Bows vs Crossbows in Dragonwilds: Which Ranged Weapon to Main

 

    Dragonwilds splits its ranged arsenal into three families — shortbows, longbows, and crossbows — and the game's own Weapons page is blunt about the tradeoff: shortbows give up damage for speed, longbows give up speed for damage, and crossbows split the difference at the cost of range. This guide pulls every ranged weapon's numbers straight from that source and works out, tier by tier, how much more damage a longbow deals over a same-tier crossbow — so the choice of ranged main is based on computed numbers, not a guess.

 

Shortbows: The Fastest Draw, the Lowest Hit

 

    The overview places shortbows plainly: "Shortbows can be effectively used at both close and moderate ranges, but do less damage than their counterparts." The family entry gives the reason: "Shortbows can either be drawn, or quick-fired with a reduction in range and damage. They have the lowest per-shot damage of the ranged weapons and moderate range, but the fastest fire-rate when quick-firing." Quickfire trades range and damage for a faster follow-up than a longbow's mandatory draw or a crossbow's automatic reload.

 

    One caveat worth flagging: the shortbow table is headed "Arrow damage multiplier," not "Damage" — unlike the longbow and crossbow tables, both headed plainly "Damage." The base damage of the arrow fired isn't given anywhere in this source, so converting a shortbow's multiplier into a per-shot figure comparable to a longbow or crossbow number is undocumented — a gap, not a number to guess at.

 

    What the table does show reliably is the shortbow ladder: Ash shortbow 13 at power level 2, Wild scout's shortbow 18 and Crystal bow 20 at power level 3, Blightwood shortbow 29 at power level 4, Willow shortbow and Undead ranger's bow both 38 at power level 5, Maple shortbow 48 at power level 6, and Yew shortbow 58 at power level 7. Two footnotes from the source: the Oak shortbow's listed 20 "is currently 0" due to a bug, and the Undead ranger's bow "was previously 43," changed to 38. The Crystal bow's Scattershot special also "does not require arrows to use."

 

Longbows: Highest Damage, Slowest Draw

 

 

    The overview: "Longbows are very high-damage, long-range weapons, but difficult to use at close range." The family entry explains why: "Longbows must be drawn to fire, giving them the lowest fire-rate but highest range and per-shot damage of the ranged weapons."

 

    The longbow table's column is headed plainly "Damage," so these are absolute per-shot figures: Adventurer's longbow 23 at power level 2, Oak longbow 34 at power level 3, Blightwood longbow 49 and Hunter stagbow 52 at power level 4 (the stagbow carries a stated +10% draw time alongside a draw-time-reduction perk), Willow longbow and Ulv's longbow both 65 at power level 5, Maple longbow 82 at power level 6, and at power level 7 both the Yew longbow at 100 and the quest-locked Bow of Elidinis at 102 — the two highest per-shot numbers in the entire ranged roster.

 

Crossbows: One-Handed, Auto-Reloading, Short Range

 

 

    The overview: "Crossbows are one-handed and do moderate damage, but are only effective at relatively short range." The family entry adds the mechanic: "Crossbows are the only one-handed ranged weapons. They cannot be manually drawn, instead firing instantly and reloading automatically. This reload will be delayed if the player attempts to fire the weapon during it." What the freed off-hand actually enables — a shield, a torch, something else — is undocumented here.

 

    Crossbows also run on different ammo than bows. The version 0.9 update history entry states: "Crossbows and bolts were added to the game." The Dorgeshuun crossbow's line specifies it "fires bone bolts," but whether every crossbow fires its own named bolt type or draws from a shared pool is undocumented beyond that one case.

 

    The ladder, from the table's "Damage" column: Bronze crossbow 25 at power level 3; Blurite and Iron crossbow both 37 at power level 4 (Blurite alone carries a stated -25% reload duration and -25% durability); Steel crossbow 49 at power level 5; Mithril and Shadow crossbow both 61 at power level 6 (Shadow trades a slower fire rate for increased weak-point damage); and Adamant crossbow 75 at power level 7. One entry breaks the ladder: the Dorgeshuun crossbow, from the quest "Even More Restless Ghosts," lists 97 damage at power level 5 — nearly double the Steel crossbow's 49 at the same tier, and higher than every crossbow above it, including the power level 7 Adamant's 75. The source gives no special-effect line explaining the jump; the figure itself is what the table states.

 

Longbow vs Crossbow, Tier by Tier: The Real Numbers

 

 

    Both tables use the same plain "Damage" column, so longbows and crossbows are the one pair here that compares directly, tier for tier:

 

• Power level 3: Oak longbow 34 vs. Bronze crossbow 25 → 34 − 25 = 9 more damage, 34 ÷ 25 = 1.36×, about 36% more per shot.
• Power level 4: Blightwood longbow 49 vs. Blurite/Iron crossbow 37 → 49 − 37 = 12 more, 49 ÷ 37 = 1.32×, about 32% more.
• Power level 5: Willow longbow 65 vs. Steel crossbow 49 → 65 − 49 = 16 more, 65 ÷ 49 = 1.33×, about 33% more. (The Dorgeshuun crossbow's 97, noted above, is the exception and sits above this comparison entirely.)
• Power level 6: Maple longbow 82 vs. Mithril/Shadow crossbow 61 → 82 − 61 = 21 more, 82 ÷ 61 = 1.34×, about 34% more.
• Power level 7: Yew longbow 100 vs. Adamant crossbow 75 → 100 − 75 = 25 more, 100 ÷ 75 = 1.33×, about 33% more.

 

    Outside the Dorgeshuun outlier, that pattern holds in a tight band across five tiers: a same-tier longbow deals roughly 32-36% more raw damage than a crossbow — the "moderate" vs. "very high" tradeoff from the overview, turned into an actual computed percentage.

 

    Going by the source's own tradeoffs: main a longbow when you can hold range and tolerate the slow, must-draw fire rate — it holds the highest per-shot damage in the roster by a consistent ~33% margin over same-tier crossbows. Main a crossbow when the auto-reloading, one-handed weapon matters more, at the "relatively short range" it's built for, accepting a lower damage ceiling (with the Dorgeshuun as a documented, if unexplained, exception). Main a shortbow when fire-rate and quickfire flexibility matter more than any single hit — its own ceiling can't be measured against the other two families from this source's numbers, but the overview is explicit that it does "less damage than their counterparts."

 

Practical tips

• Longbows deal roughly 32-36% more raw damage than same-tier crossbows, computed tier by tier above.
• The Dorgeshuun crossbow's 97 damage at power level 5 is a genuine outlier — nearly double the Steel crossbow at the same tier — from the quest "Even More Restless Ghosts."
• The shortbow table's own header reads "Arrow damage multiplier," not "Damage" — its numbers aren't a like-for-like match with the longbow/crossbow tables.
• Crossbows fire bolts, not arrows — confirmed in the update history: "Crossbows and bolts were added to the game."
• The Crystal bow's Scattershot special skips ammo entirely.

 

Running your own Dragonwilds server

 

    Testing which ranged weapon actually wins a fight is easier with a full group — someone on a longbow holding range, someone else on a crossbow covering the flank — and that's simplest on a dedicated server you control. A dedicated Dragonwilds server lets you set your own launch arguments and PvP rules, hand out admin/console access to a co-op group, and migrate a world onto it once your squad outgrows a single host's machine.

 

    Get your own Dragonwilds server running in minutes, with a config file and launch arguments ready to go, free with code WELCOME.

 

Conclusion

 

    The source's own words draw the line cleanly: shortbows are fast and weak, longbows are slow and strong, and crossbows sit in between on damage while giving up range entirely. Where the tables allow a fair comparison — longbow against crossbow — the gap is a consistent 32-36% more damage per shot for the longbow, with the Dorgeshuun crossbow as the one documented exception. Pick a longbow to hit hardest at range, a crossbow for one-handed, auto-reloading short-range work, or a shortbow when the fastest fire-rate matters more than any single number on this page. Ready to test that math with friends on your own server?