How viable is being an archer?

[Dumbfounded Polymath]

As in, avoiding melee entirely if possible. Can I just be a little bastard with a bow picking people off from a far? I've only seen hunting bows so far but assume you can get very good ones.

[Stick]

Very nice bows are available... much higher power levels than what you start with...

And being "just" an archer is very viable...

[Rdizz]

One shot kill...
Aim for the face

[Dumbfounded Polymath]

Originally posted by Stickjock:

Very nice bows are available... much higher power levels than what you start with...

And being "just" an archer is very viable...

Is there a place I can find such bows, like a store or camp?

[☩Sparrow421]

You're definitely going to need a sword, NPC's wont let you just "pick them off with a bow" because eventually you will miss and they will rush you and ♥♥♥♥ you up.

[Notcognizant]

it is entirely possible, but you would need to grind your archery level quite a bit, that or fighting on horseback. It is actually pretty realistic, killing 5 people as an early level archer is a pain in the ass, especially when you need to kite them.
still i think that strenght is also an essential stat for warbows, so you might still need to brush up your melee, some boss fights can t be fought with a bow though

[Kithsakhai]

I actually prefer bow combat over the others.. if you're accurate they are VERY powerful, if you're smart about how/where you engage baddies from you can take out serveral before they even realize where you are (crouch, aim, kill one with headshot, re-crouch because firing stand you up, move a little away, repeat) of course there is the issue of kiting them once they do start to rush you.

without enabling the cursor with bow it can be very difficult to get used to how the arrows arc at certain distances, but the different bow types do make a huge difference in how easy it is to do this.

[Enigma_z9]

Yes you can...there is definatly a learning curve and it takes a lot of practice but once I learned I was able to take guys out from a pretty good distance. The others didnt even know what was going on. I recommend the learning the potion that controls your aiming with a bow it helps alot.

[Stick]

Originally posted by Dumbfounded Polymath:

Is there a place I can find such bows, like a store or camp?

Huntsman in Rattay... he sells some nice ones to start...

[Necramonium™]

I have been killing big groups of bandits this way, i am just on my horse, shoot a arrow in one, they will chase you, double shift run a few meters and turn and shoot some more arrows.

[Dumbfounded Polymath]

Am I also correct in thinking that circling people on horseback firing off arrows would be a good thing too?

[Rdizz]

Steal one behind the church in rattay, but once again even a basic bow will be a one shot kill to the face...

[Battleseed]

Prioritise anyone else armed with a bow, then kite the rest.

[Michael]

Aim for the knee!

[Dumbfounded Polymath]

So I've been testing horse archery, and it's pretty nice. Basic holding down run will outpace anyone, just do a figure of 8 around the target firing arrows when you charge toward them, aiming for face. Can kite targets far enough so they are alone and just play with them.

[Kithsakhai]

Originally posted by Dumbfounded Polymath:

Is there a place I can find such bows, like a store or camp?

beat lord capon at the archery contest to get his hunting bow, i used that until much later on, its great!