Archery is one of the best skills available in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but it does have its shortcomings. Skyrim’s huge open world and stealth-oriented dungeon layouts make the game highly conducive to ranged gameplay. In early levels when the player is more vulnerable to damage, it’s also a great way to keep away from the swinging swords of scarier opponents, or from the claws and teeth of Skyrim’s deadly wildlife.
Archery is technically a Warrior skill, receiving its bonus to leveling speed from Skyrim’s Warrior Standing Stone, not from the Thief Stone. The skill does, however, straddle the line between the game’s Warrior and Rogue skill trees, with the bow being a favored weapon for thieves and assassins. This skill tree’s catering to both warrior and rogue playstyles is indicative of Archery’s overall hybridization with many of the game’s other aspects. The potential damage achievable with a bow is therefore very high, as it is complemented by four other skills.
Skyrim’s Smithing, Enchanting, Alchemy, and Sneak skill trees all increase the damage output of Archery. Combined with the Archery skill itself, there are a total of five skill trees that govern the damage of every fired arrow. While the perks in the Archery skill tree are somewhat underwhelming, it’s still helpful to have high levels in it since that does affect damage calculations. Each Archery skill point adds 0.8% damage to each shot. Combined with Overdraw, it’s possible to achieve 180% extra damage with bows even before factoring in critical hit bonuses or the stacked damage from synergizing with the game’s other skill trees.
Leveling Skyrim’s Archery Skill Tree Has Pros And Cons
There are not many, but there are some downsides to playing an archer in Skyrim. Firstly, crossbow sneak kills might be fun to watch the first hundred times, but they will eventually get tiresome and repetitive. It’s tempting to approach every fight with a stealthed arrow fired from the shadows, but failing to invest in other combat skills can backfire. If the first arrow doesn’t kill the charging Sabre Cat, Cave Bear, or Dragon, the Dragonborn will be forced to deal with them up close.
While close-quarters fighting with a bow or crossbow is possible, it is far from ideal. Arrows will always fire slower than the Dragonborn can swing a sword or cast a Destruction spell, and crossbows reload slower than a bow. Both bows and crossbows are two-handed weapons, meaning that, while players do have a limited bash ability, they cannot swing swords, use staffs, hold shields, or cast spells until they’ve first unequipped the bow. Since Skyrim’s toughest bosses have lots of health and durability, these prolonged melee encounters are often easier with magic or melee rather than arrows.
Though Iron, Steel, or Ancient Nord arrows are ubiquitous, Skyrim’s more powerful arrows are a limited resource, even if the player is skilled in Smithing. Ebony arrows are occasionally used by leveled Draugr Deathlords; Daedric arrows are rarer still, found in thief caches or on Dwarven Centurions; and only one of the three Keepers in the Soul Cairn uses Dragonbone arrows. Dragonbone arrows are the strongest in the game, dealing 25 base damage, but without level 100 Smithing or exploits, they are far too rare to use reliably.
The Hunter’s Discipline perk is a good way to keep a steady stockpile. Besides being a way to maximize the use of hard-earned Daedric or Dragonbone arrows, it’s also a good way to preserve Elven arrows. Blocking out the sun as the Dawnguard DLC’s Vampire Lord is only possible by firing one Bloodcursed Elven Arrow into the sky per day. Likewise, Sunhallowed Elven Arrows are needed for the sun explosion effect.
Instead of finding, looting, or purchasing special arrows from merchants, a player with a good Smithing skill level can also make arrows at a forge. The components required are firewood, which is available indefinitely, but requires a Woodcutter’s Axe, and various ingots. Higher levels in Smithing, along with the appropriate perk points, allows for the forging of Glass, Ebony, and Dragonbone arrows, but the high-level ingots and ores are always rare and expensive.
For players who want to avoid the grind of leveling Smithing, the Bound Bow spell is a useful alternative. Similar to how the Conjuration tree allows players to craft Daedric gear without Smithing, this strong bow can be summoned to the Dragonborn’s hand at any time. Not only is it weightless, but it comes with a quiver of 99 arrows. Conjuration perks like Mystic Binding, Oblivion Binding, and Soul Stealer also add extra damage and secondary effects to the bow. While a Bound Bow cannot benefit from Smithing or Enchanting, it still benefits from a player’s Archery perks, and from any applied poisons.
For regular bows and crossbows, Alchemy, Enchanting, and Smithing play a huge role in maximizing damage as an archer in Skyrim. Just like light armor and heavy armor can be enhanced through Smithing, bows and crossbows can be improved as well. An Ebony Bow, for example, deals a base damage of 17 (higher, if the player has perks in Overdraw). With the Ebony Smithing perk, that value can be raised by 24 points (or more with fortifications from Smithing or Alchemy), boosting the weapon’s base damage to 41.
Bonus sneak attack damage, however, is where Archery shines the most. Skyrim’s stealth archer is a popular build because the Sneak tree’s Deadly Aim perk multiplies stealthed bow damage by three. This is a tremendous increase to damage, and one that’s very helpful when considering the layout of most of Skyrim’s dungeons; crevices, overhangs, long hallways, and huge caverns are common in the game, and high vantage points are excellent for archers to pick off their targets one by one.
Alchemy and Enchanting can also hugely affect the amount of damage an archer can deal. This is particularly true since, unlike Smithing, both these crafting skills can affect Archery in two stacking ways. Alchemy can be used to concoct all manner of poisons that can be readily applied to a bow or crossbow. Alchemy can also enhance archer builds with a high-quality Fortify Marksman potion. This temporarily increases bow damage even further. Bows and crossbows can be further enchanted to deal elemental damage, trap souls, or paralyze targets. Additionally, up to four pieces of gear can be enchanted with Fortify Archery. When placed on headgear, gauntlets, amulets, and rings, this can deal upwards of 160% extra damage.
Use Skyrim’s Archery Tree To Hit Targets More Easily And Deal Extra Damage
Which Perks To Choose
- Overdraw: This is the most valuable perk in the Archery skill tree. It’s a flat increase to all damage done with both bows and crossbows, adding an extra 20% with each of its five tiers. Not only is this helpful for all archer builds, but this damage increase stacks with all other sources of bonus damage.
- Power Shot: Being able to stagger Skyrim’s bigger, deadlier enemies with an arrow can make all the difference. It can buy the player time to drink a potion, sneak away, equip a melee weapon, or wait for a Shout to cool down. Though it only works 50% of the time, that’s usually enough when combined with the extra speed from Quick Shot.
- Quick Shot: If a melee weapon’s faster swing speed is its major advantage over a bow or crossbow, this perk is a game-changer. With this perk, players can nock another arrow 30% faster. This has a significant impact on the bow’s damage per second and also leaves the player less vulnerable if ambushed by melee opponents.
Which Perks Not To Choose
- Bullseye: A 15% chance to paralyze targets is moderately useful, but that chance can be bumped up to 100% by simply enchanting the weapon. People who have played Skyrim as an archer also will have little trouble hitting moving targets, making paralysis unnecessary.
- Steady Shot: Slowing down time when aiming doesn’t alter the trajectory of an arrow, nor does it affect the enemy’s movement speed. Some players may even find this skill makes Archery more difficult, as it warps time in a way that takes much getting used to.
- Ranger: Moving faster with a bow is only helpful for players who aren’t crouching. Since most archer builds in Skyrim rely on stealth, and therefore crouching, this largely undercuts the most useful way to use this weapon. For enemies closing in on the player, it’s usually more advantageous to switch to a melee weapon than it is to try and move away to fire more arrows.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is available on Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and will release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 11, 2021.