Although it's undeniable that Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a melee-focused experience, ranged weapons play a huge role in the game. When bosses are at range and spirit is tough to come by, scoring headshots from afar becomes an integral part of player success in New Game+.
Even before this difficulty sniping enemies who might alert dangerous mobs is a key to success on most maps. Players get two ranged weapons in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty and the embeds and bonuses count as a benefit for every build, even melee-first builds. Getting two great ranged weapons is smart for anybody trying to beat the campaign.
The weapon statistics here are based on minimum star and upgrade values. All weapons get better with more upgrades and higher rarities.
8 Bamboo Bow
Base Attack | 37 |
Spirit Attack | 10 |
Wood Benefit | None |
Fire Benefit | None |
Earth Benefit | None |
Metal Benefit | None |
Water Benefit | A+ |
With the weakest attack and spirit damage in its class, there is no reason to use the Bamboo Bow after picking up any other ranged weapon. The A+ from Water may sound great but it turns out that this is a benefit that all but two bows have.
It may play an incidental role in ideal early-game builds, but there should be no sentimentality about tossing it when upgrading. It simply doesn't have any advantage in any area when compared to the rest of the ranged weapons.
7 Feathered Calvary Bow
Base Attack | 42 |
Spirit Attack | 11 |
Wood Benefit | None |
Fire Benefit | None |
Earth Benefit | None |
Metal Benefit | None |
Water Benefit | A+ |
The Feathered Calvary Bow is better than the Bamboo Bow in terms of attack damage and spirit, but these are minimal upgrades. They are both bows and, as such, have a medium attack rate. There just isn't much special about it.
It also gets an A+ contribution from the Water but as players invest in their virtues correctly early on, this virtue is secondary to others. By the time players get their Water virtue high enough to substantially increase the damage on this bow, they'll have moved on to something else.
6 Bamboo Crossbow
Base Attack | 46 |
Spirit Attack | 13 |
Wood Benefit | None |
Fire Benefit | None |
Earth Benefit | None |
Metal Benefit | None |
Water Benefit | A+ |
It's a bit of a tossup between the Bamboo Crossbow and the Feathered Calvary Be. The Bamboo Crossbow does have a bit more attack and spirit damage but crossbows take longer to reload than bows.
The Bamboo Crossbow takes the tiebreaker because usually when players are shooting from range, they are going for a headshot and this weapon is more likely to be fatal than the Feathered Calvary Bow. For players who want to use weapons in the middle of combat while dodging and countering attacks, they might prefer to bow alternative.
5 Yellow-Shouldered Crossbow
Base Attack | 55 |
Spirit Attack | 14 |
Wood Benefit | None |
Fire Benefit | None |
Earth Benefit | None |
Metal Benefit | None |
Water Benefit | A+ |
Like the Feathered Calvary Bow to the Bamboo Bow, the Yellow-Shouldered Crossbow is a flat upgrade to the Bamboo Crossbow. It's still a crossbow with the slow reload time but the damage, both physically and spiritually, is higher.
Players will get weapons of this caliber after unlocking Divine Beasts and using them. Some of these beasts can help tank, making standard crossbows possible to use during a boss fight.
4 Colonel Repeating Crossbow
Base Attack | 82 |
Spirit Attack | 15 |
Wood Benefit | None |
Fire Benefit | None |
Earth Benefit | None |
Metal Benefit | None |
Water Benefit | A+ |
The first repeating crossbow most players will get access to is the Colonel Repeating Crossbow. The base damage is also a significant step up when compared to the ranged weapons available in the early game. The spirit attack is bad on all ranged weapons, but this has the highest of them all.
The damage isn't high enough for battlefields that occur toward the time players reach the maximum level, but it's a beast in the mid-game. It's also repeating so the attack rate is fantastic.
3 Tiger Hunting Bow
Base Attack | 40 |
Spirit Attack | 12 |
Wood Benefit | None |
Fire Benefit | None |
Earth Benefit | None |
Metal Benefit | A- |
Water Benefit | E- |
Despite terrible damage (second worst of all the ranged weapons), it's conceivable that some builds will actually get good damage out of this bow. It's one of only two bows that primarily rely on a non-water virtue for damage.
The bow also gets a very slight boost from Water. If players go for mostly Metal with a dip into Water for their builds, the Tiger Hunting Bow can, theoretically, get some decent damage going at the highest morality and fortitude.
2 Flying General's Bow
Base Attack | 169 |
Spirit Attack | 13 |
Wood Benefit | None |
Fire Benefit | A+ |
Earth Benefit | None |
Metal Benefit | None |
Water Benefit | D+ |
The damage between the top two ranged weapons simply dwarfs the competitiveness of all other weapons. The best bow build utilizes the Flying General's Bow. With an A+ benefit from Fire, a build that digs deep into that virtue will find damage on par with most melee-first attackers.
Water is also not entirely forgotten as it gives a D+ damage boost to the Flying General's Bow. If players invest heavily into Fire and moderately into Water, it's theoretically possible to achieve a higher damage-per-strike than any other ranged weapon.
1 Bamboo Repeating Crossbow
Base Attack | 182 |
Spirit Attack | 14 |
Wood Benefit | None |
Fire Benefit | None |
Earth Benefit | None |
Metal Benefit | None |
Water Benefit | A+ |
Even if players do manage to get just barely more damage-per-shot with the Flying General's Bow with a perfect build, the Bamboo Repeating Crossbow's attack rate gives it the highest overall damage-per-second. It's the ranged weapon most players will be using once they get ahold of it.
Even without a Water investment at all, the flat damage, when landing a headshot, should take care of most opponents at an equal or lower morality. Still, players who get a respec to put just a few extra points in Water will find they are cable of game-changing damage combined with a high rate of fire.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.