the ups and downs about archery

[illuminist]

I have only 3 archery perks to go until I am a fully skilled at archery I have almost every single perk for archery and now I am aiming to use stronger bows and enchanting after I get all the single handed skills higher.

the ups and downs about archery is I hate it when I miss a shot and get shot back in return via arrows flying at me by a bandit or enemy soldier.

I love archery and I am on level 84 and I am going so well that I want to get to level 100.

my sneak level is very high too,when it comes to sneak archery.

the ups about archery is you take an enemy down in one single hit because more then any skill I use will be mainly archery. archery is my main skill as a hooded masked theif and assassin.

I love shooting straight to the head and get a bullseye, and I want the paralyze strike in which will add a bonus plus all critical strikes.

the downs about archery is you can miss so easily because the target always have to move out of the way and there is a possibility you can miss a shot and its worse when your sneaking on an enemy target and they turn around and detect you. I hate that*

but in return the target turns around and you take him out and don't miss a shot,thats the ups about archery.

and also I hate it when you lose range out of a shot thats another down for archery but its my most used and favourite skill in the game as well as simgle handed and sneak.

 

[ShadowGambit]

First, in Skyrim archery mechanics, it doesn't matter where you hit the target, you will do the same amount of damage. So you better always target the center mass of the body.

Second, Critical hit take int account ONLY the base damage of your bow, NOT your damage after improvement (with smithing, enchantment or potions). So the difference will be very little if you have a fully upgraded bow. I usually take only Critical 1/3 because it is mandatory to get Ranger perk.

Third, when you miss your target, it will not spot you right away. The target and other enemies will first check where the Arrow has landed. Then after that they will TRY to figure out where the arrow comes from. At that point, if you were hidden, they shouldn't have spotted you yet. In that case, just move silently to another spot before they come to your spot and you won't be detected.

Don't forget that when your target finally comes to melee with you, you have a final option: bash with your bow. That will stagger your enemy and let you time to move away a bit.

Also, choose your spot carefully, so you can backpedal without being stuck. When your target finally spotted you, then start to backpedal. That should allow you to fire one or 2 more arrows at him.

Paralyze (Bulleye perk) is no good for an archer in my opinion, because paralyzed target lay flat on the ground, making it much harder to hit from a distance.

 

[illuminist]

yes your right it can be a bit hard to shoot an arrow from that distance when they are down or in a shock state,yes I will take your advice mate.

 

[Dagmar]

the ups and downs about archery is I hate it when I miss a shot and get shot back in return via arrows flying at me by a bandit or enemy soldier.

If you don't move you're an easy target. With the Ranger perk and the Steady Hand perks there's no excuse for you to be doing that. With the combination of the two you should be able to avoid arrows that move in slow motion very easily as it only takes a very small side movement to take yourself outside of an incoming arrows path.

Paralyze (Bulleye perk) is no good for an archer in my opinion, because paralyzed target lay flat on the ground, making it much harder to hit from a distance.

It's a method of crowd control. If your fighting multiple opponents in open combat it can be useful, and if the target is already closing distance on you it's not hard to hit even on the ground at medium to short distances. If you're dealing with a single opponent you can close their distance to make for an easy kill shot as well.

 

[Jaeger]

yes your right it can be a bit hard to shoot an arrow from that distance when they are down or in a shock state,yes I will take your advice mate.

Besides, when you start to one shot kill, paralyzation is a waste. If you don't one shot kill, power shot (mini-paralyze) staggers them enough for you to get another arrow in them.

 

[DarkEastwood]

... Which is exactly why I rule out the top 2 tier perks. They make the game way too easy. But that doesn't mean I'll despise people for using them

 

[aaust12]

I love Archery for the fact that you can 1-hit most basic enemies while hidden. My first play-through with my Orc I used archery a little bit but he was always in heavy armor so I couldn't utilize the sneak shot to it's full potential. My Elf character is a high sneak high archery build and most bandits don't stand a chance.

 

[Orange_]

Personally I hate steady hand. Not that it makes the game too easy, but I never take it because it slows everything down. Slowing down time isn't that useful if my aim and player movement is equally slowed. It takes even more effort to line up a shot than aiming at normal speed would.

 

[illuminist]

when you aim a bit lower, the arrows can fly all over the place.this is why I find it hard with moving targets.because I cant get a hit unless they are sitting still.

 

[illuminist]

and I just love the kill cam affect as well,its like a movie.

 

[Orange_]

when you aim a bit lower, the arrows can fly all over the place.this is why I find it hard with moving targets.because I cant get a hit unless they are sitting still.

Do you have the Dawnguard DLC? Crossbow bolts travel faster than arrows which means you don't have to lead a moving target as far and it's easier to hit them and you don't have to wait for the bow to "draw" since once it's loaded, it's ready to go - meaning you can fire as soon as you see your shot. The only drawback is they reload slower so they're a little more unforgiving if you miss, but you can kind of cheat the system by bringing up the favorites menu and equipping a spell for a split second, then bringing up the favorites menu again and going back to the crossbow. You'll skip the reload animation and be ready to fire again.

 

[Psiberzerker]

The way I see the added effect perks (Critical Shot, Power Shot, and Bullseye) is together they increase the odds of Something happening every shot. If you have all three (or 5, with Critx3) perks, there's a 15% chance of Paralyzing, 30% of a Critical, and 50% of Stagger. That doesn't add up to 100%, and I don't know what order the checks are made, but in my experience, if you fire 3 arrows, chances are one of them will do something.

I don't generally go for this, unless I'm at the end of a build, and the Perks are still rolling in. Power Shot is the most useful, it's a wopping 50%, stagger keeps them from running in, and flattening you, and they remain standing for a follow-up. Crit is a gateway perk for Hunters Discipline (optional) and Ranger (Very nice) I'd rather spend the other 2 perks to get the one good one from that branch of the tree.

 

[Dork Angel]

I also love Archery but if I was going to do it again, I wouldn't bother with time slow or bullseye. Time slow just makes me think the game is glitching and the way paralyse works I've seen people fall over before my arrows hit them (which does no damage) and I've seen my arrows go through them when they're on the ground (which also does no damage). I would rather keep a few Paralyse potions handy in case I really need them and spend the perks on something else.

 

[Psiberzerker]

I also love Archery but if I was going to do it again, I wouldn't bother with time slow or bullseye. Time slow just makes me think the game is glitching and the way paralyse works I've seen people fall over before my arrows hit them (which does no damage) and I've seen my arrows go through them when they're on the ground (which also does no damage). I would rather keep a few Paralyse potions handy in case I really need them and spend the perks on something else.

Yes, this. Paralysis poison is on demand, and guarenteed (If the target is susceptible to Paralysis.)

 

[Dagmar]

Personally I hate steady hand. Not that it makes the game too easy, but I never take it because it slows everything down. Slowing down time isn't that useful if my aim and player movement is equally slowed. It takes even more effort to line up a shot than aiming at normal speed would.

Anyone can hit a static target that doesn't even know your there, but in open combat, where enemies are aware and are in motion, it takes far less effort to line up an accurate shot against a moving target when all motion is slowed then it does at full speed. You're only supposed to activate steady hand once you have a full draw so it's not as if combat is slowed the whole time like when you use the Slow Time shout.

In addition it enables you to hit with pinpoint accuracy. You can easily hit your target even when followers are in your line of fire by aiming at an exposed leg or arm or any part of the enemies body that isn't overlapping with a follower in your line of fire. You can hit a hawk flying high above you with one shot, reap 5 petty souls from a herd of deer or elk before any of them can escape your firing range, or clip the wings off of a butterfly for amusement.

It also makes it easy to dodge archery counterattacks so you don't have to stand there like a tree exchanging hits with enemy archers.

One additional, probably unintended, effect is that the required draw time to get the benefit of a full draw on your bow appears to be same amount of time regardless of whether you're drawing your bow in real time or slowed time. This can be extremely useful in getting 1 or 2 extra full shots off of your bow before the enemy can close in on you. Because the zooming effect of Eagle Eye does affect the trajectory of your arrow, the accuracy is a bit off when you do this, but as your targets close distance on you it's relatively easy to hit them even with the compromised shot accuracy. The bottom line is that your accuracy and kill rate in open combat with a bow increase exponentially using Steady Hand if it's used correctly.

 

[Orange_]

Are you a pc player? Maybe it's different on a console, but aiming with the steady hand perk on a controller is a pain because you feel like you're pushing the aim stick hard enough the crosshair should be all the way across the screen in order to just adjust it a little bit. I could see how it'd be easier with a mouse, but I'd rather aim and fire at full speed with the controller. The trick is just not to zoom in on moving targets either cause the smaller adjustments you have to make with the aim stick, the easier (same reasons players increase their fov in a fps games on pc with a mouse). Eagle Eye combined with Steady Hand on a moving target with a controller requires making big swooping adjustments and those are harder than small, quick ones. Like I said, maybe it's easier with a mouse, but I don't see the benefit of taking a perk to slow time if the player's movement, aim, and projectile speed are slowed as well.

 

[DarkEastwood]

I play on console, and the steady hand perk makes ranged combat more convenient in various ways (see Dagmar's post above).

 

[Dagmar]

Are you a pc player?

Yes I'm a PC player. Aiming in general on a gaming console is more difficult than it is on the PC because the movement of your target cursor is more precise using a mouse than it is using a stick, even more so if you're using a gaming mouse.

 

[Orange_]

I play on console, and the steady hand perk makes ranged combat more convenient in various ways (see Dagmar's post above).

To each their own, it's not like you need to get head shots in Skyrim so unless your sneaking from long range, eagle eye is pretty situational and if you're using eagle eye to sneak, you probably don't need Steady Hand since there's no real reason to have to hit a moving target. If you are aiming at moving targets, I don't necessarily see why it's mandatory to zoom in since it doesn't matter what part of their body you hit and I already talked about Steady Hand.

 

[Dagmar]

If you are aiming at moving targets, I don't necessarily see why it's mandatory to zoom in since it doesn't matter what part of their body you hit and I already talked about Eagle Eye.

It's not mandatory, but it makes it easier to hit your target from a distance in open combat. A larger target is easier to hit and the zooming effect makes your target larger. More importantly the slowed time makes it much easier to predict the targets movement path and where you need to aim to hit the target. You miss your target far less frequently with the perk than without when the target is at the longer range of your bow which in turn is extremely valuable when dealing with multiple opponents rushing in from different angles. If you use your bow almost exclusively in sniping mode you're probably not going to appreciate the difference but if you want to charge into open battle like Legolas, mowing down your enemies with arrows without ever even having to think about reaching for a melee weapon, it's an extremely valuable perk to have in your build.