Lots of people aroud here seem to love the bow. Just makes me think its kids coming over from cod or something. I can see how having a non magic ranged attack is good strategy. But is it any fun?

Between Skyrim and Oblivion I have made around 10 different characters. Only one of them used archery and that was my warhammer Orc who only used them to get a dragon's attention and hope to get him to land.

I never got the FPS feel when using bows

And magic is pretty gimped in this game.

Bit of a stretch to say it's connected to some COD fad but I guess that's a common theme around here lately. I'm assuming some folks just really dig archery...

Destruction's gimp, the other ones are quite fine, Conjuration's quite a good skill.

The same reason why a lot of people keep choosing snipers in FPS games even when it means their team will lose as a result

And all those threads here requesting instant death from headshots.

When you get a killer shot at range, on a running target by leading them, it is a rush.

HAHA! What? How can you honestly assert this? In my opinion, kids who play CoD don't have the mental capacity to even put Skyrim in their gaming console/computer, but that's beside the point.

I enjoy using bows exactly as you said, ranged strategy. As a Nord, I refuse to use magic. It's partly a role play thing, and I tend to gravitate more toward melee based combat any way. My only gripe with archery is that the trajectory of the arrow auto corrects to a certain distance, which messes up shots from a distance

Personally. I think it can be a good challenge when using the bow. You have to time your shots and think ahead in order to hit a target that's on a move.
I feel a sense of accomplishment when I get a good shot/kill with the bow. Be it from the shadows, or taking out a couple of Forsworn before they rush me in the Reach.

Not really sure about what to say about the CoD remark though. I've never really felt that the whole FPS thing really fits in with the bow, considering it's often not wise to waste arrows on a few rushed shots. But I would advise trying to make a character that does indeed use the bow often instead of just getting the attention of the odd dragon or two. I'd keep an eye on your other skills though. When you're stuck in close-combat in a confined space. The bow ain't going to do a whole lot of good!

They aren't an alternative to bows as much as destruction.

I love archery, and I don't get the FPS feel from it at all. I think it's a very balanced and well implemented form of combat. Early on, the draw time per shot is quite long, so you cant spam shots (unlike CoD). Drawing a bow also slows you down, so moving away from your target is harder. The skill only gets really good once you've levelled it up a fair bit, but the perks are actually quite well thought out - slow down time, critical damage, extra damage, and no movement penalties. But the drawback is still lag between shots, ammo (which depending on how you play is a bigger/smaller issue).

Yes it's somewhat overpowered combined with sneak, but you don't have to use both skills.

I like it as I enjoy strategically placing myself and my shots on target, also not going magic and heavy armour, I tend to take a lot of damage when things come at me. I've also decided to go almost exclusively archery, so my melee combat skills are way down by comparison. This means that I HAVE to keep the guys away from me, otherwise, I'm almost certainly toast.

So yeah, not much like CoD at all.

Same reason why you like to use warhammers with your orc, it's a matter of taste. I sometimes like to shoot people with a bow, sometimes not, all there is to it. This goes back from old TES games and 1st Diablo, + I hate cod and FPS games in general so that's an invalid point for my example as a bow-lover. Another point is in the fact that I don't blow up deers around, and don't shoot 20 arrows in 2 seconds, I sneak up to foes, set up traps, sell ther skin or tan it myself...so this is all scouting. Another one where I fail to see connection with cod. It's like saying that anyone who plays a mage is a kid coming from wow. Besides, I know much more older people who paly cod than I know kids who do, I don't get all that struggle in trying to insult kids these days by calling them kids, not all are morons, and most of those that are saying "kids these days" are still kids themselves.


Depends on how you see it, I find destruction quite fun to use, aside from some effects, such as desintegration, removed. I myself find conjuration quite uninteresting, for example. But I won't go around saying conjuration is useless. So you see, this is a good example of why it is bad to state things as general opinion, rather than as your own.

I play first person and without crosshair. On Expert.

Never played CoD.

But damn, it feels great when an arrow find its target.

I like it. I don't exactly know why to be honest. I never got the feeling it was anything close to a FPS though, so I highly doubt it. I'v always had a fascination with archery in real life too though. I own a few bows. Also two cross bows

The feeling of shooting a projectile from a distance, and being able to watch it go through your enemy and stick into them, killing them from a distance, but at the same time taking skill, strength, and strategy to be used effectively just gives me... a rush

A gun cannot compare. Not. Even. Close. Archery.. is an art.

Great animation. The sound of the bow string as you draw it. The variance of arrow types....

Archery is just well done

I would say archery takes the most "real" skill (aiming, timing, getting the right trajectory) , unlike one handed or two handed were it mostly just relies on those high damage weapons to take down tough enemies.
So you get a much greater sense of accomplishment when you take down an enemy with archery, making it more enjoyable.

It's that warm feeling of reward when your cowardice is justified.

Archery is handled extremely well in Skyrim. I just has a great feel to it. The arrows travel in an arch like they should. They stick into things and can be retrieved which is great. There is a challenge to hitting the target. You have to be strategic with your moves because it takes time to draw back the bow and movement speed is reduced making it a challenge to avoid enemy attacks. It's just a totally different play style and for a lot of people this is very fun.

i found i survive the best with a bow. But u gotta know how to aim. And u gotta know when to shoot and it depends on the position of the enemy. Hardest part and most annoying is when i shoot, the enemy dodges as if he knows i am gonna shoot him at the right time(mages i mean). But you can jump around and own all the melee people and sneak + archery = 3x bonus attack

Archery is just one facet of my personal combat style...

Archery until they're within range of spells
spells until i hit 1/3 magicka, or just out of melee range; whichever comes first
sword, shield, and shouts until i need to heal, backup, heal, then switch to sword and shield.

(PC hot keys are very useful.)

I've never been a big FPS fan, but I have played a few, like the Marathon series (my favorite on this list), Half Life, Soldier of Fortune, SWAT 3.

But I do like Archery. I often take it as a class skill, since I almost always use custom classes. I've never been big on straight fighters, I find them boring and requiring no real skill or finese. But mages, fighter/mages and even rangers I like. I like Rangers (and especially BG2's Archer) in D&D games. In my playthrough, my characters favorite weapon right now is an Ancient nord bow, though that may owe in part to the ammount of switching around I have done on my melee weapons. Steel mace, Imperial Orcish sword, Dwarven sword.

I like it because I enjoy playing a stealth type character. I love playing a thief and archery goes hand in hand with sneak.

i strictly use a bow, i dont use any blade of any kind...i use hand to hand if i have to. I find it to be a blast especially in 3rd person. It's a combo of the way it looks to the sound it makes when you hoist an arrow and finally let go to the way the arrows look when equipped on my bosmer scout, overall never been much of a hack n slash guy but it can be really fun every so often.

I'm a Brit.
I've been brought up with with just how BAD ASS archers are.

From the massed archers of agencourt to robin hood. Hell it used to be law that wry male in the country must practice archery on a Sunday.

Or It could be dropping whole dungeons and forts full of people without them knowin im there.

One of the two

A silly assumption to connect CoD to archery. I've been using archery in games far before I ever heard of that franchise. I have multiple play throughs whenever I can, whether it's for a stealth archer, or a warrior build that doesn't use magic, archery is just a staple in most rpgs.

Bows are a ton of fun when you're playing a rogue/thief. It's a skill that becomes more rewarding the more you work at it.