Is it viable to play as a archer only?

[Crim]

Is it possible to win every encounter using just bows and daggers?

[Mushroom Capitalist]

Probably if you tryhard enough and run

[Nyamses]

Possible? Maybe, if you level up Agility and Marksmanship a lot and you're fine with constantly sprinting away from enemies and having to buy more arrows/bolts. Not sure how scripted story events play out, but a powerful enough crossbow might be able to oneshot, despite the long reload time.

[icantsee]

stay on horse and run and shoot thats how its done in kcd1

[Sima-Otw]

Originally posted by Crim:

Is it possible to win every encounter using just bows and daggers?

i play archer in most of my game including KCD it shoul be

[Sima-Otw]

Originally posted by icantsee:

stay on horse and run and shoot thats how its done in kcd1

wow that is hard you have videos?

[Sima-Otw]

Originally posted by piey:

Run for a while, flip a u-turn, the enemies are now running toward you in mostly a straight line, that's when you shower them with arrows, flee once they're too close, rinse and repeat. Takes more time than necessary, rather hack them down with a longsword.

i try doing the circle of death shooting arrows while riding around enemies but it is really hard thing to accomplish i love AXE but sword has the most combos

[zeanomourph]

Originally posted by piey:

Run for a while, flip a u-turn, the enemies are now running toward you in mostly a straight line, that's when you shower them with arrows, flee once they're too close, rinse and repeat. Takes more time than necessary, rather hack them down with a longsword.

Kiting this this doesn't work as well as other games where you're an OP god. In this you don't really run any faster than the enemies, so in the time it takes you to turn around and fire an arrow, they're on you hitting you with a sword. Best you can do is get 2-3 shots into them while they're running at you, running away between shots isn't really going to net you any breathing distance.

[Dansoprazole]

It would not be ideal in all situations, but for clearing bandit camps and the like, it's a solid strategy.

[Crim]

sounds like I need to wait for mods :(

[Kona]

Horse archery is always op

[Sima-Otw]

Originally posted by Kona:

Horse archery is always op

Khans guard

[Glazed and Confused]

Originally posted by Sima-Otw:

Originally posted by piey:

Run for a while, flip a u-turn, the enemies are now running toward you in mostly a straight line, that's when you shower them with arrows, flee once they're too close, rinse and repeat. Takes more time than necessary, rather hack them down with a longsword.

i try doing the circle of death shooting arrows while riding around enemies but it is really hard thing to accomplish i love AXE but sword has the most combos

Yeah shooting while riding is hard you have to get a decent distance away turn around shoot then run further and shoot again. It's kinda a pain in the ass but that's the easiest way tbh.

[Glazed and Confused]

Originally posted by zeanomourph:

Originally posted by piey:

Run for a while, flip a u-turn, the enemies are now running toward you in mostly a straight line, that's when you shower them with arrows, flee once they're too close, rinse and repeat. Takes more time than necessary, rather hack them down with a longsword.

Kiting this this doesn't work as well as other games where you're an OP god. In this you don't really run any faster than the enemies, so in the time it takes you to turn around and fire an arrow, they're on you hitting you with a sword. Best you can do is get 2-3 shots into them while they're running at you, running away between shots isn't really going to net you any breathing distance.

If they are on foot and you are on horseback you can for sure outrun them

[CogYang]

If you poison your arrows, it can be far too easy. you don't even need to be a good archer honestly. just a great alchemist.

Dollmaker poison will prevent sprinting, degrade their combat skills, and when made properly (not weak) it will do some damage. you can coat 60 arrows with it if you get both the poison traits. using a low damage bow (i think 90 or less) will get you the fastest draw speed, and crude arrows are cheap and otherwise easy to find. If you get the Tier 4 dollmaker, you only need 2 or 3 arrows into one enemy to kill them.

Lullaby will also stop them from sprinting, and drain their energy. I have not tried this one yet, but theoretically once they stop looking for you, they'll head to bed.

Bane poison just kills them. stronger for faster death. so op that I cant really recommend it to you unless you need something for a total "ohshit" moment. the poison is somewhat more difficult to find ingredients for, but once you are lvl 16 in alchemy you'll make enough in one batch to poison 72 arrows (each dose can do 12 arrows, and this assumes you took perks to make all 6 doses per craft cycle)

If poison is not your thing then you are going to have a very difficult time of being an archer on foot. you can fire from horseback with enough practice, and do be aware the hunting crossbows will work on horses as well. A stealth archer approach is possible for almost every open world fight, but you will have a hard time avoiding a melee at some points.

A weird solution you can utilize if you wish to avoid melee weapons is to get good at unarmed combat. It is fairly risky, yes, but it is possible to get strong enough to just knock out people who are not wearing helmets/padded coif. A rather huge help for this is the shoulder throw combo, taught by the gravedigger in Kuttenburg, north west corner. I think you might have to win all the fist fight side quests to get him to teach you, but I do not remember. The shoulder throw will unarm your opponent, so now you are both fist fighting, making you much less likely to die very quickly. Paired with that is one of the unarmed perk choices titled Ringemeister, which will allow you to put an enemy in a headlock if you attack properly while in a clinch. The reason I mention that trait is to deal with armored enemies, as they will simply not take damage in a fist fight. I beat on a guy for half a night once, from midnight to dawn. Great way to level up the last few levels, but a very bad way to actually take care of an opponent.

A polearm paired with an archer build seems silly to me, and I plan to try it at some point, might even just stick with the pitchfork for stab only. Currently I am playing mostly with a light bow, heavy bow, crossbow, and an axe. Poisons took the "fun" out of fights mostly, so I am mostly utilizing stealth, cliffs, and might bring the dog in to hold targets down if I get bored with stealth.

[Roaming Zombie]

Originally posted by zeanomourph:

Originally posted by piey:

Run for a while, flip a u-turn, the enemies are now running toward you in mostly a straight line, that's when you shower them with arrows, flee once they're too close, rinse and repeat. Takes more time than necessary, rather hack them down with a longsword.

Kiting this this doesn't work as well as other games where you're an OP god. In this you don't really run any faster than the enemies, so in the time it takes you to turn around and fire an arrow, they're on you hitting you with a sword. Best you can do is get 2-3 shots into them while they're running at you, running away between shots isn't really going to net you any breathing distance.

I am pretty sure I can outrun anyone since I did a a couple of times. Just have decent stamina and don't get surrounded, that is all.