Oblivion Marksmanship

Introduction
The Marksman skill is an essential weapon for any stealth based character. Allowing the player to strike from a distance and cause maximum damage in a short amount of time. With the correct tools and some handy hints you'll be able to turn your stealth character into a precise and effective killing machine.

This guide will go through every kind of bow/arrow you can get and how to put them to good use. It'll also cover some tips and tactics to get the most out of every shot.

Types of Bows
There are a wide variety of bows in Oblivion. With various enchantments ard strengths, your choice of bow for any given situation is critical.

Shadowhunt
A reward for the Dark Brotherhood quest, The Lonely Wanderer.

Hatreds Soul
Found in the Chorrol Oblivion Gate during the Allies for Bruma quest.

Types of Arrows
There is an even wider variety of arrows in Oblivion. Combining these with different bows can bring different and unexpected results against various enemies.

Novice
At Novice level you will lose fatigue while drawing your bow. Watch this because for many warrior classes this may be extremely quick.

Apprentice
An Apprentice of marksman will not suffer any loss of fatigue drawing a bow.

Journeyman
At the Journeyman level, the player has the ability to zoom in on a target by holding the block button while an arrow is drawn. Be careful as you'll lose a lot of your peripheral sight when doing this.

Expert
An expert of marksman has a chance of knocking there opponent down. Shots at the feet will send NPCs higher, while shots to the body will send them further.

Master
A Master retains all of the abilities of the previous skill perks. He also gains the chance to paralyze his opponent on strike.

Basic Tips
- Lead your target. Just because you’ve taken the shot, doesn’t mean your target won’t stop moving. Try and anticipate there movements. Practicing on deer (Because they are agile and move a lot) is definitely the safest and most effective practice.

- Arch your shot. Gravity begins to affect your arrow as soon as it is fired. So unless you are at point blank range, your arrow will hit lower than where you aimed. When taking a long shot, adjust your aim to be higher than your target.

- Pick your shots. Try and do as much damage as possible in the shortest amount of time to the strongest enemy first. For example, if you were faced with a rat and a Clannfear, you’d try and take out the Clannfear as quickly as possible, then dispose of the rat later. Why alert stronger enemies with a weakling’s death?

Your Bow is Sweeter with Poison
As marksman’s best friend is of course his/her bow, but their bedfellow is always going to be poisons. Poisons add a huge advantage to marksmen. Without them your bow will be far less effective. Applying bow base damage + arrow base damage + bow enchantment + arrow enchantment+ multiple effect poison will result in huge amounts of damage in a ridiculously short amount of time. Here is a poison that never fails me. Of course a high skill in alchemy is needed.

Bane:

•	Damage Health •	Damage Magicka •	Ice Damage •	Silence •	Paralyze

Made with Frost Salts, Milk Thistle Seeds, Harrada and Wormwood Leaves. Combined with enchanted weapons this poison seals the deal. Even if they get up after you hit them, the enemy will soon die from the Damage Health and Ice Damage effects. Even a simple Paralyze poison will allow you to run in for some quick hits.

Advanced Tips
- Freaky sneaky. While sneak attacking, switching to a melee weapon as soon as you fire will cause the game to apply the melee weapons sneak multiplier (x4 or x6) instead of the bows (x2 or x3). This can add a huge amount of extra damage on that crucial first shot.

- Knock first. Shooting a door that does not lead to another cell (i.e. Old Wooden Door) will sometimes cause an arrow’s enchantment to take effect. This can allow you to draw one enemy away from others or simply land the killing blow.

- Be prepared. Having a bow and arrow combo with only shock damage is great, but what happens when you come up against a Strom Atronach? Having a contingency plan is a must for marksman. Having a few of two or three different types of arrows means you’ll be prepared for every situation.

Tables copied and reformated from UESP