7 Days To Die - Bow and Arrow hints, tips and tricks

[Ja_92]

I play 7 Days To Die regularly and the bow is my hardest weapon to kill zombies with... I only really seem to hit them while up close. I also want to know if you can unhook an arrow from the bowstring or do you have to change to a different hotkey item. Any suggestions would be gladly welcome..

[Ragequit Inc.]

First off, to 'unhook' (i think there's an actual word for it) an arrow, hit "R" (or whatever your reload key might be).

As to actually hitting the zombies with it, it does take practise, just keep at it, testing different 'aims' for different ranges. But there's nothing wrong with hitting them up close. As long as they're not in reach to hit you is the main goal of ranged weapons, right?

There's some randomness to it too, so it's not a guaranteed hit everytime from a distance, even if you were to 'aim at the same spot' at a static target.

[Ja_92]

Thank you Ragequit Inc., I am a big fan of using the bow and arrows right now and your info has helped me greatly. Before, I would be using the bow and load up ready to fire and the animal or foe would go down. I'd end up just pressing another of the numbered hotkeys and then continue on.

I can hit a zombie pretty well thanks to practice. They seem to get back up but I am usually able to 'bong' them with a high-level club or shiv (even though it's more useful as a harvesting tool).

Have you got any tips or tricks that I can use to raise my skill and/or rooftop shooting for when the 7 day night-horde approaches?
Also, got any tips or hints on when best to shoot the enemy?

[Jenkins]

The bow is great. I make one straight off as soon as I start a new game and it never leaves my hotbar after that. The bow has great range, it's stealth, and it's cheap cheap ammo.

You can go out and practice shooting at different ranges and heights by shooting at dirt so you can see where the shots land. It's a good way to practice ranged shots. Hunting for instance, if you shoot an animal at the right long distance, it will sit there and let you keep practicing on it. I disagree with ragequit that it's random at range.

But I agree with ragequit that there's nothing wrong with shooting in melee range. That's one of the great advantages of the bow, besides cheap ammo. The fast load time lets you melee with it and at close range it's basically straight. Of course, as you get further away, you have to raise your arc.

The zombie animations are cheaper to learn with bow too, rather than wasting 7.62 ammo learning them. The great advantage of the high caliber, end game guns, the sniper, ak, and magnum, are the headshots. Even on cops and ferals, their headshots overtake comparible dps calculations since they're one shot kills even without perks, This is offset by the ammo cost of those guns. You can defeat that cost by having the targeting perfected and the bow is great for that.

The trick with the head shots is learning the pace each of them close at you and how wide their head weave is. Then you sort of shoot approximately where they were so the arrow catches them when their head's on it's way back to that spot. Trying to put the target a bit closer to their neck also helps me hedge a bit since the shot will nock them a chest blow if I miss the head.

The biggest reason I don't use the bow later on in the game is I'm trying to skill my melee and rifles. But ol faithful's always quick at hand for me.

[Suppor✝Meister]

Spikes - free ammo by chopping trees - very effective against running zombies and dogs - always have around 13-15 spikes in my toolbelt - rest is dealt with a bow or meele weapon

[Ragequit Inc.]

Originally posted by Why so serious:

Spikes - free ammo by chopping trees - very effective against running zombies and dogs - always have around 13-15 spikes in my toolbelt - rest is dealt with a bow or meele weapon

And that has what to do with the thread? Anyhow, using spikes you're just losing XP, which is quite handy. Better off using weapons.

[Ja_92]

I personally like to use the log spikes instead of the 100-wood spikes. But hey, each to their own.
'Why so serious' has a point, having a good line of defence can give you something to fall back onto. If you don't have enough arrows or good archery skills, the spikes are a good plan.
Also, I personally like to be in a building that makes the zombies expose themselves to me and that way I can level up my skills and when they eventually get through my first layers of defence, I can bonk them on the head.
Thanks for you input Ragequit but, I'd like to hear everyone opinion and evperience in this field