A sneak attack with a bow should be an insta-kill. Always. : V - Skyrim

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:03 am

so. the problem isn't arrow damage ect. its that guards know whats going down instantly.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:12 pm

I'd be quite peeved if I oneshotted killed a Dragon by shooting it in the tail <3

What about one-shotting it in the genitals?

God, I'm horrible today...

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:26 am

Maybe op would prefer to play assassin's creed or hitman ? :laugh:

Hey hey hey, dont knock it till you try it.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 9:19 am

I agree there should be a bit more attention to where the shot goes, as the game determines damage. I myself have, as the OP said, shot enemies in the face with a perfectly aimed shot and have them running at me, arrow wobbling out of their head. It's a bit frustrating.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 4:23 am

A sneak attack with a bow should be an insta-kill. Always.

http://pix.playground.ru/download/gallery/276634/b78438ee5d4a7f4541b15d28188948e8.jpg!

What about one-shotting it in the genitals?

God, I'm horrible today...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reptile#Reproduction

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:05 am

Poison takes time to effect you. Sure, if I'm caught off guard then I'll be startled by an arrow to the back. But it won't insta kill me.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 2:28 am

Bethesda should have just put locational damage in. -_-

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 3:59 am

It sounds like the OP is under-geared for what he wants to do.

While bows in Skyrim are leagues better than they were in Oblivion, their true damage potential isn't realized until/unless you invest in Enchanting and Alchemy in addition to smithing. Here's why:

Assumption: 100 skill in Archery, Smithing, Enchanting, and Alchemy, with the relevant perks

Legendary Daedric Bow- 58 damage
With 4X+29% Fortify Smithing gear- 125 damage
With +130% Fortify Smithing potion as well- 195 damage
With both and 4x+47% Fortify Marksman gear- 562 damage

On Adept, that last bow will one-shot anything not an Elder or Ancient Dragon if fired from concealment, and for the latter two you just apply a powerful custom Fortify Marksman potion.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 6:40 pm

Why not just turn the difficulty down for some attacks? The reason there is a difficulty slider is so that you can control how difficult it is to kill people and for them to kill you. If your an assassin, you shouldn't be getting hit back much anyways so the lessening of enemy damage to you won't be an issue, so you will essentially just be making your attacks more effective, which is exactly what you want. Problem solved.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:48 pm

Armour played an important part in protection against arrows.

Medieval knights sometimes looked like pincushions, from all the arrows sticking out, but were still fighting.

Depends on the bow, the arrows and the armor. At a close range, a powerful bow could punch through plate with relative ease.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:20 am

No, we don't need this. This would make the game faaaar too easy for my stealth character. Which is already pretty easy.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:00 am

I wouldn't like that at all, I already think stealth is over powered. I wiped out about six bandits by lurking in the shadows up on a rock and after the first arrow they all ran toward me and just stopped and stood there, completely helplessly as I dropped them one after the other.

Plus if a sneak attack was an instant kill there would be no need to poison your arrow, plus there's a high level perk in the stealth tree that increases the damage of sneak attack with bows and it would make that pointless.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 2:42 am

Well, maybe next time they might actually include locational damage. As it is, shooting someone in the kn.... foot is just as damaging as the head. I would like to see stealth attacks actually require hitting the target in a critical area.

An arrow isn't necessarily more lethal if you don't see it coming. An arrow to the head though, should be 10 times more damaging than an arrow in some limb which should do very little. This should be the case regardless of stealth mode.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:17 pm

Meh. If I can charge into battle with a magic icicle embedded in my skull, I'm not gonna complain about an enemy coming at me with an arrow in his.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 2:41 am

I can't tell you how many perfectly good assassinations have been ruined because the stupid target WON'T DIE.

I'm in the perfect hiding spot, poisoned arrow at the ready, just waiting for the person to walk into view. Fnally they do, I let the arrow fly, watch it race towards them with bated breath... and it's a perfect shot!...

And then they yell, draw their weapon, and come sprinting towards me with an arrow sticking out of their throat, with every guard in the city right behind them. :facepalm:

Am I the only person who thinks this is ridiculous? You're ability to assassinate someone should be based on how well you can sneak, you shouldn't have to worry if your arrow is going to do enough damage to kill the guy. That's what the sneak bonus is for. I think if you shoot someone, and stay undetected, it should be an automatic kill. Unless it's a dragon or giant or something. What's so hard about that?

I guess what I'm trying to say in this rant that you've been kind enough to listen to is that even though Bethesda has done a great job of improving the stealth system from game to game, it's still far from perfect.

It should only be an automatic kill if you get a head or heart shot.

You can hit someone with a surprise shot, but even a shot from a sniper rifle is survivable if it doesn`t hit a critcal area (as long as it`s not one of those really high powered rifles that can blow a hole through your chest).

However the person should be severely wounded failing that, making a second shot fatal.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:14 am

Just to reply to the original post title: I find that at the level I'm at (42) with sneaking, archery and the particular bow and arrows I use (Nightengale/Ebony) it pretty much always does end up as an insta-kill. Don't really need to make it any more easy, do we?

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 2:21 am

In Oblivion, I literally shot people so many times with a bow they looked like a porcupine by the time they died. I'm much, much more satisfied with the current system than I have been since I started playing TES games.

Lol, I remember this. I tried an archer briefly in Skyrim, I must say it's a drastic improvement.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:17 am

I think you are ridiiculous and a poor assassin

I just took out the whole hiiden valley redoubt on master difficulty yesterday

a good assassin know how to step back in the shadows. It s not bethesda s fault if you svck.

( That's what the sneak bonus is for)

no ! especially not if your prey is a pack of ancient dragons !!!
I am sorry, I cannot agree with you !
And taking down that pack was awesome .... for me anyway, you would probably be dead facing a pack of skeevers

Anyway, you made me laught a lot ! Everyone complain that stealth is overpowered , and you complain because you can t hit your mark, don t know how to brew poison or whatever

Oh and, yes, in morrowind you could fight vivec, a GOD. and YOU want to one-hit-kill a GOD !!!!!!! How ridiculous !!!!

Some people are just so rude. After reading this I'd like to thank all of you who managed to read and respond to my post in a mature and reasonable fashion, even if you didn't agree with me. You've all made a lot of good points and I can see that I what I was asking for is maybe just a bit too much. :blush:

Oh and, yes, in morrowind you could fight vivec, a GOD. and YOU want to one-hit-kill a GOD !!!!!!! How ridiculous !!!!

And what does this have to do with ANYTHING?? I was never talking about Morrowind...

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:29 pm

Its like this for balance, notice how daggers and swords do more damage because you have to get closer. Use daggers you will one hit anything. Maybe if the game had location damage, so you could head shot to get more damage things would balance out better.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 5:53 am

an arrow that goes straight across your brain should at least paralyze you.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 2:16 am

so a warn out wooden bow firing a rusty iron arrow should be enough to kill a dragon god in one shot because he didnt see you

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:32 am

I think this is a good idea, but overpowered. I think any sneak hit in the head or neck or heart should be insta-kill. Seriously, I don't know how many times I've fought a guy with a arrow sticking out of his chest and throat and yelling while hopping around like a leprechaun trying to kill me with hundreds of runes strewn over the floor.

It's a bit strange.

If they made it so that all sneak arrows in the head would be insta-kill, that would be fantastic

Another point with these kinds of things: I think that when you assassinate someone you should have to drag the body behind a boulder or something, or else a guard passing by might see it and start investigating.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 7:34 pm

Hey OP, would you mind listing your skill levels (sneak, archery), perks, gear, and difficulty setting?

This will help others understand where you are at with everything. I thnk the general consensus is that if you improve those things then most eveything will be an instakill.

» Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:35 pm

I think this is a good idea, but overpowered. I think any sneak hit in the head or neck or heart should be insta-kill. Seriously, I don't know how many times I've fought a guy with a arrow sticking out of his chest and throat and yelling while hopping around like a leprechaun trying to kill me with hundreds of runes strewn over the floor.

It's a bit strange.

If they made it so that all sneak arrows in the head would be insta-kill, that would be fantastic

Another point with these kinds of things: I think that when you assassinate someone you should have to drag the body behind a boulder or something, or else a guard passing by might see it and start investigating.

i think that if they made a head shot instant kill than they should make arm or legs only take away stamina, and when their stamina is low enough than they can't move and go in for the dead shot.

» Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:01 am

Bows aren't guns. It's actually more realistic that arrows don't insta-kill you. Unless you hit someone in the head, and http://www.funnychill.com/media/484/Dart_In_Head/ (WARNING! Link content might be considered graphic!).

As your archery skill improves, you'll eventually be one-shotting people left and right anyway. If you're playing on Adept difficulty, that is.

i clicked on your link, and my head started hurting afterwards..... it still hurts....