Archery Skill

Archery
Specialisation	Combat
Perks	9
Perk Points To Fill	16
Governing Stone	The Warrior Stone
Damage Per Point	+0.5%

Archery, called Marksman in the game's files, governs bows and crossbows in Skyrim. Every skill point adds half a per cent to the damage they deal.

How The Damage Adds Up

Three separate multipliers stack: the flat bonus from skill level, the Overdraw perk which doubles bow damage across five ranks, and improvements from the Smithing tree. A tempered bow in the hands of a fully perked archer does several times the damage the item card shows.

Crossbows come with the Dawnguard add-on and behave differently from bows: slower to reload, but they ignore a portion of armour and do not need to be drawn.

Perks Worth The Points

The tree costs sixteen points for nine perks because Overdraw and Critical Shot both have multiple ranks. Eagle Eye and Steady Hand together give the zoom-and-slow effect most archers rely on at range.

Where The Damage Comes From

All four stack.

Source	Effect
Skill level	+0.5% per point
Overdraw	Up to double damage
Critical Shot	Up to 20% critical chance
Smithing	Tempering the bow itself

Where It Sits

The eighteen skills split three ways. Full list on Skills.

Specialisation	Stone	This skill
Magic	The Mage Stone	-
Combat	The Warrior Stone	Yes
Stealth	The Thief Stone	-