I was wondering..before I get too far on this Range kinda character I am making . What type of melee support should I use . I am leaning towards Dual Daggers but was also thinking 2h Swords. Just wondering what others have done or think. Thank you :)

I started out with bow + sword/shield, and it worked out quite well. Drifted into using more stealth, eventually switching sword and shield for two daggers.

I think the bottom line is that you will be fine with whatever you feel like using.

@_Horde: sounds like some good info . Thank you :)

Are you doing stealth + archery or simply archery? Because if it's the former you have no reason to bother with melee weapons, but if you are not going to mess with sneak I'd suggest sword and board. At least at lower levels it's a lot more reliable than two-handed from my experience, can't really speak for either of them at max as I've not made it there yet.

Daggers and swords both fall under the one-handed category so you can focus on a single perk tree. Add the stealth dagger perk and you're set.

@Zenaxzd: I am probably going to use stealth a lot with archery. So yeah leaning more towards Sword/Board until more into stealth and focus on daggers

@Zenaxzd: I am probably going to use stealth a lot with archery. So yeah leaning more towards Sword/Board until more into stealth and focus on daggers

I have a dagger for stealth kills when I don't want to use my bow, but I usually just use my bow whenever I get compromised and have to fight in close quarters. It's not very convenient, but it works. If things get really nasty, I take out the Sanguine Rose and summon a Daedric dude who usually wipes out everything pretty quickly.

For now I am going to stick to daggers. But my new thing now is if I want to use a bound bow or just use ones that I pick up

Try not to dabble too much in multiple weapon types since if you level from them early on enemies will seem very hard. Initially I would advise sticking to 1 weapon type exclusively. Even if you don't 100% at least put perks in just 1 offensive weapon tree.

Bows: Good playstyle. The game engine handles bow physics rather well, so it's fun to play. A slight issue is that it becomes annoying when enemies get close (with the stagger).

dual daggers: if you go for this you will probably need to level sneak and put perks in light armor, one-handed and sneak for it to be optimal. Once you do the req. perk investments this is probably the highest damage build. However restealthing when there is a group of enemies can be a pain, and out of stealth your damage isn't spectacular.

dual swords: this goes well with heavy armor (don't even need to put in perks into this initially), one-handed with 30% crit perk. After that you're free to put perks anywhere I would go for smith/ench then maybe alchemy. Out of stealth this is the highest damage playstyle. You don't have to bother with restealthing and damage is insane. Probably the most optimal playstyle in the game.

I started by focusing on a bow for distance and mid-range and a two handed sword for up close action. Basically, if it got within melee range, I wanted to kill it as quickly and decisively as possible. It's worked pretty well although I admit I don't go melee often because I am traveling with Lydia and sometimes she gets whacked in my enthusiasm. That's why I prefer distance where I can aim my attack and avoid hitting her. When the 2-H does come into play well is when she takes a knee and I can kite the mob away from her to use the over sized blade. Bears are a perfect example.

Having said that, I spent most of my perk points on spells (and enchanting/smithing), so really my character is a mage who uses bows and a 2-H sword. Probably not the best combination, but I've had great fun with it so far (level 27).

Once I found the shiv I wanted to make a stealth character. I'm still a Mother F'n Wizzard though.

I am only going to focus really on Archery , Stealth. Some points into 1h and light armor and using Alchemy as my main source of healing ( I think). I am just now undecided if I want to do anything with Smithing or Enchanting and from that if I should use a Bound bow or make/pick up bows.

ahh forgot to mention - if you are going for a physical damage playstyle it's probably best not to bother with magic at all. There might be a case for levelling illusion for muffle (which is easy enought, just cast it ever few seconds). You *could* level restoration to heal yourself but personally I found it a lot easier to just use healing potions. Either way don't put perks into any of these trees.

@Deathshroud: I'd definitely suggest pursuing smithing and enchanting if you're going to concentrate on bows. The Elven bow I am using now is upgraded to flawless (more damage than a found bow) and has a +26 frost enchant on top of the base 24 damage (might be more than that). As you get better at both you can make better weapons than any you'll run across normally. So far I disenchant or sell anything, even magical weapons for mats to make better ones for me and Lydia (although I usually just give her all my staffs and that seems to keep her happy).

Honestly do whatever the hell you want. I am a stealth character, who uses mainly bows, but when I get into melee combat I bust out my war hammer.

Dual daggers has been working out great for me. With the 15x stealth perk, you can one hit literally anything in the game from sneak.

54 dmg fire bow + 26 dmg ebony axe (one handed). 
 
I sometimes use the green mace and usually have a staff and a two handed weapon with me too.

My first playthrough I used a bow and dual swords and added a bit of stealth. Once enchanted/smithing is maxed out this build became invincible.

I do really want to make a pure stealth character with daggers just to make the game a bit more challenging but I've already made a mage and a cat boxer so it would be my fourth new character. Haven't played the game in a while I guess, any reason to pop back in.

But essentially if you max smithing/enchanting any character build becomes invincible, whether it be casting infinite magic or having huge attack buffs. I think my next play through I will not touch it so it becomes more of a loot driven game. Maybe.

@Voxel: I love the Sanguine Rose!!!

try also using a battle mage as a backup for when arrows aren't working :) you will find it to be alot of fun, as it is currently what i am doing with my level 25 nord. I realie that nords are supposed to be 2h tank types, but who cares?

dual daggers ain't doing shit against a dragon 50 feet away, now some spells on the other hand lol. I didn't realize how much of a powerful mage my heavy armor dual wielding character is.