ARCHERS with experience, I'm looking for your input here.

WhoThenNow7

I have searched far and wide throughout the realm of the internet, and everything I have found are threads from at least a year ago and that don't have any straight answers but just opinions.

I want to make a character who's primary focus is being an archer. I don't care if it doesn't put out hardcore DPS, or if it isn't a "viable" build to be successful. I have several other characters that I use for stuff like that. This character is just for fun, support, and group play with friends. I want to make a nightblade archer and I am torn between a wood elf and khajiit. Now here is what I want to know from people who have had experience with these races and archery: What bonus have you usually found to come out on top, the wood elf's stamina regeneration; or the khajiit's critical bonus? This is an answer I have not been able to find anywhere. I realize that the Khajiit has a "chance" for crit. I'm wondering how reliable is this? And would it be worth it to just go with the stam regen of the wood elf? Thanks for your time!

Beardimus

Not that helpful but I had the same choice and just went for Bosmer as it felt 'right' the right sets can pimp your crit rating anyway. With the right CP point spend (I focused on Poison / DOT / Bow) even a lower level toon can be quite pokey.

psychotic13

I chose khajiit personally, i started a thread a few days ago about archers, may help you this is the thread:

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/264519/any-up-to-date-archer-builds-are-they-even-strong#latest

imapogostick

It's all on what you prefer, want the extra damage? Or extra regen? To me the damage is better but you said you don't care about dmg. The regen you can take with mundus stone and shouldn't have a problem running out with khajiit maybe adding a 2h back bar will help with rally to support your bow

emily3989

First of all, if you don't care about high end dps then why are you concerned with minor differences between two races?

Pick the race you want to look at for the upcoming months, both will perform just fine.

Whichever one you pick, you can make up for the other's racial passives with gear/enchantments, etc. If you pick the wood elf, you could enchant some divines with theif mundus stone for crit boost, or stam regen if you choose the cat.

I started a wood elf NB archer a long time ago, now he is a magika NB assassin vampire. I am soloing pretty much all of Craglorn and I only hovering around 270CP, so my opinion is do what is in your gut.

mtwiggz

One should never play a Khajiit. For they are filthy felines that should be eradicated from Nirn.

CP5

As a nightblade you have access to the refreshing shadows passive which will greatly help resource sustain. Throwing a woodelf onto that will provide a very strong stamina recovery which means more skills/dodges, and can help you outlast in situations where the bows lower damage output makes the fight longer. I chose khajiit on my first alt being an archer but that was with a sorcerer so crit was something I wanted heavily, but here I think bosmer would help (khajiit to have a health/stamina regen passive, but it isn't as strong for stamina regen).

WhoThenNow7

emily3989 wrote: »

First of all, if you don't care about high end dps then why are you concerned with minor differences between two races?

When I said that, it was because I didn't want people replying on here telling me it was a bad idea to do an archer because they will have a low output for DPS. But as far as archers go, of course I want it to be as strong as possible.

I suppose I can choose based off of what I think will be easier to add on, weapon crit or regen. I'm thinking weapon crit may be easier instead of spending a lot of CP on regen.

Thanks for the replies everyone, if you have anything else to add feel free to chime in.

kylewwefan

Bow is a great support utility, and I would go with Khajit. Crit is awesome damage in dungeons. Snipe/focused aim adds minor facture to stack with major from surprise attack or tanks pierce armor. Nice DoT's scorched earth and acid spray. Using a bow is great way to sustain high DPS in PvE dungeons.

Cyrodil is a different story. In PvP, most these fights are over in a matter of seconds. There's no time to set up DoT's. Other players are much more difficult to follow around. The 1/2 second it takes to switch bars could be the difference between life or death.

pinchedrug00

high elf. jk I would go Khajit because nb has crit dmg bonuses and stam region is not needed as much on a nb since you can use siphoning attacks.

shadow071179

I got al lot out of my NB Bosmer Archer.
The stam regen is great.
The stealth bonus is prety decent to en help me out al lot of times in PvP and PvE. Its also handy with the 2 new DLCs Thiefs Guild and Dark Brotherhood. You are going to be sneaking around a lot.

But it is all about picking yout fights. In PVP im mostly on the outskirts picking of lone Characters, giving suport, and redirecting counter atacks.

Dont forget that with The new DLC we get Poison making and Bosmer get a decent buff vs Poison.

shadow071179

Also with the werewolf ultimat you futher boost your stam regen.

I know there are better Ults but changing in to a werewolf saved my hide more times than i can count in pvp.
Most people dont count on it.

Autolycus

The crit bonus is superior, and the "best" option for maximizing dps would be Khajiit. One of my good friends is a Khajiit NB archer and he pulls ~31K on Blood Spawn

DocFrost72

I went Bosmer, and I have to say it is not bad dps. In purple V15 crafted I could pull 15k single target with just the bow.

Bar- Focused aim (snipe), poison injection (poison arrow), relentless focus (grim focus), flex (caltrops for slow moving or stationary bosses or crowds), flex 2 (can run siphoning strikes or scorched earth, or even evil hunter).

It'll help to have a 2 hander on your back bar for rally/Vigor/brawler, with those 3 you can survive literally any trash pull, plus non potion related major brutality.

Rotation: Caltrops (with or substituted by scorched earth), relentless focus, poison inject (la weave), snipe (la weave), snipe (la weave), snipe (la weave), relentless focus proc, relentless focus poison inject (rinse repeat).

Either race is fine, but my bosmer looks badass in all medium.

WhoThenNow7

Awesome advice and insight guys. I think I underestimated the importance of crits in this game. I'm deciding to go with a khajiit for that reason. Pair that up with a thief or shadow boon and I feel it can be a very deadly build. I appreciate all the help! My gamertag on Xbox one NA server is Ibanez K7 89 if anyone wants to play with a vet 12 soon to be 16 dragonknight!

psychotic13

WhoThenNow7 wrote: »

Awesome advice and insight guys. I think I underestimated the importance of crits in this game. I'm deciding to go with a khajiit for that reason. Pair that up with a thief or shadow boon and I feel it can be a very deadly build. I appreciate all the help! My gamertag on Xbox one NA server is Ibanez K7 89 if anyone wants to play with a vet 12 soon to be 16 dragonknight!

Yeah the armor set 'twice born star' is great too, allows the use of 2 Mundus stones and having thief AND shadow is powerful.

WhoThenNow7

I heard about that set briefly but didn't know the name of it. Thanks for your input I'll definitely look in to getting it now. I'm new on obtaining armor sets. Any idea how I can get it?

Anti_Virus

WhoThenNow7 wrote: »

I have searched far and wide throughout the realm of the internet, and everything I have found are threads from at least a year ago and that don't have any straight answers but just opinions.

I want to make a character who's primary focus is being an archer. I don't care if it doesn't put out hardcore DPS, or if it isn't a "viable" build to be successful. I have several other characters that I use for stuff like that. This character is just for fun, support, and group play with friends. I want to make a nightblade archer and I am torn between a wood elf and khajiit. Now here is what I want to know from people who have had experience with these races and archery: What bonus have you usually found to come out on top, the wood elf's stamina regeneration; or the khajiit's critical bonus? This is an answer I have not been able to find anywhere. I realize that the Khajiit has a "chance" for crit. I'm wondering how reliable is this? And would it be worth it to just go with the stam regen of the wood elf? Thanks for your time!

You can't make a 'focused' archer class in the game right now. Because if the way bow was designed.

As for group play bow works best here, if you use bombard to lock down mobs(and players) and volley. Use flawless Dawnbreaker as an ult on bow bar and use a melee weapon on the back bar because you will need it against mobs (or players) that are un-kiteable

Lastly some sets I would recommend:

5pc eternal hunt (craftable) gives a poison rune when you roll dodge also give double stam regen.

5pc Marksmen(Pvp rewards) reduces cost of stam abilities by 5% and increases bow dmg by 8% against players