Bow (Weapon)
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A bow is a type of weapon, used for shooting arrows at distant enemies and prey.
List of Bows
| Bows |
Description
Your ability to use a bow is impacted by your agility, strength, vitality and bow levels. Low strength will cause the player to release the string prematurely when drawing an arrow back, unable to hold it for a precise shot. Low Agility will drain stamina faster. The lower the bow skill, the higher the horizontal sway of all bows. By far, strength is the main factor for optimal bow use.
In addition, the higher the strength and agility requirements of a bow, the longer it takes for the bowstring to be pulled, but at the same time, the better the range and usually its damage. This draw speed is a curve that is affected by ones stats, making the draw faster as said stats increase.
The fastest draw speed possible is 1.6 seconds, with the slowest being 3.2 seconds. Some bows can never reach 1.6 seconds, and some, like the Yew longbow and Sinew bow remain at 3.2 seconds, even with max stats. Draw speed is unaffected by arrow type. For reference, preparing another arrow after a shot, and being ready to fire again takes roughly 3.2 seconds. This makes the rate-of-fire for bows 4.8 to 6.4 seconds at full draw. The rate-of-fire being so low, it is best to rely on high power bows, precision shots, and half-draw shots with potion effects. See below for strategy. (All times +/- 0.2 seconds).
Bows and arrows can be purchased from the hunting lodge of Rattay (from Berthold, on the way to the Upper Castle) or the hunting lodge of Talmberg (from Nicholas, outside the castle to the south-east). Alternatively, the archery masters sell basic bows as well. Decent-to-high tier bows can be found in graves and chests, usually by following Treasure maps. They are also commonly dropped by Bandits and Cumans. The Cuman bows have the same power as normal bows, but with lower Agility requirements. This usually makes them a superior choice.
Types of Bow
Bows come mostly in three variants:
- Villager Bows
- These are the weakest kind of bows, but they are effective at least hunting hares, and "maybe" roe deers. While they can be shot quickly in succession, they lack power and range.
- If used against foes, then aiming towards the face is the best strategy since it can only deal any decent damage against unarmoured targets. Otherwise, expect them to only be useful for softening up one opponent before you enter melee combat.
- These can be useful for applying potion effects (see below) but it is recommended to use a Hunting Bow instead, if you can.
- These bows are typically the best choice for Archery contests, with the exception of Chumps on the River. For this, a Hunting Bow or a Longbow at half draw is recommended.
- Hunting Bows
- This category of bows is the middle ground between the 3 existing ones. They are meant to be able to fire at a decent rate of fire, and have both decent damage and range for hunting any sort animal. Depending on the player's bow skill and the arrows used, it may or may not one-shot hardier beasts.
- Hunting bows can be used also reliably against enemies, and with decent arrows can oneshot lightly armored foes with a body shot. Even so, just as with the villager bows, it is recommended to aim towards an unarmoured face if possible.
- These bows are noticeably weaker against enemies wearing body chainmail let alone body plate of any sort. Against groups of such foes, it is not recommended to rely on a hunting bow as a main damage source, unless applying Potion effects in quick succession (see below).
- Longbows
- This kind of bow is almost always guaranteed to fell any kind of game in a single shot, be it hardy or not. It leaves a lot to desire in terms of rate of fire, but it will always "fly" in the direction you aim, and if it hits a target, it will always hit hard, regardless of what arrows you use. Using a half-draw works well when hunting with a Longbow.
- This category of bows is so powerful that it can be used to consistently deal damage towards enemies regardless of armor, but it is always best to use arrows with high piercing damage. The best combination of range and damage are better long-distance arrows, but better piercing arrows have best piercing damage but lesser range and accuracy than other arrows.
- Longbows are actually strong enough that lightly armed enemies can be instantly killed with only about half charged body shots, which somewhat compensates for the slower draw time. Even so, keep in mind that partially charged shots will have much shorter range than fully charged ones, as well as unreliable accuracy at very low charges.
Other bows
- Capon's hunting bow
- A unique bow that is a blend between the Villager, and the lower damage kind of Hunting bows, Capon's hunting bow can fire very quickly and has a much lower stat requirement when compared with similar hunting bows. With the right arrows it becomes very versatile, although it should still eventually be replaced by a stronger bow for ordinary usage.
- Be aware you can only acquire it during Capon's archery challenge, failing to do so means you can never acquire it again. It therefore might be worth it to save just before the archery lesson to try and win the bow.
- Visit the Capon's hunting bow page for strategy on obtaining.
- Cuman Bows
- These recurve bows are used exclusively by the Cumans and, depending on their quality, they gravitate towards either the Hunting bow and Longbow category. Regardless, they are frequently high damage dealing bows.
- Cuman bows have faster fire rates and "slightly" less stat requirements when compared with bows that deal similar or equal damage. For this reason, the stronger Cuman bows are often superior to longbows - while the best longbows still slightly outclass them in damage, this rarely is enough to make a difference in how many shots it takes to kill an enemy. The faster fire rate meanwhile can allow the player to more quickly dispose of medium to lightly armored foes.
Strategy and Tactics
- Preemptive Strike: As suggested by Captain Bernard, bows can be a great tool for starting a fight by taking out an enemy before his friends are ready to attack you. They can also be used on the defensive, although bear in mind drawing an arrow gives enemies ample time to catch up.
- Must be standing: You may not load an arrow while crouching or sprinting - this requires you to either be standing, walking, or jogging. You also may not gallop on your horse if loading an arrow, although you may still canter.
- Horseback: Although difficult to learn, using your bow on horseback can be one of the most effective tactics against a group of enemies. Simply use your horse to quickly reposition yourself and stand still when ready to fire. Henry isn't a Cuman though, so firing while moving will almost certainly end up with a lot of wasted arrows. This also makes use of the Knight perk, adding an extra 15% damage to bows (and all damage) on horseback.
- Use Good Arrows: Do not neglect to equip good quality arrows regardless of your bow. Even a strong bow can lose a lot of damage potential if using weak arrows, which becomes even worse due to their slower draw rates. The exception to this is when hunting game, as cheaper arrows are often sufficient to kill animals instantly (and are less costly to miss with than higher quality ones.)
- Use Potion Effects: Once the player has either ample groschen or developed his Alchemy skill, it is recommended to always tip your arrows with potions to make them even better against enemies. Acquiring the Alchemy 13 perk Routine II is extremely useful for this purpose. Although any effect can be conferred by an arrow that dealt sufficient damage and penetration, the following are some suggested potions for archery:
- Poison and Bane are the most obvious choices due to adding more damage potential to your bow. Even Poison can be effective since a good bow can usually take a good chunk of an armored opponent's HP. The main downside is they still require the damage to tick down, which can be quite a time consuming process. As a result, they often won't actually make a difference as long as the player can land another shot. Against a group where he can't though, even a few enemies left to die early can make a big difference. For this reason, it is strongly recommended to use Bane potion specifically. Using the strongest bow you own is good for stealth, but on alerted enemies, firing half-draws or using a slightly weaker, but faster drawing bow could apply more poison to more targets much quicker.
- Dollmaker is another popular choice for arrows. While it won't deal additional damage, it prevents affected enemies from even jogging, let alone sprinting. This effect can make it incredibly easy to land followup shots or ignore slowed enemies to focus on more pressing threats, and it has the added benefit of being easy to recognize when successfully proc'd. There are very few downsides to using it, and so generally it is the safest option whether the player intends on using the bow as a primary weapon or supplemental damage. It is recommended to primarily use the strongest bow that you can for this. Full draw shots are great in stealth. But if noticed, use a half-draw to apply the effect on alerted enemies, then switch to uncoated arrows (to save Potions) and firing a precise full-draw (to the head if possible) as a killing blow.
- Bivoj's Rage is normally used to buff the player, but its side effect of increasing damage taken has unusual implications. If successfully proc'd, it can essentially lower the defences of an enemy even beyond the usual effect of damaging their armor, which might save an extra arrow against foes in plate armor or make them easy to finish off in melee. Even so, this has the obvious risk of giving them increased damage output against Henry, which can be problematic if they manage to close the distance. It also will only affect subsequent shots if activated, and cannot simply buff an arrow to instantly kill an enemy it otherwise wouldn't.
- Lullaby and Moonshine may sound potentially useful, but their effects are overall not worth it for archery. Moonshine's high alcohol content still takes time to build up, and often it's doubtful if enemies are even affected by it. Lullaby may reduce their energy to zero, but if they're already in combat it will not lead them to pass out, but instead take slower tick damage than Poison or Bane.
- Enemy Dogs: Against enemy dogs, bows will likely be the go-to weapon for most players. They can safely pick off such enemies from range, and prevent Henry from being grabbed by dogs even up close. Successfully killing a dog with an arrow also won't alert humanoid enemies nearly as much as shooting another human or simply missing.
- Close Combat: If an enemy is attacking Henry while he's loading an arrow, this won't necessarily force him to fire. However, it will cause the player to greatly flinch and have a harder time aiming, and if his stamina is drained Henry will automatically fire anyway. Humanoid enemies notably stagger him much more than dogs. However this often can result in the arrow hitting the enemy at point blank, staggering them. This can be the break the player needs to take aim or switch weapons.
- Competition Shooting: In archery competitions, it is recommended to use at most a hunting bow, ideally even a villager bow (this depends on your Strength. Lower Strength, lower bow). This is because the extra damage and range of longbows is pointless in competitions, while the faster draw rates of weak bows can make it easier for the player to finish first (and depending on contest, net 3 extra points.)
- Body Part Targeting: The player should weigh their options of where to target on an enemy depending on what he's wearing.
- Headshots are normally the most damaging and hardest shots to land, even at fairly close ranges. An enemy without face armor will probably die with one headshot if the player's bow and arrows are half decent, and even some high level bandits will shun face armor to your advantage. However, they don't deal that much extra damage against foes with heavy armor (which also usually protects the face), while missing against them can be just as costly as missing against a lighter enemy.
- Body shots are the easiest to land regardless of distance, and with a good bow and arrows can reliably fell even enemies in chainmail with one hit. However, the chest is usually the most well armored part of an enemy, so those with plate armor can take 3 or more shots to kill or even proc a potion effect. They are recommended for weaker enemies when picking off at a distance or from stealth.
- Leg shots are somewhat difficult to land, but still easier than headshots. Normally they aren't as damaging as either headshots or body shots, but many enemies have weaker leg protection than head or body protection, especially if they are Cumans. Even plate armored bandits have fairly big gaps in plate on the backside of their legs, and so they will often take more damage here than if the player were to target their body as usual. Wounding an enemy's legs (even without potion effects) also prevents him from sprinting, which can be extremely useful for crowd control. Of course, due to the weaker armor here, it is also easier to proc potion effects by targeting the legs than the body.
- Arm and Shoulder shots are very much the same as leg shots, with the obvious exception that they are harder to hit in most cases. However, if one can get a clean shot in, it is a good way to proc potion effects to another less-armoured section of the body.
Notes
- Though Bows seem to follow a pattern of woods used (being Ash, Dogwood, Hazel, Elm and Yew) and tiers of bow (Villager's, Hunting, and Long), there does not exist an Elm Hunting Bow, a Dogwood Longbow, or a Hazel Longbow.
- Though the wood types listed above are in the typical order of power for Villager's and Hunting bows, Longbows do not follow. Instead the order is Elm, Ash and Yew.
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