In the enchanting realm of Terraria, where every adventurer seeks the finest tools for survival, the most skilled Rangers will always trust the powerful bow. Read on for my personal guide on the Best Bows in Terraria. So, gear up, brace your bowstrings, and let’s get on with our top picks!
Best Bows in Terraria by Progression
| Best in Slot – Pre-Hardmode | The Bee’s Knees |
| Best in Slot – Hardmode | Phantasm |
| Best Adaptability | Pulse Bow |
| Horde Killer | Daedalus Stormbow |
I’ve compiled a list of our top 8 bows in the game. These bows are ranked in the order of the worst to best from the start, up to the end of the game. These are not necessarily in the order of progression, but the viability of the bow at certain points of the game.
Blood Rain Bow
- Damage – 14
- Summons blood projectiles that fall from the sky
The Blood Rain Bow is one of the most versatile, early-game bows that you can get before fighting any boss. This is obtained through the Blood Moon event that can happen at any point so long as you have 120 HP or above and the Eye of Cthulhu is not spawning that night.
You can farm the bow from both the Wandering Eye Fish or the Zombie Merman at a 12.5% drop rate making it a must-have when you get a Blood Moon early. This bow is best paired with the Shimmer Arrows which you can also get before fighting any boss.
Demon / Tendon Bow
- Damage – 14 (Demon) / 19 (Tendon)
- The Demon bow is faster while the Tendon bow has more damage
The Demon and Tendon bows are your direct firing bows which you can use in tandem with the Blood Rain Bow. Unlike our previous entry, this bow fires arrows in front of you like any normal bow should. This helps you clear out tighter areas such as caverns or buildings with low ceilings.
The bow that you get is dependent on your World Evil, but you can obtain both by buying the opposite evil seeds in a Hardmode Graveyard. That said, waiting for hardmode for the second bow is not worth it at that point.
Hellwing Bow
- Damage – 22
- Turns your wooden arrows into flaming bats
The Hellwing Bow is the second-best bow in Terraria in terms of firing speed. It boasts speeds only rivaled by the fastest Stake Launcher, making it an excellent choice in pre-Hardmode. The bow also has a unique ability that turns your Wooden Arrows into flaming bat projectiles. It’s fast and has decent knockback, making it great for hordes.
This bow is excellent at crowd control due to the high knockback and infinite piercing that the weapon has. This is also still viable to use in Hardmode once you gain access to the Endless Quiver which gives you infinite wooden arrows. You’ll find this weapon extremely useful for the Wall of Flesh.
The Bee’s Knees
- Damage – 23 (initial projectile) + 3-6 x 33% weapon damage (bee contact damage)
- Fires a stream of bees
The Bee’s Knees is one of the most powerful pre-Hardmode bows in Terraria. This bow is obtained from defeating the Queen Bee in the Underground Jungle hives. The bow has the unique effect of changing your wooden arrows into a stream of bees that divide upon impact.
In detail, each arrow will split into 3 bees with each bee having a 30% chance to summon an extra bee (max 6 spawned bees). This makes it extremely useful for fighting the Wall of Flesh while also taking care of the Hungry that the boss summons. The weapon is extremely useful for invasions in pre-Hardmode as well.
Pulse Bow
- Damage – 80
- Changes any arrow into a blue energy bolt
The Pulse Bow used to be one of the best bows in Terraria. Although it’s no longer considered the best, it is by no means a weak bow. This weapon can be obtained through the Traveling Merchant after all mechanical bosses are defeated. This weapon is great for both crowd control and boss battles.
The bow will fire any loaded arrow into a blue bolt which pierces or ricochets up to 5 times, dealing 10% less damage each time. This will nullify any arrow effects and will only use its base damage for calculation. Following this logic, the best arrow to use for this bow is the Venom arrow.
Daedalus Stormbow
- Damage – 38
- Fires a rain of arrows from the sky
The Daedalus Stormbow is one of the most iconic bows in Terraria. This bow is obtained by hunting Hallowed Mimics in the Hallowed biome. Since this bow is not locked under any boss, you can grab it as soon as you beat the Wall of Flesh and enter Hardmode. You may, however, have a hard time using it for smaller, faster bosses due to its unique firing mechanic.
This weapon pairs extremely well with the Holy Arrows which spawn star projectiles on hit, and Chlorophyte Arrows which bounce off surfaces once allowing for a second chance to strike. This weapon is great for fighting large bosses and can even decimate the Destroyer with ease.
Tsunami
- Damage – 53
- Shoots 5 parallel arrows for the price of 1
The Tsunami is one of the best bows in Terraria in terms of overall damage and versatility. This bow is obtained from defeating Duke Fishron, which you can fight as soon as Hardmode starts. The bow fires 5 projectiles that are closely spaced and do not split up for the cost of one arrow. It may seem like a great AoE bow, but the lack of versatility this weapon provides makes it better for single targets.
Due to this mechanic, it’s ill-advised to use piercing arrows for this since piercing will trigger an invincibility frame for the enemy. The best arrows to use are the Holy Arrows (spawns up to 10 stars if all 5 arrows hit) and the Ichor Arrows (the first arrow lowers armor, the other 4 will hit harder).
Phantasm
- Damage – 50
- Fires a barrage of deadly arrows followed by a stream of magic arrows
The Phantasm is a bow that you can craft after the Vortex Pillar has been defeated. It is crafted using the Vortex Fragments in the Ancient Manipulator from the Lunatic Cultist. This bow boasts the highest DPS among all bows in Terraria. It also has decent knockback that will keep all enemies at a range, if they’re not dead yet.
The bow primarily works similarly to the Chlorophyte Shotbow. It fires 4 loosely grouped arrows that travel at different speeds. Once any of these 4 connects, the bow summons 3 magical arrows that home in on the target that the primary arrow hits for 30% arrow damage. To top it off, the bow’s fire rate increases drastically so long as the attack button is held down.
If you feel like there should be a bow in this list that should have made it in, add your suggestion to the comments below!
Need help finding the best equipment for the Ranger Class? Click here for our loadout recommendations and here for ranger accessories!
