Best Armor Type For Pure Archer Build?

[Emerald Triangle]

Title. Thank you!

Is it light armor, medium armor or heavy armor?

[Brandybuck]

Both light and heavy armor can easily reach the armor cap, but heavy armor can reach the armor cap earlier depending on your Smithing perks.

[hawkeye]

You need an enchanted hat with a feather if you want to be respected..

https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/images/110/616795-1359844530.jpg

[LAG]

Originally posted by Jirki88:

You are, on heavy armour, however neglecting the Ebony Mail - it's by far the best armour for a stealth based character since its' special effect means you're literally in shadow anywhere. And it's heavy armour. That benefit alone makes heavy armour preferable (especially as the Ebony Mail comes with Muffle by default).

hardly.

the shadow effect comes by default once you reach 100 sneak. In order to activate the ebony mail poison effect you need to crouch(same as perk) or be in combat(meaning you're already detected).

the quest itself requires you to be lv30 before you can even start it, so it is un-obtainable prior to it.

You can enchant items with muffle qualities. Nigthingale boots also have the muffle enchantment(be lv32 to get t3 boots b4 starting the quest).

Illusion spell muffle also works.

Default sneak perks also give you 50% armour noise reduction as well as having walking/running not affect detection.

in short, the only ability that cannot be replicated is the poison aura which again brings the whole "do you want to fist fight your enemy" question to a pure archer build.

[Jirki88]

Originally posted by LAG:

Originally posted by Jirki88:

You are, on heavy armour, however neglecting the Ebony Mail - it's by far the best armour for a stealth based character since its' special effect means you're literally in shadow anywhere. And it's heavy armour. That benefit alone makes heavy armour preferable (especially as the Ebony Mail comes with Muffle by default).

hardly.

the shadow effect comes by default once you reach 100 sneak. In order to activate the ebony mail poison effect you need to crouch(same as perk) or be in combat(meaning you're already detected).

the quest itself requires you to be lv30 before you can even start it, so it is un-obtainable prior to it.

You can enchant items with muffle qualities. Nigthingale boots also have the muffle enchantment(be lv32 to get t3 boots b4 starting the quest).

Illusion spell muffle also works.

Default sneak perks also give you 50% armour noise reduction as well as having walking/running not affect detection.

in short, the only ability that cannot be replicated is the poison aura which again brings the whole "do you want to fist fight your enemy" question to a pure archer build.

Hmm? There is no perk that replicates the Shadow effect of the Ebony Mail. The Ebony Mail makes you shrouded in shadows - it's part of the poison effect. Like, even in glaring sunlight, if you're wearing Ebony Mail, you're shrouded in shadows.

The final perk in the Sneak tree (Shadow Warrior) merely gives that effect briefly when you try to exit combat - it's definitely not the same thing. Having the effect of the Ebony Mail is vastly superior to anything you can do with perks or enchantments in vanilla Skyrim, for a Sneak character.

[terror923]

best armor imo would be either light/heavy enchanted with bow damage and a bow with paralyze

[2StinkyFeet]

Originally posted by Delta 1038:

Oh yeah, another thing.

Bows have a special mechanic that they don't really explain in-game.

Generally speaking, draw speed is inversely proportional to base damage/arrow velocity. So the early game Hunting Bow fires faster than a Daedric Bow. But a Daedric Bow deals more damage and the arrows fired flies faster.

Are you sure about that? I've been messing around in the Creatio Kit, all arrow speed are defaulted at 3600. The only thing that is different is the draw speed of the bow. Fastest, I think is the long bow.

[hawkeye]

The fastest might be a bow which you find on a log on an early quest. It is 60% faster than the normal version.

[Linguistically Inept]

as an archer; doesnt matter much... HA makes more noise but can be muffled, no real reason aside from aesthetics to wear cloth armour, but as a sneak archer you wont get hit anyway so protection is kind of pointless... LA is your best bet, purely due to the stamina regen perk

Originally posted by SirJavalot:

Light armour as a whole is just better than heavy (In Vanilla, another terrible design flaw), with the exception noted above about the ebony mail.

its weird but perks sort of flip the identities, heavy armour becomes the low weight set

[J's]

If you're going for a lady character : foesworn armor (eventualy... once you get high level of skill in Light Armor and Smithing). If you're going for a dude : nightingale armor 'cuz it's so badass! (of failing that any kind of leather type armor such as Leather, Thieve's Guild, Vampire (you'll miss on full set perk) or Dark Brotherhood).

As for your other question, yes bows do get more powerfull. Be on the lookout for any upgrade and/or craft one with the appropriate smithing perk. I suggest going on the left side of the tree (light armor side) until you get to dragon. Dragon bow is arguably the best or one of the best bow available. Dragon arrow are the best arrow available.

Don't forget to reinforce/use smithing on your gear (you'll see the difference) and choose your enchantement wisely (you may consider going all-out with fortify archery in Head/Neck/Hands/Finger slot for that extra powerfull shot :D)

Edit : and yeah, light armor is the best kind for a ranger because of perks such as Wind Walker that allow 50% faster stamina regen in full light armor... you'll need it... it also make less noise so you can move quietly to make that killing shot (sniper style!)

[Kameraden]

Armor type really doesn't matter to be honest. There are perks in the Sneak and even one in the Heavy Armor tree that kind of take away the need for using light armor for a stealth build, and plenty of other perks to negate any mobility disadvantages heavy armor gives.

In general, I wear whatever I like, I do not really care about whats the best anymore.

[Goilveig]

Originally posted by Jirki88:

Originally posted by LAG:

hardly.

the shadow effect comes by default once you reach 100 sneak. In order to activate the ebony mail poison effect you need to crouch(same as perk) or be in combat(meaning you're already detected).

the quest itself requires you to be lv30 before you can even start it, so it is un-obtainable prior to it.

You can enchant items with muffle qualities. Nigthingale boots also have the muffle enchantment(be lv32 to get t3 boots b4 starting the quest).

Illusion spell muffle also works.

Default sneak perks also give you 50% armour noise reduction as well as having walking/running not affect detection.

in short, the only ability that cannot be replicated is the poison aura which again brings the whole "do you want to fist fight your enemy" question to a pure archer build.

Hmm? There is no perk that replicates the Shadow effect of the Ebony Mail. The Ebony Mail makes you shrouded in shadows - it's part of the poison effect. Like, even in glaring sunlight, if you're wearing Ebony Mail, you're shrouded in shadows.

The final perk in the Sneak tree (Shadow Warrior) merely gives that effect briefly when you try to exit combat - it's definitely not the same thing. Having the effect of the Ebony Mail is vastly superior to anything you can do with perks or enchantments in vanilla Skyrim, for a Sneak character.

Ebony mail's "smoke" effect doesn't do what you think. It doesn't actually make you harder to detect visually or anything like that; enemies can still identify you by sight exactly as easily as they could otherwise.

In game effect terms, the Ebony Mail's stealth bonus is simply a 100% Muffle effect, no different from the Muffle spell, perk, or player enchanted boots ("Of muffling" items that aren't player made have only 50% muffle). The only significant difference is that the Ebony Mail effect only occurs while sneaking around while crouching, and not also during walking or running.

Basically, the Ebony Mail just removes the penalty you'd have for sneaking in heavy armor.

[hawkeye]

I used to wear a black japanese version of the blades armour but now being The Black Arrow I just wear a black version of what Faendal wears.

[Rafael Freeman]

I use fur armor because it looks cool and suits an archer. Smithing will make it strong enough to be effective in melee, but part of the fun of playing like an archer is trying not to be hit.

I play at legendary difficulty and use leather armor until I get smithing to an acceptable level and than switch to fur.

Fur armor doesn't work with the matching set perk though.

[J's]

Originally posted by rafaelherschel:

I use fur armor because it looks cool and suits an archer. Smithing will make it strong enough to be effective in melee, but part of the fun of playing like an archer is trying not to be hit.

I play at legendary difficulty and use leather armor until I get smithing to an acceptable level and than switch to fur.

Fur armor doesn't work with the matching set perk though.

Foesworn does.... looks great on lady at least.

[Rafael Freeman]

Originally posted by J's:

Originally posted by rafaelherschel:

I use fur armor because it looks cool and suits an archer. Smithing will make it strong enough to be effective in melee, but part of the fun of playing like an archer is trying not to be hit.

I play at legendary difficulty and use leather armor until I get smithing to an acceptable level and than switch to fur.

Fur armor doesn't work with the matching set perk though.

Foesworn does.... looks great on lady at least.

I do have a set of Forsworn armor, but I like the look of the full fur armor better. I mean, it's cold in Skyrim...

And although I have created a female character, she's quite modest apparently.