Best Bow to use

[Hawk King]

I'm looking for what's one of the better bows to use in the game. I've been using the Dragonrider bow a lot and it seems pretty good. Any other ones I should keep an eye on?

[Melusca]

Dragonrider Bow is great if you just want pure damage.
Sea Bow has the best range, dropped by the Hollow Varangians in No Man's Wharf.
Hunter's Black Bow has great range and great DEX scaling, found in Drangleic Castle IIRC.

[Rhawkas]

Do note that the Dragonrider Bow's damage is based off of str, dex, and int. There's also the Bow of Want, which seems like it'd be good, but the manual aim function on it is replaced by a special attack that shoots something that looks like a lightning spear.

That said, it probably depends on what your stat focus is and if you want to infuse the bow.

[gentle puppe of leisure]

Originally posted by Rhawkas:

Do note that the Dragonrider Bow's damage is based off of str, dex, and int. There's also the Bow of Want, which seems like it'd be good, but the manual aim function on it is replaced by a special attack that shoots something that looks like a lightning spear.

That said, it probably depends on what your stat focus is and if you want to infuse the bow.

you can aim manually with the bow of want with l2

[Hawk King]

My build is primary DEX though I can swtich between DEX and STR freely. I haven't touched INT so I don't get that benefit from the Dragonrider Bow.

[Rhawkas]

Originally posted by ultimate chimera:

you can aim manually with the bow of want with l2

Oh, I suppose you're right. Didn't know that. It uses your alternate set of arrows though. =/

[Scrundle]

The greatbows are hilarious fun if you've the stats to use them well, nothing like launching a javelin into and enemy's face and seeing the knockback put them on their ass.

[Harukage]

lel Alone greatbow.
You can have pretty good fire rate with it and stamina regen ring +3.

[20,000 Deaths]

Originally posted by Rhawkas:

Originally posted by ultimate chimera:

you can aim manually with the bow of want with l2

Oh, I suppose you're right. Didn't know that. It uses your alternate set of arrows though. =/

no it doesn't, the opposite of light attack of whatever hand you have it equiped in does lightning bow, the light attack does arrow one, heavy attack does arrow 2, and opposite heavy zooms in

it works exactly like a normal bow except one of the triggers you use to zoom throws lightning

Bow of want is quite a good bow with no drawbacks whatsoever, you can even zoom back in to aim the lightning arrow if you do it quick enough, but it does require some faith, or have faith scaling that's better than it's phys.

For pure str/dex I think Sea Bow is pretty nice, or hunter's black bow if your stats are good enough to use it, both have good range/damage for bows

[Gadwin]

Alonne Greatbow is best for PvP if you feel like really pissing people off, especially if you have a phantom or other invader on your side. Nothing like stopping a fleeing host by impaling them to the ground while everyone else catches up.

Lightning +10 w/ lightning greatarrows works better than if you just went regular +10 on a quality build, so go lightning or go home.