Top 5 Elden Ring Best Bow Builds for PvE/PvP (1.10)

Here we break down the top 5 best bow builds in Elden Ring 2023, providing detailed information on each build's stats, weapons (ash of war), talismans, armor, and gameplay.

Top 5 Best Bow Builds in Elden Ring 2023

In Elden Ring, mastering the art of archery can be a powerful and rewarding play style. With the right combination of stats, weapons, talismans, armor, and gameplay strategies, you can become a formidable bow-wielding warrior.  Bow builds in Elden Ring can be extremely powerful and versatile. While the damage may not be as high as a melee-focused strength or dexterity build, bows offer amazing range and mobility. In this article, we will explore the top 5 best bow builds for PvE and PvP in Elden Ring. For each build, we will discuss weapon choices, suggested stats, talismans, armor, and general gameplay tips. Let's get started!

No. 1 - Bleed Arrow Hunter

The highest damage potential bow build focused on maximizing bleed buildup and proc damage with arrows. Rely heavily on blood arrows at range to quickly apply bleed status. Critical attack naginata spin can proc massive blade buildup too. Switch hit between arrows and melee as needed. Blood attacks utterly shred enemy HP pools. Staggering bleed hits breaks enemy attacks. Melts opponents in both PvE and PvP. With high damage potential and Bleed buildup, this build remains at the top for optimized bow combat.

Weapons:

Cross-Naginata

Pulley Crossbow

Arrow's Sting Talisman

Blood Arrows

Stats:

Vigor: 30

Mind: 15

Endurance: 20

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 50

Intelligence: 9

Faith: 9

Arcane: 45

Maxing dexterity and arcane provides immense bleed buildup and scaling.

Talismans:

Arrow's Sting

Blood Exultation

Millicent's Prosthesis

Rotten Winged Sword Insignia

Armor:

Light armor with high bleed resistance like the royalty set

No. 2 - Magic Arrow Hunter

A hybrid dexterity/intelligence build focused on infusing arrows with magical damage. Long range spells supplement bow damage. Use magic arrows or glintstone pebble from range and chip away enemy defenses. Switch to long cast spells like Comet Azur or Glintstone Icecrag when enemies close in. Greatbow spells like Collapsing Stars offer surprise burst damage. High mobility allows easy repositioning during fights. Magic damage bypasses many defenses for high DPS. Excellent for PvE bossing and field control in PvP.

Weapons:

Carian Regal Scepter

Pulley Crossbow

Magic-infused arrows like Magic Arrow or Glintstone Arrow

Stats:

Vigor: 30

Mind: 20

Endurance: 20

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 40

Intelligence: 60

Faith: 9

Arcane: 9

High intelligence provides immense scaling for magic attacks. Dexterity boosts arrow damage.

Talismans:

Arrow's Sting

Radagon Icon

Graven-Mass Talisman

Magic Scorpion Charm

Armor:

Lightweight magic boosting gear like the Blue Cloth set.

No. 3 - Fire Arrow Pyromancer

Focusing on fire damage rather than status effects, this build utilizes flame-infused arrows alongside pyromancies for fiery ranged attacks. Open from range with flaming arrows before following up with fireballs or other pyromancies. Chaining arrow-pyromancy combos allows continuous fire damage. Flame Cleanse Me incantation heals fire damage taken for excellent sustain. High mobility allows hit-and-run playstyle. Fire damage utterly shreds opponents over time in PvP. Overall a very damaging ranged combat style.

Weapons:

Firebolt Aromatic

Pulley Crossbow

Flamebone Arrow

Fire Arrow

Stats:

Vigor: 30

Mind: 30

Endurance: 20

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 40

Intelligence: 25

Faith: 25

Arcane: 9

Equal investment in intelligence and faith maximizes pyromancy scaling. Dexterity boosts bow damage. Mind supports spell usage.

Talismans:

Arrow's Sting

Fire Scorpion Charm

Graven-School Talisman

Green Turtle Talisman

Armor:

Light armor like the Preceptors set allows good mobility.

No. 4 - Rot Arrows Pyromancer

This build focuses on rot and poison status effects with arrows and incantations. The rot status effect in particular does massive damage over an extended period. From range, hit enemies with rot arrows to start status buildup. Then use breath incantations to further boost rot buildup or deal damage directly. Occasionally swap to melee spear to apply status or finish weakened enemies. In multiplayer, rot arrows can quickly incapacitate opponents in only a few shots. Overall this build has amazing crowd control and durability reduction capabilities from statuses.

Weapons:

Rotten Winged Spear or Giant's Seal

Pulley Crossbow

Rotten Arrow

Poisonbone Arrow

Stats:

Vigor: 30

Mind: 30

Endurance: 20

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 40

Intelligence: 9

Faith: 45

Arcane: 25

High faith allows use of rot breath incantations for status buildup. Dexterity provides bow damage scaling while arcane further boosts status effects. Mind supports incanation usage.

Talismans:

Arrow's Sting

Radagon Icon

Graven-Mass Talisman

Green Turtle Talisman

Armor:

Focus on poise and mobility with armor like the Eccentric's set.

No. 5 -  Poison Arrow Hunter

This build focuses on poisoning enemies from a distance using various arrows. The toxic status buildup from poison arrows stacks up over time for massive damage-over-time effects. The goal is to pepper enemies with poison arrows from a distance while dodging and rolling. Stay agile to avoid enemy attacks. Once an enemy is poisoned, continue harassing them with arrows or switch to melee to finish them off. In multiplayer, poison arrows can catch opponents off guard for quick wins. Overall this build excels at kiting enemies and picking away at health bars over time.

Weapons:

Bloody Helice (for backup melee) or Antspur Rapier (for poison buildup)

Pulley Crossbow

Poisonbone Arrow

Poison Arrow

Explosive Bone Arrow

Stats:

Vigor: 30

Mind: 15

Endurance: 20

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 50

Intelligence: 9

Faith: 9

Arcane: 50

The high dexterity and arcane stats maximize arrow damage and poison buildup. Strength is held at the minimum requirement for backup weapons. Vigor provides good survival ability.

Talismans:

Arrow's Sting

Poisonblood's Footsting

Crimson Amber Medallion +2

Green Turtle Talisman

Armor:

For this build, favor lightweight armor with good poison and disease resistance like thethreaded Cane armor set.

Bow builds provide an extremely versatile ranged combat option in Elden Ring. While damage may not compete with dedicated strength or dexterity setups, the range control and mobility they offer more than makes up for it. Poison, rot, magic and bleed effects turn bows into extremely powerful tools when spec'd correctly. With the top setups focusing on status buildup, utility and damage-over-time capabilities, bow builds remain top-tier choices regardless of playstyle or scenario. Hopefully this article has given you some great bow build ideas to try out in your own Elden Ring adventures!