do you archers out there pack a secondary for close combat?

[Thirsty]

title says it all...i do my best to takeout enemies with sneak attacks but i find myself in close combat with enemies often enough that maybe packing a melee wep might be a good choice cause it seems like melee enemies can dish out alot of hurt to my hitpoints if i continue to kill them with the bow at close quaters. if so which wep is a popular choice?(btw i'm still a new player, just finished all quest at whiterun and moving on to the next main quest spot)

another thing my stat build is 1health/1stam...should i go 2heatlh/1stam?

[76561198133591931]

About your health/stamina, that's up to you. The most popular melee weapon is sword. I however when playing an archer use 2 bows. 1 enchanted for hard battles, 1 not. I refuse to use anything except bow. But that's me. The beautiful thing about Skyrim is that you can pretty much do whatever you want. So play however you feel comfortable playing.

[Mr. Shaggnificent]

I play a similar style sometimes, and I've been dabbling in summoning lately. I rarely use magics, but popping out a quick "meat" shield buys a little time to put some distance back between me and my prey.

I do carry a one hander for emergencies though. The bow bash eats up way too much stam to be of any real use IMHO.

[Thirsty]

i prefer

Originally posted by Mr.Shaggnificent:

I play a similar style sometimes, and I've been dabbling in summoning lately. I rarely use magics, but popping out a quick "meat" shield buys a little time to put some distance back between me and my prey.

I do carry a one hander for emergencies though. The bow bash eats up way too much stam to be of any real use IMHO.

meh summoning would feel cheap but i'll tryout a 1h sword

[76561198164064547]

I favour the bow but I'll carry a pair of daggers or a nice one handed sword for close quarters. Just common sense.

[Tropicus]

i use a bow majority of the time , but if an enemy/enemys happen to get close to me and is capabable of high damage i switch to a one handed mace and shield. also my dungeons are dark cause i enjoy them like that so i often use a torch and a mace combo.

as for stanima and health i find that if your mostly using a bow you can afford to put more into health than into stanima.

[Squid]

I used to play with a bow and dual daggers, but a sword/shield is more realistic for head-to-head combat, especially if you are using any of the realistic combat mods.

[jreese46]

I always, always, always have a sword on me, though I prefer to lead with a bow. Too easy for them to get too close, and as Shagg says, it burns way too much stamina to bash. If you prefer to go light, you could get bound sword. Then you've got a daedric sword, just a cast away. Using it builds both your one-handed and your conjuration skill. Down side, no upsmith or enchanting.

[darinbob]

Archery does seem to be low on the damage per second side, unless you're undetected. But keep your armor skill up and you should be able to withstand attacks from one or two enemies at a time without trouble, though with big groups you'll need to maybe find a corridor so you don't get surrounded. Light armor is good enough, you'll be able to max out the armor cap with it. High rank archery perks help too.

You can bolster it as well with other skills:
- stealth: max rank perk is pretty nice in this regard, and even if you alert enemies they may not find you.
- blocking: it works with bows as well and there are some handy perks to help you out.
- magic: there's a lot of stuff to do here; illusion to hide again, alteration for armor, conjuration for distraction, etc.
- alchemy: as long as you're being sneaky, add on some useful poisons, like the ones causing paralysis

Having another weapon is handy, but remember you'll need to raise its skills along with the bow. Because the enemies also get tougher as the enemies go up in level, a poor one handed skill will do less damage than a high archery skill even in close combat. I usually find it easiest to focus on just one primary combat skill rather than try to keep two of them high. But a mid-range auxillary skill can really help out.

[Delta 1038]

If I remembered it right, one-handed backstab attacks could potentially out-damage sneak bow attacks; so a dagger would be handy.

[Dexter]

There are several one handed weapons available in-game enchanted with paralyze.

They probably make the best back up weapon for an archer. If enemies get to close smack them with the sword and they fall to the ground, then fall back to a safe range and re-equip your bow and finish them off.

A well timed fus ro dah can also be useful to help you recover to a safe distance.

[Squid]

Originally posted by Dexter:

There are several one handed weapons available in-game enchanted with paralyze.

They probably make the best back up weapon for an archer. If enemies get to close smack them with the sword and they fall to the ground, then fall back to a safe range and re-equip your bow and finish them off.

A well timed fus ro dah can also be useful to help you recover to a safe distance.

Oh man ... I once enchanted my bow with a very short-duration paralyze effect ... that was ridiculous, and it had a ton of charges.

[Dexter]

Yeah paralyze on a bow is over-powered and makes the game too easy. I would only use a paralyze effect in emergencies to buy your self time.

If you can enchant a bow with paralyze you can always switch to it in a pinch to save your ass.

[Delta 1038]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz_gzUxfYjg

Carry a dagger

[voehringer_nitron]

Originally posted by Delta 1038:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz_gzUxfYjg

Carry a dagger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcE0aAhbVFc

[jreese46]

I'd go for a full size melee weapon over a dagger, if it's to be used as a backup. For a primary assassination weapon, yes, absolutely dagger. If you're using archery from sneak and only falling back on melee when they get too close, though, the backstab isn't going to be a viable option to you. Even if you could get behind them, if they know you're there, you're not 'undetected' and you lose the additional damage.