Best Light Bow in Elden Ring – Ranking All Light Bows
Jun. 8, 2024Best Light Bow in Elden Ring – Ranking All Light Bows
In thisElden Ring Best Light Bows and Ranking Guide, we’ll be taking a look at the 7 Light Bows 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.
Light Bows in Elden Ring
Light Bowsare one of the 31 Weapon types in Elden Ring, soon to be 39 whenShadow of the Erdtreereleases on June 21st. Light Bows have a slightly faster draw speed than Bows. You can jump and shoot, land and shoot, sprint and shoot, and roll and shoot very quickly with Light Bows. Most Light Bows can be found extremely early in the game, which is great if you want to play a Light Bow build. True to its name, it is very light weight. Lastly, it has the highest versatility when it comes to usingAshes of Warfor all Bow-type weapons.
Light Bows, however, have lower damage per shot than the two other Bow-type weapons. It also has a relatively short range compared to the other two Bow types, and it has poor scaling.
PROS
CONS
TheHarp Bowdoes Physical Damage, and is the lightest Light Bow in Elden Ring, weighing 2. It requires 9 Strength and 9 Dexterity in order to use effectively.
PROS
CONS
Attack Rating with 40 STR & 60 DEX:151 Base + 55 Scaling(206)
Conclusion: TheHarp Bowis the lightest Light Bow and has very low stat requirements, but you won’t get it until a ways into the game inThe Shaded Castle, you cannot change its weapon skill: Barrage, and it has the lowest damage of all Light Bows by a lot.
This weapon scales slightly better with DEX than STR, but not by a lot, and has poor scaling in general, so I would avoid worrying about adding damage through scaling with this weapon.
The only real reason to use this weapon is because it makes a harp sound when firing arrows, allowing you to live out your Bardic Archer fantasy.
TheShortbowdoes Physical Damage, and has an average weight for a Light Bow in Elden Ring, weighing 2.5. It requires 8 Strength and 10 Dexterity in order to use effectively.
PROS
CONS
Attack Rating with 50 STR & 50 DEX:159 Base + 61 Scaling(220)
Conclusion: TheShortbowhas the second lowest damage of all Light Bows and has terrible scaling, but can be acquired at the very beginning of the game, it has very low requirements, and you can change itsAsh of War.
This weapon scales identically with either STR or DEX, meaning you can use it in either a STR or DEX build until you find a better weapon, but has poor scaling in general.
The best reason to use this weapon is its ease of acquisition at the very beginning of the game and the fact that anyone can use it with little stat investment, but you will definitely want to swap this out for a stronger Light Bow when you find one.
TheRed Branch Shortbowdoes Physical Damage and has an average weight for a Light Bow in Elden Ring, weighing 2.5. It requires 8 Strength and 16 Dexterity in order to use effectively.
PROS
CONS
Attack Rating with 30 STR & 70 DEX:159 Base + 71 Scaling(230)
Conclusion: TheRed Branch Shortbowcan be acquired inTombsward Ruinsearly on, you can change its Ash of War, and it has almost no Strength requirements, making it a good choice if you are going for a pure DEX build. However, it is outclassed by the Black Bow, both damage and range wise, making it a better choice if you don’t mind the extra 1.5 weight.
The Red Branch Shortbow scales slightly better with the DEX than STR making it better on DEX builds than STR, but not by a lot. However, since it has a 16 DEX requirement, it’s a natural choice for early game DEX builds.
TheComposite Bowdoes Physical Damage, and is tied for the heaviest Light Bow in Elden Ring, weighing 3. It requires 15 Strength and 15 Dexterity in order to use effectively.
PROS
CONS
Attack Rating with 30 STR & 70 DEX:159 Base + 77 Scaling(236)
Conclusion: TheComposite Bowcan be acquired from a merchant inLiurnia of the Lakes, you can change its Ash of War, and it has the second highest Attack Rating of all Light Bows. However, it is the heaviest Light Bow at 3, and has the highest requirements of all Light Bows, though again this is slightly misleading because you really only need 2/3 the listed STR to use any Bow weapon.
The Composite Bow scales slightly better with DEX than STR, making it another good choice for DEX builds, despite its higher STR requirement. However, if you’ve already been upgrading the Red Branch Shortbow, you might want to wait in order to get theBlack Bowthat is better than both these Light Bows.
TheMisbegotten Shortbowdoes Physical Damage, and is tied for the heaviest Light Bow in Elden Ring, weighing 3. It requires 16 Strength and 8 Dexterity in order to use effectively.
PROS
CONS
Attack Rating with 55 STR & 45 DEX:166 Base + 80 Scaling(246)
Conclusion: TheMisbegotten Shortbowhas the highest damage of all Light Bows, it has better scaling than all Light Bows, you can change its Ash of War, and you can farm it easily inWeeping Peninsula. However, it is tied for the heaviest Light Bow at 3, and it has shorter Range than all other Light Bows.
The Misbegotten Shortbow scales very slightly better with STR than Dex, making it a good choice for STR builds that want a ranged option, at least until you can upgrade to the Black Bow.
If you enjoyed thisLight Bows 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.
