Archery deals crap damage.

[Sheralynn]

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

You're being impatient and whiny.

 

Archery isn't as powerful as dual wielding or bashing bandits with two handed battle axes.

 

It's a ranged skill and need to take advantage of that. Shoot enemies from a distance so you can get at least two or three in them before they can get to you. Take advantage of sneak. Try and stay hidden after you've taken a shot and enemies start looking for you, so you can get another sneak shot. Move around, pick your spot before attacking, take advantage of the surroundings and so on.

 

If that doesn't suit you just stick to making some uberarmor and hack and slash with swords and hammers.

[rpger30]

I would also like to point out that you're only a few skillpoints/levels/perks away from a much better archery experience. Quick draw is a totally awesome perk at 70 archery, and you can also invest another point in overdraw at 60 archery. Also at 60 archery, you can finally move at a reasonable speed with your bow drawn.

[buzzbomb]

Are you trying to play a stand-up archer? The type we see in bandits who walk around, dodge a little and shoot arrows? That would be really tough. I think archery comes into it's own when paired with sneak and light to no armor.

 

I use a greatsword for when I have to go in close, but I love the feeling of sniping my way through all those bandits and undead. Three times sneaking damage with the bow is not as much as I do with two times sneak damage with the great sword, but there's just something about the shoot and hide and then shoot and take them out without a lick of damage and none the wiser.

 

They get close and spot me, I pop up and split some skulls. Yeah, I sometimes die and have to reload and rethink an attack, (common with bosses and their minions- sometimes need potions, poison, a different kill order, etc.) but it's a great way to play. It's a bit of a geek-rush.

 

Edit: Just noticed this is my 200th post! Woot!

[Drakhaoul]

Are you trying to play a stand-up archer? The type we see in bandits who walk around, dodge a little and shoot arrows? That would be really tough. I think archery comes into it's own when paired with sneak and light to no armor.

 

I use a greatsword for when I have to go in close, but I love the feeling of sniping my way through all those bandits and undead. Three times sneaking damage with the bow is not as much as I do with two times sneak damage with the great sword, but there's just something about the shoot and hide and then shoot and take them out without a lick of damage and none the wiser.

 

They get close and spot me, I pop up and split some skulls. Yeah, I sometimes die and have to reload and rethink an attack, (common with bosses and their minions- sometimes need potions, poison, a different kill order, etc.) but it's a great way to play. It's a bit of a geek-rush.

 

Edit: Just noticed this is my 200th post! Woot!

 

To you and the other person above claiming I'm being impatient/unstealthy: I am using sneak. It's my highest skill and I sneak everywhere and always get the 3x critical. I still do crap damage

[Handofbane]

Probably a silly question, but is your bow actually charged? I am guessing you got it at level 18 or earlier, so it will be the lowest version (19-26 gets the next tier leveled if you completed the quest then), which has the lowest charge count.

 

Something else you can do to increase your damage output beyond archery related perks - improve your poisons. What I mean by that is go for multiple damage functions when you mix them, and learn the nasty combos as well as the ingredients that give bonus damage.

 

Imp Stool + Mora Tapinella + Jarrin Root makes a nasty Damage Heatlh/Paralyze mix with very high damage. An easier combo to get that still does above average is Imp Stool + Mora Tapinella + Deathbell - that gives you Paralyze, Damage Health and Lingering Damage Health all rolled into one hit. The paralyze added to the mix will buy you extra time to regain your hidden status, or chuck extra arrows downrange as the situation necessitates. Other Damage Health ingredients that give bonus damage are River Betty and Crimson Nirnroot, though they can be a bit rougher to collect in quantity.

 

[BGatot]

I don't know, I seem to do a lot of one-shot killing with my bow, it's the Nightingale bow, and I do have two 30+ points archery enchanted stuff (a ring and a circlet). Maybe your difficulty is too high. If you're at master difficulty and finding everything too tough, well, duh!

[AbleGnome]

I don't know, I seem to do a lot of one-shot killing with my bow, it's the Nightingale bow, and I do have two 30+ points archery enchanted stuff (a ring and a circlet). Maybe your difficulty is too high. If you're at master difficulty and finding everything too tough, well, duh!

 

Exactly. It is rather obvious. I'm 91 archery with circlet, Nightingale bow with shock, but I'm playing on medium. The bow and a shout are all I need.

 

Good tip above about switching from heavy bow to light bow for close battles.

Edited December 18, 2011 by AbleGnome

[R3ignlasting]

Two words: Improve it.

[NHWynter]

I'm an archer with no smithing and enchanting skill at all.

 

My bow does around 90 base damage (Just a +30 fire enchant on an Ebony Bow). Multiply by 3 and I pretty much 1 shot everything that isn't a boss. Those get two shotted.

 

If they do live to the point of seeing me, I just break out Fireball and finish them off.

 

Enchants do not get tripled..

 

Like others, I have smithed my Ebony Bow to the point it does like 90 damage base. Even using Iron arrows I 1 shot most everything when sneaking now. Bosses take a bit more and dragons take about 10 shots.. Ancients about 20.. *LOL*

[mabus4444]

Seriously though, If you get shot with an arrow in real life you're usually going down, hard, and you're not going to get back up easily. You should not need all kinds of enchantments, you just got shot with a freaking arrow for petes sakes :)