Bows are long-ranged weapons that use physical muscle power to fire (however, a character's Strength attribute has no effect). They are similar to crossbows and guns in use; all three use the shooting skill and related hunter skills, including Auto-Shot. Character stats are applied the same way for each type, although stats will vary from item to item.

Races Edit

Although all races of Hunter, Warrior, and Rogue can equip crossbows, only Night Elf, Blood Elf, Troll and Orc hunters start with bows.

Trolls have the racial trait Bow Specialization which grants a 1% additional crit ranged chance when a bow is equipped.

Vs. Other Shooting Weapons Edit

• There are a wide variety of bows available, and they are often the cheapest shooting weapons in the Auction House.
• Bows typically have a shorter cooldown time than that of crossbows, but with lower Damage.
• Unlike guns, bows cannot be crafted by any profession. They must be must be bought, looted, or earned from quests.

Upgrading Edit

A bow may be enhanced by installing an engineer-crafted scope on it.

Patch changes Edit

/ Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12):

• Bows no longer require ammunition
• All hunters, rogues, and warriors start with the bow skill, regardless if they are initially equipped with one.

Cataclysm Class Preview: Hunter | 2010-04-09 09:00 | Nethaera

A major change coming for the hunter is the removal of ammunition. Guns, bows, and crossbows will now do damage without consuming ammunition at all. There will be no more ammo slot on the hunter’s character display. Any ammunition that a hunter has at the time of the change will become gray sellable items. Existing quivers will be converted into large bags -- though each hunter can only have one and non-hunters will not benefit from this change -- and we will not be making any additional quivers.

See also Edit

• Per Class Proficiencies for which classes can use which weapons.

References Edit