does the arrow have to hit a "living" npc to get "xp" or can i just shoot at a wall / target like ise soem npc's doing every now and then ?

currently got marksman at 47/50 for zooming and its getting harder and harder to find things to shoot its like the game has stoped spawning things to kill :/

You have to hit a living being. It doesn't have to be a NPC. Uh..... there are plenty of things to shoot at. As a marksman, I usually hit 100 skill in marksman at the very latest by level 19ish.

I don't know about the trainers, but I can give you two options to level marksman, but it requires at least 60 acrobatics:

1.) Find a troll or a dread zombie in an ayleid ruin, then jump on a ledge. They regenerate HP, and they can hit you, which makes them free targets.

2.) In the arena, when you're fighting a warrior, not a spellcaster or archer, jump on the ledge on the west. They can't hit you, turn the difficulty slider to the right and level to your heart's content.

i have 71 acrobatics im currently level 9 and i dont plan to do pretty much any quest till im at least level 20 (so that the loot will be decent and the enemies challenging + maybe teh arena will feel more like an arena and not some epic slaughter house)

Archery Training (Marksman):
Bruma at Hammer & Axe - Edla Dark Hart
Anvil - Pinarus Inventius

Reman Broder in Skingrad. If you can't find him at home, try Surillie Brother's vineyard right outside town.

Get a summoning spell, whatever you can use, and conjure a monster then shoot it in the back, repeat.

What GTMattz said. Its more fun imo if you summon a zombie Gets your Conjuration skill up too.

I prefer to summon some grade of skeleton, as the arrows bounce off and can be re-used.

Also, Honditar in Chorrol. If you use the bow as your sole weapon, your marksmanship skill will rocket up in no time. At the very least, get it to 75 for the knockdown effect. Nothing's more enjoyable than watching your enemy go flying backward while on fire (one of my bow effects.)

If you can find some zombies or trolls trapped behind one of those Aylied gates you can shoot through the big hole in the metal gate and train without them hitting back. Similar to the above this works well with Dread Zombies and Trolls since they regenerate health.

But my favorite method is to brew up some Damage Speed poisons. Then shoot them at some melee only opponent. Not a Dread Zombie because they are immune to poison. But a Troll or Orge works well. That will slow them down or lock them in place. Then you can use them for practice.



I think Mr. Broder only trains you before he goes to work. That is to say in his home. I usually ask him for training in his home around 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning, as I recall.


Honditar teaches Athletics not Marksmanship. He does carry a bow, but athletics is what he trains.

I can't see how you're having trouble finding enemies. Just go into any dungeon or fort in the wilderness and clear it out. All these respawn. You could combine this with the vampire lair dungeons and make a killing as a vampire hunter at the same time. Soon you'll have enough money to buy more training from specialist NPCs.

I just put on the Gray Fox's mask and went on a rampage.

but that likes kills the life out of towns :/

Set the difficulty slider all the way up, damage some creature's (preferably a skeleton's so you can retrieve ammo) speed until it's permanently paralysed, and then pincushion it. You'll want use some heal on touch spells every now and then.

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My character is an archer who was built around the bow. Marksman is a major skill and the others were selected to level not at all or slower than marksman. Like mpls Big Daddy, I find that carrying no weapon except a bow does wonders for learning how to use it and helping it level up.

Spending the days stalking and hunting in the foreset is perhaps my characater's favorite way to train bow. A more direct and down to business approach is to grab a crap bow and arrows and sink a couple damage speed poisons into a troll (they regenerate hp). Once they are a living statue, then slowly and safely plink away at them until you run out of arrows. I learned this tip a long time ago from Savlian. A drain marksman spell on self can let you do even less damage if desired.

o.0 I accedently shot an arrow and it hit a wall an bounced off and then my marksman increased o.0 and its happend a few times now so does that mean so long as the arrow hits somethign ill get xp ?

If that happened, it's just a freaky glitch. That should NOT happen. I mean... try shooting a bunch of arrows at a wall. Save first if you're worried about loosing arrows. Marksman is one of the hardest/longest skills to advance. I always try to use trainers for the advancing of marksman. Check out the Wiki for trainer locations.

Good Luck with this great game.

this my second play through i did everything on my 1st and after about level 25 it got boring cuz there was nothing left to do

so now im tryign get to level 25 with out doing anything and then start the quest (oh i hope the arena will be fun if i stick to this plan)

I don't understand...You completed every quest by level 25? Were you not resting to level? Doing everything took me almost 300 hrs, and that was prior to the DLC. IIRC the standard maxed level is 42 or so. I'm not sure how you could run out of things to do.

Depends on your priorities. My first playthrough of Oblivion had all the major quest lines completed by level 28, because I was interested in playing through those more than just enjoying the freedom of the game outside of quests. On my second playthrough, I hadn't even started the main quest by level 28. It's totally possible to have completed everything by level 25, especially if you have a slow-leveling character build.

Best way to train archery is to use a drain Marksman spell on yourself, find a troll, paralyze and/or drain Speed it and shoot away to your heart's content. Also, jumping up on that ledge in the Arena to shoot at a warrior is an easy way to train.

well this play through its class is the default Assassin class which part for teh light armour skill is working fine for me (not wearing any armour except a dark seducer shield which is hidden by my bow :/)

Yes, the build is what does it. I have one character who was built with six never-use Majors, and one "controlled-use" major. That character finished the Main Quest at level 2, and had explored the whole map, and finished SI and KOTN at level 4.

It's possible to create a powerful character who will never level at all. Just make a class with (for instance) Hand-to-hand, Blunt, Heavy Armor, Illusion, Alteration, Conjuration, and Destruction. Then never use any of those skills. Wear light armor and use blades and a bow. Eventually the skills you use will reach 100.

I know this is getting off topic, but the OP brought it up. I know that you could actually play the entire game with a very very overpowered level 1 character...But, doesn't that limit your access to the high end equipment?

I always try to spread out my M/M skills with ones that I don't normally use, as to have control of leveling. Latter playthroughs have been from a save I created with maxed out skills before any quests. That way I can play any type of class without the worry of the leveling issue. I'm just anol about the leveling thing. I also see how it applies to your play strategy. From his post, I just assumed ( and we can break that word down ) that he was missing out on some quests.

I guess my reading comp is failing in my silver years.