Best bow build setup for Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
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Best Bow build for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC

Wither your opponents down before they get near you.

Finding the best bow build for your character in Elden Ring and even into the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC can be quite the task. How much do you want to dedicate your build to being a ranged attacker?

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Do you want something to kill enemies with, or to get rid of those pesky ranged attackers that can ruin your progression? Here, weā€™ll go over a full-on bow build, some recommendations for things to equip, and more.

Best bow build for Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

To start off, this build will simply utilize a bow from the list and talismans to amplify damage output. 

Best bows

The following is a list of the strongest bows in the game. In no particular order, you canā€™t go wrong with any of these: 

  • Full Moon Crossbow
  • Pulley Crossbow
  • Repeating Crossbow (DLC)
  • Black Bow
  • Albinauric Bow
  • Longbow
  • Pulley Bow
  • Lion Greatbow
  • Igonā€™s Greatbow (DLC)

We also included some crossbows here since they use similar materials to work. They function mostly the same but do require some setup, like manually reloading each shot.

Elden Ring best bows and in DLC
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Best Ashes of War for bows

The following is a list of Ashes of War that you can equip onto your ranged weapons that arenā€™t upgraded by Somber Smithing Stones:

  • Barrage
  • Rain of Arrows

There arenā€™t a lot here, but these are consistent with damage and pressure.

Best talismans for bows in Elden Ring

  • Arrowā€™s Reach Talisman
  • Arrowā€™s Sting Talisman
  • Arrowā€™s Soaring Sting Talisman
  • Sharpshot Talisman

Having all four of these talismans will increase the effective range and overall damage to your bows. Just make sure you have an ample supply of arrows and bolts so you donā€™t run out at any point.

Also, if youā€™re going for a more hybrid approach where you want to incorporate melee into your build, consider Dexterity weapons as they tend to scale more with that stat as you upgrade them to +10 or +25.


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Elliott Gatica
Contributing Writer - Elliott has been writing about video games since he was in high school. Carrying that momentum forward, he has now appeared in outlets such as App Trigger, Attack of the Fanboy, and now Destructoid. He focuses heavily on Warframe, but he is also an avid fan of fighting games and shooters. When he isn't here, he's probably getting salty in Mortal Kombat 1 or climbing the competitive ranks with his friends on Overwatch 2.