Bow Knight

Bow Knight Artwork of the Bow Knight from the TCG. Nohrian. An archer trained to shoot from horseback. Also wields swords.

Weapon(s) Bow (All appearances prior to Awakening, Echoes: Shadows of Valentia) Bow, Sword (Awakening, Fates) Skill(s) Canto (Genealogy of the Holy War-Radiant Dawn) Rally Skill, Bowbreaker (Awakening) Rally Skill, Shurikenbreaker (Fates)

The Bow Knight (Japanese: ボウナイト Bow Knight) is a class which, throughout the Fire Emblem series, has taken on numerous different portrayals and roles. Consistent among all of its appearances is that it is a mounted class which wields bows.

In its first appearance in Gaiden, the Bow Knight was a third-tier advanced class and the final form of the Archer class line, promoting from the Sniper. A class of considerable power, this incarnation of the Bow Knight has a uniquely high attacking range, with consistent innate access to anywhere between one and five range. These traits also apply to Gaiden''s remake, Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.

The second incarnation of the Bow Knight was a second-tier advanced class in the Jugdral duology, Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776. It is the promoted form of the Arch Knight, and the bow-wielding counterpart of the Ranger, Great Knight and Duke Knight. In Thracia 776, Bow Knights are forced to dismount to enter buildings or participate in chapters set entirely indoors; unlike the Great or Duke Knights, they continue to wield bows when on foot.

The Tellius duology's version of the Bow Knight is a basic class, and the counterpart of its own former basic form, the Arch Knight. It promotes to the Paladin in Path of Radiance, whereupon the player can choose a second weapon type for the individual unit to gain access to. In Radiant Dawn, it promotes to the Bow Paladin, a counterpart to its Jugdral incarnation, which in turn promotes to the third-tier Silver Knight.

In Awakening, the Bow Knight returns to being an advanced class, but this time also has access to swords and functions identically to the Horseman and Ranger of earlier games. Here, it promotes from both Mercenaries and Archers, and many other units can access the class through reclassing. The Fates incarnation of the class functions identically to Awakening's, with the only difference being that the new Outlaw class may promote to it instead of Archers.

Stats

Base stats

Game	HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution	Weight	Weapon Level
Gaiden	40	16	--	8	8	0	10	6	8	--	--	Bow
Genealogy of the Holy War	40	10	0	8	8	0	8	3	9	--	--	A
Thracia 776	24 (24)/ 20 (20)	5 (4)/ 4 (3)	1 (1)	6 (5)	6 (4)/ 7 (5)	0 (0)	5 (4)	--	9 (6)	7 (7)/ 5 (5)	--	D (D)
Path of Radiance	20/18	5	0	2	5/6	0	6/5	0/1	8	10/7	33/29	D
Radiant Dawn	18	6	0	6	6	0	8	2	8	10	33	D
Awakening	24	8	0	10	10	0	6	2	8	--	--	E E
Fates	18	6	0	8	9	3	5	6	8	--	--	E E
Echoes: Shadows of Valentia	40	16	--	8	8	0	10	6	8	--	--

Bow Knights in Gaiden and Echoes also have a base experience yield of 180, and a base class strength of 1.

Max stats

Game	HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution	Weapon Level
Gaiden	52	40	--	40	40	40	40	40	8	--	Bow
Genealogy of the Holy War	80	25	15	23	23	30	23	18	9	--	A
Thracia 776	80 (80)	20 (20)	20 (20)	20 (20)	20 (20)	20 (20)	20 (20)	--	20 (20)	20 (20)	A (A)
Path of Radiance	40	20	15	20	20	40	20	20	20	99	A
Radiant Dawn	40	20	10	20	20	30	20	10	??	??	A
Awakening	80	40	30	43	41	45	35	30	10	--	A A
Fates	55	29	25	32	33	30	27	32	10	--	B A

Class growth rates

Game	HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Constitution*	Movement*
Gaiden	150%	50%	--	50%	50%	0%	50%	0%	--	--
Genealogy of the Holy War	100%	30%	10%	30%	30%	0%	30%	10%	--	--
Thracia 776	70%	30%	5%	30%	20%	20%	30%	--	30%	0%
Path of Radiance	70/65%	45/35%	15/20%	40/40%	50/55%	30/30%	45/45%	40/50%	--	--
Radiant Dawn	75%	50%	15%	40%	45%	25%	40%	30%	--	--
Awakening	50%	20%	0%	25%	20%	0%	5%	5%	--	--
Fates	10%	10%	0%	15%	15%	10%	0%	10%	--	--
Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (Player)	-5%	0%	--	10%	-5%	0%	-5%	0%	--	--
Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (Enemy)	120%	50%	--	50%	30%	0%	30%	0%	--	--

Click here for more details on the mechanics of class growths in each game.

Class skills

Game	Skill	Learning conditions
Genealogy of the Holy War Thracia 776 Path of Radiance Radiant Dawn	Canto	Innate; hidden and unnamed in every game except Radiant Dawn.
Awakening Fates	Rally Skill	• Awakening: Learned at Level 5. • Fates: Learned from Level 5 and up.
Awakening	Bowbreaker	Learned at Level 15.
Fates	Shurikenbreaker	Learned from Level 15 and up.
Echoes: Shadows of Valentia	Bowrange +2	Innate.

Additonally, in Echoes, Bow Knights are equipped with another passive skill marking them as mounted units.

Class change

Gaiden

Trainee-like class	Method	Base class	Method	Advanced class	Method	Advanced class
Villager	After reaching Level 3, at any Mila Shrine.	Archer	After reaching Level 7, at any Mila Shrine.	Sniper	After reaching Level 10, at any Mila Shrine.	Bow Knight

Genealogy of the Holy War, Thracia 776

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Arch Knight	Choosing the "Class change" option in a home castle after reaching Level 20.* / Using a Knight Proof after reaching Level 10.*	Bow Knight

Path of Radiance

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Bow Knight	Using a Master Seal after reaching Level 10, or reaching Level 21.	Paladin

Radiant Dawn

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Bow Knight	Using a Master Seal after reaching Level 10, or reaching Level 21.	Bow Paladin	Using a Master Crown after reaching Level 10, or reaching Level 21.	Silver Knight

Awakening

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Archer and Mercenary	Using a Master Seal after reaching Level 10.	Bow Knight

Fates

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Outlaw and Mercenary	Using a Master Seal after reaching Level 10.	Bow Knight

Playable Bow Knights

Playable Characters
Name	Game
Astrid	Path of Radiance
Playable Bow Knight units in the Fire Emblem series.

Notable enemy Bow Knights

Enemy Units
Name	Game
Gazelle	Gaiden
Mueller	Gaiden
Andorey	Genealogy of the Holy War
Ezra	Awakening
Bovis	Awakening
Selena	Fates: Birthright
Enemy Bow Knight units in the Fire Emblem series.

Trivia

• In Path of Radiance, their base stats and flavor text are shared with the Sword Knight, Lance Knight, and Axe Knight classes.

Gallery

• 

  Artwork of the Genealogy of the Holy War Bow Knight depiction from the TCG.

• 

  The generic Bow Knight portrait in Genealogy of the Holy War.

• 

  The generic Bow Knight portrait in Awakening.

• 

  The generic Risen Bow Knight portrait in Awakening.

• 

  The generic Bow Knight portrait in Fates.

• 

  An enemy Bow Knight in Path of Radiance.

• 

  An enemy Bow Knight in Radiant Dawn.

• 

  Gregor as a Bow Knight in battle in Awakening.

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology and notes
English	Bow Knight	--
English (unofficial)	Arch Knight	Used in the "Project Naga" patch of Genealogy of the Holy War. According to the translator, bookofholsety, the Arch Knight and Bow Knight had their names swapped (making Bow Knight the base class, and Arch Knight the advanced class) both for a consistent naming theme among the base mounted classes, and because "arch knight is a better fit for a superior, advanced class given the usual connotations of an arch prefix".
Japanese	• ボウナイト • 弓騎士ボウナイト	• Officially romanized as Bow Knight; this katakana rendering is used in every Japanese game except Radiant Dawn. • Officially romanized as Bow Knight. In Radiant Dawn, all Japanese class names are spelled primarily in kanji (i.e. 弓騎士), with a foreign-language name in katakana applied as furigana (i.e. ボウナイト) and used as the basis for the romanized name in the class roll. Additionally, in Japanese dialogue in all other games, members of the class are usually referred to by this kanji name.
Spanish	Caballero arco	Bow cavalier
French	Cavalier archer	Archer cavalier
German	Bogenritter	Bow knight
Italian	Cavalier arco	Bow cavalier

See also

• Arch Knight
• Bow Paladin
• Horseman
• Mechanist
• Nomad
• Nomadic Trooper
• Ranger
• Marksman

This article is part of Project Classes, a project focused in writing articles for every class present in the Fire Emblem series.