I'm mainly using Bow and loving it, most enemies die before they reach me. If not I can finish them off quickly with Shadow Cloak + Veiled Strike (stun).
I start with a heavy shot (hold left mouse), then Poison Arrow and another heavy shot, usually they're nearly dead by then.
Strife is good to have if you need a heal.

I'm playing a Nightblade archer and having so much fun with it. Which skill line are you putting points into? I would suggest Siphoning, as its abilities are ranged and complement bow skills quite well, as they mostly seem to be dots, you can just run around and kite stuff to death pretty easily.

I usually open with stealth heavy shot, poison arrow, then throw some dots like Strife (for self healing), Cripple (for bonus movement/slow cc) and then you have Agony to root cc something.

But if you are looking at another class, I would suggest Templar, specifically the Dawn's Wrath tree (ranged fire type spells). I had a bit of fun with a bow/templar build in beta and enjoyed it. You could even spec a few points into Restoring Light for some heals/survival.

Scatter shot is awesome for an archer because of knockback. It can save your hide. Also, Syphon abilities work best for an archer.

I'm doing a dagger bow hybrid Nightblade. Poison arrow is meh but it can be fired rapidly and has a low stamina cost. Scattershot is essential for an archer centric build. It can mean the difference between taking down and being steamrolled by a tank.

Bosmer->Nightblade->Shadow->Bow player here

This is the class I wanted to work as I usually played a hunter in the other Elder Scrolls games. I really just started Nightblade with a bow to see if it would work and here is what I'm finding:

Shadow or Siphoning seemed it would work well with a bow, but I chose pure shadow. I have found that even though many of the skills for Nightblade are for up close-(around 5 meters) the "Shadow" skill tree is great if and when an opponent closes on you. Here is why. First I had to stop thinking of my Shadow skills as my primary means of doing damage. Since my bow skills are used at range-(usually around 20-28 meters) I use those skills primarily, but if an enemy closes on me or if I'm needed up close, I use "Shadow Cloak" to become invisible, then "Veiled Strike" and my opponent is stunned. One strong pull of the bow and they are knocked down with little to no health left. Finish them off with what you see fit. If they have too much life and you need to fall back, You can use bow skill "Scatter Shot" to knock them back, "Shadow Cloak" to become invisible and move away.

The True beauty of the NB+bow combo is that you will be using mostly stamina at range and magicka up close. If you balance your stat upgrades you have two pools to draw from when needed giving you good damage sustainability. There are quite a few skills I still don't have but I'm finding a bow wielding NB to be VERY viable. It took a leap of faith, and close reading of the skills and their morphs, but NB+bow should not be thought of as a weak or even difficult class to play. You will quickly find you can make it suite your play style, whatever it is. Happy hunting!

Nightblade +Bow is a really really good build if you know what skills to get.
Like many have said, the advantage of using a bow nightblade is that you will be utilising both magicka and stamina evenly therefore being able to continuously dish out damage using both magicka and stamina skills without running out of them as fast as other class combos.

You would start with stamina skills from the bow skills then using your magicka skills from the nightblade skill ine when they get closer.

Nightblade is the hardest class to start with as a bow user because you don't get any ranged snare/knockdowns for quite some time. It gets easier once you level bow up to scatter shot or get the NB skill cripple, but you still don't have an aoe snare.

The faceroll class for using a bow at low levels in Templar because you get a tier one skill that is ranged, does great damage, and can be morphed to an aoe snare. They also get a ranged kd at tier 2, and a ranged nuke ultimate (that can be morphed to an aoe snare).

Likewise sorcerers also get good ranged aoe cc at an early date, and other nice bow-friendly perks.

DK's have a ranged knockdown and an aoe root for when mobs get close (tier 1 and tier2 ability), but don't have ranged class damage skills like the other classes.

You can still do well as a NB archer though, and some of the upper tier abilities like marked target are great for ranged damage.

PS: you can utilize magicka/stamina evenly from range with a bow on all the classes expect perhaps DK.

I'm not sure if this is really all that viable, but I have been going through with my NB w/ bow pretty well by sneaking to the back/side of a mob, and getting in a power shot on sneak, then immediately dropping into Shadowy Disguise (Shadow cloak w/ 70% crit chance) and hitting them with another power shot from behind - not sure if this triggers a sneak crit hit, but it drops health pretty quickly. I have found I can do this to one target 4x in a row without them turning around (plus the original sneak shot). Oh, and usually a quick poison arrow and strife followed by some backpeddling and more arrows works a treat. Getting the Master Assassin, Long Shot and Accuracy also helps.

Bow was nerfed since Beta but then again I think it may have been OP then. Still fun to play as a main.

I consider NB archers very potent. You should really start to feel powerful by level 10. I normally use a rotation for long fights on pre lvl 10 quest bosses

1. Start from stealth using full power shot by holding the left mouse button.
2. Immediately release Poison Arrow, there are no cooldowns, so spam away.
3. Shadow Cloak to go stealth 2.5 seconds. This will make the boss stop in their tracks and will give you enough time for another power shot, followed by poison arrow.
4. Use scatter shot to knock back, or continue to use Shadow clock if you have not picked up scatter shot, yet.
5. Rinse and repeat until close to death.
6. Assassins Blade to finish them off.

I find with this method I will use Stamina and Magic evenly, so I do not feel like I am running out of either too soon. In most fights I am never touched, but if you do take damage, then using Strife and Heal potions will help greatly.

Also, don't forgot that you can still block attacks with your bow using the right mouse button and interrupt the power attacks with both mouse buttons. This will often stun the boss long enough for another power attack.

well NB are more like assesins dont think its a 1 vs several mobs class

wildbill63b16_ESO wrote: »

Don`t play this build, it sucks for PVP . There are too many of them already and no one will add you for group. Siphon is useless, and bows are very weak vs any axe or dual wield, or even casters.

Well, Bill, obviously healers are underplayed (and in demand...) and casters do RDPS (ranged DPS) better typically than archers so what class/build do you suggest that everyone play instead of archers?

Some pluses to playing an NB archer are:

- Arrows are harder to trace back to the shooter than fireballs. - RDPS often takes less damage than MDPS (melee DPS). - Typically serve as a counter (pvp) to light armored targets (casters and other cloth wearers. - Against (pvp) heavy armored targets, they serve to harass and draw them out, although the target of choice is soft. - Role duties in pvp to include serving as scouts for the main force to relay battlefield information, cut off enemy stragglers returning to their main force, etc. - Although more of a MDPS role than RDPS is infiltration and striking of soft targets to include seige weapon operators. Often they can be killed before they can disengage seige mode to deal with combat.

Any group leader worth their salt should include archers and a mix of other classes. The NB (nightblade) class as mentioned appears to be as popular a choice as in other MMOs. Also the fact, as Bill stated, that there is a surplus of DPS class players which will make choosing you instead of someone else more changing for NB's in general. In my opinion, a good player is a good player. As you continue to prove yourself in pvp to others, you will become more desireable than the fresh cannon fodder. Comments/Feedback welcome and good luck out there!

I have a NB Archer myself. She's only Lvl 11 but I'm enjoying myself. Since she's a Wood Elf she has a +15% dmg bonus to start with.

"Often the first strike will win a battle."

Habit for starters. A lot of NB players use similar classes in single player ES games.

It still provides an advantage even though the damage multiplier perk has been understandably stripped. I think it may up your critical chance a little as well, but I'm not certain of that.

Getting that first shot from stealth can lead to a moment of disorientation and during that WTF moment you can take advantage of. Some skills also provide a knockback or stun effect which can further disorient an unaware enemy.

Some skills provide a damage bonus for stealth attacks, but as far as I know ranged shots don't benefit from that. The main bonus for a stealth attack is element of surprise, being the first one to cause damage, and status effects that disable or disorient the target.

Even if you're just using a regular attack, it's much easier to get that first shot in at fully drawn power when stealthed as well.

drzycki_ESO wrote: »

Question. Several of you mention you make your first shot from stealth. Why is that?

If you attack from stealth (just the normal kind that any class can do) and you are positioned behind or to the side of mob/player you get +50% crit damage bonus.

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I know that NB Bow is playable, but it just feels like when I play other classes, I'm usually picking between many skills that seem to be potentially useful in combat. With NB Bow, it seems like it's picking between a bunch of marginally useful spells.

I do get the feeling that the utility spells that seem not so useful at lower levels may become critical later on. I'm still wondering if NB Dual or Sorc or Temp Bow wouldn't be more fun.