Share some tips for an assassin archer-poison build?

[Freedom's friendliest fire]

I'm tired of making a character and ending up stuck at some point because I can't level up effectively and suddenly not be able to fight enemies without spending tons of resources (often around level 20), so I'd like some advice for a setup for a stealth archer character that uses poisons.

I mostly just want to know what skills I should make as majors, what skills I should actually use, what alchemy ingredients I should be looking for to make poisons etc.
I'd imagine I'll be going for illusion, alteration and light armor together with the previously mentioned skills.

[Darth Cannabis]

Focus on your non skill and attribute leveling early, at leaast that's what I like to do with assassin.

Start with axe and hand to hand ussage, to level your strength, and conjuration and mysticism to build your intelligence, while working on only your marksman for 1st 5 levels or so (shoot what you conjure to work on both at same time). This should give you +25 str, agi, and intel (+5 each level) to start. Don't even touch your blade or alchemy or other class skills yet (those will build up easy enough naturally, after you have a strong base. Only 1 class skill trained early on, so you get +5 that class attribute, while build your other 2 class attributes thru non class skills.

As you go towards level 10, train endurance thru block and heavy armor, and start building your class skills 1 at time. Do a whole level of blade for +5, whole level of sneak for + 5 etc. while getting the +5 on the endurance from non class skills. Also choose a non class attribute each level such as personality (can be built with illusion), or some extra willpower from destruction, alteration, and restoration. Just be sure not to level a class skill at same time as non class of same attribute. Keep focussed on the goal.

Basically, spend the 1st 10 levels purely training. If you do this, then it should leave you at a solid point, where you can level naturally from there, with no worry about being low attribute wise. Once you have a solid base from 10 levels of focussed training early, (3x +5, 10 times), reaching full attribute with plenty of levels to spare is easy even with + 2 and +3 increases.

[Darth Cannabis]

I definately advise the early marksman buildup as far as early class skills, as that tends to slow signifincantly later on, and once you reach that point of naturally progressing, blade will overtake marksman (at least always does for me) from 30 points behind easilly.

[Bansheebutt]

Potion strength isn't affected by Intelligence in Oblivion, so there's not much reason to boost that early on, if ever.

Alchemy is extremely independent. Not much synergizes with it, but it doesn't really need it. Used to its maximum potential you wouldn't need any other skill in the game.

That said, Destruction would be good for its Weakness to Poison effect. Pretty sure 100% weakness for 30 seconds doesn't even require Journeyman Skill level, and the magick cost is similarly insignificant. 25% weakness can be bought at the Mystic Emporium in the Imperial City.

You can reduce the cost of using the weakness spell by taking the Thief Birthsign, which will also help with your Bow damage thanks to the agility bonus.

[Darth Cannabis]

Originally posted by Bansheebot:

Potion strength isn't affected by Intelligence in Oblivion, so there's not much reason to boost that early on, if ever.

Alchemy is extremely independent. Not much synergizes with it, but it doesn't really need it. Used to its maxumum potential you wouldn't need any other skill in the game.

That said, Destruction would be good for its Weakness to Poison effect. Pretty sure 100% weakness for 30 seconds doesn't even require Journeyman Skill level, and the magick cost is similarly insignificant.

True, I just like the larger magicka pool for training purposes. Better to focus on endurance 1st, (for more hp per level), and then just let that intel naturally build up on levels you choose alchemy as class skill to train.

[Bansheebutt]

Eh, I prefer to stick to my Class Skills.

If I was a Stealthy Alchemy focused character who needed extra survivability, I'd just use Shield and Fortification potions. Also the insanely overpowered Homebrewed Healing potions.
That Heal-Over-Time can get to ridiculous levels pretty quick.

Similarly if I was the kind of person to spam-train magic, I could also make fortify Magicka and Intelligence potions.

[The Flying Rodent]

Assassin archer poison build eh? I'd do a few things.

Enemies start ramping up in difficulty and health by the late teens, so yes it is important to have plenty of offensive capability by then. A lot of this comes down to your character's skills and how you choose to play it early on.

First, character creation. You probably want a sneaky race. Wood Elf is pretty much set up to become a stealth poison archer, with bonuses to marksman, sneak and alchemy [though there are of course other sneaky races].

Next, class. Go custom [because custom], probably stealth specialisation too. Make sneak and marksman major skills [amongst others of your choosing], but make alchemy minor. Alchemy can be levelled up very very fast in Oblivion by visiting farms around the land and grinding food stuffs into restore fatigue potions. This can help also to increase intelligence quickly early on if you wish, and most importantly, will not effect your character's level in the process.

Another skill that is useful to keep as a minor, but level up anyway, is Illusion. Illusion provides the character with all manner of stealthy and crowd control measures, including Frenzy, Paralysis, Invisibility, Calm and Chameleon. Illusion can be practiced simply by casting Starlight [a low level light spell available in lots of places including the Imperial City market district] whilst running around the country side.

So tl;dr keep Alchemy and Illusion minor, definitely make Marksman and Sneak major. Ramp up alchemy and illusion points as fast as you can, and focus mainly on Marksman and Sneak as your major skills.


An example stealth archer build off the top of my head [not that you have to copy it]:

Wood Elf, Custom Class
Stealth Specialisation
Attributes: Agility, Speed
Majors: Athletics, Blade, Light Armour, Mercantile, Marksman, Restoration, Sneak.
Minors to focus on: Alchemy, Alteration, Acrobatics, Illusion.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=873311868


And here's a build I made recently [mage/thief build], for which I wrote a guide that covered a number of playing areas [including stealth archery and alchemy]. It is a bit dense, but I'd recommend reading as much as you can of it. The sections that specifically cover Alchemy are Levels 2-3 Part 2 & 3, and Level 12-16 Part 2 & 3. There's also a rather neat trick explained in the Level 22-51 Part 3 section, in the event that you level Restoration to 100.

Best of luck!

[ralphtobybob]

Playing a stealthy character allows you take advantage of sneak attack damage bonuses. The archer characters I've created rely on enchanted bows, like elemental damage or a drain health. Poison your arrows and you'll be back home in time for lunch.

Generally, skills you intend to use the most frequently should be minor skills. Otherwise, as was pointed out, you'll level up through just a few skills, while others remain stunted.

I use alchemy a lot. Making it a major skill can put your level up in the teens, while your other magicka skills and combat skills are still at novice or apprentice level. In one game, alchemy was already at 100, but I couldn't find any alchemy equipment above apprentice level in any city.

Eventually, all of your skills hit 100 and you stop leveling up. So if I'm using heavy armor, I make light armor a primary skill. Block is slow to increase, too.

The usual solution to keep leveling up is to get put in jail for awhile. There is one quest in which you do have to go to jail. My character had already finished the main quest and couldn't get arrested. I think I had to punch a guard or something.

You don't want to do direct combat with a bow. It's best to soften them up first with a few arrows, until your skills improve to the point that one or two shots takes them out.

I defeat bowmen by charging up to them. Their usual defense is a dagger, while I'm swinging a 30 or so lb. sword, clad in heavy armor.

Conjuration is a useful skill. You can conjure something that delays a direct attack while you continue to use your bow. Eventually you'll be able to conjure up a Daedra that takes care of the direct combat for you, or keeps other attackers occupied. Sometimes stealth attacks fail, so you have to be prepared.

There are also a lot of instances in which you're attacked with little or no notice. The only way you'll survive is you're very highly skilled and equipped with an enchanted bow and/or arrows that are poisoned. It's not unusual to have your bow knocked out your hands.

Some creatures are either immune to some effects or their resistance is high.

Wraiths and zombies for example.

If you plan to use magicka skills a lot, it's probably best to do the Mages Guild quests at least unitl you get access to the Arcane University.

If you intend to use combat training, join the Fighter's Guild. You don't have to take any contracts, but you'll get access to trainers, cheap armor and weapons repair and a place to sleep. You can also pickup free armor in some guild halls and weapons in all of them.

Mostly though, you'll just have look at all the suggestions and create a character you can live with based on how aggressively you intend to play.