Hey guys,

I started a new character and want to be mainly an archer but don't know what to take as secondary weapon when enemies come to close.


So far I have tried dual wielding a sword and a dagger, I liked this combination for powerfull sword attack with quick stabs in between.
What I like even more is a 2h weapon the cinematics are epic when you kill someone. And because I'm low lvl atm I can 1~2 hit people.
Maybe 1 sword and a spell (destruction?)

I saw plenty of post of people just going with a dagger and sneak attacks, are there other option I forgot?

I want to know the pro's and con's before I start spending my perks.

Two daggers maybe, but if you're seriously RPing a devoted archer you might consider just a backup sword (single). You can block in a bind and smash through blocks without being a huge stamina issue. Just 8 perks in 1-handed (5 for +Damage and 3 for +Crit) compared to needing to grab dual-wielding ones and other perks if you were to sub archery rather than main, which I think is your intent.

You don't need a secondary weapon. At least, my archer character hasn't been using one. Sneak attack from a range to quickly kill things if it's an option. If enemies get close, I use a companion and summoned creatures to help get attention. Enemy AI especially likes to focus on summons rather than the player if they're being attacked by one, so they make great distractions. Bretons start already knowing Conjure Familiar, but that spell is cheap to purchase. Eventually you'll want to replace it with much stronger atronachs as your conjuration gets higher. Focusing so heavily on archery lets you rank it up rather quickly, which is important. You want everything in the archery tree, but especially rush toward getting the ability to slow time while aiming and Power Shot.

I use a single sword with heal in left hand, work well enough for me.
Tried with a shield but it was to hard to switch shield to heal and back.

I use a dagger

I like the daggers but my dunmer is an assassin so the 15x dagger multiplier is handy in some situations, like a high level guy who is not paying attention. Besides the neck cut with the dagger never gets old to watch

Meh, Archery is strong enough to dispatch most things without the need for a melee alternative. Making proper use of Sneak you shouldn't really ever need to use anything but your Bow and when you can I suggest using frost enchants on your Bows and keeping them charged up, they are incredibly useful against the harder hitting fast moving enemies like Old Orc.

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Im thinking about using dual wield destruction as back up, drawing enemies to my rune traps and stuff.

I like a sword. I find it more effective in direct confrontation than a dagger, and yet it raises your one-handed that is useful for the daggers when you want to assassinate.

Silver Sword, or two? Fairly good damage, great in those Draugr infested areas and not very heavy. Can't improve one on a grindstone though.

If we consider the perks roling archery "forces" us to take sneak to (you don't have to but not taking it deprives you from a lot of damage).

You have backstab (6 x one handed damage lvl 30 sneak) and later assasin's blade (sneak 50, 15 x dager damage in sneak mode).

My conclusion is if you plan to attack people melee in sneake mode then at first one handed and later daggers.
I never do that o.O first bow and then they will find you so then you don't get the bonus from sneak attacks anymore, I won't use perks in 1h or 2h atm I'll wait until I have decided.

As an archer, I don't I don't really understand the point in dual wielding when being over whelmed after using your bow, I would have thought a shield would make more sense. Not sure what the point is in taking the dagger multiplier from sneak is as well, it totally contradicts being an archer, a wasted perk imo.

Trapping and leading enemies into the runes sounds cool, but it unfortunately runes are just way too weak. To make them of any use at all, you need illusion's ability to cast silently and destruction dual-casting. Even then, I can conjure a frost atronach for much less magicka cost (and I have no perks in conjuration) that will take attention off me and soak damage while stunning enemies. Destruction really feels underpowered in this game.