Why are arrows so underpowered?

[Slijkster]

As far as the arrows thing, I too have noticed that they do far less damage then I expect. But then ill get mobbed by about 5+ dudes and expect their archers to do little damage and they zonk me before i know what happened. I don't feel archers are underpowered, just that they vary a lot in strength when you don't expect it (often resulting in imminent death).

 

[tx12001]

I actually have a mod on steam called project Dynamic that doubles the damage done by arrows as well as many other things you should have a look at it

 

[jarif]

underpowered? I don't find them underpowered but you could use a crossbow

 

[HappyFaceClown]

underpowered? I don't find them underpowered but you could use a crossbow

Only crossbow i ever got that was worth using was the enhanced dwarvin crossbow, but even it doesn't do near the damage a smithed daedric bow does.

 

[tx12001]

underpowered? I don't find them underpowered but you could use a crossbow

Only crossbow i ever got that was worth using was the enhanced dwarvin crossbow, but even it doesn't do near the damage a smithed daedric bow does.

I Got a mod in my collection of over 150 that gives me an automatic crossbow that impales enemies with arrows Van Helsing style sadly I am a Vampire LORD WHO USES IT ON THE DAWNGUARD

 

[jarif]

underpowered? I don't find them underpowered but you could use a crossbow

Only crossbow i ever got that was worth using was the enhanced dwarvin crossbow, but even it doesn't do near the damage a smithed daedric bow does.

but it ignores half of the armor and staggers them

 

[HappyFaceClown]

underpowered? I don't find them underpowered but you could use a crossbow

Only crossbow i ever got that was worth using was the enhanced dwarvin crossbow, but even it doesn't do near the damage a smithed daedric bow does.

but it ignores half of the armor and staggers them

True but i use archery mainly when sneaking, so if i hit someone with an arrow there almost never gonna be expecting it which usually results in a 1 hit kill or close to it if there low to medium leveled so i'd just rather use a normal daedric.
EDIT- i also have the stagger perk on archery so i pretty much stagger enemies with bows regardless.

 

[Aren_Direfrost]

I have to agree with you on mages. I just started a new dark elf mage (never done a mage before) and will only allow her to wear robes and use magic unless there is a last contingency. Arrows do a lot of damage, but, as per your earlier post, as long as you keep under some sort of cover and move around you can avoid most of it. My biggest problem thus far is other mages as I haven't mastered the ward spells yet (they just don't come up fast enough!). JMO.

I Have been playing pure mages since oblivion and 75% of my skyrim characters have been magic based probably half have been pure robe only mages. The best ways I have found to take on other mages is A if you have dual casting impact and lightning bolt that works pretty well you can chain lightning together and keep them staggered or if you don't have those perks B conjure a flame antronoch and use it as a distraction while you get up close an cast rune spell right under their feet. Bottom line go all out offense against fellow mages defending wastes precious time they have low defensive capabilities so like you they are venerable and wards can't block rune spells hope that helps a little



Aren Direfrost... Witchhunter

 

[Aren_Direfrost]

And as far as NPC arrows being under powered if you use armor instead of robes or clothes they are extremely under powered skyrims combat system just isn't optimized for non stealthy archers


Aren Direfrost... Witchhunter

 

[ColleenG]

I've never found arrows to be underpowered if you take the perks and enchant everything. I can take a mammoth or giant down with one arrow. I can take a regular dragon down with two, ancient, elder dragons with about 3-4 and revered with 4-5. Bandits, Falmer, and Dwarven spheres take one, Dwarven Centurians take two.

 

[Aren_Direfrost]

I've never found arrows to be underpowered if you take the perks and enchant everything. I can take a mammoth or giant down with one arrow. I can take a regular dragon down with two, ancient, elder dragons with about 3-4 and revered with 4-5. Bandits, Falmer, and Dwarven spheres take one, Dwarven Centurians take two.

He's talking about the NPC arrows not your arrows like the bandits and falmed archers arrows



Aren Direfrost... Witchhunter

 

[Daelon DuLac]

Really? Underpowered? Foreswarn, Falmer & Bandits can all one hit you and/or stagger you with a single arrow, even using iron ones. Sure, a lot of them are real wimps, but not all. There are a lot of them that are awesome archers.

Are we playing the same game or are we just not going to the same places or not using the same difficulty settings.

Even on Novice there are plenty of foreswarn that can one hit you at lower levels.

 

[Aren_Direfrost]

I think he's jut perked out in heavy armor and has put lot of points into Health honestly ause archers can be a pain in the ass once you hit adept dificulty


Aren Direfrost... Witchhunter

 

[Daelon DuLac]

I think he's jut perked out in heavy armor and has put lot of points into Health honestly ause archers can be a pain in the ass once you hit adept dificulty


Aren Direfrost... Witchhunter

Absolutely agree. You're probably right. If you perk out heavy and have high health, archers (unless they're foreswarn) get to be kind of moot. Fortunately, while I do like to get my health up to 400 and perk out my armors, I play on difficulties where arrows actually mean something. I can still remember playing on Novice and being able to one-shot a bandit with an iron arrow and long-bow at level 2. Sheesh. Now that's unrealistic.

 

[Aren_Direfrost]

Lol right? I like archery on there theives are my second favorite character type to play but sometimes it's kinda cheap


Aren Direfrost... Witchhunter

 

[Wetigos]

Maybe you're just playing a difficulty too low?
I usually get 1shot if i'm hit with an arrow.

Granted i'm level 41 with only 25 in light armor without any perks in it, and 100 hp, so i may be a tiny bit on the squishy side.
But its hard to level light armor on Legendary when even a wolf can 2 hit you.

However your own arrows i would say is underpowered in the grand scheme of things.
The way I think it should be, is that your arrows scale with your bows damage, eg
a dragonbone arrow will do 20% of the damage your bow does, while a falmer arrow will only do around 5%.
You would ofcourse have to slightly edit the base damage of bows aswell, to make up for the low damage they do before 100 smithing and what not.

 

[Daelon DuLac]

Lol right? I like archery on there theives are my second favorite character type to play but sometimes it's kinda cheap


Aren Direfrost... Witchhunter

I love one shoting a DeathLord. There's just something gratifying about taking down something that powerful. Of course that's only possible if you enchant the heck out of your bow (I prefer shock and fire or shock and drain myself), but, an example would be you standard Legendary Dragon bow doing 138 damage + ebony arrows doing 18 each +61 shock +61 fire x3 with the perk = 590 pts!

 

[Aren_Direfrost]

I love one shoting a DeathLord. There's just something gratifying about taking down something that powerful. Of course that's only possible if you enchant the heck out of your bow (I prefer shock and fire or shock and drain myself), but, an example would be you standard Legendary Dragon bow doing 138 damage + ebony arrows doing 18 each +61 shock +61 fire x3 with the perk = 590 pts!

Lol see that's rediculous but it is a rush. That's the kind of stuff that pushed me into role playing and gimping cause being the baddest mf in skyrim got boring eventually



Aren Direfrost... Witchhunter

 

[ColleenG]

I love one shoting a DeathLord. There's just something gratifying about taking down something that powerful. Of course that's only possible if you enchant the heck out of your bow (I prefer shock and fire or shock and drain myself), but, an example would be you standard Legendary Dragon bow doing 138 damage + ebony arrows doing 18 each +61 shock +61 fire x3 with the perk = 590 pts!

Lol see that's rediculous but it is a rush. That's the kind of stuff that pushed me into role playing and gimping cause being the baddest mf in skyrim got boring eventually



Aren Direfrost... Witchhunter

ha! so true, I think I got mine up to about 680, and then with alchemy, at 100, you can make a "fortify marksman" potion that increases power by ~120% so my archery is at about 1180 when all is said and done.