Excaliburp Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 (edited) I'm playing a sneaky archer character, and perk focus has been on archery and sneak so far, with a little in smithing and light armour. I've realised that there are some situations where sneak attack shots alone are simply not enough, either due to too many guys in the area who will start combing the area up and down as soon as an arrow flies, or the target is too tough for 1-3 arrows to take down, like dragons. So, I've felt the need for some sort of backup magic for when the situation turns bad, either Illusion or Conjuration. I know Illusion synergises with sneaky types very well, what with Muffle and Invisibility, and Illusion spells being silent, but the mind-affecting ones won't be useful against some of the more troublesome enemy types until Illusion 90, which is too long to wait. I know I can grind illusion by spamming Muffle in town, but I'd prefer more natural leveling with this character. I'd already screwed my previous games up by grinding Smithing via iron daggers. And then there's Conjuration, which will only be useful when things really go downhill, since I do not intend to use bound weaponry, but the extra bod(ies) will be a massive help in tanking the bigger encounters, though it would change the playstyle from "sneak all the time" to "sneak till found then summon something and shoot in plain sight". What do you guys think? Thanks in advance for any suggestions. P.S. I'm not considering dual 1-handers to be a choice here. Dual swords are a great switch from dual daggers for a sneaky backstabbing thief guy when things go bad, but I want to keep out of melee range as much as possible with this character. Squishiness being a main concern, the fact that I'd played dual 1-hander thief before being another factor. Edited November 28, 2011 by Excaliburp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyrika Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 I think Illusion is intended to be a good choice for stealth archers, considering the Nightingale armor gives an illusion bonus :) I'm playing the same type and have used it on occasion because of spells like Muffle. AND (I don't have it yet...) but i'm guessing you get Invisibility as illusion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobusExtremus Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 I'm actually building my character as a sneaky archer destruction mage. If the arrows aren't enough, blast 'em with fire or sparks. If Magicka is low, pull out the one-hand sword and shield. A well-placed shout never hurts, either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpestilence Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 Bring along a companion to do the heavy work when your 3.0x archery hits don't do the trick. Often Lydia will rush in to fight a mob of bandits, and I can sit back and still get sneak bonuses on my arrows. It requires you to be a little more fast-paced and accurate with the arrows when you have freindlies downrange, though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshico Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 How about train both of them, heck no one said you could only use one school of magic, the more the merrier! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggplantObelisk Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 Go illusion. High level conjuration is just as boring as power leveling smithing \ enchanting. The way the spell tips are written is horrible, check this out on UESP.net: http://uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Illusion With a couple perks illusion spells will work on all enemies. It was a poor UI design choice to not have the spell description change. At level 30 I can cast the "Level 14 Frenzy, etc." On all enemies my level just fine and eventually dual cast also casts it AOE. Nothing like having a group of enemies kill each other then Sneak Attack Snipe the remainders with your bow. OR when you mess up and just calm them and shoot, calm and shoot. Illusion is my favorite spell school in skyrim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenOfThieves Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 Illusion hands down. When the going gets tough, summoned creatures and zombies won't stop anyone in their tracks when they're coming after you with a big warhammer, but a demoralize spell will make them turn tail and leave you alone. Plus, using fenzy spells, you can get enemies to fight each other instead of charging you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excaliburp Posted November 29, 2011 Author Share Posted November 29, 2011 Illusion seem to be the overwhelming victor here, so I'm gonna give it a go. Thanks for the suggestions guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stars2heaven Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 Yeah, illusion is by far the best offensive/defensive line of spells. In my experience though, the skill is harder to level up if you don't practice with spells like muffle outside of combat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NephilimNexus Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 Enchant demoralize into one of your daggers. Even if they don't die from your opening backstab, they'll end up running away (and losing line of sight, and thus putting you at hidden again). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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