Skyrim forum users;

I don't have much experience in the elder scrolls games so I was wondering if I could ask some help regarding my character; build, weapons, skills etc.

I wish to make a stealth archer with conjuring and illusion.

'been looking around a bit and my eyes fell on the Bound Bow which seems like a very good choice due to the unlimited arrows, soul trap, and the conjuration skill that +'s the damage (forgot the name).

Now here's the part I have not been able to answer myself by just searching website after website.

The discussion between Bound Bow vs Daedric (I hope I spelled it correctly) and maybe even the dragon one seesm to date back since the release of Skyrim if I see how many forum posts are made about it.. however..

I was thinking of making a bound bow character (for it's damage, weigth and infinite arrows) that uses the best regular bow for certain bosses/enemies that take a lot of damage since the arrows are very rare to aquire, unless you do the little trick at the thief's guild which I don't fancy doing.

I purchased the legenadry version and intend on playing my character through the entire map and DLC's content.

'Was hoping anyone could suggest a few tips on the build and maybe even add an argument or two on the Bound bow vs any other bow.

Regards;

EDIT: Fixed a few errors.

http://theskyrimblog.ning.com/group/character-building/forum/topics/character-build-the-arcane-assassin

In Skyrim, anything's possible. There's no different outcome in the come.

Thanks for the link, I'll start reading

In a way, you are right, however, let me ask you this.

In Skyrim, is it possible to level all skills to 100 on 1 character? I know it's possible to reset skills in the latest DLC with a Dragon Soul (This was the item you had to trade for it right?)

Yes. You could before and you still can. WIth the 1.9 patch, you can freely reset skills so you can gain even more perks and level beyond 81. Doesn't cost a thing.

So what you're saying is..

A ) You reset your skills thus making all the skills go to 0 and you gain back the skill points to relocate them?

B ) Make a specific tree drop to 0 and give you back the skill points?

Bound Bow is incredibly strong early on, it's not a bad build. It's a bit OP at times but not having weight means more potions or other things that you want to carry. I personally would still carry a regular bow for the times that you can't get the bound bow up, which will happen until you get to adept in Conjuration and are able to get the adept costs half less perk.

Stealth and conjuration are an excellent combination, and illusion and archery are good supplements. However as far as the soul trap perk on the bound weapons, keep in mind that you have no control over what gets soul trapped by these weapons. If you're not careful you could accidentally end up putting a lesser or petty soul in a grand or greater soulgem. Rather than waste a perk point on something you may not even want after you start using it, I'd just carry around a regular bow with the soul trap enchantment on it.

I've done the stealth/conjuration thing before and it almost feels cheap considering how easy it makes taking out enemies. You can simply hide in the shadows and conjure as many creatures as you need to take down any amount of enemies. It's even easier if you get the silent casting perk from the illusion tree.

With the 1.9 update, you can make a skill "legendary" which drops it to 15 and you can level it again and gain more perks. You get back all perks you spent.

With DB, you get your perks back, the level remains.

If you do put the wrong soul in a gem, drop it on the ground. It resets the soulstone.

Ran out of petty and lessers once, had to drop like 20 common soulgems to reset them... but all good in the end

Iv'e played stealth + conjured bow , and it is very good. Although it is tempting to grab the summon paths as well, i did that & ended up summoning more than i did using my bow. So my archery skill suffered, plus conjuration levels quickly.

Suggestions(<--):

-50pts in illusion for quiet casting, so casting conjured bow is silent & keeps you hidden.
-50pts in Conjuration for adept conj. so the spell costs less & mystic binding for the bow to do more damage.
-Everything from the archery tree.
-7 perks in stealth, deadly aim for increased bow damage from stealth + silence to be ultra sneaky.

Well, I plan on playing the Adept difficulty and see where it leads me, being a bit OP doesn't hurt to be honest.. I like the idea of sending my minions into battle and pew-pew from the sidelines =)

Thanks for the very clear explanation, I'll have some fun switching some skills around later on !!

I'll keep this little trick in mind as I'm sure it'll come into play later!

I like your way of thinking, is there some kind of Online Skyrim skill calculator? Like the one from Borderlands where you can actually plan out a build?

^^This. Plus by making a skill legendary, it also allows you raise your health, magika or stamina when you continue to level.

I've done this play-style quite a lot, and find it works really well, the Bound Bow becomes a weightless Daedric Bow with 100 Daedric Arrows every time and has Soul Trap and Banish, although you can't improve the damage through Smithing, the Soul Trap on the Bound Bow means you can level up Enchanting efficiently and increase your damage through that.

I like having perks in Illusion to make use of Muffle, Invisible and Quiet Casting, and for Conjuration besides Bound Bow I have Flame Atronach or Boneman Archer from Dawnguard so I have plenty of ranged attacks at once, plus they don't seem to get in the way as much, then Enchanting to increase damage and alteration for armour, although with sneak you don't particularly need protection. You can always use Alchemy to increasey Archery damage and apply poisons too. There's no right or wrong way to do it, of course, just have fun! Shoot some Dragons with your summoned soul-snaring daedra-banishing ethereal bow.

You also invest perks into archery to increase damage. That, along with the mystic binding perk, its quite a deadly bow.

Aye, take all the Archery perks. I think I've yet to get Ranger however though, can't bring myself to get Hunters Discipline.

Stop using fast travel, you will grab them both in an eyeblink trust me..

Haha, I don't fast travel but admittedly do run away like a scared little girl when a saber cat ambushes me.

If you're down with playing as a vampire, theres one of my personal favorite Blood Archer

http://theskyrimblog.ning.com/group/character-building/forum/topics/character-build-the-blood-archer?xg_source=activity

Thanks for the information! I guess what has got me really confused were the differences between the bow.. one can be smithed/enchanted.. the other can't.. I've seen bows go up to 700 dmg? Is that correct or is that modded somehow?

From what little video's I've watched (Don't want to spoil the gameplay too much ^^) the bound bow seems adequate in what it needs to d so I'm sure I'l go down this path.

You seem to know your archer builds.. ever made a guide for one?

How is playing as a certain class/origin helping with a certain path?

I guess it has some perks per 'origin' ? Friends of mine adviced me to go along with the thiefsguild for a stealth bow player.. any thoughts on that?

Sure is: http://skyrimcalculator.com/

Ive never made a guide for one. Alot of what I do came with just experimenting with different things. Not to mention if you look at the Slyrim Blog under the archery, you'll find some pretty amazing builds. But those builds really come from a more roleplay standpoint, as opposed to just putting in the game and playing.

Stealth is definately used with thieving but definately used with assassins. The whole point of stealth is to kill without being seen or heard. Although I rarely play as a thief, I get more use out of stealth while playing an assassin. But everyone's different. Thats what makes this game so great.

I had a conjuring archer for awhile, he used necromancy and bound bow out of conjuration. only used illusion for frenzy at the start. making them kill each other and reviving the bodys is a fun way to level both skills. but later only quiet casting from illusion is needed. most of the archery perks are needed. i would skip the master perk for archery and perk #2 of slow time when zoomed perk, too much slow time can mess things up easily.

alchemy will be needed later on for the fortify archery pots, as for obvious reasons you cannot smith or enchant your bound bow to improve the damage. but only go with the enchantments or the pots to fortify, being OP makes the game boring very quickly(least for me), i usually just go for fortify damage pots.

i would avoid wearing armor also, as you will have meatshields from conjuration to take the heat off you whenever you become detected, mobility is necessary. maybe a conjuration robe.

as for stats, i would only put enough into magicka to be able to summon a creature and bound bow at the same time if you need to, the rest can go into stamina/health(maybe at least 50 more points into stamina for more time in zoom in combat), whichever you prefer. once you get master level summons magicka has very little use, i think bound bow would only cost about 120-150 at that level, cant remember the exact amount.

this can be a fun build but can easily get OP if you dont gimp yourself. ive never been able to play a character more than about 20-30 hours max without gimping them. i usually do it by not spending a single stat point into health. and a lot of time being a vampire for a penalty to health.