The Bow is incredibly bad.

[:)]

There, I said it. It's genuinely hilarious that people will point to videos of mediocre Bow runs, then herald it despite the run being rather mediocre. It's never impressive unless it gets some pretty crazy obscene Boon luck.

Tried every Aspect many times. Low heat, 30+ heat, doesn't matter. It's just so terrible. Every single time someone dares justify it, it's always the same: With x aspect, bro you don't get it just get this and this and this and this and bunch of synergies and bro now you're golden.

Okay, great. That's fair. And.... if you can't? What if your RNG isn't that great, or even straight up horrendous? And when you don't get a single decent Hammer? What's the plan when you can even go all-in on Artemis with Hera, and still just never see Exit Wounds? What about when you can't get a single decent Special until way late (if even at all)? What about all these in the same run? Then the Bow is pure unbridled ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ garbage.

Out of all Aspects, like 17 can still manage poor RNG somewhat. Most of the ones that can't? All Bow. Bow's really just a gamble. It scales with Boons. Boon still have RNG. Good RNG = Bow becomes top tier and a little hard to outscale. Mediocre RNG? It's subpar. Bad RNG? You're likely straight up ♥♥♥♥♥♥.

And while that last bit is a massive deal, there'd be some justification if the Bow was at least fun to use. It just is not. So here, enjoy a slow, horrible, clunky, unfun weapon. But hey, at least it's neat and OP or something, right? Noooope.

It's simply a gamble. All it is. A very slow, very boring gamble.

[irreriti]

git good

[Sollós]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TssTDQz1TNw OMG "the Bow is so bad", :) Idiot don't watch or experience enough the game

[Ireul]

It looks to me that somebody hasn't tried to play around with bow enough to understand that its aspects are actually most versatile in the whole game. In fact it doesn't even need insane amount of RNG to make it strong.

It is true that Zag aspect kinda requires Twin or Triple shot to be good but even without those two you can simple get Artemis or Aphro's or even just a Shackle and call a day. It is rather simple honestly.

The aspect of Hera is even more basic than the Zag aspect already it is. You don't even need to go all-in with Artemis or get a Exit Wounds (which is sucks lmao why would anyone thinks it is mandatory to have it in a build. For the Artemis legendary? Fine but other than that its damage is sucks.) just get Aphro's cast and pom it. Mirage Shot would be amazing to boost your damage but again, even without it you can deal insane amount of damage. Crush Shot is not the only option either, you can try the Athena cast and combine it with the Zeus-Athena duo, Dio's cast is also very high on damage but it needs lot more focus than others. The point is you can go extremely experimental with it. And the hammers? Idk Flurry Shot is good but not obligatory.

You didn't mention Chiron or Rama (which is probably the weapon you didn't even unlock lmao.) Chiron again, is rather simple. You can try to get bunch of duos with Dio special build or just get a special with a percentage. For hammers you have 3 options: Relentless Volley, Concentrated Volley and Piercing Volley if menage to get the second one, others are just extra.

And lastly Rama which is the hidden aspect and might be the best bow aspect out of the others. Rama's attack is chucky and is able to deal both single target and multi target damage thanks to its "Shared Suffering" damage. Just inflict the mark on the all the foes and attack. For builds you can go all special with Zeus or Ares or a build where you focus on one shoting foes with your attack. Its great for both speerun and high heat runs.

There, I think I managed to breakdown all the aspect as if I am explaining to an idiot. It is crazy how you think bow is the most RNG required weapon when spear exists lmao. Stop abusing shield and try the builds I mentioned next time.

[Sollós]

Originally posted by Bone Man 2:

Originally posted by houseof.atu7:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TssTDQz1TNw OMG "the Bow is so bad", :) Idiot don't watch or experience enough the game

if you read his post he explains that the weakness of the bow is that it *needs* cheesy combos like this to be good

Cheesy combo? I only pick Artemis or Zeus and thing go on smooth as hell :). Even Dionysus or Ares work well, only bad players know not about bow's damage scaling. Zag's Aspect increase special Crit chance. Chiron a missile aiming with ton of damage. Hera works well with good cast (need a lot of practice but still a flexible aspect). For Rama the Attack are Divine with crit even at the lowest level - basic one shot, or Ares with Doom await for every special spreading shot

[Desenkei]

I feel like the bow is low on... "artistry". It is too effective or fast somehow? Not quite sure how to phrase it. My fastest runs are absolutely using the bow. But the whole time I'm using it I feel weak and slow paced and not really vibing or roaring toward victory. I accept that it's probably "the best" weapon in the game but it certainly doesn't *feel like* the best weapon in the game!

[tri.sapphire]

1. Max Zag bow for cheap.
2. Artemis boon for Attack.
3. Triple Shot, Twin Shot, Point Blank Shot, Perfect Shot, or Explosive Shot (yes, even Explosive Shot).
4. Murder everything up to 15 Heat with ease.

[Sollós]

Originally posted by tri.sapphire:

1. Max Zag bow for cheap.
2. Artemis boon for Attack.
3. Triple Shot, Twin Shot, Point Blank Shot, Perfect Shot, or Explosive Shot (yes, even Explosive Shot).
4. Murder everything up to 15 Heat with ease.

yes even with 20+ heat, 30 heat with a correct Boon Bow annihilate Daddy Hades :)))

[Kito Ballard]

Yeah. Bow's my highest Heat out of all my weapons. The bow is actually pretty strong, specially with many of the boon combinations.

[Koala 4peace]

While my favourite are demeter gloves, i think Quiron's bow is the best weapon, period. Of course it's also a matter of skill and preferences. For example, a lot of people say the swords are good, while i find them a chore. I always imagined that the ones that say that they are good are utter beasts playing this, but it's more likely that i'm just plain bad.

[Songbird]

Chiron bow is easy to use, but it really has a pretty miserable clear time. It doesn't actually have amazing inherent DPS, and most importantly, its AoE/mobbing abilities are some of the worst in the game. While it may look like it scales well with per-hit boons, Zeus gets capped on proc rate and Dio as primary DPS does not hold up on high heat. Furthermore, since it's special-based, it can't utilize Twin Shot/Triple Shot (which, if you don't know, literally just outright double/triple the bow's damage and hit count if each arrow connects). It's an aspect that falls off incredibly hard at high heat, and it's not really a good speed clearing weapon at low heat either. But it is very consistent and easy to use since you get to focus more on dodging.

Rama is the crazy aspect because of how insane Shared Suffering is, while Hera is a speedrun weapon because of how strong spells are out of the gate. (Same idea as Achilles.) Zag bow is really not all that good, but it's better than most of the Zag aspects, at least.

[CooperTheRed]

Every weapon has a gamble aspect to it. The divide between expectation and reality is disappointment ... Or we could ride the wave, and take whatever comes.

[efika]

tbh the for me the bow is one of the most boring weapons however i always get the farthest with it. i think that what weapon is good to you depends on your playstyle

[Just Cheeze]

Imagine being bad at a game, then blaming the game's mechanics.

Ah gotta head pat gen-z gamers these days.

[Koala 4peace]

Did not know this game has mods. There is one to "improve" the bow, which i imagine the only thing it manage to do is making it even more hilariously overpowered.

Originally posted by Songbird:

Cut for convenience.

I like Hera's bow more than Chiron's, but never imagined it was considered better in the community. Find it a little to RNG dependant, but you probably know more about it, so fair.

The Rama aspect i don't like, but i simply hate slow weapons. At least that one has the power to back it up, unlike the bloody swords.

[VBro96]

Bow is my favorite weapon.