The Royal Bow is part of the Royal weapon series, a set that is geared towards the Crit stat, which is sometimes considered underrated in the Genshin Impact community.
While most weapons in Genshin Impact can be won from the gacha and others can be crafted at the Blacksmith's, a viable way for F2P players to get their hands on formidable weapons, some can only be found in Paimon's Bargains. Each month, Paimon's Bargains puts up a number of rare items on rotation, such as four-star characters, as well as some resources that can be exchanged for Starglitter and Stardust. Currently, Beidou and Noelle are up on Paimon's Starglitter Exchange page in Genshin Impact alongside the Royal weapon series.
Purchasing the Royal Bow in the Starglitter Exchange is the only current way to obtain the weapon. Like all other Royal weapons, the Royal Bow costs 24 Masterless Starglitter, which is a hefty price to pay considering Starglitter can only come from pulling duplicate characters and rare weapons in the gacha, and players typically aim to spend it on four-star characters at Paimon's Bargains.
The Royal Bow's most important stat is Crit DMG, while its secondary stat is ATK, so the weapon series works well on characters that revolve around the Crit DMG stat as well as some healers such as Qiqi, who would be able to heal large amounts of health with the Royal Longsword equipped. At a base level, the Royal Bow increases Crit DMG by 8% with each successful hit to an enemy with a maximum of 5 stacks. This means Crit Rate can increase to up to 40% with a Royal weapon equipped. At max refinement, Crit Rate can increase to up to 80%.
Some players find use equipping the Royal Bow to Fischl or Venti, and generally any DPS-built character that relies on their Elemental DMG to deal damage to enemies could benefit from a high Crit build or weapon, because reserving Artifacts and weapons for Crit Rate doesn't sacrifice damage dealt with Elemental Skills or Elemental Bursts. Some Genshin Impact players report that the Royal Bow works excellently on Childe, consistently able to deal damage in the 5 to 6-digit range.
Unfortunately, many players are also skeptical that a four-star weapon is worth spending Masterless Starglitter on over a four-star character in Paimon's Bargains, even if the Royal Bow is an effective weapon. There are two four-star bows that can be crafted at the Blacksmith's: Compound Bow and Prototype Crescent. However, neither of them focus on Crit DMG, so the Royal Bow is an ideal weapon for a build that scales on Crit DMG.
But other four-star bows can be pulled from the gacha and increase Crit Rate or Crit DMG, such as the Blackcliff Warbow or the upcoming Alley Hunter.
Genshin Impact is available now on the App Store, Google Play, PC, and PS4, and is currently in development for PS5 and Switch.