The advantage of a physical missile vs melee?

[LOL50015]

Yeah, so I think that bows/crossbows are vastly inferior to 1 hand swords. Below are reasons why I think so:

 

Bow takes 2 hands, you can block or have a spell in another hand with sword.

 

Swords power attacks does a potential maximum of 3x damage and staggers enemy, bow's right hand bash is very stamina costly but just staggers enemy.

 

Swords have a way higher attack rate compared to bows, and even more compared to crossbows, even with the faster draw perk. However, the damage difference between them is small.

 

With Whirlwind sprint, Become Ethereal and shields, you can easily close the gap between enemies quickly.

 

Bows can hit flying dragons but with Dragonend this won't be a problem for swords. Besides, dragons will eventually land.

 

Bows give an easier chance to sneak attack, but doing so is slow and the chance of being detected before you take down all enemies is very real.

 

You can miss with a bow but you are way less likely to miss with a sword.

 

Some say that in a situation where there's a boss who can 2 hit KO you and is surrounded by minions make sneak attack using bow the only way to clear it. However you can still defeat him with a sword by: Unrelenting force > Hit hard before he recovers > Run far ( there is a high tendency for the boss and minions to be scattered, thus isolating them) >Heal > Run around a table to wait for shout cooldown (melee bosses can't hit you, and ranged bosses will miss if you're moving around) > repeat > win.

 

Then, there others argue that bows is the only way when fighting 2 hit KO dragons. I agree that hiding behind pillars and shooting is the only way to take down these dragons, but this is the only time when a bow performs better than a sword.

 

Archers might take little to no damage when fighting melee targets, but it requires skill to constantly maintain distance. 1-handers can also take little to no damage by blocking and evading.

Edited March 14, 2014 by LOL50015

[KanesGhost]

Though by the same token if you don't use any restorative Potions or Magics (only slow heal bandages) and play perma death the Bow is vastly superior, allowing for both ranged and melee ability. The vanilla Crossbow is a joke, but a Heavy Bow is perfect...not only can you start weakening and whittling down enemies at range, but once you are in melee with them that Bow Bash stagger effect is a very useful blessing and avoids a great deal of damage to the Dovahkin, especially so if you use enhanced NPC AI combat Mods...plus your shouts are just as available to you as with any other weapon. It's all in how each of us best plays.

[kleinstaff]

Real life historical bows and crossbows are inferior to melee weapons aswell, unless used in mass formations or with spcific tactics( ' parthian, and mongol horse archers are the first thing that come to my mind , as a hunting weapons and do not forget that these weapons are basicly all hunting weapons they do their job fine but against another human who is armoured as a shield and is aware that somebody is shooting at him it is a complete different story

 

ingame missile weapons shine when you either sneak ( tripple damageà or when used in softening up your enemy before it can engage in melee

[Rennn]

Yeah, melee is much stronger than pure archery in Skyrim. It was that way historically, as well.

 

However, bows do having suitable advantages. For example, they're a good way for assassins to deliver a strong poison and/or assassinate a target without getting so close you could be seen.

Also, bows function much better than swords on horseback in Skyrim.

Finally, if you're fighting an enemy that could kill you in one hit (Legendary difficulty, anyone?) melee can be a death sentence.

[chanchan05]

Yup. Swords are better in a lot of situations, in others bows, like horseback fighting, or when faced with overwhelming numbers (whittle them down a bit before engaging). Plus bows are cool, like bow ties and fezzes.

[Lord Garon]

My very first character evolved into an archer. I can't remember if it was personal play-style or because not taking damage seemed the best way to win fights. I guess archery is weaker, but a crafted, enchanted bow with good arrows can deal a lot of damage. With poisons, an archer is just OP; I'd hit a guy with a lingering poison, then just watch him (them) drop as he (they) closed in. I did like hunting and Imperial bows when enchanting was high cause they (seemed to?) fire faster.

 

But, now that I remember, I think I did miss 1-handed and block skills when those Deathlords got too close for comfort. My most OP character was an Alchemist, though. Hard to manage in combat (selecting fortify potions, a "weakness to" poison, then getting in the actual poisoned shot), forever harvesting ingredients, and always making potions, he was a one-man death squad with a bow. Much less effective in melee. My strongest melee character was a 2-handed hammer wielder, but timing was everything with her(!). Had a hard time taking on multiple mobs, but she could stagger the best of em. I would bring Mjoll along just for a 2-handed bash fest.

 

I don't know... Not counting mages (the overall strongest chars, IMHO), I think ranged attacks, ability to use cover and obstacles, stealthy "sniping" (not alerting everyone in the area), and ability to switch targets during a fight, make archers more "deadly" than melee types, if not more "powerful".

[DragonaLance]

Archery and conjuration skills fit very well together. Give a group of enemies something else to pound on while nicely plucking them out one by one.