So what is the point of the bound weapons? My plan was to make a conjurer, archer, sneak thief and I came across the bound bow spell. I have no idea how much damage it does when compared to my elven bow.

So is the point to save arrows or save on carry weight? Does it penetrate armor? Without knowing what kind of damage it does I'm kind of reluctant to use it. The only benefit that I can think of is for leveling conjuration, still not sure whether it levels just by having it active (like the summons) or when you do damage with it (like a traditional bow). Does using a bound bow raise the archery skill?

The only real obvious benefit I see to the bound bow is the soul trap if you take that perk.

[Edited on December 9, 2011 at 8:20 AM. Reason : -]

12/9/2011 8:18:24 AM

I haven't really used it yet, but I'm going to try a spellsword build after my battlemage, and see if I can use the bound weapons as reliable damage in combat.

12/9/2011 8:22:47 AM

I've been able to dig up a small bit of info, so I guess my question will turn into info for those that care:

* Firing the bound bow raises both conjuration and archery skills
* The archery and conjuration skill adds to its damage. So you get all your archery perks plus extra damage for leveling archery and conjuration.
* I read you have to have conjuration level 50 to get it, but I bought it off some dude at the college when I had a conjuration level in the mid 40s.
* You can equip iron/ebony/orcish/etc. arrows on a bound bow. I didn't know that. I'll have to try it out.
* +% to bow damage skills work
* According to a Skyrim wiki the bound bow does 18 base damage. This puts it right in between the ebony (17) and daedric (19) bows. The bound bow goes up to 24 base damage once you take the mystic binding perk. Some people seem to think that the bound bow with the perk does more damage than a legendary daedric, so I think I'll just go with that.

\/

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Weapons
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Bound_Bow#Bound_Bow (includes all bound weapon stats)

And I *think* your base damage is taking your archery skill level plus any +% bow damage items into account. So if your bow says it does 125 damage and you take off some +25% to bow damage gauntlets you'd see your base damage on that bow drop to 100. This is just a guess. I'm assuming that the damages listed in those links are base damages with no +% damage items and with weapon skill levels for that weapon class at 0.

[Edited on December 9, 2011 at 8:43 AM. Reason : -]

12/9/2011 8:28:43 AM

i was curious of the exact damage level of that myself. my current bow does somewhere between 95ish and 115ish base dmg and have a 5-10 pt fire dmg enchant on it.

12/9/2011 8:32:54 AM

http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1601

multiplayer mod in the works!

12/9/2011 9:28:47 AM

^ Oh shit!

12/9/2011 10:11:53 AM

wow. that'd be pretty sweet

[Edited on December 9, 2011 at 10:24 AM. Reason : i see he needs modelers. wish i had experience in this]

12/9/2011 10:13:58 AM

A long time ago there was an announcement for a Goldeneye mod for Crysis. It never got beyond the stage where someone did a few weapon models, maybe a map. The fruits of that project only amounted to a website that solicited help. I hope this one doesn't fall into the same category. Of course that Goldeneye mod never had a download link, this does, and there is a bigger modding community for this sort of game.

If that guy doesn't get it done I'm fairly confident that it will get done by someone at some point.

[Edited on December 9, 2011 at 11:01 AM. Reason : -]

12/9/2011 11:00:25 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhBiNx749Zw

This dude is hilarious.

12/9/2011 11:18:18 AM

Another one from him
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQTV43g-hAo

12/9/2011 11:40:57 AM

haha love the kid in his underwear killing things.

12/9/2011 3:21:30 PM

Those were both awesome, but the unarmed video had me dying

12/9/2011 4:23:50 PM

Yeah, I'm definitely making an unarmed character, though I probably will play Khajit for the bonus.

[Edited on December 9, 2011 at 5:21 PM. Reason : He was right]

12/9/2011 5:18:51 PM

"Punch the shit out of the wildlife...fucking wolves."

12/9/2011 8:14:27 PM

Sure, but are there any perks/skills that help you as unarmed?

12/10/2011 3:22:19 AM

Did you watch the video?

12/10/2011 3:49:07 AM

Can't get youtube in the hospital.

12/10/2011 4:01:07 AM

hah, those videos were awesome...really didn't think unarmed could be so brutal

12/10/2011 9:05:55 AM

^^ Talk about adding insult to injury.

12/10/2011 9:58:33 AM

Fists of steel perk in the heavy armor tree.

Unarmed is never going to be as powerful as a weapon though.

12/10/2011 10:12:20 AM

You sure about that? My level 2 Kajiit cleared Bleak Falls Barrow faster than any other characters I've made. He does a shitton of damage with the gloves of the pugilist.

12/10/2011 10:32:25 AM

Yeah but that's pretty much all the damage he'll ever do.

Unarmed can be powerful at the beginning but it doesn't increase.

The video was wrong about smithing, fists of steel only takes the base value of the gauntlets for unarmed damage. It doesn't take into account your perks or your smithing upgrades. So a pair of daedric gauntlets might have an armor rating of like 60 but they only add like 18 damage to unarmed.

12/10/2011 2:49:23 PM

If you could enchant your hands that would be pretty sweet though.

12/10/2011 6:39:49 PM

No one wants to be a walrus

12/11/2011 2:27:29 PM

Fucking dental appointment, bitch.

12/11/2011 4:08:57 PM

Is there any way to combine the Elemental Fury shout and enchanted weapons?

Also, have the magic resist bugs been fixed yet? Been getting raped by any and all magic users, especially all of the. Frost Elder dragons that have been popping lately

12/11/2011 4:12:55 PM

Heard that Update 1.3 fixed the resistances. Don't know if it is out for consoles. Heard it was out for PCs.

12/11/2011 4:14:48 PM

makes me want to buy this game

12/11/2011 4:49:25 PM

skryim is $50 at target

PC: http://www.target.com/p/Elder-Scrolls-5-Skyrim-PC-Games/-/A-13439254
PS3: http://www.target.com/p/Elder-Scrolls-V-Skyrim-PlayStation-3/-/A-13475913
360: http://www.target.com/p/Elder-Scrolls-V-Skyrim-XBOX-360/-/A-13475872

12/11/2011 5:09:53 PM

I take it thats only for online orders...closest Target to me is right beside a Best Buy

12/11/2011 5:31:47 PM

^^^^Update 1.3 Notes (all platforms unless specified)

General stability improvements
Optimize performance for Core 2 Duo CPUs (PC)
Fixed Radiant Story incorrectly filling certain roles
Fixed magic resistances not calculating properly
Fixed issue with placing books on bookshelves inside player purchased homes
Fixed dragon animation issues with saving and loading
Fixed Y-look input to scale correctly with framerate


forum talk is positive, although some say bookshelves aren't working as good now. i suspect the "issue" with it was that quest reward book that could be exploited to max out skills.

[Edited on December 11, 2011 at 5:39 PM. Reason : --]

12/11/2011 5:36:40 PM

^ My bookshelf broke today... hope they fix it.

12/11/2011 7:39:26 PM

Guess I just need to learn to fight mages better then . Started the images college which cued me in to using wards...but more often than not I just fusrodah them into the wall and chop them down. I have the shield perk, but that doesn't really help when I cant get close to them since they can walk backwards.

I gotta say, of the quests with legendary back stories and whatnot, the Gauldur Amulet reward was the biggest let down of all time. Supposedly, some epic amulet gave a guy an immense amount of power, and said amulet split up was still able to give its new users plenty of power to ravage the countryside. Get the amulet....and its +30 to health, magika, and stamina.

The Red Falcon Ridge Forsworn or w/e was a let down as well, but that didn't involve hours in dungeons fighting Daugr bosses and whatnot

Oh, and one of my bookcases broke as well. I tried ti out tii many books on it and the thing flipped out.

[Edited on December 11, 2011 at 10:20 PM. Reason : kjnsdg]

12/11/2011 10:19:05 PM

http://www.ranker.com/list/the-very-best-of-the-skyrim-_arrow-in-the-knee_-meme/robert-wabash

ha, the conspiracy keanu is funny

^ yea i was disappointed by the amulet too. i actually kinda wish there were more badass armor/weapons in the game -- i sorta like finding unique weapons that are better than anything you can make. heh today, i made some amazing daedric armor by building myself a set of +smithing items and downing a +smithing potion. has to be better than any unique armor in the game.

[Edited on December 11, 2011 at 10:27 PM. Reason : .]

12/11/2011 10:22:52 PM

Odd, I think the Gauldur Amulet was badass. I haven't seen any other items yet that give both health and stamina. All of my characters use it. Also, the quest was fun and interesting. <shrug>

12/12/2011 9:27:30 AM

i just did the Gauldur Amulet quest last night and i have to say i was a bit disappointed it wasn't more than what it was. but regardless, i'm still wearing it to help me out.

finally got my smithing up to where i can improve magical items. went buck-wild on all my weapons and armor making everything exquisite or flawless. noticed a big improvement in battle which i was pleased with.

[Edited on December 12, 2011 at 9:36 AM. Reason : u]

12/12/2011 9:36:06 AM

Well for me, its between that amulet and a necklace that gives +35% damage to one handed weapons...and I'm dual wielding a lot now because my armor can take a lot of hits. I did find a crappy pair of gloves that gives +one handed damage, so I may eventually get my enchanting up to that "double enchantment" perk and put the damage enchantment on some of my gear

Its a great amulet, but seems underwhelming compared to items that have truly powerful effects, like Daedric artifacts and such

I too wish that there were more insane unique armors and weapons in this game. One of my friends has the Champions battle axe which supposedly he can't find a more powerful two handed weapon, but I don't know of any great armors

[Edited on December 12, 2011 at 10:17 AM. Reason : and yeah, I do think the quest was pretty awesome story wise]

12/12/2011 10:16:44 AM

yea maxed out my enchanting and smithing. had a potion that raised enchantment by 25% for 60 seconds.. had to very quickly enchant all my new badass daedric armor.

though i just found an item that increases one-handed... kinda sad i didn't wait to enchant until i had learned that enchantment (i'm a sword/shield user)

12/12/2011 10:40:45 AM

I'm doing a sneak/bow build and can take out most things now pretty easily with zoom slow time. Except archer bosses like Gauldur can one shot me sometimes.

Anyone know of a quick way to raise enchanting?

12/12/2011 11:19:05 AM

I'm currently on a sneak/bow build and I've found that 100 conjuration, 100 archery, and the bound bow with mystic binding takes care of everything. If I'm not spotted 90% of the time I kill an enemy with one hit. The only exceptions being mammoths (2 hits), dragons (one stealth shot, then 4-5 additional regular shots), and the occasional deathlord draugr (2 hits). I haven't hit 100 in either just yet and I'm still lacking the final +damage bow perk, the slow time perk, and the final +critical damage bow perk.

I've read that the bound bow is the equivalent of a daedra bow with daedra arrows and gets bonuses from conjuration and archery. I've read that it does slightly less damage than a legendary daedra bow, so I use it almost exclusively. Also, the bound bow using daedra arrows thing is nice, since those arrows are scarce early on, so it's nice to have an unlimited supply of them.

Now I can get into some trouble if I'm spotted, but then I'll use summons to bail me out. With sneak currently sitting in the mid 80s it hasn't come up very often. The one perk I'm on the fence about is the one where you get silent casting. That would fit my build perfectly but you have to waste 3 prereq perks to get it and have 50 in illusion, which I've never used.

^
I don't know that there is a quick way for leveling enchanting. Most things I've seen involve raising smithing and enchanting at the same time. Buy a bunch of petty soul gems, make sure they are filled, go out and fill them if they were empty when you bought them. Make a ton of iron daggers, then painstakingly enchant all the daggers. Repeat.

[Edited on December 12, 2011 at 11:44 AM. Reason : -]

12/12/2011 11:33:05 AM

Quote :

"i sorta like finding unique weapons that are better than anything you can make."

This is the problem with crafting and enchanting in a game and the reason I wasn't really enthusiastic about it when it was announced. When people max out crafting and enchanting they are going to be pissed when they find equipment that makes the 15-20 levels of perks they dumped into those

But on the other hand it makes no sense that a dude who has been smithing for a month or so can make stuff better than the legendary mythic armor of legendary myths.

I think if they kept smithing the best option would be to have it be the best stuff but still require a quest to get it. Like you can make the epic armor of the demon but you have to first find the eyes of a spectral dragon, which is at the bottom of a huge dungeon.

12/12/2011 12:03:58 PM

Quote :

"Make a ton of iron daggers, then painstakingly enchant all the daggers. Repeat."

this. yea never had the specific goal of "OK i'm going to level enchanting" -- instead i made sure i always had plenty of soul gems, and always soul trapped everything before i killed it, then when i'm back in town to dump my loot, i'd make some iron daggers, enchant them with absorb heatlh (probably a better one to do, but they'd be worth 3-400 gold usually) and sell them. good way to get money too.

probably easier ways out there, but i sorta got in a groove with that, and it didn't take _too_ long.

12/12/2011 2:46:08 PM

Everybody post your most badass looking character

12/12/2011 3:46:41 PM

Damn, that's pretty badass.

12/12/2011 4:16:01 PM

Love that you can name your custom enchanted items.

Just built two Daedric swords, enchanted em with frost and shock.

Dirty Annie and Runaround Sue are now my two closest friends.

12/12/2011 9:50:01 PM

If only I could post my character off of my PS3!

12/12/2011 11:33:07 PM

picked this up today, been playing the last 5 hours

been running an unarmed class, currently with some steel gauntlets, going around and punching wildlife to death...finished off the first dragon with my fists...havent spoken with the greybeards yet though, been doing sidequests

is there a perk, or recommended way to customize weapons or apparel so you can hold more weight in items? i have some iron boots that give +30 to carry but thats never enough


[Edited on December 13, 2011 at 12:33 AM. Reason : .]

12/13/2011 12:32:59 AM

There's a +100 weight perk in pickpocketing. Just be careful because I got that first and everything leveled hard.

Otherwise find a companion that doesn't suck. They're good mules. If you do any AOE maybe get a ranged companion

12/13/2011 12:55:12 AM

Steed Stone gives you both +100 carry weight AND makes your armor weightless.

You can find it East of Morthal.

12/13/2011 12:56:39 AM

There's also a perk in the heavy armor tree (conditioning), I assume you're already going for the fists of steel perk, conditioning is two above that. You have to waste a perk on cushioning though. I just offer that because I'd rather use the Lover Stone for the 15% boost to all skill development. Perks are limited, so you might go with the Lover Stone until you level your main skills, then switch to the Steed Stone.

I found myself with little weight to give on my first play through. In time I figured out what was important, now in my second play through I'm usually only carrying in the 150-175 lbs range. The hard thing is that in the beginning you don't have a house, or you may still be trying to get the 5000 to buy that house near the beginning, and you feel like you need to hang on to the dragon bones/scales. I didn't worry about that so much in the second play through because by the time I got smithing up to 100 I had enough bones and scales to make 5 or 6 legendary sets of armor, that and the daedric is better if you plan on going heavy armor. So yeah, missing out on those 3 scales and 3 bones in the beginning before I got the house wouldn't have changed a thing.

12/13/2011 7:34:51 AM