Advice for a Bow-only run?

[Tyler McRae]

I recently saw that a youtuber put out a bow only run video a few months ago, and that made me want to try it myself, rather than watch someone else do it. That said, I was curious if anybody here had any suggestions for things to start with. I.E., what items/bows should I make my priority getting? I want to make this an 'all bosses' run, rather than just a speedrun to the end, just to see if I can do it.

[ReadyNick]

My advice is don't, however I'm all ears as I've always wanted to try.

[Tyler McRae]

Originally posted by ReadyNick:

My advice is don't, however I'm all ears as I've always wanted to try.

So, the only singular item I know that will genuinely help me is the Arrow's Sting talisman in that huge tower outside Redmane Castle. I'm heading there first, but... other than that, I honestly have no clue where to focus first, lol

[Satellite the Proot]

Originally posted by Big Booty Otter:

Originally posted by ReadyNick:

My advice is don't, however I'm all ears as I've always wanted to try.

So, the only singular item I know that will genuinely help me is the Arrow's Sting talisman in that huge tower outside Redmane Castle. I'm heading there first, but... other than that, I honestly have no clue where to focus first, lol

ritual talisman increase your damage as well flame grant me strength as well and golden vow as well I think best class is samurai you start with a bow for some bosses you can cheese them with poison darts if you far away and the arrows deal no direct damage but cause rot or poison

[Sparhawk 59]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2FI_9K0Gdo

[Casval Zem Daikun]

The simple answer is you don't.

Bows in Elden Ring are a miserable experience. Have fun with the input reading, scripted dodges, and gap closers.

[causality]

Great bow + light roll.

[Tyler McRae]

Well, as an update

Originally posted by ReadyNick:

My advice is don't, however I'm all ears as I've always wanted to try.

I've beat Margit and the Warmaster's Bell Bearing Hunter. I ended up doing a wrong-warp to get the Black Bow early, but honestly, I think I should have just stuck with a shortbow instead. As it turns out, jump-shots are just broken, and between poison arrows (easily farmable via the poison swamp north of Castle Morne) and regular arrows, I was able to take out both with pretty much little issue. I'm going to try and farm up materials for blood arrows before I try Godrick, but I think poison + bleed will be my strat for a bunch of bosses for the short-term.

[Sabaithal]

Arrows reach talisman above gatefront can help, in my experience more than arrows sting in most situations.

Use a SHORTBOW when fighting in close, because it has better mobility when you are actually attacking. Longbow's use should be self-evident.

Go for strong ashes of war, namely stuff like Rapid-fire if you can, its a gamechanger.

And make sure you are light-rolling, otherwise your windows for actually attacking stuff is much more constrained.

[Chopper]

upload your run to youtube, I love watching impossible ♥♥♥♥ like this, especially if you actually manage to do it!

[Weedsmell]

i did a sniper crossbow run once in DS3, one of the most painful runs i've done in the entire series, if you truly do a bow run... good luck

some tips that could be useful:
-match your ammo to the enemy's weakness (death birb for example melts against sacred)
-poison every boss at the beggining
-abuse bleed and frost (frost cooldown can be skipped with fire attacks)
-other than the obvious talismans for bow i'd keep in hand those that boost your ar (full hp grants more damage was useful in my crossbow build, dunno what would be optimal in elden ring tho)
-greatbows with the ''rain of arrows'' skill work wonderfully for big bosses like dragons as long as they stay in place that is
- greatbows can be used while jumping, providing you better mobility, the shot can also be canceled fairly quickly
-sacred great arrows provide 10%damage increase AoE, so just shoot one to your feet before bosses

can't think of anything else apart from things already named by other people

[justfaded]

The concept is fun but all you'll end up doing is jump shots and landing shots and that's pretty much it. Gets really tedious at endgame or even midgame. Bows don't really scale so you're doing the same things but just takes longer.

It's not even fun gameplay because it's ranged combat.

[Gendiin]

Originally posted by Big Booty Otter:

I recently saw that a youtuber put out a bow only run video a few months ago, and that made me want to try it myself, rather than watch someone else do it. That said, I was curious if anybody here had any suggestions for things to start with. I.E., what items/bows should I make my priority getting? I want to make this an 'all bosses' run, rather than just a speedrun to the end, just to see if I can do it.

fextra has a bow guide for each level checkpoint of the game if you like any of his builds.

https://eldenring.wiki.fextralife.com/Builds#archer