How to make a Bow and Arrows in DayZ

DayZ is all about surviving in a world populated by zombies. Guns are loud, but Bows and Arrows are quiet—they wouldn’t immediately give away your position to zombies and other players, making them a great addition to your arsenal. Nowadays, though, that’s easier said than done.

How to make a Bow and Arrows in DayZ

You can’t! I’m not kidding, you can’t do it anymore. A few years ago, the developer secretly removed Bows and Arrows from the game. Unless you are playing on a custom server with a Bow and Arrow mod, forget about going tribal and taking out zombies silently from afar.

Bows and Arrows used to be in DayZ—what happened?

Simply put, the developer must have thought the weapon was too easy to make and use, and that it gave players too much of an advantage, so it was removed. In a hostile world like DayZ, you can die minutes after you spawn, especially to other players, so everything you find matters.

Perhaps the developer noticed that players were having too much success with Bows and Arrows, and said, “Nuh-uh, we don’t want people to have fun. Remove it from the game!”

But I saw videos and guides saying Bows and Arrows are in DayZ!

Believe me, so did I. I just played for hours trying to figure out how to make them, looking at new guides and referring back to my previous knowledge. It certainly doesn’t help that the DayZ Wiki still lists Bows and Arrows as craftable at the time of writing.

Ultimately, the only way to get a Bow and Arrows in DayZ is to join a modded server where this is possible.

How Bows and Arrows used to be crafted in DayZ

When Bows and Arrows were craftable, you’d first need to a sharp weapon like an axe or a knife. Then, you’d cut a few branches and sharpen them. You also needed rope, which you could find out in the wild, but you could also make it by combining two stacks of rags together. Combining rope with the sharp stick would make a Bow. As for Arrows, all you had to do was sharpen small sticks and load them into the Bow.

In short, if it weren’t for the helpful DayZ Reddit community, I never would have known that Bows and Arrows aren’t in the game anymore. Screw it—if you want a Bow and Arrows, just go play Horizon Zero Dawn instead.