skeleton archer in early game

[Bullwinkle]

Before defeating the first boss, I came across a tower with 2 skeleton archers. I pulled one away and killed him easily with my club. By this time I had leather armors, skills around 22 ish, and several items upgraded, but I needed some skeleton bones to upgrade my club. So I decide to return to the tower and finish the second dude. I had 3 foods up: roast neck, roast leg of beast and mushroom, and I was rested. It was daytime and I was dry. I closed to melee distance without getting hit by running in, zigzagging. It was then that I noticed it was a 2 star beastie. Made an executive decision to fight it out with my club in his face-- and -- I died.

OK, time to ask about strategy for melee fighting a mob holding a bow. Other than running away, what could I have done better? Also, what about when I'm the one holding the bow, and the mob closes to melee distance?

[Mharr]

It's largely the same as melee, you can stagger them with a well timed parry to the incoming arrow. Somehow. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[N0ma13]

For some 'weird af' reason you can parry arrows.
Do that.

[[PVP] Boss Prime]

So I'm on the last boss and played the entire game with only Troll armor. I'm primarily the range and my friend and son play as melee.

However, when I do solo most enemies, I put my shield up first. Especially skeletons, shield up, let them hit, then swing.

[I-Chi]

Originally posted by Bullwinkle:

OK, time to ask about strategy for melee fighting a mob holding a bow. Other than running away, what could I have done better? Also, what about when I'm the one holding the bow, and the mob closes to melee distance?

To get a bow enemy to come to you, take cover behind something (e.g. tree). He'll maneuver towards you to get into line of sight. When he's close enough, melee him.

When using the bow against melee enemies, use the terrain / environment features to maintain distance. For instance, enemies (usually) can't jump or climb, so if you find a large boulder which they can't get up onto, you can maintain the distance and keep shooting from there.

[a Orc]

Yep, you can parry the arrows, although you might want to practice that on some zero star archers first. Alternatively you could use a bow yourself, their arrows are quite easy to dodge from a distance. Simply sidestep them and then counter fire.

If you fight a melee enemy while holding a bow you can just keep walking away, turning around occasionally to shoot ("kiting"). Maybe a quick sprint once in a while if they try to circle around you.

[Bullwinkle]

I have a question about Parry. Wiki says to parry, you need to block just before the enemy strikes. Just a hypothetical, but if you hold the block for a long while before he strikes, does it still parry? Or is it required to wait until "just before a hit would land"? Does initiating the block too early prevent the parry from happening?

[Mharr]

Yeah, it's a 'perfect block' mechanic to encourage brinkmanship.

[a Orc]

Originally posted by Bullwinkle:

I have a question about Parry. Wiki says to parry, you need to block just before the enemy strikes. Just a hypothetical, but if you hold the block for a long while before he strikes, does it still parry? Or is it required to wait until "just before a hit would land"? Does initiating the block too early prevent the parry from happening?

You have to time it, holding block too early will not parry.

[Bullwinkle]

GTK. Sounds like something not too likely to succeed with my block skill of around 10. Maybe I need to grind that up a bit.

[Shiva Vyre]

Originally posted by Bullwinkle:

I have a question about Parry. Wiki says to parry, you need to block just before the enemy strikes. Just a hypothetical, but if you hold the block for a long while before he strikes, does it still parry? Or is it required to wait until "just before a hit would land"? Does initiating the block too early prevent the parry from happening?

Holding the block prior and through the whole enemy swing just "blocks" and doesn't do the same thing.

Let the mob swing start, block, and then the mob will bounce back, stunned. You can practice on greydwarfs

[I-Chi]

Originally posted by Bullwinkle:

GTK. Sounds like something not too likely to succeed with my block skill of around 10. Maybe I need to grind that up a bit.

This article describes how the block skill impacts blocking:
https://www.reddit.com/r/valheim/comments/lo0kwq/a_quick_guide_to_block_power_parry_force_and/

[wildbill]

Or just use a shield if you can make one. No skill to it really, not like the parry mechanic. You just hold up the shield, move towards the skel, when you are close enough and right after he shoots an arrow, hit him.

[Bullwinkle]

Originally posted by Butt Stallion:

Originally posted by Bullwinkle:

GTK. Sounds like something not too likely to succeed with my block skill of around 10. Maybe I need to grind that up a bit.

This article describes how the block skill impacts blocking:
https://www.reddit.com/r/valheim/comments/lo0kwq/a_quick_guide_to_block_power_parry_force_and/

Great link!

[Marty Chonks]

2 star skeletons are not to be joked with in early game, without proper armor/shield; not even sure if it's possible at all to parry his arrows with wooden round shield either. Hell, the game is designed so that 1 and 2 star enemies are far superior in force to normal ones; for example a 2 star fuling with throwing spear is probably the most dangerous enemy one can face and pretty much the only threat in the (very) late game.

But to be fair, 2 star enemies are quite rare, especially in early game - there is however a higher chance to encounter 2 star stuff during the night, so bear that in mind.

[Bullwinkle]

After studying those block/parry calcs, and studying the wiki page on shields, it looks like upgrading the shield early is a priority!