What Are Some Good Skills for a Bower on Oblivion?

Sneak

• Setting sneak as a major skill helps increase damage tremendously. Just reaching novice level doubles attacks with a bow and an apprentice attacks with three times the damage from arrows. You can still attack in close quarters as a bower but you want to pick off enemies from a distance, and having more power to your attack helps reduce the chances of getting mobbed by several enemies at once. While melee attack rate slows while sneaking, ranged speed does not.

Conjuration

• Summoned creatures not only aid by attacking enemies but tremendously assist an archer by distraction. Conjuring creatures that focus on melee attacks in particular, such as zombies, clannfear and daedroth, pull enemies' attention away from you, allowing you to stay at a safe distance to shoot. You may also be able to remain hidden from view with such distraction, giving you more sneak attacks that do higher damage. You can also easily raise conjuration skill by using a small spell such as bound dagger during both combat and non-combat situations.

Alchemy

• Increasing the power of your first attack creates the best opportunity to down enemies quickly. Alchemy allows you to create effective poisons without taking the time to increase various magic levels. Ingredients throughout Cyrodiil let you make potions for frost, fire, shock and general health damage as well as damage to attributes such as willpower and strength. Burdening an enemy roots that NPC in place, allowing further distance attacks. The restorative and protective aspects of alchemy can also help the archer by adding shields.

Illusion

• The other magic type most helpful for an archer is illusion magic. Night-eye helps you see in dark dungeons and caves without drawing the attention of enemies with something such as starlight. But illusion magic also includes spells to make enemies run or allow you to take over their actions, such as calm, demoralize, command creature and silence. Most importantly, illusion includes chameleon, the spell that makes you partially invisible. Unlike regular invisibility, chameleon spells don't undo when you perform an action such as shooting your bow, so you can stay cloaked as you fight, more easily defeating enemies from a distance.