Getting Treed

[tungol]

I've recently started playing marksmen, and I've noticed a very annoying problem. If I don't drop someone in one shot, they come after me (of course), so I hop up on a rock or something. Well that's fine and it keeps me safe, but then they run back and forth with their nose to the rock and I can't get a shot without falling off. What's the strategy for dealing with this?

[Aerin Morth]

There really is no perfect strategy for solving that problem. You could run backwards with your bow, but that makes it hard to shoot and you can also back into things or fall off a cliff.

 

Alternatively, you could do a fast weapon change and switch to a melee weapon. Of course, that doesn't help your marksman skill increase And then there's your strategy, which is jumping on top of tall objects so the enemy can't reach you. But then the enemy runs back and forth around the object you're standing on and you can't get a good shot at him.

 

I suppose you could keep an invisibility spell handy, so as soon as you shoot you can cast the spell, then shoot again. I'm not positive if that would work, though, since sometimes the enemies have the uncanny ability to know exactly where you are even if you're invisible.

[tungol]

<snip>

I suppose you could keep an invisibility spell handy, so as soon as you shoot you can cast the spell, then shoot again. I'm not positive if that would work, though, since sometimes the enemies have the uncanny ability to know exactly where you are even if you're invisible.

 

Yeah, that IS wierd. I spend a lot of time invisible: easier to enjoy the scenery that way. But I've noticed that. It's like an enemy launches an attack in two phases. The first phase is preparing the attack, and the second phase is making the attack. Avoiding melee attacks is a little more secure. But if an enemy is drawing his bow, he'll know where you are until he's taken his shot. I've been drawn on by skeletons and ducked behind a pillar, turned invisible, waited a while, and then stepped out again, and BAM! They still get me.

[Aerin Morth]

<snip>

I suppose you could keep an invisibility spell handy, so as soon as you shoot you can cast the spell, then shoot again. I'm not positive if that would work, though, since sometimes the enemies have the uncanny ability to know exactly where you are even if you're invisible.

 

Yeah, that IS wierd. I spend a lot of time invisible: easier to enjoy the scenery that way. But I've noticed that. It's like an enemy launches an attack in two phases. The first phase is preparing the attack, and the second phase is making the attack. Avoiding melee attacks is a little more secure. But if an enemy is drawing his bow, he'll know where you are until he's taken his shot. I've been drawn on by skeletons and ducked behind a pillar, turned invisible, waited a while, and then stepped out again, and BAM! They still get me.

 

I've never been able to understand how someone can still attack you while you're invisible. It doesn't make any sense. Being invisible is nice, but I prefer chameleon since you can still pick up items and the spell doesn't go away. Anyway, I don't use marksman much, since I prefer dishing out incredibly destructive spells that destroy everything in a 50-meter radius. ;)

[Vagrant0]

Might want to see about enchanting a bow with damage strength, speed, fatigue, calm, or paralysis. It also helps being able to hit things from a fairly long distance away so that you have enough time to hit them with more than one arrow. Practice hunting deer, learn how to aim so that you can still hit them when they are just a small speck on the landscape. You might also want to look into a mod which adjusts how long an arrow will exist before it will get ignored.

 

As for raising marskman, the easiest way I've found was just running around the city isle and shooting mudcraps. With an iron bow and iron arrows, you shouldn't be killing them too fast, and they move slow enough to where you can back off and take another shot.

 

Really though, the way the combat system is setup, even with 100 marksman and daedric equipment, you'll still eventually get to the point where killing some things still requires a few dozen hits. The combat system was meant to make each encounter take several minutes of careful blocking, attacking, magic, and potion usage, quite possibly to make up for the lowered frequency of encounters. There are however a few mods which try to make up for this.

[Sarya]

High level sneak skill (60+?) and a bit (at least 20-30) of chameleon allow you to stay undetected after attack if in dark places. Some enemies still find you, however, like summons.

[GenghisKhanIT]

High level sneak skill (60+?) and a bit (at least 20-30) of chameleon allow you to stay undetected after attack if in dark places. Some enemies still find you, however, like summons.

 

I second this suggestion. I also use this sometimes and it is very nice. The target often falls down because of the high damage you inferted him/her/it.

 

Ususally, after 5/6 shots, the enemy will try to get close even without having detected you, probably because he has got on which side the source of the damage is and is tired of just receiving arrows.

[firefable]

get a stealth overhaul. If the enemy doesn't see you, they cant get you. I had a stealth overhaul, cant remember which 1 exactly, but i could unleash 4 arrows into an ogre and kill him, without even moving

[jaysus]

enemies might have detect life spells and thus see you still...

[Sarya]

jaysus, no idea about detect life, it's very hard to find out. Vampires don't at least. But it seems that summons ALWAYS find you if you're not invisible.