Weaponsupporting

Erdtree Greatbow

Erdtree Greatbow is a Faith-scaling greatbow rewarded for destroying the chariot in Fringefolk Hero's Grave. It fires great arrows with physical and holy damage, providing long-range impact at the cost of slow draws, heavy ammunition, and a dangerous acquisition puzzle.

Importance

supporting

Elden Ring · weapon

Key Takeaways

Erdtree Greatbow is a Faith-oriented greatbow that combines physical and holy damage with a fixed piercing skill, trading flexibility for a distinct role among greatbows.

Holy-damage greatbow

Its split physical-and-holy damage gives it a different damage profile from greatbows that rely solely on physical attack.

Fixed piercing skill

Through and Through fires a powerful piercing shot, making the weapon’s signature attack a central part of its ranged identity.

Faith is part of its investment

The bow requires Faith alongside its physical attributes, so it is most naturally suited to characters already incorporating Faith into their ranged damage plan.

Found in Auriza Hero’s Grave

The weapon is obtained from a chest in Auriza Hero’s Grave, linking its availability to exploration of this Leyndell-area dungeon rather than a standard merchant purchase.

Powerful but deliberately slow

As a greatbow, it offers long-range pressure and substantial shot impact, but its heavy handling and draw commitment make positioning and timing important.

Limited customization

Its fixed weapon skill and special upgrade path make it less adaptable than an infusible standard greatbow, but they also preserve its defined holy-and-piercing role.

A specialized alternative to standard greatbows

Compared with a conventional physical greatbow, Erdtree Greatbow is the more specialized choice when Faith scaling and holy damage matter more than broad Ash of War flexibility.

Overview

Erdtree Greatbow is a named greatbow in Elden Ring that combines the long-range pressure of the greatbow class with additional Holy damage and a fixed piercing shot skill. It is a base-game weapon suited to characters willing to support ranged attacks with Strength, Dexterity and Faith.

Unlike ordinary bows, the Erdtree Greatbow is built around Great Arrows and the heavier handling associated with the greatbow class. Its role is deliberate ranged damage: it can pressure targets from a distance, punish exposed enemies and contribute before a melee engagement begins, but it is less convenient for rapid, low-commitment shots than a standard bow.

The weapon’s defining damage profile combines physical and Holy damage, giving it a distinct identity among greatbows rather than making it a purely physical ranged option. Its fixed Through and Through skill reinforces that role by launching a powerful piercing greatarrow, making lined-up targets and narrow approaches more relevant to its use than simple point-blank shooting.

Erdtree Greatbow is obtained during base-game exploration in the Auriza Hero’s Grave area, so it enters a character’s progression after the weapon has already become a deliberate equipment choice rather than an early tutorial tool. Its eventual usefulness depends on access to suitable Great Arrows and on whether the player’s attributes and ammunition supply support a slower, heavier ranged style.

The weapon is therefore most distinct when compared with lighter bows or more flexible greatbows. It offers a thematically focused Holy-infused alternative and a piercing skill, while still inheriting the greatbow family’s dependence on specialized ammunition and commitment during attacks. It is not a Shadow of the Erdtree variant, and its identity should be assessed separately from affinity-based bows whose damage and skills can be customized.

Statistics

Elden Ring publishes no 0–100 stat bars, so this page lists the verified requirements, scaling and handling figures instead. Taken from the project's verified weapons database, not from generated text.

Category
Greatbows
Damage Type
Pierce
Primary Scaling
Str D / Dex D
Weight
16
Skill
Mighty Shot
Str Req
40
Dex Req
20
How to Obtain
Found near Erdtree-Gazing Hill, Altus Plateau

Figures verified against Consolidated Game Weapons Database.

Compared to similar greatbows

Weapon	Str Req	Dex Req	Weight	Primary Scaling
Erdtree Greatbow	40	20	16	Str D / Dex D
Golem Greatbow	24	30	13	Str D / Dex C
Igon's Greatbow	18	30	11.5	Str D / Dex C
Lion Greatbow	20	30	11	Str D / Dex C

Requirements, scaling grades and weight are the game’s own published figures. From Consolidated Game Weapons Database.

How to Obtain

Before you start

Base-game access to the Altus Plateau and the Leyndell outskirts; no DLC, quest, boss, vendor, or NG+ requirement is specific to the weapon.

01Travel to Auriza Hero's Grave in the eastern outskirts of Leyndell, Royal Capital, in the Altus Plateau region. Enter the dungeon and follow its chariot-trap route to the fixed chest containing the Erdtree Greatbow.
02Looting this chest is the guaranteed acquisition method. The bow is not purchased from a vendor, awarded by a quest or boss, or obtained as an enemy drop; the chest provides one copy per playthrough and is not farmable.

Mechanics and Handling

The Erdtree Greatbow is handled as a greatbow rather than a conventional bow. Its attacks are deliberate: drawing, releasing, and recovering from a shot all take more commitment than with lighter bows. That makes positioning and target selection important. It is most comfortable when fired from distance or during an opening, rather than used as a rapid response weapon at close range.

Draw, aim, and projectile handling

The weapon fires Great Arrows and supports aimed shots as well as unaimed releases. Greatbow projectiles travel in a pronounced arc, so distant targets require practical elevation and timing rather than simply placing the reticle over the target. A charged shot takes longer to prepare but delivers the weapon's stronger attack pattern; releasing early is useful when an enemy is about to move or leave line of sight. The slow recovery after firing also makes repeated shots vulnerable to interruption.

Through and Through

Erdtree Greatbow's unique weapon skill is Through and Through. It launches a powerful great-arrow shot intended to pass through enemies, allowing one lined-up projectile to threaten targets standing behind the first hit. The skill is most valuable against grouped enemies or large targets whose bodies provide a reliable path through the shot. It does not turn the weapon into a rapid multi-shot bow: the draw and recovery commitment remain important, and the skill consumes the weapon's ranged resource when used.

Ammunition and combat role

Great Arrows are a separate ammunition family from ordinary arrows, so ammunition planning is part of using the weapon effectively. Special Great Arrow variants can alter the damage profile or add an effect, but they do not make every shot interchangeable; choose them according to the target and the supply available. The Erdtree Greatbow has no firearm-style magazine or reload cycle. Its practical limitation is the time needed to nock, draw, release, and recover, while its advantage is the reach and impact of a properly timed shot. It is therefore better suited to opening engagements, punishing exposed enemies, and exploiting straight attack lanes than to sustained close-quarters pressure.

Upgrades and Variants

Strengths, Weaknesses and Best Uses

Strengths

Deals both physical and holy damage, giving Faith investment a direct offensive role alongside the bow's Strength and Dexterity requirements.
Its Through and Through skill sends the projectile through targets, allowing a lined-up shot to damage multiple enemies rather than stopping at the first hit.
Greatbow attacks and great-arrow ammunition provide strong stagger and knockdown potential against exposed enemies, especially when there is time to aim safely.
As a greatbow, it can pressure distant targets without requiring the player to enter ordinary melee range.

Weaknesses

Its split physical/holy damage can be less reliable against enemies with strong holy resistance than a comparable bow using a single favourable damage type.
Greatbows have deliberate firing and recovery animations, making the weapon vulnerable to interruption and poorly suited to frantic close-range fights.
It requires great-arrow ammunition, which is heavier and less convenient to maintain than ordinary arrows; ammunition availability can limit repeated use.
The fixed weapon skill and non-infusable design reduce customization compared with an ordinary greatbow that accepts different Ashes of War.

Best uses

Opening encounters from a safe distance when a clear firing lane allows Through and Through to hit several enemies.
Punishing large or predictable targets while maintaining separation and using great-arrow stagger potential.
Faith-oriented ranged setups that want bow attacks to contribute holy damage without replacing their primary melee weapon.
Situational mounted or open-area sniping where the long firing commitment can be managed before enemies close the distance.

Compared With Similar Weapons

Compared With Similar Weapons
Weapon	Damage profile	Skill	Upgrade / identity	Best fit
Erdtree Greatbow	Through and Through	Unique greatbow with Faith as part of its scaling profile	Players who want a greatbow that supports Strength/Dexterity/Faith investment	—
Golem Greatbow	Through and Through	Regular greatbow with a heavier physical-damage focus	Physical-focused builds that can meet its heavier requirements	—
Lion Greatbow	Radahn's Rain	Unique greatbow with a distinctive area-targeting skill	Players prioritizing a special skill over Erdtree Greatbow's Holy damage	—
Greatbow	Through and Through	Basic greatbow option without Erdtree Greatbow's innate Holy damage	A straightforward physical greatbow choice for comparison or progression	—

Lore and Design

The Erdtree Greatbow’s item description identifies it as a greatbow decorated with an Erdtree design and associates it with the Knights of the Erdtree. The description also presents its arrows as being imbued with holy light, linking the weapon’s visual identity and stated function to Erdtree symbolism rather than to a named individual wielder. This is the weapon’s clearest documented story significance: it represents the martial imagery of the Erdtree’s knights and their service within the order’s religious and royal tradition.

The game does not, in the available documented material, provide a creator attribution, development commentary, or confirmed real-world design reference for the Erdtree Greatbow. Its Erdtree ornamentation and holy imagery support a visual and thematic association with the Erdtree, but do not establish a separate canonical relationship to a specific character, faction beyond the named knights, or historical event.