Bows vs Crossbows: Which is Better? 

I like that you end it with "this is my choice," not "this is better."

A friend and I actually made a crossbow for a school engineering project once. It had about a 60 pound draw weight with no power at all, but it felt awesome to shoot something we built from scratch!

I personally prefer the crossbow but to argue that one is better than the other is to misunderstand the utility of both.

In The Wheel of Time books there is actually a quite nice exploration of crossbows vs bows. It brings up the points of how you need to train longer for bows: The only group of prominent bow users by the end of the series are the "Two Rivers men" who are farmers and livestock herders who live in the woods and learn the bow from childhood to hunt. We never see anyone train to learn the bow but we see people training whole new armies of crossbowmen. in one of my favorite battles in book 11 a general who has to run with his army out of enemy territory, abuses the fact that they have new crossbows that shoot 8 bolts per minute instead of the common 3 per minute to make is army seem much larger by how many bolts they fire in a given time and information not traveling very well in that setting.

I like that you didn't just rag on the crossbow but actually compared the two with advantages and disadvantages.

Fascinating video, I always thought of crossbows as the medieval equivalent of guns, they shoot in a straight line with a lot of force, they can be reloaded without shooting, and they are shot via trigger. I never realised how versatile normal bows were though.

This makes so much sense. In Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the Uruk-hai army uses crossbows, becasue their soldiers were literally born within the last few months. Where everyone else who had generations to train their archers, from the Gondorians to the Rhohirrim and even the Orcs, all use war bows.

My fantasy for the two is different, and seemingly in line with the reality. Mastering the bow is about the archer, a skilled person who can take any bow and push it to it's limits, like how a brass instrument player learns how to make the instrument shapes sound so theycan use it intuitively. A crossbow user is never mainly a marksman when I make characters, they're a tinkerer. They make their tool and it becomes their baby, skill is reflectes in the weapon rather than it's use, although usually I also have the x-bow be tailored to the user to where others may struggle fully utilizing it. In a way it's more like a music producer, they may not play any analogue instruments, but they understand how to combine various sounds and effects to produce art, and often make their own instruments based on tweaking synths and effects. Neither is better, rather both are worthy disciplines thatrequire both discipline and experience.

Another important advantage of crossbows is that you can have it "ready" more or less forever before pulling the trigger when you want to shoot. An archer needs to first draw the bow and expose more of his body until an arrow can be shot. This makes crossbows a very effective defensive weapon if you're shooting from a wall during a siege for example. It's also why many crossbowmen carried comically large shields that were basically portable walls; such as the famous crossbowmen of Genoa.

I like the comparison between the two. Indeed, when I first started learning how to shoot a bow, I had no clue how to aim properly and my shots went everywhere BUT the target. Where bow archery is more of an art, crossbows and modern firearms (not counting the wildly inaccurate flintlocks), are more of a science. Where you shoot where the sights are aiming, and if you’re a little bit off, you make small adjustments and corrections based on where the shots are hitting. Makes them easier to learn than bows.

I just love it how he’s constantly hanging from trees. It’s the last thing you expect (normally), there isn’t any reason to do it other than to show that he can do it, but there he is, hanging upside down a tree shooting a bow once again. 😂 I absolutely love it.

The real main advantage of crossbows is that they're better to use in movies for scenes where they want the guards to hold up the heroes, and just treat bows as if they're guns (running around with them drawn, holding it drawn for several minutes while the captain talks to the heroes etc)

It's also important to remember that crossbows were historically created in an age and place where plate armor was making some people nigh-invincible (or so thought) and sieges were one of the major locations that weapon innovation needed to happen. For that bill, crossbows fit perfectly. Some schmuck who's trained for ten days can kill an armored target by shooting them in the chest from on top of a wall, thirty meters away. As well, the fact you pre-load crossbows makes them superior in a siege where you have plenty of time to reload behind a wall, but not necessarily to aim outside of cover. They're more bang for proverbial buck in terms of wood as well, which was actually a consideration in some of the longer sieges. So while bows are - if you're skilled - usually better in many cases, the specific scenario that crossbows were created in made them a hot commodity for the time. Hope this makes sense, and I know war bows can pierce some armors too, but at the time iirc it was mostly crossbows which were given the job. Let me know if there's anything you want to add!

My day started very badly but your passion for archery helped me to feel better ! Your general chill attitude is real effective for those problems

the main advantage of the crossbow is the low training needed and that it can be held ready rather than holding the bow at draw.

Definitely appreciate the longer form! I came from your shorts looking for some arrow science and real-life testing, so I'd love to see more!

I love the way you demonstrate what you're saying as you explain. I've learned so much about archery from this channel and it's awesome!

Honestly this channel is so underrated, really good content

I love this channel. Not only are the topics covered interesting, but the tone is always light-hearted and non-judgmental. Oh, and the videos never waste our time with fillers, sponsors, or incessant talk, going straight to the point in fun yet educational ways.

“My choice” is the best way to put it. Neither is objectively better, they’re designed for different scenarios

Crossbows have a lot of advantages in specific scenarios: ambushes, very timing sensitive volleys, extreme long range arms racing in sieged situations, but most of all, having a prepared and immediate shot for assassination or indoor defensive situations. Don't get me wrong, I'd take a bow as well for general use, because they win out in a considerably longer and less niche list of advantages if we imagine any kind of varied combat

I always love your videos because of how resectfully you talk about literally anything. Even when something is impractical or not realistic, you don't blantly call it "stupid". And like in this video right here - you don't say which is better or worse. You showcased the strenghts and weaknesses of both weapons and left it for the viewers to chose their preffered one. That's great! I hope you get more and more viral, we need more educational channels like this. Not to mention that I'd love to see you collab with Shadiversity if they were to do a video related to archery ❤️

I love it when weapons reviewers/experts will inform you and comment on the differences in different types of weaponry, without belittling it. I love respectful informative education, with an awareness of bias! Thank you so much for this video!

This elf has obviously watched Top Gear his entire childhood spent in the woods, this is where he got both his archery (woods) and presentation (Jeremy) skills. I just love his manner and intonations

Another thing of note would be the variables. You as a person are prone to variables such as the weather, your own health, injuries, what have you. This means that while yes, you can be doing worse than your average due to issues, it also means having a great day means you're even more likely to be good at what you're doing. A crossbow - as you said - is just as it is with the mechanisms in place. So you could be down with the flu but your bolt goes just as hard & fast as if you were at full strength. Again, having a great day means not taking advantage of that potential. Not to prioritise one over the other of course, just great to see the differences and appreciate both for what they are!

You’re such an amazing educator! The Royal Armouries up in Leeds should totally hire you, your practical knowledge of bows is incredible.

I agree completely. It's comparable to why muskets were used over bows: shorter training time due to ease of operation despite long reload time. Good archers are valuable, but were phased out in the standardization of the military :(

wow, you’re telling a question of ‘is this better than this’ once again comes down to preference and situation? mind blowing

You find crossbows often depicted in medieval siege scenes. The reason is, you can draw a crossbow and lie in wait behind cover until some head pops up on the other side. You cannot draw a bow and keep it drawn for a longer time, especially the more powerful war bows.

Love it! Definitely down for more longer videos like this one. It never occurred to me that crossbows would be so much harder to load. Also, I highly respect your choice of doing what's more fun and skillful rather than what's "easiest and most efficient". Not that crossbows are even necessarily always that (depending on the skill of the archer)

I have a Ranger character that gets disgusted at the mention of crossbows. He would be very pleased to see this video 😆

Realistically speaking, this is a really well made video.

Soeaking of this argument, I'd be interested in seeing you tackle some of the differences between different kinds of bows. Compound bows, for instance. What are the advantages/disadvantages of using a standard or recurve bow versus a compound bow?

I love that you genuinely discussed pros and cons. If crossbows were garbage, we would likely not even be aware of the concept, because it wouldn’t have caught on.

I'm suddenly reminded of a line from The Legend of Vox Machina when Vex gets tossed a crossbow while in a scenario where the party doesn't have their usual weapons, hers being a longbow: "A trigger? Ew."

For those curious, the historical way that crossbowmen got around the "slow reload" issue was that crossbowmen usually worked in teams of people (especially during sieges). The crossbowman would fire their shot then get handed an already loaded new crossbow. They could have like 3-4 crossbows prepared in this way. And while being handed a new crossbow to fire, the rest of the crossbowman's team would be reloading the spent bolts. In this way, the rate of fire for a crossbow would be comparable to the rate of fire of a longbowman. This is likely where the idea of people having multiple single shot pistols came from (for example Edward Teach, Blackbeard)

Beautifully said.

“You’re not gonna reload it like Daryl Dixon” *proceeds to reload it exactly like Daryl Dixon does*

I appreciate the “my choice” bit. If either of these weapons were objectively better, the other wouldn’t have survived for us to know about it. It’s not like comparing 2 hammers either, it’s more like comparing a wrench vs a screwdriver. Similar result and function, different purpose and mechanism

I’ve played one character in DnD that used crossbows, because it’s harder to get the proficiency for a longbow, but short bows don’t deal a ton of damage, and she wasn’t really an archer type. We were going for a traditional dungeon delving thing, and at the time, being able to shoot from a long range was less effective than being able to react with your bow, which was made easier by having a crossbow that was already loaded.

What a great video explaining in details the big differences between bows and crossbows, without devaluating either ❤

All of my questions and history I needed to know answered instantly. Amazing video you should be very proud of your knowledge

love how you explains both choices of weapon for fantasy setting, this takes me back to the very old game called "Battle Realms" There are 2 clans, and they take a different approach to archery the Dragon clan would train their archers. whereas the Serpent clan would take the shortcut and let their units use the crossbow instead they also mentioned in the game that archers were more skillful and respected for their arts. they're far from weak nor cowards. archer must possess great strength and courage to draw their bow and hold steady while the enemies are closing in. and they can't wear armors because they interfere with their delicate aims But the Serpent clan also bites back that archery took excessive training and they think strength would better be spent in the front lines. you can easily give crossbows to peasants, and they would be ready in days. not weeks. they also prefer it that their crossbowmen are cowards and quick to flee than fight. those crossbows aren't cheap after all

From admiring your knowledge to blushing with excitement when you shoot upside down, absolutely love your videos!

I prefer the bow as well. Crossbows are great, too, I just would prefer a bow. Mostly because there is less maintenance and a total of 2 parts or so (not a compound fan)! Longer videos are great, this was a great video!

Thanks for the comparison! I was thinking of a sort of “cyber punk but medieval” world and one of the main cast of characters was going to be a sniper armed with a high tech crossbow. I went with a crossbow because I thought that the high draw weight of a war bow would hold her back, seeing as she’s not that physically imposing. I still think I’ll go with a crossbow, but this will allow me to depict her and her weapon with greater accuracy!

Maybe I missed it, but also a crossbow's power decreases faster over range due to the lack of inertia in the smaller/lighter ammunition fired. So penetrating armor is going to be more consistent over distance with a bow, but more "front-loaded" with a crossbow.

I remember hearing many of these very same points when reading Ranger's Apprentice way back then. It's so nostalgic to review these points again now

I find it fascinating the concept that archers were trained across generations!

it's training time vs. Troop quality

The immediate "How wrong are they, actually?" at the beginning of the video😂

I could see them being used for heavy infantry. Just a quick shot from a 1-handed crossbow to pierce some nearby armour before engaging in melee.

“Your father's warbow. This is the weapon of an Englishman. Not as clumsy or random as a crossbow. An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age.”

Crossbow, by virtue of having more parts, also has more points of failure. A bow, you have the bow itself, and the string. You have to physically snap the whole thing in order for it to stop working. A crossbow could jam, or part of it could malfunction, much easier, and then need repairing before it's useful again.

You have been blessed by the youtube algoritme, for you just showed op in my recommendation and I love that

I'd love to hear your thoughts on my personal favorite ancient ranged weapon, the sheppard's sling, or simply the sling. I think they are one of the most overlooked weapons in history. However, they take just as much, if not more, training to become proficient with them compared to bows. I like them for their simplicity. they're braided bits of rope that fling stones, or lead bullets if you get fancy with it :). @blumineck, could you do a video comparing these together too??

I just wanted to thank you for your content & hard work you put into creating it! I've always wanted to learn archery, so your videos make me a little bit closer to my biggest dream. they inspire me and that's why I'm not giving up 🤧

The way dwarves are always depicted using crossbows is so cool! 'Cause they're so short but so strong

Thank you for providing precise argument both for and against, each weapon, and why you prefer one over the other. I too prefer the bow, over a crossbow.

Some advantages of the crossbow are also negated under some circumstances, high weight crossbows take almost as much time to reload as a ballista sometimes! I love them both, but for an archer character that needs to be versatile, I think you’re mostly fine with having your artificer make you an instant legolas, and just keeping it in your pack for a battle where you need it

Two big things you didn't mention, that I feel are pretty important, are that crossbow bolts in flight tend to be less stable and lose energy faster than arrows, so they don't work as well at long distances, and that crossbows have the advantage of not exerting the user at full draw. IIRC crossbows were much more useful during sieges and the like, where a crossbowman could peek around the corner and shoot immediately, or shoot the peeking person before they go back in cover. Way tougher to do that with a bow. All in all, they are different weapons that have different uses. You wouldn't argue whether a sword or a spear is better, even though you can stab a bloke with both.

Enjoyed the video just subbed will stick around for more

I think there was a type of early crossbow called the “gastraphetes” from “gastro” meaning stomach, because you’d have to rest it on your stomach while reloading.

Both have advantages and disavantages, this video shows it in a way that's easy to understand

"The apprentice wants to learn the bow; the warrior knows the bow; the master IS the bow." (I heard it with swords but it fits your explanation)

Right then *changes character’s weapon to a bow* I’ve always heard crossbows are easier and wondered if the one we had once was just nonsense with the pain of trying to reload it. Glad(?) that wasn’t the case. Also thank you for this channel, lovely to have one dedicated to archery!!!

that upside down shot at the end was just a giant flex isn't it ? it was cool as fuck I give you that

Crossbow advantages: 1. Much easier to aim accurately and inherently more accurate. 2. Greater maximum energy even accounting for shorter draw. 3. Can be held at full draw. 4. Short fat bolt unlikely to buckle on impact, meaning more effective against armor. 5. Can be fired with one hand after loading with two, allowing a secondary such as a tower shield. 6. Easier to become skilled with. 7. Strength and technique less of an issue to use high power versions. 8. More compact form factor. 9. Typically pretty durable. You could parry with it or even use it as a melee weapon. 10. Much fewer handedness problems. 11. Low ammo consumption rate due to accuracy and limited fire rate. Bow advantages: 1. High rate of fire. 2. Can be used with two hands, no levers or feet. 3. Mechanically simple. 4. Simple one can be made without any tools. 5. Long thin shaft and sharp point give it unreasonably good penetration against soft targets. 6. Excellent effective range against area targets.

From what I understand, crossbow is more efficient when you’re fielding an army. The little training required means that you’re limited by production. It’s like the German vs Russian tanks in ww2. Would you rather have 5000 archers or 25000 crossbow men? Not to mention, losing 1 archer means all that time of training him is lost, but losing 1 crossbow man means just giving the crossbow to the next man down the line.

Man, I love this channel and I don't even practice archery

The thing about crossbows is the arbalest. Arbalests were made of the newly developed steel and have such a heavy draw that they needed leverage in order to draw them. This had major implications for medieval combat because now they could pierce PLATE ARMOR. It's not talked about much because they were shortly superseded by handheld firearms about two centuries later; however, significant borders were redrawn due to their destructive power during this period.

I tried not to subscribe because I'm not really into archery. But your videos have been popping up for about a week now. You do a really good job at explaining archery and making it interesting. From my point of view some would call it useless knowledge, but I don't really consider any knowledge useless. You got a new sub off this video.

Hmmm saw 2 shorts and this first youtube video (atleast i watched it as a youtube video and not a short) 3 out of 3 Videos i found interesting. I do enjoy this kind of content. I think you sir deserve another follower! and subbed! good job keep up the work

I remember going to some summer camp place with my church or school as a kid. One of the activities available to us was the archery range. Although that was my only exposure to archery, I very much enjoyed it. Wish I had followed up on that interest...

This is why medieval military would often supplement crossbowmen with archers... Same with the Medieval Handgonne when gunpowder started to get used in the late 1300s, it was nore powerful but was slow to the point that it needed some archers to give cover fire during the reload between volleys.

I remember my first time shooting a bow. A crossbow in comparison is like driving a luxury car, that is comfy and easy to drive with all the technical and electronical helpers. You will get there reasonably fast, but it will not beat a true race car with a skilled driver. The crossbow is for the masses. You can teach a person to use it in a few minutes and they will be able to reasonably hit the target. Put a little more time in, and you have yourself a fighter. Now, if you need 100 of these quickly, the choice is easy. Kinda the 20/80 principal. Of course a skilled user can handle a bow in many more different situations and can adapt to the enviorment. That is much more important for such a specialized force. The question for the right tool is always a question of ressourcemanagement.

It is so refreshing to hear someone talk about medieval weapons without claiming that one is useless, and especially also acknowledging that realism isn't always the most important thing in fantasy storytelling

Awesome explanation! I'm so glad i found this channel randomly the other day

So basically Bows: firerate build Crossbow: piercing damage build

Very informative vid cuz. I like the fact the you didn’t make your choice a bias decision but not only listed but showed the ways in which both can be good but ended with this is my choice.

Something I dont see brought up often is that you dont have infinite ammunition to shoot with. Every arrow and bolt needs to be paid for, manufactured, and carried all the way to the battlefield. And crossbows definitely have an advantage in being more likely to damage the enemy with each shot.

Theoretically though, this difference shifts over time, and in certain locations. In medieval days, carrying a bow into battle works great, and in most ways outclasses any crossbow of the time. Fast forward to Victorian era, and suddenly you’re trying to carry a bow around through a city, at a time when crossbows are a lot closer to guns than they are to bows. There’s no true definitive answer here, and that’s why both ideas have stuck around so long. Great video, by the way

"Crossbow or bow for a medieval setting?" France at the end of the HYW: "Guns."

One note on the tactics of crossbows: they can hold tension for much longer than a human archer (though not indefinitely), so they have much more utility in siege warfare.

There's a reason why British freemen in the middle ages were encouraged to train in Archery several times a week. The power of the Longbow was incredible, and that culture already existed. But there's a reason why crossbows were incredibly common elsewhere, in places without that same war archery culture (China during the warring states period, for example). If the archery culture isn't as prevalent within the population, or you need to mobilize an enormous number of ranged soldiers at once, the crossbow is the superior choice due to the much higher skill floor.

For my money the biggest advantage of the crossbow is that you can effectively "hold" the shot whilst aiming more easily than a regular bow. Again it makes it simpler to use and to aim for a lot of people. And a lot of tools exist to help the crossbowman get speed into their shots etc. But you are completely right about the versatility of the bows. I would also say that crossbows are probably much more analogous to muskets in terms of their use so retraining crossbowmen to musketeers is potentially simpler than retraining bowmen, and you lose much less of the cost sunk into getting the good archers. But the advantages in power of the crossbow really scale up well with size as you can go far beyond the power in a single person, hence why ballistas and the like are basically giant crossbows.

A game I love called Oriental Empires a 4X game like Civilization covers this. Once you get crossbows, it explains that it’s more expensive, but much quicker to raise a militia with, as crossbows don’t require as much training like you said. And the solution for it being so difficult to reload, it was the practice at the time that if you had some, you had lots, and overwhelmed the enemy with just storms of crossbow bolts. That is until the Chu No Ku was invented (no, Zhuge Liang didn’t invent it, he just popularized it, it was around during the Chu Dynasty) and it became mainstream. You should do a video on said repeating crossbow if you haven’t already!

The most powerful historical crossbows literally had a winch system to draw it because no person could physically do it. It took 30 to 60 seconds per shot with one. Ultimately it's about trade offs. Do you need the maximum possible penetrating power? Or would you rather favor speed or accuracy? Are you trying to train a large group? Or just yourself? Do you have a time limit you have to be ready by? These questions are relevant even if you've already picked bow or crossbow as there are various models specialized for different purposes within each group. An Olympic target bow won't serve a trick shooter or combat archer well. And a sound dampened hunting bow won't be the best option for any of the previous three.

Thanks for outlining the important differences between the two.

This could be a really cool argument between two characters

Sir you are a very skilled archer. Your videos make me want to break out the compound bow and practice again.

You forgot two things: 1. With a war bow, you can adjust the distance and power by adjusting the draw length, but a crossbow always has the same draw length. 2. With a crossbow, it's much easier to maintain a draw since a mechanism is doing it for you, whereas your arms and back will probably get tired after a short while with a war bow, as you demonstrated in your video about threatening people at point-blank with a bow.

as they say, ‘If you want to train a longbowman, start with his grandfather’

Interesting notes. Now i wanna see your take on Bows vs Slingshots.

There's also one huge difference between crossbows and bows that a lot of people fail to mention... Mobility, aside from it's humongous draw weight, medieval crossbows and bolts are generally cumbersome and heavy than bows and arrows, which is why you can hear lots of stories of bow being the higlight more often on field battles where mobility is the difference between winning and loosing, and crossbows being the highlight on static sieges where the higher the number of your population contributing to the siege defense, the more successful you are at defending your city.... also bows can be used by cavalry to a devastating effect than crossbows, which is why you'd often hear more of the terrors and damages done on the battlefield by Mongolian Cavalry Archers than a European mounted Light crossbowmen

Old video but tou mentioned the trouble of reloading with a crossbow and I was reminded of the fact there were magazine based crossbows now, however that only does circle back to two of your points. They're way more expensive and there are way more parts to get it to work to do something a well trained archer can do less than a minute faster.

I also feel like the fact that you can choose how far to draw a bow is kind of a big deal

Not directly related to the western crossbows, but there were Chinese crossbows known as Chu-Ko-Nu that were lever-action and repeating. They had a "box" that the bolts would fall down via gravity with each shot, and a lever on the top that when pushed forward, would pull the crossbow and drop a bolt in, and when pulled back would launch the bolt, and repeat. Crossbowmen adept at this could fire up to 3 times in 5 seconds *including* reloading. However, at the cost of this speed, the accuracy and power were lackluster and were mainly used to create swarms of arrows in defensive situations.

My dad is a Napoleonic war reenactor and gets really annoyed when people ask 'wouldn't you be better off with a bow and arrow than a musket?' because in the end, training time and stopping power win out.

Spoken like a true Ranger, brother. Ranger was my first D&D and Pathfinder class and archery has been the only sport I’ve stuck with over my life time. Crossbows are awesome but, for me, quintessential skill with a bow is unmatched. A good friend of mine runs the Gunslinger class in Pathfinder and we always have this inter-party Bow vs Gun rivalry of seeing who can pull off the most wicked ranged stunts. Would be down with posting a video (within your legal limits, naturally) about how you as an archer would approach conflict against an opponent with firearms semi-realistically and from a fantasy point of view? Completely understand if limitations would prevent this or it wouldn’t be your cup of tea. Love your content.