While the entries in FromSoftware's Souls series have all had ranged weapons, they've never really been a focus of the experience, tending to be much less viable than the melee options. FromSoftware's latest title, Elden Ring, seeks to change things up a little, giving players a vast range of bows and greatbows to choose from, each with their own unique set of traits and scaling options.

While some of Elden Ring's bows require quite a bit of commitment on the player's part, needing some upgrades before they become viable to use, there's a good handful that are ready to go right off the bat, boasting some high damage and often some form of extra attack. A ranged build can be one of the most satisfying to create in Elden Ring.

RELATED: Elden Ring: Colossal Weapons Tier List

Updated on August 20, 2022, by Cameron Swan: Much like the rest of FromSoftware's back-catalog, Elden Ring's weapon meta is in constant flux. While most of the game's weapons remain just as powerful as they did on launch day, a few have been nerfed pretty significantly. Naturally, this means that tier lists from a few months ago aren't too accurate anymore. Elden Ring's bows have received some of the most significant changes since the game's launch back in February, with some dropping a few rungs on the ladder, while others have risen to take their place. Here's an up-to-date tier list on all of Elden Ring's long, short, and regular bows, and where they currently land in the game's recent metas.

S-Tier

Using the Lion Greatbow's weapon skill in Elden Ring
  • Lion Greatbow: Still widely considered to be the best ranged weapon in Elden Ring, the Lion Greatbow can be obtained using Radahn's Remembrance. Boasting an incredibly high damage output of 120, the Lion Greatbow is one of the hardest-hitting bows in the game, especially when used in conjunction with Radahn's Spear Greatarrows. The Lion Greatbow is also capable of unleashing devastation with its Radahn's Rain weapon skill, which fires an unrelenting barrage of arrows toward an enemy like the boss does to the player in his own battle.
  • Pulley Bow: The Pulley Bow packs a decent punch, giving a base damage output of 77, but the main reason for its S-Tier ranking is its unparalleled range. The Pulley Bow is capable of firing an incredibly far distance, making it perfect for those attempting a sniper build.
  • Golem Greatbow: While it does have some hefty requirements, needing 24 Strength and 18 Dexterity to wield, the Golem Greatbow offers a whopping 130 damage. The Golem Greatbow also comes packaged with the Through and Through weapon skill, which gives the bow a shot capable of piercing through multiple enemies.
  • Horn Bow: Though it looks unassuming, the Horn Bow is one of the most powerful ranged weapons in Elden Ring. Offering both a decent amount of physical damage and magic damage, the Horn Bow is capable of taking down the majority of Elden Ring's enemies with ease, especially if the weapon's combined with magic arrows. The only real downside to the Horn Bow is that it only has E-grade scaling in Strength, and D-grade scaling in Dexterity, but that's hardly noticeable, even in Elden Ring's late game. The ability to upgrade the Horn Bow with Smithing Stones also makes it a surprisingly excellent starter bow, though players will need to venture to Siofra River to obtain it. To top it all off, the Horn Bow can even be infused with Ashes of War, making it a customizable, magical powerhouse of a weapon, perfect for just about any build.

A-Tier

Erdtree-Bow-Elden-Ring
  • Erdtree Greatbow: Another excellent Greatbow, the Erdtree Greatbow offers a solid base physical damage output, as well as dishing out some holy damage. It doesn't hit quite as hard as the Lion or Golem Greatbows, but it's still one of the better ranged weapons in Elden Ring.
  • Erdtree Bow: The standard bow version, the Erdtree Bow offers the same physical/holy damage trait, albeit at a lower output than the Greatbow. That being said, the Erdtree Bow does fire at a faster rate than its Greatbow counterpart, making it more viable in Elden Ring's boss fights.
  • Serpent Bow: One of the coolest-looking weapons in the game, the Serpent Bow is capable of imbuing arrows with poison. This added trait also stacks on top of arrows that already have a poison status effect, so pairing the Serpent Bow with Serpent Arrows will inflict targets with poison extremely quickly.
  • Black Bow: A direct reference to FromSoftware's Dark Souls series, the Black Bow essentially has the damage output of a regular bow, with the fire rate of a light bow. This makes it a pretty remarkable option for anyone who plans on using their bow as their secondary form of attack. Though the Black Bow used to be a much weaker weapon, recent updates have made it one of Elden Ring's more consistent ranged options. Though, the Black Bow cannot be infused with Ashes of War, which does somewhat limit what players can do to customize the weapon. The Black Bow is a fairly rewarding weapon to use, but it does require the player to invest some time and resources, making it a weapon better used by those who are designing a specific Black Bow build.

RELATED: Elden Ring: Remembrance Weapons Tier List

B-Tier

Elden Ring Longbow
  • Red Branch Shortbow: Having the same damage stats as the Composite Bow, the Red Branch Shortbow isn't the hardest hitting weapon in the game, but it is fairly fast. The Red Branch is also slightly more helpful than its Composite counterpart as it has the Barrage weapon skill, which fires a volley of arrows at the enemy at once.
  • Misbegotten Shortbow: The Misbegotten Shortbow is pretty great at close range, making it a solid option for PvP, and also boasts the highest damage output of a light bow. However, it is a fairly tricky weapon to get, requiring a lot of tedious farming.
  • Longbow: It doesn't offer the most damage, nor is it the fastest bow in Elden Ring, but its sheer accessibility puts the Long Bow comfortably in the B-Tier. The Long Bow can be wielded by just about any build, with minimal requirements, and can be bought for practically no Runes at all from just about any vendor. The Long Bow is also incredibly easy to upgrade, giving it the potential to be a fairly powerful weapon in Elden Ring's early game.
  • Greatbow: Though it doesn't offer the same damage output as its siblings further up this list, the standard Greatbow is still one of the hardest-hitting weapons in the game, offering a base damage stat of 125. Its higher requirements do make it a tricky bow to recommend, though, as players will need to invest 20 points into both Strength and Dexterity to wield it.
  • Albinauric Bow: The Albinauric Bow offers the highest damage output for a standard bow, delivering 82 base damage per shot. Despite this clear advantage, however, this bow does require some farming to obtain, and once the player has finally found one, they'll likely be so far in the late game that it has little use anymore - especially without upgrades.
  • Jar Cannon: Though it technically isn't defined as a bow, Elden Ring's Jar Cannon is one of the game's most unique ranged weapons, and doesn't really fit in any other tier list. The Jar Cannon is capable of delivering some serious critical and splash damage. However, players who wield the Jar Cannon need to be cautious when firing it, as the reload speed is criminally low, leaving the player wide-open to counterattacks. The Jar Cannon also doesn't scale with any stats, making it a little redundant in Elden Ring's endgame.
  • Hand Ballista: Another weapon that fits into its own class, the Hand Ballista resembles a bow enough to be added to this tier list. It requires a fairly hefty Strength of 30, but the Hand Ballista does pack a mean punch if used in the right setting. Though it can be used for sniping, the Hand Ballista is most effective when the player is trying to break their opponent's guard stance, as just one shot from the Hand Ballista can stagger even the heaviest foes, leaving them open to a quick thrust of a sword or swing of an axe. However, the big drawback of the Hand Ballista is that, much like the Jar Cannon, it doesn't scale with any stats, which makes it difficult to use in the latter half of Elden Ring's story.

C-Tier

elden ring harp bow feature
  • Composite Bow: There's nothing really wrong with the Composite Bow, as it still has a fast fire rate and is capable of a decent amount of damage per hit, but there's also not really anything about it that stands out. The Composite Bow also requires 15 Strength and 15 Dexterity to use, which is higher than its other light bow counterparts, for not really much pay off.
  • Shortbow: The Shortbow is an excellent starter bow, requiring very little to wield, but that's also its problem. Once the early stages of Elden Ring are beaten, the Shortbow loses its usefulness very quickly.
  • Harp Bow: Although it doesn't require much to wield, the Harp Bow only offers 62 damage per hit, and has some pretty terrible scaling, with both Strength and Dexterity in the E-class. Even when fully upgraded, the Harp Bow is only capable of producing 151 points of damage, which makes it one of the weakest bows in Elden Ring.

Elden Ring is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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