Yah.... mouse aim is unquestionably faster and more accurate, this was proven in Shadowrun which was 360/PC x-platform online MP.... but that REALLY only comes into play in fast paced FPS where headshots make a difference. Location of hit matters not in Skyrim, so the extra precision is unnecessary... and even then, I still pepper enemies heads with arrows more than anything else anyways. It doesn't take an obscene amount of skill with gamepad to reliably put arrows on target in Skyrim.

The biggest advantage to k/m in skyrim, besides console commands & mod support of course, is key bindings to equipment.... PC gets 4x as many quick maps.

Mouse vs anolog aim is more up to preference, familiarity, and comfort.... and it's generally well agreed as well anolog > WASD for movement as well.

OP just needs a better bow, a follower to tank for him, and/or to utilize sneaking.

Archery is one of the strongest & most reliable forms of attack actually.

I respectfully disagree.

with?

previous post? (me)
OP?

The title of the topic.

I figured.... but I made some points that are more arguable then the original topic and you replied right after me

It never takes my Arigonian sneak archer more than 2-3 shots to kill Dragur Deathlords and he one-shots every thing else.

Though I hate to use lines like this, I really do think the OP is doing something wrong.

That said, I do find Archery lags a bit at the start, because the beginning bows are pretty poor until you smith them up. Once you do get going though, things quickly get insane, and you can eventually one-shot Ancient Dragons, at least on Adept, if you add +Archery gear and potions. That does require running up Enchanting and Alchemy in addition to smithing, which not everyone does, but even if you only raise smithing you'll still be able to take pretty much anything out in short order.

Without Sneak things are significantly different, since you give up a huge amount of damage per shot, however it still gets ridiculous when you add Enchanting and Alchemy. I have a character planned who will fight that way and wear Heavy armor instead of light, however he'll use a 2H sword for close-range work so won't be solely dependent on the bow.

One of my sneaky archers has daggers for backup, while the other uses Conjuration for that, however there are very few cases where I actually need to bother since something other than a dragon getting close means that either I screwed up or a force-greet auto-sheathed my bow.

I recommend Conjuration.....

Level it up summoning Familiars then Fire Atronachs for every fight.

When you get to 40 skill, you can cast Bound Bow.... which will simply skyrocket your archery damage.... though for a while you'll have to do w/o your summon

Anyways..... works incredibly well IMO...

You only need 3 points in Sneak (3x sneak damage on bows) really

yes the joystick will stop when i stop moving it, though rarely when i want it to stop. it will usually over or undershoot where i want it to stop, where a mouse will stop exactly where i want it to. forcing with a joystick to constantly try to readjust it till it lands in the spot i want it too, which gets worse when the target is moving as well because small movements on the joystick are even less accurate than on the mouse. i can aim with the mouse quicker and more accurately than with a joystick just like i can turn around quicker and more accurately with the mouse and also adjust my viewing area quicker and more accurately. its just much easier and much more natural. it has nothing to do with user experience, it has everything to do with limitations of the device.

Early game yes it's underpowered but mid to late game it's a beast.

Seek argument and disputation wherever they can be found. There will be plenty of time for silence in the grave. -Christopher Hitchens

archery is good for pre-emptive stealth attacks.

boost up your perks in the stealh category that give bonuses to first-strike stealth attacks. boost up your critical hit % on your archery skill tree. stack enchantment bonuses that deal % increase to archery. if you ever come across a daedric heart save it to forge a daedric bow. drink smithing potions while grinding it on the wheel. if you play with archery in mind, there is no reason why you are not hitting 200+ damage per shot by mid/upper level 30-ish.

I disagree, I find archery (with stealth) to be very overpowered, especially with perks and enchantments.

I found it to be somewhat balanced in the early game, but later on it gets crazy. I haven't even leveled Alchemy yet, but I can only imagine that potent poisons will make almost anything 1-shottable.

And yeah, I play on Master *flex*

personally i find archery to be the most fun, skillful, and rewarding playstyles. my favorite character is my thief archer, getting the right positioning and angling the shot just perfectly so it hits is a lot of fun and systematic to me. i never felt underpowered with it till i got to about 20 and realized my shots with sneak attacks were only removing about 1/3 of a weaker mobs HP. so i felt forced to level smithing to make it do more damage again. i dont much care for pincushioning tings, i much rater prefer well placed shots systematically takin out mobs like sniper rounds.

Good example, using an obviously exploited bow. Well done.

My blacksmithing-augmented bow hits for 300 damage, not counting the enchants.

I lol'd

archery is weak if you neglect stealth i suppose, but even then with enough stamina you live in bullet time...so its not like its that hard to line up shots.

Conjuration complements it well with bound bows dealing great damage through pretty much the first half of the game, and meat shields to distract enemies who find you

wtf? Seriously? Archery is meant to be a stealth type skill, and more for support in combat, even so, I have my archery at 60, and with smithing and no enchants, my bow does 160 damage, plus the damage of the arrow. Dont get me started on sneak attacks. seriously people, imagine destruction and archery getting a boost to 1.5 damage, do you not understand how ridiculous enemy archers and mages would then become with their impeccable aim? Imagine a mage using dual wielded ice storm! 225 damage, and it ignores armor, itd be ridiculous!

I got the feeling, from the tone of his post, that the OP is using archery 'in the open', as 60 damage is low for a sneak attack with even a crappy bow, and when used that way it really is weak in the early levels, simply because the bow is crappy. Archery in the open needs heavy damage per strike, since you're giving up the sneak multiplier, and bows below about Elven can't deliver it, so I can see where the P might get the impression it's weak overall. Of course, said impression is horribly mistaken, but until you've used sneak archery with a good bow you don't realize that, so I'm willing to give the OP a break.

Mind you, if he does it again I'll be right there with you, since he'll know better. I know I thought similarly on my first Archer until I started firing from concealment, so I know where he's coming from, although my first sneak kill quickly disabused me of that viewpoint.

player.placeatme 640b7 10

You will soon see why bows wielding enemies are the most dangerous.

Not sure if trolling but just in case... Archery is very powerfull and together with sneak it is overpowered if you ask me. All you have to do is focus heavily on archery, try to avoid any other skills besides sneak and whatever armor you want to wear and very soon you will change your view.

in the early levels it is weak relative to the higher levels but the enemies are weaker also. i still killed everyone before they could ever get to me at the extremely low levels with a weak like 11 damage bow for a long time. it all scales appropriately. usually things will die to two shots if not one at the lower levels. and the ones that dont usually take too long to find you before they fall as well. unless you are hitting them from a very close range for some reason.

lol this

Is this a joke?