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Discover how to create the best Bow build in Avowed, with recommendations for skills, attributes, weapons, companions and leveling progression!
Avowed is a complex game due to the sheer variety of choices players can make. One such choice is the weapon selection, and you make a player build. This page and guide will show you the best way to use the Bow in Avowed via the gear, skills, passives, and companions.
Everything You Need To Know About Bow Build Guide in Avowed
The Bow’s long range, weak point damage, and unware damage make it unique. Like the gun, the Bow benefits from many damage amplification passives and skills. Therefore, you gain a ton of damage at long range. However, the early part of the game can be difficult without the right companion setup to to keep the pressure off of you. Moreover, the bow excels at staying at range and hitting targets with snares and stuns.
The downside of the bow is it requires aiming. If you’re not a fan of first-person shooters, this could be difficult to gain the max amount of health. Moreover, you must always be aware of your positioning and keep a safe range. However, if you enjoy pew-pew at range, this build is for you!
| Bow Build Pros | Bow Build Cons |
|---|---|
| Huge Damage | Aiming Dependent |
| Max Range | Limited Heavy Armor Use |
| Multiple Damage Compoenents | Resource Management |
Bow Build Features & Mechanics
Below are the essential best Bow build features and mechanics for Avowed:
- Background: Vanguard Scout
- Attribute Points: Might, Perception, Dexerity
- Weapon Choices: Bow, One-hand and shield
- Best Skills: Marksmanship, Steady Aim, Flurry of Blows, Staggering Shot
- Recommended Companions: Kai and Yatzli
- Best Consumables: Mulled Musketeer, Tani Cream, Beetle Pie
Related:
Background
The best background choice is the Vanguard Scout, which determines your starting weapon. Overall, your background choice isn’t impactful outside of the dialogue. You gain a bow during the game’s tutorial, so feel free to choose any that resonates with your character’s story rather than a performance benefit.
Attribute Points
Might, Perception, and Dexerity are the best attributes for a Bow Build: Might increases damage, Perception increases range and critical chance, while Dexterity increases action speed. Your primary attribute distribution should focus heavily on Might and Perception with small increases in Dexterity. You want to kill targets at range faster than they can reach you and skills will be your primary defense rather than pure raw health. Avowed has a Max level of 30 and you can select 27 attributes by reaching max level.
Below is the distribution of attribute points for the Bow build:
- Might: 10
- Constitution: 2
- Dexterity: 5
- Perception: 8
- Intellect: 0
- Resolve: 2
Weapon Choices
Bow, one hand and shield are the best weapons for a Bow build. The Bow excels at ranged damage and is better than the Arquebus because it fires faster and doesn’t require a reload. Moreover, it gains all the damage passives of the Arquebus with a faster attack speed. Therefore, use the bow as your primary weapon.
A secondary weapon choice is one hand and shield (sword or Axe). This allows you to swap when pressured with melee damage and block. Most of your defensive come from the Arcane Veil skill rather than blocking. However, it can be helpful to swap and block until you can escape. Moreover, you can use an Arquebus as a secondary weapon. You fire one shot, then quickly swap to the bow, which can be a good one-two combo.
Avoid melee weapons because its not practice to split the skill point selection between the two. Picking Bow and focusing on the skills will increase the overall power vs. a hybrid approach.
Skill Selection
The game allows you to unlock skills at each level, starting at 2. One level gives you one more skill point to place in one of three skill trees. You can mix and match skill trees, but Ranger and Fighter synergize the best together. However, the Wizard has Arcane Veil one of the best defensive skills in the game. Therefore, experiment with what is best. Moreover, Blood Magic is a good skill at level 10 in Wizard line if you’re running out of magic and have Giatta as a healer companion.
Levels 1-10 Skills
The initial levels look to gain a variety of skills focusing on survivability. Shadowing Beyond is helpful for melee kills or getting away, Arcane Veil for damage reduction, and Tanglefoot for immobilizing enemies in place. As you progress further in level, then select more offensive passives once survivability has been established.
Below is a list, in order, of the skills for the Best Bow Build for Avowed from levels 1 to 10:
| Level | Skill Name | Tree | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | None | ||
| 2 | Tanglefoot Rank 1 | Ranger | Summon lingering entangling vines that Root nearby enemies in place for 8 seconds. |
| 3 | Arcane Veil Rank 1 | Wizard | Unlocks Arcane Veil spell |
| 4 | Steady Aim Rank 1 | Ranger | Holding your Power Attack with a bow or gun slows time by 25%. |
| 5 | Shadowing Beyond Rank 1 | Ranger | Channel the Beyond, becoming Invisible and draining Essence until your next combat action. |
| 6 | Survivalist Rank 1 | Fighter | Food restores 20% more Health and Essence, and bonus effect durations are increased by 20%. |
| 7 | Evasive Rank 1 | Ranger | Reduces stamina cost of dodge by 25% |
| 8 | Marksmanship Rank 1 | Ranger | Increases damage with bows and guns by 25%. |
| 9 | Arcane Veil Rank 2 | Wizard | Ranged projectiles are reflected |
| 10 | Power Slide Rank 1 | Ranger | Your slide passes through enemies and knocks them down |
Levels 11-20 Skills
At the midgame of Avowed, take many offensive passives like Steady Aim, Marksmanship, and Critical Strike. You should have great survivability at this point. Moreover, save your skill points at level 14 and 17 because you can get two powerful choices at levels 15 and 18: Bear Ally and Critical Strike. Bear Ally acts as another tank after rank 2 and dramatically increases your teams survivability.
Below is a list, in order, of the skills for the Best Bow Build for Avowed from levels 11 to 20:
| Level | Skill Name | Tree | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Steady Aim Rank 2 | Ranger | Holding your Power Attack with a bow or gun slows time by 50%. |
| 12 | Marksmanship Rank 2 | Ranger | Increases damage with bows and guns by 40%. |
| 13 | Shadowing Beyond Rank 2 | Ranger | While Invisible, gain increased Stealth Attack Damage and Move Speed. |
| 14 | Save | ||
| 15 | Bear Ally Rank 1 Critical Strike Rank 1 | Ranger Ranger | Summon a bear ally Increases critical chance by 10% |
| 16 | Survivalist Rank 2 | Ranger | Unlocks stronger recpies |
| 17 | Save | ||
| 18 | Bear Ally Rank 1 Critical Strike Rank 1 | Ranger Ranger | bear ally can taunt Increases critical chance by 15% |
| 19 | Sniper Rank 1 | Ranger | Increases ranged weapon damage against unaware enemies by 25%. |
| 20 | Flurry of Blows Rank 1 | Ranger | Gain maximum Attack Speed, rapid Stamina regeneration, and increased Move Speed for 10 seconds. |
Levels 21-30 Skills
At the last third of the game, increase Flurry of Blows and Staggering Shot. This gives the Bow build lifesteal, increased damage, and more stun when shooting the bow at range. By this stage, you’ll have everything you need to do good damage and use Yatzli if you lack AOE.
Below is a list, in order, of the skills for the Best Bow Build for Avowed from levels 21 to 30:
| Level | Skill Name | Tree | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | Flurry of Blows Rank 2 | Ranger | Gain lifesteal with weapon attacks |
| 22 | Flurry of Blows Rank 3 | Ranger | Increases duration by 5 seconds |
| 23 | Inspiring Thriumph Rank 1 | Fighter | Killing enemies restores 10% of your Companion’s Maximum Health. |
| 24 | Staggering Shot Rank 1 | Ranger | Power Attacks with bows and guns deal +70% Stun. |
| 25 | Staggering Shot Rank 2 | Ranger | Power Attacks with bows and guns deal +70% Stun. |
| 26 | Steady Aim Rank 3 | Ranger | Holding your Power Attack with a bow or gun slows time by 75%. |
| 27 | Marksmanship Rank 3 | Ranger | Increases damage with bows and guns by 50%. |
| 28 | Inspiring Thriumph Rank 2 | Fighter | Inspiring Triumph revives Incapacitated Companions and restores 20% of their Maximum Health. |
| 29 | Staggering Shot Rank 2 | Ranger | Power Attacks with bows and guns deal +90% Stun. |
| 30 | Bear Ally Rank 3 | Ranger | Increases the duration by 15 seconds. |
Best Bow Skills Explained
Marksmanship, Steady Aim, Flurry of Blows, and Staggering Shot are the best skills for a bow build because they increase your overall damage and crowd control potential. Marksmanship increases the raw damage of the bow while Steady Aim slows down time helping you hit headshots. Flurry of Blows is a buff skill that can be activated before combat and even steals life keeping you alive while increasing damage. Lastly, Staggering Shot helps build a stun at range, therefore crowd-controlling enemies at range with burst damage.
Below are the most useful skills and passives for a bow build in Avowed:
- Staggering Shot: Boost the stun dealt by power attacks with bows and guns.
- Shadowing Beyond: This ability allows you to be invisible and move stealthily, reducing Essence drain during invisibility.
- Bear Ally: Summons a bear to fight alongside you, drawing enemy attention.
- Marksmanship: This ability increases your damage output with bows and guns.
- Steady Aim: Slows down time when aiming power attacks with bows or guns.
- Flurry of Blows: Buff skill increase damage and attack speed
Companions
Kai and Yatzli are the best companions to choose for the Bow build in Avowed because Kai tanks for you while Yatzli provides area damage. At first, you encounter Kai after the tutorial. Make sure to focus on his taunting skills Fire and Ire and Leap of Daring. You want to reduce cooldown and increase range so it hits the max targets. Kai becomes less effective after Bear Ally Rank 2 at level 18. Therefore, swap him out for another companion if you want more damage and have good survivability.
For your second companion, the game initially gives you Marius, who’s a single-target damage dealer. He’s a good companion but not a good secondary choice since the Bow build is all single target. Therefore, look to swap him out for Giatta as you progress, then eventually Yatzli. She helps with AOE damage and status effects. Focus on reduced cooldowns or status effect passives to increase your damage.
Kai
Below are the recommended skills and upgrades for Kai and a Bow Build:
| Skill 1 | Skill 2 | Skill 3 | Skill 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fire and Ire | Unbending Defense | Leap of Daring | Second Wind |
| Quick Reload | Iron Will | Leap of Pride | Refreshing Wind |
Yatzli
Below are the recommended skills and upgrades for Yatzli and a Bow Build:
| Skill 1 | Skill 2 | Skill 3 | Skill 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essence Explosion | Minoletta’s Missile Battery | Arduous Delay of Motion | Blast |
| Scrappy Casting | Speedy Salvo | Frost Aspect | Affliction Blast |
Bow Gameplay & Tips
The best way to play the bow build is at max range, crouched to trigger unware damage, and aim for weak points. The weak point will be a diamond shape symbol on the enemies head generally. Hitting these spots will reward you with increased damage. To gain unaware damage, crouch in high grass with a UI pop-up labeling you as hidden.
Next, you want to pre-buff with Flurry of Blows and any godlike ability. Attack the highest damage produce target which is usually a spellcaster. Tanglefoot stun in place any target that approaches you and send Kai to taunt them. Summon the Bear when in melee range to avoid more incoming damage. Use the Arcane Veil when you expect incoming damage or there are too many targets to stun, immobilize or taunt.
Then, progressively take out the highest producing target until none are remaining.
Weapons and Armor
Beginner Weapon and Armor
| Slot | Item | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| Weapon 1 | The Long Touch | +10% Critical Hit chance while Fine Aiming |
| Secondary Weapon | Last Light of Day | Restore health on enemy kill |
| Off-Hand | Unflinching Duty | 5% to avoid melee damage |
| Armor | Blackwing Armor | +30% Sneak Attack Damage |
| Gloves | Blackwing Gloves | +1% Critical Hit Chance +10% Critical Damage |
| Boots | Blackwing Boots | +1 Dex |
| Trinket | Night-Mistress’ Favor | Regen essence near companion |
| Ring | Wayfarer’s Ring | 20% health and essence from food |
| Ring | Vindictive Band | Crits deal poison damage |
- The Long Touch: In Dawnshore head northeast to find the Paradisian Military Surplus shop and purchase.
- Last Light of Day: found during Dawntreader’s quest in the Eothasian temple within Dawnshore (location Pilgrim’s Path).
- Unflinching Duty: found in the Strangleroot area looted next to an Aedryan Soldier’s Corpse in the north.
- Blackwing Armor: Spoiler regarding your assassin quest at the end of Dawnshore.
- Blackwing Gloves: Loot the backpack found at the top of the Aedyran Embassy in Paradis, Dawnshore.
- Blackwing Boots: Bought from Extremely legal goods in Philosopher’s alley in Northern Paradis.
- Night-Mistress’ Favor: Complete the side quest a lady never tells, speak with Concerned Couresan north of Pearl District in Paradis Dawnshore.
- Wayfarer’s Ring: Can be found from a skeleton south of Runyd’s Home in Dawnshore to the west of Shrine of Woedica.
- Vindictive Band: Complete sidequest Cabin Fever, started in Claviger’s Landing, Dawnshore by NPC Dehengen.
Endgame Weapon and Armor
| Slot | Item | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| Weapon 1 | Ancient Alacrity | Slow the hit enemy by 15% for 5 seconds. |
| Secondary Weapon | Last Light of Day | Restore health on enemy kill |
| Off-Hand | Unflinching Duty | 5% to avoid melee damage |
| Armor | Councilor’s Garb | +50% Sneak Attack Damage |
| Gloves | Gloves of the Strangler | +15% Sneak Attack Damage |
| Boots | Councilor’s Shoes | +2 Dexterity |
| Trinket | Cartographer’s Companion | +1 Dex, +2 Perception |
| Ring | Ashfall’s Legacy | +10% Attack Damage +20% Critical Hit Damage |
| Ring | Sigil of the Arcane | +20% ability cast speed. -20% ability Essence cost. |
- Ancient Alacrity: Locked behind a door in the same room as Sibelius boss within the Solace Lava Tubs, in the Galawain’s Tusks region.
- Last Light of Day: found during Dawntreader’s quest in the Eothasian temple within Dawnshore (location Pilgrim’s Path).
- Unflinching Duty: found in the Strangleroot area looted next to an Aedryan Soldier’s Corpse in the north.
- Councilor’s Garb: Destroy Councilor Kostya During Our Dreams Divide Us Still in Galawain’s Tusk.
- Gloves of the Strangler: Location is Dawnshore. Behind a secret door on the outer wall of Paradis, slightly southwest of the Paradis Hightown gate.
- Councilor’s Shoes- Kill Councilor Koysta and save Solace Keep during Our Dreams Divide Us Still in Galawain’s Tusks
- Cartographer’s Companion: Looted from a dead body near the Shrine to Galawain in Galawain’s Tusks.
- Ashfall’s Legacy: Reward for completing Warden’s Legacy quest in Galawain’s Tusks.
- Sigil of the Arcane: Found in Shatterscarp inside a lockbox inside a puzzle door at Shark’s teeth.
Consumables
Mulled Musketeer is the best consumable because it grants +40% action speed and reload speed. Tani Cream allows you to gain +2 Dexterity and +5% maximum stamina. Beetle Pie is another consumable that provides you +2 Might and +10% damage. You need to take three points into the survivalist skill in the ranger tree. Once unlocked, you can craft advanced food and buffs that drastically increase your survivability, damage, and regeneration.
FAQs about Bow Build in Avowed
What is the best Bow build in Avowed?
The best bow is Ancient Alacrity because it increases your speed while slowing down the enemy. The best beginner bow is The Long Touch which increases critical while aiming down sights.
Which is the best Background for a Bow build?
Vanguard Scout is the best background for a Bow build in Avowed because it gives you a dialogue similar to an archer playstyle.
Which are the best skills for the Bow build?
Marksmanship, Steady Aim, Flurry of Blows, and Staggering Shot are the best skills for a bow build because they increase your overall damage and crowd control potential
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