better version of mighty shot
It is
That only works on long bow ,unqiue bow cant use it
the reward for the “redmane” painting is and ash of war for the bow that fires 1 arrow into the air and rains arrows down on the target great for aplying statis 1 arrow = 4-5 hits
Enchanted shot, love ot
too bad it takes about as long as it takes to watch the entire LotR directors cut trilogy to fire
Shattershard makes sound while hitting surfaces for distraction for leading enemies to different areas.
Leading the big birds in the blood area to the blood geysers is an example of a decent way to take care of enemies indirectly with these arrows.
My gods thats a good idea, i should try that to kill the birds and finally loot the area without being pecked to death....
@@kairitrioncerulean8502 you can run around on your horse to loot of you are struggling, that's what I did ✌🏼
@@ConflictBat yes but those birds are fast and sometimes in my panic i accidentally corner myself/ crash into the trees/rocks and panic even more.
Oh my god…I love you..holy shit
@@kairitrioncerulean8502 I have done that a couple times corner myself while the birbs attack me. It ends in a bad time
The Lion Greatbow deals very good dmg if you combine it with the Radahn's Spears
The Weaponart changes too if you use it with the Spears, pretty good Damage against big Bosses
And it’s light weight for a Great Bow. I use it all the time in PvE to snipe with.
Finally you guys are talking about bows!
Personally I love the Black Bow most
Because the bows don't scale well with stats and don't hit hard enough, originally wanted to do a bow only build, but people who did archer builds for previous games (dark souls) and tried in Elden Ring said it wasn't worth it.
Serpent bow is my favorite, such a nice bow
I think it looks too fat its almost to be more sleek looking
Black bow the best 👌
@@Henbot everything in this game is worth it once optimized
it took like what, 6 Souls games but From actually made bows viable
eh... kinda, the limited ammo hinders it in sustained play.
@@gearzdesign well, any improvement is still an improvement
@@shimmyking4 True, there's a few builds out there using the black bow with barrage that did well. They still had to fall back on melee weapons though.
@@gearzdesign imagine carrying 999 arrows in your pocket like in ds1
Nahh.. it's a real stretch to make bows work in this game. Sure you can break some stuff late game, but that is true with anything in elden ring. The early and even some of the midgame is criminally bad for bows as a main weapon
Misbegotten Bow is worth mentioning for strength builds. It has the lowest dex requirements for bows at just 8, shorter range than most bows, but increased damage. The utility is nice. It's been surprisingly effective tool for me during invasions.
I'm going to do a dragon bleed build as a prophet. What's a good early game bow.
@@Spencerwalker21 I would say the Serpent bow, as it is a shortbow that comes with Arcane scaling
@@sethsmith29 thanks 🙏
Bows have been such a large part of my whole playthrough. After I found the Black Bow I've never taken it off.
They are a ton of fun, expand the gameplay and offer great utility. Love em.
I really started making use of a bow on my str build. So nice to pick off a mob or two before going in.
Black bow!
I have put the black bow on every character basically lmao
My go to is the Serpent Bow, i actually never found the Black Bow on my first playthrough, and i never went to that area on either of my other 2 playthroughs.
Am I the only one that uses the horn bow?
The fletched arrows don't do more damage, they only have longer range. The fire arrows you showed with 95 damage aren't the fire arrows from item crafting but rather the ones you find or buy. Those do a bit more damage.
Something that I see many ppl ommit while talking about ranged combat - in slow and methodical exploration, it works very well, since in ER limitation of X arrows per rest is removed. I can use 30 great arrows to snipe 1 enemy groups... and instead of being out of ammo I can craft 30 more fr 6 great bones (3k runes total). It helps and in longer explorations, or coop it really boost archers to keep them up in
I like using the Black Bow and running. It can even shoot while mid jump. Also a lesser known thing about bows is that you can snipe with both barrage or might bow/through and through by holding both L1 and L2.
Oh damn actually didn’t know this was a thing, nice!
Wasn't it like that in DS3? With the weapon arts?
@@awalkingmemory1473 I don't remember and I have ds3 on my system too
The serpent bow is good. Great for poison. Plus it scales with arc, str, and dex at a d
Is poison worth it? I tried it on the serpent katana and it only did like 5 damage per tick.
@@evilmac9623 from what I've seen poison is not worth it without poison moth wing ash.
@@evilmac9623 serpent bow + it's own arrows deal level 2 poison shorter ticking time but higher damage
@@evilmac9623 poison itself is really slow, doing very small % max hp damage, but there are talisman and armor that give attack boost when poison procs. Combine with bleed version you can get ridiculous attack boosts
Poison becomes super powered when combined with mushroom crown or rot talisman, because it can proc multiple times in succession the damage bonus is also stacked. Someone used it against Malenia and was getting 900 damage per serpent arrow
I remember someone using the jar cannon on me and a friend. They were up on the branch before millicent fight. It was easy to dodge, i just moved to the side when they fired a shot. Then my friend suggested we just stand in front of the branch to block their line of sight so they had to move to us.
They used the CANNON IN you….. how did you not die. (Haha im funny)
Ingenious!!!
Oh man, it is the great bows’ Ash of war that makes them so insane IMO. The golem bow with “through and through” regularly hits for 1150-1400 when aimed at a humanoid head. That specific ash of war goes through enemies and causes full damage to every enemy in the path.
If you use concealing veil with short bows and regular bows you can fire while invisible
I don't know if I am doing something wrong, but I just tested this and it isn't true
Always like a way to have some range without relying on magic, and that black bow calling me
My favorite strategy right now is to use the Serpent Bow to tag people with poison, then swap over to blood arrows for the burst damage. The arcane scaling from the bow gives you a boost!
Crepus' Black Key Crossbow is a good early game weapon. It has a little more range than other crossbows, and the bolts fly faster so they are harder to dodge. You can get it in the Roundtable Hold, just need a key to unlock the gargoyle in the downstairs hall.
You forgot an option. Quick weapon in right hand with crossbow in left. Free aiming explosive bolts and shooting the ground at people's feet takes some practice learning how to free aim, but it's incredibly flexible and with a weapon you have constant mixups
short bows can also be used on horseback without slowing down
Something to note, I have used mighty shot with the serpent bow and can confirm that if you somehow land the hit, mighty shot applies 50% more, not just damage but also status effects, +7 serpent bow, basic poison arrows vs basilisk and 20ish arcane, normal shot won't trigger poison but mighty shot will on only one shot. I'd seen it commented on wiki's, but I can confirm entirely that it worked very efficiently when tested vs them in the Auzira heroes grave from the beam right bellow the boss door was my test bed since he can't get up to me
the isolated merchant in caelid sells serpent arrows for heavy poison build up- i think west of dragon burrow
@@StoverXIII just be careful of nightfall, the bell bearing hunter hits about as hard as Mohg, don't know who that is? don't engage yet till you either got really good allies or are that deep to know who that is lol
i have them, but i make a lot of poison arrows as well and i don't know how they stack up cause the bow says it stacks poison on every shot but i don't know if heavy and basic stack together.
The moon crossbow doesn't boost holy bolts, it boosts magic bolts. The description is flat out wrong.
You're sleeping on bows even more than you probably realize. There's so much more potential and tech to be discovered than is covered in this video. I would highly recommend anyone watching this to attempt to use Black Bow in PvP as their main weapon and attempt to get good with it, you can outplay mindless Rivers of Blood spammers quite effectively, and become quite a dangerous pest as an invader fighting a 3v1 gank. Also, stealth archery is completely viable in pvp, trust me.
stealth is not pvp, its invader ganking. massive difference.
i will try out black bow in some proper pvp duels though. if youre on PSN add me, name is the same as my youtube
@@hay_aye_ron pvp is player vs player so invading is the very definition of pvp stealth or not
Second you should search some videos on the bow pvp, I have seen multiple guys doing duels with a bow and dominating all kinds of builds.
And if you want, you can also PVP using Great Bow.
I started as a samurai so i started out with the base longbow and I have been using it quite a lot since you can just range enemies down with just a couple of mighty shot arrows in most situations. I didn't know that the pulley crossbow was a triple shot though so I might have to look into especially since I just picked it up.
Yep. I've been using a bow since day 1. I didn't approach Elden Ring like "what's my build, what weapon and stats am I go to hyper specialize in?" I approached like it was an RPG, there are the enemies and situations I have to overcome and here are my weapons and tools I have to do it with. The bow imo isn't a main battle weapon for boss fights but it does make an excellent weapon for clearing out groups, anti sniping, weakening a tough enemy before it gets close and of course being the ultimate cheez weapon, for hitting enemies and some bosses from a place they can't hit you (I carry 500+ arrows of all types, I'll drop that boss... eventually).
I mostly use the bow in new areas, since I want to get to the next site of grace without using up all my flasks. It's great for pulling one enemy from a group, or sniping some annoying enemy that you know is hard to kill without trading hits.
I may have missed it in the video, but the serpent bow is nice. Adds poison damage and status even using regular arrows. Adds the status faster if using poison arrows with it
a fun note, rain of arrows only uses 1 arrow but each hit can build status.
also there are actually 3 types of each arrow. there's the bone arrow, bone arrows with feathers and then the purchasable arrows (always with feathers) and all their variants. bone arrows with feathers only increase the range effectiveness of regular bone arrows (which is a huge help) and the purchasable ones have the range of the bone arrows with feathers AND add the damage increase.
I've been doing a pure bow only playthrough, and while certainly hard at times, it has been amazingly satisfying. something ive found while testing to try and increase my damage output is that the bows that say the 'unlock the true potential' such as the erdtree bow with holy arrows, or horn bow with magic arrows, will just straight up do better damage with those arrow types than other bows using them with the same state spreads and buffs.
A good alternative for the black bow when applying status is throwing knives, especially kukiris. A guy I watched doing a ranged only build switched to throwing about half way through since the knives are easier to get than arrows
The distinction between Greatbow and Ballistas is pretty simple actually.
Greatbow is immobile while lining up a shot with the ability to move immediately after.
Ballista is the exact opposite, mobility while prepping a shot but immobile afterwards.
Though the Ballista also pierces with no damage falloff (haven't seen a Greatbow do this)
They actually do pretty similar damage otherwise.
ERDTREE GREATBOW, you get from killing one of the chariots is my pick 😀
Not a lot of people know you can kill the chariots.
Step 1 for all bow builds is to kill all the merchants in the game so can have access to buy every arrow type at round table hold.
would love to, but I accidently said "no" to roundtable cutscene and she hasn't returned and I've been to at least 10 new graces.. just my luck I guess 😅
I acctualy plan to do a "gunner" build thats basicaly just bows and crossbows with throwing pots as the extra gimmick for grenades
glad to know the weapons i plan to use dont suck like pervious games
there even an gimmick of AK-47 in this game, bandits with automatic firing crossbows in Leyndell. Destroyed me a few times basically with one volley
Funny enough, I used the pulley crossbow for a while and learned that if you enchant your weapon in your right hand with blackflame or bloodflame then pull the crossbow out on your left it actually gives the bow those effects such as tick damage and progressive bleed. It's honestly disgusting.
Bug?
@@chaosinfernoid9008 yes, not intended.
neat
Would have to use this for the sake of killing Malenia. Truely hating her fight
Swarm of flies makes short work of her
the first canons were basically ballistic bolt launchers. the idea is launching metal balls came much later, and didn't really treasure off until gun powder was invented as a replacement for black powder.
IMportant part about Great bows that many neglect is CC -> it can knock enemy down, even something like Rot Knights will be flat on its golden butt. Consider it great weapon when you are cooperator protecting host - just knock enemy down. It also works on some bosses, even Hand of Miquela can be knocked down (unless she is in her animation chain).
The main issue with bows is the cost. Doesn't matter if you want to craft arrows or buy them, the cost is just insane. You WILL lose many levels worth of ruins just to keep a rather small stock of arrows or bolts. This fact is even worse if you try to go the bow-only route. The cheapest arrows are about 60 for 1 arrow and most are around the 120 for 1 arrow range. if you want to buy thin bones you can get 1 bone for about 60 (I'll have to double-check that number) for 1 thin bone. This is your best option for economy because 3 thin = 10 arrows. But the damage is so bad on bows that even with stats and the arrow damage talisman you are getting the short end of the stick. And God forbid you want to do status arrows. You'll be farming more than playing the game regardless of how your go about farming your materials. The cherry on top ofc is that bows have the worst scaling of anything in the game even at max upgrade and not great base damage to boot.
Sorry for the rant but, I spent way too much time trying to get a bow-only run to be worth playing. Can you do it? technically. Is the juice worth the squeeze? Not even almost.
I was waiting for this video 😁
- Great video. (Sorry for the paragraphs..)
HP END STR DEX. Main stats. Arcane and faith are optional if you want things like “golden Vow” “flame. Give me strength” erdtree bow / serpent bow. Personally I run the Pulley bow (best physical dmg.) and the black bow (move set of a shortbow / dmg and range of a long bow) utilizing no armor w a blue dancer charm + ritual sword talisman w full hp will help boost your damage considerably. I prefer low weight armor / dex boost gear.
Armor - Okinas Mask. Fell Omen Cloak. Bandit Manchettes. Sorcerer leggings. (Fashion souls BB)
Weapons - Black Bow. Pulley Bow. Pulley crossbow. Bloodhound claws (for the WA)
Things to note - Thrown items scale incredibly well. A STR - S DEX. (Castle morne rampart merchant sells ♾ kukri)
- Bell bearing Hunter (Warmasters shack) will allow you to take the bell to the twin maidens for unlimited bones.
- Multiple merchants sell special arrows @ 120 runes each. Poison arrows Golden arrows regular arrows even bloodrose (800 each for roses)
- ALT option for Bloodrose is the rose church where you meet White Mask finger boy. There is only one of the blood enemies who spawns inside the church and you can find over 10 bloodrose per trip and yes they respawn. (This is how I stocked up on Blood arrows early.)
Perfume arts are Slept on. Perfumers Cookbook 2 is the recipe for the damage increase Vial.
Im just over 100 hours in on bow only run (first character and this is the best info i can give)
Goodluck and best wishes :D
Glad bows are getting some recognition. If I'm not leveling a caster Stat I always have some kind of crossbow or range weapon in my offhand.
PSA: kukri do a LOT of damage with a str or dex or quality build.
Fr on the kukris - I learning the gui mechanics early game and accidently threw one instead of healing... Was like - oh snap - these things got some pop.
"Madman who use bow in pvp"
I take offense to that ! No one expects an arrow to the knee inquisition! :p
Also as a dex/int hybrid caster, shooting stuff with a bow helps save my precious fp. As a hoarder i've got 99 of every arrow and even more raw materials to craft even more arrows anyways.
For ashes of war on a bow you missed "enchanted shot" it works on longbows tho i think it might work on shortbows too. It works and looks similar to mighty shot, the difference is instead of simply more damage, it makes the arrow fly faster + makes it track and follow a target. The tracking works like loretta's greatbow, just vastly less damage. The arrow tracking is great in pve if your enemy likes to move side to side after you failed to kill it. I tested damage between mighty shot and enchanted shot and while mighty does do more damage, the difference is minimal and you'll miss less often with enchanted shot, which can save time trying to murder something and save your more expensive arrows(cough scarlet rot arrows cough). Its down to personal preference of missing less often or doing more damage.
Enchanted Shot Ashe is actually pretty ok in PvP on a longbow. If someone is running away from you it has some tracking and is way more likely to hit.
I love bows because they give you a ranged option if you are a melee build and want to build up debuffs in the mid game much easier. great guide!
I have been cheesing field bosses 20 or 30 levels too high for both my Char and skill level from day 1 with poison arrows and it felt nothing but satisfying.
Invaders: oh look its another STR build wannabe
(STR build pulls out jar cannon)
Invaders: OH SHI--
Full moon Crossbow is mistranslated. It gives a bonus to MAGIC bolts (magicbone and meteorite bolts).
Also Full Moon Crossbow isn't completely worse than Pulley. Pulley has a longer animation and reload so in a close quarters duel, if you miss, you can eat a roll attack. Full Moon has so fast a firing and reload animation that you're never going to get punished from reloading it when close to an opponent
At 7:50, if you go with Radahn spears, they will turn into meteor strikes
Greatbows are shockingly good in pvp because of the immense stagger
use lightning arrows on armour mobs or when standing in water for extra damage
If you are playing music while playing. I recommend using Bose.
I will show myself ouut
The video says Ash of War: Rain of Arrows is not good because even slowly moving enemies will just walk away from it. It may be true, I didn't use it. But I used Radan's great bow in my playthrough and it has barrage ability which looks exactly like Rain of Arrows. And it does not miss. On top of that, enemies will not evade barrage. Some enemies will evade regular shots, and it makes regular bows useless after first hit. But no one evades the barrage, and it deals great damage.
Man; I miss infusing ranged weapons from DkS2.
Those were some good times; rocking bows with different elements and whatnot.
Also I'd love it if they walked back the lack of ashes of war for crossbows; or at least gave us some more options to play with. While status is ok on them, the elemental shots could be made a lot better; as they really fall off late game.
I was looking to do a "bow" only build so thank you.
Here's to cool more things about the bows. First when you're riding torrent, if you are dashing and use a longbow you'll slow down to a walk while you aim and release. But if you are dashing and use a short bow you can keep your speed while drawing and firing.
For all of the adventurers and lore hunters, Arrows Reach Talisman also increases the zoom on your monocular.
I got absolutely wrecked by a bow only player in a pvp duel. They used a bow with backwards jumping attacks which fired out very fast. They were using ghost flame arrows and I literally could not chase them down. They were very evasive and the jumping backwards with the rapid fire was quite the assault.
I actually enjoy skyshot for pve, for the niche feature of almost always hitting someone in the head. That, and the fact that it's "range" is as far as you can auto target something. Thay way you can fire regular arrows at super long distance to get aggro, then spam fletched arrows for the rest of the shots.
Not sound like a historian Nerd but the error translation is correct the short bow or "bow" are short bow. Long bow are bow. Great bow is long bow
Bows certainly allow for the most versatile choice in dmg type. Usually you are kind of tied to one or two elements/status effects. One of the usefull tricks with bows is to shoot enemy with frost buildup arrows/bolts (barrage or pulley crossbow), trigger the frostbite, then shoot a single fire arrow at them. This resets the frost stack and they can be frostbitten again immediately. Repeat the process for fun and profit.
If you can be bothered to play a bow build.
jar cannon is great for clearing the branches and other tight walk ways. the 4 types of great bolts are pretty interesting the all fly differently the thunder bolts have the best range.
I did something not too dissimilar from this but ONLY bows and crossbows, so no buff weapon arts or anything else, still used the black bow and pulley crossbow and they were very helpful for the whole run
The main benefit of the Black Bow is that it can fire most of the same quickshots that shortbows can. I feel like it would have been good to go into that more. With the BB you can get quick shots of by jumping and firing, firing as soon as you land and firing after a backstep. This is so, so much faster then a standing R1 shot and these three shot types will be your bread and butter. The Pulley Bow is absolutely not the best bow for direct damage, because it cannot do these shots, and thus is practically useless in a real combat situation. Whether you want to use status or not, it is Black Bow or bust, in my opinion.
I have been using the horned bow and Starscourge bow. Not doing a bow only play through but I’ve been enjoying these ones.
I still can't figure out which descripition is true. The Full Moon CB (Reveals true worth when used with holy-infused bolts) or the Meteor Bolt (Enchanted work of craft made in tandem with Full Moon Crossbow).
Full moon crossbow requires int, and the meteor bolt inflicts int damage. They are meant to be used together
I love my bows, that being said, the biggest problem, by far, is that it does NOT scale up very much (C or D I think) and "farming" arrow material and currency to purchase arrows. An example was helping at a boss, I kept putting status on the boss, but the person I was helping had some dodge issues ( don't we all) and I ran through 300 arrows really quick. By the time you go farm the material or the money to make the arrows ( fletched fly farther) your out time and currency. If they had some kind of bell so you could get thin bones and feathers, sure. You can only carry 99 of two different kinds, a hard boss fight will use all of those, you can only store 600, and only 30 of arrows ( for the Lion Bow) are 300 each. Sure, love your bow but bring back up, personally, I am collecting katanas.
There us a bell that gives you thin bones.The guy that sells you AOW at stormveil has an optional boss during night time, if you beat it rewards you with a bell that sells you infinite bones.
There's a bell for thin bones, sadly not the feathers tho. But i found a good ish farm spot IF you're a mage. At the four bellfry site of grace you can find 3 eagles chilling on the cliff. I farm them by casting a cloud of night maiden's mist at them, the eagles have very luttle hp and will instantly die to it, the mist also doesnxt make any noise so the eagles wonxt fly away from you when you cast it as long as you didnxt alert them with your loud stomping. Once they die, grab the feathers quickly (night maidens mist also damages the caster!) Then sit back on the grace to respawn the eagles before mist dissipates. Because the mist stays on even when you're sitting on the grace, those eagles will instantly die again from the mist the moment they respawn and you can harvest the feathers again. If the mist runs out simply recast before going back to the grace And dont worry, the mist is unlikely to kill you while you collect them as long as you go in and out quickly(unless you have 0 vigor).
If there are other(and safer) ways to put a damaging cloud besides night maiden's mist on the eagle spot it should also work.
As for other raw materials like poisonblooms for poison arrows or smoldering butterflies for fire ones, unfortunately you're going to have to become a chronic murderer :). Personally not a problem for me since i slaughter every animal i see out of habit for the loot.
Note however that by the time i was over lvl 150+ i had so many runes i could afford to buy large numbers of arrows from certain merchants. For example, dwelling arrows from the merchant at mogwyns palace, holy arrows from the merchant at altus plateu inside. fire arrows from the caelid merchants and so on. There are also serpentbone arrows for poison but i forgot where the merchant was. And of course, regular old arrows.
For small arrows , bolts, great arrows and gretabolts thon i didn't really pay attention to tho as i'm a longbow user.
U only need the feathers for cheezing in pve, and once you get all the runes needed to buy max ammo for several types
@@kairitrioncerulean8502 Im pretty sure its more efficient to use a rune farming spot and then buy your arrows then farm crafting mats to make them, you get 13k runes per kill of the bird in the mogwyns palace farming spot that you can get to very early , which is like 650 normal arrows, though it is only like a 100 blood arrows and you have to craft buy the mats to craft the blood arrows which is kind of a pain. but still thats per bird kill which only takes like 15 seconds to kill then respawn once youve got to the farming spot. which i feel like is probably still more time efficient then farming the mats. And yeah for some reason in almost all fromsoft games bows do kinda miserable damage for the investment. They are pretty much always primarily a way to cheese things and not ever ideal as a primary weapon
@@ryanjones7569 i think it depends on what arrows you're using too, the rare arrows like scarlet rot arrows or sleep arrows for example arent sold anywhere. Or the solt counterparts come in limited quantity / playthrough(st trina arrow).
Bone arrows are crafted and can be feathered for longer range. Arrows are purchased from merchants, come with higher base damage, and are feathered by default. Little bit of misinfo there. Full bow builds should work on finding the merchant's with the arrows they want and stocking up on those. (you can kill the merchant and get his bell to buy arrows at the round hold)
Be advised, arcane has no effect on arrow status effects at all. Not even if the bow scales with arcane.
that outro song really grows on you after awhile lol love it!
If you use the Talisman Raises attack power with successive hits works with barrage same with the heal on hits.
So there's a few comments noting it, but I'll throw my opinion on as well. In PvE, one of the best status buildup bows is definitely the Serpent Bow. It has Mighty Shot, which let's you one tap apply a poison arrow to the majority of enemies in the game. I've found it incredibly useful throughout my playthroughs, being able to hit most enemies once for poison, then sniping them with other arrows. Obviously, in a ranged only build, you can swap to other bows for more damage after the initial shot, but as a one off, the Serpent Bow has been the MVP of multiple builds for me.
Used my Hornbow on horseback to take out Radahn. Use summons, lose aggro, spam arrows. Pretty simple.
I wish you could put ashes of war on staffs and seals. they should be limited to magic or faith ashes but still. it would be nice to have a quick button for pebble or slicer while keeping a memory slot free.
Carian regal scepter has an ash of war to spin it right in front of you, kinda risky to use and i have only mostly used it by accident, when trying to swap weapons but accidentally still using the scepter or accidentally swapping to the scepter. It actually does good damage, but really risky to use since you really don't want an enemy to be close enough to get hit by the scepter.
A video on another channel showed an absolutely brutal "true combo" that can be made with the Greatsword and the Pulley Crossbow. Unfortunately, I do not know what the Ash of War they were using on the Greatsword for the finale (it did cause the target to be knocked airborne), but either way, this was super-effective in PvP.
The combo was Greatsword poke (running/dodge/crouch/whatever attack) > Pulley Crossbow (with sleep bolts) > Ash of War. The poke stuns most players/human targets long enough for the 3 bolts to hit, causing the sleep to proc. As soon as you're able, 2-hand the Greatsword and use [insert ash of war here] and it would do a ton of damage. If the target got hit by the first hit, the combo was all but guaranteed, dealing well over 1000 damage. In the PvP test vids, it killed in 1-2 rotations easily.
Probably Giant’s Hunt if it was an upward strike or Stamp (Upward).
@@toodleselnoodos6738 I think Giant's Hunt sounds right.
One thing to also mention is if you can get 2 pulley bows by new game+ or trade with a friend. You can get 6 shots in a sec and reload for about 2 it’s super quick reload so dual wielding the crossbow is really fun.
I am trying some kind of Bow / Craft build (craft i think use craft think like bomb and arrows) and ye it is fun. But what is most op ash of war for bow ?
Barrage, it causes status build up and is quick for pvp
It really feels like miyazaki is fighting you on some builds, bows are just perpetually shat on in his games. It fit the ‘realism’ of the early games, where youre a weakling progressing slowly, hiding behind a shield etc. But the games have long since gone full anime, and we’re all just spinning about shooting lasers and shit. Its time for the bows to get the same love. Make it less awkward with needing to farm and craft, buff base damage/scaling. And put some sick arts of war out. Like, a bow version of lightning spear. Charge it to do a hyper armor jump in the air. A close range ‘shotgun blast’ of arrows for those wanting to get up close and personal. A good ol explosive shot, maybe. So many possibilities
apparently the description on the full moon crossbow is incorrect as the special effect apparently occurs with magic bolts rather than holy
I used a basic long bow to kill those pesky imps that would hang out on the walls in the catacombs. It worked pretty well! Picking them off one by one is better than them attacking you all at once!
You have become my favorite Elden ring content creator.
I'm doing a no melee run with bows and throwing items right now. It's quite fun but it takes a long time to set up and is quite rune heavy or farm heavy. If anyone is planning a similar run I recommend the following.
1.) Get the talisman on top of stormgate.
2.)Get the book at fort height to craft blood arrows.
3.) +3 your bow
4.) Kill the boss at night that spawns at storm hill shack. (Gives a bellbearing to buy thin beast bones)
5.)Rush storm veil castle and varres questline to farm the chicken at mohgs palace.
6.) Go to roundtable and buy max thin beast bones.
7.) Farm blood roses at Rose church in liurnia. Have fun.
Small correction, the bell bearing hunter boss spawns in the warmasters shack at night, you have to buy some ash of war from bernahl before the boss can replace him though, wait until nighttime then talk to bernahl once at night then rest on the grace again and he should be gone, instead spawning the boss.
@@letskissnow987 Good clarification, this is correct. FYI thin beast bones are way over priced. Hence why the chicken farm is necessary
The golem greatbow does insane damage and has the best scaling out of any bow.
If they’re going to nerf bleed they either need to make it so the debuff degrades very quickly or make it so you need to lane more hits so you can only get like one or two procs. I quite like the damage it’s just the frequency with how often it goes off. I shouldn’t be able to run curved blades and do 4K off a running attack when I’ve got my blood boil perfumers bottles and sepuku plus bleed grease with all the talismans that have great synergy with that
You missing the Enchanted Arrow Art. It's a heat seeker version of the Power shot that follows enemies.
For people who play with bows, do any arrows or like Explosive bolts maybe bypass/stagger shield users or are you just looking to attack when they attack? I wanted to try a bow build next knowing that people don't like them but that's the one thought I constantly have. Like I feel like no shields get slaughtered and shielded enemies might be a hard counter
A bit of a misconception in this video. You have crafted ammo and bought/looted ammo. Bought/looted ammo in general outperforms your crafted ammo (except stormwind arrows) with more damage or more status buildup. Specifically crafted arrows come in 2 types, fletched or not. Fletching will increase the range on the arrow allowing it to maintain its maximum damage for as long as possible. Crossbow bolts or people who shoot short bows at point blank will not need to worry about finding feathers.
I've been using the red branch shortbow with Mighty Shot because I am too early game for the black bow. It got me through Stormveil Castle, as fire arrows are great for taking out enemies when they are in large packs, and for those annoying torchbearers that accompany some knights. I understand about the status buildup using short bows, but I actually think I prefer the sniping with mighty shot. I had to go farm sheep and such to get more bones to make more arrows, and it was super tedious, so I don't think I am going to go pure bow, or use barrage, as it is just too much grinding. I know you can buy bones and arrows later, but it's very expensive. I'd rather just use the bow occasionally to take out annoying enemies (birds, for example). I'm not building strength, so I need to find a decent longbow with a low (10 or less) strength requirement. Although, I noticed my +4 shortbow does the same damage as a +0 longbow, so given the convenience of the light weight and rapid firing, maybe I should stick with the shortbow. It definitely has higher DPS.
Another RUclipsr mentioned that Mighty Shot doubles the status buildup of a single shot. I do not know if that is true, although I have had quite a bit of success proccing bleed even with Mighty Shot.
first merchant in the game sells regular arrows for 20 runes a pop. i went there with like 20k souls and got 1000 arrows. pretty cheep by late game standards.
Ok but how much work do bows take to actually get going? Cuz leveling with them seems REALLY painful
Thanks alot RageGaming. U inspirated me again to play my first choise of "Build" i love 🤩😁👍🤟
I’m using a bow with the jar cannon. Planning to use the assassin’s gambit ash of war with this build for pvp and snipe people from afar with explosive great bolts.
I understand with benefit of arrows, but do you haave any good ways of obtaining a lot of resources, like for example to get sleep arrows?
I use the serpent bow because I have a dex/arc build. It says it is best if used with poison arrows. I guess it procs poison better. It is a longbow, but it is really small like a shortbow
Bow only in DS3 was the most fun run i had. And in ER my bow fight against Godrick was really fun and tense.
I did a strength based bow build with the misbegotten and the golem bow. All great bows are a much better option for trash clearing and are a lot more useful than most people give them credit for. You can stunkock several enemies and 1 shot tons of enemies with headshots. In pvp using 1 or both of the total invis options can give you a great ambush chance. All longbows besides maybe the serpent bow seem pretty bad though.
RIP no power stancing crossbows though. You will (not) be missed Havelyn.
Lately, been loving doing trolling with rainbow arrows and the arrow rain ash. The shatter shard arrows are funny too.
Prefer serpants bow with poison arrows, 1 heavy shot insta stack. and the DOT makes it one of highest dmg in the end.
I love how viable bows are now. They're basically the best range options for pure Dex or Strength users, giving a fully variety of options for any build
I like how you looked at the tower then went there right on
If you go to the lake and use lightning arrows with black bow you can barrage free aim the floor it cant be dodged and kills in a few secons use alexanders
I think the most effective way to use crossbow is using it the way Gael/Page does, a melee+crossbow. Crossbow has no stats scaling so it can reach its peak potential easily, its role is to keep your opponent occupied while they're not in melee range.
Not that I'm the best player out there, but I love swapping between shield and crossbows on my left hand.
Your consistency and quality of content never disappoints 💗💗💗
If you have to abuse status effects to make a weapon good, the weapon is not good, the status effect is.
Builds like these is why playing on PC is so much better. You can just use Cheat Engine to gives yourself max of each arrow in the game and not worry about farming or crafting for hours.