Bow

General
A Two-Handed projectile weapon that causes piercing damage, there are a variety of bows in Guild Wars. The Ranger's Marksmanship attribute improves the damage of and is generally a requirement for this weapon type. Skills from this attribute can only be performed when equipping a bow.

Bow Classes
In general, there are five different classes of bows, which have different ranges, attack speeds, arc sizes, accuracy and projectile speeds. Flight time and arc size directly affects the accuracy of the bow, whereas refire rate directly affects the DPS of the bow. Additionally, arc size also affects the pathing of the arrow -- some obstacles might obstruct a bow with small arc size, but a bow with large arc size may be able to get through.

1 Range is approximated in the radius of the aggro circle measured on approximately flat ground. 2Flight Time and Accuracy is for a target at Shortbow range distance.
 * Being at a higher elevation than your target increases the range your arrows can go, and at a lower elevation your range is shortened.

Max damage range of a bow is always 15-28, regardless of bow class. Bows with maximum damage have been observed with attribute requirements as low as 7. Bows with an attribute requirement of 0 have been observed with damage ranges as high as 9-13, although the Candy Cane Bow, an item from Wintersday 2006 and 2005, does 15-15 damage (modified normally) but has no attribute requirement.

Upgrades and Modifiers
The weapon upgrades for the bow are Bow String (prefix) and Bow Grip (suffix).