Genshin Impact Recurve Bow

Introduction to Genshin Impact Recurve Bow

The Genshin Impact Recurve Bow is a 3-star weapon in Genshin Impact known for its rare HP% sub-stat, making it uniquely suited for support and healing-focused bow characters. While its base ATK is lower than higher-rarity weapons, its utility lies in boosting survivability and enhancing abilities that scale with HP. With a passive that restores HP on defeating enemies, the Recurve Bow is a valuable early-game option and a situationally strong pick for characters like Yelan, Sigewinne, and Diona whose kits benefit directly from increased max HP.

Understanding Weapon Types and Rarities

In the vast world of Teyvat, there are five distinct weapon types: swords, claymores, bows, polearms, and catalysts. Each character is limited to equipping only one specific weapon type at a time. Beyond type, weapons also come in different rarities, ranging from one-star to five-star. Generally, weapons of a higher rarity boast better stat scaling; for instance, a level 20 five-star sword will typically have a higher ATK stat than a level 20 three-star sword. Weapons that are three-star rarity or higher will also feature both a secondary stat and a passive ability, which are vital for optimizing your character builds.

These secondary stats can range from additional ATK, DEF, or Crit Chance, and they scale with the weapon’s level. Passive abilities, on the other hand, offer a wide variety of effects, from increasing damage against specific elemental enemies to providing various buffs when switching characters. These passive abilities can be enhanced through a process called refinement, which typically involves feeding a duplicate of the weapon to it.

Weapons are acquired in different ways depending on their rarity. Five-star weapons are exclusively obtained through Wishes, specifically the Wanderlust Invocation (standard banner) and the weapon event banner. Four-star weapons are more accessible, found in all Wish banners, purchasable from Paimon’s Bargains with Starglitter, forgeable with weapon Billets, and sometimes given as rewards from paid battle passes or limited-time events. Three-star weapons can be acquired from Wishes or found in chests throughout the open world. Lower rarity one-star and two-star weapons are usually found in chests, investigation spots, or can be purchased from NPCs.

Weapons can be leveled up by using other weapons or weapon enhancement ores, with a maximum level of 90. To reach max level, weapons must be “ascended” six times, which also requires reaching Adventure Rank 50. Ascension occurs every 10 to 20 levels and demands specific materials like weapon ascension materials and enemy drops. These materials are primarily found in Domains of Blessing on specific days of the week. As your weapon levels and ascends, higher rarity materials will be needed, obtainable from harder Domains or higher-level enemies.

Top F2P Bows for Yelan and Other Characters

Yelan is a character who shines with many F2P bow options, making her relatively easy to build for many players. While a 5-star weapon like Aqua Simulacra is ideal if you’re fortunate enough to acquire it, there are numerous excellent 3-star and 4-star alternatives.

One of the most highly regarded F2P bows for Yelan and other bow users is the Favonius Warbow. This 4-star weapon is often considered the best F2P option due to its strong energy recharge capabilities, offering a significant 61.3% Energy Recharge at max level. Its passive effect, which generates elemental particles on CRIT hits, synergizes exceptionally well with standard builds, allowing for quick charging of your Elemental Burst. What makes it even better is that you receive a free copy of the Favonius Warbow simply by completing the “A Long Shot” quest. There are no noticeable drawbacks to using it, though some players might prefer other options based on their specific needs.

Other notable 4-star F2P bows include:

Moving to 3-star bows, these weapons are often easier to refine to R5 than 4-star weapons, and a max refinement 3-star weapon can sometimes even outperform an R1 4-star weapon. This makes them highly cost-effective and powerful choices for F2P players.

A Deep Dive into the Recurve Bow

The Recurve Bow is a 3-star bow-type weapon that holds a special place among F2P options due to its unique stat scaling and accessibility.

What is the Recurve Bow?

The Recurve Bow is a 3-star bow featuring a Base ATK of 354 at Level 90 and, crucially, an HP% secondary stat of 46.9% at max level. Its passive ability, “Cull the Weak,” restores 8% of the user’s HP upon defeating an opponent. This HP restoration can increase up to 16% at Refinement Level 5. Visually, it’s described as a bow capable of shooting down eagles, with its effectiveness depending on the archer’s skill.

Why is Recurve Bow Special?

What makes the Recurve Bow stand out is its HP sub-stat, a relatively rare attribute for bows. In fact, it’s one of only two bows that can boost the user’s HP, with the 5-star Aqua Simulacra being the other. This makes it an incredibly valuable “HP stat stick” for characters whose damage or abilities scale with their maximum HP. Since its primary utility comes from this HP sub-stat, maintaining it at Refinement 1 (R1) is perfectly acceptable. As mentioned earlier, 3-star weapons like the Recurve Bow can even outperform some 4-star and 5-star weapons, especially if the higher rarity options are only at R1.

Who Benefits from the Recurve Bow?

The Recurve Bow is particularly effective for characters whose kits benefit significantly from a higher HP stat.

Character	Why Recurve Bow Works Well
Yelan	Benefits from high HP for skill scaling and self-healing from the bow’s passive on kills.
Sigewinne	Uses HP for healing scaling; Recurve Bow is one of the only bows with an HP sub-stat aside from her 5★ weapon.
Diona	Increased HP boosts her shield strength and healing from her Elemental Burst.

For early-game play, the Recurve Bow serves as an excellent HP-boosting bow, despite no single character fully benefiting from both its HP sub-stat and its healing skill.

How to Obtain the Recurve Bow

Unlike many other 3-star weapons, the Recurve Bow cannot be obtained from gacha banners or Wishes. Players must acquire it through specific in-game methods. To fully upgrade it to Refinement 5, you will need five copies of the weapon.

Here are the various ways to acquire the Recurve Bow:

1. Complete specific quests: You can get a copy of the Recurve Bow as a reward from the “Going Upon the Breeze Archon Quest”. This is an early-game quest that you complete automatically when traveling to Mondstadt City with Amber for the first time.
2. Talk to certain NPCs: You can obtain two copies of the Recurve Bow by interacting with specific NPCs and progressing through their dialogues.
   • Nakano: Located on the docks at Ritou Port in Inazuma, Nakano is a Kanjou Commission Officer.
   • Shirin: A Forest Ranger in Sumeru, Shirin can be found along the riverbank southwest of the Statue of the Seven in Gandharva Ville.
3. Open chests in the open world: The Recurve Bow can also be found randomly within Exquisite Chests or chests of higher rarity scattered across the Mondstadt region. Therefore, it’s advisable to search and open every chest you encounter while exploring.

Due to these specific acquisition methods and its absence from the gacha pool, some players consider the Recurve Bow to be “rare” in the sense that its supply is limited and it’s possible to miss out on copies if not careful.

Leveling, Ascension, and Refinement for Recurve Bow

To fully realize the potential of your Recurve Bow, you’ll need to level it up, ascend it, and ideally refine it to R5. The process generally follows the standard weapon progression in Genshin Impact.

Weapons are leveled up by “feeding” them other weapons or weapon enhancement ores, which provide XP. These ores can be forged from mined materials or obtained through Adventurer Guild expeditions and daily commissions. The maximum level for any weapon is 90, but this requires ascending it six times and reaching Adventure Rank 50.

Each ascension step for the Recurve Bow requires specific materials. These include:

• Weapon Ascension Materials: Fetters of the Dandelion Gladiator, Chains of the Dandelion Gladiator, Shackles of the Dandelion Gladiator, and Dream of the Dandelion Gladiator. These materials are found in specific Domains of Blessing.
• Enemy Drops: Chaos Device, Chaos Circuit, Chaos Core, Divining Scroll, Sealed Scroll, and Forbidden Curse Scroll. These are obtained by defeating enemies, with higher rarity drops coming from higher-level enemies.

Refinement, as discussed earlier, enhances a weapon’s passive ability. For the Recurve Bow’s “Cull the Weak” passive, refining it with duplicate copies will increase the percentage of HP restored upon defeating an opponent. The Mora cost for refining also increases with each rank.

Final Thoughts on F2P Bows

Choosing the right F2P bow in Genshin Impact can significantly impact your character’s performance without requiring significant investment in Wishes. Whether it’s the versatile Energy Recharge provided by the Favonius Warbow, the burst potential of the Slingshot, or the unique HP scaling of the Recurve Bow, each option offers distinct advantages.

It’s worth remembering that investing in 3-star weapons can be a very efficient strategy. Not only are they much cheaper to level up compared to 4-star weapons, especially at higher levels, but a max refinement (R5) 3-star weapon often provides better performance than a 4-star weapon at Refinement 1 (R1). So, unless a 4-star weapon offers an exceptionally strong ability even at R1, a fully refined 3-star option can be the superior choice.

By understanding the strengths of these readily available bows and how they synergize with your characters, you can build powerful teams and conquer the challenges of Teyvat without spending a single primogem on weapon banners. Happy adventuring, Traveler!