Rylynn Clinton I use bound bow mostly on dragons and wizards that are using ranged attacks. Therefore I’m usually already detected. And if I’m using it while sneaking I just take Silent Casting
I like the look of the Nordic bow buffed to legendary, enchant it with chaos damage and soul trap or paralysis. Sniping enemies with dragonbone arrows gives some nice kill cam moments.
@@astrofish6163 Hah, useless enchantment now that the Anniversary Edition is out. Soul Stealer Arrows negate the need to have Soul Trap that means Chaos enchantment and Shock Damage Enchantment to fuck over Mages and Dragons alike.
I recently found the bow of shadows and its become my best friend, add muffled boots and you can sneak past anything, my stealth skills are benefitting greatly
My favorite bow for that same reason. Its invisibility only lasts for 30 seconds, but you can continuously cast it by sheathing and redrawing it. Works great when you need to sneak up on creatures or people😉😏
I will forever love this bow, just like I will forever love the sword Bloodthirst! I mostly use bound weapons, but I do have a special affection for those two. However, ruin’s edge is definitely the coolest LOOKING bow, I’ve never actually used it. lol
If you want the dwarven black bow of fate without the hastle of tracking all over salty-time, just grab 3 plates or platters, hold them up to the gate and sprint through them. Easy peasy.
I mean, there is always the assassins bow you get from saving Balgruuf in Whiterun. That bow packs a punch and makes sneak archer incredibly easy.... That aside, Daedric Bows with fiery soul trap (and with Enchanting lvl 100 maybe an extra enchant of your liking) tends to be the strongest i regularly use. Pair it with the Black Star and running out of souls to fuel the bow won't be an issue any time soon.
Favorite Bow has to be Auriel's Bow. But it's such a pain in the ass to get though. Ebony Bows are great for the early game and I try to get one as soon as possible. Stalhrim bows are amoung my favorites too because I just like Stalhrim stuff.
@@harambre8014 just finish that quest again yesterday, and yes that took alot of time but i got 2 auriel artifac and a tons of jewelry so i think its worth the time
I have always liked the bound bow especially after picking up the related conjuration perks.. It even allows you to use physical arrows if you equip them so the various elemental arrows can be used if you want. It can trap souls and dispel summoned critters as well if the perks are selected,
Infinite arrows (especially with bound quiver too)? Easy early game Daedric bow? Levels both archery and conjuration? Enchantments with infinite charges? Need I go on? Deeply underappreciated weapon
I too will die on this hill, but I keep the bow of shadows in my inventory every single time JUST IN CASE I can’t get far enough away to conjure mine without someone “detecting” me. 🤣
Well the new update hit me today. I now have over 1000 broken mods. I just purged them and started a new game and am slowly adding the updated creation stuff I already own. I don't think I know of Bloodthirst.
There's actually a small mistake here, and one that is commonly made. The best bow in Skyrim in terms of DPS is actually Zepher. However, if you are going for a sneak archer, then the Nightingale bow is better. Or the enhanced dwarven crossbow. Just keep in mind that it has an ungodly slow reload speed, so it's only good for eliminating a single target unless your sneak is high enough to keep you hidden while you reload. I happen to be playing an archer play-through right now, so I decided to share my knowledge. TL,DR: Zepher is best bow unless your sneaking, in which case this tier list is correct
I kill Elder Dragons with 3 shots from my crafted and upgraded Deadric Bow and every other enemy only take one shot when I'm in sneak. Except for bosses of course. I play on Expert, anything lower then that just takes any fun in the game away for me, as enemies will die with just one or a few hits even if you barely do any damage and I'm thinking about bumping up the difficulty. So I would say, the best bow is one that does the most damage in a single shot unless you prefer to be needing to shoot multiple arrows for something to die. (No exploit bows that do millions of damage of course..) Someone know, why I still come across regular Dragons even though I'm lvl 64 already? It literally only takes 1 arrow for them to die..
Lol all my builds become sneak archers. Best bows are always going to be those that you create with blacksmithing. Once you max it, apply fortify restoration potion then equip maxed out fortify smithing gear and get the best results possible. Then even iron weapons will improve up to Legendary status. Then if you have the ability through enchanting, make a helmet and gloves with fortifiy archery. My character 2 / 3 shots most Legendary Dragons. 5 shots if not in sneak.
I know this is a year old at this point. But Auriels bow has better dps than Zephyr. Same draw speed and higher base damage not even including the enchantment. The bow with the highest base dps in the game is the bound bow.
I love the stalhrim bow and how It enhances the chaos and frost enchantments, its upgraded to do lots of damage and combined with my more bow damage enchantment it has a base damage of over 1000
Can confirm that darkening the sun with Auriel's how helps with sneak, counts as shadow everywhere for the Nightengale perk that makes you invisible in shadow and moonlight. I'm kicking myself about the Nightengale bow...it's one of the 1st bows I get...on purpose ..and I never knew it scaled up if I get it later. 😢
My honorable mention would for sure be Firiniel's End. While "only" a frosty elven bow, it can be acquired pretty early and easily, and stealth archers will be more likely to pick its tempering perk over the dwarven ones. In fact, having a tempering perk at all means that it will eventually surpass the Nightingale Bow.
I haven't played in years and just got the Anniversary Edition and was playing last night. Got a quest in whiterun to stop an assassin from killing the jarl of whiterun. This guy was using a ebony bow that turns you invisible when you equip it plus some other enchantments I can't remember.. my guy was still finding iron and steel equipment at this point lol. I'm not using any mods, just ps5 creation kit. But now my character feels op all because of this one crazy side quest and my new bow.. 🤷♂️
It's called the bow of shadows.. I like it but honestly I was going for a straight up warrior nord playstyle no magic or funny business and this kinda threw me off my role play lol. Now I'm one shotting people like nothing and if I equip my bow in a shop I turn invisible and can steal whatever I want lol. It feels like I used a mod but I didn't 😅
@@wakawaka1976 up to you really. Ive never had a game pc or mods, so getting to play it with creation kit, and added items like backpacks, new quests, survival mode where you must eat and sleep, etc.. made it a fresh experience for me.
Like the video. Have played with most of the bows you listed. Being that I frequently max out my Blacksmithing perk tree best bow for me is usually self crafted. And with the addition's added by Anniversary Edition, Enhanced Crossbows can also now be obtained outside the Dawnguard DLC now. So anyone siding with Volkahar can now obtain many of them. Kinda nice. And elemental bolts are also carried randomly by Fletchers and Traders. As for Zephyr, maybe it's just me, but the fast draw on the bow, and the perk they never actually work for me. Sure it draws fast, but if I release immediately afterwards the arrows always fall at my feet.
I'm playing Skyrim for the first time in years and I was wondering what was the most powerful bow in the game just find out that the Nightingale Bow is the most powerful, sadly I did not now about the recommendation of picking it up after level 46 and the thieves guild was one of the first things I did in this run. I was level 18 or something...
if u r playing on PC use console commands to spawn a new bow after u reach lvl 46+... same for the nightingale armor and blade, i personaly thinks this lvl system is trash, so every time i get a unique item i go to the wiki page and see the max lvl cap for it and after i reach it i throw away the garbage one and spawn the better one.
I start out every walkthrough intending to try a different character style but always end up as a stealth archer, even if I have Illusion, alchemy and forging up to 100 I end up raising stealth to 100 and using my own ebony bow with absorb health and paralyse. I just find stealth archer to be so much fun I can’t leave it alone! Thanks for this tutorial.
If you have illusion maxed out and sneak you should try to use invisibility and daggers it's very fun because you can just walk in front of people and with muffled boots they can't detect you no matter what unless u walk into them
@@ecargfosreya I love being a necromancer, it's always fun to watch my enemies kill their own allies. Not long ago I found some people bathing in the hot springs area. I threw their clothes into the water for fun, except they didn't find it funny at all and attacked me. So I killed two of them, revived them and forced them to whack the last person to death. Fun times.
I upgraded tf out of my daedric so I really only use that and when I get the enchanting perk "Extra Effect" i put a fire and lightning damage on it just for flavour😋
I used a dragon bone bow put on it the chaos enchantment which is 50 percent chance to deal each shock frost and fire damage and then I used the twin enchantment perk to put the absorb health then I enchanted a ring and a necklace with fortifie archery which is 100 percent more damage then I upgraded it from the smithing table it's the best bow in Skyrim now
For the glass bow of the stag prince you can get the perk that lets you sell all things to merchants which has the added effect of letting you buy some inventory items that has worked for me on multiple occasions, but it hasn't worked every time
The Zephyr is obsolete as soon as you get Auriels bow, it has the same draw speed and it has higher base damage, not even counting the enchantment. My favorite bow is the bound bow. When you get the mystic binding perk, it has 24 base damage. It is 4 points higher than the dragonbone bow and it has a faster draw speed, making it the bow with the highest base dps in the game.
@@sofooraadam1617 No, but you only need level 20 conjuration for the mystic binding perk. So, you can go to fort Amol and pick up the bound bow spell tome from the bucket in the prison and have the bow with the highest dps in the game at level 3. To get a dragonbone bow, you need 100 smithing. If you don't want to grind smithing, they don't start to appear in the game until level 45. It takes a long time before you can find/craft and enchant a bow that is more powerfull than the bound bow.
@@stefannilsson2406 Smithing 100 is easy to get I always get it first like two hours and by then I usually have gotten my hands on dragon bones and scales
Small tip if you pickpocket the glass bow, pickpocket it back on to a bandit and kill him. That will remove the stolen mark for free rather than using a fence to sell and buy back
The Bow of Shadows is a nice bow, but it's part of the AE, not the SE. It's a Creation Club item. But, yes, I love it a lot. All my cats use it, and so do my Shadowscales.
Honestly the bow I prefer to use is the Bound Bow. After all, using it may require Conjugation magic, and a base 180 Magic points, It has 100 arrows for each time it is used. With each summon,It refills the Bound Arrows. Plus when you fully upgrade the Appropriate Conjuration skills, and a maxes out Archery skill, it becomes one of the best bows.
Bound bow level 1. Game set! Ancient shrouded armour for the extra bow dmg also available at level 1 or well very low level. Frokis cabin, kill and take his ring and amulet both have extra bow stats. Your op as f**k all before you start the main story. Enjoy. You can buy muffle to quick level Illusion to 50 and conjuration level 20 is easy for mystic binding. My favorite start to skyrim. I must play another way lol love the stealth archer too much. Well I'm off to look at some builds to try something new lol.
Im back again! Three years later Im still watching your vids on my umpteenth playthrough! This time Im using an ebony bow with the Chaos magic from Solsteim. Once I get to 100 in enchanting I will make another with Chaos magic and absorb health!
Zephyr can stack with the ring of the wind and illusion potions. Since ring of the wind does effect swing draw speed. Then necro vamp gives another 25% on top of that combo. Illusion pots can be drank before equipping allowing for a 200% ish boost too
Yeah the Nightingale Bow is probably my number one favorite as long as I don't get the glitch where she just walks off and never comes back to the cave
when playing skyrim i usually go for a bow type build but I don't go for a stealth type build very often cause what's the fun of fighting an enemy when they can't fight back. The two bows I mainly go for are Auriel's bow and Zephyr.
I've had Auriels bow and the nightingale bow which is pretty good. I usually play Mage then Archer when the magic runs low. Playing in VR reloading is as fast as you are. Initially I played using swords as I learnt to play using the PlayStation controller, I did have move controllers but found it difficult to transition. When I got a VR capable PC I learnt to do everything with those controllers and transitioned to archery. Much prefer the freedom of PC and modding has completely revitalized the experience.
You can get even more attack speed with the restoration perk that increases effects on undead and becoming a vampire. Itll increase your attack speed by 25% of 160% with zephyr and quick shot perk
I could be wrong on this I have not checked it out myself but I think you are incorrect on you mention of the glass bow of the stag Prince being marked permanently stolen if you pickpocket you might be able to sell it in the ragged flagon and then buy it back with the stolen Mark removed I know you could do that with other items
..and now #1 "The bow of Shadows" thanks to its ease of getting it, highest damage and fire rate, and its unique draw speed and 30 sec invisibility buff
I usually have a quicker draw speed bow for close stuff and a heavy damage bow to assassinate from farther away. I've never specifically looked for a weapon.
i usually have at least one type of bow my most recent being legendary dragon bone bow with chaos enchant... but like i realized that i use magic most so kinda use bound bow more than physical bows and typically use my crossbow for vampires i use the summoned bow not only for infinate arrows but also cause it doesn't have any weight to slow me down and can summon it anytime rather than going through weapons of invatory to select a bow. but also cause even though physical arrows don't weigh anything they still clutter up your invatory too much but with bound bow you get the bow and spectural arrows
I do remember going to High Hrothgar one time and seeing the Dwarven Black Bow of Fate sitting atop of their counter just inside the back door. Up the small stairs towards the double doors that lead out back there is a counter and on top of it I found the Dwarven Black Bow of Fate. I have played countless characters and only once did I find it there. I can't even remember how far into the games questlines I had gotten. So I am not sure. But I havent been able to find since then.
I've never been able to get Zephyr working perfectly in tandem with the Quick Shot perk. If I release the arrow as soon as it's fully drawn, it just kinda flops out of the bow with little power. If I give it another half second or so after fully drawing, it works fine. Definitely a perk better used with slower, higher per-shot damage bows or crossbows IMO.
if you have enough gold you can fence your stolen items at the thieves guild (like a pickpocketed bow for instance) and rebuy it removing the stolen identifier
I've got 4 out of the 5 in my inventory because i forgot about the merchant, but i have an ebony bow of blaze at 81 damage that i use most i also have 4 out of the 5 one handed swords because I haven't joined the dark brotherhood, I'm also carrying round 443234 gold
As far as bows go I use a dragon bone bow with the chaos enchantment, that is random to do either for eletric or frost damage one at a time, same thing on my dragon brown sword
i usually put a LOT of effort into enchanting and smithing... so my favorite is a self-crafted Dragonbone bow with a Lifesteal enchantment or a Manasteal enchantment. oh, and i mostly use self-crafted Dwarven arrows, since making LOTS of them is my favorite way to practice Smithing.
I prefer the Daedric bow because it seems like even though it doesnt have the highest base damage it has the hardest snap which creates maximum velocity behind the strike and I use chaos and soul trap I know there are a lot of people who might not use the chaos enchant but if you build your build right you can get the enchant to proc atleast 80% of every shot if not more personally I get the chaos proc atleast 90% of the time. Shoot while in sneak and you create more impact and more impact improves your chances of the enchant going off.
I really like using my Stalhrim Bow max upgraded and enchanted with Chaos damage and Fiery Soul trap hehe Being real now, I really like Auriel's Bow and Zephyr from your list.
I never used Zepher or quick shot on my VR playthrough because it’s all just dependent on how fast you can reach behind your back, nock, aim, and release
It is easy to level up and fun to pick people off at range, but it can get a little frustrating if they close the distance and are able to land a power smack on you, causing you to stagger, which ruins your aiming ability for a good half a second when you want to shoot them. Sneaking through dungeons, especially cramped, long, Falmer dungeons, seems to take forever, and can get mentally exhausting rather than fun. If you like to bring a follower or summon something to help fight with you, you can let them tank and sit back picking enemies off one by one. By the time you reach level 35, you will probably have enough power to one-shot all but the most powerful opponents in the game, especially if you are sneaking and have buffed your weapons and armor. Paralyzing a dragon mid flight and one-shotting a sleeping dragon are the coolest parts so far.
I'm doing a new playthrough on Xbox One Anniversary. I've got the following bows: Nightingale, Zephyr, Drainspell, Dwarven Black Bow of Fate, Bow of Shadows, Froki's then a Daedric, Elven, and Enhanced Dragonbone crossbows. I use them for distance attacks, especially sniper like kills for Dark Brotherhood. My Dwarven Black bow looks to be my weakest one at 39 damage because I've just got it. Several others are at 276 damage like my Daedric crossbow, and valued at 1,512,752. PS I forgot about Ruin's Edge.
My bow when upgraded does 96. And has the chaos damage which deals 130 damage But with a enchanted necklace that increases bow damage by 44% it goes from 96 to 130 something That’s like 260 each hit
is it me or does the silver sword have a infinite charge with the undead enchantment the one i have sets them on fire and captures the soul but i never had to use a soul gem to recharge it
The nightingale bow can be made with a ebony bow and dual enchantment perk. I personally side with the dwarven enhanced crossbow. Honestly that thing is a beast. Especially after you upgrade it at a smithy, enchant it. It becomes even more of a beast if you use a fortify smithing potion n wear gear dedicated to that enchantment.
The enhanced dwarven crossbow with explosives bolts and the elemental fury shout which you can glitch into being able to learn as an enchantment if your quick. With all the perks and the enchantments available it is 100% the best weapon in the game and can be the fastest as well.
Thanks to the Creation Club/Anniversary Edition of Skyrim, there is a way to get Zephyr's draw speed up to a ludicrous level. Vampire Necromage + the Bloodworm Helm of Gallows Hall gives vampiric Drgonborn 50% magical effects, this includes Perks and Weapon/armor enchantments. So Grab Necromage, then put on the Bloodworm Helm, THEN get the Quick Draw perk. Quick Draw's 30% will be boosted to 45% faster Draw Speed. With this Setup of Bloodworm+Necromage will also boost Zephyr's enchantment to the same 45% faster draw speed. Meaning Zephyr has the capacity to draw an arrow 90% faster than any other bow in the game. We can make this even crazier by throwing in the Slow Time Shout, Mid Range Combat like this turns enemies into pincushions before they get anywhere near you.
If playing a sneak archer assassin type, which is rare for me, I prefer the daedric bow prior to level 46 and the Nightingale bow after. But most of my archer builds don't use sneak as it's just too OP. I like making "combat archers" and using smithing and enchanting to max out the damage. The best combat archer build IMO is an Orc for the Berserker ability.
I buy all of the soul gems that I can and shoot everything that moves, so I have a simple soul trap hunting bow. Was the easiest to get with the second quickest firing speed, plus benefits from the steel smithing perk, and is tempered with leather strips.
Take stalhirim, drink a potion for Ench, put Frost Damage on it, Boost Frost Damage from Destruction school, Sharp it with Smithing Boost , and thats the strongest non-glitch Range weapon in Skyrim.
I do not recommend the Zephyr for a stealth archer since its low base damage often means you have to fire twice. but for dragons and literally anything else it has the best dps in the game. And the bound bow is extremely op. it outclasses a non upgrade ebony bow and will carry you early on. you do need perks in conjuration and illusion tho.
the nightingale bows stealth use is brought down a lot by the fact that it doesnt shoot quietly like every other bow and crossbow and isnt affected by smithing perks. Also being tied for slowest bow in the game makes it hard to get multiple shots off before being found and lowers its dps for normal fighting
BTW, you can increase your draw speed even more by becoming a Vampire and taking the Necromage perk from the Restoration Tree before you take the Quick Shot perk from the Archery Tree.
Dwarven Black Bow of Fate usually.... I play as a Tanky character normally board and sword or 2 handed.... got just enough archery and sneak perks to be pretty good with a bow.
My build is a heavy armor stealth archer, I'm fully decked out in Stalhrim armor, may upgrade to dragonbone, with all stalhrim weapons. I definitely plan to collect all the weapons on this list
My 2 favorites are Ariel's Bow and Zypher. I have won the civil war using only them. Ariel's Bow does damage whether you hit the target or not, Zypher fires so rapidly that you essentially have an automatic weapon.
I don't tend to use enchanted weapons because of the depleting enchantment bar with each use. For me it's just too big of hassle to soul trap/carry soul gems just to recharge the enchantment of the weapon. So if i use an enchanted weapon then i use only weapons such as Zaphyr wich has no enchantment bar to recharge but the weapon is till enchanted.
I like the Kajit and sneaking and bows are my preference.. nice tips.. thanks,,, i have never used mods in this game. just play differently every time i play.. and i do craft alot..bows and enchant them.. I wonder if you can actually take these bows to get their enchantment to your collection to enhance other bows that are crafted?
I did the quests/DLCs in order of most pressing end of the world, personally. Alduin is literally destroying the world right now, then Miraak is right behind him, and then finally the Vampire conspiracy seems like it's not quite ready to pop until I get involved.
Favour the bow eh? I’m a sword man myself
I’m more of a battle axe guy myself
I’m more of a magic guy myself
me myself am a swordsman too
I’m a bit of a Speech guy myself, I’m a lover not a fighter
I prefer my greatsword
I’m always rocking the bound bow because of its so fast and doesn’t need to be crafted. And it casts soul trap
Not too mention it’s as good as a Daedric Bow if you get mystic binding.
@@xenotype3258 The Bound Bow Starts out better than a Daedric Bow.
It also gives away your location when you conjure it btw
Rylynn Clinton I use bound bow mostly on dragons and wizards that are using ranged attacks. Therefore I’m usually already detected. And if I’m using it while sneaking I just take Silent Casting
@@rykerz105 that's why if you do a conjured bow build you also need to level Illusion tree for Quiet Casting which negates the "noise".
I like the look of the Nordic bow buffed to legendary, enchant it with chaos damage and soul trap or paralysis. Sniping enemies with dragonbone arrows gives some nice kill cam moments.
Fiery soul trap c'mon it's free damage
@@astrofish6163 Hah, useless enchantment now that the Anniversary Edition is out. Soul Stealer Arrows negate the need to have Soul Trap that means Chaos enchantment and Shock Damage Enchantment to fuck over Mages and Dragons alike.
@@ArturoPladeado people actually bought that??
@@astrofish6163 Yarr ☠️
@@astrofish6163 I wouldn't download it even if it was free, don't need to destroy the Mythic Dawn a second time. Been there done that in Oblivion.
I recently found the bow of shadows and its become my best friend, add muffled boots and you can sneak past anything, my stealth skills are benefitting greatly
My favorite bow for that same reason. Its invisibility only lasts for 30 seconds, but you can continuously cast it by sheathing and redrawing it. Works great when you need to sneak up on creatures or people😉😏
I will forever love this bow, just like I will forever love the sword Bloodthirst! I mostly use bound weapons, but I do have a special affection for those two. However, ruin’s edge is definitely the coolest LOOKING bow, I’ve never actually used it. lol
That one is cheating
@@lestereggleston9212 How?
@@Snuck1 bow of shadows give no challenge to stealth archers in the beginning
If you want the dwarven black bow of fate without the hastle of tracking all over salty-time, just grab 3 plates or platters, hold them up to the gate and sprint through them. Easy peasy.
Lol same
And here I thought I was being clever using that trick at Falbatharz
How you gonna get out?
@@curszed5587 do the same thing u did to get it 💀
@@Ahhsten so you need at-least six platters or buckets
I mean, there is always the assassins bow you get from saving Balgruuf in Whiterun. That bow packs a punch and makes sneak archer incredibly easy.... That aside, Daedric Bows with fiery soul trap (and with Enchanting lvl 100 maybe an extra enchant of your liking) tends to be the strongest i regularly use. Pair it with the Black Star and running out of souls to fuel the bow won't be an issue any time soon.
Favorite Bow has to be Auriel's Bow. But it's such a pain in the ass to get though.
Ebony Bows are great for the early game and I try to get one as soon as possible.
Stalhrim bows are amoung my favorites too because I just like Stalhrim stuff.
I just got auriels. That frigin dawngaurd campaign was so long omg
@@harambre8014 just finish that quest again yesterday, and yes that took alot of time but i got 2 auriel artifac and a tons of jewelry so i think its worth the time
@@Marclipper I agree it's a fun story line anyways
I have always liked the bound bow especially after picking up the related conjuration perks.. It even allows you to use physical arrows if you equip them so the various elemental arrows can be used if you want. It can trap souls and dispel summoned critters as well if the perks are selected,
Infinite arrows (especially with bound quiver too)? Easy early game Daedric bow? Levels both archery and conjuration? Enchantments with infinite charges? Need I go on?
Deeply underappreciated weapon
I too will die on this hill, but I keep the bow of shadows in my inventory every single time JUST IN CASE I can’t get far enough away to conjure mine without someone “detecting” me. 🤣
@@Miss_Camel That is my second favorite bow. If I'm playing a character that's noy much of a caster then the Bow of Shadows is amazing..
@@NotaVampyre111 then you DEFINITELY need Bloodthirst as your sneaky backup sword. Trust.
Well the new update hit me today. I now have over 1000 broken mods. I just purged them and started a new game and am slowly adding the updated creation stuff I already own. I don't think I know of Bloodthirst.
Best build is the Tanky Heavy Duel Wielding Stealth Mage Archer. Always the best.
Might aswell pick every class
@@Rohan_-- 😂😂
that’s my favorite as well
There's actually a small mistake here, and one that is commonly made. The best bow in Skyrim in terms of DPS is actually Zepher. However, if you are going for a sneak archer, then the Nightingale bow is better. Or the enhanced dwarven crossbow. Just keep in mind that it has an ungodly slow reload speed, so it's only good for eliminating a single target unless your sneak is high enough to keep you hidden while you reload. I happen to be playing an archer play-through right now, so I decided to share my knowledge.
TL,DR: Zepher is best bow unless your sneaking, in which case this tier list is correct
Fully agree, if this were a DPS list. So what you're saying is... If I did a list for that, Zephyr would be on both huh?
I kill Elder Dragons with 3 shots from my crafted and upgraded Deadric Bow and every other enemy only take one shot when I'm in sneak. Except for bosses of course. I play on Expert, anything lower then that just takes any fun in the game away for me, as enemies will die with just one or a few hits even if you barely do any damage and I'm thinking about bumping up the difficulty.
So I would say, the best bow is one that does the most damage in a single shot unless you prefer to be needing to shoot multiple arrows for something to die. (No exploit bows that do millions of damage of course..)
Someone know, why I still come across regular Dragons even though I'm lvl 64 already? It literally only takes 1 arrow for them to die..
Lol all my builds become sneak archers. Best bows are always going to be those that you create with blacksmithing. Once you max it, apply fortify restoration potion then equip maxed out fortify smithing gear and get the best results possible. Then even iron weapons will improve up to Legendary status. Then if you have the ability through enchanting, make a helmet and gloves with fortifiy archery. My character 2 / 3 shots most Legendary Dragons. 5 shots if not in sneak.
I know this is a year old at this point. But Auriels bow has better dps than Zephyr. Same draw speed and higher base damage not even including the enchantment.
The bow with the highest base dps in the game is the bound bow.
There's actually a small mistake here, and one that is commonly made. The best bow in Skyrim in term of DPS is actually Ariel Bow
I love the stalhrim bow and how It enhances the chaos and frost enchantments, its upgraded to do lots of damage and combined with my more bow damage enchantment it has a base damage of over 1000
Can confirm that darkening the sun with Auriel's how helps with sneak, counts as shadow everywhere for the Nightengale perk that makes you invisible in shadow and moonlight.
I'm kicking myself about the Nightengale bow...it's one of the 1st bows I get...on purpose ..and I never knew it scaled up if I get it later. 😢
My honorable mention would for sure be Firiniel's End. While "only" a frosty elven bow, it can be acquired pretty early and easily, and stealth archers will be more likely to pick its tempering perk over the dwarven ones. In fact, having a tempering perk at all means that it will eventually surpass the Nightingale Bow.
I haven't played in years and just got the Anniversary Edition and was playing last night. Got a quest in whiterun to stop an assassin from killing the jarl of whiterun. This guy was using a ebony bow that turns you invisible when you equip it plus some other enchantments I can't remember.. my guy was still finding iron and steel equipment at this point lol. I'm not using any mods, just ps5 creation kit. But now my character feels op all because of this one crazy side quest and my new bow.. 🤷♂️
It's called the bow of shadows.. I like it but honestly I was going for a straight up warrior nord playstyle no magic or funny business and this kinda threw me off my role play lol. Now I'm one shotting people like nothing and if I equip my bow in a shop I turn invisible and can steal whatever I want lol. It feels like I used a mod but I didn't 😅
Was $20 for the anniversary edition worth it?
@@wakawaka1976 up to you really. Ive never had a game pc or mods, so getting to play it with creation kit, and added items like backpacks, new quests, survival mode where you must eat and sleep, etc.. made it a fresh experience for me.
This is beautiful Mako Finisher, thank you
Zephyr is my best choice. Go with paralyzed poison and quick shot. Infinity stun.
I’m usually just using a dragon bone now that I enchanted myself using twinsouls
Like the video. Have played with most of the bows you listed. Being that I frequently max out my Blacksmithing perk tree best bow for me is usually self crafted. And with the addition's added by Anniversary Edition, Enhanced Crossbows can also now be obtained outside the Dawnguard DLC now. So anyone siding with Volkahar can now obtain many of them. Kinda nice. And elemental bolts are also carried randomly by Fletchers and Traders.
As for Zephyr, maybe it's just me, but the fast draw on the bow, and the perk they never actually work for me. Sure it draws fast, but if I release immediately afterwards the arrows always fall at my feet.
I'm playing Skyrim for the first time in years and I was wondering what was the most powerful bow in the game just find out that the Nightingale Bow is the most powerful, sadly I did not now about the recommendation of picking it up after level 46 and the thieves guild was one of the first things I did in this run. I was level 18 or something...
i feel your pain i was level 12
😂
if u r playing on PC use console commands to spawn a new bow after u reach lvl 46+... same for the nightingale armor and blade, i personaly thinks this lvl system is trash, so every time i get a unique item i go to the wiki page and see the max lvl cap for it and after i reach it i throw away the garbage one and spawn the better one.
I love Bows in Skyrim, my personal favourite despite it's weight is the Dragonbone Bow
Yeah that thing is a killing machine.
I start out every walkthrough intending to try a different character style but always end up as a stealth archer, even if I have Illusion, alchemy and forging up to 100 I end up raising stealth to 100 and using my own ebony bow with absorb health and paralyse. I just find stealth archer to be so much fun I can’t leave it alone! Thanks for this tutorial.
If you have illusion maxed out and sneak you should try to use invisibility and daggers it's very fun because you can just walk in front of people and with muffled boots they can't detect you no matter what unless u walk into them
You got to try and necromancer build with no bows.
@@ecargfosreya I love being a necromancer, it's always fun to watch my enemies kill their own allies. Not long ago I found some people bathing in the hot springs area. I threw their clothes into the water for fun, except they didn't find it funny at all and attacked me. So I killed two of them, revived them and forced them to whack the last person to death. Fun times.
Same problem. 🙂
I love being an archer but I hate stealth so I play as a fast firing aggressive archer/summonet
I upgraded tf out of my daedric so I really only use that and when I get the enchanting perk "Extra Effect" i put a fire and lightning damage on it just for flavour😋
If you have dragonborn dlc just put chaos damage
I've found that you can have more damage on lower class weapons do to the leveling effect of smithing works for armor too
I used a dragon bone bow put on it the chaos enchantment which is 50 percent chance to deal each shock frost and fire damage and then I used the twin enchantment perk to put the absorb health then I enchanted a ring and a necklace with fortifie archery which is 100 percent more damage then I upgraded it from the smithing table it's the best bow in Skyrim now
For the glass bow of the stag prince you can get the perk that lets you sell all things to merchants which has the added effect of letting you buy some inventory items that has worked for me on multiple occasions, but it hasn't worked every time
Dwarven BBOF is my favorite bow. The glowing inscriptions when you draw the bow looks so amazing😍
5:00, One of the vampires at castle volkihar also sells 200 elven arrows, so Vampires also can get loads of them
who sells the elven arrows?
@@iEatCookies31 This vampire working in the volkihar forge, wearing Red vampire armor I belive
alright thanks
The Zephyr is obsolete as soon as you get Auriels bow, it has the same draw speed and it has higher base damage, not even counting the enchantment. My favorite bow is the bound bow. When you get the mystic binding perk, it has 24 base damage. It is 4 points higher than the dragonbone bow and it has a faster draw speed, making it the bow with the highest base dps in the game.
but bound bow can't be improved or enchanted
@@sofooraadam1617 No, but you only need level 20 conjuration for the mystic binding perk. So, you can go to fort Amol and pick up the bound bow spell tome from the bucket in the prison and have the bow with the highest dps in the game at level 3.
To get a dragonbone bow, you need 100 smithing. If you don't want to grind smithing, they don't start to appear in the game until level 45.
It takes a long time before you can find/craft and enchant a bow that is more powerfull than the bound bow.
@@stefannilsson2406 yes bound bow is the best bow early on but at higher levels there are better options
Yay enchanter support soraka
@@stefannilsson2406 Smithing 100 is easy to get I always get it first like two hours and by then I usually have gotten my hands on dragon bones and scales
Small tip if you pickpocket the glass bow, pickpocket it back on to a bandit and kill him. That will remove the stolen mark for free rather than using a fence to sell and buy back
The bow of shadows?! That bow is insane gotta be worth a mention surely
Definitely, the invisibility is no big deal but the damage is insane.
that's what I've been rocking....with the bound bow
The Bow of Shadows is a nice bow, but it's part of the AE, not the SE. It's a Creation Club item. But, yes, I love it a lot. All my cats use it, and so do my Shadowscales.
glass bow of the stag prince has always been my favorite, I just love the glass bow look
happy to see new content man thanks!
I LOVE the bow of shadows. You think 30% draw speed is good? Try 50% with invisibility whenever you take out the bow.
Honestly the bow I prefer to use is the Bound Bow. After all, using it may require Conjugation magic, and a base 180 Magic points, It has 100 arrows for each time it is used. With each summon,It refills the Bound Arrows. Plus when you fully upgrade the Appropriate Conjuration skills, and a maxes out Archery skill, it becomes one of the best bows.
I use bow as main and dual dagger as secondary. I do sometimes use magic.
Bound bow level 1. Game set! Ancient shrouded armour for the extra bow dmg also available at level 1 or well very low level. Frokis cabin, kill and take his ring and amulet both have extra bow stats. Your op as f**k all before you start the main story. Enjoy.
You can buy muffle to quick level Illusion to 50 and conjuration level 20 is easy for mystic binding.
My favorite start to skyrim. I must play another way lol love the stealth archer too much.
Well I'm off to look at some builds to try something new lol.
Im back again! Three years later Im still watching your vids on my umpteenth playthrough! This time Im using an ebony bow with the Chaos magic from Solsteim. Once I get to 100 in enchanting I will make another with Chaos magic and absorb health!
Zephyr can stack with the ring of the wind and illusion potions. Since ring of the wind does effect swing draw speed. Then necro vamp gives another 25% on top of that combo.
Illusion pots can be drank before equipping allowing for a 200% ish boost too
Yeah the Nightingale Bow is probably my number one favorite as long as I don't get the glitch where she just walks off and never comes back to the cave
Its got a noise bug too if you play vanilla... Cant stealth kill anything with it
@@jwn5 yeah that's worth
So keep in mind the more shots you fire the more likely you are to stagger the opponent with the power shot perk
I just got the hunting bow after I fully lvled up my smithing so it’ll be more immersive than a nord holding a demon bow
You can have more damage with less weight too
when playing skyrim i usually go for a bow type build but I don't go for a stealth type build very often cause what's the fun of fighting an enemy when they can't fight back. The two bows I mainly go for are Auriel's bow and Zephyr.
The fun in it for me is half of the time they're dead before they even knew what him them.
I've never had such cool arrow kill cam in all my playthrough
Indo?
I've had Auriels bow and the nightingale bow which is pretty good.
I usually play Mage then Archer when the magic runs low.
Playing in VR reloading is as fast as you are.
Initially I played using swords as I learnt to play using the PlayStation controller, I did have move controllers but found it difficult to transition.
When I got a VR capable PC I learnt to do everything with those controllers and transitioned to archery.
Much prefer the freedom of PC and modding has completely revitalized the experience.
You can get even more attack speed with the restoration perk that increases effects on undead and becoming a vampire. Itll increase your attack speed by 25% of 160% with zephyr and quick shot perk
Oh lord I need to try this. I never played the dlc(s) back in the day and just picked skyrim back up
Another fantastic video mate! Well done! 😁
You can make better stuff with ice enchanting on stalhrim bows.
I could be wrong on this I have not checked it out myself but I think you are incorrect on you mention of the glass bow of the stag Prince being marked permanently stolen if you pickpocket you might be able to sell it in the ragged flagon and then buy it back with the stolen Mark removed I know you could do that with other items
..and now #1 "The bow of Shadows" thanks to its ease of getting it, highest damage and fire rate, and its unique draw speed and 30 sec invisibility buff
I wish that invisibility wasn't there. It's annoying.
I do use the "Bow of Shadows" being invisible for 30s and some thief perks makes you undetectable.
I usually have a quicker draw speed bow for close stuff and a heavy damage bow to assassinate from farther away. I've never specifically looked for a weapon.
Ancient Technology will also send you to modded locations for the schematics. Ive had Schematics located on Wyrmstooth before
theres also a resonance gem in Nchardak, the sunken city where you go with neloth to get the black book
i usually have at least one type of bow my most recent being legendary dragon bone bow with chaos enchant... but like i realized that i use magic most so kinda use bound bow more than physical bows and typically use my crossbow for vampires i use the summoned bow not only for infinate arrows but also cause it doesn't have any weight to slow me down and can summon it anytime rather than going through weapons of invatory to select a bow. but also cause even though physical arrows don't weigh anything they still clutter up your invatory too much but with bound bow you get the bow and spectural arrows
I’m kitted out with full Stahlrim. The bow’s enchanted with chaos, while alongside I have the arrows, Hacknear’s armour and all related accoutrement.
I do remember going to High Hrothgar one time and seeing the Dwarven Black Bow of Fate sitting atop of their counter just inside the back door. Up the small stairs towards the double doors that lead out back there is a counter and on top of it I found the Dwarven Black Bow of Fate. I have played countless characters and only once did I find it there. I can't even remember how far into the games questlines I had gotten. So I am not sure. But I havent been able to find since then.
Me who maxed archery but still uses iron arrows
I use Ancient Nord arrows unless there is a dragon. Most of the quivers don't look good with my armor.
@@ryanaegis3544 I can never find large quantities of arrows so I just use whatever
Its easy to get lots of dwarven metal to make dwarven arrows, good way to get smithing aswell
Once I was annoyed bc I kept not having enough arrows so I stacked so much wood and iron ingot that I was able to make like 5000 iron arrows 😂
I've never been able to get Zephyr working perfectly in tandem with the Quick Shot perk. If I release the arrow as soon as it's fully drawn, it just kinda flops out of the bow with little power. If I give it another half second or so after fully drawing, it works fine. Definitely a perk better used with slower, higher per-shot damage bows or crossbows IMO.
There is also The Black Bow from assassin. gives 60s of invisibility when drawn. Have to take assassin quest from proventious in Whiterun.
if you have enough gold you can fence your stolen items at the thieves guild (like a pickpocketed bow for instance) and rebuy it removing the stolen identifier
I've got 4 out of the 5 in my inventory because i forgot about the merchant, but i have an ebony bow of blaze at 81 damage that i use most i also have 4 out of the 5 one handed swords because I haven't joined the dark brotherhood, I'm also carrying round 443234 gold
My favorite bow is a legendary Daedric bow with shock and paralysis. I call it, The Reaper.
As far as bows go I use a dragon bone bow with the chaos enchantment, that is random to do either for eletric or frost damage one at a time, same thing on my dragon brown sword
i usually put a LOT of effort into enchanting and smithing...
so my favorite is a self-crafted Dragonbone bow with a Lifesteal enchantment or a Manasteal enchantment.
oh, and i mostly use self-crafted Dwarven arrows, since making LOTS of them is my favorite way to practice Smithing.
I prefer the Daedric bow because it seems like even though it doesnt have the highest base damage it has the hardest snap which creates maximum velocity behind the strike and I use chaos and soul trap I know there are a lot of people who might not use the chaos enchant but if you build your build right you can get the enchant to proc atleast 80% of every shot if not more personally I get the chaos proc atleast 90% of the time. Shoot while in sneak and you create more impact and more impact improves your chances of the enchant going off.
I really like using my Stalhrim Bow max upgraded and enchanted with Chaos damage and Fiery Soul trap hehe
Being real now, I really like Auriel's Bow and Zephyr from your list.
I never used Zepher or quick shot on my VR playthrough because it’s all just dependent on how fast you can reach behind your back, nock, aim, and release
Looking into being an archer in Skyrim because I feel that I am always a Battle Mage, Conjurer or a Warrior. Want to try something different.
Hope you enjoy it!
It is easy to level up and fun to pick people off at range, but it can get a little frustrating if they close the distance and are able to land a power smack on you, causing you to stagger, which ruins your aiming ability for a good half a second when you want to shoot them. Sneaking through dungeons, especially cramped, long, Falmer dungeons, seems to take forever, and can get mentally exhausting rather than fun. If you like to bring a follower or summon something to help fight with you, you can let them tank and sit back picking enemies off one by one. By the time you reach level 35, you will probably have enough power to one-shot all but the most powerful opponents in the game, especially if you are sneaking and have buffed your weapons and armor.
Paralyzing a dragon mid flight and one-shotting a sleeping dragon are the coolest parts so far.
I'm doing a new playthrough on Xbox One Anniversary. I've got the following bows: Nightingale, Zephyr, Drainspell, Dwarven Black Bow of Fate, Bow of Shadows, Froki's then a Daedric, Elven, and Enhanced Dragonbone crossbows. I use them for distance attacks, especially sniper like kills for Dark Brotherhood. My Dwarven Black bow looks to be my weakest one at 39 damage because I've just got it. Several others are at 276 damage like my Daedric crossbow, and valued at 1,512,752.
PS I forgot about Ruin's Edge.
Step 1: Dwarven Black Bow of Fate
Step 2: Enhanced Dwarven Crossbow with Fiery Soul Trap
Step 3: Azura's Star
Step 4: ...
Step 5: Profit
My bow when upgraded does 96. And has the chaos damage which deals 130 damage
But with a enchanted necklace that increases bow damage by 44% it goes from 96 to 130 something
That’s like 260 each hit
the Kajit is my fav character,, or a little the wood elf.. still like the dragon bone bow.. tried many others that as you showed are decent..
vampire+necromancy=improved quickshot
Why? Can you please explain?
i love how detailed he is he def got my sub keep it up
Blocking out the sun, sneaking and using archery bonuses all while seeing in the dark.... makes life easy
is it me or does the silver sword have a infinite charge with the undead enchantment the one i have sets them on fire and captures the soul but i never had to use a soul gem to recharge it
Capture soul refills it
If you have the perk that lets you put two enchantments on an item, you can use elemental fury and zephyr together.
Does that work?
I'm currently using a Daedric bow that does 331 damage not including the arrow damage. Even on master difficulty I can kill giants in one hit.
Imagine the enhanced dwarven crossbow with the chaos enchantment
Done
chaos+fiery souls
You could solve the dwemer puzzle for the black bow... Or you could phase through the gate with wooden plates
The nightingale bow can be made with a ebony bow and dual enchantment perk. I personally side with the dwarven enhanced crossbow. Honestly that thing is a beast. Especially after you upgrade it at a smithy, enchant it. It becomes even more of a beast if you use a fortify smithing potion n wear gear dedicated to that enchantment.
You can add the new Shadow Bow to this list
The enhanced dwarven crossbow with explosives bolts and the elemental fury shout which you can glitch into being able to learn as an enchantment if your quick. With all the perks and the enchantments available it is 100% the best weapon in the game and can be the fastest as well.
You can sometimes find them at the shack near the Elven Embassy
Thanks to the Creation Club/Anniversary Edition of Skyrim, there is a way to get Zephyr's draw speed up to a ludicrous level.
Vampire Necromage + the Bloodworm Helm of Gallows Hall gives vampiric Drgonborn 50% magical effects, this includes Perks and Weapon/armor enchantments. So Grab Necromage, then put on the Bloodworm Helm, THEN get the Quick Draw perk. Quick Draw's 30% will be boosted to 45% faster Draw Speed. With this Setup of Bloodworm+Necromage will also boost Zephyr's enchantment to the same 45% faster draw speed.
Meaning Zephyr has the capacity to draw an arrow 90% faster than any other bow in the game. We can make this even crazier by throwing in the Slow Time Shout, Mid Range Combat like this turns enemies into pincushions before they get anywhere near you.
Not sure if you’ve done a newer video based on the new bows introduced by the anniversary edition update.
If playing a sneak archer assassin type, which is rare for me, I prefer the daedric bow prior to level 46 and the Nightingale bow after.
But most of my archer builds don't use sneak as it's just too OP. I like making "combat archers" and using smithing and enchanting to max out the damage. The best combat archer build IMO is an Orc for the Berserker ability.
I buy all of the soul gems that I can and shoot everything that moves, so I have a simple soul trap hunting bow. Was the easiest to get with the second quickest firing speed, plus benefits from the steel smithing perk, and is tempered with leather strips.
Another great video caedo!
The inner stealth archer drew me here
You never let me down genesis
Take stalhirim, drink a potion for Ench, put Frost Damage on it, Boost Frost Damage from Destruction school, Sharp it with Smithing Boost , and thats the strongest non-glitch Range weapon in Skyrim.
But literally all enemies are resistant to frost attacks, I would go for fire or electric if struggle with mages
No one cares about strongest weapon though. Looks or roleplay value are way more important.
Id use chaos instead of frost
@@FWDepthperception I mostly used shock enchantment. Never tried chaos, sounds interesting.
Archery is a battle style not a trade
I do not recommend the Zephyr for a stealth archer since its low base damage often means you have to fire twice. but for dragons and literally anything else it has the best dps in the game. And the bound bow is extremely op. it outclasses a non upgrade ebony bow and will carry you early on. you do need perks in conjuration and illusion tho.
the nightingale bows stealth use is brought down a lot by the fact that it doesnt shoot quietly like every other bow and crossbow and isnt affected by smithing perks. Also being tied for slowest bow in the game makes it hard to get multiple shots off before being found and lowers its dps for normal fighting
BTW, you can increase your draw speed even more by becoming a Vampire and taking the Necromage perk from the Restoration Tree before you take the Quick Shot perk from the Archery Tree.
Dwarven Black Bow of Fate usually.... I play as a Tanky character normally board and sword or 2 handed.... got just enough archery and sneak perks to be pretty good with a bow.
My build is a heavy armor stealth archer, I'm fully decked out in Stalhrim armor, may upgrade to dragonbone, with all stalhrim weapons. I definitely plan to collect all the weapons on this list
My 2 favorites are Ariel's Bow and Zypher. I have won the civil war using only them. Ariel's Bow does damage whether you hit the target or not, Zypher fires so rapidly that you essentially have an automatic weapon.
I don't tend to use enchanted weapons because of the depleting enchantment bar with each use.
For me it's just too big of hassle to soul trap/carry soul gems just to recharge the enchantment of the weapon.
So if i use an enchanted weapon then i use only weapons such as Zaphyr wich has no enchantment bar to recharge but the weapon is till enchanted.
I like the Kajit and sneaking and bows are my preference.. nice tips.. thanks,,, i have never used mods in this game. just play differently every time i play.. and i do craft alot..bows and enchant them.. I wonder if you can actually take these bows to get their enchantment to your collection to enhance other bows that are crafted?
I did the quests/DLCs in order of most pressing end of the world, personally. Alduin is literally destroying the world right now, then Miraak is right behind him, and then finally the Vampire conspiracy seems like it's not quite ready to pop until I get involved.
Oh btw, the atherium wars can be found on farengar's bookshelves