Elden Ring: Best Bows Tier List

Elden Ring is a difficult game. That's not too surprising considering Elden Ring is from the same people who gave the world Dark Souls, as well as Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Anyone who's played a game in the Souls series knows how difficult they can be.

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By  Vlad Mazanko

Bows and other ranged weapons are generally not the best weapon in games like Elden Ring, since there is more of a focus on melee combat. Bows, crossbows, and cannons are slow, it's easy to miss, they require ammunition, their damage generally is low, and many ranged weapons are not compatible with the best Ashes of War, which upgrade equipment. That being said, these weapons have their uses, and players will come across situations where ranged tools are the most efficient weapon for dispatching enemies.

Updated January 22, 2025 by Erik Petrovich: When it comes to the best Bows in Elden Ring, players have a lot of choices to sort between. Though there are less than a dozen of any one Bow type, you have Short Bows, Longbows, Crossbows, and all of the other sub-types, there's a lot of options when it comes to the best Elden Ring bows. This guide to All Bows in Elden Ring, Ranked has been updated to include some more detailed location information for each entry to help players hunt down these best Elden Ring Bow weapons more efficiently and get their ranged builds going faster.

31 Harp Bow

Unique Design And Some Perks Can't Make Up For This Bow's Lackluster Performance

Despite its unique design, melodic sound when firing, and low weight and stat requirements, the Harp Bow is widely considered one of the weakest ranged weapons in Elden Ring. Its poor damage and range are disappointing, especially given how late in the game players can acquire it.

By that point, nearly any other ranged option outclasses it, making the Harp Bow more of a collector's item for completing the set of light bows.

While some players are drawn to its distinctive appearance and sound, most agree that its performance leaves much to be desired.

How To Get The Harp Bow In Elden Ring

To get the Harp Bow, Elden Ring players must complete the Champion's Song painting, which can be found in The Shaded Castle in the Altus Plateau.

30 Soldier's Crossbow

A Simple Ranged Weapon With Low Requirements And Weight

The Soldier's Crossbow is a common ranged weapon wielded by many enemies in Elden Ring, but due to its low drop rate, some players might never encounter it. That said, they aren't missing much. With its average range, damage, and simplistic design, this crossbow is the epitome of "nothing special" and is easily overshadowed by almost any other ranged weapon in the game.

The main advantages of the Soldier's Crossbow are its low stat requirements and light weight, which can make it a decent offhand option for some unique builds. It's particularly useful for aggro-pulling and enemy separation tactics, thanks to its decent range. While far from remarkable, it can serve a niche role for players seeking a simple, lightweight ranged tool.

How To Get The Soldier's Crossbow In Elden Ring

To get the Soldier's Crossbow, Elden Ring players must defeat Foot Soldiers, Exile Soldiers, and Messmer Foot Soldiers that wield this crossbow.

29 Light Crossbow

The Light Crossbow Inflicts A Fair Amount Of Damage And Has A Good Range

The Light Crossbow gives players the ability to deliver as much damage as the Shortbow but at a much longer range. The drawback of the Light Crossbow, with all Crossbow-type weapons in fact, is the Weapon Skill. The Kick skill is only useful in very specific circumstances.

The Light Crossbow is also a more stable weapon than the various classes of bows. Unfortunately, this doesn't negate the fact that all longbows have better damage and range than this weapon. Archer builds will want to replace this with a better weapon as soon as possible, but it's not a bad weapon overall.

How To Get The Light Crossbow In Elden Ring

To get the Light Crossbow, Elden Ring players must purchase it from the Nomadic Merchant in Weeping Peninsula for 1500 Runes.

28 Heavy Crossbow

A Bigger, Heavier, Version Of The Crossbow

This is a great crossbow to use until the Crepus' Black-Key Crossbow, Full Moon Crossbow, or Pulley Crossbow are found. The Heavy Crossbow does significantly more damage than the standard Crossbow; however, the Strength and Dexterity requirements are only slightly higher.

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This does more damage per shot than all other crossbows except the Arbalest and Pulley Crossbow, and the latter only does one point of damage more per shot. The Heavy Crossbow is also very stable when used on horseback.

How To Get The Heavy Crossbow In Elden Ring

To get the Heavy Crossbow, Elden Ring players must defeat any of the numerous Soldier enemy types throughout the game that wield it.

27 Shortbow

A Quick Weapon That Allows For Jump-Shots

It really is a toss-up as to which bow is better for a starting player: the Shortbow or the Longbow. The latter offers higher damage and a moderately better weapon skill. Conversely, the Shortbow gives the user a faster rate of fire and has far lower stat requirements, Strength (8) Dexterity (10), than the Longbow.

Shortbows are capable of being infused with the Ashes of War for customization purposes, and their shortened range can be improved with support items.

How To Get The Shortbow In Elden Ring

To get the Shortbow, Elden Ring players must purchase it from the Nomadic Merchant near the Coastal Cave location for 600 Runes, or defeat Marionette Soldiers encountered in Liurnia of the Lakes and other locations throughout the game. You can also get it as Starting Equipment for the Bandit class.

26 Crepus' Black-Key Crossbow

A Crossbow Variant With Better Range

Crossbows need a little work in Elden Ring. They're certainly better than they were in the Dark Souls games, but they still need a little balancing. The deal with crossbows in games, traditionally, is they offer a trade-off to players; they are slower to reload but more accurate and damaging than bows. In Elden Ring, crossbows do quite a bit less damage than bows – even many light bows have higher damage ratings.

The Crepus's Black-Key Crossbow has the best range of the crossbows in Elden Ring. This will let the player snipe from a little further away. This weapon cannot be upgraded with Ashes of War.

How To Get Crepus' Black-Key Crossbow In Elden Ring

To get Crepus' Black-Key Crossbow, Elden Ring players must must use a Stonesword Key on the Imp Statue Roundtable Hold. Head to Hewg and look for the stairs that lead to the lower level. The Stonesword Key door is around the corner.

25 Arbalest

A Larger Heavy Crossbow With Better Damage Potential

The Arbalest has a few aspects that some players might want to exploit. The first is that the Arbalest has relatively low Dexterity requirements. This allows more character builds to make use of this weapon as their preferred distance weapon. This weapon also reloads faster than one would expect from an oversized Heavy Crossbow.

This does more damage per shot than any of the other crossbows. The Pulley Crossbow does more damage per pull of the trigger, but at the cost of depleting ammunition faster.

How To Get The Arbalest In Elden Ring

To get the Arbalest, Elden Ring players must look for a corpse near an Arbalest near the courtyard that connects to the entrance to the Divine Tower of Limgrave.

24 Erdtree Greatbow

A Greatbow That Inflicts Holy Damage

The secret to obtaining this greatbow is only just now beginning to get out among Elden Ring players. It involves using a bow to drop large pots on the moving chariot trap in the Tomb of Knowledge. The Erdtree Greatbow stands out among the bows by splitting its damage between physical damage (60) and Holy damage (65). As a greatbow, this weapon also has excellent range.

The Holy damage can be a double-edged sword; as some enemies are resistant to this type of damage. Another drawback to using the Erdtree Greatbow is that Ashes of War upgrades are not compatible.

How To Get The Erdtree Greatbow In Elden Ring

To get the Erdtree Greatbow, Elden Ring players must defeat the Chariot that patrols the Fringfolk Hero's Grave.

23 Composite Bow

A Shortbow That Can Be Infused

The Composite Bow is becoming a favorite among players. It doesn't do a lot of damage (65). However, it can be fired fairly quickly. This bow can be obtained early into a game from a merchant near Bellum Church in Liurnia of the Lakes. The Composite Bow can be infused with Ashes of War.

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This weapon has the Mighty Shot weapon skill. The Mighty Shot skill does a lot more damage than a standard shot but requires the player to draw the bow back fully before firing. This is the only light bow with the Mighty Shot skill. Since the Composite Bow is faster than most other bows, it allows the player to fire Mighty Shots faster than the larger bows that typically get this skill.

How To Get The Composite Bow In Elden Ring

To get the Composite Bow, Elden Ring players must purchase it from the Nomadic Merchant near Bellum Church for 3,500 Runes.

22 Red Branch Shortbow

A Composite Bow With The Barrage Skill And The Ability To Be Infused

In terms of base stats, the Red Branch Shortbow and the Composite Bow are identical. They both deal the same amount of damage (65), they both have the same range (29), and they both have the same Strength and Dexterity scaling. The only major difference between the two is their weapon skills.

Instead of getting Mighty Shot, like the Composite Bow, the Red Branch Shortbow has the Barrage skill. This skill allows a weapon to fire much faster than normal. In general, this skill isn't as desirable as Mighty Shot, although Barrage does have one advantage. A barrage of arrows has a much better chance of inflicting a status ailment on an enemy than a single shot.

How To Get The Red Branch Shortbow In Elden Ring

To get the Red Branch Shortbow, Elden Ring players must defeat Page enemies throughout Leyndell Royal Capital and the ramparts and areas just before the Royal Moongazing Grounds inside of Caria Manor.