As a Dark Souls 3 archer who has tested every bow in the game extensively, I present my top 6 picks for the very best bows available, along with detailed advice on locations, upgrades, scaling, tactics and more.
The Composite Bow stands out as one of the most versatile and balanced shortbows in DS3. With Dexterity scaling of D and a respectable 73 base damage, it can pump out solid DPS once upgraded.
What truly makes the Composite Bow shine is its unique Rapid Fire skill. By expending 20 FP, you unleash a flurry of shots at high speed for a short duration. While Rapid Fire lowers your damage by 50% during activation, the tradeoff for drastically improved fire rate is well worth it – you can melt enemies and bosses easily utilizing this. I‘ve shredded even late game bosses like Demon Princes using nothing but the Composite Bow‘s Rapid Fire.
The short 42 range does mean you need to be relatively close to your target. However, the Composite Bow makes up for this with speed and roll catching potential. Overall, it‘s one of the best all-purpose shortbows for dexterity builds – a quality balance of range, damage and versatility.
Base Stats:
- Damage: 73
- Dexterity Scaling: D
- Range: 42
- Weight: 3.5 units
- Skill: Rapid Fire
To get your hands on the Composite Bow, you‘ll need to give the Dreamchaser‘s Ashes to the Handmaid in Firelink Shrine and then purchase it for 3,500 souls. At only 12 Dexterity/Strength required to wield, it‘s accessible for nearly any build as well.
Location: Purchase from Handmaid for 3500 souls (after giving Dreamchaser‘s Ashes)
When upgrading, the Composite Bow scales up to +10 reinforcements with regular Titanite. Infusing with Sharp gems can scale the Dexterity even higher for additional DPS. I recommend the Sharp infusion since strength builds typically prioritize ultra greatswords/hammers over bows.
If you‘re looking for range, look no further than the infamous Black Bow of Pharis. Sporting S-tier Dexterity scaling and a massive 63 range, it dominates at long distance sniping.
The Black Bow boasts the longest lock-on range in Dark Souls 3, letting you surgically pick apart groups or bosses safely from afar. While the damage isn‘t outstanding, it wears enemies down swiftly with its rapid long range attacks.
And while Swift Quiver or Rapid Fire provide higher overall DPS, the Black Bow‘s exclusive Pharis Triple Shot skill empowers your next 3 shots to fire arrows in a fanning spread simultaneously. It adds high burst damage and maintains useful range.
To optimize the Black Bow, pump points into Dexterity for scaling. The weapon art Pharis Triple Shot also combos especially well with the Hawk Ring equipped for longest range snipes. And since arrows lose significant damage at long range, I recommend Large Arrows for minimizing damage falloff combined with Leo Ring counter hits.
Acquiring the Black Bow requires farming the 3 Elder Ghrus on the Farron Keep Perimeter, with one of them having a small chance to drop it when killed. Make sure to equip as much item discovery boosting gear as possible to grind this out quicker!
Base Stats:
- Damage: 67
- Dexterity Scaling: S
- Range: 63
- Weight: 3.0
- Skill: Pharis Triple Shot
Location: Rare drop from Elder Ghrus in Farron Keep
Upgrades: Upgrades to +5 with Twinkling Titanite (max)
The Dragonslayer Greatbow turns you into a heavy artillery sniper, capable of dishing out tremendous ranged damage with specialized great arrows. While the greatbow class lacks speed and versatility, they make up for it with pure stopping power.
And the Dragonslayer Greatbow brings pain in spades – at 40 Strength/Dexterity, it can easily blast for over 800 damage per fully charged heavy attack. The minor downside is the hefty 10 unit weight, but the obliterative damage is worth the equip load.
Utilizing the Dragonslayer Greatbow is slower paced, requiring you manually aim and charge up shots for 2-3 seconds before releasing. But pulling off that perfect, clean release to impale a boss or invader from across the map is incredibly satisfying.
To acquire this devastating cannon of a weapon, loot the corpse on top of the high rooftops in Anor Londo where the Silver Knight archers relentlessly pelt you (sweet revenge!).
Base Stats:
- Damage: 126
- Dexterity & Strength Scaling: D/D
- Range: 50
- Weight: 10.0
- Skill: Puncturing Arrow
Location: Found on a corpse overlook in Anor Londo
Upgrades: Non-upgradable
Weighing in with a monstrous 139 base damage and A/E Strength/Dexterity scaling, the Millwood Greatbow is the king of raw physical damage. Fully upgraded on dedicated strength builds, I‘ve landed critical shots over 2300 damage on bosses!
The main tradeoff is slightly shorter 39 range compared to other greatbows. However, with the insane damage numbers possible, most enemies won‘t be alive long enough to close the gap.
And while slow initially, the Millwood Greatbow has deceptively high DPS once you master shot canceling to bypass the long charge times. By firing an arrow then immediately using the weapon skill, you slash horizontally to "store" a partially charged great arrow. You can then swiftly roll out of the skill animation and immediately fire off the pre-charged shot for huge damage, repeating this process continuously.
The weapon skill Pierce Earth gives this bulky oak bow additional poise break and guard penetration too. Overall, it‘s the premiere ultra high damage greatbow option.
To obtain the Millwood Greatbow, loot the corpse being guarded by a pack of deadly Millwood Knights in the Ariandel DLC. I recommend utilizing the Millwood Knights to practice your dodging before collecting the bow!
Base Stats:
- Damage: 139
- Strength Scaling: A
- Dexterity Scaling: E
- Range: 39
- Weight: 9.0
- Skill: Pierce Earth
Location: Guarded corpse in Ariandel DLC
Upgrades: Non-upgradable
This graceful ashen bow is wildly underrated – the White Birch Bow has climbed to be my 2nd favorite Dark Souls 3 bow due to uniqueness alone.
With base 92 damage and E/D Dexterity/Strength scaling, it holds its own in combat just fine. But the genuine hidden treasure here is the exclusive Unseen Arrow weapon skill. After activation, your next shot arrow becomes completely invisible!
No other bow compares for tactical combat and landing sneak attacks. An invisible arrow is borderline impossible to react to in PvP – if you manually aim true, it‘s a guaranteed win. The spell also lets you pull off assassin style tactics in PvE, like sniping casters silently from concealment.
Plus, while fragile with only 50 durability, the White Birch Bow is extremely lightweight at 2.5 units. You can equip an ultra greatsword in your main hand and the bow in your off hand to adapt for any situation. It has skyrocketed to an essential piece of my personal loadout.
To claim this elusive prize, you‘ll need to traverse deep into the Ringed City DLC and loot the corpse atop the swamp area sewers within the Ringed City Streets.
Base Stats:
- Damage: 92
- Dexterity Scaling: E
- Strength Scaling: D
- Range: 49
- Weight: 2.5
- Skill: Unseen Arrow
Location: Corpse found in Ringed City Streets swamp
Upgrades: Upgrades to +5 with Twinkling Titanite (max)
After extensive consideration, I‘ve concluded the unassuming Short Bow deserves 1st place in my Dark Souls 3 bow tier list. While simple in design, this modest wooden self bow dominates with Rapid Fire speed.
Clocking in at 77 base damage with E rank Dexterity scaling, make no mistake – a max upgraded Sharp Short Bow can contend with even legendary named bows in sheer damage per second (DPS).
The Rapid Fire weapon skill grants you a lengthy window of machine gun-esque arrow barrages that absolutely shred enemies at close range. In the oft-chaotic PvP battles of Dark Souls 3, landing that first Rapid Fire shot spells doom for nearly any opponent lacking poise. I‘ve had over 300 victory duel bouts relying solely on the Short Bow‘s blistering arrow rate.
And while the base range caps at 42, you can manually aim and lead targets to counteract this somewhat. Free aiming takes practice, but maximizes yourEffective Range dramatically once mastered.
Weighing only 2.0 units and requiring 12 Dexterity to wield, the Short Bow integrates perfectly into any build. I consider it mandatory equipment at this point! There‘s simply no substitute for having access to such blistering ranged DPS on demand.
You can choose the reliable Short Bow as a starting equipment Thief class. Or after sending him on his first scavenge run to Undead Settlement, Greirat will sell the Short Bow for a mere 1,000 souls.
Base Stats:
- Damage: 77
- Dexterity Scaling: E
- Range: 42
- Weight: 2.0
- Skill: Rapid Fire
Location: Sold by Greirat the Thief or Thief starting equipment
Upgrades: Upgrades to +10 with regular Titanite
While I‘ve covered the top standouts, let‘s briefly touch on a few other noteworthy bows Dark Souls 3 has to offer:
Longbow: Available extremely early game, the basic Longbow provides smooth, no-frills ranged damage and practice. Plus, the minimal stat investment makes it a nice backup option.
Arbalest: Crossbows trade scaling and fancy skills for raw stopping power and armor penetration. Flat physical damage works wonders in the early game.
Light Crossbow: Lower damage but very fast reload speed compared to stock crossbows. Pairs well with critical-focused builds.
Knight‘s Crossbow: Requires big Strength investment but pays off for high poise damage and guard breaking. Staggers enemies easily.
Sniper Crossbow: Hefty range with lower front load damage but passive Pontiff Eye builds benefit from consecutive shots.
Now that we‘ve covered the top bow selections, let‘s discuss how to push their power to the limits through upgrading and infusing.
Most standard bows follow relatively similar upgrade paths to standard melee weapons. Regular Titanite is needed to reinforce shortbows, composite bows, long bows and the like up to +10.
Greatbows cannot be upgraded unfortunately, so their base damage is static. However, their immense damage values often make up for this limitation.
For ascensions beyond that, gems become necessary for auxiliary effects:
Sharp Gem: Scales weapon damage heavier with Dexterity. Perfect for Dex builds.
Heavy Gem: Scales weapon with extra Strength instead. Ideal for Strength fighters.
Refined Gem: Provides more balanced scaling for both Strength & Dex. Versatile but master of none.
Raw Gem: Removes scaling entirely for pure physical base damage. Low requirement builds benefit.
I personally recommend Sharp infusion on the majority of bows to maximize DPS scaling. Certain ultra high strength demanding greatbows like the Millwood pair well with Heavy gems of course.
And while elements can provide utility, their damage cannot be boosted further. So standard physical is generally best for pure archers.
Simply equipping one of these outstanding bows above grants you access to formidable ranged prowess. However, truly mastering archery in Dark Souls 3 requires nuance – let‘s overview crucial techniques.
Free Aiming: Locking onto targets reduces the need to manually aim arrows. But free firing gives you complete control over shot positioning and enables firing past obstacles/corners. Lead targets slightly for best accuracy without lock-on.
Arrow Canceling: Greatbow users can slash horizontally during the arrow charging animation to "store" partial charge, then swiftly roll/sprint out of the slash recovery. Immediately firing after canceling allows swiftly unleashing devastating charged shots.
Ambushing: One of the most lethal bow tactics is landing the opener blow from concealment, especially with skill-enhanced triple shots. Bait groups around corners and pelt them by surprise for potentially instant kills.
Roll Catching: Particularly effective in PvP – fire arrows purposefully where opponents will dodge roll to so they take damage at the end of their iframes. High rate of fire bows excel for roll catching.
Visually Obscured Arrows: Certain zones like water hide part of the arrow flight. Enemies can easily lose track of projectiles when they briefly visually vanish, catching them off guard.
Mastering advanced archery takes time, but once internalized you truly feel the power of a bow master!
And there you have it – everything you could ever need to know about selecting, upgrading and dominating with the best bows in Dark Souls 3. I hope this guide gives you confidence to try out an archer and explore different playstyle possibilities. Thanks for reading!
Any questions, feedback or personal bow opinions to share? Sound off below and let me know!
