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Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

Marksmanship Leveling & Perks Guide

By
Nathan Garvin
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Melee combat is ubiquitous in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2: swords, axes, maces, or polearms, you’re going to have to get up close and personal if you want to win fights. That said, bows, crossbows and primitive firearms have their place in Henry’s arsenal, either for hunting or telling first strikes. This page will discuss the Marksmanship skill in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, including how to effectively use the skill, how to level it up efficiently, and what the best Marksmanship perks are.

Page Breakdown

Marksmanship Uses and Effects

Marksmanship govern’s Henry’s competence with ranged weapons - the higher your Marksmanship, the easier it will be for Henry to aim. At early levels, Henry’s aim will wobble around quite a bit, making accurate shots rather difficult, especially if you hold your aim too long. That being the case, Stealth is a natural companion skill for Marksmanship, as getting closer to enemies without being detected can mitigate your lack of accuracy at lower levels of Marksmanship.

Marksmanship makes Henry’s aim more steady, and while ranged combat starts out somewhat underpowered, a few levels in Marksmanship and perks and it’ll become a great supplement to melee.

Leveling Marksmanship

No surprises here, you level Marksmanship when you shoot things. Bird nests, bandits, animals, even archery targets. Unfortunately the amount of Marksmanship EXP you gain per shot is trivial - a bird nest might give you 2 EXP and a living critter - say, a boar - will give you 3 EXP. Killing enemies with ranged weapons gives considerably more, around 20~ EXP per kill, but early game bows require several arrows to bring most game down and if the target dies from blood loss instead of a direct shot with a ranged weapon, you won’t gain any extra EXP for the kill. Spending a few minutes to kill several deer might net you 100 EXP, but it’s not a very fun or fast way to level up Marksmanship… although hunting can simultaneously boost Marksmanship, Houndmaster, Stealth and Survival. Still, we’re talking about leveling Marksmanship, specifically, and hunting isn’t a great way to do that. If you want to maximize your gains while hunting, get a Field Crossbow and Common Bolts, which should (usually) kill deer and boar in a single shot, which is faster and more reliable than shooting game with a bow, watching them run off, waiting for them to return, then trying to bring them down with a second or third arrow. Bandits and other enemies are more of the same, save most human enemies will be too strong to dispatch with a single arrow, especially early on, when you care to level Marksmanship, so they won’t be much help in that regard, either.

Hunting is a surprisingly poor way to gain Marksmanship EXP - you only get worthwhile EXP for killing game directly, so use a crossbow and hope for the best.

Fortunately there are other ways to gain Marksmanship EXP, the most obvious of which are getting a trainer to teach you and reading skill books. This can be somewhat limited and expensive, however, and once you’ve exhausted those options you’ll want to turn to a more abusable source of Marksmanship EXP - archery targets! You’ll find these at archery ranges, and in Trosky you can find an archery range at Gamekeeper Vostatek’s house, west of Tachov. Just line up in front of them and shoot arrows or bolts to gain Marksmanship EXP - more per hit than you actually gain from hitting living targets! Just stand behind the wooden planks on the ground and shoot the targets - you’ll get around 7 EXP per shot from the nearer plank and 13 EXP from the further plank, which isn’t bad at all! On the downside you’ll have to recover arrows manually, misses will probably cost you that arrow or bolt, and practice puts wear on your weapon (although you can repair weapons by buying Marksman’s Kits).

Even better, you can participate in archery competitions! Talk to the huntsman’s son, Vitek and he’ll offer you three courses - beginner, experience and master. You’ll have to put up groschen to enter each one, and the more difficult the competition, the more EXP you’ll earn and the more money you’ll have to put up, but you’ll also win more money, too. These competitions do not use your own arrows or put wear on your bow, nor do you have to recover ammunition - it’s just pure EXP for a small groschen wager, which could even turn into positive cash flow. Even with a low Marksmanship skill score of 10 we found the experience courses to be easy wins, and while shooting targets on your own from the further plank may yield more EXP per minute, the lack of maintenance makes archery competitions arguably the best way to level up Marksmanship.

(1 of 3) Marksmanship trainers will give you some EXP, for a price,

Best Marksmanship Perks

Marksmanship perks give various benefits, Including more damage after holding your aim a while, faster fire rate, first strike damage bonuses, lower stamina costs when mounted and various debuffs to stricken enemies. Pretty standard fare. Unfortunately these perks won’t make your life easier as a fledgling archer - any of the big damage or stability perks you may be hoping for are conditional, when they even exist, and some Marksmanship perks are even split by weapon type, encouraging you to commit to a bow, crossbow or gun. Ironically the best early-game perk for an aspiring archer is in the Survival tree - Master Fletcher will increase your range and straighten the flight path of your projectiles. That said, there are some good perks in this tree, just don’t expect the lower-level perks to be game changers.

Crippling Shot

Human enemies are hard to kill with ranged weapons before they reach you, especially early on. This perk debuffs foes so that when they inevitably close on you, they’re easier to defeat in melee. While this perk might confirm ranged weapons as a secondary in combat, what matters is winning, and this makes your one-two ranged-melee assault more effective - that’s worth a perk point for both ranks of this perk.

Hal Shot First

First strikes win fights, and since the best use of ranged weapons is to weaken enemies before they can close on you, and this makes said first strikes more powerful, both ranks of Hal Shot First are no-brainers. Especially if you’re trying to stealth-kill enemies at range.

Salvo

You won’t always have time to get off more than one shot before the enemy manages to engage you in melee, but this perk will help reduce the time it takes to get off another shot. The more damage you can inflict on enemies before they can reach you, the better off you’ll be, and if there are enemies with their own ranged weapons that aren’t easy to reach in melee, this can get you the edge in a shootout.

Forbidden Weapon

Crossbows have one clear advantage over bows - raw power. They’re slower, however, and you’ll probably only get one shot off on an enemy before you need to switch to melee. Dealing extra bleed damage is a fine boon if you plan to use crossbows regularly.

Eagle Eye

Perhaps the only game-changing perk in the Marksman tree, Eagle Eye gives Henry “bullet time” when he aims with a ranged weapon. The slowdown effect and duration are both generous, making otherwise skillful shots - like headshots or shooting around an opponent’s shield - relatively easy, and it activates every time you aim a ranged weapon. This also has the added effect of increasing your fire rate, as you’ll draw a bead on enemies much faster. If you want to play Henry as a serious archer, you need this perk - it makes putting down charging human enemies something you can manage reliably, turning archery from a good first-strike with debuffs to a viable standalone strategy. Just keep in mind that time returns to normal the moment you fire, so you’ll need to lead moving enemies a bit to ensure you hit them.

While there are a few perks worth picking up in the Marksmanship tree, you’ll want to also invest in Stealth and Survival to maximize your potential with ranged weapons. “Surprise Attack” will debuff enemies you hit with ranged attacks who aren’t aware of you, and “Master Fletcher” will improve the trajectory and range of your projectiles. The “Heartseeker” perks are also nice for the flat damage buff they give when you land hits on an enemy’s chest.

(1 of 2) Eagle Eye is a real game-changer, as far as archery goes, giving Henry a “bullet time” ability with each shot.

Eagle Eye is a real game-changer, as far as archery goes, giving Henry a “bullet time” ability with each shot. (left), Many of the game’s better archery skills are found in other skill trees, like “Master Fletcher” in the Survival tree. (right)

List of Marksmanship Perks

Perk Effect Requirement
Crippling Shot If you deal damage to an enemy with a ranged weapon, their stamina will recover more slowly and their combat ability will be reduced. Lv 6
Steady Aim If you don’t move for 2 or more seconds while aiming, your stamina will drain 20% slower, and your shot will be 15% stronger. Lv 6
Hal Shot First Your first shot will do 15% more damage. The perk will be active again after the end of the fight in which it was used or in one minute if no fight took place. Lv 8
Salvo After each shot, you get a short-term buff during which you reload and aim faster. So you can also shoot faster and if you do it in time, you’ll regain the buff with each shot. Lv 8
Sagittarius If you’re in the saddle, the Stamina depletion for aiming with a ranged weapon will be halved. Lv 10
Forbidden Weapon If you inflict a bleeding wound on an opponent with a crossbow bolt, bleeding will be faster and stronger, so they will weaken or die sooner. Lv 12
Skirmisher After a shot from a bow while on foot, your stamina will recover 25% faster and sprinting will cost 50% less stamina, making it easier to move or flee. The effect lasts for 10s. Lv 12
Thunderous Blast Your first gun shot during combat will cause nearby opponents to take a temporary combat skill and morale penalty, making them less of a threat to you. Lv 12
Crippling Hit II If you deal damage to an enemy with a ranged weapon, their stamina will regenerate significantly slower, and their combat effectiveness will be further reduced. The negative effect will also last longer.. Lv 14 - Crippling Shot
One Shot at Glory If you kill an enemy with a ranged weapon, your next shot will deal 50% more damage. Lv 14
Hal Shot First II Your first shot will do 15% more damage, for a total of 30% with the first perk level. The rest of the effect remains unchanged. Lv 16 - Hal Shot First
Steady Aim II If you don’t move for 2 or more seconds while aiming, your shot will be 30% stronger. Lv 16 - Steady Aim
Eagle Eye When aiming with a bow or crossbow, the action around you slows down considerably for a moment, making it easier to aim. The effect lasts for 3 seconds or until you fire. Lv 18
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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Deep Silver
  • Platforms,
    PC, PS5, XB X|S
  • Genre
    Adventure, RPG
  • Guide Release
    4 February 2025
  • Last Updated
    5 February 2025
  • Guide Author

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Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is an open-world RPG set in the last throes of the Middle Ages. A direct sequel of the original, Henry of Skalitz is traveling with a company to the region of Trosky to broker a truce. This guide will cover the following aspects of the game:

Included in this guide:

  • A complete walkthrough of the main story, including multiple outcomes
  • Guides to specific side quests associated with each settlement
  • Coverage of all of the various Tasks you can undertake
  • Useful gameplay tips to ensure the best possible start
  • Character development guide to the basics, build options and recommended perks
  • A fully interactive map with descriptions and screenshots for all map locations
  • The most complete Database around

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