Besides Daedric, are there any good bows? Any good unique bows? Or did archers get shafted once again?

Ive never gotten to the point of daedric yet, but I did thoroughly enjoy my nightingale bow. Other then that bow, I havent seen any other unique ones.

Where do you get the nightingale bow?

http://www.google.com/search?btnG=1&q=where+do+I+get+nightingale+bow

Ty

I can push a hunting bow up to 150 damage...and that's nowhere near the upper limit.

Theres also a Unique sword with that quest line as well, which you will get first.

I should also mention Angi's bow is a unique one (though plain looking, nice curves though) http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Angi%27s_Camp pic: http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Angi%27s_Bow
Theres also the Drainspell bow which looks like its ethreal. http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Drainspell_Bow

<3 Angi and her bow. She taught me everything I know about Archery, and I didn't even kill her after!

I just found out about her looking up the info for OP and will be hunting her out to learn from her and take her little test. Im surprised I haven't found her through two characters yet, but thats part of the fun.

You can obtain Firiniel's End (an elven unique bow) during the dark brotherhood quest line, but beside its name its pretty much just a bow with a frost enchant on it.

Self crafted and self enchanted weapons are the best weapons in this game. My bow has 350+ dm plus the sneak bonus x3 can one hit anything.

Pretty much this.

I'm not sure what the OP is referring to by archers getting the shaft; In OB at least, there was Hatreds Soul, which was pretty nasty business even if you didn't keep it charged up. It was the highest physically damaging bow in the whole game.

And then there were the terrors you could http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn73/TinyWurlitzer/ScreenShot0.jpg

Well I don't think I'm doing quite that much damage, but yea. Most of the rare/special bows are lame... The only one that seems close to worthwhile is the nightingales bow like what has been said already. As I would have loved to have been able to get that enchantment. Other then that a self crafted bow is the best route.

As far as the Drainspell bow... That was a big disappointment to me. Absorb magica... Really! One of the coolest looking bows, and you put the most worthless enchantment on it for an archer. And if it was in thought that it was support to be for a Mage then that was a lame idea. How are you support to cast spells with it? Lol worthless. Or maybe it was ment to battle mages... Nope there dead way before I could effectively drain there entire mana pool.

There is also another rare bow that sports the almighty absorb Magica too!

Anyway good bow make ups would be anything like...
Firiey soul trap- good for getting souls with a little umfff
Paralyze- alright if it works
Absorb stamina- awesome enchantment for bows!
And I'm sure there are some others that work for various set ups or builds.

Most definitely agree most enchantments you find on the good looking/cool ones (like drainspell weapons) are lackluster but they are kinda unique and look nice on the walls. Enchantment/smithing has been the best for damage by far, and most likely when I get to nightingale bow it will go on my wall with the blade since its not on par with what I crafted. Swords do get alot of attention in this game, even the special unique ones have some pretty nice enchantments like Dawnbreaker.....really wish there was a bow version of that lol I'll continue to dream or wait for a modder to do it lol

How do you get such damages ? My legendary daedric does something like 150+ and i have a 98 rating in archery....

I think it comes form those who go to the extreme with enchanting potions, perks and gear to get the most stacked up percentage before enchanting, resulting in super weapon damage. Even though its not cheating it can get a bit over the top and cause you to be a bit more OP then is necessary.

You need to remember that weapon weight also affects damage output.

The lighter the weapon, the faster you can draw it. Thus the more arrows you can pump out in a given period of time, resulting in higher DPS.

Karliah's bow has both the lightest weight and the highest damage of all bows, thus provides the greatest DPS.


Higher damage bows also have flatter projectiles and can shoot farther, but light bows can shoot very very fast.

Yep, that's how it's done. And fair warning it can take the fun out of the game. However as for my char is an assassin who is incredibly weak so sneak and one hitters are the only way to live.

But what about the kuda bow?...

Ah yes the Kuda bow lol.....

For those who haven't heard:

http://thecreatures.wikia.com/wiki/Grampy_the_Mammoth

Interesting story to say the least, how many people went looking for this thing I wonder?

Yeah it's ridiculous; especially considering the fact that you can't enhance artifacts.

Why would you hunt for artifacts if you already know they are going to svck compared to what you're already carrying?
Just because you can is not a convincing RP motive.

It would be more interesting if NPC's had more a variety in quality of goods.
You would have shops selling already enhanced weapons and enemies using them against you would make it less overpowered to be an expert blacksmith.
That would be something worthwhile to mod I think.

Any tips on self-crafting or enchanting bows? Those are two areas I've not explored yet.

Well enchantment effects IMO are personal taste, play around with different ones and see what ya like is my advice. Always use a grand soul gem for maximum benefit and it doesnt hurt to add an enchanting boost like a potion or something to get a bit higher of a result, but overdoing it will probably make you too OP and bored.

Theres alot of clean bows in the game so I never really made many for myself, just would happen upon a clean one and would first refine it to the maximum possible for my skills then enchanted it (since I had a lower enchanting level it was necessary to do it this way since I couldn't upgrade enchanted items). Again maybe try a smithing potion or smithing armor item to add an extra level that you maybe can't reach based on your smithing skill. Warning again, that stacking these will make it OP compared to what your character can actually make with skills and you may disappoint yourself later.

My play style uses smithing and enchanting on a need to basis only so Im always going to be upgrading (and i find that fun).

you can get +300 dmg weapons with 100% smithin gear, and +smithing potion bought in any alchemist, and thats all you need for master, no need to use alchemy.

A potion is the finished product of alchemy. How would get 100% smithing gear?