The archery is a joke

I didn’t plan for this to happen, but I was going nuts trying to hit the few animals in the woods for over an hour. I could not get near the animals that have built in radars that tell them exactly when I get within a certain distance and then the arrows would aim randomly so I kept missing. All I could see were these small hares which was hard enough, but anything bigger was always running around and staying far away from me. I was about to rage quit when I saw it…the perfect prey. There he was, a wayferer just walking along with not a care in the world. Driven by rage and madness I ran up behind the wayfarer and shot him, he looks at me and screems and then runs, I chase him and get as close as I can before trying to shoot him again, missed a lot, but finally got him…and there it was, I gained a level in both, bow and warfare. I wanted to cry for finally gaining some levels and then felt bad for killing the dude. Then I moved on, my next victim was when I found a body and a woman accused me of being the murderer, I looked around to make sure there was no witnesses and shot her with my arrows…after that it was nothing but bloodlust. I found out through trial and error that if I shoot them in the leg, they cannot run, but only hobble which makes hunting them easier, so I always shoot them in the leg first.

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Get a piece of clear tape, copy the yellow dot onto it with black market and line it up on ur tv so when u pull ur bow u still have a dot. That’s what I do with A lot of FPS without dot. Old CoD trick for throwing weapons

Both things are not exclusive. And 50 meters is a really short distance especially against heavily armoured footman. 50 meters you get 10 seconds before being in a melee.

does say gets easier after lv5. It only takes me 20 arrows to hit a rabbit, its fact I beat the lord in the competition makes me laugh.

To the original poster, I’ll say this: it is not completely random and, yes, there very much is skill involved. That’s why you see the difference in people’s experience here in this thread - the people who, through experience as well as plenty of trial and error, have eventually developed the skill necessary to grasp the system are having a much better time of it than those who are easily frustrated and give up to come post their frustration on internet forums.

If you stick with it and concentrate on improving, you too may develop the requisite level of actual hand-eye coordination required to become fairly skilled. If I may offer a suggestion as a starting point: use the crook of your wrist as a horizontal alignment indicator. This can vary depending on what kind of gauntlets you’re wearing but in general when the bend of your wrist is lined up horizontally with the target, your arrow will hit along the centerline. You need to adjust your vertical alignment for the range to the target but the crook of your wrist is a good starting point for gauging when to release the arrow in terms of horizontal placement.

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When I first started, i was thinking the same, but I discovered something I wish I had noticed earlier. At first I was fighting the drift while aiming, but one time I just held the trigger and noticed something interesting… if you enable the reticle with a mod you can see this easier, but it just waves left and right back and forth as long as you hold aim. Now, I only adjust the vertical aim. When I draw my bow, I center it as best I can, pull the trigger, make slight adjustment vertical (I aim for head level) …and if you weren’t centered horizontally, an adjustment there as well. After this you just wait until the reticle sweeps over the part of the target you want to hit. I have to admit, using this mod to put the reticle may be “cheating” a bit, but they should really put an option for it into the game.
Make sure you hold the string drawed until the reticle sweeps one full iteration, so you get full force.

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There’s a guy like you at every archery club. “I could pull 80lbs before I was 16 bruh, do you even lift bruh”

They are the ones that get laughed at by serious/real archers.

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FInd the reticle mod at nexus mopds just google it. It’s pretty easy once you get the retivule

It should be the perk (for horse or bow) allowing you to shot from the horse full 180 degrees behind you like the Kumans historically did. :wink: cheers

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I actually really like the bow mechanics in this game. It just takes a little while to learn the best way to shoot. I have got to where i can hunt rabbits and kill one with almost every shot I take. I would like some archery perks though.

I absolutely agree.

In addition to previous message, I said, this game has great progression and leveling, now I have some practice with bow, and it is deadly :smiley:

So for people, who wants a “real pro from the beginning” they are not understanding what a RPG is, which is not a world of “damage sponges” and comparing stats, that is makeup, the background is learning, user and player, and about the world, the decisions, the options.

So my conclusion is: definitely, Archery in KCD, is not a joke, is well designed, some improvements (as suggestions) like more perks (for example crouch archery horizontal aim), faster arrows and arrow speed, ability to melee with bow, could be added, but overall is good to see the progression and practice from noob to advanced. (in my opinion)

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Sorry naysayers, but OP is right. I shoot English Longbows exclusively and if you’re not overbowing yourself to an extreme, your bow is not going to wobble as much as it does in game. There’s no control, it’s almost completely random, and frankly you just don’t have time to wait for it to sway over one of the three guys charging at you to make it worth while. This effectively breaks archery. I haven’t noticed any reduction in sway as my archery level has increased. In fact I don’t even know if it’s supposed to do that. Now I’m not suggesting the sway be removed and that Henry should be friggin’ Robin Hood from the get-go, but perhaps the sway should be dialed down some OR the sway reduction per level should be increased a bit.

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the wobble drops drastically as you increase your stats and archery skill. I’ve tried archery IRL, and I gotta say the wobble looks somewhat realistic to my experience (I was bad, just plain bad IRL).

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Same here i don’t have mods. Xbox player and letting it drift before firing is how I’ve won every contest

I like it. You actually get better at it - it takes player skill. Just remember that the crosshair is around the center of your screen, a bit up and left of arrow tip. Adjust your aim after each shot

I dislike the extent of the wobble. I think it should wobble like it does now only if you’re wielding a bow for which you don’t have the physical stats for, i.e. overbowing yourself. I think there should be some wobble - there always is no matter how good an archer you are - I just think it’s set too high in game.

I agree. You have to have a skill for just making a ton of arrows, because even though a rabbit will sit right on a trail eating, they are not worried about you and your bow. They know you can’t hit nothing without some kind of crosshairs or some kind of aim point. Granted, I eventually bagged a few rabbits, but went through a lot of arrows. It would be at least be some help if you can line up your line of sight with the arrow itself, instead of off to the side.

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Really? because I land like 90% of my shots… Hmmmmmmm. Are you using a bow that has higher strength and agility requirements than your current stats allow for? If you have 8 strength and 6 agility and use a bow where the minimum is 10 strength and 8 agility you’re going to have some serious problems.

If that’s not the issue then I recommend spending time at the archery range until you figure out the sweet spot for your particular bow and arrow combination (different arrows shoot differently). Then go to the forest and practice by hunting hares and deer.

I’ve gotten to the point I can even hit moving targets while riding my horse. It’s doable, you just have to work at it, and not the kind of work other RPG’s have you do where you spend 5 minutes and you’re a god. Expect to spend 5 or more hours working at it. Like most things in this game, it’s not just a skill Henry has to develop, it’s a skill YOU have to develop as well.

It really shouldn’t take all this to play a game. Realism can be good, but you can definitely have too much of a good thing.

If you’ve managed to master this abysmal archery system then that’s great, but it doesn’t make it any less terrible for a game. There was a way to not make it easy at first while also not making it feel so random. That’s what should have happened.

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