Ranged combat is just as crucial as close-quarters encounters in Windbound. Getting the drop on enemies with a swift arrow or three will give you an advantage before they can attack, and make them easier to kill.
The best long-ranged weapon in Windbound is the bow. Unlike other weapons that you may have a chance of finding in the game, you will need to craft a bow yourself. To make a basic bow, you will need a stick and some silk thread. Sticks can be chopped down using your knife, but silk thread can be hard to come by in the first two or three chapters.
Silk thread can only be obtained by killing Silkmaws. These fuzzy purple balls can be seen hiding in silky cocoons on dense forest islands. Once you’re in striking distance, they’ll attack you as a group. They’re easy to kill, however, and interacting with their corpses will give you silk thread.
Once you have both materials, open up the crafting menu and cycle through until you see the bow tile icon. Tap the craft button to make your first bow. To use the bow, hold down the attack button. This brings up a reticle you can aim down, and the number next to the reticle also tells you how many arrows you have available. Release the attack button to fire off an arrow.
There are other bows you can craft in Windbound, but these powerful ones require different materials to make. You can see what items you need for each bow below.
Hunter bow
- One wood
- Two silk threads
Plainstalker bow
- One leather
- Two Plainstalker horns
- Two silk threads
Tempest bow
- One Storm’s Eye gem
- One grass rope
- One stick
Torment bow
- One Leviathan’s Heart gem
- One grass rope
- One stick
