I'm playing a sneaky archer, and I'm using a two-handed weapon as support for those moments I can't avoid melee.
I think two-handed weapons are so great because they deal lots of burst damage, can block, and, the most important, I can easily hotkey it in just one button. (I use "1" for quick grabbing my greatsword).
However, I feel that my 6x sneak damage for one-handed weapons is being completely wasted, and I only sneak attack with my bow since backstabbing with a two-handed weapon is almost useless.

So, I would like to consider using one-handed weapons as support instead of two-handed. And I would like to know what you guys suggest for an archer?
Sword+Shield? Dual wield? And in this case, how can I hotkey two weapons or weapon plus shield, and still be able to easily change stances in the middle of combat?

A two handed weapon for a "Sneaky Archer"? Use a dagger for support.

You can do what ever you want in this game. It's not about what we think is best for you, but about what you think is best for you. All your options listed are viable and I personally suggest you try all of them from time to time to change things up.

my cheese and crackers for a short sword.....but either a sword or dagger makes the most sense.

Between sprinting and slowing time, you really don't need a backup melee weapon for archery. It works just fine at close range.

get yourself set up to paralyze/poison. use Muffle. use sneak modifier damage(s).

If you are getting caught as a sneaky archer, that should tell you something.

/edit

also yes, it is nice to fall back on the 15x damage of a dagger/1h, when you get the points to roll in that tree.
sneak/backstab.

If by support you mean after you miss and need to fight a target that has detected you, than a 2h is perfectly fine for this and I'd argue superior to a dagger or 1h weapon.

:nod:

Especially if you're roleplaying. Trying to crouch in the shadows under the edge of a bar room counter with a 5 1/2 foot long and 1/2 foot wide greatsword sticking up over your shoulder, just sort of spoils the mood for me.

Plus, once you get really good at sneaking, then a well timed slit throat really makes the experience much more visceral.

1) Hotkey your bow.
2) Equip whatever weapons you want to use in melee, but do NOT hotkey them.
3) Press your bow hotkey once to switch back to bow.
4) Press your bow hotkey again to switch back to the melee weapons equipped in 2.
5) Repeat 3/4 as necessary.

(basically your 'bow' hotkey will switch between your bow and 'whatever you had equipped before you switched to your bow').

But yeah, it needs fixing, and if you ever use magic then you'll need to manually re-equip your melee weapons/shield.

I used dual weapons (swords) when playing an archer. Seemed to work fine (except for the hot-key bug). I would use daggers, but unless you are backstabbing daggers are kinda useless.

Yes. By support I mean, for example, fighting a bandit chief that has lots of health (playing on master), so that I can't even dream in killing him with a few arrows. In this case, usually I start the fight with a sneaky shot, then switch to two-handed to be able to block and swing when he is staggering.


I liked this idea. But I'm using also healing spells, so I don't know how bad will be switching weapons/spells. That's another reason I chose two-handed weapons, because they are so easy to equip quickly. Anyway, I'll give a try.
Also will try to find a mod that "fix" the hotkeys, so that I can equip two weapons with a single key.

I've been doing something similar in that I use daggers for sneak attacks but then 2h as my fall back weapon as it's much more powerful than daggers or swords (without shields, and I don't want to raise block right now).

Personally I dual dagger. Its very fast which fits more with the scout style, and to top it off with perks and Dark Brotherhood gloves you end up getting 30x damage on dagger sneak attacks. Makes sneaking up on the enemy far more fun.

Another point to this, if coming across a strong melee enemy, two hander for example, you can step in and put in 3-4 shots before backing off, I think dual dagger is underestimated.

A pair of daggers seems perfect to me. Your bow takes a big chunk of their health out and you finish 'em with a couple chops from your daggers. And that 15x damage for daggers (sneak) is just one perk above the 3x damage for bows.

Close range bow

Based on what I've read (I haven't played yet), dual daggers can be extremely powerful with high sneak - which could be one reason NOT to go that route, if you prefer to remain primarily an archer. Once you realize you can simply sneak around and kill everything with backstabs, it might take some of the fun out of your playstyle. (On the other hand, I like what one of the above posters suggested about using daggers in melee as a quick finisher - just don't know how viable that is.)

A sword (1-handed) could be a nice compromise between the speed of a dagger and the reach/damage of a 2-hander, while still allowing you to cast in the off-hand. Of course you could go slightly unconventional and choose a mace or axe instead, then perk that up for some interesting effects.

But if 2-handed has been working for you, I see no reason not to continue. I know in Oblivion I loved the claymore for the exact reason you described. It may not seem terribly "sneaky", but as an archer you're probably not sneaking too closely to bad guys anyway, so it shouldn't ruin the immersion unless you let it.

Another vote for dual daggers. I only used bow through the first ~15 hours on my archer, but once her sneak level and bonuses got pretty high, I started taking the occasional opportunity to sneak up on an unsuspecting victim and put that 30x sneak attack bonus to fun use.

However I still feel completely unequipped to handle "oh s***!" situations when something hard hitting (a cave bear for instance) survives my initial bow or dagger attacks. Then it's time to start panicking and either run away screaming or hope there's something in my inventory that can save me from getting mauled to death in two seconds . I kind of like how that somewhat balances out being able to kill most things in one shot or hit without even being discovered.

My warrior/archer/sneaky thief also uses a two hander and bow. Play the style which suits you best. I love sniping with the bow but sometimes I just wanna hack some bandits to pieces.

Guys he's talking about a backup weapon for when he can't get a sneak attack off with his bow.

If he can't get a sneak attack off with his bow you actually think he could with a dagger?

Daggers are pretty horrible in one on one combat with an aware target. 2h would be superior (1h is ok if you're using spells, but inferior unless you have a shield too).

Once you're archery is high enough, you don't need a backup weapon.

30% faster arrow notching, faster movement while arrow is notched, 50% slower time while aiming and 50% chance to stagger enemy makes a bow the only weapon you need.

I know youre lookinfg for a weapon, but if you pick up the bash perk from blocking you can bash people with your bow

You can use the bow to push people back or bash them without the perks in the block tree.

Do the power bash perks affect the bow bash?

I guess a different route is to boost your sneak/archery?
- invisibility spell/potions count as instant, very powerful, stealth. (as invisibility potions only increase in duration, not stealth any alchemist can make decent versions with the right ingredients).
- summons/followers are possibly viable to some degree if you engage from range.

Something with archery that I assume everyone knows:

Scimitars are good ( at least they are at lvl 9 and upgraded to superior), near dagger speed with the damage of a sword but less weight.

Has anybody tried to take the "Power Bash" blocking perk? Blocking is possible with the bow, might be fun to knock them back with a power bash and then finish them off with the bow.
.