🔫 COMPOUND BOW

Damage & Stats

The Compound Bow delivers 65-130 damage per arrow depending on draw duration — a quick-release snap shot at minimum draw deals 65, while a full 2-second draw produces 130 damage with maximum arrow velocity and trajectory stability. Headshot multiplier is 3x (up to 390 damage on full-draw headshots), making it a one-hit kill against any unarmored target at any health level. Arrow velocity at full draw reaches 80 m/s with an effective accurate range of 50 meters; beyond this distance, arrow drop becomes significant and requires practiced elevation compensation.

The bow is functionally silent — the string release produces audio detectable only within 5 meters, compared to a suppressed pistol's 15-meter detection radius. This near-total silence makes it the premier stealth weapon for eliminating targets without alerting nearby enemies. Rate of fire is slow (one arrow per 3-4 seconds including draw time), and the player carries a maximum of 20 arrows with 4 arrow types available. Arrows that miss can be retrieved from surfaces they embed in; arrows that hit targets are recoverable from eliminated enemies' bodies 50% of the time.

Tactical Analysis

The Compound Bow dominates stealth engagements where silence is paramount. In gang hideout clearances, the bow eliminates perimeter guards without alerting interior forces — each silent kill removes one threat from the total count without triggering the alarm cascade that a single gunshot initiates. Clearing 3-4 exterior guards with bow shots before switching to firearms for the interior assault significantly reduces overall encounter difficulty. The bow's slow rate of fire makes it unsuitable as a primary weapon in open firefights where enemies are aware and returning fire.

Hunting applications leverage the bow's silence and damage output. The wildlife system penalizes noisy kills — gunshots scare all wildlife within 200 meters, ending hunting sessions prematurely. Bow kills affect only the target animal, allowing consecutive hunts in the same area without repositioning. Broadhead arrows preserve pelt quality for maximum vendor value, while firearms damage reduces pelt grade. For the wildlife compendium and hunting achievements, the bow is the optimal weapon across most species categories.

Attachments & Modifications

The Compound Bow accepts a red-dot sight ($300) that adds a projected aiming reticle for improved accuracy at medium range, a stabilizer ($400) that reduces the bow's natural sway during aimed shots, and a quiver upgrade ($250) that increases arrow capacity from 20 to 30. Arrow types function as ammunition variants: Standard broadhead (130 max damage, recoverable), Explosive-tipped ($50/arrow, 80 blast damage on impact, non-recoverable, loud), Fire arrows ($30/arrow, ignite flammable surfaces and enemies, 40 fire damage over 4 seconds), and Tranquilizer arrows ($40/arrow, sedates wildlife for tagging without killing, sedates humans for 30 seconds).

The compound mechanism upgrade ($800) reduces full-draw time from 2 seconds to 1.5 seconds and increases arrow velocity by 15%, extending the effective accurate range from 50 to 65 meters. This upgrade is available at the hunting supply shop in the Everglades and the Ammu-Nation in Grassrivers. Cosmetic options include 4 limb wraps (black, woodland camo, snow camo, carbon fiber) and custom string colors that affect only visual presentation.

Best Situations

Stealth mission approaches where detection means mission failure or significant difficulty escalation represent the bow's highest-value deployment. The "Night Moves" mission chain requires eliminating targets without triggering building alarms — the bow handles this perfectly where even suppressed firearms risk detection by nearby guards. The Everglades missions frequently involve outdoor stealth where the bow's silence combines with environmental cover (vegetation, swamp fog) for undetected multi-target elimination.

Hunting activities are purpose-built for bow use. The Everglades deer population, Keys wildlife, and Leonida State Park game animals all yield maximum pelt quality and compendium credit when taken with broadhead arrows. The tranquilizer arrow variant enables non-lethal wildlife encounters for photography and tagging objectives without killing — essential for the endangered species missions where lethal methods fail the objective. Explosive and fire arrows provide situational chaos capability (detonating vehicle fuel tanks, igniting crop fields during distraction sequences) while maintaining the bow's utility slot advantage over dedicated explosive weapons.

How to Acquire

The Compound Bow ($1,800) is available at Ammu-Nation stores and the Everglades hunting supply shop after completing the "First Hunt" mission that introduces hunting mechanics. The hunting supply shop offers a 15% discount ($1,530) reflecting the bow's primary hunting application. Arrow types are available at the same locations: standard broadheads ($5/arrow), explosive ($50/arrow), fire ($30/arrow), and tranquilizer ($40/arrow). A free bow spawns at the abandoned hunting camp in Leonida State Park, leaning against the cabin exterior.

During the "Welcome to Leonida" mission sequence, the player receives a temporary bow for a scripted hunting tutorial that demonstrates draw mechanics and arrow types. This tutorial bow does not persist in inventory. The permanent bow purchase integrates naturally with the hunting activity's equipment requirements — the hunting supply shop bundles a "Hunter's Starter Kit" ($2,200) containing the bow, 30 broadhead arrows, and 10 tranquilizer arrows at a combined 20% discount over individual pricing.

Comparison to Similar Weapons

The Compound Bow versus the Crossbow presents a choice between skill-rewarded damage and mechanical consistency. The bow's draw-dependent damage (65-130) rewards patient full-draw shots with double the quick-release damage, while the crossbow's fixed 85 damage per bolt eliminates draw timing from the equation. The bow fires faster (3-4 second cycle versus the crossbow's 5-second reload), offers arrow recovery, and supports the full range of arrow types. The crossbow provides a scope option, higher base accuracy at long range, and simpler point-and-shoot operation.

Against suppressed firearms, the bow trades fire rate and ease of use for superior silence (5m detection versus 15m), zero muzzle flash, higher single-hit damage on full draw, and arrow type versatility. A suppressed pistol kills more targets per minute but creates a wider detection envelope and cannot replicate the bow's tranquilizer, fire, and explosive arrow capabilities. The bow rewards patient operators who plan each shot; suppressed firearms support faster-paced stealth play with higher error tolerance due to rapid follow-up shots.

Combat Strategies

Always fire from cover with a full draw charge. The 2-second draw animation leaves the player stationary and vulnerable — initiating draws while exposed invites return fire during the charge period. Peek from behind walls, cars, or vegetation, release the shot, then return to cover before enemies locate the arrow's origin. Body shots at full draw kill most unarmored enemies in one hit (130 damage against 100 HP); headshots guarantee kills regardless of health or armor through the 3x multiplier.

Use arrow types situationally within the same engagement. Open with broadheads for silent kills on perimeter targets, switch to explosive arrows when stealth breaks and enemies cluster behind cover (the blast radius clears cover positions), then use fire arrows to ignite vegetation or vehicles creating area-denial zones that channel enemy movement into killable angles. Keep tranquilizer arrows reserved for encounters where non-lethal outcomes are required or preferred — sedated enemies can be interrogated, looted, or left unconscious without the wanted-level consequences of killing.

History in the GTA Series

GTA 6 introduces the Compound Bow as a franchise first — no previous GTA title included a bow weapon. The closest historical precedent is GTA V's melee throwing weapons (Jerry Can for fire, grenades for explosives), which provided some of the tactical variety that the bow now consolidates into a single versatile platform. The bow draws design influence from Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018), where the bow served as a core stealth and hunting weapon with similar draw mechanics, arrow types, and ammunition recovery systems.

The bow's inclusion reflects GTA 6's expanded approach to non-firearm combat options. Where GTA V's weapon wheel was dominated by firearms across all engagement categories, GTA 6 provides viable non-firearm alternatives for stealth (bow), hunting (bow), infiltration (tools), and melee combat (expanded melee system). The bow represents the most mechanically complex of these alternatives, with its draw-dependent damage, arrow type system, and silent profile creating a weapon that rewards dedicated practice with capabilities no firearm can fully replicate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Last updated April 24, 2026.