Why are arrows so underpowered?

HappyFaceClown · Jul 25, 2013

Daelon DuLac said:
HappyFaceClown said:

Daelon DuLac said:

With this character I've taken to keeping a follower with me at all times to act as a tank raising A LOT of dead bodies to be shields. Faendal from Riverwood was great for the longest time until I shot him in the face with a fire bolt and then he stopped talking to me. He Faendal, it was an accident. Can't a dark elf girl get a break?

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Also about wards, take my advice on this and don't waste your time, they are useless! I tried the ward thing for awhile and all it did was blow my magicka pool and get me killed, the problem isn't just that they take too long to fully shield u its a bunch of issues, for one u can't duel wield spells and believe me later on your gonna need to if u wanna survive, holding up a ward, burning twice your magicka, and only firing off 1 unduel wielded shot at a time just makes u look ridiculous and is pointless, the higher level mages will embarrass u when your trying that! Trust me i realized it was my main problem after dying over a dozen times to the same medium level daedra mage, it wasn't untill i quit using wards that i finally began making some progress. Just a little advice.

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I am enjoying the dual wield perk now at under level 10. I usually just duel wield frost or flames and that duel wield perk really gives them some punch. Of course my Flame Antronach is a big help too. And lest we forget... zombies! zombies! zombies! Keep 'em comin'. I didn't even realize until I accidently used a scroll and the spell that I could have more than one at the same time!

Yea untill u get the impact perk on destruction its best to avoid most mages cuz if u can't stagger them they'll toast u every time, same with bandit chiefs. A huge life saver for me was getting the staff of paralysis, untill u get the impact perk u seriously need that staff cuz its the only way to back them off if u can't stagger enemies. Luckily when i did my robes mage character i remembered where it was and the first thing i did after escaping helghan keep was head strait to snapleg cave for that staff.

Daelon DuLac · Jul 25, 2013

HappyFaceClown said:
Daelon DuLac said:

HappyFaceClown said:

Also about wards, take my advice on this and don't waste your time, they are useless! I tried the ward thing for awhile and all it did was blow my magicka pool and get me killed, the problem isn't just that they take too long to fully shield u its a bunch of issues, for one u can't duel wield spells and believe me later on your gonna need to if u wanna survive, holding up a ward, burning twice your magicka, and only firing off 1 unduel wielded shot at a time just makes u look ridiculous and is pointless, the higher level mages will embarrass u when your trying that! Trust me i realized it was my main problem after dying over a dozen times to the same medium level daedra mage, it wasn't untill i quit using wards that i finally began making some progress. Just a little advice.

Click to expand...

I am enjoying the dual wield perk now at under level 10. I usually just duel wield frost or flames and that duel wield perk really gives them some punch. Of course my Flame Antronach is a big help too. And lest we forget... zombies! zombies! zombies! Keep 'em comin'. I didn't even realize until I accidently used a scroll and the spell that I could have more than one at the same time!

Click to expand...

Yea untill u get the impact perk on destruction its best to avoid most mages cuz if u can't stagger them they'll toast u every time, same with bandit chiefs. A huge life saver for me was getting the staff of paralysis, untill u get the impact perk u seriously need that staff cuz its the only way to back them off if u can't stagger enemies. Luckily when i did my robes mage character i remembered where it was and the first thing i did after escaping helghan keep was head strait to snapleg cave for that staff.

Found that out early. Am able to create frenzy, slow and paralysis potions already (they're not super strong yet 'cause I'm low level) and am using a bow when I sneak in at first. Very useful against the bosses (used it yesterday against the boss at Swinder's Den and it worked very well) to slow 'em down enough for my spells to really take affect. Helped that I had Faendal and a zombie (one of his own bandits) with me as well.

Dagmar · Jul 25, 2013

Your armor cap is keeping the damage down but it should still be noticeable on Master difficulty with certain higher level enemies. Forsworn Briarhearts deal out about 110 damage per normal hit which translates into 22 points of damage through capped armor rating. If you don't invest in any health increases as you level then you should be seeing noticeable bits of your health peeled away with each hit.

A normal Pyromancer will deal more damage (180 from a fully augmented Incinerate spell plus another 18 from the flame DoT). If you capped your magic resistance that would be be 29.7 points of unresisted damage. However they can dual cast them or cast them in rapid succesion which will do more damage over time than archery attacks which have a slower firing rate.

A Boss Pyromancer has the Dual Casting perk so the boss version can do 435 points of damage with 65 unresisted with capped magic resistance.

Falmer Warmongers are nasty archers. Although the physical damage is comparable to the Briarheart archery attacks , Fallmer poison all their weapons and poison damage ignores both armor rating and magic resistance so you get an additinal 48 points of DoT damage from the poison.

HappyFaceClown · Jul 25, 2013

Dagmar said:
Your armor cap is keeping the damage down but it should still be noticeable on Master difficulty with certain higher level enemies. Forsworn Briarhearts deal out about 110 damage per normal hit which translates into 22 points of damage through capped armor rating. If you don't invest in any health increases as you level then you should be seeing noticeable bits of your health peeled away with each hit.

A normal Pyromancer will deal more damage (180 from a fully augmented Incinerate spell plus another 18 from the flame DoT). If you capped your magic resistance that would be be 29.7 points of unresisted damage. However they can dual cast them or cast them in rapid succesion which will do more damage over time than archery attacks which have a slower firing rate.

A Boss Pyromancer has the Dual Casting perk so the boss version can do 435 points of damage with 65 unresisted with capped magic resistance.

Falmer Warmongers are nasty archers. Although the physical damage is comparable to the Briarheart archery attacks , Fallmer poison all their weapons and poison damage ignores both armor rating and magic resistance so you get an additinal 48 points of DoT damage from the poison.

Well its not that arrows aren't taking any damage its just that its so minimal its pointless unless its a daedric or ebony arrow, the least bethesda could have done is make them as powerful as most destruction spells cuz when i realize there using steel or iron arrows i don't even dodge them anymore! there's no reason, i just tank in and kill them as there's nothing they can do and i just feel like there seriously underpowered, especially for npc's -_-

Benthos · Jul 25, 2013

Arrows CAN be underpowered but then again, it depends on the arrows, get your archery up and you can become untouchable, dab some poisons and enchant your bow to become an ancient machine gun! Tearing at all foes!

Dagmar · Jul 25, 2013

Arrow damage isn't a large factor in the damage delivered by an archery attack because the damage is added in after all damage multipliers so you're only looking at a difference of about 7 points of damage bypassing your armor rating with a Daedric Arrow if Briarhearts and Warmongers used them.

blackieox · Jul 25, 2013

It depends on who is shooting it if its a low level bandit then they cant do plops to you but if you level up range or the person that's fighting has a high level in archery then they are going to deal massive damage also depends on the arrows/bow they are using.

HappyFaceClown · Jul 26, 2013

Dagmar said:
Arrow damage isn't a large factor in the damage delivered by an archery attack because the damage is added in after all damage multipliers so you're only looking at a difference of about 7 points of damage bypassing your armor rating with a Daedric Arrow if Briarhearts and Warmongers used them.

Well i gotta admit i almost forgot about the foresworn, there the only enemies in the game with which u actually have to watch your health bar when dealing with hordes of archers, in fact i think this 1 time i did die from arrow attacks but there were so many of those quick 2 handed foresworn warriors on me that its hard to say what actually killed me.

shadowkitty · Jul 26, 2013

I agree with ColleenG. Iv'e been killed with two arrow hits. Mainly from a Deathlord or a foresworn. Forsworn arrows have a very low damage rating to, so I don't know, I guess it depends on the level of difficulty you are playing at (I am on expert), and how close they are to you. Being an archer, I have observed my character inflicts more damage the closer she is to her enemy. And also whether in sneak mode or not. I mainly use the enhanced crossbow now but when I revert back to my Nightingale bow or Elven bow of Malediction, I only use ebony or stalhrim arrows. I also keep a few lower classed arrows for weaker creatures I am hunting for soul gems, like elven, or glass.

shadowkitty · Jul 26, 2013

[/quote]And lest we forget... zombies! zombies! zombies! Keep 'em comin'. I didn't even realize until I accidently used a scroll and the spell that I could have more than one at the same time![/quote]
I love raising zombie chickens.... just because

Serana will raise anything.. we once had a zombie mudcrab assist us with a fight between some vampires. Good times...

Adam Warlock · Jul 26, 2013

Lest we forget , higher level Bandits/Forsworn will do MORE damage with the SAME bow and arrow than the lower ones because of the unique NPC "Extra Damage" perk they have.
In the case of Marauders , Ravagers , and the strongest Briarhearts , that`s a factor of 2.5 !

Among the Falmer , all of their archers from Nightprowlers on up also have that perk in addition to a poison attack.

HappyFaceClown · Jul 26, 2013

shadowkitty said:
I agree with ColleenG. Iv'e been killed with two arrow hits. Mainly from a Deathlord or a foresworn. Forsworn arrows have a very low damage rating to, so I don't know, I guess it depends on the level of difficulty you are playing at (I am on expert), and how close they are to you. Being an archer, I have observed my character inflicts more damage the closer she is to her enemy. And also whether in sneak mode or not. I mainly use the enhanced crossbow now but when I revert back to my Nightingale bow or Elven bow of Malediction, I only use ebony or stalhrim arrows. I also keep a few lower classed arrows for weaker creatures I am hunting for soul gems, like elven, or glass.

Never had that happen, and as i've said i play on master so who knows, that is certainly weird but then again this whole game is weird and doesn't seem to follow any rules, i once came across a mistwatch vampire who literally took no damage at all from any element of magic! She was totally immune to *Everything!* Yet i smacked her 1 time with my daedric sword "which at the time wasn't even smithed yet" and i got an instant cinematic kill on her!
I've been hit by 5 to 6 glass arrows at a time and was fairly wounded but nowhere near dead, like i said weird. :Dovahkiin:

MelissaNL95 · Jul 26, 2013

I'm only lvl 11 right now, and I can already kill someone with a single arrow when I sneak up from the back. Killing melee enemies with an arrow while they are slicing your face into bits is a whole different story though

Panthera · Jul 26, 2013

ColleenG said:
Odd comments about arrows. I've been killed by a single arrow countless times, and killing with a single arrow is common. Best way to do that is aim well and shoot them before they know you exist. I'm at Expert, with the archery tree filled, at 100. I've killed a dragon with a single arrow by shooting him IN the mouth.

I don't think that where you hit dragon or some other creature makes any difference unfortunately... though I do wish headshoots would be available regardless from what material your arrow is or even bow for that matter.

Daelon DuLac · Jul 26, 2013

And lest we forget... zombies! zombies! zombies! Keep 'em comin'. I didn't even realize until I accidently used a scroll and the spell that I could have more than one at the same time![/quote]
I love raising zombie chickens.... just because

Serana will raise anything.. we once had a zombie mudcrab assist us with a fight between some vampires. Good times...[/quote]I was using zombie skeevers yesterday - just because. Such fun!

Daelon DuLac · Jul 26, 2013

MelissaNL95 said:
I'm only lvl 11 right now, and I can already kill someone with a single arrow when I sneak up from the back. Killing melee enemies with an arrow while they are slicing your face into bits is a whole different story though

Although I get a cutaway of my arrow hitting them in the face all the time. I think I just have good aim! My favorite is still the cutaway when I hit them in the crotch. It just looks so painful. (I like to use that one when their really close!)

Dagmar · Jul 26, 2013

Adam Warlock said:
Lest we forget , higher level Bandits/Forsworn will do MORE damage with the SAME bow and arrow than the lower ones because of the unique NPC "Extra Damage" perk they have.
In the case of Marauders , Ravagers , and the strongest Briarhearts , that`s a factor of 2.5 !

I factored that in on the calculation of damage. If anything I overcalculated the damage because I assumed they had decent Archery skill (they do not).

Dagmar · Jul 26, 2013

shadowkitty said:
I agree with ColleenG. Iv'e been killed with two arrow hits. Mainly from a Deathlord or a foresworn. Forsworn arrows have a very low damage rating to, so I don't know, I guess it depends on the level of difficulty you are playing at (I am on expert), and how close they are to you. Being an archer, I have observed my character inflicts more damage the closer she is to her enemy. And also whether in sneak mode or not.

As Adam Warlock noted, high level versions of most humanoid enemies have a melee damage multiplier perk. The difficulty level decreases damage from enemies for each setting below Adept and increases damage from enemies for each setting above Adept. Neither distance nor location of the hit are factors in how much damage an Archery attack does. You get a damage multiplier of 2 for each hit you land while undetected in sneak mode.

Crooksin · Jul 26, 2013

crouch then u bitches

DEADxOFxKNIGHT · Jul 28, 2013

well i play on master and i think this is circumstantial on my tank character that uses heavy armor and has 800 health, arrows aren't a problem they bounce off like spit balls but on my illusion assassin who i've devoted most of my points into magika on only has about 300 health and uses just the ancient shrouded armor i'm quite squishy arrows hurt and if there are more than one archer they can hurt... alot

Why are arrows so underpowered?

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