Grounded’s arrows are ammunition for the Sprig Bow, Insect Bow, Crow Crossbow and Black Ox Crossbow, and the wiki notes one property that changes the economics completely: when shot, arrows can be retrieved from where they were shot. They also stick to creatures for a while unless the creature is looted or more arrows are shot.
That retrievability is why arrow choice is not purely a damage question. But damage is still the part most players get wrong, because the biggest number in the table belongs to an arrow that is not a general-purpose upgrade.
All numbers below come from the individual arrow pages on the Grounded Wiki.
Every arrow, by real damage and tier
| Arrow | Damage | Tier | Damage type | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrow | 5 | 1 | Stabbing | Basic retrievable arrow; base material for others |
| Gas Arrow | 5 | 1 | Stabbing | Creates a noxious gas zone where it lands |
| Lure Arrow | 5 | 1 | Stabbing | Designed to attract insects |
| Pollen Arrow | 5 | 1 | Stabbing | Laced with pollen; for bringing down flying critters |
| Venom Arrow | 5 | 1 | Stabbing | Dipped in spider venom; deals toxic damage |
| Feather Arrow | 10 | 2 | Stabbing | Crow feather bits and spider web fletching |
| Splinter Arrow | 15 | 3 | Stabbing | Crafted from wooden splinters |
| Super Venom Arrow | 15 | 3 | Stabbing | Coated in the deadliest of venoms |
| Bomb Arrow | 60 | 3 | Explosive | Merges natural and man-made explosives |
Bomb Arrow is the only arrow above 15 damage, and by a factor of four. It is also the only arrow in the game whose damage type is Explosive rather than Stabbing.
Why Bomb Arrow is not a straight upgrade
Damage type is the whole story. Every other arrow is Stabbing, which means they scale with the same resistances as your bow and the same weaknesses as most of the yard’s creatures. The wiki’s creature resistances are organised by damage type for exactly this reason — see the by damage type creatures guide for what resists what.
Bomb Arrow’s 60 damage is Explosive. That is enormous where it applies and awkward where it does not — explosive damage has a different resistance profile, and an area effect behaves differently from a single projectile in practice. Treat Bomb Arrow as a specialist tool for the fights where it is the answer, not as the arrow you stock by default.
The economics matter too. Bomb Arrow merges “natural and man-made explosives”, which are far scarcer than wooden splinters or thistle prickles. Since arrows can be retrieved, a Stabbing arrow you can recover is genuinely cheap per shot, while a Bomb Arrow you lose is a real cost.
The real general-purpose pick
For routine archery, the ladder is Arrow (5) → Feather Arrow (10) → Splinter Arrow (15). All three are Stabbing, so they behave predictably, and Splinter Arrow at Tier 3 is the highest pure Stabbing damage available.
Super Venom Arrow ties Splinter Arrow at 15 and is also Tier 3, but its value is the venom coating rather than the base number — it is described as coated in the deadliest of venoms. Where poison is the win condition, take Super Venom; where you want clean Stabbing damage, take Splinter.
Arrows that are not about damage at all
Four arrows sit at 5 damage and are worth carrying anyway, because their effect is the point:
- Pollen Arrow — explicitly “perfect for bringing down pesky flying critters”. Flying enemies are the single most annoying archery target in the yard, and this is the arrow built for it.
- Gas Arrow — creates a noxious gas zone where it lands, so it is area denial rather than single-target damage.
- Lure Arrow — designed to attract insects. This is a pulling and repositioning tool, not a damage tool.
- Venom Arrow — deals toxic damage on top of its 5 base, so the damage-over-time is the reason to bring it.
Carrying one stack of Pollen Arrow alongside your main stack is standard practice once you reach the upper yard, because the flying pests you meet there are hard to hit with anything else.
How arrows interact with your bow
Arrows are ammunition for four weapons: the Sprig Bow, Insect Bow, Crow Crossbow and Black Ox Crossbow. The bow determines fire rate, draw behaviour and its own base damage; the arrow contributes its listed damage on top. Since all arrows except Bomb Arrow are Stabbing, upgrading your bow is usually a bigger damage gain than upgrading arrow type within the Stabbing line.
For the bow side of that comparison, the tools and weapons guide covers tier and damage across the whole weapon list, and top damage tools ranks the highest-output options. Mutations also change ranged output significantly — see the mutations guide.
Recovering your arrows
The wiki states arrows can be retrieved from where they were shot, and that they stick to creatures for a specific amount of time unless the creature is looted or more arrows are shot. In practice that means looting the creature you killed recovers your arrows, and walking back over your misses recovers the rest.
This is why the cheap Stabbing arrows stay relevant into the late game: at 5 or 15 damage each but fully recoverable, they cost almost nothing per shot over a long run, whereas a 60-damage Bomb Arrow that lands in grass is a genuine loss.
For general combat fundamentals that apply regardless of ammunition, see the combat guide, and for what to farm to keep making them, the resources guide.