Bow

Bow
Weapon icon
General information
Weapon type	Long gun (The Last of Us, Left Behind, Part II) Large firearm (Factions MP)
Clip capacity	1 arrow
Maximum ammo	9 arrows
First found	"Bill's Town"
Weapon upgrade(s)	Reload Speed (1) Range (3) Draw Speed (3)
Loadout point(s)	3
Used by	Boris Legasov Joel Ellie Bill Lev Cannibals Fireflies Hunters Seraphites
Statistics
Fire rate
Reload speed
Damage
Accuracy
Body damage	55%
Head damage	100%
Destroy armor	1 shot
Execution	1 shot

The bow is a long gun in The Last of Us, The Last of Us: Left Behind, and The Last of Us Part II, and a large firearm in Factions MP. The bow is silent, making it ideal for stealthy situations, although it has a limited range.

Overview

The arrows follow an arcing trajectory, similar to the way they do in real life. At range, the player must aim higher to hit targets. Arrows travel significantly slower than bullets, requiring the player to lead moving targets at range.

History

The Last of Us

The bow is first found in Lincoln with the remains of an encampment. Joel Miller takes the weapon to use against infected roaming the area. Ellie Williams later scavenged a bow from a dead cannibal at the Colorado Mountain Plaza. She later uses a bow when in Silver Lake to hunt deer and later fight against infected.

In an environment where ammunition is scarce, reusable projectiles such as arrows make the bow an essential survival weapon. However, arrows have a chance of breaking and causing the player to lose them. Arrows deal more damage to enemies that are unaware of the player's presence. When human enemies without armor as well as runners and stalkers are unaware of the player's presence, one single shot is normally all it takes to kill them, provided it's in the body or the head. Unlike other foes, clickers require headshots to be killed in one hit. However, this typically breaks the arrow, as does shooting bloaters, as well, because of the fungal armor they possess. Despite this, bloaters can take damage from arrows, but only if the slightly more brittle fungal plates on their heads are destroyed first. Therefore, at least four headshots are needed to kill a bloater with the bow.

Workbench upgrades

The following is a list of upgrades available for the bow at workbenches, and the parts and level of tools required to upgrade each.

Upgrade	Description	Level	Parts	Tools
Reload speed	Allows you to reload the weapon faster.	1	30	3
Range	Increases the range of the weapon.	1 2 3	20 30 50	1 4 5
Draw speed	Allows you to draw the weapon faster.	1 2 3	20 30 50	1 2 4

Factions MP

Like suppressed weapons, the bow is invisible on the radar; the sound of arrows bouncing off the environment can be heard, however. Unlike all other long weapons, the bow costs 3 loadout points, putting the cost in-between suppressed weapons and unsuppressed weapons. Players start off with seven arrows if it is not upgraded; as with single-player, arrows may sometimes be recovered after firing.

If the user aims with the bow for an extended period of time, the user will begin to shake, making it gradually more difficult to aim. Letting go of the aim button and then aiming again resets the shaking effect.

A single arrow can break armor; it takes two arrows to the body or one to the head to down unarmored enemies, and takes one shot to execute downed enemies. The bow is a very good choice for stealthy players, but it takes good aim and skill to successfully hit moving targets.

The bow is identical in terms of damage to the hunting rifle, and can be considered a silent alternative that fires faster but is trickier to aim, so it is suited to medium range combat more than long range. Once it has its second upgrade, due to the fire rate being so fast, it can even rival the tactical shotgun if the user is skilled.

Even if players don't use the bow as their long gun weapon, they can still pick up arrows; this can be used strategically to deprive enemy bow users of recoverable ammunition.

The Last of Us Part II

The bow returns in The Last of Us Part II. In the Paris Games Week 2017 trailer, Lev uses the bow and arrow to kill a man who is torturing Yara before using it to distract Emily, enabling Yara to kill her.

In Seattle, Ellie gains a new bow after taking it from Boris Legasov (whom she killed in his stalker form) while searching for Tommy Miller in Hillcrest. She uses the bow with regular and explosive arrows against the Seraphites, some of whom use bows against her, a first in the series. This change makes the bow the second weapon (after the launcher) that fires explosive projectiles. The bow adopts a similar crosshair and aiming system to most guns, instead of going in an arc with a visible path like throwable items. It will only instantly kill enemies via headshots, included helmet-wearing enemies. Normal arrows can be crafted via a blade and binding, making them a replacement for shivs when playing as Ellie. After contributing to the upgrade system, Ellie can make explosive arrows that the bow can fire.

Workbench upgrades

The following is a list of upgrades available for the bow at workbenches, and the parts required to upgrade each:

Upgrade	Description	Effect	Parts
Draw speed	"Restring the bow to increase draw speed" Increases arrow draw and nocking speed.	+50% Nocking Speed +70% Draw Speed	50
Stability	"Replace the grip to decrease weapon sway." Decreases idle weapon sway.	+60 Stability	60
Rangefinder	"Add a rangefinder to automatically mark the distance of enemies on the reticle" While aiming at an enemy, an additional marker will show the exact range of the enemy on the reticle.		80

The Last of Us Part I

Skins

There are a total of four skins available for the bow:

Image	Name	Unlock requirement	Cost
	Sunrise		2P
	Carbon Black		2P
	Arctic White		2P
	Spalted Walnut		2P

Tactics

The bow is a nearly silent weapon. The arrows are reusable, but have a chance of breaking. They can break when striking an infected in the head, and always break when they hit bloaters, regardless of where it hits. Use it for stealth kills and judge when an arrow might be more effective than a bullet. The bow does less damage to enemies who are aware of the player's presence.

In Factions MP, the bow's biggest weaknesses are its slow projectile velocity and its draw speed. Against moving targets, arrows must be shot so they lead into the target, even at relatively short ranges. The bow also has to be fully drawn before it is fired; shooting earlier will release the arrow, but the arrow will not deal damage to its target. This makes it very difficult to use the bow against enemies with fast-firing weapons such as the burst pistol and Rifle. A good way to fight with the bow up close is to shoot at the target and then sprint sideways, repeating as necessary. This technique also works with other weapons that down in two shots, such as the tactical shotgun and the hunting rifle. The bow is also difficult to use at longer ranges, as the shaking from aiming too long and the slow speed of the projectile makes hitting moving targets much more difficult than with the hunting rifle.

Due to the arcing nature of the arrow's trajectory, on rare occasions, when the player is taking cover or sticking to a wall, the arrow can make contact with the wall and waste ammunition. However, this can be used as a advantage since when shooting at certain precise angles, the arcing trajectory can allow the player to shoot at a foe even while they are in cover.

Also, thanks to its unique aim-down display, the player can tell where enemies are even through a smoke bomb's cloud. To do this, the player must move the reticle around until the display shows a green dot at the end of the trajectory, meaning that the arrow will make contact with a enemy if fired.

Behind the scenes

• In Factions MP, after killing enemies that are downed with an arrow, the arrow will remain hovering in the air even after the body of the enemy has disappeared and spawned elsewhere.
• The developers ensured the bow and the flamethrower are the only weapons in The Last of Us that enemies do not against Joel and Ellie in-game.

Gallery

Icon

Ellie aiming at David and James

Joel about to hit a Clicker

A real recurve bow

Ellie aims her bow at a Seraphite member.