All the bows are good, but here are the best.
Bows are known for their superior attack range and strong single-target damage. These factors make them some of the most beginner-friendly weapons in Albion Online.
When it comes to showcasing your skills, bows can give you plenty of opportunities to outplay your opponents.
Bows heavily rely on kiting your enemies, which will definitely put your mechanical skills to the test.
Here are the top 5 Albion Online best bows to destroy your enemies with.
5. Whispering Bow
Is Whispering bow good at solo ganking? | Albion online | 알비온 온라인 | 위스퍼링 보우 - YouTube
Solo ganking with a bow is not easy, especially in the open world. You need to have decent mechanical skills and good experience to be a successful bow ganker.
One of the viable bows for ganking and small-scale fighting is the Whispering Bow. However, unlike other gank weapons, such as Double-Bladed Staff and Mace, the Whispering Bow rely on sneaking up on your targets instead of outspeeding and chasing them.
The mobility of the bow weapon tree is limited. You pretty much only have your Frost Shot (W2) for that, so you need to add more mobility through your other gears. Having Assassin’s Jacket and Hunter Shoes in your set greatly improves your mobility and utility.
Whispering Bow’s unique skill, Undead Arrows (E), allows you to deal massive auto-attack damage to your target during its entire duration. This skill gives you 35% more auto-attack range and 20% more attack speed.
But it has a drawback.
While Undead Arrows is active, you lose 20% defense, which means you take 20% more damage from your enemies.
This is why this weapon needs good judgment and experience to be used effectively. Using it at the wrong time or situation may result in your quick demise.
What makes this decent for ganking is the huge boost to your auto-attack range. The extra 35% range, together with the bonus damage, lets you kill fleeing enemies from afar.
You also have Poisoned Arrow (Q3) to help you deal sufficient, consistent DOT to kill your enemies.
What makes Whispering Bow great:
- Very long-ranged auto-attack: Undead Arrows adds 35% more distance to your auto-attacks, allowing you to hit your enemy from a distance.
- Surprise burst damage: Undead Arrows also add significant damage to your auto-attacks, which can surprise your enemy especially if you have a high attack speed.
Whispering Bow details: Whispering Bow - Albion Online Wiki
4. Normal Bow
Normal Bow Corrupted Dungeon Slayer EASY Win Albion Online | Normal Bow Solo PvP Meta Albion Online - YouTube
Next on this list is the most famous bow, especially for new players. The Normal Bow is cheap, easy to craft, and a powerful weapon for solo PvPs, making it one of the best bows for beginners.
Its unique skill, Enchanted Quiver (E), lets you deal insane amounts of single-target damage with your auto-attacks. It boosts your auto-attack damage by 25% and your attack speed by 10%.
But that’s not all! For every Enchanted Quiver attack, the buff re-applies to you up to seven times.
Ever seen a Normal Bow player attack like a machine gun? They probably have the max seven stacks, that’s why.
Aside from the attack speed bonus, having the maximum seven stacks also decreases your target’s damage resistances, which allows you to deal even greater damage.
The Normal Bow is a simple weapon with a simple mechanic, but it gets the job done. It may not be useful in medium- to large-scale fights, but it shines in solo and even small-scale PvP.
What makes Normal Bow great:
- Very beginner-friendly: You can use this set with very low spec and still win against higher IP enemies.
- Single-target burst damage: The Normal Bow’s Enchanted Quiver deals enormous single-target damage when used correctly.
Normal Bow details: Bow - Albion Online Wiki
3. Longbow
Longbow Vs Blueberries | Albion Online PvP - YouTube
Most bows are meant for single-target or small-scale PvP. They often have high single-target damage bursts but very minimal AOE damage.
But whenever there are rules, there are also exceptions.
The Longbow is a unique one compared to other bows because it isn’t focused on single-target damage. Instead, its strength comes from the massive AOE damage it offers.
Longbow’s unique skill, Rain of Arrows (E), literally brings down a rain of arrows upon your enemies. It’s a channeled spell that deals damage six times over 1.5 seconds. It also slows down all enemies hit by 20%, making it much harder for them to escape the area of impact.
The best part about Rain of Arrows is that your Explosive Arrows (W1) works very well with it. Explosive Arrows buffs all the arrows from your Rain of Arrows, which allows them to deal extra damage and explode on impact. (That’s a lot of arrows!)
The downside is that it’s a channeled spell, which means you’ll be vulnerable for a few seconds while you cast it. You also lack single-target damage like the other bows, so Longbow doesn’t do as well in solo or small-scale PvP.
The good thing is that with proper positioning and good coordination with your teammates, you can wreak havoc in battle without getting punished.
Successfully performing this combo along with some CCs from your teammates can potentially obliterate the entire enemy team.
What makes Longbow great:
- Sky-high AOE damage potential: Rain of Arrows + Explosive Arrows combo can destroy the entire enemy team.
- Good in medium-to large-scale PvP: The Longbow has great AOE damage unmatched by the other bows.
Longbow details: Longbow - Albion Online Wiki
2. Bow of Badon
This Solo Build is crazy! Roaming solo Bow of Badon Gank and PVP | Roaming PVP | Albion Online - YouTube
Another bow that deals decent AOE damage is the Bow of Badon. Although its AOE damage isn’t as good as the Longbow’s, it offers far greater utility with Raging Storm (E).
Raging Storm deals damage over time in a small area upon impact. But the real clincher is its interrupt effect.
Anyone within the area of impact gets damaged and interrupted every 0.3 seconds. Similarly, enemies leaving the area will continue to take damage and get interrupted seven times over 1.8 seconds.
This additional effect makes Raging Storm a good utility skill, especially against staff users. It’s also great against other weapons that require a channel or have long cast times, such as Longbow or Siegebow.
Another great thing about the Bow of Badon is that it has a good team fight presence and can put immense pressure on the enemy Holy Staves/priest healers. The interrupts from the Raging Storm prevent the enemy priest healers from healing effectively because their Q heal has a cast time.
Similar to Longbow, Bow of Badon doesn’t have high single-target damage, but its powerful utility and good AOE damage more than make up for it.
Bow of Badon can still be great in solo PvP as long as you know what you’re doing. Frost Shot plus Bear Trap (Skinner Cap), along with Raging Storm, provide you with decent outplay and kiting potential to kill your enemies.
What makes Bow of Badon great:
- Good team fight impact and pressure: The interrupts from Raging Storm can prevent the enemies from effectively using their skills, especially priest healers.
- Balanced for most PvP content: Bow of Badon dishes out adequate damage and provides sufficient utility in solo to large-scale PvP.
Bow of Badon details: Bow of Badon - Albion Online Wiki
1. Warbow
Solo Warbow Roaming || Open World PvP || Outnumbered #21 - YouTube
Now, for the overall best bow in PvP, we have the Warbow. I’m not saying that Warbow is the best bow in all aspects, but it definitely is the best in what it’s supposed to do.
Bows are meant for kiting and dealing long-ranged damage, and Warbow does exactly these things well.
Its Magic Arrow (E) is the main reason why it is amazing in open-world PvP. It’s a long-ranged nuke that has a very short cooldown of only less than 10 seconds. This enables you to deal consistently high damage to your enemies while also being able to easily move around and kite on the battlefield.
Even though it only deals single-target damage, Warbow is a good weapon for 1vX fights. Magic Arrow goes through most objects, so being familiar with the terrain and your surroundings will open you up to a lot of potential tactics and outplays.
Since this skill has a very low cooldown and relatively high damage, you can also just outdamage your enemies with this weapon, especially in 1v1s or against multiple enemies when you have high enough IP.
What makes Warbow one of the best PvP weapons is the insane outplay and kiting potential it offers, which is unmatched in the Bow weapon tree. And this is why I put it as the top 1 best bow in the game.
What makes Warbow great:
- Insane damage and kiting potential: Your Frost Shot coupled with Magic Arrow lets you kite your enemies and maneuver around the battlefield effectively.
- Amazing for open-world roaming: Warbow’s reasonable mobility and low-cooldown nuke allow you to take most (even outnumbered) fights.
Warbow details: Warbow - Albion Online Wiki
