Bowmasters tips, tricks and hints

At least for this writer, archery was one of the more pleasant surprises of the 2016 Rio Olympics. As opposed to target shooting with guns, which was dreadfully boring, watching people shoot arrows at targets was pretty darn cool.

Of course those targets didn't fire back, making them sitting ducks. That's definitely not the case in Bowmasters, an outrageously over the top mobile game where it's arch or be arched. Er, shot. I think it's still shot when you're talking about a bow.

Assuming it's too late in life for you to turn into the next Clint Barton or Robin of Locksley, we can still help you hone your skill with virtual arrows -- and other projectiles too, as it turns out. Read on for our Bowmasters tips, tricks, and hints, and you'll skip right past shooting an apple off someone's head and just plugging them straight between the eyes. In the game, we mean.

Angle + power = bullseye

It's probably not completely accurate to call the game mechanic in Bowmasters one touch, but it's not much more than that. You simply hold down on the screen, then pull back away from your archer for more power while sliding up or down to adjust the angle of your shot before lifting up to release the arrow.

That's really all there is to it at the most basic level. Battles consist of you taking alternating shots with your opponent, making adjustments as necessary each time, particularly since a hit may make your foe move a bit from where you aimed the last time.

If you reduce your opponent's health meter to zero first, you'll get one last shot to perform a Mortal Kombat-style fatality and reduce him or her to a surprisingly gory pulp. If you are shot down to zero, watching a video or paying some coins can keep the battle going.

More than just arrows

While the way you shoot doesn't change once you unlock different characters, what you shoot does. Once you've advanced beyond arrows, your projectiles usually have a special ability that can increase the chance that you'll hit your target, though depending on it instead of pure aim usually ends up doing less damage as a trade-off.

It would take much more space than we have here to explain every special in Bowmasters, but the game will show you how to pull it off the first time you use the character and often have a pop-up tab on the left side in case you forget.

Just keep playing

There are more game modes to discover beyond the simple one on one duels you enjoy from the beginning. The other game modes can be unlocked by racking up a certain number of victories, so all you have to do is keep playing and you'll eventually experience everything the game has to offer.

Multiple ways to unlock characters

This section is pretty self-explanatory. Unlocking each new character requires something a little different, whether it's spending some coins, watching a number of videos, logging in for multiple days in a row, or winning them in the chest roulette you play after a victory.

Note that spending some real world money also works -- pretty much any character in the game can be had for 99 cents.