Top 5 Best Bows In Elden Ring

Elden Ring has three types of bows available for players: Light Bows, standard Bows (or longbows), and Greatbows. The standard Bows generally have a good balance between the weight and Attack Power, making them great ranged Intelligence weapons for launching attacks from a distance.

Putting together the best Archer build requires having the best bows, but which longbows would be the top best to find and acquire in-game? This guide compiles everything you need on the five best bows to own, their base and scaling stats, and how to get them in Elden Ring.

Five Best Ranked Bows In Elden Ring

These longbows offer little to no Guarded Damage Negation, leaving you open to attacks, and they can't be infused with Affinities. However, to inflict various status effects like Poison, Sleep, and Bleed, this can be achieved through different arrow types, which deal Physical Attack damage along with the status effect.

There are seven Bows for you to acquire, each with their base Attack Power stats and the default Weapon Skill, Mighty Shot, except for one bow. Some bows can have this skill removed and replaced with an Ash of War, but in some instances, specific bows can't be enhanced with them.

With that being said, we've compared all the data, and based on base and maxed Attack Power stats, Attribute scaling, and viability, we've listed the five best Bows to get in Elden Ring:

5. Serpent Bow

Primarily scaling with Dexterity, the Serpent Bow is an ornate longbow with a unique passive effect that causes Poison build-up. Requiring 15 Dexterity, 11 Arcane, and 8 Strength, the Sepernt Bow has the default Mighty Shot Weapon Skill, which overdraws a shot in a stance position before firing.

It cannot be imbued with any Ashes of War, but you can enhance the Poison build-up using Serpent Arrows, which is why this Bow has the Arcane requirement. Obtaining the Serpent Bow can be found in a cave pocket inside Abandoned Cave using Quickstep or Bloodhound's Step to avoid being covered with Scarlet Rot.

4. Albinauric Bow

Similar to the Serpent Bow, the Albinauric Bow also scales with Dexterity, but also Strength, given it has a higher base Physical Attack Power. Needing 18 Dexterity and 8 Strength, the Albinauric Bow is one of the heaviest in-game, and it has the bonus of being infused with Ashes of War if you're not keen on using the Mighty Shot.

However, this specific bow is quite challenging to acquire as it's a random loot drop, so players must farm the area between the Hidden Path to the Haligtree and Ordina, Liturgical Town Sites of Grace. You'll be looking for the Albinauric Wolfback Archers, which you'll need to eliminate the mounts first before defeating the archers, and looting one of them will grant you the Albinauric Bow.

3. Horn Bow

The Horn Bow is a great ranged weapon option for Intelligence/Magic builds requiring 14 Dexterity, 12 Intelligence, and 10 Strength to wield. This longbow has a weaker base Physical Attack Power than the Albinauric Bow, but its damage is split between Physical and Magic, and Ashes of War can be applied to this weapon.

You'll need the Dwelling Arrows, the best ammunition with the bow, which deals more Magic damage than the Horn Bow offers. Acquiring it is straightforward without fighting off enemies, but you must head to the Siofra River from the Siofra River Bank Site of Grace.

Head towards the Hallowhorn Grounds and wrap around the right side of the building before dropping down onto an alcove. Using Torrent, jump across to a platform around the corner and locate a corpse between two pillars and loot it for the Horn Bow.

2. Pulley Bow

The Pulley Bow possesses the appearance of a compound bow, but it has one of the best base Physical Attack Power, excluding the Albinauric Bow but has the best range. With equal Dexterity and Strength requirements, this weapon's performance can be significantly improved when increasing your Dexterity and Strength Attributes.

This ranged weapon isn't hard to track down as it can be looted from a corpse atop a siege tower in Mt. Gelmir. To find this siege tower, start from the Gelmir Hero's Grave Site of Grace and head north before defeating a few enemies and climbing to the top of the siege tower to collect the bow.

1. Black Bow

The best longbow to acquire in Elden Ring is the Black Bow, the only bow with a unique Weapon Skill, Barrage, which launches consecutive arrow shots toward enemies at a fast rate. This makes it the best bow to apply status effects when utilizing the Barrage Weapon Skill while having great Physical Attack damage regardless of running, jumping, or dodging.

It's also quite viable but easily missed as it can be found in Leyndell, Royal Capital, and it must be found before it becomes the Ashen Capital, or you won't be able to acquire it. From the Avenue Balcony Site of Grace, head down the steps passing through the gates and leading to the right before jumping over the balcony.

Make your way through the barracks, as you'll need to find a way to access one of the rooftop buildings using the staircase in this area. Traverse across the rooftops and locate a corpse where you can loot it to get the Black Bow.

And that completes this guide on the best bows in Elden Ring. We want to thank the YouTube channel Dare To Game for the complete breakdown of locating the best longbows in-game. Please consider subscribing to their channel and watching the video below for more details.