How viable are bows nowadays?

[bulldogzxz]

HI all I just came back and I was wondering how are bows these days? PVP and PVE

[ogey]

Good for taming animals you can't beat normally and for killing weak but fast animals like stoats. Sub-par for everything else.

[IngloriouslyBad]

Yeah... I only use them against like birds, and only if I happen to be in the mood to carry it. Cause I can literally kill everything faster with any other weapon than the bow. I'd rather carry a sling than bow tbh.

PVP though? Last time I saw one in PVP I swung at him every few seconds so he had a constant cooldown and couldn't fire at us. It's only viable if you are being protected as part of a strategy or chasing down loose enemies that break from the pack, and are not being actively engaged. Hilarious for gate camping though! Saw someone get hit while tip toeing a corner of a gate trying to get our archer to waste arrows. Insta KO.

[Sevenless]

There was a brief, very brief, stage of the world where ranged damage was scary enough that a dedicated village could do some damage in pvp with a group of archers. Maybe. Throwing boarspears likewise had a window. Those windows have closed and bows never regain relevance in PvP. PvE wise so long as boarspear outranging of animals is possible, for same investment in combat stats melee will always outdo ranged.

Nice for hunting birds, but I rarely waste the inventory slots/time.