How to Play a Bow Build in Elden Ring
If you’ve ever wanted to be Legolas, this Elden Ring bow build guide is for you.
Even though I cannot recommend personally going full bow only if you are new to the game, it’s a fun challenge run that utilizes the ranged arsenal for a change.
This guide will cover leveling progression, best weapons, and much more.
Pros
- Fun challenge run
- Damage from a safe distance
- Build variety
Cons
- Very hard to play the game using only bows, especially against aggressive enemies
- Reliant on buying or crafting arrows, which can get tedious and expensive
- Very bad scaling on every bow, making them not deal the highest damage
- Not a lot of build support apart from 1 Talisman
Leveling and Stats
Our starting class will be the Samurai, mainly because it has the only Bow of any starting class. Thief has a Short Bow, but that is not worth going for.
| Starting Stats | Level 25 | Level 50 | Level 100 | Level 150 | |
| Vigor | 12 | 16 | 20 | 31 | 40 |
| Endurance | 13 | 18 | 25 | 30 | 30 |
| Strength | 12 | 12 | 12 | 22 | 43 |
| Dexterity | 15 | 22 | 36 | 60 | 80 |
| Mind | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| Intelligence | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Faith | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Arcane | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
As can be seen, the main stats we will be leveling are Endurance, VIgor, and Dexterity. We still need to level Strength but especially Endurance and Dexterity are important for our damage.
We aim to get Dexterity above 20 so we can wield every bow; unless you want to go for the Lion Great bow, then Strength also needs to be above 22. Since we will be wielding the Black Bow we aim for mostly Dexterity.
After we get our Vigor to 20, we want to level Dexterity to 40 and Endurance to 30. After that, we can invest more in Vigor again. Early damage is super important for this build, more than for any other.
After level 50, we aim to get Dexterity to 60, after which we increase Vigor and Strength. For level 150, we aim to have Dexterity at the cap of 80, Vigor at 40, Endurance at 30, and the rest for you to fill out.
We decided to level Strength more because the Black Bow scales with Strength and Dexterity. If you use another bow, invest it into the stat you need!
Best Weapons
This is where the difficult part comes. There is not a definitive best bow. Instead, I recommend picking up a ton of different bows along the way, every bow has its use and with this, you can encounter any problem.
Let’s explain the different types of bows first:
- The Light Bow’s unique attack fires arrows faster after rolling, sprinting, or landing from a jump, making it suitable for more aggressive play.
- Normal Bows attack a bit slower but have higher damage as a trade-off.
- Greatbows have the highest damage of all bows. However, they require Greatarrows to fire and are very slow in fire rate and reload rate.
With that in mind, there are some bows we want to get our hands on.
The Black Bow
This Bow has the damage of a Normal Bow but the moveset of a Light Bow, making it much better than its competition. It also has high damage compared to other Bows.
Location: Leyndell, found on a corpse on the rooftops.
Required Stats: 9 Strength and 20 Dexterity.
The Horn Bow
A bow that deals magical damage makes it fearsome with the correct build. It is especially powerful when using Dwelling Arrows because this Bow converts them to more magic damage. This can become especially problematic if you cast Terra Magica and run other Magic damage-increasing talismans.
Location: Siofra River, found on a corpse near the Siofra River Bank Grace.
Required Stats: 10 Strength, 14 Dexterity, and 12 Intelligence.
The Serpent Bow
A Somber Smithing Stone weapon that adds poison damage onto every arrow. This makes this bow amazing if combined with the Serpent Arrows for maximum poison build-up. The damage is bad, but the poison makes up for it in specific situations.
Location: Found in the Abandoned Cave.
Required Stats: 8 Strength, 15 Dexterity, and 11 Arcane.
The Erdtree Bow
A bow that converts some of your arrow damage into Holy damage. This makes it an amazing option for enemies and bosses like Death Birds. This also means this bow is abysmal against enemies resistant to Holy damage.
Location: Leyndell, found in a chest on the Erdtree Sanctuary Site.
Required Stats: 8 Strength, 12 Dexterity, and 14 Faith.
Red Branch Shortbow
The only shortbow worth using. The rest have their scaling and damage so low it’s not worth using for faster attacks. The Black Bow is still better than the Red Branch Shortbow, but this is the best alternative.
Location: Drops from Pages around Leyndell.
Required Stats: 8 Strength and 16 Dexterity.
Lion Great Bow
Greatbows are hard to use effectively in boss fights mainly because of their slow speed, which makes them very easy to counter. The Lion Greatbow is the best if you still insist on using them. It has a unique Ash of War and in general, solid damage.
Location: Purchased from Enia with Remembrance of the Starscourge.
Required Stats: 22 Strength and 18 Dexterity.
Armor
For this build the only importance is that you wield as light armor as possible. Mainly because there is a very important Talisman we will be using that requires this otherwise, our damage will be abysmal.
Aristocrat Set
- Location: Dropped from Noble Sorcerers.
Traveler’s Set
- Location: Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree, found at the bottom.
Spellblade Set
- Location: Dropped from Rogier upon death.
Commoner’s Set
- Location: Dropped from common enemies.
Ruler’s Set
- Location: Altus Plateau. Found on a corpse near a carriage to the west.
Best Talismans
We can use a lot of Talismans for our Elden Ring bow build, but the Blue Dancer Charm is a must for this build. Its damage will help you a lot!
Blue Dancer Charm
Increases attack power with lower equipment load.
- Location: Limgrave, Highroad Cave, dropped by the boss.
Arrow’s Sting Talisman
Increases attack power of arrows and bolts by 10%.
- Location: Caelid, obtains atop a wooden siege tower around Redmane Castle.
Erdtree’s Favor
Increases HP, stamina, and equip load.
- Location base: Found guarded by Grafted Scions in Fingefolk Hero’s Grave.
- Location +1: Found in a chest in the Subterranean Shunning Grounds after killing Mogh.
- Location +2: Found in Leyndell Ashen Captial guarded by lesser Ulcerated Tree Spirits.
Shard of Alexander
Increases weapon skill damage by 15%.
- Location: Drops upon completing Iron Fist Alexander’s questline.
Radagon’s Soreseal
Greatly raises attributes at the cost of increased damage taken.
- Location: Found on a corpse in Fort Faroth.
Prosthesis-Wearer Heirloom
Increases your Dexterity by 5.
- Location: After finishing the sidequest given by Cowry in Caelid, return to Millicent to receive the Talisman.
Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman
Increases physical resistance by 20%
- Location: Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree, found in a chest after the Drainage Channel Grace.
Flask Distribution
Almost always go full healing flasks. Occasionally going 1-3 FP flasks can be good for specific bows like the Horn Bow, but otherwise, just go full heal.
Best Summons
We mainly want tanky Summons because we will often be in the back of an arena with our Elden Ring bow build.
Lhutel the Headless
Lhutel is unique because she can teleport around, allowing her to avoid large groups of enemies and easily dodge attacks. She is also a powerhouse in tanking due to her heavy armor and great shield. Overall, she is a solid defensive option.
- Location: Dropped by the Cemetery Shade at the Tombsward Catacombs.
Banished Knight Oleg
Oleg is an offensive powerhouse that both soaks agro from bosses and deals a massive amount of damage. Generally one of the best offensive summons.
- Location: Found on a corpse inside the Fringe folk Hero’s Grave.
Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff
Kristoff is a defensive powerhouse who can tank the boss for long while dishing out some decent damage. He falls in the same category as Lhutel, as listed below. Both have good upsides so it’s up to your preference which you prefer.
- Location: Dropped by Ancient Hero of Zamor inside the Sainted Hero’s Grave west of Leyndell.
Black Knife Tiche
He is unique in that he has the Deatflame weapon art. This max HP scaling burn also lowers the enemy’s HP. Next, he is very aggressive with a decent amount of HP. He is considered the best summon in the game.
- Location: Dropped from Alecto, Black Knife Ringleader, upon defeating him inside the Ringleader Evergaol. This can only be accessed upon completing Ranni’s quest south of Liurnia.
In Conclusion
Thanks for reading our Elden Ring Bow build guide! Head to our other Elden Ring build guides here.
