Bow is broken (Balancing)

[blablub265]

Hi,
i just finished my 2nd playthrough. 1st time was axe, 2nd time bow.
Both time were fun, but there isn't really a challenge with bow (if you play bow not in your first playthrough).
There is only one problem with bow in the beginning because of the limited arrows you can have, which you can solve with poison arrow and enough focus.
So whats my problem? Here is the difference between axe (1st playtrough) and bow(2nd) in my journey:
1. Bandit armor:
Axe: Needed Best Fraction armor to get it
Bow: 1st chapter 1st try with Heavy Leather armor (with green bow from the bandits of "Missing")
Used Bandit armor with Bow for the whole game while i had to rely to the legendary Armor / Best Fraction Armor with Axe in the Hard fights
2. Leshen
Axe: Challenging fight (multiple trys) with purple Axe, used tons of Healpots / Focuspots
Bow: Leshens died after the 1-2 lifedrain in chapter 1 (green bow)
3. Remnants with mass of Draugrs
Axe: Extremly hard, needed to use so many pots while having best armor / weapon and while dieng a lot - relying heavily on thunderstorm an other magic
Bow: 1st try: hectic but not really in danger - poison arrow it is
4. Arena:
Axe: Hard fight, especially the last one. Needed best armor / weapon and tons of pots - doable for me in Chapter 4 - again relying on thunderstorm and other magic because its really hard to get in melee range
Bow: Chapter 2 - 2nd try (got arrogant at my first try) - blue bow - poison arrow what else?
5. End fight:
Axe: Again good Challenge with a lot of use of magic and pots
Bow: Literally(!) took 10 seconds with one focus pot and poison arrow

TLDR: Bow has a massive balancing problem. In the beginning it is hard to use because of the lack of arrows (at least if you do not know the game good enough) - Later: Not a challenge at all.

Solution:
1. Crafting needs to produce more arrows - lets say one wood gives 5 or 10 arrows.
2. Damage must be reduced for all bows after chapter 1 (Even i had access to the legendary Bow in Chapter 1 i only used it in Endgame fight and Remnants Mass draugr fight (which i shouldnt in hindsight))

Whats your take on that in Bow in general?

[blablub265]

Edit: the only real Challenge of Bow is to know how to get enough focus (35) to use poison arrow constantly

[macksfield]

Interesting, I haven't tried a bow as a main weapon myself.

I'm currently working on an insane iron run and preparing for Hardcore Insane.

I could definitely see it being extremely strong in 1v1. If you're poisoning a target on demand, you can kind of just kite indefinitely.

Did you ever struggle with large group fights? Sounds like the mass draugr fight went fine for you - is it a quick TTK or were you forced to kite for a while and whittle down the group?

[blablub265]

Its not really a struggle. You just need to be a little more aware of range damage.
And yes its basically constant kiting. Normal shot evade poison shot evade rinse and repeat until you need to reload. Takes of course a while because you need 2-4 shots per Draugr depending on crits. There is an Item which can pierce one mob, that helps a little bit.