One of my favorite characters is what I call a combat archer. I initially came up with the idea from watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy and watching Legolas in the major battles.

I used a Nord as they are one of the taller races and height affects jump height and running speed, and also the battle cry power can save your butt if swarmed when using this build.

The idea of this character is to forgo the typical type of archery where you sneak everywhere and try to 1 shot everything. This character will only sneak for a first shot, and will only go into sneak after he has acquired a target, so no constant sneaking.

A faster bow is ideal for this character, though slower ones may work as well. I prefer Zephyr until I can smith a dragonbone bow. Until you get zephyr the best bow will actually be a forsworn bow surprisingly. It has the base damage of a dwarven bow with a speed between that of the hunting bow and orcish bow which ends up giving it better DPS than anything short of zephyr, auriels bow, and a dragonbone bow. Yes, it has better dps than a daedric bow. The Daedric bow has 7 more base damage per shot, but that becomes minuscule with smithing upgrades.

The quick draw and ranger perks are very important to this build as well.

With this character I also discovered how great jumping can be for dancing around a melee target. By leaping back or to the side I can get out of melee range and if you do it right you can end up behind them at times forcing them to turn while you can shoot them. Jumping can be quite effective for evasion with this character.

Typically I use Alchemy for healing as well as making poisons. The best ones for this build are actually potions that slow the enemy. On that note a frost enchantment can also be useful on your bow due to the slowing secondary effect.


This is just my take on this concept. I was wondering if anyone has their own version to share, or any ideas for improvement on the build or combat strategy.

My hunters are like this. Primary skill is the bow but if needed will switch to a short blade. I use the Hunter's Bow early on and switch to an Elven bow as I can smith them. Oddly enough with a high sneak even the steel arrows can one shot kill certain enemies.

Quick Draw is a must. I also use the perk that allows me to collect more arrows from those I killed. As well as the perk that lets me move quickly with the bow drawn. That one is a must. Eagle Eye is also good as well. I like to lead my shots with that.

I am currently playing a newer character in this style as I took out a severely outdated mod that my old saves won't work without. I forgot how scary bears and sabercats are early on. Dragur are easy though. They are really slow and easy to maneuver around. It's the bears and sabercats that are quite powerful compared to other things early on and they close fast even if you use a slow poison.

Anyone got advice on taking the beasts down? I've been away from skyrim a few months and am a bit rusty.

get your sneak up high. I got pretty good at spotting sabre cats and even bears let you know they are neaby. I'm lv 16 with my archer/hunter but she can 2 shot a sabre cat with a hunter bow and steel arrows. Bears are a bit tougher. But thats the fun of playing an archer. Put aside that wild swinging of a blade and start making every shot count.

But I sneak up on wildlife when I can, x3 damage helps a lot.

Legolas was the Lord of the Rings version of a high elf.

The LotR high elves were not stuck up and full of them selves (even non Thalmor high elves seem to show this). Also a combat archer must be efficient with other types of weapons just in case he loses his bow.

This was basically my first character, and remains one of my favourite playstyles.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Drainspell_Bow

I've gone after the Drainspell bow for pure archer characters who don't smith: 6 pounds, 14 hit points, .8750 draw speed. If I understand the mechanics properly it has the highest DPS in game, but it can't be smithed so it's going to lag rapidly compared to any other bow for any character who smiths. You have to run the CoW questline to get it, and it's ghostly blue. lol

Figured out how to deal with beasts. Lydia. The women makes excellent bear bait lol. They usually go after her as she runs at them and then I turn them into a pin cushion. I also just got hold of the Hearthfire property near Morthal and built a longhouse with alchemy tower and a fish hatchery. For anyone who uses poisons I recommend this location as you can farm river betty, which is a key ingredient in potions that have high poison damage, a slowing effect, and weakness to poison all in one when combined with deathbells that grow all over that area and any third ingredient that has a weakness to poison effect. For this purpose I farm bleeding crown mushrooms and/or giant lichen. Abecean longfin can also fill the third slot and be farmed in the hatchery. Another couple of things to grow are canis root and imp stool for a paralysis potion. I recommend using these for a last ditch effort as they can make things too easy.

Also it helps to grow a few health potion plants/ mushrooms.

Naturally for all this I suggest a greenhouse and outdoor garden, and the alchemy tower is a nice touch and gives you a good snipers roost if a nasty creature other than a dragon pays a visit. The remaining wing can be whatever. I go for the armory as I have a mod that makes the back room on the main floor of the longhouse a kitchen with an oven, and the library tower is kind of lame for me.

Also, the poison ideas come from this excellent guide that got me started with this play style. http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1366255-guide-to-pure-sneakless-archery/