Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes: What's The Best Bow?
"Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes" is the latest Musou action-RPG from Intelligent Systems and Omega Force. It's set in a timeline parallel to that of the tactical RPG "Fire Emblem: Three Houses," but one where events take a slightly different turn. Heroes are now villains, villains are now allies, and the fate of Fodlan lies in the balance. There are some things that remain the same though. Players who wish to face this new impending threat will need to represent a house, recruit new members, level them up into new classes during expeditions out into the world, and equip each of them with the best weapons they can get their hands on.
Archers are always a valuable class to have on your side in "Fire Emblem." Their ability to attack at range gives the player a rear layer of attackers behind the frontlines. They do exceptional damage and can reach enemies that have taken cover in places out of the reach of swords. They're also good to have against those pesky flying enemies. That was true in the turn-based "Three Houses" and it remains true in the hack-and-slash spin-off. Players who want to ensure that each and every arrow does as much damage as possible will want to recruit the best archer (cough Bernadetta cough) and make sure that they have the best bow in the game.
Hero's Crests make the choice complicated
There are several excellent bows for players to choose from in "Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes." The Blessed Bow is great for the early game as the healing magic imbued in it will help players keep their archers alive while they still have tiny health pools and the Parthia is a powerful mid-late game A-Rank weapon that deals up to 160 might and has 170 durability when fully upgraded. Neither of these are the best in the game, however. The best bows are the Heroes Relics. There are three in the total: Tathlum, The Inexhaustible and Failnaught.
They may start out with only 40 might and 70 durability, but they can be upgraded to deal major damage and each of them has special abilities that make them exceptionally powerful. The downside to these is that they have to be attuned to the appropriate crest in order to get their full utility and only certain characters in the game have them. Tathlum Bow is attuned to Mercedes' crest, The Inexhaustible is attuned to Bernadetta's crest, and Failnaught is attuned to Claude's crest. So, the best bow for each player's run-through may be different depending on who is in their party and which route they chose at the beginning of the game – but which is the strongest of the three?
Failnaught doesn't fail
It makes sense that the strongest bow in the game would belong to the only party leader who also happens to be an archer. The Failnaught is house Riegan's Hero Relic. This weapon deals bonus damage to flying units and grants Claude a special combat art called Fallen Star – an exceptionally accurate and extremely strong long range attack that also allows Claude to avoid any attack he would have received during the following round of combat. But the best thing about the Failnaught is its range. It has the "Windbender" skill which gives it the longest range of any bow in the game. It can also be upgraded to 170 might and 170 durability, making it incredibly powerful even without the addition of special abilities.
Getting the weapon is easy: The Failnaught is automatically equipped to Claude at the start of Chapter 4, To War!. This only occurs if the player is playing through the Golden Wildfire route, however. Those who chose The Black Eagles or Blue Lions as their house at the beginning of the game will be unable to obtain it.