UESP Forums

I'm at level 12 and I've only come across a single elven bow thus far. In contrast, elven armour and even other weapons seem to pop up quite frequently. Meanwhile, the Wiki suggests elven gear starts appearing in random loot at around level 9. Am I just being impatient?

Furthermore, vendors just don't seem to stock anything except base weapons (iron, rarely steel or fine steel) and whatever I looted and sold to them. Any reason why this might be happening? I did install an "extra money for merchants" mod but nothing in it indicated that it would affect what they would sell too.

im a lvl 26 and vendors normaly dont sell elven to me, although it is very likely to find them on bandits in most camps. this is the same with mithril and glass too.

I just found 2 bows. It was at the very end of the level in the "Caught in the hunt" quest. Sure took a while. On the bright side though, I now have pretty much the complete set of weapons and armour I intend to use for the end-game:

Armour:
- Enchanted, 0-weight, mages' hoods (3 flavours, stealth, magicka and shield)
- Mithril curiass, greaves and gauntlets
- Elven shield
- Leather boot (I prefer stealth)
- A whole boatload of amulets/rings

Weapons:
- Elven shortsword*
- Elven longsword*
- Elven Bow (enchanted with fire+shock damage)
- Fine steel bow (minimal enchantment, for weak enemies)
- 300+ steel arrows + a few elven and silver arrows
- Rockshatter, Honorblade of Chorrol and Umbra (though I'll probably be returning the Honorblade and Rockshatter soon but Umbra I'll keep)

* to be enchanted soon...

Weapons:
- Elven shortsword*
- Elven longsword*
- Elven Bow (enchanted with fire+shock damage)
- Fine steel bow (minimal enchantment, for weak enemies)
- 300+ steel arrows + a few elven and silver arrows
- Rockshatter, Honorblade of Chorrol and Umbra (though I'll probably be returning the Honorblade and Rockshatter soon but Umbra I'll keep)

* to be enchanted soon...

Why long and short? You're just going to encumber yourself with the excess of weapons.

!also, rather then enchanting your bows, why don't you just enchant your arrows? I've never tried, but I assume it's possible since you can find enchanted arrows in loot.

No, you can't enchant arrows.

Belthazor wrote:No, you can't enchant arrows.

That's a boner killer

I thought you could enchant arrows? The only reason not to being that it seemed kind of pointless to enchant one arrow at a time.

tkiu wrote: Why long and short? You're just going to encumber yourself with the excess of weapons.

Several reasons:

1. I need both varieties for different enemies. Those that are powerful in melee I prefer to keep at some distance with the reach of a long sword. Meanwhile, those with powerful ranged attacks I can keep off-balance with the speed of the strikes on a short sword.

2. With strength of 100 and all light armour I have the room in my inventory for them. Besides, since I haven't enchanted the longsword yet, I'm using the Honorblade of Chorrol (0 weight) for the moment.

3. I just like the look of both elven flavours.

!also, rather then enchanting your bows, why don't you just enchant your arrows? I've never tried, but I assume it's possible since you can find enchanted arrows in loot.

As others have said, it can't be done. Instead I do tend to keep any enchanted arrows I find. Coupled with my elven bow with 30 pts of elemental damage, sneak multiplier and 60+ Marksmanship, only boss enemies survive the first strike.

You're British, aren't you?

tkiu wrote:You're British, aren't you?

I bet he is...

...I really doublt that a short sword is any diffenent than a long sword other than the reach and damage, you probably won't keep ranged enemys "off balance"...

Not true. Shorter weapons are also faster. That's what he means.

tkiu wrote:You're British, aren't you?

Interesting... What makes you think so?

I'm Canadian actually... and originally from Africa.


Oh, and Matthias has it correct. With a short sword I can literally overwhelm the enemy with a hail of blows, staggering and preventing them from letting loose any ranged attacks. I'd use a knife but the reach is far too pitiful in that case.

Pritzl wrote:

tkiu wrote:You're British, aren't you?

Interesting... What makes you think so?

I'm Canadian actually... and originally from Africa.


Oh, and Matthias has it correct. With a short sword I can literally overwhelm the enemy with a hail of blows, staggering and preventing them from letting loose any ranged attacks. I'd use a knife but the reach is far too pitiful in that case.

Perhaps it was the meticulous grammar and spelling and ability to express yourself articulately via the written word which led some to think (erroneously) that you were British?

We Canadians simply set a higher standard, eh!?

If your still looking for the bow or need to know where you can find leveled loot in the future i would check the Roxy Inn just north of the Imperial City. In there you will find several bandits one in heavy leveled armor and three in light. Lowering their persasion will be enough for them to attack you, and you will be aided by an Imperial Leigioniar who is just outside. In there loot you will find a full set of leveled armor and wepons ranging from daggars, shortswords, bows, 2h axes and longswords.

Also when you embarc on the quest,'The Collecter' youll be glad you did. These bandits will atempt to kill you when you exit an Alyied ruin. Which is not good considering your outmatched, and the Imperial Leigion wont have your back this time....

Paladin_Warrior wrote:Perhaps it was the meticulous grammar and spelling and ability to express yourself articulately via the written word which led some to think (erroneously) that you were British?

YAY! Doz dat meen I'm 1337 nowz?

We Canadians simply set a higher standard, eh!?

You betcha! There most definitely is a "u" in colour, it's centre, not center and it's pronounced "zed" not "zee"! I AM CANADIAN! ... eh?

Thanks for the tip mandangalow, but I'm finally coming across glass and elven equipment now. It sure took its sweet time though!

You could use a mod for unlevelled shops, though I guess thats cheating a bit.
Strangely, I have found elven weapons from lv7-8 onwards but never any armour at these levels.
However, I'm currently wearing a Glass Currass enchanted this fortify health +30, found in random loot at Robber's Glen Cave. This has widely been reported as one of THE best places to get enchanted items in randon loot chest, check it out if you haven't already.

Also, I too use two different swords types, and elven shortsword and an elven claymore. The two-handed swords are great for fighting hand-to-hand creatures like zombies, trolls and ogres who are too powerful to stagger with your shield. Shortswords are for fast frenzied attacks, having staggered the opponent with my shield.

you may sometimes find that your play style should directly impact what wepon you choose to use vs. what wepon is 'the best' for maxium results in killing. Such as, If your a spellsword you main style of attack is probably your spells, so a shield and onehanded wepon is probably best so that you can protect yourself in close range. Melee fighters may find either a protective style, with a shield or a max damage output, with a 2h wepon most effective. I would recomend choosing one style of fighting and sticking with it so that you dont have to way your self down with wepons that you dont need. Even assassins dont need a bow and a melee wepon, my assassin turns invisible then attacks an oppont with Umbra and a poisen which kills most people instantly, and people with bows and use them right hardly get into melee battles (however if i was going to make an exseption for one class to have an extra wepon just in case it would be an ancher)

Fair enough, BUT, I don't use one single style of play. I play a custom class which used stealth, fighting and magic, though not always all at the same time. Using saddlebags mod allows me to have my entire arsenal "with me" without weighing me down, plus my high strength means I can carry a fair bit anyway.

I generally know what I'll be facing prior so I always come prepared. Generally though I'll sneak marksman with or without poison, zap with ranged spell as they run at me, then engage with sword/shield combo :evil:.

Sneak marksman with poison get boring as they just in about 5s

Anyway, I have an elven bow (original topic)