For most of God of War Ragnarok, you’ll be playing as Kratos, who wields the Leviathan Axe, the Blades of Chaos and, eventually, the Draupnir spear, all of which are primarily weapons. But for a significant portion of the game, you’ll also be playing as Kratos’ son Atreus, who specializes in archery, but is also able to wield his bow as a melee weapon. At first, you don’t have a choice of bow, your only option being the Talon Bow that Atreus’ mother Faye made for him. But soon after you meet Angrboda, you get the Jotnar Bow which, at first glance, seems pretty similar to the Talon Bow. In fact, the Talon Bow has some definite advantages over the Jotnar Bow. So, which one is better overall?
Should you use the Jotnar Bow or the Talon Bow in God of War Ragnarok?
While you can mix and match your bows with whatever Bow Ability and Runic Summon you want, each bow has its own unique buff that cannot be transferred between bows, and it’s these buffs that really define the differences between the bows. The Talon Bow has Hunter’s Instinct, which increases the stun effect of both ranged and melee attacks. The Jotnar Bow, meanwhile, has Warrior’s Instinct, which increases the status damage of Runic Arrows (the ones you fire with R2), and shoots regular arrows three at a time.
The Stun effect is undoubtedly really useful, as it allows you to perform powerful finishers on enemies, and the increased status damage of the Jotnar Bow doesn’t make much of a noticeable difference, so you might think that the Talon Bow is a little better. But here’s the thing; it’s still pretty easy to stun enemies with the Jotnar Bow even without the increased effect, so the real difference between the bows is the Jotnar Bow’s spread fire. In many, if not all, situations, this makes it much better than the Talon Bow.
While the Jotnar Bow’s spread fire doesn’t make much difference against single enemies at mid to long range, it can be extremely powerful against groups of enemies, and against larger enemies at close range. When you shoot at a group with the Jotnar Bow, you can often hit a different enemy with each arrow, which means they all take damage, and usually get slowed down too. And using the Jotnar Bow at close range, so that all three arrows hit the same enemy, means you’re basically doing three times as much damage as the Talon Bow with every shot. So yes, unless you want to treat Atreus primarily as a melee character (in which case the Talon Bow is a little better), you should definitely choose the Jotnar Bow over the Talon Bow.
