Bows (Skyrim)

For bows in other games, see Bow.

A bow is a flexible, bent or curved ranged weapon, strung taut from end to end with a string. Arrows are nocked into the string and then drawn. The arrow is then released and the string pushes the arrow forward.

Bows are found throughout Skyrim and are a common weapon, with many types varying in damage, arrow speed, weight, fire rate, and value.

Improvement and damage

The damage of a bow varies from bow to bow, with the Long Bow being the weakest and Dragonbone (Dawnguard only) being the strongest. Every bow's damage is governed by perks and the level of the Archery skill, but there are multiple other ways to increase a bow's damage.

Smithing

Almost all bows can be tempered using grindstones found near or around blacksmiths and other locations. Depending on the material of the bow, a bow may be improved with Firewood or the appropriate ingot to increase the damage of the bow. Depending on perks and level of the smithing skill, bows can be made increasingly more powerful.

Enchanting

Bows may also be enchanted with weapon enchantments for a variety of different effects. The strength of the enchantment depends on the size of the soul used, the number of usages per charge and the level of the enchanting skill. The potency of fire, frost, and shock enchantments can be boosted if the Augmented Fire, Frost or Shock perks from the Destruction skill are chosen.

See here for a full list of enchantments that can be applied to bows.

Alchemy

Fortify archery potions can be created to temporarily increase the Archery skill tree.

Weight and fire rate

The weight of the bow also dictates the effort required to pull the string back, or "draw", meaning that the heavier the bow, the longer it will take, and the more damage the shot will do. The lightest bow is 5 and can fire 0.55 shots every second (1.818 seconds before 1 shot).

Starting at 5, each additional unit of weight added to the bow subtracts another 0.0125 shots/second, so a bow weighing 6 fires 0.5375 shots/second (1.86 seconds/shot).

The fire rates between 5 and 6 may seem insignificant, but the difference becomes much more noticeable with heavier bows. The Dragonbone Bow, for example, is the heaviest bow weighing in at 20; and fires at a rate of 0.3624 shots/second (2.759 seconds/shot).

The overall draw speed can be calculated by the equation:

full draw time = 0.4s + 1.66s / (weapon speed * (1 + Quick Shot perk))

As weight and quality of the bow's construction material are directly proportional, it is important to note that the better the material (i.e., Glass, or Daedric), the slower the draw speed, and thus the lower the fire rate.

The three fastest bows in the game in terms of draw speed share a common speed of 1.0, the fastest speed: Zephyr, from the Dawnguard quest Lost to the Ages; Auriel's Bow, acquired at the end of the Dawnguard quest Touching the Sky; and Froki's Bow, a unique long bow found in Graywinter Watch that is obtained at the end of Kyne's Sacred Trials.

Arrow velocity

The velocity at which a bow shoots an arrow is inversely proportional to the bow's fire rate. In other words, the greater the fire rate of the bow, the lower the velocity.

Usually this means that the heavier the bow, the greater the velocity of the shot. However there are two exceptions to this rule. In the case of Zephyr, a unique bow weighing 10 and which fires 30% faster than other Dwarven Bows, arrows fired from this bow will travel slower than even a Hunting Bow which weighs 7. This is due to Zephyr's previously mentioned unique enchantment. Also the Dragonbone Bow weighs 20, that is one more than the Daedric Bow, and the arrows have a lower velocity than those fired from a Daedric Bow.

Though the velocity depends on the fire rate, the velocity is not hindered by the quick shot perk.

Range

Bows have two types of range, arc range and maximum range. The former varies from bow to bow and is directly proportional to the bow's firing velocity. Arrows fired from a low velocity bow will come down in an arc earlier than arrows fired from a high velocity bow. To compensate for this shorter range, low velocity bows must be angled higher to hit targets at range.

The latter type of range, or maximum range, is a universal range between bows. After traveling a certain distance, somewhere around 60 - 65 yards, all arrows have a damage of 0. Arrows at this distance will most of the time clip through (pass through) enemies and land on the other side having done no damage. This will still cause animals and characters to become aware of the player character's presence and search for them, however this will not cause friendly characters to become hostile.

Bows

Name				<acronym title="Number of arrows that can be fired per second." style="border-bottom:1px dotted #ffffff;cursor:help;">Speed</acronym>	Upgrade	<acronym title="The smithing perk that doubles the improvement when tempering" style="border-bottom:1px dotted #ffffff;cursor:help;">Perk</acronym>	Item ID
Ancient Nord Bow	8	12	45	0.875	Steel Ingot	Steel	000302CA
Angi's Bow	7	7	50	0.937	Steel Ingot	Steel	000CC392
Auriel's Bow DG	13	11	1000	1.0	Refined Moonstone	Elven	xx000800
Bow of the Hunt	10	7	434	0.937	Steel Ingot	Steel	000AE087
Daedric Bow	19	18	2500	0.50	Ebony Ingot	Daedric	000139B5
Dragonbone Bow DG	20	20	2725	0.75	Dragon Bone	Dragon	xx0176F1
Drainspell Bow	14	6	458	0.875	N/A	-	000F82FC
Dravin's Bow	7	7	50	0.937	Leather Strips	Steel	0006B9AD
Dwarven Bow	12	10	270	0.750	Dwarven Metal Ingot	Dwarven	00013995
Dwarven Black Bow of Fate DB	13	10	1446	0.750	Dwarven Metal Ingot	Dwarven	xx02C01A
Ebony Bow	17	16	1440	0.562	Ebony Ingot	Ebony	000139AD
Elven Bow	13	12	470	0.687	Refined Moonstone	Elven	0001399D
Falmer Bow	12	15	135	0.75	Chaurus Chitin	None	00038340
Falmer Supple Bow	15	20	410	0.75	N/A	-	00083167
Firiniel's End	13	12	785	0.687	Refined Moonstone	Elven	00017059
Forsworn Bow	12	11	145	0.875	Steel Ingot	Steel	000CEE9B
Froki’s Bow	6	5	307	1.0	Iron Ingot	None	000C0186
Gauldur Blackbow	8	12	253	0.875	Steel Ingot	Dwarven	Level 1 - 11: 000A5DEF
	8	12	407	0.875			Level 12 - 18: 000F5D1F
	14	18	530	0.875			Level 19 - 26: 000F5D20
	14	18	750	0.875			Level 27 - 35: 000F5D21
	14	18	972	0.875			Level 36+: 000F5D22
Glass Bow	15	14	820	0.625	Refined Malachite	Glass	000139A5
Glass Bow of the Stag Prince DB	16	14	375	0.625	Refined Malachite	Glass	xx018ED5
Hunting Bow	7	7	50	0.937	Leather Strips	Steel	0010E2DD
Imperial Bow	9	8	90	0.75	Steel Ingot	None	00013841
Karliah's Bow	25	9	5	0.625	N/A	-	000DEED8
Long Bow	6	5	30	1.0	Firewood	None	0003B562
Nord Hero Bow	11	7	200	0.875	Steel Ingot	-	00068C57
Nordic Bow DB	13	11	580	0.6875	Quicksilver Ingot	Advanced	xx026232
Orcish Bow	10	9	150	0.812	Orichalcum Ingot	Orcish	0001398D
Stalhrim Bow DB	17	15	1800	0.5625	Stalhrim	Ebony	xx026231
Supple Ancient Nord Bow	14	18	235	0.875	N/A	-	0005D179
Nightingale Bow	12	9	493	0.50	Ebony Ingot	None	Level 1 - 18: 0007E5C3
	13	11	838	0.50			Level 19 - 26: 000F6529
	15	13	1409	0.50			Level 27 - 35: 000F652A
	17	15	2240	0.50			Level 36 - 45: 000F652B
	19	18	3405	0.50			Level 46+: 000F652C
Zephyr DG	12	10	670	1.0	Dwarven Metal Ingot	Dwarven	xx00CFB6

Trivia

• Though the max range to hit an animal or character is around 60m-65 yards, a bow can still shoot an arrow at a tree or most other structures from 100 yards away and still be retrievable.

Bugs

• Sometimes when an arrow is shot the arrow takes a couple of seconds to shoot after the animation shows it fired.
• It may not be possible to sneak fire an arrow properly. For example, when attempting to fire on a resting dragon, the arrow will fall to the ground a few feet ahead. When aiming to miss it fires normally.

See also

• Archery (Skyrim)
• Crossbows (Dawnguard)