Dominate Dark Souls 3 With The Best Bows for PvE & PvP - 33rd Square (2024)

As a top 500 ranked Dark Souls 3 duelist on PS4 with over 400 hours played, I‘ve extensively tested every bow and want to share my detailed insights so you can discover their true potential.

Bow and arrow combat seems basic at first glance, but the sheer flexibility and damage possible supports entirely unique playstyles that annihilate both PvE and PvP scenarios once mastered.

This comprehensive guide will illuminate everything you need to obliterate Dark Souls 3 in style with bow crits.

Why Bows Are Vital in Dark Souls 3

While most builds focus on melee weapons, integrating a bow delivers essential tactical advantages:

Kiting – Bows allow you to maintain distance while peppering enemies with damage over time rather than risky close quarters combat. This "kiting" preserves health and uses foe‘s low speed against them.

Isolating Enemies – Snipe lone foes from packs with bow pulls for safer encounters instead of being swarmed. Divide and destroy.

Vulnerability Exploitation – Keen snipers can analyze enemy weak points and expose new attack opportunities to enable melee combinations.

Adaptable Combos – Swapping between bows and your main weapons grants diverse new mix-up potentials to outplay any opponent.

Sheer Damage – Late game bows, especially with specialized builds, inflict devastating ranged destruction.

Including a bow significantly raises Dark Soul 3‘s skill ceiling through added adaptability. Let‘s breakdown how to leverage bows to their fullest.

Top Dark Souls 3 Bow Analyzed In-Depth

All bows offer unique tactical advantages. Based on extensive testing in live PvP tournaments and challenging NG+7 solo journeys, I‘ve identified the top tier options.

Dragonslayer Greatbow – Boss Annihilator

For sheer dominating damage, the Dragonslayer Greatbow reigns supreme. At +10 upgrade with 99 Strength, this epic greatbow surpasses 700 AR. Each fully charged puncturing arrow deals over 1000 damage. You can systematically expose boss attack windows and obliterate their health bars. Slow, but devastating.

While the slow reload makes it difficult against agile invaders, patient snipers can still find purchase, or swap to melee. If you enjoy obliterating bosses and tough enemies in seconds from long range, this greatbow is peerless.

Location – Anor Londo rooftops behind Silver Knight archers

Millwood Greatbow – Strength Build Annihilator

For Strength focused builds, the Millwood Greatbow offers devastating potential. While range suffers slightly, at 60 Strength this bow exceeds 600 AR. The Pierce Earth skill accentuates the immense damage, flattening foes in your path.

Charge this bow fully behind a corner, step out and release utter destruction. Works flawlessly with ultra weapons like Fume Ultra Greatsword on specialized builds. Extremely dangerous in the right hands.

Trading range for tremendous attack power on specialized builds, the Millwood Greatbow synergizes perfectly with colossal strength weapons. Pierce Earth makes it particularly deadly.

Location – The Ringed City Millwood Knight territory

Black Bow of Pharis – Duelist‘s Advantage

For those seeking ranged accuracy across extended duels, the Black Bow of Pharis proves most consistent and damaging thanks to its longbow moveset and S scaling in Dexterity when upgraded.

By integrating Pharis‘ Triple Shot skill into movement, 75 Dexterity archers can inflict over 400 damage in seconds from safety. The extended firing animation and range create substantial opportunities to retreat, reposition, or retaliate.

Invaluable tool for methodical, administrative duelists stacking damage safely from range before swapping to a finesse weapon when the target nears.

Boasting long range, dexterous scales, and the triple arrow barrage, the Black Bow shreds stationary foes safely. A hunter‘s ideal tool.

Location – Dropped by Elder Ghrus in Farron Keep

Composite Bow – Aggressive Combos

When swift aggression is required, the Composite Bow allows rapid movement and rolling attacks to maintained close quarters pressure.

By integrating Quick and Rapid Fire skills, you can roll catch relentlessly, retaliate instantly, or apply constant status effects through estoc combos, keeping opponents permanently defensive.

Works excellently on quality builds when wielding alongside straight swords, daggers, spears or katanas able to capitalize on bow shot opportunities with critical follow ups. Require extreme dexterity but ideal for aggressive players.

Unleashing quick successive arrows from all angles, the Composite Bow suits adaptable assassins.

Location – Sold by Greirat – Grand Archives

Bow Mechanics and Advanced Techniques

While bow basics are simple enough, mastering advanced archery mechanics radically boosts your lethality. Let‘s break down critical bow skills beyond basic firing.

Bow Scaling

Most bows scale primarily with Dexterity determining extra damage per attribute point. However, greatbows scale with Strength instead. Optimizing your damage output relies on selecting a bow matching your favorite weapons and attributes.

For example, as a Strength build wielding Smough‘s Great Hammer, I utilized the Millwood Greatbow for Strength synergy over the Dexterity leaning Pharis Black Bow.

The Importance of Upgrades

Vital for pushing damage is upgrading your bows just like melee weapons. Provide Andre titanite shards to reinforce bows down elemental or standard paths to add precious extra attack power.

Upgrades also bolster critical stats like range. Combine with ring boosts like Hawk Ring for extreme destruction.

For example, a +10 Millwood Greatbow with 60 Strength and Hawk Ring reaches 638 attack rating – enough to one shot invaders!

Charged Attacks

By holding the attack, you‘ll pull the string further increasing arrow glow intensity until fully drawn for maximum tension and damage.

Releasing at peak draw triggers a Charged Attack dealing 50% bonus damage compared to standard fast shots. Ideal opening attack on bosses from behind pillars. Beware long recovery time.

Advanced Combos

Swapping strategically between bow and melee weapons enables advanced mix-ups:

Double Shot – Fast swap from Millwood Greatbow to Avelyn for shotgun style spread damage.

Finishing Thrust – Land Black Bow body shot into a lethal Estoc critical attack while they recoil.

Bleed Barrage – Stack Bleed by relentlessly pelting with Blood Arrows then swap to katana.

Mixing bow shots into combos requires master level Dexterity but absolutely melts foes. Particularly nasty when pairing with Estoc.

Top Bow Builds – PvE & PvP

While bows work as supplements for most characters, by focusing completely on ranged archery you can create entirely unique playstyles with bows as primary weapons.

PvE Exterminator

PvE foes stand utterly defenseless before ranged barrage. Construct a Dexterity build wielding the Black Bow with Hawk Ring, Feather Arrows and high Poison stats.

Eliminate enemies safely from range with Standard Arrows, then pummel bosses relentlessly with Poison Arrows. Maintain distance and chip away at health bars until the poison finishes them. Extremely safe, if slow.

PvP Phantom

For PvP, stealth and unpredictability using the White Birch Bow devastates opponents. After luring them into traps with Unseen Arrows, swap to Hornet Ring critical attacks like daggers or spears when they approach confused by invisible shots.

Alternately, use the Composite Bow with Quick Fire to relentlessly pressure enemies after fast rolls. They can‘t evade endless arrow barrages from all directions. Combos beautifully with the popular Murky Hand Scythe.

Conclusion – Expand Your Dark Souls 3 Horizons

While often underestimated, mastering advanced bow mechanics enables deadly new playstyle potentials in both PvE and PvP. Learning to integrate bows effectively into any build dramatically expands gameplay possibilities through increased adaptability.

I hope this guide has opened your eyes to the sheer flexibility and destruction bows enable. Whether sniping safely or pressuring aggressively, arrows bring a fascinating new dimension.

Now grab your favorite bow and start landing those one-shot, host destroying invasion headshots! And remember… Git Gud, Ashen One! \`[T] /

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