Bow sneak damage question

[Chicken Slayer]

I have seen in multiple places where it is possible to switch from a bow to a melee weapon while an arrow is in flight to get 6x damage instead of 3x, but whenever I try it, I get a "you cannot change weapons" message. Is it a PC vs game controller thing? or a patch thing? I'm on a PC playing unpatched GotY edition and I have tried it on some very long zoom shots.

[PrinceJonathan]

"multiple places"? Can you name a specific source? Is your one-handed weapon hot keyed?

[Chicken Slayer]

One was on a Wiki page or wiki talk page someplace, as I recall, and it could have been somebody saying it without ever having done it, but then I saw it mentioned on a You Tube comment where the guy/kid said he used the technique to kill the Uderfrykte Matron.

Yes, my blade was hot keyed.


Here's the video page

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3IXUaSQ1Qc

The comment is by Praise Gamen, seven down from the top.

[Jeancey]

One of the pages is the Oblivion:Marksman page. No idea where it is originally from.

[Fabio95]

I just tried and it worked for me. I've got a full-patched Oblivion with all the addons.
You just need to go into sneak mode and have a blade in your hotkey menu. Then, you shoot the target and switch to the hotkeyed weapon. Remember that you have to wait for the animation of the arrow shooting to be completed before you can switch to the blade (or you'll get the message). However, keep tapping the key you assigned to the blade and you'll switch weapon. If you want to try it, just go to the Imperial City marked district and while standing near the gates to the prison, shoot the guard who's standing near the door the the Green Emperor Way. It's about the right distance.

[Chicken Slayer]

Thanks for confirming it works. After seeing that it did, I tried it again and got it to work by waiting for the bow to come back to the start position befor hittign the hot key. It may have worked for me in the first trials, but the damage message comes up very late, and after two other messages, so I could have blocked the last message with another action. I always seem to get the 'can't switch weapons' message even when the dagger comes up. Then I get the message for the dagger coming up, and then a pause before the 6-x sneak damage message finally comes up.

[Dark Spark]

As an aside: if you shoot an arrow while standing at a distant target and then kneel into Sneak mode, if the target hasn't detected you at that distance, the arrow hits with the damage bonus applied. This is happening, mind you, with an arrow you shot while standing.

[Fabio95]

The trick Dark specified is also triggered if you shoot the arrow, but the enemy loses track of you. (Obviously you must be in sneak mode).

[Chicken Slayer]

I have had the latter happen quite often because early in the game I sneak until detected and then start shooting so I can put more arrows into the target to build skill points. I don't understand how a skeleton can lose track of you the second after smacking you with an axe (i.e. in mid melee), but it can if it is dark enough and your sneak is high.

[PrinceJonathan]

I don't understand how a skeleton can lose track of you the second after smacking you with an axe (i.e. in mid melee), but it can if it is dark enough and your sneak is high.

In my head-canon, Skeletons and most other undead-type enemies have low intelligence. This is why Undead Summoning spells are generally cheaper than Daedra Summoning spells. If I recall my lore correctly, when you summon something, you form a mental connection to it and bend it to your will. Since most undead are barely sentient, they're easier to control.

Also skeletons have no eyes. I guess this essentially makes them the Oblivion equivalent of Falmer.

If the skeleton stops detecting you mid-fight because you dropped into sneak mode, it likely assumes it must have killed you and thus it ceases combat.

[Fabio95]

You're right, but this happens even with bandits. It's not even necessary to have an extraordinary sneak skill.

[Chicken Slayer]

To add to the story. I found one of my original sources on another forum. The poster said that the weapon damage is transfered so if you have a weak bow and equip a powerful warhammer, you will get the warhammer's damage. This is what I tried at first, long ago, and failed, but I did fail at the correct way too, more recently.

Today I tested the first stated "truth" using enchanted and unenchanted weapons against a ghost and conclude that the new weapon does not transfer anything to the hit except the bonus multiplyer. I used the highest level Hatreds Soul bow and a hotkeyed iron war axe against a ghost. Shooting the bow and equiping the axe resulted in 6x bow base damage plus 1x fire, which killed the ghost in one shot. A normal 3x sneak shot from the bow did not. The 6x text never came up but I could see how much the ghost's full damage bar went down from the two different shots.

To test the reverse, I shot an iron bow and equiped an enchanted war axe at the same ghost, same distance etc, several times. The arrow passed through the ghost each time without registering a hit.

[Fabio95]

Obviously, the internet is full of rumors and false informations, but it may be that this glitch worked in an earlier version of the game. But I don't think it's worth rollbacking just to see if this glitch works. I mean, almost everybody plays nowadays with full patched version.

[Chicken Slayer]

I don't. I bought a used GotY edition and play on a machine that is not connected to the Internet. I was [&@%!] when I bought Skyrim and found out I could only play it if I hooked up to Steam.

[Fabio95]

isn't GOTY already patched to 1.2.0416, which is the last?

[Chicken Slayer]

I don't know, but I still have all the glitches that the unofficial patches would fix.

[Dark Spark]

The Game of the Year Edition has the latest official patches.