Skyrim: Crossbow vs. Bow – Which Is a Better Weapon?

Skyrim has a plethora of weapons available to players in order to accommodate a variety of play styles. It’s one of the most diverse games when it comes to combat since you can truly create a unique character oriented toward all weapons depending on the situations or specific weapons if you want to develop a character that fits in the classic RPG classes. When it comes to archery, with the release of Dawnguard DLC, crossbows have been added, and with them, the ability to choose between two types of ranged weapons. Now that the novelty of crossbows has worn off, it’s time to look at the two ranged weapons objectively. When it comes to crossbow vs. bow, which is a better weapon in Skyrim?

Crossbow vs Bow: Damage

Enhanced crossbow and Dwarven crossbow have more damage than Dragonbone bows; of course, we are only going by base stats and comparing the strongest weapons both types have on their disposal, not counting the enchantments. Even then, an “enhanced” crossbow has an additional effect to ignore 50% of armor that doesn’t really count as “enchantment”.

It means that the crossbow can be additionally enchanted as well. When it comes to raw damage output, crossbows are significantly stronger and a clear winner of this contest.

Crossbow 1, Bow 0

Crossbow vs Bow: Ammo

When it comes to comparison between crossbows and bows, things get a bit more complicated. A crossbow uses bolts as ammo. Bolts are weaker than arrows but, unlike arrows, can be enchanted. There are three types of “exploding bolts,” each type corresponding to a specific elemental school of magick (shock, frost, fire). However, bolts are also harder to come by when compared to arrows.

Bolts can only be crafted at Fort Dawnguard and acquired while you’re doing Dawnguard-related activities. Dwarven bolts are also tied to the “Ancient Technology” quest as well and are harder to come by if you side with Volkihar vampires.
Even when you’re crafting bolts, you can only craft 10 at a time, while you can craft 24 arrows per batch.

Bolts are harder to retrieve as well when compared to arrows. The biggest downside to arrows is the fact that you cannot enchant them; arrows depend on the bows in order to provide any kind of magical effect.

While both types of ammo have their pros and cons, I’m going to declare arrows the winner of this section at least due to them being available everywhere you look around, from the shops to random ruins they are just the more convenient type of ammo.
High-end arrows also deal more damage than standard bolts without exploding effects.

Crossbow 1, Bow 1

Crossbow vs Bow: Reloading

When it comes to reloading, bows have significantly more advantages when compared with crossbows. Crossbows are slower to reload and louder to reload. Slow reload makes you vulnerable to other types of attacks. It’s important to mention that the “quick draw” perk applies to crossbows as well, and while it does make reloading faster, it’s still slow when compared to bows.

A crossbow is also louder to reload than a bow, which can ruin your surprise element if you decide to go stealthy with crossbows.
There’s one more significant downside that comes with crossbows reloading: the fact that you are vulnerable when you’re reloading it. Even with the quick draw perk reloading crossbows takes time during which you are open to a variety of ranged and melee attacks, the reloading cannot be interrupted or canceled you will have to take the full brunt of the attack.

In this case, the bows are the clear winner as their reloading is both faster and more silent.

Crossbow 1, Bow 2

Crossbow vs Bow: Other Mechanics

Now that we’ve covered important aspects of both weapons, it’s time to focus on other mechanics as well.
If you are moving with a readied reloaded bow you’re going to sneak and move more slowly, this effect does not exist while moving with reloaded Crossbows. Moving with a reloaded crossbow has no speed penalty at all. Pair that with the fact that crossbows have a higher velocity of fired bolts, this makes crossbows perfect for fast-moving targets.

Crossbows have effects that allow you to stagger an opponent, and enhanced crossbows ignore 50% of the target’s armor. The stagger effect can be further empowered by Power Shot Perk, which means that staggering might happen 75% of the time. This makes crossbows perfect for destroying heavily armored targets that would be impossible to one-shot with a regular bow.

One more important thing to mention is the lack of variety when it comes to crossbows and the lack of availability early on. But with everything said, when it comes to “extra effects,” crossbows are clear winners.

Crossbow 2, Bow 2

Analysis

Now that we’ve analyzed important aspects of both weapons the winner is still not exactly clear. A crossbow is a bulky, loud, and slow-to-reload weapon powerful enough to one-shot most lower-to-mid-level enemies, which makes it incredibly useful early on. But, if you’re stuck in a long fight the bows are clearly the better choice due to their quick reloading and higher overall DPS. Ultimately the choice is yours, both weapons were designed and balanced in a way to fit a specific playstyle and truly weren’t meant as a replacement for the other weapon.

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