Diablo 4 – How to Use a Bow

The Bow is a ranged weapon that you can utilize to keep your distance in Diablo 4, but you can only use it if you’re playing the Rogue class. Once you’ve got a Rogue character, you’re ready to learn how to use a bow. Here’s our guide for how to use a bow in Diablo 4.

How to Use a Bow in Diablo 4

First things first, you’ll need to get your Rogue to level 2. Your Rogue will start off with a bow in their inventory, but you won’t be able to use it until you’ve unlocked your first skill point at level 2. Once you have your first skill point, you can spend it on one of the basic skills that utilize the bow. Here are your choices.

Basic Bow Skills

• Heartseeker: Fire an arrow that seeks an enemy, dealing 7 damage and increasing your Critical Strike Chance against them by 3% for 4 seconds, up to 15%.
• Forceful Arrow: Fire a powerful arrow at an enemy, dealing 6 damage. Every 3rd cast makes the enemy Vulnerable for 2 seconds.

Each time you level you’ll gain a new skill point, and eventually, you’ll gain access to Core Skills. The Core Skills have energy costs, but offer greater abilities than the Basic Skills. I prefer utilizing all of the ranged abilities for my Rogue, because they help me keep a safe distance from enemies when playing solo.

Core Bow Skills

• Barrage: (Energy cost: 30) Unleash a barrage of 5 arrows that expands outwards, each dealing 6 damage. Each arrow has 20% chance to ricochet off an enemy up to 1 time. Ricochets deal 40% of the arrow’s base damage.
• Rapid Fire: (Energy cost: 25) Rapidly fire 5 arrows, dealing 10 damage.
• Penetrating Shot: (Energy cost 35): Fire an arrow that pierces through all enemies in a line, dealing 23 damage.

There are upgrades you can unlock for each skill as you level up your Rogue to strengthen their base output. Eventually, you can imbue your Bow with Shadow, Poison, or Cold damage by using an Imbuement ability. Equipping a Crossbow will replace the bow, and it’ll use all of the same abilities. I prefer the classic Bow, because even though the Crossbow can have a higher damage output, it has a slower fire rate.

Well, that’s it for our guide on how to use a bow in Diablo 4. For additional character skill guides, and more, check out our Diablo 4 guides hub.