Not Another Bosmer Buff Thread

chuckythexii · August 2019

Hi, I'm fairly new to the game and my main character is a Bosmer Stamblade (Bow/Bow though). I'm interested in the cliché "stealth archer" archetype for pvp. I would like advice on how to get the best out of my race and class AS IS, not how it WAS or whatever people WANT it to be. I also have some basic questions about how certain mechanics work.

1) Poison and status effect application. how it works application/cooldown, the differences between poison from a skill, the poisoned status effect, and alchemical poison. Which are affected by Thaumaturge, and the other CP skill (cant remember it now) and any other ways to boost poison damage
2) How many DoTs/status effects can be stacked, especially concerning poison. E.G. If someone hits my "Trap Beast" and gets a physical DoT, then I shoot them with poison inject from my alchemically poisoned bow and potentially apply the status effect, could I theoretically have 4 DoTs just from "Trap Beast"-->LA-->Poison Inject and is there a limit to any other status effects that could be subsequently added?
3) I've heard proper LA weaving should be done LA-->skill but I have found that the "Snipe" Morph works better the other way landing both hits at the same time so would a proper weave for Bows be Snipe-->LA-->other skill or Snipe-->LA-->LA-->other skill?
4) recommended skills for Bow/Bow, I might add other weapons later but right now I am also crafting a lot and that is Skill point intensive. I have also spread a bunch out to test all the skills I can because I've found that they perform much differently than they look on paper.
5) any other advice on Bow/Bow builds that are PvP oriented.

PS do effects like +1000 to weapon critical just affect the crit chance or do they also effect crit damage too?

Cundu_Ertur · August 2019

1. Make a Bosmer Nightblade.
2. Get a bow.
3. Race change to Khajiit.

More seriously, though, if you want to be a sneaky Bosmer the only way to do it is with sets and medium armor (which, last I heard was the anti-meta in PVP-land). Also, avoid the Hunter's Eye. It actually HURTS stealth for Bosmer in some situations. Here's why: if two non Bosmer with no bonus to hiding are in hiding near each other, they will both see their 'detection' eye half open at the same distance. However, with all else remaining equal, if one of them is a Bosmer with Hunter's Eye, then the other person will see the half-open eye BEFORE the Bosmer knows that there is anyone there.

If you want to be sneaky, then Khajiit is the only choice. If you want to be an archer then Redguard, Imperial, Orc, and/or Dunmer are better choices than Bosmer since those races actually have bonuses to USING bows instead of just LEARNING them, which is all that Bosmer get. Stealthy archer is possible in PVE for a Bosmer, but then so is any other stupid thing. In PVP the tolerances are much tighter.

SirMewser · August 2019

Cundu_Ertur wrote: »

1. Make a Bosmer Nightblade.
2. Get a bow.
3. Race change to Khajiit.

More seriously, though, if you want to be a sneaky Bosmer the only way to do it is with sets and medium armor (which, last I heard was the anti-meta in PVP-land). Also, avoid the Hunter's Eye. It actually HURTS stealth for Bosmer in some situations. Here's why: if two non Bosmer with no bonus to hiding are in hiding near each other, they will both see their 'detection' eye half open at the same distance. However, with all else remaining equal, if one of them is a Bosmer with Hunter's Eye, then the other person will see the half-open eye BEFORE the Bosmer knows that there is anyone there.

If you want to be sneaky, then Khajiit is the only choice. If you want to be an archer then Redguard, Imperial, Orc, and/or Dunmer are better choices than Bosmer since those races actually have bonuses to USING bows instead of just LEARNING them, which is all that Bosmer get. Stealthy archer is possible in PVE for a Bosmer, but then so is any other stupid thing. In PVP the tolerances are much tighter.

< _ >…

That explains a weird (yet rare) situation I had, dancing in the shadows with someone else for 20 minutes and couldn't figure out why they kept initiating before I could.

burglar · August 2019

chuckythexii wrote: »

Hi, I'm fairly new to the game and my main character is a Bosmer Stamblade (Bow/Bow though). I'm interested in the cliché "stealth archer" archetype for pvp. I would like advice on how to get the best out of my race and class AS IS, not how it WAS or whatever people WANT it to be. I also have some basic questions about how certain mechanics work.

1) Poison and status effect application. how it works application/cooldown, the differences between poison from a skill, the poisoned status effect, and alchemical poison. Which are affected by Thaumaturge, and the other CP skill (cant remember it now) and any other ways to boost poison damage
2) How many DoTs/status effects can be stacked, especially concerning poison. E.G. If someone hits my "Trap Beast" and gets a physical DoT, then I shoot them with poison inject from my alchemically poisoned bow and potentially apply the status effect, could I theoretically have 4 DoTs just from "Trap Beast"-->LA-->Poison Inject and is there a limit to any other status effects that could be subsequently added?
3) I've heard proper LA weaving should be done LA-->skill but I have found that the "Snipe" Morph works better the other way landing both hits at the same time so would a proper weave for Bows be Snipe-->LA-->other skill or Snipe-->LA-->LA-->other skill?
4) recommended skills for Bow/Bow, I might add other weapons later but right now I am also crafting a lot and that is Skill point intensive. I have also spread a bunch out to test all the skills I can because I've found that they perform much differently than they look on paper.
5) any other advice on Bow/Bow builds that are PvP oriented.

PS do effects like +1000 to weapon critical just affect the crit chance or do they also effect crit damage too?

I've played every role as bosmer nightblade, but I've played a melee magblade for years now so I can't help much with bow. But there are some videos that might get you going in the right direction. Gilliamtherogue has some great videos on game mechanics; his videos answer a lot of these questions in depth, check out his youtube channel (he now works on the game).

For good bow builds, I think Alcast's youtube channel should be helpful for a bow user. One of my favorite youtubers is Kristofer_ESO, he uses bosmer a lot. Both of them tend to focus on optimizing the class, rather than the race, so you might not find everything you're looking for, but you can adapt from those and have a good starting point.

I'm glad you're not seeing that 3m detection radius as some sort of hindrance - do you plan to snipe people within a few meters of their face? I really can't think of a situation where the reduced detection radius is needed unless you're raiding lockboxes. But, if raiding lockboxes is a primary source of income, there are bigger problems to be figured out, lol.

You can optimize stealth a bit with vampire passives, but as a stamina character, it might be more ideal to be a werewolf. Other than that, just crouch and use cloak when necessary.

chuckythexii · August 2019

ProbablePaul wrote: »

I've played every role as bosmer nightblade, but I've played a melee magblade for years now so I can't help much with bow. But there are some videos that might get you going in the right direction. Gilliamtherogue has some great videos on game mechanics; his videos answer a lot of these questions in depth, check out his youtube channel (he now works on the game).

For good bow builds, I think Alcast's youtube channel should be helpful for a bow user. One of my favorite youtubers is Kristofer_ESO, he uses bosmer a lot. Both of them tend to focus on optimizing the class, rather than the race, so you might not find everything you're looking for, but you can adapt from those and have a good starting point.

I'm glad you're not seeing that 3m detection radius as some sort of hindrance - do you plan to snipe people within a few meters of their face? I really can't think of a situation where the reduced detection radius is needed unless you're raiding lockboxes. But, if raiding lockboxes is a primary source of income, there are bigger problems to be figured out, lol.

You can optimize stealth a bit with vampire passives, but as a stamina character, it might be more ideal to be a werewolf. Other than that, just crouch and use cloak when necessary.

I've been looking through YouTube and cant find answers to certain questions though. like what is the base detection range? Its kinda hard to judge the efficacy of things without that knowledge, especially how much does the medium armor skill affect detection.

As for the 3m of Hiding vs the 3m of detection I actually think the detection is better. The situation where similarly buffed Khajit just happens to remain in the 3m window long enough to get any sort of advantage seems unlikely to me. the two characters will still detect at the same time and would likely close the distance before the khajit could actually react to the information anyway.

However 3m of hiding only applies when sneaking, the detection is always present so it will help avoid ambushes against anyone at any time. Not to mention it means your engagement range is that much farther when initiating which is better for Archery.

I have been thinking about going vampire it seems it would be best for Ambush style play, If I can combine the Vampire no sneak penalty with Nightblade sneak speed it should make for some Shenanigans.

So far the only PvP ive done is Battlegrounds, I'm mostly focused on crafting and SP farming now so I can try out all the skills.

JAwtunes · August 2019

havent got time to answer all, but here are some answers:

1) Morag Tong set buffs poison damage.

2) One easy way to get dots on with bow is to use PI and wear Sheer Venom, then follow with scatter shot on Blackrose bow. you will get lots of poison dots.
Poison Injection
Sheer Venom set proc
Blackrose bow proc
+ double dot poison

Trap beast is melee range, so doesn't synergise well with bow imo.

3) yep, normally LA -> skill, but there are some exceptions like Imbue Weapon -> LA or a skill like Snipe that has a travel time. In PVP you can load up a burst from sneak using Snipe and many do, exactly as you have written above (Snipe-->LA-->other skill).

4) I have never managed to get this to work effectively but have tried using asylum and blackrose bows to do something fun but I normally end up getting smashed - meta is meta for a reason. Decimus is a good player and used to post interesting bow builds for pvp, I think he started posting on YT again recently so worth taking a look.

5) any other advice on Bow/Bow builds that are PvP oriented. = nothing useful im afraid, just that if you're going to be more than just ganking then this is a steep learning curve and I would recommend running a more conventional tanky build while learning pvp.

PS do effects like +1000 to weapon critical just affect the crit chance or do they also effect crit damage too? = weapon crit is chance to crit only, crit damage modifiers are different (e.g. minor/ major force).