Tips to be the Best Archer in Valheim – Guide to Crafting a Better Bow

Hunting plays a big part in Valheim’s gaming world. But your hunting skills are put to the real test when you want some deer hide and the only weapon you have is a club. Trying to hunt deer with a melee weapon is a big no as it will quickly flee before you can even get close to it. What you need is a Bow and a bunch of arrows.

If you’re not that great of a marksman and are in need for some tips and tricks to use bows and shoot arrows, then you’ve come to the right place. Here’s all you need to know about being the best archer and improving your accuracy in Valheim.

But remember your first order of business is to make a bow, so head on to your workbench and make a simple crude bow. Don’t know how? Here’s the recipe.

1. How to Craft a Crude Bow in Valheim?

Crude Bow requires 10 Wood and 8 leather scraps to make and can do upto 22 damage on enemies and animals.

Since Crude Bow is the first bow you can make in the game, make a bunch of arrows and start practicing your shooting skills before you make a better bow. You can upgrade your Crude Bow with a higher level workbench but it’s much better to make a Finewood instead.

2. How to Craft and Shoot Arrows?

A stack of 20 arrows can be made using 8 wood. Once done, players can practice their bow skills by hunting nearby deers, boars and greylings before taking on a bigger enemy.

To shoot arrows efficiently, try to sneak up to a deer or enemy and then draw your arrow using Mouse 1 button. Once drawn, release the arrow and make sure to point the cursor on the deer’s neck region.

Also a good reminder, the arrows are affected by wind and drop in an arch like manner so, when shooting a moving animal, try to aim a bit ahead of its path so that the arrow hits the animal by the time it reaches that spot.

3. How to Perfect the Crude Bow Accuracy?

To perfect the Crude Bow’s accuracy, players need to draw the bow and only release when it is drawn with full strength. The players also need to keep in mind that arrows drop in a parabolic form. So, the arrows should always be released after aiming a little higher than the target. 

Also remember to always crouch and stealthily approach the deers before drawing your Bow. If you go near the animals without crouching, they are most likely going to flee after seeing you. So, avoid being in their line of sight as much as possible.

Since the Crude Bow lacks strength, your arrows won’t do any damage if you do not draw the bow string fully. So, keep in mind that the Crude Bow might not be the most accurate shot when facing bigger enemies.

Now, arrows are as effective as its bow. So, you need some a better bow to kill the bigger enemies like a pack of Greydrawf Brutes, Shamans or even the Elder Boss.

4. How to Craft a Better Bow in Valheim?

Finewood Bow is better than the Crude Bow in Valheim. Finewood Bow requires 10 finewood, 10 core wood, and 2 deer hides. Arrows shot by Finewood Bow can deal 32 damage.

 Although a Finewood Bow is not that hard to make, gathering the materials for it is certainly the hard part. You need finewood and corewood which can only be found by chopping birch and pine trees with a Bronze Axe.

If you don’t have a Bronze Axe yet, gather some copper and tin ores, make some bronze bars and forge a Bronze Axe to progress further.

With the Finewood Bow in hand, your arrows will definitely shoot through your enemy and deal a lot of damage. You just have to know how to pick the right one.

5. Best Arrows to Craft at the Start of Valheim?

The three best and easily craftable arrows at the start of Valheim are the wood arrows, flinthead arrows, bronzehead arrows and the special fire arrows. (Each stack creates 20 arrows.)

Here are the details:

Arrows	Recipe	Damage	Knockback
Wood Arrows	8 Wood	22	10
Flinthead Arrows	8 Wood2 Flint2 Feather	27	10
Bronzehead Arrows	8 Wood1 Bronze2 Feather	32	10
Fire Arrows	8 Wood8 Resin2 Feathers	11, 22 (Fire)	10

While the wood arrows are the most easily craftable arrows, flinthead arrows are the best arrows you can craft at the beginning of the game. Flinthead arrows not only deal a great amount of damage but the materials required to craft them are really low.

Flint can generally be collected from the shores, and feathers can be collected from birds or from other loot boxes scattered throughout the game and even in underground cave dungeons.

When you feel like you’ve mastered the art of bows and arrows, you can then go ahead and make an even more complicated bow and powerful arrows to be the best Viking in Valheim.

Don’t forget to upgrade your Workbench level as it not only upgrades your bow’s durability but it also upgrades the amount of damage done by one arrow.

6. About Valheim

Developed by Iron Gate AB, Valheim is an online open-world Survival craft co-op game. Here, players will control dead Vikings and fight Odin’s ancient enemies and monsters.

In order to enter paradise, players will have to please Odin and prove their worth to the allfather.

The journey will not be easy as at every step, the danger of supernatural entities will loom. Players will have to venture out, explore various landforms, craft, and get stronger.