Elden Ring Black Bow Build Guide – Bloody Bowman

Elden Ring Black Bow Build Guide – Equipment

First, let’s talk about the bow we’re using for this build: the Black Bow. Although it’s technically classified as a longbow, it has the same functionality as a shortbow, including the ability to perform jump shots and roll shots seamlessly. This capability is crucial when you’re engaging in close-quarters combat as an archer, allowing you to shoot twice in quick succession. This type of rapid fire is vital for staying agile and delivering continuous damage, as you’ll often be dodging and shooting throughout the game.

A standout feature of the Black Bow is its access to the Barrage skill, which this build takes full advantage of. Barrage lets you fire a flurry of arrows, allowing you to chip away at enemies’ health bars with speed and precision. Additionally, the bow has a D-grade scaling in both Strength and Dexterity. While bows generally don’t have stellar scaling, the dual scaling gives you the flexibility to distribute your stats across both attributes, resulting in slightly more damage than if it were only scaled to one.

The main strengths of this Elden Ring Black Bow build are its rapid-fire capability and versatility with status effects. You can rapidly shoot arrows via jump shots, roll shots, and the Barrage skill, allowing you to maintain high DPS while staying mobile. This build’s other significant advantage is its ability to apply status effects like poison and hemorrhage. Against regular foes, regular arrows usually do the job, but for tougher enemies and bosses, you can use poison or bleed arrows to quickly drain their health. Since common enemies often fall quickly, status effects might not be as critical, but when facing stronger opponents, these effects can turn the tide in your favor.

For the armor used for the build, I generally opt for light armor or a mix of light armor pieces to maintain a light equipment load. This setup allows for longer dodge rolls, providing extra distance when you need to evade enemy attacks. While this doesn’t increase your invincibility frames, the added distance can be a lifesaver, especially when you’re rolling and shooting. The extended rolls help you create a safe space from which you can launch more arrows or activate Barrage without getting too close to an enemy’s attack range.

This build requires a certain level of comfort with low protection and health, as the emphasis is on agility and avoidance rather than tanking damage. If you’re not confident in your dodge timing or prefer a higher health pool, this build might not be the best fit. The core concept is to remain nimble, evading attacks, and peppering enemies with arrows while keeping a safe distance—think of it as a “Legolas-style” approach.

One key piece of armor I include is the White Mask, which grants a 10% attack boost when you trigger the hemorrhage status effect. To activate this bonus, you need to be relatively close to your target when the effect triggers. However, it’s not something you’ll rely on constantly, as you’re not likely to use blood arrows on common enemies—they’re crafted, and the materials can be time-consuming to gather. Still, the White Mask adds some extra punch during boss fights or tougher encounters where you might be forced into closer range. The 10% attack boost can be a significant help when your playstyle focuses on rapid attacks and status effects.

Elden Ring Black Bow Build Guide – Talismans & Gameplay

For this Elden Ring Black Bow build, the talismans I use are the Ritual Sword Talisman, the Shard of Alexander, the Arrow’s Sting Talisman, and the Spear Talisman.

Sometimes, I swap out the Spear Talisman for the Lord of Blood’s Exultation, which boosts attack power by about 20% for 20 seconds when you trigger the hemorrhage status effect. You can even activate this effect by triggering hemorrhage on yourself with a dagger if you need to.

The Spear Talisman, on the other hand, is useful when you’re out exploring the world, as it increases your damage against enemies who are in the middle of an attack animation. This is helpful when you’re rolling and shooting while enemies are mid-swing, which is common with this build. I prefer Lord of Blood’s Exultation when facing bosses where you’re more likely to trigger hemorrhage at close range, making that 20% boost a significant advantage.

The Arrow’s Sting Talisman provides a straightforward 10% boost to arrow damage, useful for general combat.

The Shard of Alexander is crucial because it boosts the damage of Barrage by 15%, an ability you’ll use frequently with this build.

The Ritual Sword Talisman increases overall damage by 10% when your health is at full capacity, which aligns with this build’s focus on avoiding damage and maintaining distance.

If you’re looking for a more aggressive approach, the Blue Dancer Charm can offer a significant damage boost (around 20%) when wearing little to no armor. However, this strategy has trade-offs, including the loss of White Mask and any significant protection.

When playing this Black Bow build, you must adapt your approach based on the enemy type you’re facing. Some enemies can be quickly eliminated with Barrage, while others require you to bait their attacks before countering with rolls or jump shots. Learning the attack patterns and timing of various enemies is key to success. Some situations allow for consistent firing, while others require more tactical maneuvering.

For arrows, I typically carry a mix of Standard Arrows and Bloodbone Arrows. Standard arrows are used for general exploration, while blood arrows are reserved for tougher enemies or bosses that have large health pools and are susceptible to bleeding. Because this build uses Barrage frequently, you will go through arrows quickly. Fortunately, standard arrows are cheap, and you can usually afford to stock up on several hundred with just a few thousand runes, which is manageable at higher levels.

When you face a boss or run out of standard arrows, you can switch to Serpent Arrows, which offer physical damage and can trigger poison. This can be useful if you need to cover longer distances between checkpoints and want to ensure you have enough ammunition.

Fire Arrows and Dwelling Arrows are other good options; the former offers elemental damage, while the latter is effective against enemies vulnerable to magic. The key is to focus on arrows that you can readily purchase, saving your blood arrows for critical situations since the materials for crafting them can be time-consuming to gather. By prioritizing these readily available arrows, you can maintain a steady supply throughout the game.

Elden Ring Black Bow Build Guide – Recommended Attributes

Here are the recommended stats for this Elden Ring Black Bow build: 44 Vigor, 13 Mind, 30 Endurance, 55 Strength, 55 Dexterity, 9 Intelligence, 14 Faith, and 9 Arcane. The stats for Intelligence, Faith, and Arcane are based on my starting class, which was Confessor, but they’re not crucial for this build. If you’re interested in increasing your damage output beyond level 150, I’d suggest raising your Faith to 25 so you can use the Golden Vow incantation. Beyond a certain point, the damage gains from Strength and Dexterity start to diminish, making other approaches, like boosting Faith, more effective.

Regarding Arcane, it doesn’t contribute to the build-up of status effects with this bow because it doesn’t scale with Arcane. The only bow in the game that does is a longbow with the Mighty Shot weapon skill, which is not ideal for this build. If it had Barrage, it would have been a strong option. However, because of its longer draw time and different moveset, it’s better suited for long-range engagements. This build focuses on medium-to-close-range combat, making the Black Bow a more versatile choice.

Here’s why I chose these stats:

• Vigor at 44 provides enough health to survive occasional hits, even with light armor. Ideally, I’d prefer 50, but 44 is a manageable compromise given the other stat demands.
• Mind is set at 13 because that’s my class default, and Barrage consumes only 2 FP per use, so you hardly need any Mind for this build. You’ll have plenty of FP to spam Barrage without needing extra investment.
• Endurance at 30 gives you the stamina needed to attack, roll, and jump frequently, along with meeting the light equip load requirements for some armor. A higher endurance lets you shoot more times in succession and dodge effectively.
• Strength and Dexterity at 55 offer a good balance for bow damage. However, as mentioned earlier, the gains start to drop off significantly after this point.

With these stats, you can comfortably manage a light load for agility, maintain stamina for sustained attacks, and benefit from a good mix of damage and survivability. If you wish to boost your damage further, consider taking Faith to 25 for Golden Vow or keep raising Strength and Dexterity. Keep in mind, however, that after a certain point, damage gains taper off, and the build might struggle in later NG+ cycles or against increasingly tough enemies.

Elden Ring Black Bow Build Guide – Final Tips

A final tip for this Black Bow build: when you’re using the Flask of Wondrous Physick, consider including the Greenburst Crystal Tear for improved stamina recovery. This boost is crucial for an archer build, especially when using abilities like Barrage, which can drain stamina quickly. Faster stamina recovery means you can shoot and dodge more often without running out of energy, allowing for sustained attacks.

Another useful addition is the Windy Crystal Tear, which increases the invincibility frames during dodge rolls. Although it also amplifies the damage you take, it can be highly beneficial if you’re confident in your dodging skills. With more invincibility frames, your dodge timing doesn’t have to be as precise, providing you with more leeway to avoid incoming attacks. This added flexibility can make a significant difference in high-pressure situations, making it even harder for enemies to land a hit.

That wraps up the Bloody Bowman build, As always, let us know if you have questions or other tips in the comments below. We have a ton more builds coming for Elden Ring and Shadow of the Erdtree so stay tuned for those. If you need help finding the spells, items, or equipment in this build, and securing some personal objectives, make sure to check the Elden Ring Map.