Auriel's Bow is actually worse than Bloodskal Blade for most builds

[ScrollsOfTamriel]

I keep seeing people recommend Auriel's Bow as the ultimate Dawnguard reward but honestly after using both weapons on different playthroughs I think it's way more situational than people admit.

Like yeah, the sun damage is cool and the special arrows do massive damage to vampires, but outside of fighting Harkon specifically when does that matter? Most of my playtime isn't spent hunting vampires. The Bloodskal Blade at least has that pulse effect that works on literally everything and scales with your one-handed damage perks. With proper investment in Bladesman and the critical hit tree you can make it actually ridiculous.

Auriel's Bow feels like it's designed for one specific fight and then becomes this trophy weapon you feel obligated to carry. The bloodcursed arrows are neat but farming the mats to make them is tedious and the damage payoff isn't there unless you're specifically fighting undead. On my archer build right now I'm way more effective with a crafted bow and good perks than I am with Auriel's.

Am I crazy or does the bow just feel like it needed more utility to justify being the "ultimate" reward from the whole DLC?

 

[DragonbornVet]

Nah you're not crazy, but I think you're underselling the bow a bit. The sun damage itself is actually solid - it's not just anti-vampire, it works on literally everything and stacks with your other damage sources. On my archer I was hitting way harder with Auriel's than with any crafted bow once I got the perks up.

That said, yeah, the Bloodskal Blade is legitimately better for most one-handed builds because of how the pulse scales. It's just free damage on every hit with no setup required, whereas the bow needs you to actually invest in archery perks to feel good. If you're not going full archer the blade wins easy.

But here's the thing - if you're already an archer, Auriel's pulls ahead pretty quick. The special arrows matter more than you think once you start using them regularly instead of just farming one or two for Harkon. Bloodcursed arrows especially are stupid good against the undead you'll run into constantly (draugr, skeletons, etc). Yeah it's tedious to make them but once you've got a stack you're golden.

The real issue is that Auriel's rewards you for actually specializing in archery while the Bloodskal Blade is good whether you invest in perks or not. So if you're a generalist or melee-focused it wins by default. But calling it a trophy weapon feels off if you're actually using it as intended on an archer build.