The hunter bow is a type of bow specializing in short to medium range combat due to its faster reload and firing time, and has limited capacity for three types of damage: impact, elemental and tear. It can use hunter, fire, and hardpoint arrows.
Special Variants
The Carja Mighty Bow and Banuk Culling Bow are variants of the Hunter Bow available by trading special tokens that are pre-loaded in the inventory on some editions of the Game. Both are of "Rare" value with 2 slots. The Carja Mighty Bow has superior impact damage over regular variants, while the Banuk Culling Bow specialize on Tear Damage. The tokens to get these bows don't reload upon starting New Game+, as with other special purchase contents.
The Banuk Striker BowFW is a variant of the Hunter Bow available for one-time purchase per playthrough from Special Merchants in The Cut, costing 16 Bluegleam. This variant has superior attributes over others, safe for Handling. It is also capable of 'overdrawn' shots, a mechanic that allows player to fire exceedingly powerful shots by drawing the string longer than other variants would allow. It could be safely assumed as the most powerful Hunter Bow in the game.
Ammo
The Hunter Bow's ammo pouch can be upgraded to hold up to 60 arrows per type.
Hunter Arrows deal minimum damage and Tear, but are relatively cheap.
Fire Arrows inflict Fire damage and severity and can cause a fiery explosion if shot at unprotected Blaze canisters.
Hardpoint Arrows deal decent damage and Tear.
Numbered damage value are presented in left-to-right order following Story to Ultra Hard. Note that Elemental and Tear damage remains at the same number on Easy, Normal, Hard and Very Hard difficulties. Numbers in Bold are of Normal difficulty.
| Ammo Type |
Crafting Requirements |
Variant | Damage 
|
Elemental Severity |
Tear 
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter Arrow |
2x Ridge-Wood 1x Metal Shards |
Basic/Carja /Shadow |
60-15-15-14-12-11 | None | 100-25-13 |
| Banuk Culling | 60-15-15-14-12-11 | 120-30-15 | |||
| Carja Mighty | 64-20-16-14-13-11 | 100-25-13 | |||
| Banuk Striker | 160-50-40-36-32-28 | 260-65-33 | |||
| Fire Arrow |
2x Ridge-Wood 5x Metal Shards 3x Blaze |
Carja/Shadow | 48-15-12-11-10-8 |  38-25-13
|
None |
| Banuk Culling | 48-15-12-11-10-8 | N/A | 20-5-3 | ||
| Carja Mighty | 64-20-16-14-13-11 | 38-25-13
|
None | ||
| Banuk Striker | 64-20-16-14-13-11 | 75-50-25
| |||
| Hardpoint Arrow |
5x Ridge-Wood 10x Metal Shards |
Shadow | 120-38-30-27-24-21 | None | 300-75-38 |
| Banuk Striker | 280-88-70-63-56-49 | 360-90-45 |
Ammo and Modification Slots by Variant
| Bow Variant | Hunter Arrow | Fire Arrow | Hardpoint Arrow | Mod Slots |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | 
|
1 | ||
| Carja |
|
|
2 | |
| Shadow |
|
|
|
3 |
| Adept (New Game+) |
|
|
|
4 |
| Banuk Striker FW |
|
|
|
3 |
| Adept Banuk Striker FW (New Game+) |
|
|
|
4 |
| Carja Mighty (Complete Edition) |
|
|
2 | |
| Banuk Culling (Complete Edition) |
|
|
2 |
Acquisition Details
| Variant | Source(s) | Cost | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Resources | |||||
| Regular | Ultra Hard | Regular | Ultra Hard | |||
| Basic | N/A | N/A | N/A | This bow is used by the young Aloy during the introductory quests and cannot be obtained otherwise. | ||
| Carja | Tier 2/3/4 Merchants |
50 | 250 | Sparker x5 Wire x5 |
Sparker x10 Wire x10 |
Aloy starts the quest The Point of the Spear with this bow in her inventory. |
| Shadow | Tier 3 & 4 Merchants |
650 | 3.250 | Watcher Heart x1 | Watcher Heart x2 | |
| Banuk Striker | Bluegleam Merchants |
N/A | Bluegleam x16 | This Bow can only be purchased once per-playthrough | ||
| Adept | Tier 3 & 4 Merchants |
1.300 | 6.500 | Watcher Heart x1 Stormbird Heart x1 |
Watcher Heart x2 Stormbird Heart x2 |
|
| Adept Striker | Bluegleam Merchants |
1.250 | 6.250 | Bluegleam x16 Fireclaw Heart x1 |
This Bow can only be purchased once per-playthrough | |
| Carja Mighty | Regular Merchants |
N/A | Carja Mighty Bow Token | Only Available in some editions of the game Tokens do not reload on New Game+ | ||
| Tier 2/3/4 Merchants |
N/A | N/A | Available free of charge in Complete Edition | |||
| Banuk Culling | Regular Merchants |
N/A | Banuk Culling Bow Token | Only Available on some editions of the game Tokens do not reload on New Game+ | ||
| Tier 2/3/4 Merchants |
N/A | N/A | Available free of charge in Complete Edition | |||
| Horizon Zero Dawn Weapons | |
|---|---|
| Ranged Weapons | Blast Sling - Forgefire - Hunter Bow - Icerail - Rattler - Ropecaster - Sharpshot Bow - Sling - Stormslinger - Tearblaster - War Bow |
| Melee Weapons | Spear - Sylens' Lance |
| Stealth Weapons | Traps - Tripcaster |
| Heavy Weapons | Deathbringer Gun - Disc Launcher - Firespitter - Firestriker - Mine Launcher - Oseram Cannon - Ravager Cannon |