Archery (Skyrim)



"Favor the bow, eh? I'm a sword man myself."

- Guard

Archery is one of three offensive weapon-based skills in. Falling under the six skills commonly used by The warrior archetypes, applicants of the skill are called archers. An archer is trained in the use of bows and arrows. The greater the skill, the more deadly the shot. Archery is heavily involved in The Thief's gameplay as well, especially when combined with sneak skill. The Archery skill is raised by and governs the use of bows and crossbows.

Bows
A bow is a flexible, bent or curved ranged weapon, strung taut from end to end with a string. Arrows are nocked into the string and then drawn. The nock is then released and the string pushes the arrow forward. The weight of the bow also dictates the effort required to pull the string back, or "draw". The heavier the bow, the longer it will take to fully draw. The longer it takes to fully draw a bow, the more damage a shot will do, and the faster an arrow will travel. When a bow is drawn, movement is reduced significantly.

Crossbows
A crossbow consists of a bow mounted horizontally onto a mechanical stock. The bow string is pulled back onto a catch which holds the string taught. A bolt is then loaded into a groove in front of the catch. When a lever located at the bottom of the stock is pulled, the catch is released and the bow string pushes the bolt forward. Crossbows are slower to reload than most bows' full draw speed, but they shoot projectiles at a higher velocity than most bows. Unlike bows, crossbows can be loaded without affecting movement speed.

Range
There are two types of ranges for both bows and crossbows, arc range and maximum range.

Arc range
"Keep that arrow in your quiver, Archer..."

- Guard

The arc range varies between each type of bow and crossbow. It is directly proportional to a bow's/crossbow's firing velocity. Bows always fire in an upwards arc, propelling the arrow slightly upwards.

A bow with a high firing velocity will have a far arc range. When fired from a high velocity bow, the arrow will continue traveling in an upwards arc for a longer period of time, and will eventually start to drop and arc slightly downwards. After this, the arrow will eventually come to a point in which it drops steeply and its horizontal speed decelerates immensely. If in the air for a long enough period of time, the arrow will have lost all horizontal velocity and fall completely.

This works similarly for crossbow bolts, however when bolts are fired they are not propelled in an upwards arc. Instead, they will travel straight from the Crossbow. Because they don't travel in an upwards arc, they will begin to drop immediately and will enter a steep downwards arc much earlier than that of any arrow.

Maximum range
The maximum range is a range that is universal for both bows and crossbows. It is the maximum range an arrow or bolt will travel from the Dragonborn before it stops doing damage. This range usually occurs around 60m-65m. At this point, all arrows and bolts will do 0 damage to NPCs, regardless if the NPC is in rendering range of the player. Arrows and bolts that hit an NPC past this range will most often clip through them and continue traveling until hitting an object (i.e. a tree, the ground, etc.). A non-hostile NPC will not become hostile when this happens, however an already hostile NPC will immediately begin to look for the Dragonborn if the projectile lands close enough.

Books
List of books that can increase this skill:
 * Vernaccus and Bourlor
 * The Black Arrow, v2
 * The Gold Ribbon of Merit
 * The Marksmanship Lesson
 * Father of the Niben

Trainers
List of individuals that can increase this skill by giving them gold:
 * Faendal (Adept)- Riverwood (Lvl 15 - 50). With Faendal as a follower, spent on training can be removed from his inventory and spent on more training sessions.
 * Aela of The Companions (Expert): Jorrvaskr, or the training area behind it, in Whiterun (Lvl 15 - 75). Like Faendal, when Aela is a follower, spent on trainer sessions can be regained from her inventory, allowing for unlimited, free training sessions.
 * Niruin of The Thieves Guild (Master)- Riften (Lvl 15 - 90)
 * Angi at Angi's Camp (Master) - 6 levels of free training if you complete her challenges. (Lv 1 - 100)
 * Sorine Jurard Fort Dawnguard (Master) - (Lv 1 - 90) Must complete A New Order for The Dawnguard in order for her to give you the training.

Archery Weapons
The following are the confirmed weapons that benefit from this skill. Damage, weight, and value are base values, independent of skill level and perks.

Craftable bows
* only

Non-Craftable bows
* only

Crossbows
All crossbows are craftable and are a part of only

Perks
The following are the perks that become available to select as the skill is leveled up



Usefulness

 * If you have the Bullseye perk, notice that the Paralyze effect will be applied to the target when you release the arrow, not when the arrow reaches it(Confirmed on Xbox,requires confirmation on PC). Plan your shots accordingly.
 * When using the Steady Hand perk, draw the bowstring then zoom in long enough to shoot, then un-zoom while you draw the bowstring again. This allows the player to be a lot more accurate with his/her arrows while not losing as much stamina as he/she normally would from keeping zoom held in.
 * Arrows do not have flat trajectories. There is an arc built in, similar to ballistics. The player has to compensate for the arc; the greater the range the less likely the arrow will hit where the cursor is pointing. The archery skill affects how high or low you must adjust for the distance with higher skill compensating more & making the shot easier. It should be noted that there is still this arc when aiming straight down, resulting in a downwards shot hitting slightly above the cursor.
 * Using the "Steady Hand" perk, it is possible to load a game in a semi-permanent state of slow motion. To do this, simply load a save while you have slowed time using this perk. To put time back to the correct speed pull out your bow and zoom in again or reload Skyrim.
 * Arrows make a noise when they hit walls and items. The player can use this to draw enemy attention away from him/her, allowing for sneak shots at an enemy's exposed back.
 * If the player has drawn an arrow but does not wish to use it, there is a 'release' key (R default on PC, X on the Xbox 360, and Square on the PS3). Use it to save arrows and to avoid making unnecessary noise.
 * The player can easily capture souls by enchanting a bow with the shortest duration soul capture spell (1 sec). Even with petty soul gems, the player can get many uses from the enchantment.
 * The player can find an Ebony Bow in Lost Valkygg near Labyrinthian early in the game. The item is drastically better than any other bow available at the time. At lower levels a shot from the Draugr Deathlord can be a one-hit kill, paired with his use of its Unrelenting Force shout, it's a hard fight.
 * Using the Steady Hand perk, which slows time and zooms in, the player can pop out around a corner, take a shot, and pull back extremely quickly. This is a great way to stay stealthed when engaging multiple enemies in a dungeon. Keep in mind, there are some 'invisible wall' issues, so make sure the shot is well clear of any walls or items.
 * Using the Extra Effect perk, the player can place a 1 second soul capture and another damaging enchantment on a bow. Coupled with the Star of Azura, this makes for a devastating combination.
 * The player can get infinite arrows by picking up arrows from NPCs practicing archery. This can be done relatively early in the game with the guards practicing in the Dragonsreach Great Porch. Other such examples are Thrynn and other guys in the The Ragged Flagon - Cistern (Thieves guild ) in the city of Riften, you'll find him practicing archery from 10am to 6pm. The player can get better arrows by pickpocketing all the arrows and replacing them with better ones. See also - Solitude, because they starting shooting from 8am til 8pm. Don`t forget regularly take arrows, because they vanish after a while.
 * If the Archery skill is over level 30, guards at cities will occasionally say: "Favor the bow, eh? I'm a sword man myself..." and sometimes, "Keep your arrows in your quiver, archer".
 * Small/normal sized enemies can be easily staggered with a quickshot when they recover, paired with the paralysis perk and a paralysis enchantment (with absorb stamina set to low-mid and the first enchant to get a lot of several second paralysis rolls per gem) can make it a great tool for sitting behind melee allies by shooting with slow time after watching their kill animation a few times. Poisons and potions can also be applied to improve this style further (any stamina potions + paralysis poisons work well).
 * A 0.8% damage raise is gained with all bows per Archery skill level. This stacks with Overdraw, making it possible to acquire a total of 190% extra damage with bows.
 * A good supply of arrows can be gained by giving one to your follower. The follower will shoot an infinite amount of those arrows and you will be able to collect them after combat finishes.
 * Getting a headshot with a bow does not increase the damage dealt.
 * If a follower is a trainer, you can simply train the desired skill, and take the money back from him/her.
 * Though the Quick Reflexes bug, it is possible to shoot an arrow, walk in front of it, and be hit by it. The arrow will fly though the player and he/she will not take any damage.
 * A player may find Archery extremely useful during the civil war quest line. There will be lots of enemy archers taking cover in fortifications, especially during fort assaults. These archers will prove tough to get to with enemy heavy infantry protecting the entrance of the fort.
 * Additionally, perks in the Archery talent tree allow for deadly guerrilla style tactics; when fighting outside a skilled archer will be able to move quickly throughout the terrain and coupled with a mediocre to good sneak rating, ambushes on enemy patrols and camps will yield excellent results -- one may be able to drop an entire camp without moving if he is in a good enough position.
 * If you're overencumbered, pulling out your bow and keeping an arrow drawn speeds up your movement, and crouching with an arrow drawn increases movement speed even more.
 * If you shoot an arrow, and then immediately bash with your bow afterwards, you will deal significant damage with the bash if you or the target has not moved horizontally since the shot. The realistic piece of the damage is probably due to you "forcing the arrow into the target" after the shot.

Leveling Archery
The best way to quickly level Archery is as simple as this: Acquire Shadowmere, a Legendary Daedric Bow, and some Daedric Arrows. Stand right next to Shadowmere and spam attack so arrows are quickly lobbed into him. No full drawing necessary.

There's a cabin in the southwest corner of the map by Falkreath that a woman named Angi lives in. She trains in archery for free by letting you shoot targets. Gains you several levels easily! (Confirmed: You'll find it by ascending the mountain range from Falkreath. You'll level up your skills by shooting at targets, although it gets more challenging with each round.)

One Popular way that works quite well is to sneak attack Greybeards. Get some arrows (or a bound bow) and your bow and go to High Hrothgar. Find one of the Greybeards (preferably in the main area meditating) and sneak behind them and short distance. Simply shoot over and over. Waiting seconds between shots yields sneak attacks. -NOTE: Using melee or magic will result in angering them!

There are some training exploits which allow you to make trainers your Follower, train from them, then take your money back without stealing. But the below information is about how actual use or a skill levels your skill, not training.

The equation governing skill gain in Archery is thought to resemble something like this:


 * Bwd = Base weapon damage
 * Bad = Base ammunition damage
 * lm = Leveling Multiplier (rest, stone, etc)
 * x = Damage Translator
 * bool(DamagingHit) = 1 or 0, true or false
 * skillXP += bool(DamagingHit) * (lm(Bwd + Bad) / x)

As you can see, this first relies that you engage a damaging hit. Therefore, you must attack a creature which has hit points, and you must take away hit points. So the equation doesn't even trigger if they pass a block or dodge roll.

Upon a Damaging Hit, your skill experience raises based upon the Base weapon damage and the Base ammunition damage. One thing to note here is that there is nothing in the equation for perk increases, sneak multipliers, or enchanting damage additions. These considerations make no difference.

The division by x is to represent that the base damage is not directly translated into skill experience.

Another point that wasn't directly mention is draw amount, and the Overdraw perk. As I said, perks are not taken into account. Overdraw is a perfect example. As a matter of fact, any draw for leveling archery is not taken into account. If you spam attack so the arrow is only slightly lobbed into Shadowmere, it counts for just as much as a full or overdraw, because those are not variables in the equation.

Another way to quickly level Archery is available. This method requires you to join the Dark Brotherhood. Upon entering the Falkreath Sanctuary, jump onto the ledge that oversees the pool and training area. This can be done by jumping from the nearby staircase. Once you have landed upon the ledge, wait until Veezara sits on the ground, completely in view (assuming he is not already there), and then proceed to enter sneak mode and shoot him. You can constantly shoot him, as it is unlikely that anyone will see you (unconfirmed), and level up your skill. This is also a somewhat efficient way to level up your Sneak skill.

You can also use the Bound Bow spell to level up your archery. The only problem with this is that you have to be level 50 in Conjuration to be able to buy the spell. Once you have the spell go and get the horse Shadowmere from the Dark Brotherhood questline and keep shooting the bound bow arrows into him. His health will regenerate fast enough so you wont be able to kill him, this is a slow but steady way of leveling up your archery.