If you opted for one of the Elden Ring classes that doesn’t start you out with a ranged weapon, chances are you’re going to want to know where to get a bow to help you deal damage to enemies stealthily, or in particular, flying enemies. Fortunately, it is possible to get a bow and a crossbow early in Elden Ring if you know where to go.
Getting a Bow Early in Elden Ring
To get a bow, head to the beach on the west coast of Limgrave. It’s just next to where you first enter the open world, and can be reached by heading northwest, just by the Church of Elleh, and looking for the ramp down onto the beach.
Rather than heading north up towards where the Coastal Cave is, head south and look for a large rock archway. Underneath here, you’ll find one of the many Elden Ring merchants, and this one sells a bow for 600 Runes.
While you’re here, make sure you also stock up on arrows so you can actually make use of your new ranged weapon. Keep in mind, however, that this shortbow does have relatively limited range, so it’s not all that viable in the long-term or for those who really like to pick off enemies from great distances.
Where to Get a Crossbow Early in Elden Ring
If you’d rather get yourself a Crossbow, it’s still possible to get one early on in your adventure across The Lands Between. Head to Saintsbridge, located to the east of Warmaster’s Shack and further east from Stormhill Shack.
Here, you’ll find a number of enemies on the cliffs to the northwest of the bridge itself wielding crossbows.
They’re stood by some corpses on crosses right on the edge of the cliff, which you should be able to see from the bridge below.
Defeat these enemies and you’ll have a chance of one of them dropping a ‘Soldier’s Crossbow,’ though it’s not guaranteed it’ll drop, so you might have to farm them a few times. It’s not the strongest crossbow in the game, but it’s a good option to have early in Elden Ring.
Aiming & Using the Bow and Crossbow
Equip the bow to one of your armament slots by opening up the ‘Equipment’ menu and then selecting one of the armament slots. Select your bow and you can now equip it by pressing either left or right on the d-pad, depending on what hand you equipped it to.
Now, press L1/ LB/ RMB to aim with your bow, then press R2/ RT/ LMB to fire it.
That’s everything you need to know on where to get a bow early in Elden Ring. For more tips, tricks and guides, head over to our wiki, or see more of our handy guides on FromSoftware’s latest below.
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