The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Anyone here exclusively an archer?
I am curious how it is going about a bow and arrows as your only available weapon. What is the best strategy or course of action in close quarters combat? Or should I add some perks on the side for one-handed weapons just in case?

I mostly use a bow and when someone is chasing me I just back up when they try and hit me and then run a little bit to get some distance and keep shooting. The ranger perk is great to have if you're an archer. Unrelenting Force is a good way to get some distance between you and your target too. Get the paralysis perk and maybe add paralysis on your bow too, it procs quite often then and you'll have no problems killing anyone.

I am strictly an archer. Close combat is tricky. Do light armor perks and anything that helps you move fast first.

And as far as being the only weapon, I would carry a sword for a while to begin with, but that is just to build up a big stock of arrows.

I originally was a barbarian type with two handed weapons and heavy armor, but after joining the Brotherhood, I began to opt towards the archery side. Daggers are good for sneak attacks, but I couldn't get close enough without being seen. But archery is the perfect way to take out those buggers from afar, and with help on damage including perks (5/5 on base archery skill) and gear (right now I'm using Krosis, Orcish Gauntlets of Eminent Archery and Ring of Minor Archery) and the damage spec on my Ebony Bow is 81. I use that thing all over the place, and even in close quarters. For that I do a lot of backing up and the slo-mo zoom in aiming capability to shoot off multiple arrows quickly, plus with the slow motion, I have time to aim and get the weapon off.

However, in those moments where it's obvious I'm not going to make it with my bow alone, I unfortunately still bust out the one handed weapons. With that, right now I'm going with the Mace of Molag Bal and Mehrunes' Razor. But that is only a last defense, as usually as long as I keep moving and backing up, I can riddle my enemy with enough arrows to put them down quickly. Of course, it's not nearly as sexy as getting off those 3x damage sneak attacks. It's fun watching them crumple to the ground with one hit.

If you like maxing out stats (for a 601 bow or higher) I really suggest installing the intense mod (if you play on PC) because it made quite a difference. Intense x8 + PISE (more spawns and tweaked sneak mechanics) makes it a bit more of a challenge, even bears take a while to kill now which makes the game a whole lot more fun.

I was debating making myself an exclusive archer, but using only the Bound Bow spell as to have a damage formula (combined conjuration and archery) in my favor along with essentially infinite arrows of max damage. Problem aside from combat being in tight spaces, it takes time to cast and have it in my hand and ready to shoot, so if someone gets the first strike, I can be in trouble. Especially since I am making this archer a sub-mage type with no armor, but specializing in alteration to hold my own.

Sadly I'm still playing on PS3, so no mods available.
However, I am sure a lack of armor, even with alteration perks will prove challenging enough as I will need to frequently recast to keep my defense up, and there is always the chance of it wearing off mid-battle. Not to mention I'd be using a bound bow as my only means of self-defense. However, alteration does have that mass paralyze attack so if I get clustered I can freeze them in place or even use a slow time or ice shout to keep them at distance.

I've been using archery on my new character. I cheated a bit though. I got the npc from riverwood and I got him to teach me archery skills every level. Then I traded the money back to myself. So I got level 50 archery and I'm in my first dungeon. I've found it hard to only use archery tho. If there's too many mobs I equip a dagger or something. Is good for stealth but I'm crap at aiming under pressure

I usually just sneak kill someone then back up until the others stop searching and kill another one. Good for getting sneak up fast too.

Skyrim is the only game saving my gaming sanity at the moment with my WAR getting raped.

Deadly Dragons Hard and Master difficulty x8 might be a bit too much lol >_> One breath kills me and I usually don't have time to heal... Maybe it's time to make a fire resist set with lots of HP too >_>

I have 3 chars that I switch between. My mage got left at level 55~ due to mres being broken, and I just never picked it back up. My archer is 66, however, I do keep daggers + shrouded gloves on me. My do it all is 78, all capped (boosted a lot of stats) except conj/pickpocket and its a nightmare to level both of those so yeah. This was my original and the one that I basically base my decisions off my other chars so my world was "perfect." Onto the question

Level block. I know this sounds HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE, but when stuff gets close to you, that push with a bow is dependant on your block skill, and benefits from block perks, but doesn't level block. Off the top of my head I cant remember the perks but theyre the first two on the right side. Stagger rate and disarm chance. Get the -30% draw time perk asap. Pushing close enemies back (and staggering) gives you more than enough time to full draw an arrow.

Deadly dragons + Intense 8-32x is impossible, I actually just full hacked a set of all hp+101/regen54% gear (need mod to even make this) and a set that put me at 105% mres and 105% resist to every level. 32x was instant physical oneshot no matter what. Breath took my hp to 50% and I auto died, which means there's a damage taken threshold (like falling) that you just die at I would assume. Legit gear through smithing/enchanting with 1 head piece (27%) potions I could survive DD v6.1 Hard + 4x intense without being auto one shot, as long as I abused the keep rolling to one side while swinging vs dragon strat that keeps you out of anything but "impact" damage range. Straight on they still take about 700~ hp outta me w/o blocking. The odd thing is, this mod seems to have over-rided block skill, with -100% dmg taken on block, I still take 200~ dmg, which is making for some pretty intense fights. Also for those that use it, DD is getting a major overhaul in the next few days, all the "new" dragons will now have unique textures to fix an issue this mod causes with Paarthurnax (it disabled his name, made it say nothing but squares).

Wish I tested this earlier, but can anyone confirm if unarmed have sneak attack capacity with sneak perks such as backstab?
Would be cool if there was an animated kill for the silent neck snap or something like that :o

Probably just wishful thinking though.

You can sneak attack for 2x damage from what I remember when I was playing around with unarmed for a bit. I don't think the 6x/15x/30x or w/e perks work :(

Man these *** need more gold...

Made my first Unarmed character.
Affectionately named him: Saxton Hale



Image relevant.

I woulda gone with Steve Irwin...just woulda been careful in the water.

Dragons, Daedra, Thalmor, Stormcloaks. No problem.
Slaughterfish? I'm ***.

Also if you're gonna go primarily range I keep a sword on me for just in case, but if you build for Arch/Stam 95% of your fights will be you sneaking up and one shotting your target before they know you're there. If its groups by the time the third guy is within arms reach he has 3 arrows in his chest.

There's not much to build upon with an unarmed setup unless you support yourself with magic of sorts. But I'm gonna just stick with alchemy and keep a hefty stock of potions without resorting to magic. Just my fists, armor and nature's goods to keep me going.

Dragonrend is gonna be key when facing them, since most tend to just drive by breath me.

Like a boss.

Art, did you ever get that Zelda character worked out? :o (I don't play, so I don't wanna backread!)

My god, this is amazing!

Yes and no. I'm putting her off for now so I can try out other various builds til I find one of my liking.
For now I'm having fun with my kitty assassin/thief that has no regard for right to life or property :3

Though should I go for the pickpocket cutthroat sneaky cat?
Or should I make a "ranger-esque" wood elf with bow and dual axes minus the stealing?

Can you only do the cutthroat sneak attack backstab animation thingy when the damage you do exceeds the health your target has? Or has there been funny cases where you slit their throats from behind but they still live? >.>

On a side note: Children are the bane of my housebreaking talents.

Very useful, but what do the bolts on the top highlighted with blue circles tell us?

From the site where that pic came from:


Honestly though, lockpicking is incredibly easy in Skyrim. Even without the lockpicking perks, most master locks can be picked in no more than 10-15 picks, even less once you get the hang of it. If you must do it yourself that is, for any companion you have with you can pick any lock in the game for you, even master locks are easy for them.

Also, when a pick is in the incorrect position while rotating the bolt, the pick will do a slight flicker motion, whichever direction it flickers in is the direction of the "sweet spot". The flicker animation will also occur when you break a pick too.

The lockpick idea is nice, but as ruler said, simply watching your breaks will be a much much much much faster solution than using that chart, not only that, but with unbreakable perk I've fiddled with enough master locks to realize that the difference between that last little bit of the lock catching and opening can be as little as ONE click behind where you are which makes the charting the lock idea utterly useless unless you want to graph all 180 clicks from left to right. After completing the TG quest line you basically have an unlimited supply of lock picks anyway (fences generally have 40~ lockpicks for sale in my experience, every time they restock) so break away.