- The Bound Bow has a base damage of 18, which increases to 24 after the perk Mystic Binding is applied.
- The Bound Arrows have damage rating of 24, equal to their Daedric counterparts.
Casting Bound Bow (in the presence of enemies) increases the Conjuration skill, and landing shots with the weapon increases the Archery skill. Thus, the Conjuration skill governs the magicka cost of the spell, and the Archery skill governs the damage ability of the weapon.
- Soul Stealer: automatically inflicts targets of bound weapons with Soul Trap.
- Oblivion Binding: conjured Daedra attacked with bound weapons are banished. Reanimated dead will flee when hit.
- Mystic Binding: Increases the base damage of all Bound Weapons.
- The Bound Bow is also affected by all Archery perks as well as the Sneak perk, "Deadly Aim."
- Casting Bound Bow creates noise, which may cause the detection of the Dragonborn while sneaking. This can be resolved by learning the Quiet Casting Illusion perk.
- The spell can be held in one hand, allowing for a weapon or spell to be equipped in the other before summoning the bow. This allows for rapid switching of fighting styles; for example, an assassin can switch between long-range archery attacks and close-range backstabs.
- Poisons can be applied to the weapon, allowing them to be deployed at range. For example, a Drain Magicka poison can be used when fighting enemy mages from afar. This is particularly useful to mages who would otherwise have no use for poisons.
- Stealth-based mages can use the bow any time a long-range sneak attack is desired. Casting Muffle in Illusion may increase the effectiveness of this tactic.
- With the correct perks in the Conjuration tree, including Mystic Binding, this bow is stronger than the non-upgraded Daedric Bow. Without mystic binding the bow is less powerful than the daedric bow but more powerful than the ebony bow, and thus is still quite powerful.
- With Soul Stealer and Oblivion Binding, the bow can effectively be triple-enchanted with Soul Trap, Banish, & Turn effects, and requires no recharging. This also allows the Dragonborn to continue attacking directly, without needing to unequip their weapon to equip these spells. It is impossible to have these three enchantments on any physical weapon, even with the extra effect perk. All three effects are level 99, and thus can affect any susceptible creature. Undead which cannot be turned with turn undead and daedra which cannot be banished with the banish spell due to their level are turned/banished by the bow.
- Bound Arrows glow when fired, making it easier to see where they land, especially in dark areas. The Dragonborn can use this to correct their aim when firing.
- Provides 100 Daedric-level arrows instantly, making acquisition of powerful arrows unnecessary. Effectively provides infinite Daedric arrows as the time to expend 100 arrows is greater than the time it takes for the magicka the spell requires to regenerate.
- Other kinds of arrows may be equipped with the bow, but the only arrow stronger than the Bound Arrow is the Dragonbone Arrow. The bound arrow is the strongest kind of arrow (equal to daedric) in the base game. Dragonbone arrows need to be obtained or bought like all physical arrows, and are very rare, especially at low levels.
- Unlike regular bows it can be used on a dragon while riding.
- Weighs nothing.
- Unlike the slower draw of the "physical" Daedric Bow, the draw speed of the Bound Bow is the same as the Nord Hero Bow. A Bound Bow without mystic binding deals more damage per second than any other bow in the game, and significantly more if the perk is taken.
- Like all spells, the bound bow is not an item. In quests where the Dragonborn does not have access to their items like Diplomatic Immunity and No One Escapes Cidhna Mine, and likewise in jails, a bound bow makes even those who seldom use magic far more effective. In fact, in this respect a bound bow is far more useful to a thief or a warrior than a mage, as they will likely have a higher skill in archery than a mage, and a lower skill in destruction.
- With Patch 1.9 the Bound Bow with Mystic Binding garners more XP per hit than any other bow in the game
- Summoning the Bound Bow makes a sound. This can be avoided with the Quiet Casting perk in the Illusion skill tree.
- Cannot be used while riding a horse. All weapons are sheathed when mounting a horse, canceling the spell, and spells cannot be cast on horseback.
- Cannot be upgraded through smithing. A Daedric bow crafted to exquisite or greater deals more damage than a bound bow.
- The bow cannot be enchanted, the only enchantments that can be applied to it are those given by the perk Oblivion Binding.
- It takes five seconds to fully equip.confirmation needed
- The bow cannot be affected by the Elemental Fury Dragon Shout if the Soul Stealer or Oblivion Binding perks are taken, because the shout cannot be used with enchanted weapons. This limitation is mostly negated by its draw speed.
- Drawing a regular bow does not end the invisibility effect, but conjuring the bound bow (like all spells) does. Firing an arrow ends the effect for both.
- Has to be recast every two minutes. Magicka will have regenerated by then but the several-second wait time for the bow to spawn can be a nuisance.
- Weight: 1
- Value: 335
- See Spell Tome for a complete table of spell tomes, their descriptions, and their values.
- Sometimes hidden under a lantern in a bucket in the north-northwest corner of Fort Amol prison. Take the first door on the left, when entering the fort by the main gate. The bucket with the tome is in the left corner of the first room.
- Phinis Gestor at the College of Winterhold.
- Falion in Morthal.
- Some Court Wizards in the major cities of Skyrim.
- A conjuration skill of 50 or higher is required before this spell tome becomes available for purchase.
- The tome can be found as randomized loot at any level.
This section contains bugs related to Bound Bow (Skyrim). Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following:
- When a Bound Arrow is shot with the Bound Bow, the arrow may not disappear. They will begin to disappear if too many of them are lying around.
- Double-casting the spell in separate hands at the same time may conjure 100 to 200 Bound Arrows, but no bow. Which allows you to equip a stronger bow. Also the arrows do not have a despawn time. Single-casting the spell again will supply the bow.
- Sometimes, Bound Arrows do not appear with the bow. This can be fixed by rebooting the system.
- If the duration ends while the character is recovering from the knock-down of an Unrelenting Force shout, the character's hands will be stuck in the position they were before being hit. To fix this, sheath the weapon and recast.
- Sometimes when crouching and conjuring the bow, the character will not be able to use it until changing to a standing position.
- Bound Bow does not benefit from the Quick Shot perk. It has a quick draw, but when fully drawn and fired, the arrows fire as if the bow has not been fully drawn back.
- While the bow is appearing, if a different weapon is equipped, that weapon will take the bow's place and will float in front of the Dragonborn for a moment before they grab it.
- Casting the Bound Bow spell and immediately crouching (before the summoning animation completes) causes the weapon to be permanently sheathed. The only recourse is to reload an older save (the bug persists even after changing weapons).