Looking for some awesome Ragner builds. Ready to roll a new toon and I'm thinking its time to give deep Archery a try. I've already done stealth so I'm not looking to skulk around everywhere, but almost rather be a barbarian with strong bow affiliation.

you should try a medieval archer character, sorta like Robin Hood from that ridley scott move. get some guard armour, use a long bow for as long as possible.

I don't know if this could be considered barabarian ranger (I'm always a bit confused about people's definition of classes) but one build I like around what you suggest is:

Archery (main weapon - but I don't use steady hand or bull's eye perks)
One handed (You can go dual wield or even had block and use a shield)
Light armor
Alchemy
Sneak (very minimal)
Restoration (novice restoration and regeneration perks)

It's up to you if you want to use smithing and enchanting. I would do some smithing but try not to abuse it - latest patch should help. I usually keep a hunting bow for as long as I can. I also like Linwe's Armor but it's glitched a bit.

I'll probably start such a character today.

Barbarian, eh? Dual wielding is a must then imo and the orc racial spell berserk would fit in well. If your on PC theres a mod called the brutal armour pack that changes armour more for this style (all torso, little armour, same stats).

novice mage robe with alik'r hood (or novice mage hood) is a good ranger look.

imperial bow is the best bow.

I've never put more then 5-8 points in archery so I have little experiance with it, how OP does archery get? I only play on master difficulty and my last assassin toon was freakin-op-easy-street-hakzor.

Also, I try not to do more then 2 crafting skills. I will take smiting, and either Alchemy OR restoration...made pots provide more then enough healz, but resto seems very rangerish. Thinking I may lean towards War axe and shield blocks for my back up weapon.

Get yourself a good shield and do some blocking close quarters. Raising your block allows you to do the blocking perks with your bow - power bash, deadly bash and disarming bash.

Resto is rangerish but so is alchemy in a healer kind of way, not a deadliest poison ever kind of way. Pick what you prefer. War axe and shield combo is good. I usually prefer sword but for my build I'm tempted to go war axe also - can always switch anyway.

Archery, like any skill, can get OP. Don't abuse smithing and it should be fine. You can adjust with the 5 overdraw perks. Put one perk there and then slowly add more if you feel ennemies become too hard.That's what I do. It's like my "game balance" perk for archery (same with one-handed).

I don't like the steady hand perk because it's a bit weird slowing the flow of combat (I don't use quick reflexes in block also) but it's personal preference. I know some people love it. I liked it at first but grew tired of it. Bull's eye I find unecessary and a bit OP. I've seen some people mentionned it was glitched with 1.5 but I don't know much more than that.

Imperial bow is also good, yes. But with smithing and the steel perk the hunting bow becomes better. It's a matter of choice/looks.

^{If going block, how many points into shield wall? Just one? Or max that svcker.}

I'm wondering that myself. Supposedly the deflect arrow bug is fixed with 1.5 (which would max your blocking skill) so you might have to put more than one (I would only put one before). Perhaps someone on PC can enlighten us. I don't think you need to put that much into it: the first perk gives 20% but the others only 5%, not really worth maxing unless you have free perk points to spend. I'll probably put 2 myself.

By the way, can you decapitate with a war axe? I don't think I've ever seen it but I've only used war axes when dual wielding with swords, so that might by why.

Does this really work? I always go full block and archery perks with my characters and I have never seen power bash, deadly bash and disarming bash work via bow strike...
I guess I can do some fooling around with it next time I get on.

seems if you not going for sneak you may as well have one handed and block as well like an imperial light infantry or what ever they call them. Relay need sneak to get the most out of archery.