It’s something of a running joke among the Elder Scrolls community that every character in Skyrim will eventually become a stealth archer at some point, and for good reason. Of all the builds that can be made in The Elder Scrolls V, a stealth-focused archer can easily deal with most threats by dealing high damage while keeping themselves healthy for a long time.
As easy as being a stealth archer makes Skyrim, especially later in the game when the Sneak and Archery skills are at high levels, there are several mistakes that many players make when playing this class, particularly if they are coming from past Elder Scrolls titles.
10 Sticking With Common Stealth Focused Races
While it’s generally accepted that Elven races are best suited for mage builds and human races are best for melee builds, the beast races, the Argonians and Khajiit, are generally seen as the best picks when it comes to making a stealthy character. However, in Skyrim, this isn’t the case as any character is just as good in a particular class as any other, with the focus on character creation shifting from classes to skill optimization instead, allowing for greater creative freedom when building a character.
9 Only Using A Bow
As good as the Archery skill is in Skyrim, it does have a few weaknesses. For one, both the bow and crossbow have a relatively slow reload time, making them less than ideal if the player needs to hit an enemy multiple times in quick succession. Both bows also have an obvious weakness in melee range, with it being very easy to miss an arrow or bolt while the player is also more susceptible to damage. The best way around this is to pair a bow with another weapon (either a melee weapon or some kind of stave) if the player doesn’t want to invest in melee skills.
8 Not Utilizing Illusion Magic
For many character builds, particularly further into the game once all of the main skills have been leveled to the point where they have been invested in as much as possible, players will jump into Mage class skills in order to add a little more spice to their character. Commonly they’ll opt for Conjuration or Destruction to add some damage output. For stealth builds, however, this isn’t the best option.
Of all the Mage class skills, Illusion is the best suited for a stealthy character on multiple levels. For one, it allows the player to use powerful spells like Muffle and Invisibility to keep themselves hidden. But it also has the unique perk Quiet Casting, which means that all spells will not alert enemies when cast.
7 Not Using Followers
Followers in Skyrim can be a little awkward at first, as they tend to get in the way of attacks and can very easily ruin a perfect stealth approach at lower levels. However, they can be useful as cannon fodder while the player sits back and watches the mayhem unfold, though this may also result in the follower potentially dying in the process. All followers can be directed by the player, however, so they can still be useful despite their tendency to get in the way and can help the player deal with enemies when they aren’t able to sneak past, particularly when dragons become involved.
6 Investing In Smithing
For most melee characters, Smithing is a skill that they will need to invest in at some point in order to bridge the damage gap between their weapons and the enemy’s ever-increasing health pool. That being said, stealth characters that are focused on using daggers rather than bows shouldn’t bother with Smithing, as the damage increase is negligible at best. The Backstab perk in the Sneak skill tree, as well as the damage buff gained by wearing the Shrouded Gauntlets, covers the damage difference by a much greater amount than if the player was to waste time and skill points investing in Smithing.
5 Investing In Enchanting Too Early
Like Smithing, Enchanting is a skill that most character builds will eventually gravitate towards once they reach higher levels, but stealth-focused characters can get away with avoiding this annoyingly difficult grind for quite a while. Adding unique enchantments to armor and gear will increase damage output and efficiency, but it comes at the cost of using skill points that are better used investing in Sneak, Light Armor, One-Handed, or Archery.
4 Not Investing In Alchemy
Alchemy is usually seen in Skyrim as the skill that lets the player break the game, which isn’t far from the truth considering how impactful the Restoration Potion Glitch is in most veteran players’ playthroughs. However, Alchemy is just as good at doing what it is supposed to do for stealth characters: creating potions and poisons to enhance the player’s abilities.
While investing in Alchemy can take up a large number of skill points, some poisons, such as the all-powerful Paralysis Poison, don’t increase in power as levels increase. This means that it is easy to leave certain skills for later in the game while still using Alchemy frequently.
3 Not Investing In One-Handed Perks
For those characters that focus on daggers over bows, it can be easy to pour all skill points into ensuring that the player character doesn’t get spotted before they are able to stab a bandit in the back. But investing in certain One-Handed perks can make a lot of difference in the gameplay at later levels. While most enemies will be killed outright before level 30, once the player hits this milestone, the health pools of many enemies go up quite a bit and can make backstab kills less viable if the player hasn’t taken at least a few of the Armsman perks to increase the damage of their dagger.
2 Trying To Use Heavy Armor
While there are some perks that allow the use of Heavy Armor for Mage and Thief builds, Heavy Armor is generally best left for characters that need protection and can deal with the loss of movement. While stealth characters do have a rather large weakness should they end up getting caught with their pants down, it is fairly easy to hit the armor cap while wearing Light Armor instead of Heavy Armor. It also doesn’t have the downside of reducing movement speed or over-encumbering the player.
1 Not Using Any Armor
Light Armor may provide the right balance of protection and silence, but if the player isn’t wearing any armor, they will be even quieter while trying to sneak around the world. As tempting as this is, however, it can result in the player dying very quickly should they fail to sneak successfully, especially for dagger-focused characters. Even character builds that balance Mage and Thief skills should still wear armor, as the Magicka cost reduction that is gained from wearing clothing can easily be gained through jewelry instead while still maintaining a high armor rating.
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