The best bow builds in Elden Ring have gotten significantly more powerful in Elden Ring with the introduction of the new Talismans and weapons in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. With enough arrows in your inventory, you effectively be able to complete the entire game as a ranger and cheese your way through PvE as well as PvP.
So if you are looking to cosplay as Legolas in the Land of Shadow, here are some of the best bow builds that you should be trying out in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree.
The most OP Bow builds in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC
1) The Storm Arrow bow build
Equipment, Spells, and Ashes of War:
| Category | Item |
|---|---|
| Main Weapon | Ansbach’s Longbow Albinauric Bow |
| Secondary Weapon | – |
| Armor | Any light armor set |
| Primary Talismans | Blue Dancer Charm Arrow’s Sting Talisman Arrow’s Soaring Sting Talisman Ritual Sword Talisman |
| Alternate Talismans | Rotten Winged Sword Insignia Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman Crusade Insignia Shard of Alexander |
| Primary Stats | Vigor Dexterity Endurance |
| Secondary Stats | Strength Mind |
| Ash of War | Mighty Shot Fan Shot |
| Spells | – |
| Items | Normal Arrows Stormwing Bone Arrows |
| Primary Crystal Tear | Bloodsucking Cracked Tear Crimsonburst Crystal Tear |
| Alternate Crystal Tear | Opaline Hardtear Greenburst Crystal Tear |
Attribute Distribution:
| Attribute | Points |
|---|---|
| Vigor | 60 |
| Mind | 25 |
| Endurance | 23 |
| Strength | 25 |
| Dexterity | 65 |
| Intelligence | 16 |
| Faith | 07 |
| Arcane | 17 |
How to use:
The Storm Arrow build makes the most of the Mighty Shot Ash of War that the Albinauric Bow drops with. When using the skill you will be able to significantly enhance the amount of damage that Stormwing Bone Arrows will do and you will be able to snipe most enemies from afar.
This bow is also great at taking down dragons by consistently aiming at their head with Might Shot. Bosses also take a lot of damage from this skill, however, you will likely be switching to Ansbach’s Longbow and its Fan Shot skill when fighting a boss.
Fan Shot will turn the bow into a shotgun and your character will hold the weapon horizontally and shoot eight arrows at the same time. This does a tremendous amount of damage to bosses when each of the arrows land.
You will be using the Blue Dancer Charm for this build so make sure you are on light equip load. A light load will also let you be more mobile in the field and you will need to dodge and jump a lot when piloting this build.
2) The Bloody Fan bow build
Equipment, Spells, and Ashes of War:
| Category | Item |
|---|---|
| Main Weapon | Ansbach’s Longbow Bone Bow |
| Secondary Weapon | Any Talisman |
| Armor | Head: White Mask Rest: Raksha’sa Set |
| Primary Talismans | Two-Headed Turtle Talisman Arrow’s Sting Talisman Arrow’s Soaring Sting Talisman Lord of Blood’s Exultation |
| Alternate Talismans | Blue Dancer Charm (If you are going light equip) Ritual Sword Talisman Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman Crusade Insignia Shard of Alexander Rotten Winged Sword Insignia |
| Primary Stats | Vigor Dexterity Endurance |
| Secondary Stats | Strength Mind Faith |
| Ash of War | Rancor Shot Fan Shot |
| Spells | Flame Grant me Strength Golden Vow |
| Items | Bloodbone Arrow Dwelling Arrow Fire Arrow |
| Primary Crystal Tear | Bloodsucking Cracked Tear Opaline Hardtear |
| Alternate Crystal Tear | Crimsonburst Crystal Tear Greenburst Crystal Tear |
Attribute Distribution:
| Attribute | Points |
|---|---|
| Vigor | 60 |
| Mind | 20 |
| Endurance | 20 |
| Strength | 14 |
| Dexterity | 75 |
| Intelligence | 09 |
| Faith | 25 |
| Arcane | 07 |
How to use:
This bow build is all about applying the Blood Loss status effect on bosses as quickly as possible. Hence, you will be relying on the Fan Shot skill with Bloodbone Arrows equipped a fair bit.
The skill redies and fires eight arrows at the same time. Hence, you are likely going to be able to proc Hemorrhage multiple times in a boss encounter if you can land each of the arrows.
However, Bloodbone Arrows are a rare resource and it takes a lot of grind to craft or loot a fair amount of them. So you will need to use them sparingly and reserve them mostly for boss encounters.
So when clearing the basic content in the Land of Shadow you will be switching to the Bone Bow and using its Rancor skill to take out mobs.
Rancor is also great at applying status effect, so you can switch to this bow midway in a boss encounter if you see the enemy is keeping their distance from you.
3) The Sleep and Poison Rancor bow build
Equipment, Spells, and Ashes of War:
| Category | Item |
|---|---|
| Main Weapon | Bone Bow |
| Secondary Weapon | Any Talisman Falx (or any other melee weapon) |
| Armor | Raksha’sa Set |
| Primary Talismans | Two-Headed Turtle Talisman Arrow’s Sting Talisman Arrow’s Soaring Sting Talisman Rotten Winged Sword Insignia |
| Alternate Talismans | Blue Dancer Charm (If you are going light equip) Ritual Sword Talisman Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman Crusade Insignia Shard of Alexander |
| Primary Stats | Vigor Dexterity Endurance Strength |
| Secondary Stats | Mind Faith |
| Ash of War | Rancor Shot |
| Spells | Flame Grant me Strength Golden Vow |
| Items | Normal Arrows St. Trina’s Arrow Serpent Arrow Spiritflame Arrow |
| Primary Crystal Tear | Crimsonburst Crystal Tear Greenburst Crystal Tear |
| Alternate Crystal Tear | Bloodsucking Cracked Tear Opaline Hardtear |
Attribute distribution:
| Attribute | Points |
|---|---|
| Vigor | 60 |
| Mind | 30 |
| Endurance | 30 |
| Strength | 55 |
| Dexterity | 55 |
| Intelligence | 09 |
| Faith | 35 |
| Arcane | 07 |
How to use:
This build is all about using the Bone Bow’s Rancor to build up status ailments like Sleep and Poison on the enemy. You will be able to use the Ash of War to track enemies with your arrows and build up the ailment very fast by spamming the skill.
It’s a very fun build to try out in both PvE and PvP, and you will be able to use it to cheese through some of the most difficult encounters in the game.
When the enemy closes in on you or falls asleep, you will be able to switch to the Falx or any other melee weapon of choice to deal massive damage to them.
This build works extremely well when you have a Spirit Summon, like Taylew the Golem Smith. The summon is perfect at drawing enemy aggro away from you and can tank his way through most boss encounters.
He will give you enough room to stand and spam Rancor and keep stacking status ailments on the enemy.
