Although I have had Skyrim for almost two years, I am just now really getting the time to sink my teeth into it. While I have experienced a bit here and there, I am now committed to building an archer.

I plan to focus on Archery, enchantment, alchemy, block (just up to bash), one-handed, and sneak.

Are those my correct focuses? Any advice?

I played as a wood elf archer, and the perks I picked were enchanting, alchemy, archery up the left side, sneak for the silence perk and the deadly aim perk, which gives 3x more damage to bows when in sneak mode. I also took 1-handed perks, but only armsman 5 and fighting stance. I did not bother with block, cause no one got that close. lol Also, I very seldom used it. I also took smithing perks so I could make my own weapons and improve them. If you plan on doing a lot of sneaking, then you might want to use some illusion, for the frenzy perks. Hope that helps.

What you plan to focus on sounds good to me. One other consideration, if you plan to enchant you bows, they will also benefit from any destruction (elemental) perks you have.

Look for a fellow named Faendal and befriend him early in the game.

I remember him. He is in Riverwood, and from the very beginning of the game he can train you in Archery. Is this the same guy??

Don't forget Light Armour.

Yep. Also, for a friendly tip. If you've got him as a follower, ask to train Archery, then ask to swap stuff. You can get your gold back you spent for training. Free archery training

Yes, he is.

Yea, I thought I put that. I guess when I edited it I left it out. No, I plan to max out my light armor. I may forget about block since I am going one-hander also with a focus on dual-wielding.

Someone mentioned Destruction. Hmm... Can Destruction spells add temporary dmg modifiers to arrows? Does it stack with poison (my reason for alchemy)?

No, Destruction adds nothing to arrows. The only thing to make arrows pack more of a punch are poisons and enchanted bows.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1459413-the-alchemists-thread-unofficial-of-course/?hl=%2Bthe+%2Balchemists+%2Bthread#entry22683658 I have it saved from my days of lurking the forums but I don't think the OP posts any more.

Thanks - I will check it out.

As it stands now, I won't have enough perk points to put into destruction. Maxing out Light Armor, Archery, Alchemy, Enchantment, with a sizable amount in Sneak and One handed take all the perk points I have - and not a single point is expendable from what I have planned. How necessary is destruction really?

Also, seeing as how I will have plenty of potions and won't use a lot (if any) offensive spellcasting, I figure 100 mana will last me through the entire run. I figure 5/1 Health to Stamina would be a good number. Does that sound about right?

You'll want to invest in Stamina a touch more, seeing as you're a light character. You don't want to be caught between enemies with big weapons, so you're probably gonna need extra Stamina just to be sure you can sprint out of any tight spots.

But lots of health, of course.

I guess maybe 2/1 does have a nicer ring to it. That will be a good bit of stamina I would imagine.

2/1 should get you pretty far, yeah

Happy hunting!

When I play as an archer, I put all my points into stamina until at least level 20. Then I start a 3 to 1 in Stamina and then health. I put enough points into health to get to 150. All the rest go into stamina, for stamina helps with how much plunder you can carry plus it helps with the drawing of the bow and using daggers or swords. Dual wielding takes a lot of the stamina.

If you have weapons that carry a fire or frost enchantment, you can dis-enchant them and if you have the enchantment perks, then you can enchant a bow with fire, and then your arrows will do fire damage, or frost damage. My latest wood elf archer is level 52 and going strong.

I never bothered with putting any perks into light armor, for as your stamina rises, and you can carry more, it kind of off-sets the one perk in light armor that makes it so your armor weighs nothing. My gal wears furs, being as she is a wood elf, and all her armor is double enchanted.

If you're on console and using a Bosmer I'd recommend using a female as you can either make female Bosmers look cute or give her a 'tough ranger' look while the males look rather odd. Savour's Hide looks really good on female Bosmer characters as does Fur and Leather. Elven and glass seems flashy but Ancient Falmer looks decent. Really with enchanting/smithing you can give her any armour you want.

I'd also recommend getting the Glass Bow of the Stag Prince if you have the Dragonborn DLC.

I am playing on the PC with tons of graphics mods, which is affecting the stability a bit but it sure is gorgeous.

http://chrizel.github.io/skyrim/#t/1/6689m8,-8vmz22,m73imk,e0o,0,29s6bk,15gki,0

This is my basic build for legendary dead is dead archer: work in some alteration for magic protection eventually(or really, reduction of needed enchants to hit comfortable resist level), fill out the sneak tree more, take one handed as a backup, get convenient perks like merchant or extra pockets, pick up twin souls in conjuration, grab concentrated poison if you don't find re-application too tedious, etc. as you get nearer max level as you like. The basic key here is use of a summon to tank enemies while you shoot them, while you eventually work on crafting a better bow and of course armor with crafting. You can cut out crafting if you want to skip the grind and don't mind being sub-optimal - on normal difficulties which are better IMO anyway you don't need it that much.

I train 5x light armor per level because it's nigh-impossible to level up at a reasonable pace on legendary without resorting to afk mudcrab tanking tactics since as a ranged character you don't get hit often + on legendary DiD can't afford to take many hits. On normal or expert though can get away with taking hits but armor is still the slowest skill to raise for me so worth buying training for.

Illusion and sneak of course are for getting lots of ranged sneak attacks in, and for the convenience of pacifying or avoiding(sneak+invis spell let me skip entire dungeons worth of worthless draugr that take forever to kill even with crazy gear) anything you don't feel like fighting such as random animals out in the world - especially if you want to conserve arrows. Bound bow of course gives you infinite arrows, but a smithed dragonbone bow outclasses it dramatically. However bound bow is great for leveling up early on with mystic binding perk - which admittedly becomes useless after a certain point but I think you can remove that perk for something better for high/max levels in dragonborn DLC.

Great build. I've never thought of using magic, aside from Illusion, with an archer before. I've always gone with Light armour, sneak, archery, alchemy, 1-H. I guess I'll give it a try DiD of course.

Playing a Stealth Archer that uses poisons is my current character. I have played several archers and I can tell you that you don't need to worry with any armor perks. In fact, even for rogues and warriors, armor perks are not needed.

Only invest 1/5 in Stealth and go up the right side for extra bow damage. Get the dagger perk if you want to kill silently to support your 1H skill. The left side does hold muffle, but it's not worth the perks spent to get it. The spell from the Alteration school or the boots that you enchant yourself will grant the same complete silent value of 1.0 for your character.

Alchemy you only need to invest for poisons, obviously.

Archery only needs 5/5 Overdraw and enough to get 1/2 of Steady Hand.

Block? IDK... Like Ashley says... they will seldom get close enough to need it. Then chances are you won't be blocking enough to advance the skill anyway.

Smithing as needed for your target equipment, I end up getting all of them the left for armor and the right side for the stronger bows.

Enchanting's investment is good enough with 3/5 in Enchanter and run up the middle.

The same with 1H. 5/5 and run up to Savage Strike. Although, you can get training, a stealth archer is rarely detected once you advance the Stealth skill enough. And sneak attacks will advance it faster than anything else. Essentially, you are a sniper, for the most part.

Stamina is not needed for any character. Skyrim doesn't implement the attribute properly. The 100 you start wit can easily sprint you out of sticky situations and you start with a generous amount of 300 for carry weight.

Alteration is a good support skill for a Stealth Archer with Muffle and Detect Life. You don't even need to invest in the skill or Magicka, really. Unless you want to.

OH... I forgot Illusion. Invest as needed in the skill and magicka to effectively cast the Invisibility spell. Otherwise, if focusing on the other Illusion spells, you need to be fully devoted to the school as it's an all or nothing type of skill, to remain effective for the other spells.

I like that calculator. Thank you for bringing that out.

This is my basic Archer. It caps close to level 50 or so. However, it is also the same as my Assassins. Yet they continue with Pickpocket and a few other perks as they like to use a wide variety of skills to make each kill unique.

http://chrizel.github.io/skyrim/#t/9/1q7qwg,0,iv8e0w,pa0,-zik0zk,lusco,24n4,0

Say Ashley stated, definately smithing, only to create your own bows and arrows. If you use it all out with alchemy and enchanting, then you might end up OP.
For my archers, a maxed out archery and sneak trees are the two skills I focus on primarily, with everything being secondary. One shot from a hiding spot and the enemy is dead before he even hits the ground.

Side with the Dawnguard if you want Crossbows (Loads of variants) and loads of variants of bolts.




That is, if you have the DLC.

Stealth Archery is arguably OP'd anyway. You are killing everything with one shot form stealth. The OPing from the crafting skills is a misconception when used in reference to every character. It only becomes that way when you continue to improve weapon damage beyond Legendary.

A stealthy character's main point id to one shot the enemy. be that form range with Bow and poisons or cutting the throat with a dagger.

You only need 1/5 in Sneak with a skill level of 70 and your character is all but invisible anyway.

That's the only way I play archers. Everyone's different.

Indeed they are, my dear. It's what makes the game so enjoyable for so many different people. We are all here to share our experience to make each other enjoy the game more and to become better players.