The Bow of Shadows is a powerful Daedric artifact created by the Daedric Prince Nocturnal, the patron of night and darkness who rules over the Oblivion plane of Evergloam. The Bow of Shadows previously appeared in other Elder Scrolls titles before being introduced to Skyrim with the release of Skyrim Anniversary Edition.
The Bow of Shadows grants two major boons to its wielder: invisibility and weapon draw speed. The base damage of the Bow is higher than almost any other Bow in Skyrim, but in order to acquire this artifact, players must first complete a short questline tied to its Daedric creator.
Updated April 27, 2022 by Erik Petrovich: The Bow of Shadows continues to be one of the most powerful weapons included in Anniversary Edition, to the point that any Stealth or Ranged player does themselves a disservice by avoiding its associated questline. The Shadow Bow is found in Whiterun after a short detective-style quest, and each step of the journey is practically within a stone's throw of Whiterun, making it acquirable ridiculously early on. When it comes to how to get the Bow of Shadows Skyrim makes the player finish a series of fetch tasks capped with a powerful encounter, but there are ways to avoid the more tedious parts.
The Bow of Shadows Effects And Stats
The Bow of Shadows is, as the name suggests, a bow that is primarily of use for stealth-based playthroughs and sneaky characters. It has two major enchantments that are passive, meaning they activate without an associated charge bar being depleted, and the Bow of Shadows never needs to be charged with Soul Gems.
- Equipment Type: Bow
- Raw Damage: Varies depending on level
- Inventory Weight: 18
- Gold Value: Varies depending on level
- Enchantment: Casts Invisibility for 30 seconds on the wielder when first drawn. Additionally, drawing this bow is 20% faster than normal.
- Enchantment Uses: N/A (passively enchanted)
The Invisibility effect seems to only activate when the Bow of Shadows is equipped and drawn from the inventory, not when the player draws back the bowstring. The effect lasts 30 seconds, which is plenty of time to get around enemies or set oneself up for the perfect stealth kill. Its increased draw speed makes the Invisibility effect happen almost instantly, too.
How To Get The Bow of Shadows
The Bow of Shadows is acquired through a new questline related to the Daedric Prince Nocturnal. To start the "In The Shadows" quest, head to Dragonsreach and talk to the Jarl's Steward Proventus Avenicci.
Step One: Starting "In The Shadows"
When you reach Dragonsreach, ask Proventus if there's anything more you can do for him when you bring up the dialogue menu, after which he gives the player a letter explaining the situation - an assassination plot against Jarl Balgruff. There appears to be either a level barrier or a progression barrier to starting this quest, however, so don't be surprised if the dialogue option doesn't appear at first.
Step Two: Investigating the Plot
After reading the note players are lead to several locations. First, stop by Arcadia's Cauldron to read her ledger. Then, head to the Whiterun Catacombs and look for a poison bottle next to a body and a note. Finally, head to the Whiterun Stables and look in one of the stalls for the body of a Nord - read the note on his body, and head to Silent Moons Camp. If you want to finish the questline sooner and don't care to see the development of this plotline, you can head straight to the Stables after leaving Dragonsreach and skip Arcadia and the Catacombs.
Step Three: Silent Moons Camp
Located Northwest of Whiterun, Silent Moons Camp is overrun with bandits who can either be killed or avoided by jumping over the wall at the back of the camp. Just outside of the Lunar Forge there is a table with a note lying on it. Read this, and head back to Dragonsreach.
Step Four: Stopping The Assassin
After the player heads back to Dragonsreach they will find the assassin on the upper decks – the assassin is on the balcony behind the stairs to the second floor, and will be invisible when first approached. The Bow of Shadows is found on the corpse of the assassin, and picking it up completes the quest and grants use of the Shadow Bow Skyrim players have asked for since release.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition is available for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S