DO NOT START ARGUING!!!

from my 3,800+ hours, I have noticed-
Archer > Mage
Mage > Warrior
Warrior > Archer

I know most people probably know this already, but people new to Skyrim might not know.

Edit: Added poll



-The 10th Divine

Dovahkiin beats any mage, warrior or archer !

How can you defend against an unlimited supply of Dremora Lords?

How does a Warrior kill an enemy that is an entire cell away firing arrows?

The Warrior is clearly at the most disadvantage of them all.

A Mage can cast and cast from behind cover.

An Archer can perch on a cliff face and shoot fish in a bucket without ever giving away his position.

a Stealth based Archer is the most Overpowered build in the game.

It is fun to play, but it is still way to easy.

My warrior can take out all 3.

And probably the most boring to play at higher levels.

I love playing my mages because I love the tactics that go into using the different schools of magic. And, my mages easily defeat both archers and warriors.

Yes the warrior is the most disadvantaged but...
a warriors shield can protect you from arrow damage but not from magic damage.
a mage can easily kill a warrior but can be killed by a hidden archer.
an archer can kill a mage from long range but his/her arrows will be weak against a warrior, giving the warrior enough time to kill the archer.

It's all the same. Not one is better than the other.

enemies never shoot arrows from another cell and it's so easy to dodge arrows/destruction magic as I close the gap with my battleaxe.

Warriors are strongest there is

Sorry fellas... neither could possibly take on a Sniper. That shield isn't going to do any good when you get an arrow to the back of the head.

Especially with a poisoned one at that. There's just no way.

Forget about the stupid AI. Given a one on one scenario it's no contest.

EDIT : Not for that to read as bad as it sounds. I literally mean the AI is just not as smart as a player. Well, most players... lol

A Sniper is the single most deadly thing across any battlefield. Stealth will always win over any other tactic. It's just the way it's always been and ever will be.

Warrior is clearly the most powerful way to play the game and have lots of different play styles in it. Mages, Assassins and Archers are also nice but they are not even near on the same level.

I'm going to go ahead and say Archer, Long distance and Power.

at least most seem to agree a Draugr Death Overlord with an Ebony bow is a lot harder than one with an Ebony Sword, or Battleaxe.

Mages, not too sure where they land. they're power seems to go back & forth for who did what.

Conjurers/necromancers have all 3 covered.

ive noticed that even without all the skill perks in the archery tree, so long as i have the basic damage perks up to level 5, and the sneak kill perk (name?) then when i sneak in almost all situations i kill my target in one hit. if they sniff me out then i go to weapons.

for the record i believe archery strikes while sneaking undetected absolutely should be this powerful. just like any other sniper or assassin trained to kill, an arrow to the head or heart is definitely an instant kill.

Warriors compensate for lack of range with speed and endurance. (Talking about light warriors here)

It's a toss up between a mage and an archer but I voted archer.One of my characters is an archer/mage and she is totally a bad a#&.

A stealth archer with magick back up is the most overpowered kind of character you can have.

Yeah, not against the archer. You're little meat cushions aren't going to be able to spot and take an arrow that comes from nowhere. It's just not happening. And once the Mage goes down, so do his summons.

Hard to say, because it's a different story if you're up close or at distance, not to mention armor, wards, AR spells, and blocking.

I've dodged all sorts of spells and arrows only to bury my sword in the gullet of a foolish mage or archer, and have taken out all sorts of tough enemies with poisoned arrows over great distances while remaining totally hidden. A well-armed-and-armored warrior who can snipe from the shadows is the ideal, covering both distance and close-quarters, reserving magic for pre-melee AR spells and post-melee healing.

The only thing that could be more powerful would be a mage casting crazy high-power destruction spells with wide splash damage radii, but the magicka has got to run out fast, one would think. Arrows last a lot longer, and swords don't run out at all--and if you use a bound weapon for backup like I do, you can't even be disarmed (to the best of my knowledge).

Can't vote for just one--gotta blend warrior and archer for the win.

OP sounds like you're reciting the Runescape combat triangle.

OT- I usually favor Melee but have found myself using a bow more and more. For me though, Archery wins the power department, hands down.

Archer on high ground with strong bow in sneak mode > Deadric Princes.

Meat cushions? You mean the heavy-armored Dremora Lord, Wrathmen, and Draugr Deathlords? Conjurer can also fight back with a bound bow.

So true. Its why I prefer to use conjuration/necromancy in almost all of my play throughs.

But, I must admit, archers usually are the ones that bother me the most. My mages put EVERYTHING into magic with maybe only one or two into health (110 or 120 health MAX) so even with Ebony flesh or Dragonhide some archers can one or two hit kill me.

I agree that a sniper is most deadly soldier as you can't shoot what you can't see but in the world of TES I wouldn't consider archery to be quite as deadly. The fire rate and arrow speed is almost a joke, a player would be faster with perks but I still think I would be able to dodge the arrows just as easily...a stealth archer is a different story but same thing can be said about a mage who has time to charge a master spell with sneaky, quiet casting.

All have their strengths and weaknesses but from my experience I find a warrior to be the easiest to play

Agreed.

On Archery not being quite as deadly: Agincourt.

Basically, for a "player vs player" there are two scenarios.

Either both parties are aware of the battle, or one ambushes the other. If archery is allowed to use alchemy then they can destroy warriors purely by running away. Mages can destroy both by using invisibility or muffle, however that is going to be less effective against archers who can still hit them from a distance (it is honestly the most satisfying moment in the world when you get attacked by vampires, one of them turns invisible as you hand him his neck, and you still manage to hit him in the head with an arrow while he runs perpendicular to the arrow's path) and will be employing the same tactics of breaking line of sight and relocating (think multi-player FPS combat)

Warrior, on the other hand, is going to be destroyed by both groups in open combat. However, where he excels against the archer is if he can get to somewhere enclosed where he has the advantage. Essentially in the gladiatorial combat, if one has to survive the fight, the warrior can just go somewhere enclosed and wait for the archer to come to them, or break line of sight and ambush them at short range somehow.

Considering ambushes, warrior is probably the only one that could survive the ambush, hide, and "Ambush their ambush". His ambush is of course pretty limited, he has to trap the others somewhere with low maneuverability or get close to them. Warrior would basically get dominated by mages in every open combat scenario though - they can summon daedra, detect life and drain stamina.