Serpent Bow | Elden Ring Wiki

So I think we'll finally know more about Formless Serpents in Dlc? (Messmer cough cough)
It's time for me to create a new bandit character to become a Formless Serpents Assassin.

Submit

I love this bow, with one shot using Mighty Shot and Serpent Arrow and you poison the enemy with one shot, remember to aim for the head for greater effectiveness.
Not to mention, his appearance is insane.

Submit

just use coiled shield there is no reason to ever use this over it

Submit

so this was suposed to be a a shortbow with deadly poison... i see why would be op but i would prefered to have:

less damage but keep shortbow moveset and normal poison
or kept as a long bow but keep the deadly poison it was supposed to have

Submit

Arcane build. Boss fight, equip the +20% talisman. Fire one or two arrows to start the round, 60sec of damage boost.

Occult scale zwei at 70 arc + boost = 855ar

Heavy scale zwei at 70str no boost = 833

So it “beats” strength, and you get an arrow of dmg + poison damage

Also equip something with moth flight, and “pop” the poison before the 60s runs out for a big damage burst

Submit

Arcane build. Boss fight, equip the +20% talisman. Fire one or two arrows to start the round, 60sec of damage boost.

Occult scale zwei at 70 arc + boost = 855ar

Heavy scale zwei at 70str no boost = 833

So it “beats” strength, and you get an arrow of dmg + poison damage

Also equip something with moth flight, and “pop” the poison before the 60s runs out for a big damage burst

Submit

Why isn't this a light bow??????????????????????

Submit

Perfect for fire and forget. Use poisonbone or serpent arrows on your target (preferably while standing well out of range of them), and then go do anything else for a few minutes. Make a sandwich, some tea, do your taxes, whatever. Once you come back, they will be dead. If not, repeat the process.

Submit

The bow has passive poison buildup. To test just shoot a giant land octopus. It takes roughly 2-3 regular arrows.

Submit

The crossed out bit is true for me as well In new patch 1.09. I was running to fort faroth to kill mama dragon with blood arrows and eventually using the long bow and “rain of arrows” the dragon got poisoned. I was confused about that until I saw I had serpent bone in my left hand

Submit

Horn Bow (Does Magic): Ash of War changable from the signature attack the ancestral followers use. But poison NOPE. Nobody's poisoning with mighty shot. Also make it a shortbow. I hate this game sometimes. Design better weapons like the older games

Submit

This was likely meant to be a shortbow, but during testing they probably decided it was too consistent at applying status build up, shortbow is already decent in pvp (if youre really sweaty about it)

I would also like shortbow speed on this bow, but I'm also aware of how op it would be.

That's why I believe at some point before the games release they must have given it the bow animation for balancing reasons,,

This makes it decent in pve, but not overpowered in pvp.

Submit

Just tested it un-upgraded, it took 18 arrows to poison the secluded cell giant with 28 arcane. It also poisoned with 2 serpent arrows with 28 arcane. People saying it doesn't have innate poison anymore are just flat out wrong.

Submit

Absolute worthless bow now thanks to FROM patching out poison. They didn't even change the item description either.

Jesus Christ I am at wits end with this game. It's just one bad design choice after another. Bad weapon scaling, bad bosses with BS hit boxes that makes Dark Souls 2 look balanced, bad everything. This company thinks it can just get away with whatever it wants now because it's popular. They have nothing to prove anymore and now have gotten lazy.

I'm done. All that time spent in that stupid cave for nothing getting f*d by Scarlet Rot just to get a useless bow that doesn't do anything. And no I tested it. I've put around thirty+ arrows into the ogre outside of the secluded cell SOG I use for target practice. Absolutely nothing happens. Completely useless weapon. Do not use. Black Bow works and actually functions as stated. The only thing that cave is good for is the helmet that increases runes, that's it.

Submit

Is there any reason to upgrade this bow (maybe any bow) if you are using them for just applying status effects? I'm not trying to get physical damage out of it.

Submit

This should've been a short bow, it's model size when held makes this very clear. And it would also make sense to have the fast short bow moveset to proc status faster

And idk why they removed the inate poison buildup it had before, it's literally in the description of the thing, but now its just a contradiction

Submit

As of the latest patch it now procs enhanced poisoning.

Submit

#1 in physical dmg. Poison procs with 1 serpent arrow, maybe 2. Best dmg in any of the long bow or shortbow. Also works well with bleed. It will proc blood loss faster than black Bow. This, with black Bow and albanic with ash of war enchanted shot. Rain of arrows waste alot of Fp and can be inconsistent. Use lion bow if you feel the need. Golum bow with Golum arrows is by far the highest dmg .swap in lion bow with Golum arrows and rain down pure hell. Now you have all the facts.

Submit

anybody know if the arc scaling still scales sleep and bleed arrows after the patch?

Submit

they still haven't fixed the arcane scaling?

Submit

too bad arc scaling doesn't affect damage

Submit

Rest in peace, poison builds. Doesn't do jack sh!t anymore.

Submit

The base of 15 poison build-up to all arrows does not applies anymore after 1.09

Submit

I did some rudimentary testing on the Fire Prelate outside Guardian's Garrison with Sleepbone Arrows and Arcane 60.

A standard shortbow will proc Sleep after 8 shots (or 10 using Barrage).

Serpent Bow procs Sleep after 6 shots, or 3 using Mighty Shot.

That means the scaling at Arc 60 increases a standard shot's Sleep build-up by about 20-30%, but coupled with Mighty Shot the increase in build-up is well over 100%.

Submit

I can't believe they removed the poison build up on this thing. As if this bow was a menace to anything in the first place.

From soft hates archery

Submit

I don’t think this weapon adds poison when it’s offhanded anymore. Which is awful, what a terrible patch.

Submit

What about the ice projectile from the cold rapier

Submit

very good bow

Submit

I haven't used bows much yet, so I tried this weapon out on an Arcane status build supplemented with throwing pots and poison perfumes and I am having a fantastic time with it in PVE! I am enjoying the fast ranged bleed procs, you can proc status quickly, and most minor mobs can be one shot with a basic arrow, and I've only leveled STR/DEX to meet minimum requirements for weapons. However, I am not a fan of farming for arrow items, many enemies will effectively dodge your arrows, and poison is underwhelming damage. Don't make poison bone arrows, spring for Serpent arrows at the merchant and poison bigger enemies with 1-2 arrows at the start of the fight, then switch to bleed-bone arrows.

Part of my enjoyment is the constant tweaking of the build. I have to change talismans, spells, and melee weapons to optimize the battles. I'm enjoying the cheese, finding safe ledges to shoot from and fighting as little as possible toe-to-toe. Stealth headshots are fun, too. For large and slow bosses, I generally switch to a long bow with Rain of Arrows for raining down multiple bleed arrows at once.

Still working toward getting the Shard of Alexander for the damage boost with Mighty Shot, so there is still some potential for improving damage.

I wish they had the Silver Scarab talisman earlier to help with farming, and a "farming drop multiplier" talisman to reduce the time needed to farm enough materials. More effective poison damage would be great, maybe a ranged Poison Moth Flight.

Submit

The innate arc scaling combined with the hidden status multiplier of mighty shot can make sleep arrows sleep targets in a single hit

Submit

The only 1 thing that fromsoft needs to do to make this viable is making the unique interaction with the serpent arrow turn it to deadly poison. That's it.

Submit

Use this bow with Bleed Arrows for max bleed affect. Strength/Dex/Arcane 60 bleed things easily.

Submit

It makes no sense to me that this bow's arcane scaling doesn't effect the damage.

If it only effects the poison output, that is no different than arcane stats with any poison dealing weapon, so why put it as a scaling on the bow?

I feel like it is broken like all of the other arcane scaling weapons used to be, but this one didn't get fixed.

Submit

I know it would be difficult to obtain a table of how each upgrade level and point in Arcane affects each status on each arrow (by which I mean how much), but it would certainly be nice to have.

Submit

I know it would be difficult to obtain a table of how each upgrade level and point in Arcane affects each status on each arrow (by which I mean how much), but it would certainly be nice to have.

Submit

Man, this makes me want to know more about the Formless Serpents. I have a hunch they used the Serpentbone Blade.

Submit

It's absolutely ridiculous this isn't classed as a short bow, literally looks nothing like a longbow, and is extremely slow. I can get enough hits to proc poison / sleep with the Black Bow in less time it takes for this due to it's agility and having shortbow mechanics.

Black Bow = 4 hits to proc sleep, 4 hits to proc poison, can roll-shot, can quickly shoot after landing from jump, extremely high mobility.
Serpents Bow = 2 hits to proc sleep, 2/3 to proc poison, can't roll-shot, can't quickly shoot after landing from jump. Very limited mobility, and honestly it makes this weapon completely useless in PVP.

Submit

I'm thinking about making my first status build and was wondering if this is significantly better at applying poison or marginally compared to the black bow. Can I get some insight from anyone that's tried these out?

Submit

as of patch 1.05 the poison buildup doesn't apply to other bows/crossbows when offhanded, it only adds poison buildup to arrows fired from this bow

Submit

this really should have the Light Bow moveset, it's the second smallest bow in the game, only Misbegotten Shortbow is smaller , lol

Submit

Did they nerf this bow? I've got 99 arcane and am using this with bleed arrows, but both it and black bow require 11-12 shots to bleed one of the dragons in dragonbarrow.

Submit

Does levelling the bow up increase the poison build-up at all? i.e. if it adds 15 poison build up at +1, if I level it to +2 will it do more than 15 poison build up?

Submit

Been working as a fantastic off-hand for my str/arc Marais GS Ranger build.
o7

Submit

Yay, formless serpents. They’re going to be fun in the dlc.

Submit

so i am going for a status bow build (my idea was making an assassine of sorts that can use a lot of status affliction through arrows),
is this the best bow i can use

Submit

On a dex build even with minimal arcane, this is the best bow in game, I was surprised black bow didn’t beat it because that’s the go to bow in every souls game

Submit

I notice it doesn't have passive poison, does that mean it gets its "true worth" from serpent arrows only, or will the **** I fletch get bonus build?

Submit

Very fun for stealth invasions when using poisoned arrows of some kind. Applying poison and then disappearing back into the bushes to harass your quarry and deplete their supplies is just good, clean fun.

Submit

I am using the Arrow's Reach Talisman and fetched poison arrows to increase range and with an Arcane of 32, it takes 2 to 3 arrows to proc poison and usually kills the mob. The extra range is letting me manual aim and take mobs out from a great distance. I also use to poison strong mobs and run away while the poison does its thing. What does upgrading with Somber stones do for this bow? The chart looks like it only increases physical damage which is not what I use this bow for. I use my longbow for damage only to save poison arrows.

Submit

This thing is crazy with a decent amount of Arcane. At 45 Arcane, testing on the Troll outside the Secluded Cell grace, the longbow took 5 poisonbone arrows to proc. The Serpent Bow took just two.

Submit

Build idea: Poison Dragon Acolyte (early game)

This bow + rot breath (dragon comm. Inc.), should do for some ez laidback gameplay. Use rot breath to inflict one DoT, then start using arrows to inflict a 2nd DoT. Alternate when the infliction runs out, rinse n repeat.

Submit

Has Arcane scaling but is unfortunately stuck with Mighty Shot. Barrage or Arrow Rain would be nicer for faster status procs.

Submit

Does anyone know if I can left hand this, with short bow on right hand using rain of arrows + bleed arrow? Will the Serpant's bow passive add on to the rain of arrows skill?

Submit

needs higher scaling or better range. pulley or black just outclasses this anyday esp since its so easy to apply poison with serpent arrows

Submit

I don't know why my comment has been removed but I have reason to believe this bow has inverse scaling on fire arrows. Because I increased my Arcane stat and this REDUCED the damage of firebone arrows. I still have the numbers.

Submit

does this bow boost Frost and Rot arrows?

Submit

should scale off arcane and dex with C/C and E in strength

Submit

if i use scarlet rot arrows can it apply both rot and poison?

Submit

arcane should increase dmg. Why bows are so bad in this game?

Submit

50 ARCANE + Serpent Bow + Serpent Arrow + Mighty Shot Ash of War = 1 SHOT POISON THROUGH SHIELDS

If they are running some anti-status effect incantations or talismans it might be 2 or 3.

Submit

Fun fact! The way how this bow works is to add poison build-up to arrow attacks. So in other words all you have to do is hold this bow in one hand and it still gonna add poison build-up to any arrow attacks from any bow or crossbow of your choice. It will take some hits, but if you hit it enough it will proc poison.

Submit

I’ve got this leveled up on my dex/arc build, using the serpent arrows from the Caelid merchant, and really it’s just disappointing. Poison is too slow to be much use in a game where fights are often decided in seconds.

Submit

As of 1.3.2:

The Bow's damage itself indeed does not scale with Arcane, but as the ONLY Bow with Arcane Scaling it is also the only way to have Status Effects from Arrows Scale with Arcane, except for Rot and Cold.
Also, while the Bonus Poison Build up is massive on Poison Arrows, it is actually weakly applied to every Arrow shot with this Bow.

(Tested against the Troll in front of the Third Church of Marika with exception to Sleepbone Arrow that was used to put the Runebear in Mistwood Ruins back to Sleep!)

With the exact required stats of 8 STR, 15 DEX, 11 ARC as minimum:

+0 with 8 STR, 15 DEX, 11 ARC = 75+6
+10 with 8 STR, 15 DEX, 11 ARC = 183+27

+0 with 99 STR, 15 DEX, 11 ARC = 75+16
+10 with 99 STR, 15 DEX, 11 ARC = 183+73

+0 with 8 STR, 99 DEX, 11 ARC = 75+23
+10 with 8 STR, 99 DEX, 11 ARC = 183+102

+0 with 8 STR, 15 DEX, 99 ARC = 75+6
+10 with 8 STR, 15 DEX, 99 ARC = 183+27

+0 with 99 STR, 99 DEX, 99 ARC = 75+33
+10 with 99 STR, 99 DEX, 99 ARC = 183+148

Longbow for Comparison:
11-99 ARC + Longbow = 3 Sleepbone Arrows
11-99 ARC + Longbow = 6 Rotbone Arrow
11-99 ARC + Longbow = 6 Coldbone Arrow
11-99 ARC + Longbow = 5 Bloodbone Arrow
11-99 ARC + Longbow = 5 Poisonbone Arrow
11-99 ARC + Longbow = 4 Serpant Arrow

11 ARC + Serpent Bow = 3 Sleepbone Arrow
99 ARC + Serpent Bow = 2 Sleepbone Arrow
11 ARC + Serpent Bow = 6 Rotbone Arrow
99 ARC + Serpent Bow = 6 Rotbone Arrow
11 ARC + Serpent Bow = 6 Coldbone Arrow
99 ARC + Serpent Bow = 6 Coldbone Arrow
11 ARC + Serpent Bow = 5 Bloodbone Arrow
99 ARC + Serpent Bow = 3 Bloodbone Arrow
11 ARC + Serpent Bow = 3 Poisonbone Arrow
99 ARC + Serpent Bow = 2 Poisonbone Arrow
11 ARC + Serpent Bow = 3 Serpant Arrow
99 ARC + Serpent Bow = 1 Serpant Arrow

Bonus:
11 ARC + Serpent Bow = 23 ANY Arrows to Poison
99 ARC + Serpent Bow = 8 ANY Arrows to Poison

Submit

Unless your trying to proc poison as quickly as possible this bow is great for normal useage, because it does make normal arrows poison arrows after like 10 shots.

Submit

Does this bow apply fast poison like the serpentbone katana?

Submit

Using this to open up boss/PvP fights before switching to a bleed weapon for melee is *chef's kiss*. Arcane builds in general are so much fun now.

Submit

Can someone tell me for sure: does this bow make only poisonous arrows proc faster or does it also apply to usual arrows?

It says in the weapon stats that it doesn't have a passive effect and I used on some usual enemies with usual arrows and it doesn't seem do proc.

Can someone confirm/infirm this? Thanks

Submit

So this bow doesn't proc is u use usual arrows bit it procs faster if I use poison arrows - is this correct? Can someone correct me/confirm?

Submit

Combine with fletched sleep arrows

Submit

Doesn't apply poison anymore? Whats the point of using it now?

Submit

When combined with serpent arrows, this will poison everything that can be poisoned extremely quickly.
It's a very efficient way to dispatch annoying bosses and enemies from afar, even those with high poison resistance (I just killed Astel with this, was much easier than expected).
The bow also has very low weight, which makes it a great back-up weapon.

Submit

With a Serpent Bow +10 & 50 Arcane, it seems that poison is applied faster than with other bow-types according to my own tests. It also gives a small poison build-up to all other types of arrows.


It takes 2 shots to apply a 9dps for 90secs poison with either Poisonbone or Serpent arrows. The difference in damage between them is marginal at best, also. (305 vs 314, surprise hit) 1 Mighty Shot to apply poison with both types of arrows.
It takes 8-11 shots with Bone, Magicbone, Bloodbone and Rotbone Arrows to apply the same poison (Bleed and Scarlet Rot were applied before the Poison procced). 5-6 shots using Mighty Shot.


The increased build-up only applies to the Serpent Bow with Poison-inducing arrows, it takes the same amount of shots as any other bows to apply other status effects. (Tested with Sleep, Frost, Bleed, Rot ...)


It takes 4 (serpent)/5 (poisonbone) shots to also apply a 9dps for 90secs poison using a Horn Bow +23 and a Harp Bow +0. 5(serpent) & 6(poisonbone) shots with the Barrage skill.


With this information, we can conclude that the Serpent Bow's description means that it adds a small poison build-up to any arrow types you shoot with it, and a larger build-up for poison-infused arrows. The Serpent Arrows are wrongfully labelled as dealing Heavy Poison while actually only applying regular poison.

All of this has been tested against the giant enemy right outside of the Secluded Cell Site of Grace in Stormveil Castle.

Submit

Lots of people commenting on this being bugged, but it really isn't... I think the damage scaling is confusing people as arcane currently doesn't change the AR of this bow, and having a letter indicating scaling is why do many people are complaining. Arcane only affects the poison buildup applied by shots from this bow. If it's working as intended From should've gotten rid of that letter indicating damage should also scale with arcane.

I personally love the bow as it is, great way to proc poison at range in PvE. Not so useful in PVP other than to harass people or surprise attacks. Weapon art seems to inflict extra poison buildup, usually can trigger poison in just one shot in PVP. It's a cool thing to have at your disposal, it's not op but does great at applying pressure.

Submit

For a poison build this bow rocks. Have a weapon with poisonous moth flight and once you poison a target at range you can move in and hit it HARD with the wep art. I run this bow with a poisoned flowing curved sword (personal choice for strong attacks) with poison moth flight.

Submit

does the arcane scaling on this allow it to affect scaling of statuses other than poison? eg. scarlet rot, bleed

Submit

This bow with serpent arrows (upgrade and ARC relevant to level) quite often poisons hosts with a single WA shot.

Submit

Ok, through testing at minimum requirements, it adds 25 build up to arrows with elemental damage, and 30 to normal and status effect arrows and 40 to poison arrows (this was not upgraded and are a rough estimate based on a single troll to arrows used, and each arrow was tested 3 times, my guess is at max upgrade and high stats it’ll double at best, using rot and poison arrows will be the preferred arrows, bleed arrows was the most painful to guess as it killed the giant very quickly before the poison however I imagine that at max, the bleed will proc 1 arrow difference or the same time, making it extremely lethal

I am still testing at 50 arc with 0 upgrades and it’s only been a 1 arrow difference for normal arrows 2 for poison and so far no change (that’s noticeable) for elemental arrows, my guess though, it’ll be very handy for bleed builds at the start of a fight plus with rot arrows, once rot procs switch to poison throwing darts if you want and have the talisman that gives the damage boost

Using river blood with this and bosses have been a joke for myself and my finger barer

Submit

There are barely arcane items

Submit

The ARC scaling affects the amount of poison buildup from the bow on top of the arrows, not the damage. I believe this is as intended.

Submit

does this inflict poison with all kind arrows? I'm wondering what ammo use on it. Serpent arrows, and maybe rot ones?

Submit

does this inflict poison with all kind arrows? I'm wondering what ammo use on it. Serpent arrows, and maybe rot ones?

Submit

Still bugged

Submit

True to it's description, it did EVENTUALLY inflict poison with regular arrows with my 44 arcane character. Tested at the troll in the passage just west of gatefront, it took like 15 arrows though and the troll was almost dead by the time it works, bow was +4

Submit

why is this things scaling still broken after the patch

Submit

patch 1.03
serpent bow +8
str 12
dex 18
arc 9
wp ar 245

str 12
dex 18
arc 99
wp ar 245

Submit

Did the patch fix ARC scaling on this?
Did anyone test it?

Submit

Is this effected by the ARC scaling bug?

Submit

who the hell are the formless serpents anyway

Submit

Either a visual bug with the scaling or part of the interaction with serpent arrows on this weapon. Arsenal shows significantly lower damage with serpent arrows, but the damage is comparable if not more than any other arrow.

Submit

Does not seem to affect frostbite unless I'm not noticing. And, if that's the case, there's no weapon with frostbite which can be increased with arcane (status effect-wise).

Submit

Tyvm for all those doing all the arduous testing, makes it easier for us impatient players ^_^;

Submit

Bleed build up is pretty insane with this thing. It's like bloody slash but with 10x the range (minus the damage because of bug).

Submit

Upgrading this seems to drastically improve the poison build up, as does using the weapon art instead of firing regularly.

Submit

If you invest in arcane this will boost the build up of all status effect arrows, not just poison. It's good, but man I wish there was an arcane light bow.

Submit

It would seem that this bow does not affect Rot buildup. Tested with the mini dragons outside Fort Faroth with +10 Serpent and +10 Pulley with feathered arrows. Seems to take 15 arrows with each.

Submit

Can confirm that Mighty Shot increases Aux buildup, ie. poison build up. Tested on the foot soldiers outside Raya Lucaria entrance: using Mighty Shot and Serpent Arrows, I could guarantee poison was applied in 1 shot whereas normal shots took 2.

Submit

Do we know if upgrading the bow improves it's poison buildup?

Submit

I did some additional testing on the dragons in the Dragonbarrow area with non-upgraded weapons.
-----
Longbow (+0)
Wood Arrow: 62 damage
Serpent Arrow: 49 damage, 9 arrows to poison
-
Serpent Bow (+0)
Wood Arrow: 59 damage, 49 arrows to poison
Serpent Arrow: 46 damage, 4 arrows to poison
-----
Now, 49 arrows seems like a lot, so i figured that this might simply be due to the massive poison resistance of dragons.
So I tested it again on the giant near the Church of Elleh.
-----
Longbow (+0)
Serpent Arrows: 4 arrows to poison
-
Serpent Bow (+0)
Wood Arrow: 18 arrows to poison
Dwelling Arrow: about the same
Serpent Arrow: 2 arrows to poison
-----
From this, we can conclude that the passive effect of the serpent bow is working properly.
However, unless the enemy is incredibly weak to poison, non-poison arrows will simply kill the enemy before the poison is applied.

Submit

Did some tests on runebear in Mistwood (with 28 Arcane points):
Serpent Arrow (Poison):
+9 Serpent Bow: 3 hits
+16 Horn Bow: 5 hits
Sleepbone Arrow (Sleep):
+9 Serpent Bow: 3 hits
+16 Horn Bow: 4 hits

Submit

Does the bow alone apply poison buildup to your arrows? Or does it only improve buildup on poison arrows?

Submit