Highlights
- Dark and Darker offers a unique co-op gameplay experience with a focused selection of 6-10 weapon options per type.
- The Longbow is a standout choice for Ranger players with its potent 30% slowdown on hit, despite only holding 6 arrows.
- Pestilence stands out as an end-game Ranger bow, inflicting disease damage over time and offering serious DPS potential.
Dark and Darker brings a fresh perspective to the dungeon-crawler genre. This free-to-play game is unique in its cooperative gameplay, allowing players to join forces with friends or strangers to conquer demanding dungeons. The mechanics are simple, yet the right team dynamic can elevate the experience, making it both engaging and enjoyable.
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In terms of weaponry, Dark and Darker diverges from traditional MMORPGs. Unlike many games that offer an extensive array of weapon choices, this game opts for a more focused selection, providing approximately 6 to 10 options for each weapon type. In the case of bows, there are only 6 of them available in the game.
6 Survival Bow
The Basic Bow
Stats:
- Damage: 19-27 (depending on weapon tier)
- Classes: Ranger, Bard
- Style: Two-handed
- Movement: -30
- Ammo: 10
- Arrow speed: 25
- How to get: World drop
The Survival Bow is the worst of all of the bows that a player can use in Dark and Darker. It does have one redeeming feature though; it is one of only two bows that can be used by the Bard class. Every other bow is locked to the Ranger class in this co-op RPG.
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The quiver size is quite good as well, with the ability to carry 10 arrows. However, it has a slowdown on hit of only 12% and this slowdown only lasts for half a second. Basically, the Survival Bow is a backup weapon for a Bard so that they can at least do some ranged damage. The Ranger class has better options.
5 Recurve Bow
Basic Ranger Bow
Stats:
- Damage: 30-38 (depending on weapon tier)
- Classes: Ranger
- Style: Two-handed
- Movement: -40
- Ammo: 8
- Arrow speed: 28.5
- How to get: World drop
The Recurve Bow is likely going to be the first proper bow that a player will come across for their Ranger in Dark and Darker. This is a solid, early-game bow that does decent damage. It has a -40 player movement debuff, which sounds quite high, but is actually pretty good for a bow.
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The quiver holds 8 arrows, which is pretty mediocre. As is the 20% slowdown on hit, which lasts for a second. However, if this is the first bow a Ranger playing Dark and Darker loots, it will see them through until they can loot one of the better options in this role-playing game.
4 Longbow
The Best Of The Non-Artifact Bows
Stats:
- Damage: 37-46 (depending on weapon tier)
- Classes: Ranger
- Style: Two-handed
- Movement: -50
- Ammo: 6
- Arrow speed: 32.5
- Armor penetration: 5%
- How to get: World drop
The Longbow is the weapon that most Ranger players in Dark and Darker will use until they reach the endgame and can acquire one of the artifact bows. With this bow, we see a whopping -50 player movement speed debuff. This means the player is basically going to want to find a position to shoot from and not move around too much.
The Longbow has a great 30% slowdown on hit, which lasts for a second. However, with only 6 arrows in the quiver, the player will likely often rely on that slowdown on hit to get in a quick reload.
3 Elven Bow of Truth
The Best Bow For A Bard
Stats:
- Damage: 16-27
- Classes: Ranger, Bard
- Style: Two-handed
- Movement: -30
- Ammo: 7
- Arrow speed: 25
- Max enchantments: 5
- Special: Arrows always fly in a straight line.
- How to get: World drop
The Elven Bow of Truth is the artifact version of the Survival Bow, and is the best bow available for the Bard class. It is a significant upgrade over the Survival Bow in every way, apart from the fact that the quiver only carries 7 arrows, compared to the 10 arrows that the Survival Bow quiver holds.
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This is a tough bow to loot though, as there is less than a 0.01 chance of it dropping from tough enemies such as an elite lich. But with its extra damage over the Survival Bow, it is worth trying to farm it when the player has reached the end-game stage.
2 Pestilence
Good Ranger Bow For End Game
Stats:
- Damage: 47-49
- Classes: Ranger
- Style: Two-handed
- Movement: -40
- Ammo: 8
- Arrow speed: 28.5
- Max enchantments: 5
- Special: Inflicts disease doing 20 damage over 3 seconds.
- How to get: World drop
Pestilence is one of the two Ranger-only artifact bows in Dark and Darker. With a tight damage range, this is a bow that is capable of laying down some serious DPS. The -40 player movement speed buff is quite high though.
With the disease damage over time special ability, this bow does the most damage of any in the game. It could have taken the top spot on this list had the top choice had a different, less useful special ability itself. The Pestilence now suffers the same problem as all artifact weapons in Dark and Darker. Namely, the insanely low drop chance. However, for rangers who play in a group, there is no better weapon to wield.
1 Nipalan
Best Bow For A Solo Ranger
Stats:
- Damage: 59-62 (depending on weapon tier)
- Classes: Ranger
- Style: Two-handed
- Movement: -50
- Ammo: 6
- Arrow speed: 32.5
- Special: Push back on hit.
- How to get: World drop
The Nipalan in Dark and Darker, is arguably the best weapon for a Ranger that often plays solo in this RPG. The Pestilence bow does more damage overall, due to its DoT effect, but the Nipalan bow has a push back in hit special effect. This means that a solo Ranger is always pushing their target away, stopping them from closing into melee range.
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This is a very slow bow though, with a -50 debuff to player movement speed. Apart from this slight negative and also the fact that the quiver only holds 6 arrows, this is almost the perfect solo Ranger bow.
