# The Bows and Keepers update

*v0.5 · October 2026*

Draw the bow. Beneath the Core, the Crowned Wyrm waits.

- **[The Recurve Bow and the Crossbow](#the-recurve-bow):** Hold to draw and let go to shoot: a full draw hits for 7. The crossbow loads a shot that hits for 9. Touch screens get a Draw button.
- **[Elemental arrows](#elemental-arrows):** Tidal arrows chill, Blazing arrows burn, Quaking arrows root, Gale arrows throw. Four arrows round an elemental ore make four.
- **[Daggers and the backstab](#daggers-and-the-backstab):** A dagger in every tier that has a sword, quick and short. Strike from behind for double damage on creatures, with a violet slash.
- **[The Keepers in their true shapes](#the-keepers-in-their-true-shapes):** The Frost Wraith veiled in ice, the Magma Colossus a living volcano, the Thorn Guardian antlered. The Titan and the Core forged anew.
- **[The Crowned Wyrm](#the-crowned-wyrm):** The Core’s last shape. Break its element pillars, or it takes half damage. Defeat it to earn the Riven Circlet and the title Champion.

**Also new:**

- Arrows hit creatures and players, never a teammate. An arrow stuck in a block can be picked up again.
- On touch screens, the Draw button above View: hold to draw, slide to aim, lift to shoot. Its socket switches the arrow; your aim steadies while you draw.
- The Crowned Wyrm’s ending: a closing scene in single player, a shorter one in the world online.
- The Tempest wears the binders’ crystal shackles on its wings until it transforms.
- Boss scenes frame each Keeper whole, on any screen. New sounds for the bow, crossbow, arrows and dagger.

## The Recurve Bow

Hold right click to draw and let go to shoot. The longer the draw, the harder and further the arrow flies: a tap does 2 damage, a full draw (one second) does 7. Twelve marks round the crosshair fill as you draw and turn gold at full draw. You walk slowly while drawing, and held past three seconds the aim sways until you sneak.

Arrows now hit creatures and players, never a teammate. A shot takes arrows from your offhand first, then the leftmost arrows in your hotbar, then your bag. An arrow stuck in a block can be picked up again. All of it in [the weapons guide](https://riventale.world/guides/weapons/).

- **Recurve Bow:** Three hafts in a curve down one side, three string down the other (3 Hafts, 3 String)
- **4 Arrows:** Flint over a haft over a feather (1 Flint, 1 Haft, 1 Feather)

## The crossbow

Hold to load (1.25 seconds), then click to shoot: 9 damage, faster and flatter than the bow. A loaded crossbow stays loaded when you switch slots. It takes the same arrows.

- **Crossbow:** Iron, string, iron across the top; a board, then a haft below (2 Iron Ingots, 1 String, 1 Oak Boards, 1 Haft)

## Elemental arrows

Four arrows round an elemental ore make four elemental arrows. Each hits as hard as a plain arrow and carries its element, as long as the draw was at least half:

- **Chill** (bad): Move slower. From: Tidal arrows
- **Burning** (bad): Burning. It never sets blocks alight. From: Blazing arrows
- **Rooted** (bad): Rooted, and a harder knock back. From: Quaking arrows
- **Windbound** (bad): Caught in the wind, then thrown. From: Gale arrows

The effects are shorter on players and bosses, and each Keeper shrugs off its own element. The numbers are in [the weapons guide](https://riventale.world/guides/weapons/#elemental-arrows).

## Daggers and the backstab

Every tier that has a sword has a dagger: one material over one haft. A dagger hits for its sword’s damage less 2, swings every 0.2 seconds and reaches 3.5 blocks. Strike from behind and it **backstabs**: double damage on creatures, half again on players and a quarter more on bosses, once a second on each target, with a violet slash and a flash at the edge of the screen. Reduced motion drops the flash and the pause.

## On touch screens

With a bow or crossbow in hand, the **Draw** button shows above View. Hold it to draw, slide the same thumb to aim, lift to shoot; the small socket on its corner switches the arrow. While you draw, the look slows to steady your aim, more over a creature, never over a player. Arrange controls moves it like any other button.

## The Keepers in their true shapes

Every boss is built again. The four Keepers wear the binders’ crystal shackles and broken chains:

- **The Frost Wraith:** Keeper of Water, the Frosted Lands; 250 health
- **The Magma Colossus:** Keeper of Fire, the Volcano; 320 health
- **The Thorn Guardian:** Keeper of Earth, the Overgrown Jungle; 280 health
- **The Tempest:** Keeper of Wind, the Cloud Kingdom; 480 health

- **The Frost Wraith:** a veiled wraith of ice nearly four blocks tall, a trailing veil of icicles, long clawed arms. In its second form the veil shatters into a storm of shards.
- **The Magma Colossus:** a living volcano with a face of fire and a smoking crater for a crown. Its fireballs leave its mouth; in its second form it erupts.
- **The Thorn Guardian:** six blocks tall on legs that end in roots, a pale stag’s skull and great antlers hung with spore pods. In its second form thorns burst along its back.
- **The Tempest** keeps its shape, with crystal shackles on its wings until it transforms.
- **The Robot Titan:** a war engine of obitite and Vael gold with one great lens, a cannon arm and a grinder arm.
- **The Elemental Core:** the Engine That Drinks, a Vael machine like a goblet, its claws clutching a crystal heart.

Their moves are the same. The scenes where they rise frame each one whole, on any screen.

## The Crowned Wyrm

When the Elemental Core’s health runs out, its shell bursts and the **Crowned Wyrm** rises in its place: a winged dragon of black stone with 1,500 health and a four-sided crown that chooses its element. Four pillars rise round the arena, one for each element. While the pillar of its current element stands, the Wyrm takes half damage; break that pillar’s crystal and the element leaves its crown. It breathes its element, marks a player with its shadow and dives on them, and sweeps its tail at anyone behind it. How to fight it is in the [Keepers guide](https://riventale.world/guides/keepers/#the-crowned-wyrm).

Break it and the ending plays: a closing scene in single player, a shorter one in the world online. Everyone near when it falls earns the **Riven Circlet**, a ring of four element flames over the head, and the title **Champion** on the name tag. Both are earned only, never sold, and chosen in Looks (Body › Circlet and Body › Title).

## Sounds

New recorded sounds for the bow, the crossbow, arrows in flight and the dagger.

Earlier versions: [all updates](https://riventale.world/updates/).

Play now: https://riventale.world/