Bosmer Nightblade Archer, any tips?

SilvyrNixe

So right now I have a level 13 Bosmer NB Archer that will also have a secondary resto staff. I've asked around for the best skills to go with for archer, and so far, it seems that Siphoning is the best to go with, since there aren't any skill trees that are archer friendly.

My question is, what do you guys think is a good skill tree/skill set to use for archers?

Sorpaijen_ESO

A lot of the Nightblade skills ARE melee ranged, although several can be morphed to apply at range. The Siphoning line, as you note, DOES have ranged abilities. The Shadow line's invis cloak can certainly come in handy for ANYONE.

My primary archer is a templar for the simple reason I ~wanted~ a class that would have few class abilities I wanted to use regularly. She's got the early snare/DoT attack (whose name I forget) and Rushed Ceremony, I think (the first heal) but that's about it from Templar. She's an ARCHER who happens to be able to throw a few Templar abilities.

She's geared for Stamina with Medium armor and such, and as a result I have very little in the way of magicka; easily enough to use the snare/DoT frequently but not so much for healing. Since she primarily solos, I'm likely to move the heal off the main hotkey bar at some point since the time / magicka spent healing ME in solo play would be better spent finishing off the foe, in most cases.

Basically, if you want to be an ARCHER you can just use a few Siphoning skills and then archery skills --- you don't HAVE to develop all the class lines, nor use all the skills available (which of course you CAN'T do anyway due to limited space).

KingShocker

There is allot of archer friendly skills in the NB tree's (not to mention the bow skills are good too obviously)

here are the ones i like (mix and match however fits your style)
- Assassination
1. Mark target or any of it's morphed forms- this is good to boost your
damage against the target at range and heal you once it dies.
2. Assassin's blade can be morphed to be used from range however i hardly
slot it.
3. Haste and either of it's morphed forms will be great to use one day for the
attack speed it should give you but wait till they fix it because it doesn't
seem to do anything for bows.
- Shadow
1. Shadow cloak is NB's bread and butter, always good slipping out of sticky
situations and it can be morphed into shadowy disguise that will give you a
heavy crit boost to your following attacks.
2. Aspect of terror and my personal favorite mass hysteria. Although the are
only effective in melee range they will send two enemies that got too close
to you running in fear.
3. Dark shades can be cast at a distance and they sometimes draw agro
with the little bit of damage they do (if you let them attack a little bit first)
but it's not a ability i like to use with my bow
- Siphoning
1. strife is always good. long range attack + heal over time, whats not to like
2. Agony looks good (12 second sleep pretty much) but it's not a skill i use
because i lie to shoot damage out everywhere and i always wake my
agonized target on accident.
3. cripple- another personal favorite of mine for the bow. Steal enemies
movement speed and take it for yourself makes this the perfect tool for
kiting almost anything. Sadly this ability also seems to be broken so hold off
on it (you gain no movement speed currently).

Notice I didn't list any Ultimates. That's because, you guessed it, they are all melee for NB. not necessarily a bad thing for archers, it just means you got to let the enemy n close. Actually now that i think about it Consuming darkness is more of a aoe buff than a attack so i guess you could use that while enemies are at a distance. My personal favorite Ult for use with the bow is Soul Strike from the Soul magic tree, nothing beats a giant lazer to the face.

Anyways i'm sure other will come along that can offer better advice than me but for now i hope this helps you get started.

SilvyrNixe

@‌KingShocker This does help actually, and I'm going to try out the skills you mentioned, thank you so much! I can't wait to see what other people say as well.

Code2501

Your choice is a little limited to synergise NB with bow, but it can be done.
I've got a ranged bar and a melee bar and on my ranged bar I use:

1. Crippling Grasp - even though the movement siphon is bugged its a Heavy dot with a 1.5 sec immobilise so it slows works ok for kiting already. Once the movement speed buff is fixed it will be THE kiting skill.
2. Swallow soul/ Funnel health - either is fine, funnel for duo or groups, swallow for solo play. Decent nuke with a heal over time.
3. Acid spray - bombard morph has a good immobilize but acid spray does more damage with its dot and I use fear if they get too close anyhow.
4. Mass Hysteria - Awesome skill, love shouting "Run away fools!" when melee closes the gap and proceed to fill their backs with my quiver.

The last slot I swap around depending on the fight.
I use Shadowy disguise for 100% crit chance occasionally and extra defence in solo fights.
Twisting Paths can be a good additional AOE for a mid range skirmish and you can use it as a speed boost to kite away. Works well with bombard/acid spray for aoe kiting.
Venom arrow is a good stamina based interrupt.
Siphoning strikes/Siphoning attacks can be a useful toggle for long fights too.

NB Ultimates all kinda suck for ranged combat, I use veil of blades in my melee bar, Soul Strike is fine, but you don't get that till the later levels.
I have my heart set on Ice comet from the mages guild for my ranged Ultimate. Nothing like a fat ranged AOE nuke with CC to complete a ranged set.
Too bad I will be hunting lore books forever to get it.

You'll note, I don't use assassination with bow. I find the passives don't synergise well, dots don't crit and the rest only trigger on assassinate damage skills.

SilvyrNixe

@‌KingShocker
I took your tips into consideration, and I'm trying out a few of the ones that you mentioned for shadow and siphoning. This will defiantly make PvE and PvP interesting (I also wen't Khajiit instead of Bosmer becuase of the stealth bonus Khajiit have, while still using bows)