What is the best bow in the game?

[Soso]

Metal Bow.

If your answer isn't the Metal Bow you should seriously consider rethinking your life choices.

"But wait, this thing has some pretty weak damage and no extra stat improvements, wtf?"

Oh please, +stats and special features on weapons only exist to distract you from how awful they are. It's like putting a racing stripe on a junker car. This bow is so godly if it had anything else added it would literally break the game in half.

"Hey wait, I have a tiny pecker and usually compensate by getting a large, slow and powerful bow."

Don't worry, if you miss carrying a huge lugger of a weapon you can carry any old thing as a melee weapon to compensate, it won't matter because you won't use anything except Metal Bow once you've got it. Feel free to accessorize with a Polearm or whatever.

"Don't the bigger, slower weapons have better damage?"

WRONG. You see, Metal Bow is the fastest bow in the game which means it gains the most advantage from +ranged damage and any other damage improvements. You attack so fast with this thing it tears apart bosses disgustingly fast. For example, if you get a Demonic Eyeball then you're shooting +4-6 damage with EVERY SHOT, and you can hit enemies like 3 times in the same time you'd hit them once with a slower bow. Metal Bow gives you the most bang for your buck just from it's speed alone. Most of the damage you deal has nothing to do with your weapon's base damage.

There you have it. Scientific proof that if you want to 'git gud' you should get a Metal Bow.

[纯素玉米狗]

*cough* Xandu Blaster *cough*

[Klokinator]

You missed a lot of things. Metal bow attacks more often, meaning it also activates the chances for stuff like fire arrows, bomb arrows, anything that activates based on per-hit.

So it's actually better than you said!

[kalirion]

I dunno, I like the Mega Shadow bow.

[xens]

Originally posted by kalirion:

I dunno, I like the Mega Shadow bow.

yeah but the mega shadow box can take forever to make without primers

[Vrath]

metal bow is surely one of the best bows, but ewh, if you like it fast, go with xandu blaster, which you can use to rocket you super high!

also, bazwood bow gives you more arrows per second than metal bow for sure

and lifeleech bow is super fancy!

[ppowersteef]

"you should seriously consider rethinking your life choices." It's nice to have an opinion, but this is just starting out rude.

About the bow itself, It depends on the situation, there aren't many situations where I can have continious fire without interruptions, during the normal enemy fights, I'm usually sticking to the "One-shot camper" style, and then I'm better off with slow, powerful bows.

You do have a point though, faster and weaker hits means it charges your magic item faster as well (most of the magic items charges with each successful hit) and with items that adds raw ranged damage will be more useful over time.

But there is however a big downside to the bow though, without items to buff it, the bow is near useless, so it still depends on your equipment and powerups whether it becomes viable. the constant fire of the fast bow will limitate your movements as well.

My main problem with your statement is that you say that the Metal Bow is uber and that you shouldn't use any other bow once gotten, but this bow, (along with the Bazwood Bow and similairs) are one of those weapons that start off very weak, but they benefit greatly from the items and blessings. They'll be useful if you've the correct equipment. But otherwise, they aren't.

In my opinion, the best independend bow would be the shadow bow, because it's a consistent weapon. And has a good chance to get combined as well. The odds of getting a Primer blessing are just as big as getting a Metal Bow too. So there isn't much to lose about that.

EDIT: After using several bows in one run with many ranged benefits, I found the Super Shadow Bow, even with blessings, items, Demonic Eyeball and everything, more useful than the Metal Bow. And that's because of it's damage.
While the Metal Bow can be fast, you'll need to hit 2-3 times the amount with what the S. Shadow Bow can do in one, and attacking continiously leaves you immobilized. The S. Shadow Bow can even be upgraded to Ultra and Mega.
Sure, the Metal Bow looks devastating, and it does it's job well in stunlocking and Magic charging. but overall. The Shadow Bow line is a better choice.