Your arrows are green in World of Warcraft: Forever for one of three reasons. If one bright green bolt flies at your target and a poison debuff lands with it, that is Serpent Sting; if every single shot comes out solid neon green, that is a visual glitch first seen in the beta; and if you mean the green name on an arrow in your bags, that is only its Uncommon quality.
Below is how to tell which one you have, what each means and what to do about it. The Serpent Sting answer comes from our own footage of a level 6 Night Elf Hunter with a plain bow, fighting Webwood Lurkers in Teldrassil on PC on November 7. That is one character and one bow, so it does not tell us how every race’s shots look. Blizzard’s notes do not mention green arrows anywhere, checked November 8.
Which Green Arrow Do You Have?
| What you see | What it is | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| One green bolt, then a debuff with Serpent Sting’s icon on the target | Serpent Sting | Nothing, it is working |
| Every shot neon green, even plain Auto Shots | A visual glitch | Report it in game |
| A green item name on an arrow | Uncommon quality | Compare its damage, not its color |
One Bright Green Bolt: Serpent Sting
Serpent Sting is a poison, and its shot looks like one. On three separate pulls in our recording, one bright green bolt flew at a Webwood Lurker when the sting went out, and as it landed, a green-bordered debuff with Serpent Sting’s icon and a timer appeared on the target.
The Auto Shots in those same fights show no green streak, and neither does a shot we fired at level 1, on a Young Nightsaber, before our Hunter had learned the sting. So if you only see green when you press Serpent Sting, nothing is wrong. Your bow, your arrows and your talents are not doing anything unusual.
We have not recorded the other stings, so we cannot say what color they fly. Serpent Sting is worth using while you level: our Hunter leveling guide covers the launch changes that made it hit harder.
Every Arrow Neon Green: The Visual Glitch
During the beta in October, arrows could come out solid neon green, looking like a model with no texture. It showed up on Hunters, on Warriors firing plain bows and on enemy archers. That spread is the giveaway: a Warrior with a plain bow has no poison to show, so the color is not telling you anything about your shot.
Blizzard has never named it. The one line about arrow visuals in its development notes is October 15’s “Arrows should now be visible when a character has their bow drawn back,” which says nothing about color. It is not on the known issues list updated November 5, or in the November 5 and 6 hotfix notes. Our own November 7 footage does not show it, since our plain Auto Shots have no neon streak.
If every shot you fire is neon green:
- Do not change your gear over it. Nothing in Blizzard’s notes ties the color to damage.
- Do not count on a cache wipe. Clearing the game’s Cache folder did not clear it in the one beta case we found where it was tried.
- Report it in game, ideally with a screenshot, or post it on Blizzard’s WoW Forever bug report forum, so it gets onto the list.
Green Names in Your Bags: Uncommon Quality
If what you noticed is the color of the name, that is the game’s item quality scale: white is Common, green is Uncommon and blue is Rare. Green does not automatically mean better. At level 40 a white Jagged Arrow out-damages a green Precision Arrow, so read the tooltip’s damage number. These are Forever’s arrows, as its item data read on November 8:
| Arrow | Quality | Damage per second added | Required level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rough Arrow | Common | 1.5 | None |
| Sharp Arrow | Common | 3.5 | 10 |
| Razor Arrow | Common | 7.5 | 25 |
| Feathered Arrow | Uncommon | 9.5 | None |
| Precision Arrow | Uncommon | 11.5 | 35 |
| Jagged Arrow | Common | 13 | 40 |
| Ice Threaded Arrow | Uncommon | 16.5 | 51 |
| Thorium Headed Arrow | Uncommon | 17.5 | 52 |
| Doomshot | Rare | 20 | 54 |
Ice Threaded Arrows bind when you pick them up and need Honored standing with the Stormpike Guard or the Frostwolf Clan. Doomshot binds on pickup too. Arrows stack to 200.
Our weapon skills guide covers where to train the bow itself, and every Forever guide we have is on our World of Warcraft hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are my arrows green in WoW Forever? If one green bolt flies and a poison debuff lands, that is Serpent Sting. If every shot is neon green, it is a visual glitch. If the arrow’s name is green, it is Uncommon quality.
Are green arrows a bug? Not when it is Serpent Sting or an item name. Solid neon green on every shot looks like a missing texture, and it appeared on Warriors and enemy archers too during the beta.
Do green arrows do more damage? Not because of the color. A green Feathered Arrow adds 9.5 damage per second, while a white Jagged Arrow adds 13. Compare the number on the tooltip.
Does Serpent Sting need special arrows? Our Hunter fired it with a plain bow at level 6, and the green bolt appeared without any special gear on our character.
Can Warriors get green arrows? Yes. During the beta the neon green look also appeared on Warriors using plain bows, which is how we know it is not tied to a Hunter ability.
How do I fix neon green arrows? Blizzard has not posted a fix or named the problem. Report it in game or on Blizzard’s WoW Forever bug report forum.