Short bow

The short bow is a very light, single-shot ranged weapon in RimWorld which deals a moderate amount of damage per shot; slightly longer time between shots; slightly shorter range and moderate accuracy.

Overview

The short bow is a low-tier neolithic weapon, and also the easiest ranged weapon to acquire in the game thanks to its extremely low resource requirement, lack of a requirement for proper facilities and a complete lack of research requirements. With scenarios such as naked brutality, a short bow is essential to earlygame survival as a safe means of hunting and basic defense against hostile wildlife and raiders. Curiously, short bows also have a slightly higher armor penetration rating than the much more powerful greatbow.

However, short bows are also the only neolithic ranged weapons that can't stagger humans, which puts them at a disadvantage against melee units. The short bow also has the 3rd lowest damage output out of all ranged weapons in the game, only beating the pila and incendiary launcher - the latter being a support weapon rather than straight-up aggro. Other weaknesses include low accuracy for a neolithic weapon (especially at medium range), as well as a rather slow projectile velocity. Naturally, a short bow will be significantly overshadowed in terms of combat performance by even the most basic of firearms such as autopistols and revolvers, with two short bows being required to match a single one of the aforementioned firearms.

The short bow is best-suited for close-quarters engagements overall since it's most accurate up to short ranges, and because of its sub-par projectile velocity. It's also a somewhat viable hunting weapon for smaller and lower-risk game.

Against an unarmored human, a short bow can kill with 4 hits to the torso, 3 hits to the head or neck, or 1 hit to the brain; cripple or destroy limbs in 3 hits; and cripple or destroy eyes and digits with a single hit. It'll generally take around 6 hits (~27.8 seconds average) to incapacitate that human from pain shock.

Overall, the short bow is best paired with a careful shooter until level 9, and with a trigger-happy shooter beyond that point.

Attack table

Ranged

Short bow			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	9.9	14.4%	60%	52%	36%	20%	3.3	1.98	1.72	1.19	-	23
Poor	11	16%	67.5%	58.5%	40.5%	22.5%	3.67	2.5	2.17	1.5	-	34
Normal	11	16%	75%	65%	45%	25%	3.67	2.75	2.39	1.65	-	45
Good	11	16%	82.5%	71.5%	49.5%	27.5%	3.67	3.05	2.64	1.84	-	56
Excellent	11	16%	90%	78%	54%	30%	3.67	3.3	2.86	1.98	-	68
Masterwork	13.75	20%	100%	87.75%	60.75%	33.75%	4.59	4.59	4.04	2.8	-	113
Legendary	16.5	24%	100%	97.5%	67.5%	37.5%	5.51	5.51	5.39	3.74	-	225

^{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

Short bow			Limb (Blunt)					Limb (Poke)					Human: Left & right 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	23
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	34
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	45
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	56
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	68
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	113
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	225

^{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

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

Obtaining

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

Raider Kind	Chance	Average Quality	Health
Archer	92.27%	Poor	50-180%

Short bows can also be manufactured at any smithy or a crafting spot with no research required; from 30 wood and 2,400 ticks (40 secs) of work. A crafting skill of at least 2 is required.

You also start with two short bows with the lost tribe scenario, along with some pila, a wooden club, a steel ikwa and a jade knife (main article).

Short Bow vs. Comparable Weapons

This section goes over how well the short bow fares against comparable weapons (similar value, tech level or similar characteristics) in 1 vs. 1 combat.

Methodology

All testing is semi-automated which allows for large sample sizes to be gathered per set of results with ease
All pawns have a skill level of 8 in shooting
No pawns have any traits that affect combat performance
All pawns are of 18 years of age and completely healthy
Pawns are divided by walls to prevent stray shots from skewing results in any way
Weather conditions are kept clear and no cover is used

Results in the tables below are the percentages of battles that short bows either won or tied against the weapon listed in the first column of said tables, with a sample size of 2,000 battles per result. Higher percentages are better.

Unarmored

For the unarmored testing, all pawns wore normal quality plainleather pants and plainleather button-down shirts.

Short bow vs.	3	7	12	18	25	32	40
Recurve bow	38.85%	31.25%	25.70%	22.75%	-	-	-
Pila	82.20%	77.60%	66.05%	64.50%	-	-	-

Flak Armor

For the flak armor testing, all pawns wore normal quality steel simple helmets, flak jackets, flak vests, plainleather button-down shirts and flak pants.

Short bow vs.	3	7	12	18	25	32	40
Recurve bow	36.60%	31.75%	20.75%	22.80%	-	-	-
Pila	90.15%	84.80%	74.65%	72.60%	-	-	-

Marine Armor

For the marine armor testing, all pawns wore normal quality marine helmets, marine armor, plainleather button-down shirts and plainleather pants.

Short bow vs.	3	7	12	18	25	32	40
Recurve bow	34.60%	25.50%	20.70%	18.85%	-	-	-
Pila	89.75%	83.45%	71.80%	70.85%	-	-	-

Graphs

The graphs assume a normal quality short bow against an adult human that's out in the open in clear weather. For DPS, projectile speed has also been factored into the equation, with the weighting based on the base amount of attacks that it'll take to put the aforementioned target into pain shock.