Best Greatbow in Elden Ring – Ranking All Greatbows
Jun. 8, 2024Best Greatbow in Elden Ring – Ranking All Greatbows
In thisElden Ring Best Greatbows and Ranking Guide, we’ll be taking a look at the 4 Greatbows in Elden Ring and discuss why you might use them in combat. We’ll take a look at attack power, damage type, length, Weapon Skills, and other factors such as how long it takes you to acquire them, to determine if they are best suited for you. We are doing a guide for all Weapon types in Elden Ring, and these will be updated to reflect those added withShadow of the Erdtreeas well.
Best Greatbows in Elden Ring
Greatbowsare one of the 31 Weapon types in Elden Ring, soon to be 39 whenShadow of the Erdtreereleases on June 21st. They have the highest attack rating of all bow-type weapons. Greatbows are the only weapon that can use the Ash of War Through and Through. Also, every Greatbow in the game can be found in the first half of the game, and it is tied with Bows for the longest range.
However, Greatbows are the heaviest Bow-type weapons. They also have a longer time to draw, and their weapon skills are pretty much limited. Lastly, their ammo capacity is considerably less than the other Bow-type weapons.
PROS
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TheErdtree Greatbowdoes Physical and Holy Damage, and is the second heaviestGreatbowin Elden Ring, weighing 11. It requires 20 Strength, 14 Dexterity, & 14 Faith in order to use effectively.
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Attack Rating with 36 STR, 15 DEX & 50 FTH:306 Base + 100 Scaling(406)
Conclusion: TheErdtree Greatbowis by far the worst of the Greatbows except when usingGolden Great Arrows, and when using theSacred Scorpion CharmandHoly-Shrouding Cracked Tear. This combo allows it to catch up to the Greatbow and Lion Greatbow in per arrow damage, but you have to have these things to pull this off. However, you can get this Greatbow earlier than any other Greatbow in the game, has the lowest requirements of all Greatbows, and native Faith scaling allows you to buff withGolden Voweasily, pushing your damage up to the Golem Greatbow when using it.
Through and Throughis not likely to benefit you as much with this weapon as the damage is much lower than other Greatbows, particularly since 9 FP is not a small amount early game. I don’t recommend using it if you’ve grabbed this bow early on, but if you’re later in the game and have more FP and the proper spacing you definitely should when needed.
This weapon scales better with FTH up to 50, and then STR, and then DEX, making this a good pairing with STR/FTH builds, and Golden Great Arrows scale with FTH so you should prioritize this before STR. Additionally, the scaling of this weapon is poor in general compared to other Greatbows, so you shouldn’t focus on increasing your stats to maximize its damage, but rather whatever other weapon you are using.
TheGreatbowdoes Physical Damage, and is the second lightest Greatbow in Elden Ring, weighing 10. It requires 20 Strength and 20 Dexterity in order to use effectively.
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Attack Rating with 50 STR & 50 DEX:306 Base + 209 Scaling(515)
Conclusion: TheGreatbowis not the worst Greatbow, even though it deals less damage than all but the Erdtree Greatbow. However, it can be infused withRain of Arrowsif you don’t likeThrough and Throughand does slightly less damage thanRadahn’s Rainwhen fully buffed, but slightly more damage when not buffed withExalted FleshorFlame, Grant Me Strength.
Through and Throughdoes about 30% more damage for 9 FP, which is not a terrible trade if you have the time and FP to use it, as it takes a bit longer to setup than a normal shot on a Greatbow. The damage Through and Through deals on the Greatbow is about 15% less than the Golem Greatbow, and about the same as the Erdtree Greatbow when using theSacred Scorpion Charm,Holy-Shrouding Cracked TearandGolden Great Arrowson that weapon.
The Greatbow has the same scaling for both STR and DEX allowing you to use it in either type of build effectively, but getting the most damage out of it requires a Quality build.
TheGolem Greatbowdoes Physical Damage, and is the heaviest Greatbow in Elden Ring, weighing 14.5. It requires 24 Strength and 18 Dexterity in order to use effectively.
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Conclusion: TheGolem Greatbowis the pound-for-pound king ofGreatbowsif you’re talking about per shot damage, orThrough and ThroughDamage, and you can also get it rather early on in the game by farmingGolemsthat use Bows inLimgrave. However, it is the heaviest Greatbow by a good margin making it hard to use early on when trying to manage your weight.
Through and Throughdoes more damage with this weapon than any other Greatbow, but the downside is that you cannot change toRain of Arrowswhen you may want it for certain bosses or enemies. This means if you like Rain of Arrows you should either use the Greatbow or Lion Greatbow, despite their lower per shot damage.
This weapon scales very slightly better with STR than DEX, making it viable for both type of Builds. However, to get the most from this weapon you will need to go the Quality route, so keep that in mind when using it. Since it has the best scaling of all Bow type weapons in Elden Ring, you definitely should consider doing this when using this weapon.
TheLion Greatbowdoes Physical Damage, and is the lightest Greatbow in Elden Ring, weighing 9.5. It requires 22 Strength and 18 Dexterity in order to use effectively.
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Attack Rating with 50 STR & 50 DEX:294 Base + 224 Scaling(518)
Conclusion: TheLion Greatbowis solid. It has excellent Base Damage and scaling considering it is the lightest Greatbow, and it visually looks better than the other 3 Greatbows. It also natively increasesRadahn’s Speardamage by 20%, and if you hold a second Lion Greatbow in your offhand you can double this bonus.
Radahn’s Rainis a solid weapon skill and can hit over 3k damage when fully buffed and using Radahn’s Spears as ammo. It’s great for co-op when someone has a boss distracted, or for leading off a fight against a difficult enemy that hasn’t seen you yet. It’s easily the best Weapon Skill of Greatbows, typically being slightly better thanRain of Arrowswhen fully buffed.
The Lion Greatbow has nearly identical scaling with STR and DEX making it viable for both types of Builds. But, just like the Golem Greatbow, you will need to build for Quality if you want to get the most damage from it, and it does have relatively good scaling so putting points for damage is worth it.
If you enjoyed thisGreatbows Ranked Guide, be sure to check out our other Weapon Guides, and also our article on how to Prepare forShadow of the Erdtree!
Castielle
Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.
