Bow tips

[Editore]

Hello, im a new coming decent MCSG player. But I still have horrible bow skills and would like to know tips and tricks to improve? Maybe even methods of training to improve aim.

Thank you for your feedback.

 

[ProfessorRetro]

Just focus on your target. Imagine where they're going next. And make sure you're aiming at the correct angle to reach the target, for new bow users, that can be quite tricky.

 

[Mint_Sibs]

Mint's Updated Bow God Guide​

- The most common dodging pattern is back and forth, left to right.
- When dodging try to NOT have a specific pattern, in other words dodge randomly.
- If you time your shots right, by waiting right after they shoot before charging your arrow, you can hit them before they have a chance to strafe, making it so you don't have to predict dodging patterns.(Do not rely on this as it doesn't always work)
- When dodging remember that there are many different things you can do, here is a small list off the top of my head:
*Move to the left while shooting, and go to the left after shooting
*Move to the left after shooting
*Move to the left while shooting, and go right after shooting
*Move to the right while shooting, and go left after shooting
*Move to the right while shooting, and go right after shooting
*Move to the left or right while shooting, and do not move after shooting
*Do not move while shooting, but move after shooting
*Do not move at all
-You can also help differentiate the the distances in your dodging, here are some examples how:
*Sprint jump
*Move diagonally
*Jump
*Move backwards
-Playing aggressively makes your opponents nervous, so if you see your up shots, try to do some forward sprint jumps to get closer to your opponent.

If you follow all these rules, you will find yourself loosing. Now fights rarely, but, I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT RELY ON YOUR BOW.
Thank me never
-Mint the bow god.

 

[Nephilim]

These are some techniques that I use when I want to shoot someone.

• If you have enough arrows, you don't have to pull your bow back all the way. As you may know, when charging a bow, your arrow goes through 3 stages or it gets slightly pulled back 3 times before you shoot. So when you are having a close bow fight with someone, only pull your arrow back until it gets in the second or middle stage and then release it. By doing this, you are able to shoot your arrows faster than your opponent + if your opponent pulls his bow back the whole way, you have some time left to dodge their arrow. After you shot your target, you can dodge his arrows in the ways Mint_Sibs described them. Some resource packs, especially the pvp ones, offer you the opportunity to see when you should release your arrow. For example, in the first stage your bow/arrow changes into a green color, in the second one orange and in the last one red. That way you immediately know when to release your arrow. This is how my bow looks like in my resource pack:

1st stage 2nd stage 3rd stage Regular bow ​

Notice that when you use this tactic, your arrows will do less damage than when you pull your bow back the whole way. When you shoot someone in full iron in the second stage, it will do 1 heart of damage, when you pull your bow back the whole way, so in third stage, it will do 1,5 hearts of damage. That is a reason why I recommend you to only use this tactic when you have a higher amount of arrows as it will take more arrows to actually kill your opponent.​

• If it is possible, try to find lower ground to shoot someone. The reason behind this is that your opponent will have less "body" to aim at. For example if you are standing on a 1 block lower level than him, he can only aim at half of your body as the other part is covered by blocks. You have the advantage here because you are still able to aim at their full body. It's difficult to explain, here is an example of how it would look like:

​

• The last tip that I can give to you is about hiding behind trees for example. If you are having a bow fight with someone and you get really low, go hide behind a tree. When you are ready to shoot back, don't slowly appear to the left or the right of the tree because your opponent will expect this. If they see you slightly moving to the left behind the tree, they can already aim at that spot and they will most likely hit you. So what you should do in this case is to jump 2 or 3 blocks sideward of the tree. You opponent will not expect this and will probably miss their shot. Take advantage of this and shoot back while they are confused.

If you have problems with aiming, I recommend you to make a creative world and place down a dispenser with bat spawner eggs. Put a redstone wire underneath the dispenser leading towards you and put at the end a lever. Each time you switch the lever, a bat will spawn and then you come in action and try to shoot them. This is a good practice to get better at aiming because bats are so small and therefore harder to hit.

I hope this helped you a bit.

 

[Editore]

Wow! I didnt expect this much feedback in such little time. Thank all of you for helping.

 

[kipje1122]

Mint's Updated Bow God Guide​

- The most common dodging pattern is back and forth, left to right.
- When dodging try to NOT have a specific pattern, in other words dodge randomly.
- If you time your shots right, by waiting right after they shoot before charging your arrow, you can hit them before they have a chance to strafe, making it so you don't have to predict dodging patterns.(Do not rely on this as it doesn't always work)
- When dodging remember that there are many different things you can do, here is a small list off the top of my head:
*Move to the left while shooting, and go to the left after shooting
*Move to the left after shooting
*Move to the left while shooting, and go right after shooting
*Move to the right while shooting, and go left after shooting
*Move to the right while shooting, and go right after shooting
*Move to the left or right while shooting, and do not move after shooting
*Do not move while shooting, but move after shooting
*Do not move at all
-You can also help differentiate the the distances in your dodging, here are some examples how:
*Sprint jump
*Move diagonally
*Jump
*Move backwards
-Playing aggressively makes your opponents nervous, so if you see your up shots, try to do some forward sprint jumps to get closer to your opponent.

If you follow all these rules, you will find yourself loosing. Now fights rarely, but, I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT RELY ON YOUR BOW.
Thank me never
-Mint the bow god.

I totally agree with you, except for the part moving your character while shooting, as this is more a thing you could do when you get better with the bow I would recommend first standing still and if that goes good if you hit atleast half of your shot you could try and move while shooting.

 

[Mint_Sibs]

I totally agree with you, except for the part moving your character while shooting, as this is more a thing you could do when you get better with the bow I would recommend first standing still and if that goes good if you hit atleast half of your shot you could try and move while shooting.

That will not work well, moving while shooting is a key strafing pattern. If you don't start out by doing it, you will find it very hard to learn it.

 

[Mint_Sibs]

These are some techniques that I use when I want to shoot someone.

• If you have enough arrows, you don't have to pull your bow back all the way. As you may know, when charging a bow, your arrow goes through 3 stages or it gets slightly pulled back 3 times before you shoot. So when you are having a close bow fight with someone, only pull your arrow back until it gets in the second or middle stage and then release it. By doing this, you are able to shoot your arrows faster than your opponent + if your opponent pulls his bow back the whole way, you have some time left to dodge their arrow. After you shot your target, you can dodge his arrows in the ways Mint_Sibs described them. Some resource packs, especially the pvp ones, offer you the opportunity to see when you should release your arrow. For example, in the first stage your bow/arrow changes into a green color, in the second one orange and in the last one red. That way you immediately know when to release your arrow. This is how my bow looks like in my resource pack:

1st stage 2nd stage 3rd stage Regular bow ​

Notice that when you use this tactic, your arrows will do less damage than when you pull your bow back the whole way. When you shoot someone in full iron in the second stage, it will do 1 heart of damage, when you pull your bow back the whole way, so in third stage, it will do 1,5 hearts of damage. That is a reason why I recommend you to only use this tactic when you have a higher amount of arrows as it will take more arrows to actually kill your opponent.​

• If it is possible, try to find lower ground to shoot someone. The reason behind this is that your opponent will have less "body" to aim at. For example if you are standing on a 1 block lower level than him, he can only aim at half of your body as the other part is covered by blocks. You have the advantage here because you are still able to aim at their full body. It's difficult to explain, here is an example of how it would look like:

​

• The last tip that I can give to you is about hiding behind trees for example. If you are having a bow fight with someone and you get really low, go hide behind a tree. When you are ready to shoot back, don't slowly appear to the left or the right of the tree because your opponent will expect this. If they see you slightly moving to the left behind the tree, they can already aim at that spot and they will most likely hit you. So what you should do in this case is to jump 2 or 3 blocks sideward of the tree. You opponent will not expect this and will probably miss their shot. Take advantage of this and shoot back while they are confused.

If you have problems with aiming, I recommend you to make a creative world and place down a dispenser with bat spawner eggs. Put a redstone wire underneath the dispenser leading towards you and put at the end a lever. Each time you switch the lever, a bat will spawn and then you come in action and try to shoot them. This is a good practice to get better at aiming because bats are so small and therefore harder to hit.

I hope this helped you a bit.

A 2 tick arrow does 2-2.5 hearts on full iron. As well, it is actually BETTER to charge back all the way in close range now fights, there are three reasons:
*You will find that your opponent may be shooting 2 ticks, in a close range fight 2 ticks have a shorter waiting length but do HALF the damage of a fully charged arrow, the waiting length is dividing into 3 ticks: 1 for a half a heart, or floppy arrow; 2 for a shot which averages 1 heart on full iron; 3, or fully powered which averages 2-2.5 on full iron
This being said, the difference between 2 tick and full powered is that for only 1/3 more waiting time you can do double the damage or 2/1, the waiting time used to get this level of damage is more efficient than using 2 ticks.

*If you start charging your arrow at the same time as your opponent you will have an easy advantage. It's hard to explain but; You will have a 1/3 more wait than your opponent before shooting your arrow, this should go into their time for shooting their next arrow; basically you can hit them while their charging then strafe their next arrow, making you up in the bow fight.