Every Bow in Dragonwilds: Eighteen Weapons, and the Shortbow Tax
Dragonwilds has eighteen bows, split into shortbows and longbows, and the difference between the two families is far larger than the names suggest. At the top of the ladder a Yew Longbow deals 101 damage while the Yew Shortbow — same wood, same power level 7 — deals 59. That is a 42% damage penalty for the faster draw, and it is roughly consistent all the way down.
A note on sourcing. The wiki's two summary tables — the Bows page and the Ranged weapons page — disagree with the individual item pages on several power levels, and one calls the Crystal Bow's special "Scattershot" while its own item page calls it Shattershot. Every figure below is taken from the item pages, which are the more reliable of the two.
Longbows Hit Harder
| Longbow | Damage | Power | Multiplier | Durability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yew Longbow | 101 | 7 | 4.2 | 1300 |
| Bow of Elidinis | 102 | 7 | 4.2 | 1300 |
| Maple Longbow | 82 | 6 | 3.4 | 1600 |
| Willow Longbow | 65 | 5 | 2.7 | 1300 |
| Ulv's Longbow | 65 | 5 | 2.7 | 1300 |
| Hunter Stagbow | 52 | 4 | 2.15 | 1300 |
| Blightwood Longbow | 48 | 4 | 2.0 | 1300 |
| Oak Longbow | 28 | 3 | 1.4 | 1050 |
| Adventurer's Longbow | 24 | 2 | — | 850 |
Longbows fire further and hit harder, and give up the draw speed and the Quick Action mechanic that shortbows have. In exchange they carry a kick mechanic.
The Maple Longbow is the durability outlier. At 1600 it is the toughest bow in the game — higher than the Yew Longbow's 1300 — which means the tier-6 bow lasts longer between repairs than the tier-7 one above it.
Willow Longbow and Ulv's Longbow are numerically identical — 65 damage, power 5, ×2.7, 1300 durability. The only thing separating them is Ulv's special effect.
Shortbows Fire Faster
| Shortbow | Damage | Power | Multiplier | Durability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yew Shortbow | 59 | 7 | 4.2 | 1300 |
| Maple Shortbow | 48 | 6 | 3.4 | 1600 |
| Undead Ranger's Bow | 43 | 5 | 3.1 | 1050 |
| Willow Shortbow | 38 | 5 | 2.7 | 1300 |
| Blightwood Shortbow | 28 | 4 | 2.0 | 1300 |
| Crystal Bow | 20 | 3 | 3.45* | 1050 |
| Oak Shortbow | 20 | 3 | 1.4 | 1050 |
| Wild Scout's Shortbow | 18 | 3 | 1.3 | 1050 |
| Ash Shortbow | 14 | 2 | — | 850 |
Shortbows have shorter draw times and a quickfire mechanic, sacrificing damage, reach and kick.
Compare the pairs directly and the tax is obvious: Yew 59 against 101, Maple 48 against 82, Willow 38 against 65, Blightwood 28 against 48, Oak 20 against 28. The shortbow gives up between 29% and 42% of the damage at every matching tier.
The Undead Ranger's Bow breaks the pattern. At 43 damage on a ×3.1 multiplier it out-damages the Willow Shortbow at the same power level 5 — because its special effect trades durability for damage. Its 1050 durability against Willow's 1300 is the visible cost of that.
The Crystal Bow is the strangest entry in the list. Its base damage at power level 3 is only 20, but its multiplier is 3.45 — higher than any other power-3 bow and higher even than the power-5 Willow's 2.7. It is a masterwork shortbow from the Heartstrings quest, and the multiplier is where its value lives.
Two caveats on its numbers. Its item page publishes a full ascension ladder rather than one figure — 20 at PL3, 29 at PL4, 38 at PL5, 48 at PL6 and 58 at PL7, all at 1,050 durability — and it does not publish a rune multiplier at all, so the 3.45 above is the summary table's figure, marked with an asterisk for that reason.
The Five With Special Effects
| Bow | Special |
|---|---|
| Crystal Bow | Shattershot — an area-of-effect special attack costing 30 stamina |
| Hunter Stagbow | 10% draw time reduction |
| Wild Scout's Shortbow | Draw time reduction |
| Undead Ranger's Bow | Increased damage at reduced durability |
| Ulv's Longbow | Increased damage to unsuspecting targets |
| Bow of Elidinis | Three effects — see below |
Ulv's Longbow is the stealth weapon. "Increased damage to unsuspecting targets" is an opening-shot bonus, which pairs it with sneaking rather than with sustained fire — the same 65 damage as a Willow Longbow, with a burst attached to the first arrow.
The Bow of Elidinis is the most interesting weapon in the game, and the most restrictive. A power 7 masterwork from the Mapping The Sands II quest, it edges the Yew Longbow by a single point — 102 damage against 101, on the same ×4.2 and 1300 durability — and adds three effects:
- Lunar Rain — a barrage of arrows over an area, with a chance to spawn a water orb.
- Blessing of Elidinis — arrows deal water damage, and kills with water arrows can drop water orbs that restore health.
- Purity of the Moon — prevents the use of poison, bleed and fire arrows.
That last one is a real cost. As covered in our arrows guide, barbed, poisoned and fire arrows are how a ranged build applies status effects. The Bow of Elidinis trades your entire ammunition toolkit for water damage and healing orbs — an excellent deal against things weak to water, and a bad one against everything else.
Its recipe is also the most expensive bow in the game: Gold Bar ×12, Silver Bar ×12, Desert Thread ×8, Dragonstone ×4 and Gypsum Wax ×4, at the Fletching Bench.
Practical tips
- Eighteen bows, split into shortbows and longbows.
- Shortbows give up 29–42% of the damage at every matching tier.
- Yew Longbow 101 against Yew Shortbow 59 — same wood, same power 7.
- Maple bows have 1600 durability — the highest in the game, above Yew's 1300.
- The Crystal Bow's 3.45 multiplier is higher than any power-5 bow's — though that figure comes from the summary table, not the item page.
- The Bow of Elidinis cannot use barbed, poisoned or fire arrows.
- The wiki's summary tables disagree with its item pages on several power levels.
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Conclusion
Dragonwilds has eighteen bows in two families. Longbows run from the Adventurer's Longbow (24) up to the Yew Longbow (101) and the Bow of Elidinis (102), both power 7, and shortbows from the Ash Shortbow (14) to the Yew Shortbow (59) — a 29% to 42% damage penalty at every matching tier, paid for shorter draws and the Quick Action mechanic. Two oddities are worth knowing: Maple bows carry 1600 durability, more than anything above them, and the Crystal Bow's ×3.45 multiplier beats every power-5 bow despite its 20 base damage at power level 3. Five bows carry special effects — Shattershot, two draw-time reductions, the Undead Ranger's damage-for-durability trade, and Ulv's bonus against unsuspecting targets — while the Bow of Elidinis edges the Yew Longbow by one point and adds Lunar Rain, water-damage arrows and a hard restriction: no barbed, poisoned or fire arrows at all.
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