My Return to Skyrim - Stealth Archer Build

[David]

I've always played mages. Altmer's running around with destruction magic are my thing. Morrowind. Oblivion. Every TES game, I find myself starting and ending with a mage.

 

Mages in Skyrim suck.

 

Prior to a few days ago, I had never played more than 10 minutes as an archer. Bows always felt clunky and unwieldy to me whenever I happened to misclick-equip one and run with it for a few minutes. I never understood how you could accurately hit moving enemies long-range without an area effect. I didn't think that the damage was significant compared to one-handed builds with enchanted and improved weapons.

 

I was wrong.

 

I give you my latest build. Well, my re-purposed old build. 

 

Introducing my new stealthy archer.

 

I used his limitless wealth and 100 Enchanting / Smithing / Alchemy to get top-of-the-line gear even though he was a novice in the relevant skills. With fully improved armor (enchanted with fortify archery and muffle) and a dragonbone bow / arrows, I was one-shotting some enemies even with ~30 archery. Sneak attacking (2x damage) consistently does so with any enemy.

 

The combat is so much more satisfying than Skyrim's other two options. Magic is criminally under powered to the point of being useless as anything other than a supplement. Melee is just... Boring. It's been well-covered elsewhere. Skyrim doesn't have great combat mechanics in the first place, and melee is particularly weak.

 

Unlike the other two disciplines, using a bow actually requires a bit of skill. Not much, but certainly more. There's a great deal of suspense in sneaking up on a group of enemies and then silently dispatching them long-range.

 

Going for the perfect shot requires adjusting for distance by aiming above or below your target. Sometimes your arrow will sail just inches over an NPCs head. Controllers are thrown, keyboards slammed. Sometimes you get a head-shot. The THHHWWWP you're rewarded with has to be the best sound in Skyrim. 

 

Shhh. No tears. Only dreams now.

 

I giggle like a school girl every time I see the NPC slump over.

 

A silent guardian. A watchful protector. A dark knight.

 

All in all, I highly recommend making a stealth archer build. I can't see myself playing as anything else from here on out.

[Francis]

Awesome. I started sneaking with bows way late too. You should flirt with crossbows next.

[Buttons]

I've been married to my bow for a while now. Such a deadly floozy. 

 

Crossbows suck.