Bow Enchants
Ancient bows are a real damage weapon in Season 2 — arrows now pierce most of a target's armour, so a well-drawn shot actually hurts. Vanilla draw and Power (Bow) scaling still apply (against an unarmoured target nothing changed), and like wands a bow now works on all PvE content. Against players it stays PvE-only, so you can't fire on someone in open-world combat — see PvP Basics.
How bows fire now
- Hold to fire. Hold right-click and the bow streams arrows at its fire rate. Rapid Fire shortens the gap between shots; the base time between shots is 0.3s.
- Every arrow lands once. The old throttling double-hit is gone — one arrow, one hit, no free second tick.
- Arrows fly a little slower by default. Add Velocity (or any +arrow-speed source) to restore the snappy draw, and note that stray arrows force-despawn so the world stays clean.
Holding a bow is a glass-cannon tradeoff: you take +15% damage from all sources while it's in your main hand. That's the same deal wands strike — read Wands, Bows & the Glass-Cannon Tradeoff before you commit to a bow build.
Power (Bow)
Power is the core damage scaler for bows, and it was rebalanced for Season 2. It now grants 5% increased damage per level (up to 25% at L5), down from the old 12%/60%. To compensate, bow base damage was raised ~25%, so a maxed bow lands in a similar place, just with the headroom spread differently.
Power is increased damage, so it sums into one additive pool with your other increased-damage sources rather than multiplying on top of them.
Every bow enchant
Bows have their own line plus a large slate shared with wands and melee weapons — the Slot column says which is which.
| Enchant | Rarity | Max | Slot | Exactly what it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bleed | Ultimate | 3 | Axe, Bow | 12% chance to proc on hit. On proc: bleed 1s per level (up to 3s at L3). Each 1s tick deals 150% of weapon base damage. Doesn't stack. Bypasses iframes; can't proc other enchants. |
| Lucky | Legendary | 3 | Any armour + Pickaxe, Sword, Axe, Wand, Bow | 10% increased proc rate per level for enchants on THIS item (Feed, Shatter, Super Breaker, Shard Discovery, Transfuse, weapon procs, etc.). Caps at level 4 (up to 40% increased). Each piece's Lucky boosts only its own procs. Pickaxes, gear, weapons and bows; Lvl 4 via orb only. |
| Monster Hunter | Elite | 5 | Sword, Axe, Wand, Bow | 10% more damage/level (50% more at L5) to shades, wraiths, and Erebus Guards. Does NOT affect bosses, cell guards, or stationary guards. |
| Prism | Godly | 2 | Wand, Bow | Fires 1 extra beam or arrow per level, spread in a fan (up to 3 at level 2). Each one hits and rolls its damage independently. |
| Reduced Cost | Uncommon | 5 | Wand, Bow | -10% Ancient Energy cost per shot per level (up to -50% at L5). |
| Ignite | Elite | 3 | Wand, Bow | 30% chance on hit to ignite, burning the enemy for 25% of the hit's damage per second per level, for 3s. |
| Frostbite | Elite | 3 | Wand, Bow | 30% chance on hit to chill: slows the enemy down. 30% of chills freeze the enemy solid. |
| Shock | Elite | 3 | Wand, Bow | 30% chance on hit to shock: the enemy takes 8% increased damage per level (up to 24% at level 3) for 4s. Pairs well with Chain. |
| Venom | Elite | 3 | Wand, Bow | 30% chance on hit to poison, dealing 15% of the hit's damage per second per level for 5s. Great vs tanky enemies. |
| Detonate | Godly | 5 | Sword, Axe, Wand, Bow | 10% + 5%/level chance, on a kill, to explode the corpse for 25% of its max health to nearby enemies within 3.5 blocks. Mobs killed by the blast can chain-explode. The blast is base damage — it scales with your damage bonuses. |
| Surge | Legendary | 3 | Wand, Bow | Each consecutive hit grants a stack: 1% increased damage per stack per level (up to 10 stacks). Decays if you stop firing. |
| Velocity | Uncommon | 3 | Wand, Bow | 25% increased projectile speed per level (up to 75% at L3). |
| Soul Eater | Godly | 1 | Wand, Bow | Each kill banks a soul: 1% increased cast speed and 1% increased damage per soul (up to 100 souls). Each soul fades 60s after its kill, new souls never refresh old ones. |
| Catalyst | Legendary | 3 | Wand, Bow | Your ailments (Ignite, Venom, ...) deal 20% more damage per level (up to 60% more at level 3). |
| Executioner | Legendary | 3 | Wand, Bow | 8% more damage per level against enemies on low life (below 50% HP) (up to 24% more at level 3). |
| Ambush | Elite | 3 | Wand, Bow | Your first hit on a full-health enemy deals 10% more damage per level (up to 30% more at level 3). |
| Long Shot | Elite | 3 | Wand, Bow | Up to 6% more damage per level based on distance to the target (up to 18% more at max range, level 3). |
| Point Blank | Elite | 3 | Wand, Bow | Up to 6% more damage per level the closer the target is (up to 18% more at point-blank range, level 3). |
| Combustion | Elite | 3 | Wand, Bow | Your Ignite burns for 15% more fire damage per level (up to 45% more at level 3). |
| Repel | Uncommon | 3 | Wand, Bow | Your shots knock enemies back, with more force at higher levels. |
| Power | Elite | 5 | Bow | 5% increased arrow damage per level (25% increased at L5). |
| Piercing Shot | Elite | 3 | Bow | Arrows pass through +1 enemy per level (up to 3 at L3) before stopping. |
| Splinter | Legendary | 3 | Bow | On hit, the arrow shatters for 15% of the hit's damage per level to enemies within 3 blocks. |
| Trueshot | Uncommon | 1 | Bow | Arrows fly flat with no gravity drop, a longer, straighter shot. |
| Hunter's Mark | Legendary | 3 | Bow | Your hits mark the enemy: it takes 10% increased damage from your shots per level for 8s (up to 30% at L3). |
| Split Arrow | Legendary | 1 | Bow | On hit, the arrow splits into 2 arrows that fly to nearby enemies, each dealing 60% damage. |
| Plague Arrow | Legendary | 3 | Bow | On hit, leaves a poison cloud (3 blocks) for 4s, dealing 10% of the hit per second per level to enemies inside it. |
| Caltrops | Elite | 3 | Bow | On hit, scatters caltrops for 5s that slow enemies on them and wound for 6% of the hit per second per level. |
| Rapid Fire | Elite | 5 | Bow | 12% increased fire rate per level (up to 60% at level 5). |
| Hemorrhage | Legendary | 3 | Bow | Bleeding enemies take 6% more damage from your hits per level (up to 18% at L3). Pairs with Bleed. |
| Crippling Shot | Elite | 3 | Bow | Hits cripple the enemy — slowed and weakened (deals less damage) for 3s. Slow and weakness scale per level. |
Lucky can be socketed on bows. It boosts the proc rate of the bow's own enchants by 10% per level, up to 40% increased at L4. Cavern Luck, its Calcite upgrade, applies to bows too.
The conditional damage scalers
Four bow and wand scalers grant more damage rather than increased damage, so each one multiplies with the others instead of summing into one pool. Their per-level numbers came down to match:
| Enchant | Grants |
|---|---|
| Executioner | 8% more damage per level against enemies below 50% health |
| Ambush | 10% more damage per level on an opening hit against a 95%+ health enemy |
| Long Shot | 6% more damage per level at 30 blocks, scaling from nothing up close |
| Point Blank | 6% more damage per level up close, scaling to nothing at 30 blocks |
| Hemorrhage | 6% more damage per level against a bleeding enemy |
Shock now scales with its level too: 8% increased damage taken per level, for 24% at L3, where it used to be a flat 25% regardless.
Prism (Godly)
Prism splits your shot into one extra arrow per level, fired in a fan — up to 3 arrows at level 2. Each arrow rolls its own crit and its own ailment procs on whichever enemy it strikes, and Prism arrows are what let a single trigger pull cover a pack.
Volley rules
One trigger pull is one volley — the arrow you loosed, every arrow Prism fanned out, and any Split-Arrow children they spawn. Volleys follow two rules:
- One arrow lands per enemy. A volley deals damage to any given target exactly once. Later arrows still pass through it but deal nothing, so a Prism fan spreads its damage across a pack instead of shotgunning one enemy.
- Fans into a cone. The extra arrows spread out in front of you, so pointing at a crowd is how you use them.
Split Arrow children inherit their parent arrow's crit and proc result, so a forked shot crits and procs as one unit. Prism siblings do not — each rolls for itself.
Ailment and ground-zone limits
- Ignite and Bleed do not stack: a new proc replaces the live one only if it is stronger, and refreshes the timer.
- Venom stacks up to 3 times on a target.
- Caltrops and Plague Arrow place one patch each per player. A fresh proc picks your existing patch up and drops it where the new arrow landed, at full duration, instead of adding another one.
Where bows fit
- Acquire and re-roll bow enchants the same way as the rest of your kit, through Enchants.
- Dress the bow up with Weapon, Wand & Bow Trims and Cosmetics.
- Lean on a bow's piercing draw against tougher PvE like Shades & Wraiths.
Version history
v3.0.0
- Prism now works on bows, splitting your shot into 1 extra arrow per level.
- A bow volley now lands at most 1 arrow on the same enemy. Prism arrows still hit separate enemies, and each rolls its own crit and procs.
- Executioner, Ambush, Long Shot and Hemorrhage now grant more damage instead of increased damage, so each multiplies with the others rather than summing into one pool. Their values were cut to match: 8%, 10%, 6% and 6% per level.
- Shock damage now scales with its level, at 8% increased damage taken per level for 24% at level 3.
- Monster Hunter now works on every enemy that is not a player, and is increased damage rather than a separate multiplier.
- Frostbite no longer makes chilled enemies take increased damage. It is pure control now.
- Caltrops and Plague Arrow now place 1 patch each per player; a new proc moves and refreshes your patch instead of adding another.
- Ignite and Bleed no longer stack, and Venom stacks up to 3 times.
- Repel now knocks enemies back 3.5x less per hit at every level.
- Piercing Shot now passes arrows through bosses and other vanilla mobs, not just shades.
- Fixed bow arrows bouncing off bosses and hanging in the air around them.
- Cavern Luck can now be applied to bows, and Lucky on a bow gives 10% increased proc rate per level (40% at L4).
- Fixed calcite enchant levels showing as a number instead of a roman numeral on bows.
v2.0.0
- Bows reworked into a real weapon — arrows pierce most armour and now land in Skywars with knockback.
- Bows can now be held to fire, and every arrow lands exactly once (base 0.3s between shots).
- Power (Bow) rebalanced down to 5% more per level, with bow base damage raised ~25% to compensate.
- Added bow enchants Piercing Shot, Splinter, Trueshot, Hunter's Mark, Split Arrow, Plague Arrow, Caltrops, Rapid Fire, Hemorrhage and Crippling Shot, and opened a slate of wand/melee enchants to bows.
- Volley shots now crit and proc as one unit, fan into a cone, and can't shotgun a single target; Lucky now works on bows; holding a bow adds +15% damage taken.