Greatbow

The Greatbow is a moderately heavy, single-shot ranged weapon in RimWorld which deals a slightly higher amount of damage per shot; slightly longer time between shots; slightly longer range and high overall accuracy.

Acquisition

Great bows can be purchased from neolithic war merchants and orbital combat suppliers, or obtained from the following raider kinds:

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Heavy Archer	42.22%	Normal	50-180%
Archer Chief	93.25%	Normal	100%

Great bows can also be manufactured at any smithy once the greatbow research has been completed; from 50 wood and 9,000 ticks (2.5 mins) of work. A crafting level of at least 6 is required.

Analysis

Greatbows are the most powerful overall neolithic-tier ranged weapons in the game, beating the recurve bow in terms of range and damage, and handily beating the other options in its class. Accuracy at short and medium distances is also very good, as well as stopping power which is high enough not only to stagger humans, but also slightly larger targets such as cougars and all insectoids. Interestingly, the greatbow has a shorter cooldown than the short bow and recurve bow, as well as a longer warmup than cooldown, which is reversed compared to the aforementioned bows.

Close-up accuracy is worse than the other bows though, with close DPS only being on par with the recurve bow's. This weapon's also less skill-friendly than the other bow variants due to the aforementioned close-up accuracy as well as a longer warmup/cooldown cycle. The greatbow also surprisingly has the second-lowest armor penetration out of all neolithic-tier ranged weapons; even the short bow has better AP - the greatbow's DPS makes up for this though.

Mass is also higher than most other neolithic-tier ranged weapons (similar to many rifle-class firearms), with only the pila having an even higher mass. However, the greatbow's mass is still low enough that it generally won't have an adverse effect on a colonist's caravanning capabilities.

Similarly to the recurve bow, the greatbow's suitable for offensive and support roles. However, unlike the recurve bow, the greatbow's strictly best used in short-to-medium distance engagements due to its relatively poor close-quarters accuracy. This weapon's also an excellent choice for a hunting weapon, being nearly as good as the bolt-action rifle in this regard.

Against an unarmored human, a greatbow can kill with 3 hits to the torso, 2 hits to the head or neck, or 1 hit to the brain; cripple or destroy limbs in 2 hits; and destroy eyes and digits with a single hit. It'll generally take around 4 hits (~18.6 seconds average) to incapacitate that human from pain shock.

While it is the best of the bows, it is rapidly outclassed by even early guns of the same quality. Even Tribal starts will loot firearms to replace it, making researching it largely a waste of time. Should you find or craft a particularly high quality greatbow it might remain competitive in the early game.

Melee Combat

Tool	Attack	Damage Type	Power	AP	Cooldown	Likelihood	Base DPS
Overall	-	-	9	13%	2.00s	-	4.50
Limb	Blunt	Blunt	9	13%	2.00s	50.00%	4.50
Limb	Poke	Blunt	9	13%	2.00s	50.00%	4.50

Attack table

Ranged

Greatbow			Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
Quality	Dam.	AP	Accuracy (Touch)	Accuracy (Short)	Accuracy (Medium)	Accuracy (Long)	DPS (Optimal)	DPS (Touch)	DPS (Short)	DPS (Medium)	DPS (Long)	Market value
Awful	15.3	13.5%	52%	68%	60%	40%	4.37	2.27	2.97	2.62	1.75	52
Poor	17	15%	58.5%	76.5%	67.5%	45%	4.86	2.87	3.74	3.3	2.19	78
Normal	17	15%	65%	85%	75%	50%	4.86	3.16	4.13	3.65	2.43	104
Good	17	15%	71.5%	93.5%	82.5%	55%	4.86	3.5	4.57	4.03	2.67	130
Excellent	17	15%	78%	100%	90%	60%	4.86	3.79	4.86	4.37	2.92	156
Masterwork	21.25	18.75%	87.75%	100%	100%	67.5%	6.08	5.35	6.08	6.08	4.13	260
Legendary	25.5	22.5%	97.5%	100%	100%	75%	7.29	7.14	7.29	7.29	5.47	520

^{For the full effects of qualities, see Quality. Values shown in Red indicate the weapon is out of range at the reference point for this range band.
The value is provided due to the interpolated nature of accuracy between range points.}

Melee

Feature	Toggle
Attacks

Greatbow			Limb (Blunt)					Limb (Poke)					Human: Left & rigth fist (Blunt)					HP	Value
Quality	DPS^[1]	AP^[1]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	HP	Value
Awful	3.98	11.6%	7.2	2s	10.4%	3.6	12.5%	7.2	2s	10.4%	3.6	12.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 37.5%	100	52
Poor	4.08	11.85%	8.1	2s	11.7%	4.05	25%	8.1	2s	11.7%	4.05	25%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 25%	100	78
Normal	4.4	12.75%	9	2s	13%	4.5	37.5%	9	2s	13%	4.5	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	104
Good	4.74	13.73%	9.9	2s	14.3%	4.95	37.5%	9.9	2s	14.3%	4.95	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	130
Excellent	5.08	14.7%	10.8	2s	15.6%	5.4	37.5%	10.8	2s	15.6%	5.4	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	156
Masterwork	5.92	17.14%	13.05	2s	18.85%	6.53	37.5%	13.05	2s	18.85%	6.53	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	260
Legendary	6.59	19.09%	14.85	2s	21.45%	7.43	37.5%	14.85	2s	21.45%	7.43	37.5%	8.2	2s	12%	4.1	2× 12.5%	100	520

^{For the full effects of qualities, see Quality.}

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Note: This is the actual base average derived from the melee verb system updated in 1.1.2610, it may sometimes disagree with the listed value in the in-game infobox.
It may also change depending on the stats and the melee verbs available to the wielder if the weapon is wielded by some other than a baseline human.
↑ Chance for attack to be selected, assuming the weapon is wielded by a baseline human. It may change depending on the melee verbs available to the wielder

Version History

At some point between Beta 18 and 1.2 it was nerfed. Accuracy was decreased from Touch accuracy was changed from 93% to 65%, range was decreased from 32 to 30 and damage from 18 to 17. It was also increased in weight from 1.2 to 3.0.

Weapons