Dying Light 2 Best Bows & How To Get Them

In our Dying Light 2 best bow guide, we are going to mention all of the powerful bows that we acquired during our time in the game.

Dying Light 2 demands you to strategize combat while fighting zombies or human enemies. That is why I have curated a detailed guide on the Best Bow In Dying Light 2, thanks to which you’ll be able to get your hands on some of the best-ranged weapons available in the game. 

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Our Best Bows Picks And Comparison

First and foremost, here are all of my picks for the Best Bows list. You can compare their stats in the table below:

Bow NameDamage Per Arrow HitHow To Acquire
Pipe Bow30.0Finish the 10th story quest of the game which is the Let’s Waltz mission
Rush Artifact Bow81.0Complete half the game make your way to every trader and trade it with them if they have the bow available.
Paper Clip Bow88.0Can be found in a room that you will come across while doing The Shoe Quest
Nails Bow110.0Can be found on a structure in the wasteland outside the Garrison
PK Crossbow171.0Hand over 4 facilities to the Peacekeepers and the PK Crossbow will be added to your inventory
Rust Bow81.0You can acquire this bow by visiting a church that is on the 2nd island on the map.

The following guide is based on what I discovered while playing the game. I spent around 30 hours in the game and managed to get my hands on the best Dying Light 2 weapons and great bows. These weapons did not only help me with keeping a safe distance while taking down my target but also helped me in multiple other situations, which I’ll talk about later. Keep in mind that the amount of damage a bow deals will increase as you level up. 

So without any further due, let’s take a look at some of the top bows in Dying Light 2. 

Pipe Bow

Description Damage How To Acquire
A decent and average ranged weapon that allows you to eliminate enemies from a good distance 30 damage with each arrow hit Finish the 10th story quest of the game which is the Let’s Waltz mission 

The first bow that I would like to mention is the Pipe Bow. This will likely be the first bow that you’ll acquire in the game, so it’s best for you to get familiar with it. Before this, you won’t be getting your hands on any ranged weapon and will have to manage using and repairing melee weapons for the most part of the game.

The Pipe Bow is a decent ranged weapon that can help you eliminate your targets from a good distance. It is capable of dealing 30 damage with each hit, and you’ll need to insert a couple of arrows into your target to take them down. It will be wise to craft special arrows for this bow because you can’t expect much from the regular arrows.

Overall, the Pipe Bow is an average bow. It’s an excellent addition to the arsenal, but you should make a switch from it as soon as you find a better option. Until then, you can rely on this bow to get those distant kills. Also, while you are here, why not check out Dying Light 2 Skills.

Dying Light 2 Best Bow
Pipe Bow

After you have successfully completed the Let’s Waltz mission, which is the 10th story quest of the game, you’ll receive the Pipe Bow. Furthermore, the mission will also reward you with some blueprints through which you’ll be able to craft some special arrows. 

Rust Artifact Bow

Description Damage  How To Acquire
A bow that allows players to swiftly get rid of their enemies as it is quick as well as does a bunch of damage. 81 damage with each arrow hit After completion of half the game make your way to every trader and trade it with them if they have the bow available.

Next up, I have the Rust Artifact bow. This is the bow after which you’ll start falling in love with ranged weapons. Unlike the Pipe Bow which does 30 damage with each hit, the Rust Artifact bow is capable of dealing 81 damage with each arrow. This mean’s that you will only need to use a few arrows to take down your target by using this bow.

If you use a special type of arrow with the Rust Artifact bow, then you can expect it to do wonders. The Rust Artifact bow is also much quicker than the Pipe Bow, and you can even use it against enemies such as Drowners. For those who don’t know, Drowners are special zombies that appear towards the end of the game. They’ll chase you and explode as soon as they get close to you.

Therefore, you’ll need something that can quickly eliminate them from far away, considering they are a one-shot anyway. For this purpose, we’ll suggest you carry around the Rust Artifact bow, that is, if you haven’t acquired a better-ranged weapon than it.

Best Bows in Dying Light 2
Rust Artifact Bow

The Rust Artifact bow isn’t something you can craft or a weapon that you get as a reward for completing a quest. Instead, you’ll need to look for it at traders. After you have completed half of the game, it will be wise to check for it with every trader that comes in front of you.

I managed to get my hands on it through the trader located at the PK Floating Fortress base. However, it isn’t necessary for you to find it at the same trader as well. So make sure to look around if the bow is not there. 

Paper Clip Bow

Description Damage How To Acquire
One of the strongest bows in the game which is unfathomably quick and deals a huge chunk of damage. 88 damage with each arrow hit Can be found in a room that you will come across while doing The Shoe Quest

Now, coming down to one of the strongest Dying Light 2 bows. Out of every bow that I used in Dying Light 2, the Paper Clip bow is one of the strongest and the quickest among them all. After I got my hands on this beauty, I performed quick ranged kills.

Furthermore, the Paper Clip can do massive damage, with each arrow dealing 88 damage. Thanks to it, I was able to take down most of the zombies with a single shot to the head and two shots to the body. The bow even works well against human enemies, as you can expect the same results against them.

Dying Light 2 Best Bow
Paper Clip Bow

I used the Paper Clip bow during many critical situations, and it didn’t disappoint me once. There was a time when I had to clear an area full of zombies, and there was even a giant Goon wandering around. But by using the Paper Clip bow and some special arrows, I was able to clear the area in no time.

The Paper Clip bow can be acquired during The Shoe quest. In it, Lawan will tell you to go to her apartment to collect her shoes. While wandering around, you’ll learn some secrets about Lawan, which I won’t mention here. However, during your search for the shoes, you’ll also come across a room.

There will be a GRE Inhabitor Container inside this room, and the Paper Clip bow will be right beside it. However, some players claimed that they could not find the Paper Clip bow inside the apartment and found it in a random Loot Box. While I don’t know if this is a glitch or not, it will be wise to search every Loot Box that you come across if you don’t find it inside the apartment. 

Nails Bow

Description Damage How To Acquire
It is the strongest bow as well as the fasted bow in Dying Light 2. 110 damage with each arrow hit – Make your way to the wasteland outside the Garrison

Climb on top of the structures

– You will be able to find the bow on the right side of the structure

When it comes to bows, this is by far the strongest one. Having the highest damage output among all bows in Dying Light 2, the Nails Bow can deal 110 damage with each hit. You can expect this bow to eliminate your target with a single shot to the body. And for stronger targets, you might only need to insert two or three arrows into them, except for Goons, as they don’t go down that easily. All of this makes it one of the best bows. 

Nails
Nails Bow

The Nails Bow also happens to be the fastest bow in Dying Light 2. And why wouldn’t it be? I mean, it’s a rare bow that isn’t easy to get. And if you end up taking some steps wrong, then you might not get it at all. This is the reason why Techland made this bow so powerful.

To get your hands on the Nails bow, you will need to make your way to the wastelands right outside the Garrison. This is a place that you’ll be visiting during a mission called Veronika. You can play out the next step in two ways; wait to reach the mission and then look for the bow, or you can simply go to this location if you’re still early in the game.

However, keep in mind that if you finish the story, you won’t be able to get this bow as the location will become unavailable.

Best Bow
Nails Location

After reaching the location marked in the image above, you will need to climb the structures. Once you’re on the top, make your way to the right side of the structure, and you’ll be able to find the Nails bow lying on the ground waiting for you to pick it up. 

Nails Bow
Nails Bow On The Ground

Overall, the Nails bow is amazing because of its power and stats. After you acquire this bow, you won’t need to look for any other bow as this will help you out in every situation.

PK Crossbow

Description Damage How To Acquire
The best ranged weapon in the game with absurd amounts of damage with each hit. Uses bolts instead of arrows. 171 damage with each arrow hit Hand over 4 facilities to the Peacekeepers and the PK Crossbow will be added to your inventory

The list would be incomplete without mentioning the PK Crossbow. While the Nails bow is the best, the PK Crossbow is the best-ranged weapon. The damage it can do with each hit is higher than all the bows, but this is something I already expected from a crossbow.

At the time of writing, I managed to find only one Crossbow in the entire game, and it’s this one. However, since the PK Crossbow had everything I wanted in a crossbow, I didn’t bother looking for another one.

Instead of arrows, the PK Crossbow uses bolts as its ammunition. Don’t worry; the game will let you craft special bolts as well, just like arrows. With each hit, the PK Crossbow can deal 171 damage. Yeah, you read that right. I was able to knock down my targets with only a single hit to their body with this weapon.

Dying Light 2 Best Bow
PK Crossbow

The most fun part is using special bolts with this crossbow. For instance, I crafted a bunch of Impact Bolts and went to the rooftops where some Renegades were camping. Then, by using the Impact Bolts, I was able to knock them off the building one by one.

This made things a lot easier and saved a lot of time. You can even use the Impact Bolts to send your target flying into the surrounding traps. It will help you eliminate them quickly and easily. Overall, the PK Crossbow is the best-ranged weapon. 

To get the PK Crossbow, you will need to hand over four Facilities to the Peacekeepers, one of the two ruling groups in Dying Light 2, the other one being the Survivors. After giving four Facilities to the Peacekeepers, the PK Crossbow will be added to your inventory. You’ll also get blueprints to craft the special bolts for it. 

Rust Bow

Description Damage How To Acquire
A very strong bow in the damage aspects while also being easily acquirable. 81 damage with each arrow hit You can acquire this bow by visiting a church that is on the 2nd island on the map.

The Rust Bow is considered very strong damage-wise, and fortunately, getting it also isn’t as hard as you don’t need money to buy it, and you can also get it early on in the game. The bow can be found at a specific location on the map, that being the second island on the map, and its this church on the map:

How to Get Rust Bow in Dying Light 2
Rust Bow Location

After reaching the church, enter the church from the north-west side, as shown in the photo below: 

Then after entering, you will see these crates shown below, jump on them and do the rest of the parkour and then you will see a broken window through which you can go and reach the rooftop of the church.

Then you have to run along the grassy floor, and there you will see a half-broken yellow ladder, you have to climb that and then turn around and there you will see a platform that you have to climb, after climbing on that look to your right and climb that, and you are almost there.

You have to head up a little further up, and there you will see a scaffolding, climb on that, and there you have it, you will find your rust bow for free, along with a military crate for high-value rewards.

Rust Bow in Dying Light 2
The Rust Bow

And there you have it, a powerful ranged weapon that can drastically help you fight bosses and survive the night more.

Wrap Up

Acquiring power bows might not matter during the game’s early stages, it will later. It is because as you’ll progress through the game, you’ll encounter new enemy types. To take down some of them, such as Bombers, you’ll need to keep a safe distance to avoid getting hurt. For this purpose, a ranged weapon in your arsenal is no less than a blessing.

This marks the end of my Dying Light 2 best bow guide. So far, I have found four bows and one crossbow in the game. However, as you’ll explore more parts of the game, you can also expect to find some other bows. Techland will also most likely add new ones through future updates. I’ll update the list as soon as I find another bow or if Techland adds a new one. 

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Moiz Banoori is the brains behind eXputer. Having worked at various Video Game sites, with 8 years of Content Writing Experience and a Journalism Degree at hand, he presently monitors teams, creates strategies, and publishes qualified pieces through his aptitude at eXputer. Feel free to get in touch with him through his gaming profile on Steam and PSN.

Experience: 8+ Years || Manages Teams, Creates Strategies, and Publishes Guides on eXputer || Education: Bachelors in Journalism.

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