Arrow/Bolt Type Preferences

[Einstine]

I've tried many different types but just end up defaulting to the plain arrows you can buy off Kale, among others.

I just found keeping it simple has worked best for me, but am interested if anyone has found some real game changing arrow/bow type configs.

[Smoking Chihuahua]

Sleep arrows ftw

[Cooperal]

Fire arrows are very cost effective utility to have, especially if there is no other fire in your setup. It can set off chains of explosives and exploding enemies from a safe range. It can stun quite a few enemies that otherwise aren't very generous with their attack openings. It can also remove frost so that you can proc it again sooner.

[I-Chi]

I'm looking to inflict status effects via arrows/bolts. There's the pulley crossbow that shoots 3 bolts in a row, and I recently found the Black Bow that has Barrage. Either of these should get an enemy poisoned/bled/rotted quickly.

[Elazul]

Originally posted by Donny Jepp:

Sleep arrows ftw

I second this

[OneEye]

Sleep arrows will turn those pesky 2v1 fights into a more fair encounter

[MULTIPASS]

90% of the time, the difference in damage between basic arrows and elemental arrows is minor. There are a few notable cases where the right element or effect can make a difference.

Fire arrows against beasts, the carian hand things, zamor warriors.

Sleep arrows against godskin nobles.

Golden arrows against undead (royal revenant).

Bleed arrows against any major enemy that can bleed.

Rot arrows against any major enemy not immune to rot.

Lightning arrows are sometimes okay against humans in heavy armor or in locations with water.

If you're not going for greatbow play, the best option is probably the Black Bow: it has longbow damage with most of the shortbow moveset which is crucial, and the barrage skill is great for status buildup which is usually what you need for bosses.

[Dropkick]

Stormhawk arrows with blackbow to stun bullgoats.
Sleep bolts on pulley xbow because it's good recovery punish on ok-latency
Radahn arrows cause I only use Radahn greatbow and CBA
I alternate between explosive and lightning greatbolts but i've actually skewered several phantoms with a normal ballista bolt

[LarvaLounge]

Fire arrows, crafted. I have markers on farming spots for the mats.

I currently use the Composite Bow... but even before that I ended up putting the Mighty Shot skill on my regular short bow. Barrage just wastes too many arrows imo. And from limited testing, it seemed like Mighty Shot could proc Bleed about as quickly as Barrage while using a fraction of the ammo.

Maybe I'm missing something... because everyone seems to say Barrage is the way to go for status procs... but that hasn't been my, albeit limited, experience.

EDIT: this is for a Ranger-y type character, who uses melee primarily, with Bow for support, btw.

[pumkin1988]

Can I ask a question? What do sleep arrows/bolts do exactly? Is there a hidden mechanic to them? Can I keep things Perma-Slept?

Reason I ask is because I'm a Jack-of-all-Trades build but I've only been using my bow in about 5% of all encounters. I typically use Sorcery or my Rapier. I just found the Sleep Arrow Spirit Summon and St Trina Sleep Sword. I summon the guy and hit enemies with my Sleep Sword but......it seems they just get "dazed"/"confused" for a split second then keep hitting me? This sleep CC really isn't seeming like it's all that useful to me tbh. Mind you I've also tried sleep arrows and he also shoots sleep arrows so we are double-shooting sleep arrows but still doesn't seem effective all that much.

As the person above said 99% of the time I just default to regular plain Arrows or Bolts because they do more damage. I've been mainly using Serpent Bow with Serpent Arrows but still I've killed a few things here/there and going with regular arrows just straight up kills them faster. The only enemies where poison has really saved my hide is Dragons and guys with really heavy armor.

[Dr.Abscondus]

I've never found that the fancy arrows were worth the extra cost. You get 6 plain arrows for the price of one fire arrow. I've never gotten a status effect going with elemental arrows. Maybe because I usually only use the bow against field bosses I don't really want to get close to.

[Xengre]

Originally posted by pumkin1988:

Can I ask a question? What do sleep arrows/bolts do exactly? Is there a hidden mechanic to them? Can I keep things Perma-Slept?

Reason I ask is because I'm a Jack-of-all-Trades build but I've only been using my bow in about 5% of all encounters. I typically use Sorcery or my Rapier. I just found the Sleep Arrow Spirit Summon and St Trina Sleep Sword. I summon the guy and hit enemies with my Sleep Sword but......it seems they just get "dazed"/"confused" for a split second then keep hitting me? This sleep CC really isn't seeming like it's all that useful to me tbh. Mind you I've also tried sleep arrows and he also shoots sleep arrows so we are double-shooting sleep arrows but still doesn't seem effective all that much.

As the person above said 99% of the time I just default to regular plain Arrows or Bolts because they do more damage. I've been mainly using Serpent Bow with Serpent Arrows but still I've killed a few things here/there and going with regular arrows just straight up kills them faster. The only enemies where poison has really saved my hide is Dragons and guys with really heavy armor.

I've not used them, yet, but I have seen other people use them. They seem to make the target fall asleep which is useful in duo boss fights because you can disable one of the bosses making it 1vs1. Also seen it used in PvP to get a hard hitting burst that you might otherwise have issues landing on someone who can dodge. That said, I'm not sure how the waking up part of the mechanic works if it is # of hits, dmg, or what or how long it lasts. There are pots for this, too, and a weapon buff grease for it.

For arrows idk I haven't really used them much. There are so many but I've only really used them to pull down those multi-arm mini bosses and imps as well as disable/activate fire spewing columns. I really ought to try them more, though I've never really ban a fan of bows in games aside from Black Desert (very mobile archer) and I guess Ganyu in Genshin Impact.

[Get Donked On]

Bleed and rot bone ones with the pulley bow are always great unless you're fighting the twin gargoyles/elden beast but otherwise getting the bone bell bearing and some roses and butterflies and you are set. probably the best crossbow/bolt combo you can use

[I-Chi]

Originally posted by Dr.Abscondus:

I've never found that the fancy arrows were worth the extra cost. You get 6 plain arrows for the price of one fire arrow.

You're referring to purchasing rather than crafting, right? For crafting, x10 fire arrows require (only) an additional smoldering butterfly compared to x10 bone arrows.