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jsmith100290

New Member
So here is a build I'm thinking about doing. It's kind of a ranger barbarian. I'm still debating putting in alchemy, mainly because I've heard it's boring. The idea being that I fight at range and then switch to melee when enemies get close.

I got to thinking, is having archery and two handed necessary? I'm worried that one will be stronger than the other. Like I'll get into a ranged battle and everyone will die before I can use melee (or vice versa) and the weaker will become completely useless to me.

That's my main problem, but if you want to comment directly on the build I'm all ears. I should note that I plan on being an Orc (my favorite race in the game) and I don't plan on using magic or equipment crafting (enchanting and smithing).
 

MushroomGenius

Jarl of Fungi, Great Khal of the Mushraki
So here is a build I'm thinking about doing. It's kind of a ranger barbarian. I'm still debating putting in alchemy, mainly because I've heard it's boring. The idea being that I fight at range and then switch to melee when enemies get close.

I got to thinking, is having archery and two handed necessary? I'm worried that one will be stronger than the other. Like I'll get into a ranged battle and everyone will die before I can use melee (or vice versa) and the weaker will become completely useless to me.

That's my main problem, but if you want to comment directly on the build I'm all ears. I should note that I plan on being an Orc (my favorite race in the game) and I don't plan on using magic or equipment crafting (enchanting and smithing).

What you're planning to do in not unlike most assassin-type builds aside from the lack of Stealth, which you may end up building anyway without even really trying.

Most players, that I know of anyway, typically use stealth-archery (higher dmg bonus when sneaking with Sneak perk tree) to whittle down their opponents (or take them out completely), before entering into melee combat with daggers or some type of 1h weapon. Your choice of a 2H doesn't really change the mechanic too much.

In time, your Archery gains will be significantly higher than your 2H, but you can adjust later by simply choosing to focus on 2H more. You'll just need to make adjustments to your playstyle.

What I would suggest doing is going through the Companions questline immediately. You can then pick up Vilkas as a follower and take advantage of "free" training. This will help keep your 2H pretty close, if not higher than your Archery. Just don't forget to keep going back to Vilkas for training at every level up.
 

imaginepageant

Slytherin Alumni
I say go pure archer. I played one for awhile, and while it was challenging, it was absolutely doable. Bows make fine melee weapons, especially once you start getting those great Archery perks and/or find a bow with additional damage enchantments (cough cough, Nightinggale bow). I would suggest putting three points into the Sneak tree in order to get the Deadly Aim perk, which gives your bows three times damage with sneak attacks - incredibly useful with ranged attacks even if you don't have a high Sneak skill.

Also, without smithing to improve your weapons, you will eventually end up doing more damage with a bow and arrow than a two-handed weapon. With my pure archer character, I had a Dwarven bow by level 20 or so, and mainly Orcish arrows (saving the Dwarven and Elven arrows I'd picked up for tougher enemies). A Dwarven bow's base damage is 12, and Orcish arrows have a damage of 12 as well, so together they do 24 damage. Compare that to a Dwarven Warhammer, with a base damage of 22. So by level 20 my little archer was doing more damage than a barbarian with a great big warhammer! And of course, the better the arrow, the more you'll be outclassing two-handed weapons... an Ebony bow with Ebony arrows does 39 base damage, while an Ebony warhammer only does 28. Then calculate the perk bonuses: once you're at 100% more damage, your Ebony bow and arrows will be doing 78 damage, and the Ebony warhammer will be doing 56. If you also have the Deadly Aim perk, you'll be doing 234 damage with a sneak attack with your Ebony bow and arrows; compare that to the Devastating Blow perk and a standing power attack with your Ebony Warhammer and you're only doing 70 damage. Hmm... I actually hadn't realized just how much bows could outclass two-handed weapons until I just did the math!

There is the loss of blocking to consider, though, and using light armor, that is definitely something to think about.

Anyway, there's my $0.02!
 

jsmith100290

New Member
May include stealth. To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about sneaking around. I prefer actually engaging enemies. I'm normally the tank, but I'm still defining my rpg identity.

I'm approaching this character different then I usually do. I'm saving all my level ups until I've tried everything.
 

D3adToU

New Member
Just because the first poster went to in-depth and detailed, I feel mine will be terrible comparing to hers.
I'd just go with it - Archer and 2h sounds good :)
There's always those occasions when you can't really use a bow or you are caught sneaking
 

Demented_Demon

Full time badass
The problem i have with archery is that it doesn't do that much more damage that melee, and with melee you can put out 2-4 attacks (depending on the wepon) in the time you can shoot one arrow, makeing melee much more effective. also, with one handed wepons i can have a healing spell in the other hand. Another advantige to melee is you can easily dodge attacks by steping back, whereas arrows seem much harder for me to avoid. Though i think that might just be me...
 

Dagmar

Defender of the Bunnies of Skyrim
The problem i have with archery is that it doesn't do that much more damage that melee, and with melee you can put out 2-4 attacks (depending on the wepon) in the time you can shoot one arrow, makeing melee much more effective......
At higher levels a proper archer build that includes the Eagle Eye, Steady Hand, Ranger, Power Shot and Quick Shot perks will allow for several attacks before an enemy can close distance.
 

thecelticlatino

Active Member
I'm currently running a build like that on my latest character, he specializes in Light Armor, Two Handed (Battleaxe) and Archery, but no stealth. However he's more melee oriented but uses ranged if he is able to. It's a pretty fun build, and unlike 1H/Shield and Dual Wielding, it's easier to switch out weapons because bows and 2h weapons are in both hands, so its less time to switch and faster time to attack.

If I were you I'd focus on 2H perks more so than Archery (just get the zoom/basic damage perks). Should you decide to go stealth place points in Stealth perks as well (the 3x damage multiplier from sneak-attacks from bows) but otherwise go with Armor perks for better defense (esp if you go Light Armor, you'll need it).
 

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