Hey there everybody, starting a new playthrough and I'm going to go with a Ranger/Archer style. I'm looking for some advice on a skillset. What I have so far seems pretty obvious:

Archery- Duh. I'm using ACE Archery mod, which is fantastic and makes it possible to play an Archer without stealth with it's Long Bow path (I'm not interested in a stealth archer)

Light Armor- Self explanatory, just feels like it fits a Ranger perfectly

Two-Handed: Like light armor, it just seems to fit this kind of character perfectly. The ability to block with 2h is a bonus over dual wield seeing as this character will be pretty fragile.

So while I'm set in those 3, I'm not sure where I should go from there. Here is what I've somewhat narrowed it down to.

Restoration: I'm just about conceding this will be one of my important skills, especially if I don't take alchemy

Conjuration OR Illusion: If I were to take a magic school for this character (excluding restoration) it would probably be one of those two, but I can't decide if I want to use magic.

Ugh, typing this out has me even more confused. I guess I just want some advice on what to do for a non stealth archer build, but I'm stuck on choosing secondary skills.

I'm using restoration cause at higher levels it regens stamina aswel.. But I also use alchemy for poisons and such.
Illusions good for the frenzy and calm spells, which is perfect for an archer to make sure you dont get swarmed, conjuration will basically provide distractions also.
Personally illusion over conjuration is better for me
Remember that you can stray and experiment with other skills, there are no restrictions

Happy hunting!

Alchemy sounds much more like a Ranger to me than Conjuration or even Illusion.
But it's your build so play whatever is fun for you.

Also blocking might be good for the bashes.

Mostly full perk out your archery tree. (A given.)

Get the shout where animals help you. (Or just be Bosmer since they get that as a racial power.)

Use alchemy to poison your arrows for maximum damage.

That's all I got.

Thanks for the responses guys!

If you're not using sneak but using the bow, my advice is to find a way to keep the enemys a safe distance away from you.
That means moving around A LOT, using Paralyze poisons, stamina potions/poisons, and using FUS RO DAH a lot.
As for skills, Alchemy, Enchanting, Archery and Light armour.

With using spells I would consider going 1hd that way you can cast and fight then go to dual weild. I tried doing 2hd but makes it a pain to keep switching to cast.

My guess is that's what I'll end up doing with a just a few perks into 2 handed and block down the road. Thanks!

My Breton Ranger required patience at first, but has been nigh unstoppable since level 7 or so. Like others mentioned, 2/handed and spells can be a chore.

Stealth

Archery

Dual Weild

Light Armor

I've dabbled in Illusion, Lockpick and alchemy, but perks were allocated in the 4 skills above.

Enchanting makes a bowman one BAMF. Around level 40 I went from about 65 damage to 130 without poisons.

As other have said 2h and spells ain't user friendly. And alchemy gives u access to all the schools except conjuration. Fits a ranger well too imho

I don't really agree with no alchemy, especially if you aren't going stealth.

Let me explain: if you aren't a stealth archer, illusion seems a little out of your niche and unnessesary altogether. You might benefit more from minions (someone mentioned animal allegiance). So to make up for some of illusion's tricks, alchemy is a good compliment for this character (or ANY archer really).

And if you're taking the smithing route, enchanting is always a huge help

My archer was simple. I just focused on Archery, Stealth and Light Armour. I was going to focus on Alchemy but I never needed to.

I am speaking from a position of complete ignorance, having never used alchemy myself, but it seems to me that the constant perpetual upkeep of making your own poisons would be an enormous pain in the ass-especially with archery where the chances of your poison even hitting the target is far from gauranteed.

I would recommend to deffinetly use either illusion or conjuration.

Conjuration archer is a great build that I had some success with. Once you get the perk that allows you to summon further away you can just summon it in the enemies midst and hang back while firing arrows.

Illusion can work as well but you will have a difficult time with undead and automations until you get up to 90 and master of the mind perk.

This is exactly what I did. I had this big plan to level alchemy but never needed it. In my opinion, stealth is a must for the archery bonuses.

Conjuration fo sho! Bound bow is epic at lower levels.

I would add sneak and alchemy to the skill list and drop the magic if I went for a rangertype character, but that is just my opinion.

Check first 2 links in my sig. I play a no-sneak, no-melee, no-smithing, no-enchanting archer with nothing but a long bow, iron arrows, and hide armor.

I would drop the 2 handed and learn the use of the one handed Axe. This is a more versitle tool and makes more sense in the woods. Can use it to cut trees and such as well as for defense. Also get the Camping mod as this makes sens for the chracter as well. Alchemy for sure, it fits that you know how to live off the land. I would do some smithing so you understand how to work leather and craft your own bows.