Build · Shoot from the dark, open every lock
Wood Elf Archer-Thief
A sneaky bowman who levels by doing the job: Archery, Stealth and Lockpicking are the primaries, so every arrow, every crouched step and every lock raises your level.
Wood Elf · custom class
Shadowfletch
+5difficulty · skills ×1.18 effort
- Archery
- Stealth
- Lockpicking
- Critical Strike
- Short Blade
- Climbing
- Pickpocket
- Dodging
- Running
- Jumping
- Streetwise
- Mercantile
- Strength
- 45
- Intelligence
- 45
- Willpower
- 35
- Agility
- 75
- Endurance
- 65
- Personality
- 35
- Speed
- 65
- Luck
- 35
16 (+8 points)
- Expertise In Missile Weapon+2
- Athleticism+4
- Resistance To Paralysis+5
- Forbidden Weaponry Axe-2
- Forbidden Weaponry Blunt Weapon-2
- Forbidden Weaponry Long Blade-2
- Forbidden Armor Type Plate-5
- Forbidden Shield Types Tower Shield-1
- Forbidden Shield Types Kite Shield-1
- Forbidden Shield Types Round Shield-1
Why this build
- Why a Wood Elf: a stat-driven bonus to hit and damage with bows, on top of Expertise In Missile Weapon. See Wood Elf archers.
- Why Agility 75: it adds a quarter point of hit chance for every point above the target’s, and both Expertise and the Wood Elf bow bonus are driven by Agility. Endurance 65 and Speed 65 keep you alive and mobile.
- Disadvantages are free money: an archer never swings an axe, a mace or a long sword, never wears plate and never holds a shield. See good value picks.
- Total +5, skills advance at ×1.18 the effort. 16 HP gives +8, advantages +11, disadvantages −14.
Open this build in the class calculator
Gear you start with
Each primary and major skill adds an item to your pack. Everyone also starts with an iron dagger and a few torches. See Starting gear.
- Archery (primary):
Short Bow, 
Arrow. A short bow (iron, or steel on a lucky roll) and 30 arrows. - Stealth (primary): . A Khajiit suit.
- Lockpicking (primary): . One random potion.
- Critical Strike (major):
Greaves. Greaves. - Short Blade (major):
Shortsword, 
Tanto. A shortsword or a tanto, even odds. - Climbing (major):
Helm. A helm.
Weapons that fit
Every weapon for the weapon skills this class trains and does not forbid.
Long Bow
Dagger
WakizashiLegendary pieces worth chasing
Named Legendary drops whose bonuses meet this build’s weapons, skills or strongest attributes. They are rare; see Item rarity for the odds.
- Nightwhisper (weapon): +25% damage, +12 Agility, +10 Speed, +25 Stealth. Silent Death
- Stormcaller's Bow (weapon): +30% damage, +10 Agility, +25 Archery. Chain Lightning
- The Glenmoril Bow (weapon): +28% damage, +10 Agility, +22 Archery. Hunter's Moon
- Tsaesci Fang (weapon): +28% damage, +12 Speed, +25 Critical Strike. Serpent's Kiss
- Worm's Tooth (weapon): +24% damage, +12 Intelligence, +22 Mysticism, +20 Backstabbing. Soul Siphon
- Wyrmbane (weapon): +35% damage, +12 Strength, +20 Critical Strike. Dragonsbane
- The Mountain's Root (armour): +16 armor, +12 Endurance, +40% carrying capacity. Bedrock
- The Night Mother's Embrace (armour): +14 armor, +10 Agility, +25 Backstabbing, +20 Stealth. Sweet Mother's Kiss
- The Raven's Wings (armour): +14 armor, +12 Agility, +25 Dodging. Raven's Evasion
- The Wall of Daggerfall (armour): +18 armor, +12 Endurance, +40% Shock resistance. Bulwark
- The Warden (armour): +15 armor, +12 Endurance, +40% Magic resistance. Last Stand
- The Wayrest Courier's Treads (armour): +12 armor, +15 Speed, +25 Running. Courier's Haste
- Foxglove (jewellery): +15 Luck, +10 Speed, +35% Poison resistance. Fortune's Favour
- The Duelist's Vambrace (jewellery): +12 Agility, +10 Speed, +25 Critical Strike. First Blood
- The Mark of the Hist (jewellery): +12 Endurance, +45% Poison resistance, +25 Swimming. Hist-Sap
- The Shade's Cowl (clothing): +8 standing with the Underworld, +25 Stealth, +22 Pickpocket. Unseen
- The Wrothgar Pass Mantle (clothing): +10 warmth, 40% weatherproof, +25 Climbing. Mountain-Born
Guides for this build
- Races and weapon bonusesWhich races hit harder with which weapons, driven by your stats, plus the built-in resistances.
- Levelling and skillsWhich skills move your level, why the level-up seems late, and the 95 cap.
- Death and lineageEnduring, Bloodline or No Lineage: what each choice does when you die, online and off.
- Your first hoursFrom waking in Privateer's Hold to a bow in your hands and coin in your purse.
- ThievingPickpocketing, picking locks, lifting from homes and shops, and what happens when the watch catches you.
- Food and cookingHow long each food keeps you full, how it spoils, and how to cook raw meat and fish.
- ArcheryShooting, how long you draw, arrows, and the bonuses that make a bow the best weapon for a Wood Elf.
- Resting and timeWhere you can rest, how often, and the two clocks that run the online world.
- Joining the Thieves GuildThe guild finds you. Here is exactly what it counts and when the letter comes.
- Combat basicsHow to attack, what decides a hit, what a hit does, and how armour and shields really work under the game's default rules.
- PvP and the Wild ZoneDuels, the arena, and the Wrothgarian Mountains, the one place you can kill and rob other players.