The Stealth Archer Was Inevitable

every time, "oh, this time I'll play a melee build, hmm, but I need a ranged option for dragons so let me grab a bow and now I'm a stealth archer"

The conjuration slander tho. I'll have you know, collecting flowers as my two dremora throw hands with a dragon while yelling profanities at it in the background is peak gameplay.

Why stealth archery is the most common playstyle : - Because at early levels, it allows you to win fights you otherwise wouldn't be able to. - Because the stealth skill level pretty fast and give you a huge damage boost quite early. - Because at higher levels, it is still one of the most efficient way to one shot weak enemies, or deal massive damage to stronger enemies before having to properly engage with them. - Because shooting at stuff with a cool slowmo kill cam is more fun than going into a wetnoodle slapping contest, or using a magic system that make you ask "why does every NPC spellcasters seem to use a magic system 10x more powerfull than mine". Stealth is overpowered, but it also feel like the least jank combat playstyle of the game. - Because the fantasy of the stealthy "they're dead without ever seeing me" guy is appealing to a lot of people. You just have to be willing to explore the game with a reduced walking speed most of the time...

I cannot believe anyone mentioned the Ranger's Apprentice in 2024, I loved those books and hardly meet anyone who's read them.

This is like the Skyrim version of “why everything turns into crabs”.

tl;dw stealth archer is inevitable because it avoids the janky combat

I remember one playthrough. I told myself that this time I'd be a spell sword. Well, the bound weapons happen to be particularly strong for most of the game. So, I run off and hunt down the spell for single sword. "While I'm at it, might as well get bound bow. It'll be a while before I have good ranged spells." I don't need to explain the rest. You all know what happens from here lol.

"Magic can go f*** itself. Mages don't know how to sneak." I'm aware you were mostly referring to sneak bonuses, but illusion magic. Archery certainly helps, but the illusion tree is primarily how I'm able to play Skyrim on the maximum difficulty. I don't need a damage bonus when I can frenzy a room full of enemies, hide with invisibility, and watch in amusement as they kill each other.

2024. Im finally healed. I no longer fight reality. I just started right out as a stealth archer this time.

You can take the bow away from an archer but you can't take the archer away from a bow

My schoolmate was the model for Ranger's Apprentice. The writer was local to my hometown. Good dude. We gave him so much shit for it but It's nice to hear you enjoyed it.

Part of it, is that even tho the combat is janky, they got the feel of archery right, and it feels so good.

When you're crouching holding a bow, your form somewhat resembles that of a crab, the penultimate shape that evolution seems to favor...

Everything you said is true and relevant, but Id argue there is another important reason for the rise of the stealth archer: safety. With stealth arching you are sneaking around in peace, choosing when to engage and dont have the stress of people hitting you, blocking or anything else. You are in control most of times. Which is a good thing for all the people who are not coming from action games.

The moment Ranger's Apprentice was mentioned I knew this was gonna be a good video.

Worth noting: Because arrows have no carry weight and can be sold, they are effectively also money. So it's a good idea to pick up every arrow you find even if you're not going to use them. This also applies to all types of ammunition in the Fallout games, which is worth keeping in mind because at some point you're probably going to have more .38 rounds than you have caps. Same thing goes for pre-war money, which I find hilarious, because they have a base value of ten caps (eight in FO4) and can be used to directly purchase other items via bartering. Meaning that even in the apocalyptic wasteland centuries after the fall of the United States, the US dollar is still a more valuable currency than caps.

I think stealth archery is inevitable because no matter what kind of combat you focus on, it just makes good tactical sense to start each fight with a ranged ambush from stealth and then switch to your main weapon of choice.

And the entire poison mechanic is PERFECT for using with a bow! Putting paralysing poison on your bow is so OP its hilarious!

One reason I think archery has such a strong draw is that it rewards skill. There is a LITTLE bit of skill in melee, but mostly it's just a numbers game. You swing until they die. You block when you see them swinging at you. But if you try to side step an attack? Nope! The AI automatically follows you. They can turn on a dime and hit you anyway. Magic is even worse. You just hold down or spam a button until they die or you run out of magicka. Meanwhile, with archery, you have to time your shots, take into account gravity as it pulls the arrow down, as well as your own elevation compared to your enemy's. It's very satisfying when you see an enemy walking by in the distance and you nail them in the head.

This tickled me so pink since the first time I played Skyrim I was a competitive archer in college and felt very much in tune with Skyrim archery mechanics the same way