Bow Only

Equipment

 * Composite Bow
 * Armor: Not important outside of damage reduction needs
 * Ring 1: Hawk Ring
 * Ring 2: Situational; Dark Wood Grain or Ring of Favor and Protection are helpful


 * Arrows: Standard or Feather (long-range) and Large (close-range)

Stats
The composite bow is a quality weapon, so you want roughly equal amounts of strength and dexterity. Increasing stamina is of very little use to this build since your stamina will generally recharge to full between bow shots. Only increase what you need for dodging attacks.

Build Strengths

 * Range
 * Piercing damage effective against certain enemies


 * Safe way to clear out areas dense with enemies

Weaknesses

 * Relatively low damage
 * Arrows can be costly in the beginning
 * Playstyle is significantly different than melee

Videos

 * Bow Only Speedrun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exRENvmcOGw (Miltrivd)

Equipment

 * Any bow in the beginning (including Short Bow) but switch to Hunter's Blackbow when available
 * Armor: Not particularly important
 * Rings: Hawk Ring, Ring of Blades, Flynn's Ring, Old Leo Ring
 * Arrows: Iron Arrows are good for general use; Poison Arrows are very strong to build up poison damage on many enemies/bosses

Stats
Focus mostly on dexterity. Strength will give you some additional attack power, but not much and Hunter's Blackbow has excellent S scaling with dexterity. Endurance is of little use to the build, outside of stamina for rolling, since your stamina will generally refill between bow shots.

Build Strengths

 * Range
 * Piercing damage effective against certain enemies
 * Safe way to clear out areas dense with enemies (e.g., Iron Keep)

Weaknesses

 * Damage is initially weak but increases to a decent level at higher dexterity
 * Arrows can be costly in the beginning
 * Playstyle is significantly different than melee

Equipment

 * Composite Bow or Black Bow of Pharis (more details below)
 * Armor: try to keep your equipment below 30% (or even go naked to maximize damage)
 * Rings: Flynn's, Lloyd's Sword Ring, Hawk Ring, Leo Ring
 * Arrows: Standard (mid-long range), Large (short-range), Feather (long-range), Dark (situational - for improved tracking with Pharis Bow)

Stats
Dexterity is most important but you will need a healthy amount of strength as well. Focus dex and when it's not providing a big enough attack power bonus, level str a bit.

Composite Bow vs. Black Bow of Pharis
Either the composite bow or black bow of pharis can make for an enjoyable first bow run. The composite bow benefits from the "roll + R1" quick attack, which can be used to cheese certain bosses, while the black bow has better scaling and range. The black bow, with a somewhat longer attack animation, gives you greater opportunity to cancel bow attacks mid-animation with a dodge. This is helpful when you queue up an attack and need to dodge a boss attack.

Build Strengths

 * Range
 * Piercing damage effective against certain enemies
 * Safe way to clear out areas dense with enemies

Weaknesses
Bow Only runs are significantly more difficult in Dark Souls 3 vs. the earlier souls games. You cannot infuse bows in DS3 unlike the prior entries. You are also limited on arrows stacks (although this rarely is an issue in NG).
 * Bow Damage is very lackluster throughout the game
 * Arrows are costly and limited in how many can be carried
 * Playstyle is significantly different than melee

Videos

 * Full Bow-Only Boss Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9u4L_v6FHfn6LBMgNVpEev43-ejyfTHD (McRapt0r)