History Main / RainOfArrows

* Mages in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' will occasionally fire massive salvos of magic arrows at their opponents. Often with RoboTeching.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering''

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}''

* ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}''

* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'': -Strangely for a supposedly bow using class, the Archers don't actually tend to do stuff like this much. [[spoiler: Gilgamesh on the other hand, uses historic weapons of mass destruction as arrows because he has so many of them and doesn't see a need to actually use them properly. Hence, why his class is Archer.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' have this as a physical skill.

* In the later stages of ''{{VideoGame/Stronghold}}'' you usually have ''so'' many archers/crossbowmen on your walls that they reach this level.

* A {{BoobyTrap}}ped cake dispenser in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' as seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewFrgDPCgGA here]].

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* As shown by ''300'', the preferred tactic of the Persians was to sit back and rain arrows on their opponent, then send in the cavalry to finish them off. This failed spectacularly at the Battle of Marathon in 390 BC, where the Greek phalanxes, instead of slowly marching towards the Persians, ran at full speed. This so surprised the Persians that they fired their arrows in panic-and missed by a large margin. Also, no Persian cavalry; the Athenians appeared to have waited until the horsemen were sent off (after 5 days' standoff) before attacking.

* ''Theatre/HenryV'': The 1944 version (Olivier one) has a rather pretty one of these during the Battle of Agincourt. The 1989 version (the Branagh one) was not so pretty.

Massive volleys of arrows were TruthInTelevision, and all arrows need to arc to some degree, but the situation would determine whether or not the archers used the extreme ballistic trajectory loved by Hollywood. A high arc was necessary at extreme distance, simply to compensate for gravity. It could also be useful to deliberately lob arrows at a steep angle so they’d hit enemies who were deeper than the first rank, or perhaps hidden from line of sight by terrain such as a hill. On the other hand a high arc increases flight time, and the father the arrows travel the more energy they lose. Therefore, anti-armor archery such as that of the English during the Hundred Years War was normally reserved for relatively close range using a relatively horizontal trajectory. Hollywood really prefers a steep arc, however, since scores of archers shooting into the air is a really cool pose, and there’s a built-in suspense/payoff structure: you watch with dread as the arrows rise up into the air, perhaps even blotting out the sun as they reach the top of the arc, and then they come hissing down everywhere at once, killing RedShirts left and right while somehow avoiding the heroes and their PlotArmor.

* Mages in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' will occasionally fire massive salvos of magic arrows at their opponents. Often with RoboTeching.
* In ''Manga/OnePiece'''s sixth movie, ''Anime/BaronOmatsuriAndTheSecretIsland'', the hideous mutant flower Lily Carnation fires a hail of arrows at Luffy, turning him into a HumanPincushion.
* Basara from ''Manga/SamuraiDeeperKyo'' is a one-man longbowman army. Even better, he can time the rain of arrows so that it act as a defensive barrier, hitting enemies when they try to attack him up close.
* ''Manga/GiantRobo'' - A character pulls this off in the last OVA. The area goes from sand dunes to looking like a wheat field.

* Takamasi in ''Manga/CorpsePrincess'' specialises in this.
* At the beginning of ''LightNovel/VampireHunterD: Bloodlust'', Borgoff Markus manages to do this with a single-shot, hand-loaded crossbow. The mechanics remain a mystery.

* In ''[[Anime/YesPrettyCure5 Yes! Pretty Cure 5GoGo!]]'', Cure Aqua displayed the ability to produce a Rain of Arrows any time it was useful (which was less often than you'd think). Although her "bow" is a magically summoned arc of water floating in midair which produces arrows (which seem to be made of ice) from nowhere, so we can probably call this justified.

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', [[spoiler: Madoka]] does this twice with an EnergyBow. The first time, it's a single arrow that blows away the black storm clouds and reveals a beautiful blue sky. [[spoiler: The arrow then bursts into an infinite number of arrows that transcend space and time]]. The second time, she instantly fires thousands of arrows at a [[spoiler: planet sized witch]], blowing up everything else in the process.
** She carries this tactic over into ''[[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion Rebellion]]'', where she uses it against a Nightmare and [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments nearly catches herself in the attack.]] And then a double assault with her and [[spoiler: Homura]] against [[spoiler: the Incubators, annihilating all of them.]]
* In ''Manga/DoubleArts'', an entire area-saturating barrage is fired at the protagonists. They show off the results of their [[WaxOnWaxOff intense training]] by using their [[DanceBattler new dance moves]] to dodge through them completely unscathed.

** Similarly, the rhinos also send down an eye-popping hail of ArrowsOnFire, only to have Tai Lung avoid these too by dodging underneath the only protection available, the wooden elevator.

* Happens in ''Disney/{{Mulan}}'' when Captain Li's army is attacks by the Huns.

** In ''Discworld/GuardsGuards!'' (about a dragon attack on the city of Ankh-Morpork), Captain Vimes observes that so many bounty-hungry amateur archers are manning the roofs of Ankh Morpork, the dragon "was going to think it was flying through solid wood with slots in it".
** ''Discworld'' also gives us The Piecemaker, a ballista used as a handweapon for a troll. It fires a bundle of arrows at once that ignite from air friction and turns into a fireball after some airtime. Minimum safe distance is considered to be one hundred meters behind the weapon, preferably with some sort of wall between. The first time Detritus used it, the entire shooting range was devastated (along with a few seagulls who happened to be on the wrong place, AKA directly above Detritus). Needless to say, any thug in Ankh-Morpork surrenders before Detritus even starts to aim.

Bows and arrows are cool. Say what you will about Guns and Badasses going together like bread and [[XtremeKoolLetterz X-treme]] butter, but without copious amounts of BulletTime, you can not ''see'' the bullets in flight. Guns are, by and large, an invisible [[NoisyGuns (and noisy)]] killer. Not so with arrows; a simple twang, a blurred shaft, and bad guys fall down.

Massive volleys of arrows were TruthInTelevision, and all arrows need to arc to some degree, but the situation would determine whether or not the archers used the extreme ballistic trajectory loved by Hollywood. A high arc was necessary at long distance, simply to compensate for gravity. It could also be useful to deliberately lob arrows at a steep angle so they’d hit enemies who were deeper than the first rank, or perhaps hidden from line of sight by terrain such as a hill. On the other hand a high arc increases flight time, and the father the arrows travel the more energy they lose. Therefore, anti-armor archery such as that of the English during the Hundred Years War was done at close range on a relatively flat trajectory.

Up the scale a bit. You have a firing line of armed mooks; again, you'll see the gun smoke but not the bullets. Being cooler collectively than individually, a group (or [[{{Multishot}} a single!]]) archer can cause a rain of arrows to descend upon their foes like DeathFromAbove. Add in some ArrowsOnFire for extra fiery goodness.

This is a case of TruthInTelevision; archers in medieval warfare were used in exactly this way.

-->-- '''Dienekes''', ''Literature/TheHistories'', Spartan warrior at the [[OlderThanFeudalism Battle of Thermopylae.]][[note]]Or Creator/{{Herodotus}} making cool stuff up.[[/note]]

* In ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'', this is literally the name of Shrimp’s special attack, and boy does it live up to it. The animation is nearly ''ten seconds'' of arrows pelting the enemy from all sides. Thankfully, you can only use this attack once per battle.

* ''Film/Hercules2014'': PlayedForDrama and then [[PlayeForLaughs For Laughs]] when Amphiaraus faces a rain of flaming arrows peacefully, eyes closed and [[CrucifiedHeroShot arms spread wide]], believing it to be his prophesied death. They all miss.

** The card [[http://ww2.wizards.com/Gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=Hail%20of%20Arrows Hail of Arrows]] , complete with very fitting flavor text.

* Happens in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings: The Two Towers'' during the siege of Helms Deep. Turns out elves are pretty good at raining arrow-y death on orcs. It's entirely possible the Battle of Helm's Deep would have been much less tense if Saruman hadn't sent bombs along... because while the Rohirrim only had about 300 men (most of them not soldiers), a couple hundred elves, and Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, they had enough bows, and probably enough arrows, to outfit ''every single one of them'', and an enormous stone wall to hide behind. Legolas isn't able to pull off a literal rain, but he manages to create veritable ''stream'' of arrows at times.[[note]]The Book tells it differently, though. In ''The Two Towers'' there are no elves taking part - the sons of Elrond, and only two half-Elven at that, arrive ''after'' this battle in the company of the purely human Rangers. There are rather more Rohirrim. And the explosives are necessary to the plot, to explain how the Uruk-Hai force a way through the wall and to demonstrate their essential mechanical soul-lessness - an industrialised form of warfare that Tolkein loathed virulently. [[/note]]

* Basara from ''Manga/SamuraiDeeperKyo'' is a one-man longbowman army.

** ''Discworld'' also gives us The Piecemaker, a ballista used as a handweapon for a troll. It fires a bundle of arrows at once that ignite from air friction and turns into a fireball after some airtime. With a safe place being one hundred meters behind the weapon, preferably with some sort of wall between. The first time Detritus used it, the entire shooting range was devastated (along with a few seagulls who happened to be on the wrong place, AKA directly above Detritus). Needless to say, any thug in Ankh-Morpork surrenders before Detritus even starts to aim.

** [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0425.html The hobgoblins let loos one such volley]] during the siege of Azure City, complete with a parody of the page quote.

* This happens in ''Film/TheMummyTombOfTheDragonEmperor''. However, since it's being used on an undead army, it was only dangerous to the two humans fighting with them, and they take cover.

* This happens in ''Film/TheMummyTombOfTheDragonEmperor''. However, since it's being used on an undead army, it was only dangerous to the two humans fighting with them, and they took cover.

* ''Film/TheLoneRanger'': [[spoiler:How the Comanche got the initial drop on the U.S. Calvary that just became under the control of Latham Cole.]]

* In Franchise/{{Pokemon}}, [[Characters/PokemonGenerationVIIFamilies Decidueye's]] [[SignatureMove signature]] [[LimitBreak Z-Move]], Sinister Arrow Raid, has Decidueye fly into the air, then smother the opponent with ghostly feather arrows plucked from its own body.