The War Bow is a ranged weapon in Horizon Zero Dawn. It is is a low damage bow that specializes in delivering elemental payloads to targets, forcing them into vulnerable states. This bow is best used in conjunction with other weapons due to its low impact and tear damage.
Special Variants
Aside from the ones available from normal merchants, War Bows have 2 different variants of "Very Rare" value. Both can use all available Ammo types as Shadow variant does.
The Lodge War Bow is acquired as the most prestigious reward from the quest Weapons of the Lodge, requiring Aloy to earn a Blazing Sun on all 15 Hunting Ground trials in the base game. It has superior base elemental strength over the regular variants, making it the most powerful War Bow in the base game.
The Banuk Champion BowFW is only available once per playthrough, from Bluegleam Merchants in The Cut. It normally costs 12 Bluegleam, though the AdeptNG+ version requires additional resources. It has superior base elemental power over all other variants and is capable of 'overdrawn' shots which allow the user to fire exceedingly powerful shots by holding the string back longer than usual. It could be considered the most powerful War Bow in the entirety of the game due to its stats and unique mechanism.
Ammo
Weapon Stats
The numbered value of damages are displayed from left to right according to difficulty level from Story to Ultra Hard, numbers in Bold are of Normal Difficulty. Elemental damages are the same between Easy and Very Hard difficulties.
| Ammo Type | Bow Variant | Damage 
|
Elemental Severity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shock Arrow | Basic / Carja Shadow / AdeptNG+ |
20-6-5-5-4-4 |  38-25-13
|
| Lodge / Adept LodgeNG+ | 40-30-15
| ||
| Banuk ChampionFW Adept ChampionFW NG+ |
75-50-25
| ||
| Freeze Arrow | Carja / Shadow / AdeptNG+ | 20-6-5-5-4-4 |  38-25-13
|
| Lodge / Adept LodgeNG+ | 40-30-15
| ||
| Banuk ChampionFW Adept ChampionFW NG+ |
75-50-25
| ||
| Corruption Arrow | Shadow / AdeptNG+ | None |  75-50-25
|
| Lodge / Adept LodgeNG+ | 90-60-30
| ||
| Banuk ChampionFW Adept ChampionFW NG+ |
120-80-40
|
Ammo and Modification Slots by Variant
| Bow Variant | Shock Arrow | Freeze Arrow | Corruption Arrow | Mod Slots |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 
|
1 | ||
| Carja |
|
|
2 | |
| Shadow |
|
|
File:Corruption Arrow.jpg | 3 |
| AdeptNG+ |
|
|
File:Corruption Arrow.jpg | 4 |
| Lodge |
|
|
File:Corruption Arrow.jpg | 3 |
| Adept LodgeNG+ |
|
|
File:Corruption Arrow.jpg | 4 |
| Banuk ChampionFW |
|
|
File:Corruption Arrow.jpg | 3 |
| Adept ChampionFW NG+ |
|
|
File:Corruption Arrow.jpg | 4 |
Acquisition Details
| Variant | Sources | Regular Cost | Ultra Hard Cost | Sell Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | General Merchants |  100
|
500
|
25
|
| Carja | Tier 2/3/4 Merchants | 300 5 Desert Glass 2 Slagshine Glass |
1,500 10 Desert Glass 4 Slagshine Glass |
50
|
| Shadow | Tier 3 & 4 Merchants | 800 1 Trampler Heart |
4,000 2 Trampler Heart |
100
|
| AdeptNG+ | Tier 3 & 4 Merchants | 1,600 1 Trampler Heart 1 Thunderjaw Heart |
8,000 2 Trampler Heart 2 Thunderjaw Heart |
100
|
| Lodge | Hunter's Lodge | 15 Blazing Suns | 15 Blazing Suns | 100
|
| Adept LodgeNG+ | Hunter's Lodge | 15 Blazing Suns | 15 Blazing Suns | 100
|
| Banuk ChampionFW |
Bluegleam Merchants (1 per playthrough) |
12 Bluegleam | 12 Bluegleam | 100
|
| Adept ChampionFW NG+ |
Bluegleam Merchants (1 per playthrough) |
1,250 12 Bluegleam 1 Frostclaw Heart |
6,250 12 Bluegleam 1 Frostclaw Heart |
100
|
Trivia
- During one scene of Aloy training for the Proving, she is shown killing Watchers with normal arrows shot from a War Bow, which is not possible in gameplay.
- The War Bow appears in Monster Hunter: World as part of collaboration between the PlayStation 4 version of the game and Horizon: Zero Dawn. The Bow has latent Thunder Element and supports Poison Coating, reflecting 2 of 3 of its ammo in its native game.
| Horizon Zero Dawn Weapons | |
|---|---|
| Ranged Weapons | Blast Sling - Forgefire - Hunter Bow - Icerail - Rattler - Ropecaster - Sharpshot Bow - Sling - Stormslinger - Tearblaster - War Bow |
| Melee Weapons | Spear - Sylens' Lance |
| Stealth Weapons | Traps - Tripcaster |
| Heavy Weapons | Deathbringer Gun - Disc Launcher - Firespitter - Firestriker - Mine Launcher - Oseram Cannon - Ravager Cannon |