I may get alot of hate for this but combat bows need a MASSIVE overhaul, like in what content are they even good at anymore. PvE they are massively underwhelming, all traits on them are just way better on literally every other weapon. They just don't deal enough damage in a sandbox where primary ammo weapons tickle enemies in high end content at how poorly balanced the sandbox is making everything tankier.
The whole point of the lightweight and precision frame is ridiculous, it's great if 2 different archetypes of weapon do different things like every other weapon family, but these 2 literally just do the same except one is quicker but for way less damage which is just pointless in the sandbox in general.
Now to PvP, where I will get the most hate for this. As a bow user, lightweight bows are just pointless, they'll never be picked. Bows in general have the absolute worst TTK in game, the risk reward isn't worth it in a sandbox where abilities and pulse rifles dominate, they don't flinch for there life and dueling with them is pointless, you can't use them at long range as you would expect cause there falloff was reduced down to around 35 meters. Where the meta of 40m pulse rifles and aggressive handcannons is everywhere. Why can't we get damage perks where we can build them into a one shot weapon like we currently have this week thanks to tungsten bowstring mod.
My thoughts for bows are that all these strings and draw times are pointless, obviously having the fastest draw time is going to be the only choice. Why not make draw time like charge time, where increaseing the draw time gives the bow more base damageand less drawn time reduces your damage, just like fusion rifles with liquid and accelerated coil. We definitely need a readjust to the damage numbers in both PvE and PvP so they feel better balanced in both sandboxes and I'd like them to be way better at dueling against other weapons.
That's my rant over, I hope this finds someone at Bungie who also thinks bows are too overshadowed in a sandbox dominated by the same 2 weapons, handcannons and pulse rifles in PvP
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1 ReplyBows, Autos and Scouts get hit the hardest by Primaries not doing enough damage. Low DPS/high safety weapons are balanced around being more valuable in endgame content. But primaries hit so weak that it doesn’t even matter. This is compounded by additional ability spam and survivability in most content enabling weapons like SMGs and Handcannons to be viable everywhere.
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1 ReplyThis event with unstable modifiers has once again shown us how bad bows are without them. Above expert difficulty, they're not a weapon, they're just a tickler, although the same could be said of other primary weapons, but that's not the point right now. The game is increasingly reminiscent of Dynasty Warriors rather than a looter shooter. The endless mob spam and forced ability spam have become very tiresome lately. I miss the gunplay of D1 and the way weapons felt.
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Edited by livin like larry: 2/4/2026 5:26:50 AMBows absolutely do not need a PvP buff lol, and not every weapon/archetype needs to be useful in PvP. We deal with enough nonsense already in the crucible.
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Would love to see some reworks but who knows