These are the best bows in Elden Ring. These weapons will hopefully encourage you to try being an archer on your next playthrough.
Archery is underappreciated in Elden Ring, and while the number of bows in the game isn’t great, there are a few good ones. Also, this article will only include bows, and crossbows won’t be included. By the way, there’s something disappointing about all the bows in the game: they don’t scale higher than a D rank. But that doesn’t stop them from becoming great weapons.
Albinauric Bow
You can farm the Albinauric bow in the Consecrated Snowfield, and the Albinauric Wolfback Archers wield them. This bow has high base damage and it scales with both Strength and Dexterity. As for scaling, it has E and D in the previously mentioned Stats, respectively. Also, it requires more Dexterity than Strength, so it’s best for a DEX build. Because this is not a unique weapon, you can imbue it with any Ash of War (for bows, obviously) you like.
Horn Bow
You can get the Horn Bow in the Siofra River region. Its base damage is close to that of the previous entry and it has a specialty. When you use Magic-infused arrows with this bow, it makes the shots very powerful. You can be a really powerful archer with the right Talismans and magic arrows. Its Scaling are E in STR, D in DEX and E in INT. You require 10 STR, 14 DEX and 12 INT to use this bow. With each upgrade, the magic damage dealt also increases, making this a really good bow even for late-game sections.
Misbegotten Shortbow
This Shortbow has low range, but you can shoot arrows with impressive speed. You can impale the enemies with a lot of arrows at close range, in mere minutes. It deals great damage when fully upgraded, and scales with Strength and Dexterity. It requires 16 STR and 8 DEX to use it, making it an ideal choice for a Strength build character. This is one of the best -if not the best- shortbows in the game. You can find it very early on in Castle Morne in the Weeping Peninsula. The flying Misbegotten enemies may drop it when killed.
Lion Greatbow
You can get the Lion Greatbow after defeating General Radahn and visiting Enia at the Roundtable Hold. This greatbow does quite a lot of damage at max level, and its base damage is 120. It scales with Strength mainly and you require 22 STR to wield this. You also need 18 DEX in order to use this. This bow is like a missile launcher when you use the Radahn’s Spears as arrows. It’s a unique weapon so its Ash of War cannot be changed. However, the existing AoW is very good.
Erdtree Greatbow
The Erdtree Greatbow can be found by killing the Chariot at Fringefolk Hero’s Grave. It’s a tricky task. This greatbow scale with Strength, Dexterity and Faith. Respectively, you need 20, 14 and 14 points in those stats to wield this. While its ranking is, respectively, E, E, and D, when it’s fully upgraded, all three scaling ranks increase to D. Its true power can be revealed when you use Holy-infused arrows with it. This is a great weapon for a Faith build.
