Bows are a Weapon Category in Dark Souls and Dark Souls Remastered. Bows are long-ranged weapons that necessitate Arrows to function and possess no melee capability. There are 2 types of bows; short bows and long bows, each with their own unique firing animations and mechanics. Short bows are well suited for PvP as they have a high firing rate (High Damage Per Second). Long bows are well suited for PvE, where they can snipe an opponents from long and safe distance. Reloading is slower for longbows, making them less adequate for closer enemies such as PvP. These weapon scale well with Dexterity.
- Pros: Short Bows; Fast firing rate, good scaling with dexterity and good for PVP. Long Bows; Longer Range than Short Bows, good scaling with dexterity and good for PvE.
- Cons: Short Bows; Not as long range as Long bows. Long Bows; Takes time reloading arrow, lower firing rate and deals less damage than Short bows.
- Note: At high levels in Faith, Divine and Occult upgrade bows using Moonlight Arrows deal more damage than the Darkmoon Bow.
All Bows in Dark Souls
| Attack Power Damage Reduction (%) |
Aux Effects |
Requirements Param Bonus |
Durability / Weight - Shot Range | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Name |   |
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Range | Acquired From |
 |
Short Bow | 31 0 |
0 0 |
0 0 |
0 0 |
100 0 |
7 D D+15 |
12 A S+15 |
0 - - |
0 - - |
100 0.5 |
50 |
|
|
 |
Composite Bow | 55 0 |
0 0 |
0 0 |
0 0 |
100 0 |
11 C C+15 |
12 C C+15 |
0 - - |
0 - - |
100 1.0 |
38 |
|
|
 |
Darkmoon Bow | 80 0 |
80 0 |
0 0 |
0 0 |
100 0 |
7 E E+5 |
16 D D+5 |
0 - - |
16 D D+5 |
400 1.0 |
50 |
|
|
 |
Longbow | 36 0 |
0 0 |
0 0 |
0 0 |
100 0 |
9 D D+15 |
14 A S+15 |
0 - - |
0 - - |
100 1.0 |
50 |
|
|
 |
Black Bow of Pharis | 34 0 |
0 0 |
0 0 |
0 0 |
100 0 |
9 E E+15 |
18 S S+15 |
0 - - |
0 - - |
100 1.0 |
65 |
|
|
- Note: Bows can only be fired while held with both hands.
- Despite bows only being usable while two-handing, the listed strength requirements still apply.
- Different Arrows will alter the range and base damage of bows.
- The best arrows to use for bows depend on what type of bow you're using
- Fire arrows - Will give you the highest damage on Chaos or Fire bows
- Moonlight Arrows - Will give you the highest damage with Enchanted/Magic and Divine/Occult bows
- Large Arrows - Will give you the highest damage with a normal +15 or +5 crystal bows
- Bows have two categories: short and long. Longbows (Long, Black) tend to have more range and better scaling, but fire slower than Shortbows (Short, Composite, Darkmoon).
AnonymousI love shooting at players feet and even the buckler can deflect my arrows like dust particles
- Anonymous
what about the dragonslayer greatbow. That's a bow and a good pve one at that.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
O que podem me dizer sobre o Dark Moon Bow ? aquele feito com a Alma de Gwyndolin ? vale a pena investir nele? Almas, Upgrades e elevar quais escalas para tirar o melhor proveito deste arco ?
- Anonymous
A quick guide to what bows are best for what: The short bow has the lowest stat requirements, and that's it. If you have exactly 12 Dexterity and 0.5 weight units to spare and lack a ranged supplement to your arsenal, go for it. The composite bow has the highest damage output per minute, and tied for the fastest loosing it allows great mobility. If you want to shoot at things that can fight back, it's the way to go. The Darkmoon bow has a very narrow window to shine, where you have high Faith but not so high you're better off enchanting another bow. The long bow has the highest damage per shot, at high levels of Dex. Well, if you're looking for that you're probably better off with either of the Greatbows, but. And the black bow has the highest range. It's the only thing to consider if you want to snipe at monsters without giving them a chance. With feather arrows and the Hawk ring you'll be able to hit pretty much anything you can see. It's game breaking against Hydras, against most Giants, against Manus.
- Anonymous
It says a con for longbows is they do less damage than shortbows. Error?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Actually, the Bows works in a special way with the different upgrades and it's definitely worth it to know, let me explain it to you. (Normal Path) The bow has a high DEX scale and is supposed to do a decent damage if your focus on DEX, but the only way to do that is to do headshots (in PvE aspect), otherwise the damage output is mediocre for some reason. (Probably because the scale goes to the arrow, not to the bow, it will be explained in the Divine / Magic upgrade) The only Bow that is worth to using in combat is the Compound Bow, which being a quality weapon all you need is to have 27 STR and the rest in DEX that way you will be doing a powerful damage. (Fire-Chaos / Lightning Path) "The best option" for many reasons, 0 STR and DEX requirements except for the minimum so you can focus your points to another stat, the Bow will gain a secret auxilary effect, it's more situable for combat beacuse it's not headshot dependant and you will be doing more damage than the Normal Path, but why? When upgrading a Bow in the Fire or Lightning Path, the base physical damage of the Bow increases much more than the Normal Path (Like a Raw upgrade), by comparing damage outputs in a [11 + Longbow (25 DEX)] vs [0 + Lightning Longbow] it seems that the final damage output of the Bow is more influenced by the base physical damage than the scaling of the weapon itself because the Lightning Bow has more physical damage than the other bow, tested on different enemies. With the elemental upgrade, the bow itself IS NOT capable to do elemental damage, but IT'S CAPABLE to strike in the enemy's elemental weakness, this is the secret auxilary effect that i say before. For example, the Slimes in the Depths are weak to fire, if you shoot them with a Fire Bow, you will do a lot of damage to them REGARDLES OF THE ARROWS you use. In others words, the Bow will do pure physical damage but the elemental weakness or resistanses of an enemy will apply and that can change the final damage output. (Divine / Occult - Magic) The upgrade that does the most damage of all, that being said, however is the most expensive to use. As I mentioned earlier, it seems that scaling goes directly to the arrow and not to the Bow. By improving the Bow along the Divine / Magic path, the scaling passes to FTH and INT specifically. With any type of arrow you will be doing mediocre damage, however when using the Moonlight Arrows the damage becomes tremendous, not so different from the damage of the Dragonslayer Greatbow, that is why those arrows cost 500 souls just like Great arrow. Recap: (Normal Path) Pro: For quality builds (Compound Bow), works fine like a secondary weapon, Cheapest. Cons: Mediocre damage except for the Compound Bow, need total a total focus on a stat for full damage, headshoter. (Fire-Chaos / Lightning Path) Pro: Acceptable damage, versatile, more suitable for combat, an enemy can die easly if it's weak to specific elemental Bow, still do pure physical damage, can be a main weapon. Cons: Need more than one Bow to upgrade, the form that you'll need to farm slabs, an enemy can endure a lot if it's resistent to specific elemental Bow. (Divine-Occult / Magic Path) Pro: Heavy magic damage if you focus on FTH or INT and use Moonlight Arrows, have the most powerfull damage of any upgrade on this way, it allows to the cleric and sorceres classes to be a good archers too. Cons: Need a harsh invest on points like the Normal Path, the most expensive, for some situations, mediocre physical damage.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I just compared the bows in NG+ at 99 STR/DEX/INT/FTH, head shots with feather arrows against the 2 Royal Sentinels in Anor Londo (outside of the O&S fight), starting from the Chamber of the Princess Bonfire. This is where/how I farm for Titanite Chunks.
Against the 1st Royal Sentinel, I stood 1 tile back from the doorway at the top of the stairs, this is just outside of their aggro range.
Darkmoon Bow +5 No Hawk Ring = 102. With Hawk Ring = 105.
Short Bow +15 No Hawk Ring = 160. With Hawk Ring = 166.
Black Bow of Pharis +15 No Hawk Ring = 185. With Hawk Ring = 185.
Long Bow + 15 No Hawk Ring = 192. With Hawk Ring = 199.
Composite Bow +15 No Hawk Ring = 172. With Hawk Ring = 215.
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Against the 2nd Royal Sentinel I stood in the threshold just shy of where the 1st Royal Sentinel was standing, this is outside of their aggro range.
Darkmoon Bow +5 No Hawk Ring = 68. With Hawk Ring = 105.
Short Bow +15 No Hawk Ring = 108. With Hawk Ring = 166.
Black Bow of Pharis +15 No Hawk Ring = 164. With Hawk Ring = 185.
Long Bow + 15 No Hawk Ring = 129. With Hawk Ring = 199.
Composite Bow +15 No Hawk Ring = 100. With Hawk Ring = 208.
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