Skyrim:Archery

Skill: Archery
Specialization: Combat

Archery (also referred to as Marksman) is the skill governing the use of bows and crossbows^DG. Each skill point grants a +0.5% bonus to the damage dealt with bows and crossbows. The Archery tree has a total of 9 perks, requiring 16 perk points to fill.

In-game Description: An archer is trained in the use of bows and arrows. The greater the skill, the more deadly the shot.

Skill Perks

Overdraw

Critical Shot

Eagle Eye

Steady Hand

Power Shot

Hunter's Discipline

Ranger

Quick Shot

Bullseye

Archery Perk Tree

Perk	Rank	Description	ID	Skill Req.	Perk Req.
Overdraw	1	Bows do 20% more damage.	000babed
	2	Bows do 40% more damage.	0007934a	20 Archery
	3	Bows do 60% more damage.	0007934b	40 Archery
	4	Bows do 80% more damage.	0007934d	60 Archery
	5	Bows do twice as much damage.	00079354	80 Archery
Critical Shot	1	10% chance of a critical hit that does extra damage.	00105f1c	30 Archery	Overdraw
	2	15% chance of a critical hit that does 25% more critical damage.	00105f1e	60 Archery
	3	20% chance of a critical hit that does 50% more critical damage.	00105f1f	90 Archery
Hunter's Discipline		Recover twice as many arrows from dead bodies.	00051b12	50 Archery	Critical Shot
Ranger		Able to move faster with a drawn bow.	00058f63	60 Archery	Hunter's Discipline
Eagle Eye		Pressing Block while aiming will zoom in your view.	00058f61	30 Archery	Overdraw
Power Shot		Arrows stagger all but the largest opponents 50% of the time.	00058f62	50 Archery	Eagle Eye
Quick Shot		Can draw a bow 30% faster.	00105f19	70 Archery	Power Shot
Steady Hand	1	Zooming in with a bow slows time by 25%.	00103ada	40 Archery	Eagle Eye
	2	Zooming in with a bow slows time by 50%.	00103adb	60 Archery
Bullseye		15% chance of paralyzing the target for a few seconds.	00058f64	100 Archery	Ranger or Quick Shot

†The paralysis lasts 10 seconds. This effect is affected by any Alteration modifiers, such as the Stability perk. Due to a bug, triggering the paralysis effect may cause the projectile to miss the target at longer ranges.

Skill Usage

Arrow damage is the sum of the quality and material of the bow and the arrow being used, augmented by the bow's draw length. Misfired arrows launched before fully drawing the bow result in a damage penalty. Drawn bows can be cancelled by pressing the 'Sheath Weapon' button.

The trajectory and speed of arrows are independent of a character's skill level in Archery; only damage increases with skill level. When shooting an arrow, you will discover that arrows have significant 'loft', or upwards movement, particularly at medium ranges (See Notes). To compensate, you should aim just below the intended target. If the target is moving, aim where they are going to be, as arrows are a rather slow projectile. The Steady Hand perk affects neither the speed of the arrow, nor the enemy, so lead your target the same as if time was not slowed. If the target is farther away, then aim slightly above it, as gravity has an influence on trajectory. The Eagle Eye perk decreases the influence of gravity, so do not aim as high as you would normally. Since there is no hit location recognition in Skyrim, trying to achieve headshots will not cause increased damage, but rather may cause your shot to miss if you do not properly account for the arrow's trajectory.

While you have a bow equipped you cannot block attacks; however, you can perform a melee strike with the bow by pressing the 'Block' button. Doing so costs a small amount of Stamina but will stagger the foe, giving you time to set up a shot, flee to a safer distance, or switch to a melee weapon. Additionally, having high skill in Block and the Deadly Bash perk will cause the strike to inflict significant damage. (5.5 * 5 = 27.5 at 100 skill and Deadly Bash 5x damage perk.)

Most bows and crossbows can be upgraded at a grindstone based on perks invested in Smithing. Arrows and bolts can be crafted if you have the Dawnguard add-on. You should always be on the lookout for better arrows, as the damage difference between iron and Daedric arrows is significantly larger than between any other iron and Daedric weapon.

There are places where NPCs can sometimes be found doing target practice, and their arrows and bolts may be retrieved from the target dummy; for example in Dragonsreach, Great Porch, in the courtyard of Castle Dour or in the cistern area of The Ragged Flagon.

Arrows and bolts shot by you that hit your opponent can sometimes be recovered from their corpse; the Hunter's Discipline perk increases this chance of recovery. Enemy missiles that strike you may also be added to your inventory. If an arrow or bolt fired by you or an enemy misses its intended target, it can almost always be recovered from the ground or a nearby object, if you can find it. Missiles that strike non-flesh enemies, such as skeletons and mudcrabs, will often bounce back toward you. Enemies that break apart upon death (such as skeletons) will drop all the arrows you have shot them with when they die.

Eagle Eye and Steady Hand

With the Eagle Eye perk, you can press the Block control to zoom in on your target. However, doing so slowly drains your Stamina, and cannot be maintained indefinitely. With the Steady Hand perk, using Eagle Eye also slows time by a 25% (50% with the second rank), making everything appear to move in slow-motion. This effect allows you more time to think through and set up the shot. Although the action of drawing the bow will occur in slow-motion if you have not nocked the arrow before pressing the Block control, there is an exploit around this that can significantly increase DPS (See Bugs). You cannot zoom in while under the effect of the Slow Time dragon shout, regardless of whether you have perks in Steady Hand or not.

For differences in Skyrim VR, see the Skyrim VR section of this article.

Draw Speed

Firing a bow has three stages:

1. Nock the arrow.
2. Draw the bow.
3. Release the arrow and rest.

The nock stage appears to take about 0.4 seconds and the rest stage about 0.6 seconds regardless of bow or perks. The time required for a full draw depends on the bow. Heavier bows tend to take longer to draw.

full draw time = Nock + Draw + rest = 0.4s + (1.66s / (weapon speed * (1 + Quick Shot perk))) + 0.6s 
 example: Long Bow (without Quick Shot perk) = 0.4s + (1.66s / (1* (1 + 0))) + 0.6s = 2.66s

Detailed Bow Comparison

Name	Base Damage	Weight	Speed	Time (s)	DPS	QS Time (s)	QS DPS	Best Base DPS
Ancient Nord Bow (includes Gauldur Blackbow levels 1-18)	8	12	0.875	2.90	2.76	2.46	3.25	13.42
Auriel's BowDG	13	11	1	2.66	4.89	2.28	5.71	16.69
Bound Bow	18	0	0.875	2.90	6.21	2.46	7.32	17.48
Bound Bow (Mystic)	24	0	0.875	2.90	8.28	2.46	9.76	19.92
Bow of ShadowsCC	19	18	0.9375	2.77	6.86	2.36	8.04	18.63
Bow of the Hunt	10	7	0.937	2.77	3.61	2.36	4.23	14.81
Daedric Bow	19	18	0.5	4.32	4.40	3.55	5.35	12.38
Dragonbone Bow	20	20	0.75	3.21	6.22	2.70	7.40	16.65
Drainspell Bow	14	6	0.875	2.90	4.83	2.46	5.70	15.86
Dwarven Bow	12	10	0.75	3.21	3.73	2.70	4.44	13.69
Dwarven Black Bow of FateDB	13	10	0.75	3.21	4.05	2.70	4.81	14.06
Ebony Bow	17	16	0.5625	3.95	4.30	3.27	5.20	12.84
Elven Bow (includes Firiniel's End)	13	12	0.6875	3.42	3.81	2.86	4.55	13.30
Falmer Bow	12	15	0.75	3.21	3.73	2.70	4.44	13.69
Falmer Supple Bow	15	20	0.75	3.21	4.67	2.70	5.55	14.80
Forsworn Bow	12	11	0.875	2.90	4.14	2.46	4.88	15.04
Glass Bow	15	14	0.625	3.66	4.10	3.04	4.93	13.11
Glass Bow of the Stag PrinceDB	16	14	0.625	3.66	4.38	3.04	5.26	13.47
Hunting Bow (includes Angi's Bow and Dravin's Bow)	7	7	0.937	2.77	2.53	2.36	2.96	13.54
Imperial Bow	9	8	0.875	2.90	3.11	2.46	3.66	13.82
Karliah's Bow	25	9	0.625	3.66	6.88	3.04	8.22	16.43
Long Bow (includes Froki's Bow)	6	5	1	2.66	2.26	2.28	2.64	13.61
Nightingale Bow levels 1-18	12	9	0.5	4.32	2.78	3.55	3.38	10.41
Nightingale Bow levels 19-26	13	11	0.5	4.32	3.01	3.55	3.69	10.69
Nightingale Bow levels 27-35	15	13	0.5	4.32	3.47	3.55	4.22	11.26
Nightingale Bow levels 36-45	17	15	0.5	4.32	3.94	3.55	4.78	11.82
Nightingale Bow levels 46+	19	18	0.5	4.32	4.40	3.55	5.35	12.38
Nord Hero Bow	11	7	0.875	2.90	3.80	2.46	4.47	14.64
Nordic BowDB	13	11	0.6875	3.42	3.81	2.86	4.55	13.30
Orcish Bow	10	9	0.812	3.04	3.29	2.57	3.89	13.61
Ruin's EdgeCC	12	7	0.875	2.90	4.14	2.46	4.88	15.04
Stalhrim BowDB	17	15	0.5625	3.95	4.30	3.27	5.20	12.84
Supple Ancient Nord Bow (includes Gauldur Blackbow levels 19+)	14	18	0.875	2.90	4.83	2.46	5.70	15.86
ZephyrDG	12	10	1	2.66	4.51	2.28	5.27	16.25

Note that the base damage and DPS does not include any damage added from the enchantments that exist on some of the unique bows listed.

The equation to easily work out your potential dps is

(bow damage + arrow damage) / time

As you can see above, bound bows are among the best in the game based on base damage, but they cannot be tempered, so other bows will eventually overtake them. You can also see that early in the game, the higher damage-dealing bows do the most damage, but as the damage outputs increase, it is the speed of the bow that becomes more important. In the table above, with quick shot and the best arrows, a long bow does more dps than a daedric bow. Your choice of arrow can also have a significant impact on dps early on, but the damage from arrows is static, so they will be less influential on overall dps (iron arrows result in a dps of 6.14 for the long bow and 7.61).

A tempered long bow will eventually do more dps than all other bows except Zephyr, Auriel's Bow, and Froki's Bow, due to the nature of the formula. Despite the daedric bow's high damage, its very slow speed is a severe limitation because of how the formula works. Auriel's Bow is the best bow in the game for dps, though at a huge cost of maximum damage. Karliah's Bow is the best in the game for maximum damage in one shot, and has the third best dps rating. However, the slow speed of Karliah's Bow will quickly see it slip behind the other best bows. The dragonbone bow is a good compromise between speed and damage, and it is more than sufficient at higher levels. It has the high base damage that is used for sneak attack calculations (the low base damage of Auriel's may not be enough to one-shot-kill many enemies). The dragonbone bow has the added benefit over Zephyr and Auriel's Bow of being enchantable, allowing you your own custom enchantments that, with sufficient skill in enchanting, can push its dps well above the others.

Range and Trajectory

The primary factor affecting your maximum range is the global game setting fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist; past this distance, your arrows will "phase through" targets without doing any damage. The default value is 4096 distance units (for reference, a weapon with a reach of "1" has a reach of 141 distance units, by default). This issue has been addressed by the Unofficial Skyrim Patch; it triples the default, to 12288, which should always be enough that the arrow will always impact anything it can reach. The second most important factor is the projectile; it has a maximum range (which is typically not relevant, but can matter for the Riekling Spear^DB, which has a maximum range of 4000 - most projectiles have ranges measured in the tens of thousands), a speed, which determines how quickly the projectile travels, and a gravity value, which determines how quickly the projectile drops (higher is faster, for both). Gravity tends to be the same for all of your arrows and bolts, but bolts travel significantly faster - the ammunition page covers these values.

The primary factor affecting your trajectory is the set of global game settings:

• f1PArrowTiltUpAngle; default 2.
• f3PArrowTiltUpAngle; default 2.5.
• f1PBoltTiltUpAngle; default 1.
• f3PBoltTiltUpAngle.

These set the angle your projectiles fire at from bows (the Arrow settings) and crossbows^DG (Bolt) in the first-person (1P) and third-person (3P) perspectives. A value of 0 is initially flat, along the bottom of the targeting reticle. Positive values tilt the projectile up. See the Notes section below for optimization.

Range and Trajectory are also affected by bow speed. On a full draw, slower bows will shoot arrows higher and with less drop, while faster bows will shoot arrows lower with more drop. This means that at short ranges, arrows shot from faster bows will be more accurate to the crosshairs, while slower bows will shoot high. At long ranges, arrows shot from faster bows will drop considerably, requiring you to aim higher to compensate. Slower bows will hit the target much closer to the crosshairs—though you may still need to compensate for drop depending on the range. Also, slower bows have a flatter ballistic trajectory, which means they will travel further than arrows shot from a faster bow. This effect comes solely from weapon speed—other factors such as weight and damage do not play a role. You can see a comparison of the weapon speeds of many bows here. Of further note, the perk Quick Shot has no effect on range and trajectory, but Eagle Eye does, as it effectively decreases the gravity value of the projectile.

Skyrim VR

VR Archery

In Skyrim VR, equipping a bow will place the bow in the off-hand and the weakest available arrows in the main hand, though a different set of arrows can be selected. Bring the arrow to the bow string, then press and hold Right Attack/Block on the controller to nock the arrow. Draw the bow back and release Right Attack/Block to fire. To cancel a shot, bring the arrow back to its original position and release Right Attack/Block.

In VR Settings you can choose Realistic Bow Aiming. With this option turned on, you can aim with both hands instead of just one. After you've nocked your arrow you can move it around with your arrow hand to change the direction the arrow will fire. When you do, this will rotate the bow as well. You can also still position your bow by moving your bow hand, but your arrow hand will ultimately determine the direction the arrow flies when you release Right Attack/Block. With Realistic Bow Aiming turned off, your arrow will shoot straight forward in the direction you're aiming with your bow hand.

You can perform a weak bash attack by punching the target with the equipped bow. Like in non-VR versions of the game, a partially drawn bow does less damage and doesn't travel as far.

Crossbows are held in the main hand, and are fired by pressing Right Attack/Block. Unlike bows, bolts cannot be held in the off-hand and are reloaded automatically once fired.

The Eagle Eye perk behaves differently in VR. Its description is changed to read "Pressing Block (or Trigger on your offhand Motion Controller) while aiming will activate Eagle Eye." Activating Eagle Eye displays a trajectory line and crosshair, showing you precisely where your arrow will land. Note that crossbows will need the fire button to be held down as well before Eagle Eye will trigger for them.

An archery range is present in the main menu Playroom area for practicing VR archery before starting the game.

Skill Increases

Character Creation

The following races have an initial skill bonus to Archery:

• +10 bonus: Bosmer
• +5 bonus: Khajiit, Redguard

Trainers

• Faendal in Riverwood (Common)
• Aela the Huntress of the Companions in Whiterun (Expert)
• Niruin of the Thieves Guild in Riften (Master)
• Sorine Jurard^DG in Fort Dawnguard (Master)

Skill Books

• The Black Arrow, v2
• Father Of The Niben
• The Gold Ribbon of Merit
• The Marksmanship Lesson
• Vernaccus and Bourlor

Free Skill Boosts

• +1 Archery (and other combat skills) from Giraud Gemane (Bards College) for completing the quest Rjorn's Drum.
• +1 Archery (and Block, Heavy Armor, and One-handed) from Wulf Wild-Blood^DB for finding his brother during Filial Bonds^DB.
• +5 Archery (and other combat skills) by selecting "The Path of Might" from the Oghma Infinium after completing the quest Discerning the Transmundane.
• +6 Archery in total from Angi for completing a series of archery challenges. There are four challenges; the first one gives three points and all the others one point each.

Gaining Skill Experience

• Weapon skill gains are based on damage dealt against valid targets (those whose health can be damaged). You can increase your skill level faster by choosing the best available ammunition and best available bow that has the highest DPS.

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)

Dialogue

• If your Archery skill is over level 30, guards will occasionally say: "Favor the bow, eh? I'm a sword man myself..."
• If you have a bow and arrows equipped, guards may also say "Keep your arrows in your quiver, archer".

Notes

• Despite being classified as a combat skill, Archery receives skill gain boosts from the Thief Stone rather than the Warrior Stone.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 1.2, addresses this issue. It is now boosted by the Warrior Stone perk.
• The movement speed with a drawn bow (shot ready) is reduced in comparison to Oblivion, making archers less mobile. The Ranger perk is available to compensate for this. Note that this perk only increases running speed; walking speed is unaffected.
• Arrows will remain equipped (and appear on the back of your character accordingly) even if you have unequipped the bow. This will enable you to pin your bow of choice and melee weapon or spell of choice to your favorites menu, and swap between them on the fly, without having to re-equip your arrows.
• Arrows are not accurate to the center pointer. The arrow shoots slightly above the crosshair. Use the archery practice targets to see the exact dynamics for different ranges.
  • Arrows can be forced to shoot through the center point by modifying (or adding, if they don't exist) a few lines in Skyrim.ini, in the My Documents folder. Also, setting fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist to a high value (above ~10000) allows you to hit targets with arrows as far as the arrow can fly, rather than passing through targets (without causing damage) at long distances:

  Skyrim.ini

  [Combat]

  f1PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7

  f3PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7

  [Actor]

  fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist=14000.0000

  • Alternatively, if Dawnguard is installed:

  Skyrim.ini

  [Combat]

  f1PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7

  f3PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7

  f1PBoltTiltUpAngle=0.7

  f3PBoltTiltUpAngle=0.7

  [Actor]

  fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist=14000.0000

  • Note: apparently the draw distance of the game is initialized badly, because if you keep it at the default from the very start of the game of a fresh install, then setting fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist to a higher value doesn't have any effect. If you max out the draw distances, then it will have an effect. If afterwards you move draw distance to minimum again, fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist will continue to have an effect.
• Arrows can be used as distractions. If you have not been spotted by an enemy, shooting an arrow will make them investigate the point of impact. Be aware, however, that after checking out where the arrow hit they may investigate where it was shot from. Make sure to either kill them quickly, distract them again, or move to safety.
• Archery is one of two skills which has a different Console ID than the name, the other being Speech. The actual Console ID for Archery is Marksman. For example, the Console code for improving Archery is AdvancePCskill Marksman <#>. The term "Marksman" also appears in a few other contexts, e.g. Fortify Marksman.
• Having high skill in Block in conjunction with the Deadly Bash perk can be useful for an archer. At 0 Block skill, bow bashing only does 1.1 damage, but at 100 Block skill a bow bash does 5.5 damage. With Deadly Bash perk, the 5x damage multiplier brings the bash damage up to 27.5. Bow type does not affect the damage magnitude.
• Another perk exists in the Creation Kit but was removed from the game before release. It is called "Trick Shot", and would have been available at 80 Archery skill if the "Quick Shot" perk has already been unlocked. The description for Trick Shot is: "25% chance to disarm an opponent."
  • You can give yourself the perk using the Console command AddPerk 105f1a. It won't appear in your skills menu, but it does work.
• Using the Secret of Strength^DB power will allow you to be able to use zoom ability gained from the Eagle Eye and Steady Hand perk, without using your stamina, for the duration of the power's effect.
• The Power Shot perk description is misleading. While it claims that arrows will stagger "all but the biggest targets 50% of the time", it actually staggers all targets (including Dwarven Centurions, Mammoths and even Dragons) 50% of the time.
  • For Special Edition, this only occurs when you take the perk while as a necromage vampire. See the bugs section of Vampirism for more info on bugged perks associated with Necromage.

Bugs

• While drawing the bow from its starting point under the slow time effect of Steady Hand, the damage modifier of the bow will increase in real time if you release the block command simultaneously with the attack command. Thus, if you learn the maximum draw time in real time, this allows you to use Steady Hand while you draw and release the arrow "early", which deals full damage with full trajectory. Note that the bow will behave as intended if you release the arrow while still holding the block command. ^?
• Bullseye's chance to activate is actually 16%.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 1.1, fixes this bug.
• The Bullseye perk actually works by sending out an instant Paralyze spell which strikes the target when an arrow is fired from a bow rather than when the arrow strikes the target. The negative effect of this is that if the bow is fired from a large enough distance, the target will instantly become paralyzed and fall to the ground before the arrow reaches them, causing the arrow to miss the target it supposedly paralyzed.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch, version 4.3.2, fixes this bug.
• If you quickload while zooming with a bow, it will cause time in the loaded game to pass at the same rate as if you were zooming. This can sometimes continue even when you run out of stamina. Zooming again turns it back to normal.
• Sometimes while nocking an arrow, the arrow may not appear.
• Occasionally the perk Ranger will not seem to function if you unlock it while crouching. Be sure to be in a standing position when unlocking this perk.
• The cinematic kill camera causes a wrong starting position for the bow/arrow. If you are shooting from the rim of a ledge, the kill camera effect will start but then immediately end with the arrow striking the ledge even though a normal shot without kill camera would not be blocked.
• In close range with an enemy, right after firing an arrow that was fully drawn, you can make a bash attack which is treated as a fully drawn arrow attack. This applies the paralysis effect, any enchantments on the bow, and also raises the Archery skill rather than the Block skill. Note that you have approximately 0.5 seconds after releasing the arrow to perform the bash for the extra damage.
• The range of Archery is internally broken, stopping at what seems to be long range, where the arrow will still appear, but cannot hit any entities.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 2.0.5, fixes this bug.
  • Apply the changes to Skyrim.ini mentioned in the Notes section.
• If you press (RT then release, hold RT, tap X) for crossbows, it will completely ignore reload and shoot up to around 2 bolts a second.
• Occasionally, when you perform a sneak-attack cinematic kill shot while zooming in with the Eagle Eye perk, your Stamina will be completely drained after the cinematic finishes.
• Making the Archery skill legendary does not actually remove the Ranger or Quick Shot perk effects.
• If you tap the attack button after releasing an arrow, but before the bow returns to the rest position, the bow will draw an arrow to full draw and stop. Tapping the attack button again will release the arrow.
• Occasionally, an arrow that misses its target and falls into water will rest on the surface of the water as if it were a solid surface, rather than bobbing on top of the water or flowing downstream with the current. ^?
  • Saving and reloading the game will cause the arrow to behave normally.
• The in-game descriptions for Steady Hand ranks 1 and 2 say that zooming slows time by 25% and 50%, respectively, but the actual magnitudes are 50% and 75%.
  Mod Notes: Ranks 1 and 2 correspond to abilities PerkSteadyHandTimeSlowdown01 and PerkSteadyHandTimeSlowdown02, which decrease actor value BowSpeedBonus by 0.5 and 0.25, respectively. At rank 2, both abilities are in effect. BowSpeedBonus changes can be confirmed in-game on PC with console command "player.getav BowSpeedBonus". This bug entry merely notes the discrepancy and makes no claim as which set of magnitudes was intended.
  • The Unofficial Skyrim Patch, version 2.1.2, addresses this issue. (details) The text was changed to reflect the actual magnitudes.
• The German and French translations of Steady Hand incorrectly indicate that either half (level 1) or no (level 2) Stamina will be drained while using it.