So I tried the archer build from the very beginning! Playing as an archer only was not so rewarding before the update, now it is! But it needs a small detail to make it perfect! This detail is to be able to retrieve your arrows from the inventory of the one you killed! Not all of them, you can have an rng mechanism too in this one, let’s say that you use 5 arrows to finish something, one arrow can be “broken” in this inventory so you can’t retrieve it! The most tiresome thing on playing archer is to have tons of arrows on you, or your horse 
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I ask this because you make a wonderful job with archery, the one who will try it now, he-she will love it. You take way less damage, you use way less potions, but, the arrow thing is very annoying. This detail, to be able to retrieve your arrows back from the victim will be the sweatest cherry on top.
I am not asking to retrieve back special arrows, like exploding, healing, gas, acid etc…
Just the normal arrows that all they do is shoot, nothing else!
Flint arrows and bone arrows are not the solution to walk as an archer on exile lands, retrieve your arrows back is!
Please, think about it, thank you!
Common issues with archery:
- Arrows weigh too much.
- Headshots should deal additional damage (that perk has been removed since 3.0).
- Ghost arrows, not firing.
- Not a great selection of late game choice*1&2
- Some arrows are absurd hard/annoying or expensive to craft… for example obsidian arrows (requires the composite obsidian), dragonbone arrows and harpy arrows compared to the other alternatives.
- There should be a bow that has 1hp damage for stunning.
*1 The Voidforge bow is the best option for Isle of Siptah which is kinda okay (would be nice if there was a alternative).
*2 Khari might be the best official choice on EL howerver you need to RNG find the Khair weapons recipe… (Reach of the Red Mother is simply too crazy rare, and since its a legendary might get nerfed to death in the future).
Giving arrows the possibility to remain or break on a shot target after death would be neat. I’d imagine if it’s possible for javelins and throwing axes, it couldn’t be that hard for arrows - though I’m no developer.
Unless its been removed, and I don’t think it has. You can retrieve arrows that don’t hit the target already. However they don’t remain in the world forever.
A lot things do not work properly on my console. Still I cam assure you that this is not removed. This however is not the point. If I want to play any other playstyle, all I have to do is take a pair of stone daggers, or a darfari axe, go to a world boss, kill it and take a legendary. The first legendary will give me decades of others really fast. If you choose to play archer simply forget it. In order to kill a world boss with a bow you need hundreds of arrows and probably 2 bows, not to mention that you need an hour of fight at least! So archery already has disadvantages from other roles, at least give me the happiness to retrieve some arrows. I made a challenge only archer. I finished everything before lvl 50, it took way to many hours, but you can do it low level. The amount of ivory arrows I had to use was humongous! I know that you love archery @Taemien, try to do only archer from the very beginning of the character and you’ll understand what I mean. It’s awesome, but it still lacks. Not to mention that after 14 hours of gaming and killing all around the map I ended only lvl 50. With other weapons you are 60 In less than 6, because you kill easy and fast. In archery you have to do economy on your arrows, so you kill only the neccecary!
What a nice profile picture 
. It looks so you, awesome 
I’ve done an archery playthrough relatively recently, not after 3.0 with the new attribute changes (I don’t forsee archery being less than 2.8 though) and at 0.5x rate I was able to get 60 in probably a few hours. I’m well aware of what early game archery is like.
One of the benefits of PC however is the mouse. It is quite the advantage when it comes to archery. Its why when you said you had to use hundreds of arrows I had to scratch my head since when I do my boss rounds I usually take two stacks of arrows (200).
I’m not opposed to arrows going into inventories of the target, but I’m sort of indifferent to it. Unless I’m set up in an area where feathers are rare, I usually have a chest full ready to go at a moments notice. Running out isn’t something I normally have a problem with unless I make a mistake and go out without restocking.
Thank you for replying and having this conversation above all @Taemien ! I know that in archery of Conan exiles I am “new”. But playing as an archer on video games that’s another story.
Horizon zero dawn is a game based on aiming, I had been burned in this game too. I always finish every single game I play on it’s hardest mode. Only in these modes you understand and respect the job devs did, in all the other modes you are just a visitor! So aiming is not a problem, especially in pve and in a terrain that you know like the back of your palm.
Playing only archer from the very beginning and using nothing else than your bow and your fists (or kicks) is difficult to progress. Like @prologue1337 said here and I on my other post we don’t have a crafting ghost on our wheel of choice (hotbar for pc). That means that you can find your self out of ammo during a fight. It happened to me returning from volcano, I was there to place a lvl 1 npc on the wheel of pain. The easiest and fastest way to obtain a really good bow very early in the game (dragon bone). On the way down to obtain the obelisk of black keep I fight with the Saber tooth and the 2 armored skeletons. Ofcurce I let them fight a bit each other and went in to the fight after they all lost a good amount of hp. After I finished the 2 skeletons it was just the Saber tooth but 100 hp before he dies I lost ammo, I couldn’t enter my inventory, the Saber is fast, so I finished him with kicks and punches.
Playing only archer you may forget a bit and stay out of ammo, then what?
If however you retrieve after death a good amount of arrows back then you can do your journeys alone, like you can with all the other weapons. With bows you simply can’t.
If I take an axe with me and 5 legendary repair kits I can slay the whole map.
With a bow I can slay just a camp and a boss.
The reason is obvious, out of ammo!
You can tell me that you can fix flint arrows, or bone arrows, but it’s not the same, not even close.
Finally, do the test and the math! Go to red mama, kill her with a dragon bone bow and dragon bone arrows, alone, without a thrall. Farm her and tell me, how much dragon bones you spend and on arrows and how many you took back!
I really want to know.
Ps. For feathers use sickle on birds!
I have farmed her, in fact she’s part of my normal boss loop. I don’t use Dragonbone Arrows. I use Star Metal or Obsidian.
Dragonbone Arrows only make one per craft instead of 10 which is why I don’t use them. That is something that needs to change.
You can say a lot to change, I even made thoughts on fixing arrow heads for several materials, and then the ability to fix arrows on your own inventory with branches and feathers. But I don’t know how much job this needs, the damage to the carpenter bench, the metallic heads should be from blacksmith or casting table… A lot to change and obviously more difficult! All these will be “easier” if you gain an amount of arrows back! This way archery will be more viable and equally rewarding with other weapons… Think of it…
Thank you again 
How do you guys face Thag with a bow??
I didn’t do it. Skeletons die hard with bows so until you reach thag you need 1k arrows (funny speculation I really don’t know).
Either way, seriously speaking now, it is a difficult dungeon to go alone. I can understand doing it as challenge for fun, but for serious farming it is best to go with a thrall and have 4 perks in Authority too (well trained). So far I went 2 times without 4 perks and a bearer with enormous hp barely made it. My first time was, disaster, in the final fight I lost both the berserker 19 and horse 20.
If however (pushing again sorry) you retrieve your arrows back then you could stand a chance to farm this dungeon as an archer alone, yet late game build with reach and Hollowbone arrows, why not, for skeleton bosses and thag.
Now, catching the opportunity I will call @Xevyr here to give me a solution for the group of blue skeletons that attack you in the final stage 
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Just RUN up to the end. The thrall will teleport. Kill those skeletons near the last room. Kill Thag. Then, instead of exiting, clear the dungeon strategically from the end to the beginning. If you see yourself in trouble, run back to where you already cleared it and heal the thrall. But I doubt you can kill Thag and its minions with a bow, even with a thrall. If you succeed, let me know.
Archery is way easier than it was, way easier. The most difficult fight for the “remove bracelet” story was the volcano fight. It was very difficult for me to kill all these minions. If you play as an archer right now you get almost no damage, but it takes a lot of time to finish something! Still, I played all this low gear, not high gear. Hollowbone arrows with the reach of the red mother do a lot damage. Or the quivering arrows, or, or, or. I went in these fights with a dragon bone bow that I took from a volcano archer lvl 1 and steel arrows plus ivory. To the minions I was using iron arrows 
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I will do it my friend and I will let you know .
There are three bows that do 1 damage. Fling Shot, Frenzied Bow, and Twice-Upon-An-Arrow.
I’m not really sure what the gimmicks of Flingshot or Frenzied Bow are. Flingshot has durability so low, it looks like it might break just from equipping it.
Twice-Upon-An-Arrow, however, is particularly potent as a thrall clubber, as it fires two arrows simultaneously.
All three are Siptah weapons though.
Here it goes @MarcosC .
A late game build
I have the reach of the red mother, khari light Raider set, nightstalkers mask ,400 dragon bone arrows, 200 Hollowbone arrows, 50 pork feast and 20 potions.
I went there ghost and God and as you see I removed them before the fight
A super easy fight, super easy!
It was more difficult to kill the minions than thag himself!
In order to kill the minions you need to light shot all the time, make rounds, eat to gain stamina faster and light shots again. This means that you consume a lot of arrows
.I used only Hollowbone on thag and dragon bone on minions.
It took 75 arrows on minions and 56 on thag. Less than 10 minutes fight, no stressful at all, I didn’t have to bother for my thralls safety and I used zero potions, the minions and thag barely touched me
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Archery my friend was and is a late game build. Now however you can start from zero level to be an archer!
The only boundary? Arrows!
That’s why I ask to gain them back, no other reason!
Not all of them, but an 80% at least would be awesome.
Not in pvp, in pve only please 
The ones that spawn as part of the boss-fight? If you’re fast enough you can ignore them and run around, they die when the boss does on their own. Otherwise though, those aren’t really bow-only compatible… a katana will eat them still… (until the incoming nerf in chapter 2)
I have noticed something odd on that fight though… I died a few times from the area effect when I was 100% sure I wasn’t standing in it… eventually I killed the boss, but I had no idea what was that all about…
Later on thinking about it I realized probably what is happening is that if you kill the boss too fast to where he’s at half HP by the time he does the first volley of AoE… he’ll stack both of them, but only show effects for one of them so you get invisible spots that do full damage.
I didn’t go back since to test that theory, but I’m pretty sure it’s something like that and definitely worth remembering 
so take your time with him hahaha
@Xevyr If you read the post above yours you’ll see how it can happen extremely easy .
The minions fall a bit harder than the boss and it’s good to kill them because they are fast and many. If they block you you are as good as dead, so it’s better to take 5 min and kill them all, no big deal.
My reference to you was for the conversation about using gas arrows for multiple damage! Skeletons are out of any Menu since exploding arrows do not damage a lot in pve, plus you must not piss in a terrain you are going to step really soon .
Thanks for posting m8, what do you think about the suggestion?
That’s very cool!
That’s why usually I don’t even mind them and go for Thag. Didn’t know it was possible defeating him with a bow though. This opens some interesting avenues…