In thisOblivion Remasteredguide, we will be taking a look at how to set up the infamous build inElder Scrolls, theStealth Archer Build.
Oblivion Remastered Guide — Stealth Archer Introduction
The Stealth Archer buildhas become one of the most well-known builds to come out of theElder Scrollsseries, and for good reason. It is a highly effective build that will allow you to deal with the majority of enemies easily, making you feel like a deadly shadow assassin throughout your playthrough.
There are a lot of ways to set up theStealth Archerbuild, but in this guide, we will be taking a look at how to make the build effective as early as possible, allowing you to go through the world of Oblivion like a shadow.
Character Creation
Oblivion offers up to 10 racesto choose from for your character, with each race having 2 different origins. Each origin will offer you different bonuses depending on your choice, and they can help your character become more powerful early on in the game.
As the name implies, theStealth Archer buildrelies on sneaking and taking out your enemies with huge damage from sneak attacks using your bow, and there are a couple of good choices to begin with.
If you are going for aStealth Archerbut want some utility and survivability, then theArnesia Argonianis a good race since you will have a +10 bonus to your agility and speed while having reduced willpower, endurance, and personality.
The bonus in agility is really helpful for increasing your damage with your bow, and the bonus speed is helpful all around in exploration and traversal. Having the highest starting lockpicking skill will allow you to loot more locked chests easily early on when you are just starting out. The higher starting Illusion and Mysticism skills will also help with some of the more useful spells you will be looking for in theStealth Archerbuild.
Another good race when you want to do a stealth archer playthrough is theWood Elf race. Since both origins offer bonuses to agility and speed, both are decent options, but personally, I prefer the Grahtwood origin as it starts with higherEnduranceand greater maximum HP compared toReaper’s March.. Another great reason to choose this race for the build is because they start with the highest level of marksman and sneak skills, which are the main skills that the build will be focusing on.
Both of these races have their strengths and weaknesses, but theWood Elfmay suffer early on if the bow does not take out the enemy quickly and you have to use melee weapons due to the lowerStrengthattribute
There are thirteenBirthsigns in Oblivion, and for theStealth Archer build,the best isThe Thiefas this sign is tailor-made for stealthy characters.
Having this Birthsign will grant an additional+10 to your agility, speed, and luckwithout any negative effects. The higher agility further increases your bow damage early on in the game, and the increase in speed will make it easier to kite your enemies or sneak past them as the situation allows.
Another good option isThe Shadowas this will allow the usage of Moonshadow, a greater power that allows you to become invisible for 60 seconds once per day. Although this does not offer direct combat buffs, it can be useful especially early on in the game where you have not gained access to Chameleon or other invisibility spells yet allowing you to get out of tight spots while remaining hidden.
Starting Class
In Oblivion, you can use either one of the predefined classes or build your own class with up to 7 major skills that you can specialize in depending on your main focus. Forthe Stealth Archer build,if you do not want to create a custom class, most of the Stealth specialization classes work, butthe Assassin class is the best because of the major skills—Acrobatics, Alchemy, Blade, Light Armor, Marksman, Security, and Sneak—which are basically everything you need to put together a powerfulStealth Archer build.
If you want to build a custom class, I would recommend going forthe Stealthspecialization with favored attributes ofAgilityand either Intelligence for more magicka or Endurance for more maximum health.
For your major skills, I recommendAcrobatics, Light Armor, Marksman, and Sneakfrom the stealth specialization, Illusion and Mysticism from the magic specialization, and Blade from the combat specialization. You can swap out the magic and combat skills for any skill of your choosing depending on the type of spells and weapons you will be using more often, but I picked these particular skills because of the Chameleon spell and Soul Tap spells for the magic skills, and for increased damage using daggers and shortswords, as the aim is to maximize the damage from using the bow by maxing out agility quickly.
Leveling Up
Attributes
For theStealth Archer build, you will want to focus on theAgilityattribute when you level up, as it will increase your bow damage. In addition, you will want to put some points intoStrengthandIntelligenceas you level up, which will allow you to use more spells and carry more items in your inventory depending on the specialization of your class.
Since you cannot put more than five points into a single attribute from the twelve points gained per level, I recommend focusing 5 points onAgilityevery level and then alternating between 5 points inStrengthorIntelligence, with the remaining 2 points in eitherWillpowerorEndurancedepending on your needs at the moment. Leveling up this way will spread out your stats nicely across your journey, bolstering the weaknesses thatthe Stealth Archer buildstruggles with early on in the game.
When leveling up skills,Oblivionuses a system of gaining experience for a particular skill when you use it. Some skills are easier to level up compared to others, and you can become quite powerful early on if you level certain skills quickly.
Sneak is one of the major skills for theStealth Archerbuild, and you can easily level this skill up to max level in the tutorial area if you have a little time and patience. You can level up sneak reliably when you come across the rats running from the zombie in the sewers area.
Do not kill the rats—let them run past you. After killing the zombie, you can sneak behind the rats in the tunnels as they will not turn around or have a roaming pattern, leaving you without worry of being discovered. Sneaking behind the rats will reliably level up your sneak skill. You can level up your sneak skill to the level you want before moving on, but it can take a while to level up after you’ve hit the50-point mark.
If you do not want to level the skill up this way, just trying to sneak behind anyone you may is a good way to consistently level the skill, and this will work in the cities as well, sneaking behind imperial guards. Even when you are caught, there will be no repercussions for just sneaking in the city.
Acrobaticsis another major skill that can be leveled up quite easily and will help you increase your level faster, as you can level this skill by bunny hopping whenever you are moving from one place to another. Although this can feel silly at times, the increase inAcrobaticsis actually quite useful since you will be able to dodge attacks using the unlocked ability once you reach skilllevel 25.
The rest of the major skills—Alchemy, Blade, Marksman, Light Armor, and Security—do not necessarily have easy ways to level up, but your level will go up naturally as you play through the game without needing to take extra steps.
For the minor skills, there are a few magic skills that can be quite useful for the Stealth Archer build, mainlyIllusion, Mysticism, and Restoration.
The Illusion skill is for theChameleonand other invisibility spells and is really useful for situations where there is no way for you to sneak past a guard without being noticed. The skill can take a while to level up, as it is not one of the major skills if you are not using a custom class, so I recommend visiting a trainer to level up the skill quickly along with your major skills. The novice trainer for Illusion,Jantus Brolus,can be found in Istrius Brolus’s House in Bruma. They can train the skill up tolevel 40.
After level 40, you can visit Carahil in the Mages Guild of Anvil, where they can continue your training up to level 70. As you can only train five times per level, I found that investing in training for Illusion was the best way to gain access to invisibility as early as possible, especially if you are not using the Shadow Birthsign.
You can buythe Chameleonspell from Ita Rienus at the Bravil Mages Guild, but you will need at least 50 in Illusion skill to use the spell.
For leveling the Mysticism skill, you can consistently level it up by using the Detect Life spell as you explore, allowing the skill to gradually level up so that you can eventually use Soul Tap to refill soul gems for recharging your magic weapons.
For the Restoration skill, I found it generally unnecessary to visit a trainer, as I was using the heal spell quite regularly during combat encounters, and this leveled up my Restoration skill at a steady pace.
Equipment and Item Progression
For theStealth Archerbuild, you do not need any special weapons for it to be effective, and you may easily get a strong setup going in the beginning hours of the game. After finishing the tutorial and leaving the sewers, you can follow the main story quest and fast travel toWeynon Prioryto deliver the amulet.
The steel bow you’re able to obtain fromJauffre’s chestis a solid early weapon and can reliably get the job done. As you level up, you will gradually come across better bows from your enemies as they will scale with your level. You can switch the bow out as you find better ones.
But if you want a strong bow without relying onRNG,you can get theShadowhunt bowfrom theDark Brotherhoodquestline. After completing the fifth faction quest (after the introduction), you will receive the bow if you manage to complete the quest undetected, so it’s highly recommended to make a save before attempting the hit to ensure you get the bow.
It’s a decentSteel Bowthat deals extra damage toHealth and Magicka, making it useful for dealing with mages. It also debuffs enemies with a weakness to poison, should you like to follow up your ranged attacks with a poisoned dagger.
The main drawback of this bow is that, if you cannot use theSoul Trap spellor charge the soul stones, you will have to spend money to recharge the bow regularly — and it can be quite costly.
For the armor pieces, light armor sets work best for this build, but a good armor piece to obtain early on that will help with the build tremendously is theDark Brotherhood Shrouded Armor and Hood. You can obtain these pieces after joining theAssassins Guild,and they are amazing for the build because the armor piece offers +8 and the hood offers +2 toSneak, Illusion, Marksman, Blade, and Acrobaticsskills respectively. These bonuses boost your effectiveness considerably as a stealth-focused build, making it easier for you to take out enemies in a single hit.
After you have leveled up these skills to a certain degree and feel like you do not need the extra bonus, you can switch out to theMithrilarmor set or the Glass armor set for better armor values. More often than not — although random drops — you will come across an armor piece with theChameleonspell enchanted onto it, enhancing your sneaking and allowing you to perform sneak attacks more easily.
For the rings and amulets, ideally, you will be looking for items that fortify yourAgilityattribute or any of your major skills, but they are not a necessity for the build to work.
If you are looking for a guaranteed drop,the Black Band ring and Cruelty’s Heart necklaceyou gain from completing theDark Brotherhood quests(while fulfilling the bonus requirements) will help.The Black Band ringfortifies the Light Armor and Security skills by 8 while also giving 8% spell resistance, while the Cruelty’s Heart necklace gives 8 points in Willpower and Strength, providing extra Magicka and max HP.
The Stealth Archerbuildcan utilize a few spells to good effect, complementing the burst damage from your sneak attacks.
The first is theChameleon spell, as this spell will allow you to sneak through any situation — especially in the late game after you’ve crafted a custom spell that allows 100% Chameleon. This is stronger than the Invisibility spell or Moonshadow greater power, as your invisibility will not be broken even after you have performed an interaction such as attacking or going through doors, allowing you to continue your sneak attacks if your opponent is not taken out in a single hit.
Another useful spell is theDetect Life spell. This spell is really good for knowing where the enemies are in an area around you, making it easier for you to plan your route while you are sneaking. This spell reduces the chance of unexpected discovery by enemies that were obstructed from your view around a corner when you are sneaking through dungeons and caves. This spell can be easily obtained at Edgar’s Discount Spells in the Imperial City Market District.
Another good spell to have for theStealth Archer buildis the Bound Dagger spell, which can also be easily obtained at Edgar’s Discount Spells. This spell is useful because it summons a Daedric Dagger, which has a good base damage value and can help you deal with enemies at melee range if the situation demands it. It can also be a solid alternate way of assassinating unsuspecting enemies, as the daggers deal 8x sneak attack damage as opposed to the 3x sneak damage done by bows.
Final Thoughts
The Stealth Archerbuild is a very powerful build that has the ability to take out most enemies you come across before they even know you are there, making it one of the strongest builds to play with when playing Oblivion.The Stealth Archer buildallows you to live out the ultimate power fantasy of being a deadly shadow across the lands of Cyrodiil.
Although quite strong, the build is not without its weaknesses, as you are not as strong as other classes when the enemies spot you and you have to engage in melee combat. You are relativelysquishy earlyon and need to be careful with your stealth and landing sneak attacks, as being surrounded by multiple enemies can quickly lead to your death if you are spotted.
Another thing to note is thatyou will also need to keep an eye on your arrow supply, as you can run out of arrows if you are not paying attention. The added weight of arrows adds another dimension to inventory management, which is already affected by the lower Strength attribute — especially early on in the game.
So, this wraps up the guide for theStealth Archer buildforOblivion: Remastered. Whether you are new to the game and experiencing it for the first time, or returning to the world of Oblivion for your 76th playthrough, I hope this guide helped you! If you have more tips or any questions, please leave them in the comments below!
