The War Bow is a ranged weapon in Horizon Zero Dawn. It 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 is capable of 'overdrawn' shots which allow the user to fire exceedingly powerful shots by holding the string back longer than usual. Similar to the Banuk Striker and Banuk Powershot Bow, it shares the same drawback where undercharged shots deal less damage and elemental severity compared to standard bows. As long as the player overdraws their shots, it could be considered the most powerful War Bow in the entirety of the game due to its stats and unique mechanism.
Ammo
Elemental damage remains the same outside of Ultra Hard and Story difficulties.
Shock Arrow
Shock arrows deal low shock damage and medium shock severity on impact. They can be used to shock machines, temporarily stunning and locking them in place. Effective against machines with weakness to Shock. Successful hits on Power Cells will trigger explosive short-circuits, inflicting massive damage and shock severity to everything nearby. The numbers in brackets represent undercharged shots from the Banuk bow.
| Ammo | Game Mode | Damage | Elemental Severity | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic /Lodge |
BanukFW | Basic | Lodge | BanukFW | ||
 Shock Arrow |
Story |  20
|
28(12)
|
 38
|
45
|
75(30)
|
| Easy | 6
|
11(5)
|
25
|
30
|
50(20)
| |
| Normal | 5
|
7(3)
| ||||
| Hard | 5
|
6(3)
| ||||
| Very Hard | 4
|
6(2)
| ||||
| Ultra Hard | 4
|
5(2)
|
13
|
15
|
25(10)
| |
Freeze Arrow
Freeze arrows deal low freeze damage and medium freeze severity on impact. They can be used to freeze enemies, slowing them down significantly and making machines more susceptible to impact damage. Effective against machines with Freeze weakness. Successful hits on Freeze canister will trigger cryo explosions that deals massive damage and Freeze severity to everything in vicinity. Numbers in brackets represent the undercharged shots of the Banuk bow.
| Ammo | Game Mode | Damage | Elemental Severity | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic /Lodge |
BanukFW | Basic | Lodge | BanukFW | ||
 Freeze Arrow |
Story | 20
|
28(12)
|
 38
|
45
|
75(30)
|
| Easy | 6
|
11(5)
|
25
|
30
|
50(20)
| |
| Normal | 5
|
7(3)
| ||||
| Hard | 5
|
6(3)
| ||||
| Very Hard | 4
|
6(2)
| ||||
| Ultra Hard | 4
|
5(2)
|
13
|
15
|
25(10)
| |
Corruption Arrow
Corruption arrows deal no damage and high corruption severity on impact. Machines and humans corrupted by this arrow will be aggressive against other machines and humans while the effect lasts, and can be used to temporarily turn the odds in the player's favor. This corruption turns machines' lights green and, making them hostile to everything, including Aloy, unlike Override which makes them fight for her. Tougher enemies takes a higher dose for the effect to kick in. The numbers in brackets represent undercharged shots from the Banuk bow.
| Ammo | Game Mode | Elemental Severity | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | Lodge | BanukFW | ||
 Corruption Arrow |
Story |  70
|
90
|
120(60)
|
| Easy | 50
|
60
|
80(40)
| |
| Normal | ||||
| Hard | ||||
| Very Hard | ||||
| Ultra Hard | 25
|
30
|
40(20)
| |
Ammo and Modification Slots by Variant
| Bow Variant | Shock Arrow | Freeze Arrow | Corruption Arrow | Mod Slots |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic |
|
1 | ||
| Carja |
|
|
2 | |
| Shadow |
|
|
|
3 |
| AdeptNG+ |
|
|
|
4 |
| Lodge |
|
|
|
3 |
| Adept LodgeNG+ |
|
|
|
4 |
| Banuk ChampionFW |
|
|
|
3 |
| Adept ChampionFW NG+ |
|
|
|
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.
- The War Bow also appears in Genshin Impact under the name Predator as part of a collaboration between Mihoyo and Sony along with Aloy herself, however the bow is exclusive to users on the Playstation 4 and Playstation 5 while Aloy herself was given to all players, with Playstation users getting early access.
- The War Bow's model makes an appearance in Horizon Forbidden West for certain Sharpshot Bows.
| 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 |