Every Der Eisendrache run starts the same way: you build Wrath of the Ancients, the base bow, and then you have to pick which of its four upgrades to chase. All four are Wonder Weapons and all four will carry you a long way, but they are not close to equal — one of them is the reason people are still running this map a decade after release, and one of them is a beautiful animation attached to mediocre crowd control.
The four upgrades, using both their in-game names and the names the community actually uses:
- Storm Bow — Storm (also called the Lightning Bow)
- Wolf Bow — Wolf Howl
- Void Bow — Rune Prison (also called the Shadow Bow)
- Fire Bow — Demon Gate
You do not need all four to finish the Easter egg. In co-op, each player takes one; solo, you need exactly one upgraded bow to complete the main quest. That makes the question of which to build first the one that actually matters.
The ranking
1. Storm Bow (Lightning) — the best in the game
Nothing else on the map competes with the Storm Bow for raw round-clearing. A standard shot kills every zombie it touches and spawns a lingering electric ball that keeps killing anything that walks near it. The charged shot summons an electrical tornado that wipes the impact zone and continues chaining to everything around it.
What makes it the high-round pick isn’t the damage — all four upgrades kill well into the 30s and 40s — it’s that the Storm Bow’s kills are passive. You fire once and the ball does the work while you reposition, revive a teammate, or hit the box. Every other bow requires you to keep aiming. It also holds a large arrow reserve, so you are rarely dry at the moment you need it.
It’s also only the second-hardest to build, which is an unusually good ratio of payoff to effort.
2. Wolf Bow (Wolf Howl) — the easiest, and the best panic button
The Wolf Bow summons a spectral wolf that runs through the horde chewing up everything in its path. Charged shots send the wolf further and it lasts longer. Where the Storm Bow controls a place, the Wolf Bow cuts a line — which is exactly what you want when a train has collapsed on top of you and you need a corridor to escape through.
Its real advantage is the build. The Wolf Bow quest is comfortably the shortest and least fiddly of the four, and it has a useful side effect: the steps produce crawlers early, which makes the Void Bow’s third step much easier later. That’s why the standard co-op order starts here.
It ranks below the Storm Bow only because the wolf leaves once it’s finished its run — there’s no persistent area denial.
3. Void Bow (Rune Prison / Shadow) — devastating, awkward to build
The Void Bow’s charged shot creates a purple zone that suspends and then instantly kills every zombie inside it, and the corpses release souls that hunt down more zombies nearby. When it lands well it is arguably the single most spectacular clear on the map, and its uncharged shot already does strong damage.
The problem is getting it. The Void Bow quest is the most demanding of the four — the step involving crawlers and the rune-shooting sequence is where most runs stall, and it’s genuinely difficult to do solo under pressure. It also demands more setup during a fight than the Storm Bow does: you have to charge it and place it, and if the horde isn’t tightly packed you waste the shot.
Build it second or third, once the Wolf Bow has already given you crawler control.
4. Fire Bow (Demon Gate) — the weakest, and still very good
Being fourth on this list doesn’t make the Fire Bow bad; it makes it ordinary. The charged shot opens a fire portal that deals heavy damage in an area, and it looks fantastic. But the standard shot is essentially a stronger Wrath of the Ancients arrow with no real secondary effect, and the community consensus for years has been that it’s the least impactful of the four in a pinch.
Take it if you’re in a four-player game and the other three are spoken for, or if you’re going for the achievement of building all four. Don’t make it your first solo build.
Which one should you build first?
Solo, going for the Easter egg: Wolf Bow. It’s the fastest path to a completed upgrade, and the Easter egg only requires one.
Solo, going for high rounds: Storm Bow. Spend the extra time. Past round 30 the passive kill zone is what keeps you alive while you set up.
Four-player co-op: Run Wolf first as a team — the crawlers it generates make everything after it easier — then split Storm, Void and Fire across the remaining players. Assign the Void Bow to whoever is most comfortable with the rune step; it’s the one most likely to be failed.
Things worth knowing before you start
- The base bow comes first, always. Wrath of the Ancients has to be built before any upgrade quest can be started, and it requires the rocket test in the Death Ray room.
- Upgrade quests are per-player, not per-game. Four players can pursue four different bows simultaneously in the same match.
- Keep a wall weapon or Pack-a-Punched gun alongside. Every bow has a limited arrow reserve and no bow refills fast enough to be your only weapon on a bad round.
- Do the quests before round 30. Several steps require you to shoot specific objects, herd zombies, or stand still for a few seconds — all of which get dramatically harder as the horde speeds up.
- Crawlers are the universal currency. Almost every difficult step in every bow quest is easier with a single crawler kept alive. Learn to make one reliably before you start.
The short version
Storm Bow is the best bow on Der Eisendrache and the one to build if you only build one for yourself. Wolf Bow is the one to build first, because it’s fast and it makes the others easier. Void Bow is the most impressive and the most annoying to earn. Fire Bow is the one you take when the other three are gone. Build in that order and you’ll never regret it.