Ok so I'm making a typical warrior: Heavy Armor, One Handed, Block, Smithing & Enchanting later on most likely.

Kinda wanting something ranged (dragons comes to mind) and kinda just wanting a bit of variety. Is mixing archery & melee worth it?

Might even throw in some sneak. I know that won't be ideal with heavy armor, but I'm thinking start a fight with sneak attack with the bow and end it in melee.

How is this? Who has done this?

Yeah, it's worth it, but I wouldn't spec the whole tree. You only have so many perks by lvl 50.

It's good enough as a secondary attack if you spec about 3 perks in the +dmg. And get the slow time and focus perks. It'd be about 50 archery or so.


I'd drop enchanting if I were you. Not just because you're spreading yourself thin, but because it svcks and you'll ruin the game having it in tandem with smithing.

Thanks!


Wait, enchanting svcks?!? Is it only good for mages or something? I've heard how great it is.... well all of the crafting skills honestly.

No, it doesn't svck in that way... it's too good. You'll be overpowered eventually and probably stop having fun.

Yeah I am a prominent melee user but I still put in some work for Archery because it's fun sneaking up on bandit/forsworn camps and just sniping everybody. I only have 20% extra damage and the perk that allows you to zoom in while aiming, and I'm 81 range at the moment. But with enchantment and smithing and some range-boosting gear my bow does like 332 damage+39 burn damage+paralysis, and of course you can throw in daedric arrows. With a 107% range boost potion or some high damage poison you can reliably take down a lot of targets in 1-2 hits.

Also, definitely invest in sneaking. x3 damage against enemies while hidden with the bow, more with melee and WAY more with daggers.

I've done this build and it's great. Just decide on a main weapon, I presume one-handed, and then use less perks on archery. That's what I did and I had a great time. It allows you to vary attacks and use more strategy. I would shoot a few arrows and then switch to sword and shield. Good times when facing a lot of ennemies.

I put perks in sneak also but only one in stealth and then one in muffle. That way you have a bit of stealthiness but ennemies spot you easily also if you're not carefull. But mostly I would just walk in, shoot arrows and then sword and shield. Like a boss.

Smithing AND enchanting might make you overpowered at some point. Enchanting doesn't svck, but maxed enchanting with maxed smithing = god mode.

Ok cool, thanks for the advice all! I'll stick to just smithing on this character. Time to go find a perk calculator and plan my build!

If you absolutely want enchanting you could try and just use it on your weapon, a sort of house-rule (not use it on armor). Because, hey, having ennemies catch fire when you hit them with a sword is still fun

Enchant is a nice convenience skill to have. You WILL need enchanted items, except with enchant you can place them on items you want. Enchant also allows you to rename items, which is a huge help, when your inventory is full of junk and you renamed all the gear you actually use to be on top of the inventory.

That's pretty much my assassin build except I use light armor. You'll become overpowered anyway at some point. It's just the mechanics of the game. Don't worry, you'll still occasionally screw the pooch and do some really stupid things, like find Shearpoint when you're level 15 and try to take the dragon not knowing what else is in the area, Krosis. (sorry I talked to Paarth last night and he kept calling me that and Dovah). Or perhaps you find this spot called "Bard's Leap" and think it might be a fun place to try for that Olympic diving medal (I miss those levitation potions from Morrowind)

i use this type of character exclusively. and it is great.

she is a toe to toe i handed fighter who uses destruction,

she likes to sneak and use her bow in dungeons.

she normally only uses normal weapons and enchanted armor.

her ebony bow does 50 dam and her ebony war axe does 50 dam.

she is level 35 and she still has hard fights and loves it.

like 3 bandits kept killing her within 30 seconds.

I have a stealth sniper which also has one-hand and a bt of destruction magic usage

max light armor, archery, sneak, enchantment, smithing, one-hand

got max resists, max armor with some dragonscale (wish there was arrows + sword in that kit)
using a glass bow upgraded max and a glass sword since it was on the light armor smithing path and they are the best I can get/upgrade

I kill everything in a few shots with the stealth bow, but one-handed is a bit harder especially against a couple draugr death lords (which sometimes blow me away with a shout)

Next I'll try a stealthy mage - max light armor, conjuration, destruction, enchanting, smithing or something along these lines.

I use this kind of build atm and it is my best character so far.

Concerning the smithing/enchanting issue : I have maxed out both and still do not produce hilarious weapons. If you stay away from boosting potions your gear will be awesome but not god-like.

Really all you need to be an effective archer is the damage perks. The rest of the tree can be ignored unless you need help aiming- then you can take eagle eye and the slow time one. 5 perks for a viable ranged alternative is great.

I agree.. but those those are kind of nice toys. I wouldn't get anything beyond 1 perk in slow time though.

that 1 perk in slow timw has allowed me to take down Draugr Deathlords with just 4 arrows.