WarriorSTR · Melee fighters with the highest HP
MagicianINT · Spellcasters
BowmanDEX · Ranged attackers
ThiefLUK · Fast and evasiveHow to Make Mesos as a Bowman in MapleStory Classic World
Bowmen pay for ammo, but plain arrows are cheap: 1 meso each at every town grocer. Your bigger costs are your bow and, later, MP for skills like Arrow Bomb. Make mesos as a Bowman by keeping arrow and potion use efficient, crafting your own bows instead of paying Karl, and picking up Woodcrafting, where Bronze and Iron arrows actually sell for more than they cost to make.
Quick answer: Buy plain arrows by the thousand (1 meso each), max the skill that uses fewer arrows, take Henesys citizenship, and learn Woodcrafting from Vicious in Henesys. Crafting a Hunter's Bow costs about 6,000 all-in versus 13,500 at Karl, and Iron Arrows net about +640 per 500 at NPC prices once the wood and ingot are counted at full cost. Never buy mesos.
This is the Bowman-specific angle. The general route is how to make mesos; class basics are on the Bowman class page.
Assumptions: solo play, Lv. 10 to 40, NPC prices. "Sells for" means the NPC sell price in the game data. Shop prices (what Karl, grocers or Raymond charge) aren't in the game data, so those are community-reported. We don't quote player prices; nobody publishes reliable ones yet.
What a Bowman actually spends
Arrows. Plain Arrows for Bows (or Crossbows) cost 1 meso each at town grocers and 2 at the Ant Tunnel Park store in Sleepywood, and stack to 1,000. So a full stack is 1,000 mesos in town. Bows fire only arrows and crossbows only crossbow arrows; you can't mix them.
Arrows per attack. Community Bowman guides note that Arrow Blow uses one arrow per cast and Double Shot uses two, one reason they max Arrow Blow early. Crossbowmen should know that each Final Attack proc also uses an arrow.
MP later on. Arrow Bomb costs 28 MP per cast at max level (skill data), which burns Lemons on dense maps. Lemons (1 MP per meso) beat Blue Potions on value.
Bronze Arrows (+1 weapon attack, 2 mesos) are sold by Raymond in Henesys Town Hall once your Henesys citizenship reaches Helpful Stranger, a grade that needs character Lv. 22 (community-reported shop data). Community guides recommend Henesys citizenship for Bowmen for exactly that and for Raymond's Supreme Sniper Potion.
Craft your bow instead of buying it
Karl in Henesys sells the Lv. 10 to 25 bows and crossbows (shop prices below are community-reported). Woodcrafting makes the same weapons for less, even after you count the wood and Screws at what they cost to make (Processed Wood 150 = 10 Tree Branch + 100 fee; Screw 40 each from Weaponcrafting; Iron Ingot 200 from Smithing; Topaz 480 from Arcforge):
| Weapon | Karl's price | Craft fee | Full cost to craft | Woodcrafting Lv |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| War Bow | 5,000 | 2,500 | about 3,400 | 2 |
| Crossbow | 5,000 | 2,500 | about 3,340 | 2 |
| Hunter's Bow | 13,500 | 4,500 | about 6,000 | 4 |
| Balanche | 13,500 | 4,500 | about 5,880 | 4 |
| Battle Bow | 16,500 | 5,500 | about 8,510 | 5 |
Every one of them needs Screws, so you'll want Weaponcrafting (which opens after the Smithing starter) or a Screw supplier; Battle Bow also needs Iron Ingots and Topaz.
Crafting level is capped at a fifth of your character level, so Woodcrafting Lv. 4 needs character Lv. 20, the same level as the Hunter's Bow itself. When you outgrow a crafted bow, War Bow and Crossbow sell to NPCs for 2,500 each, Hunter's Bow and Balanche for 4,500.
Arrows that make money
These are the Bowman's best crafting earners, all Woodcrafting, on game-data NPC prices with every input at full cost (Processed Wood 150, Bronze or Iron Ingot 200, Stiff Feather 10):
| Recipe | Woodcrafting Lv | Inputs (no fee) | Full cost | Makes | Net per craft |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arrows for Bows | 1 | 1 Processed Wood, 1 Stiff Feather | 160 | 500 | saves about 340 against buying 500 at 1 meso |
| Bronze Arrows for Bows | 4 | + 1 Bronze Ingot | 360 | 500 | +140 |
| Iron Arrows for Bows | 7 | + 1 Iron Ingot | 360 | 500 | +640 |
Bronze arrows sell back at 1 meso each and Iron at 2. A community crafting calculator lists +880 for Iron arrows, but it counts the ingot at its 100-meso NPC price and Processed Wood at 10, which leaves out the fees and ore you paid; the real margin is about 640. The ingots mean you need Smithing too. Community data also lists no shop at all for Iron arrows, so other Bowmen are your buyers. Crossbow versions of each recipe work the same way. More in the Woodcrafting guide; gloves and boots come from the Leatherworking guide.
Quests worth routing
| Quest | Lv | Mesos | Bowman bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jane and the Mushroom | 20 | 658 | Random Intermediate weapon attack scroll (bow and crossbow are in the pool) |
| Cutthroat Manny's Request | 22 | 716 | Brown Jack Boots (wearable at Lv. 25). From Nella; needs Chris's Request done, 50 Evil Eye kills and 30 Evil Eye Tails |
| Arwen and the Glass Shoe | 29 | 921 | Repeatable, 4,430 EXP each; community sources say Fire Boars drop the shoe |
What not to do
- Don't vendor Stiff Feathers, Tree Branches or ores. They're your arrows and bows, and player prices for materials often run far above NPC prices.
- Don't buy expensive arrows before your bow: a weapon upgrade does more than +1 attack.
- Don't buy mesos. Trading opens 24 hours after a character on your account reaches Lv. 15.