It's something of a running joke among the Elder Scrolls community that every character in Skyrim will eventually become a stealth archer at some point and for good reason. Of all the builds that can be made in The Elder Scrolls 5, a stealth-focused archer can easily deal with most threats by dealing high damage while keeping themselves healthy for a long time.

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As easy as being a stealth archer makes Skyrim, especially later in the game when the Sneak and Archery skills are at high levels, there are several mistakes that many players make when playing this class, particularly if they are coming from past Elder Scrolls titles.

Updated on January 14, 2022, by Anastasia Maillot: Skyrim's 10th-year anniversary has passed, and one thing remains the same: stealth builds continue to absolutely dominate in the game in terms of power and the amount of fun players can have. Nothing seems to beat the sheer damage and destruction a stealth archer build can bring to a fight. That said, players who have yet to embark on the journey of building a stealthy character are susceptible to making some common mistakes. Here's what to avoid doing when building the most powerful stealth character in Skyrim (and what to do instead).

13 Not Taking Advantage Of Standing Stones And Shrines

Skyrim landscape and standing stones

This problem isn't unique to stealth character builds. In fact, regardless of which archetype the player goes for, it's not uncommon for them to downright ignore Standing Stones and shrines. Early into the game and even mid-game, these shrines and altars provide useful and powerful boosts.

Dibella and Zenithar have good shrines for the thief archetype, with a 10% boost to prices to +10 points to speech. Those with access to Nocturnal's shrine, however, should stick with the Daedric Prince which gives a 10% stealth boost when sneaking. From Standing Stones, the Thief Stone (stealth levels 25% faster) and the Shadow Stone (use invisibility for one minute once a day) are both fantastic choices.

12 Ignoring Alchemy

Skyrim Hooded Player Performing Alchemy

Each archetype usually picks one of the three crafting skills in Skyrim: enchanting, alchemy or smithing. Though there's no real rule on which one to pick, alchemy is far better than most players give credit, especially for stealth archers and assassin character builds.

Players can craft powerful potions that will add damage and special effects to their blades and arrows. Moreover, crafting health potions saves a ton of gold in Skyrim, which thieves can put into other, more valuable purchases.

11 Not Having A Fight Plan

Skyrim Orcs In Combat

Any character build that doesn't rely on melee damage and heavy armor needs a fight plan. This definitely goes for stealth builds, which usually have a lower defense and can't tank a horde of enemies. That's why players will have to take enemies by surprise.

Finding vantage points or even using a tanky follower as a shield can be a great way to engage in tough fights. However, simply walking in without a plan, especially at higher difficulties, will only lead to the player getting punished. Archers can also try to use a bottle-neck strategy on enemies by baiting them to walk through doorways, allowing players to take them one by one.

10 Getting Creative With Races

Skyrim Khajiit Preparing For An Attack With A Sword And Shield

While it's generally accepted that Elven races are best suited for mage builds and human races are best for melee builds, the beast races, the Argonians, and Khajiit, are generally seen as the best picks when it comes to making a stealthy character. This is due to their special race powers and abilities that are better suited for stealth builds. For example, Khajiit naturally start off with a higher skill rating in stealth.

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However, Skyrim can feel like a Dark Souls game if too many "creative" choices are made. Because non-stealthy characters have to level up more times to max out the skill, they will necessarily face harder enemies at the end of the game. Stick with the classics.

9 Using Melee Weapons

Auriel's Bow skyrim

Archery isn't perfect. For one, both the bow and crossbow have a relatively slow reload time, making them less than ideal if the player needs to hit an enemy multiple times in quick succession. Both bows also have an obvious weakness in melee range, with it being very easy to miss an arrow or bolt while the player is also more susceptible to damage.

That being said, bows paired with stealth at high levels of archery are by far some of the best weapons in Skyrim. One-Handed weapons frankly can't reasonably kill some of the game's hardest enemies and putting any points into one-handed skills creates tougher enemies in the long run. Stealth characters relying on daggers alone will suffer significantly, which is why any stealth character should always have the option to use a bow.

8 Taking Destruction Over Illusion Magic

Skyrim Illusion Magic Spell

For many character builds, particularly further into the game once all of the main skills have been leveled to the point where they have been invested in as much as possible, players will jump into Mage class skills in order to add a little more spice to their character. Commonly they'll opt for Conjuration or Destruction since that's what the most powerful mages in the series have traditionally gone for. For stealth builds, however, this isn't the best option.

Of all the Mage class skills, Illusion is the best suited for a stealthy character on multiple levels. For one, it allows the player to use powerful spells like Muffle and Invisibility to keep themselves hidden. But it also has the unique perk Quiet Casting, which means that all spells will not alert enemies when cast.

7 Forgetting To Employ Followers

Skyrim Lydia Follower

Followers in Skyrim can be a little awkward at first, as they tend to get in the way of attacks and can very easily ruin a perfect stealth approach at lower levels. However, they can be useful as cannon fodder while the player sits back and watches the mayhem unfold, though this may also result in the follower potentially dying in the process. Make sure to pick followers that are marked as Essentials by the game, which means they won't be able to die.

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All followers can be directed by the player, however, so they can still be useful despite their tendency to get in the way and can help the player deal with enemies when they aren't able to sneak past, particularly when dragons become involved. The best type of followers in Skyrim for stealth characters are particularly tanky, One-Handed, or Two-Handed specialists. Stay away from other stealth characters and mages.

6 Smithing For Equipment

Skyrim Iron Dagger Smithing

For most Skyrim players, Smithing is a skill that they will need to invest in at some point to bridge the damage gap between their weapons and the enemy's ever-increasing health pool. Strength-based characters can make amazing use of the Atronach Forge.

That being said, stealth characters that are focused on using daggers or bows rather than bows shouldn't bother with Smithing, as the damage increase is negligible at best. The Backstab perk in the Sneak skill tree, as well as the damage buff gained by wearing the Shrouded Gauntlets, covers the damage difference by a much greater amount than if the player was to waste time and skill points investing in Smithing.

5 Investing In Enchanting Too Early

Skyrim enchanting table

Like Smithing, Enchanting is a skill that most character builds will eventually gravitate towards once they reach higher levels, but stealth-focused characters can get away with avoiding this annoyingly difficult grind for quite a while.

Adding unique enchantments to armor and gear will increase damage output and efficiency, but it comes at the cost of using skill points that are better used by investing in Sneak, Light Armor, One-Handed, or Archery. Enchantment can be safely ignored, and as mentioned earlier, alchemy should be prioritized first instead.

4 Stealing Everything

Skyrim Pickpocketing A Guard And Looking At The Contents Of Their Pockets

There are two problems with over-stealing. The first is that players will get weighed down, which happens very often as a dexterity-first rogue. Carrying around heavy armor means too many trips back home and not enough exploring forgotten and lucrative dungeons.

The bigger problem, though, is that selling items will level up the speech skill, making monsters grow more difficult. The best items for stealthy characters can be found, not purchased, so money isn't as necessary as it can feel. Keep in mind that players will need the Fence speech perk to even sell their stolen items in the first place. If this perk isn't unlocked, they'll need to find a Thieves Guild fence to sell their goods.

3 Going Straight For The Best Gear

Skyrim Player With Daedric Armor Holding One-Handed Sword

Understandably, players will want to gather a list of the best equipment in Skyrim and then be set for the rest of the game. Unfortunately for stealth characters, this plan isn't as bulletproof as it sounds. In fact, it can permanently mess up a run.

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Gear scales up with level until about level fifty. Wait until hitting this level before grabbing the perfect items, otherwise, the "best" gear in the game will be permanently stuck with bad statistics. The Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood quest lines have some of the most powerful stealth armor in Skyrim, but to get the best version of those, it's recommended to wait until level 30 or 40.

2 Trying To Use Heavy Armor

Skyrim Dwarven Helmet

While some perks allow the use of Heavy Armor for Mage and Thief builds, Heavy Armor is generally best left for characters that need protection and can deal with the loss of movement.

While stealth characters do have a rather large weakness should they end up getting caught with their pants down, it is fairly easy to hit the armor cap while wearing Light Armor instead of Heavy Armor. It also doesn't have the downside of reducing movement speed or over-encumbering the player. Moreover, with alchemy leveled, players can concoct powerful potions to help them soak up elemental or magical damage.

1 Not Using Any Armor

Skyrim Naked Courier

Light Armor may provide the right balance of protection and silence, but if the player isn't wearing any armor, they will be even quieter while trying to sneak around the world. As tempting as this is, however, it can result in the player dying very quickly should they fail to sneak successfully, especially for dagger-focused characters.

Even character builds that balance Mage and Thief skills should still wear armor, as the Magicka cost reduction that is gained from wearing clothing can easily be gained through jewelry instead while still maintaining a high armor rating.

Skyrim was released on November 11th, 2011, and is available on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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