Archery allows you to use your bow to strike enemies from a distance.

Press and hold M1 to draw the bow. Release M1 to fire, or press R to cancel the shot. You can also perform a weak bash by tapping M2.

It takes a moment to fully draw the bow. A partially drawn bow does less damage.

When you equip a bow, the weakest available arrows are automatically equipped as well, though you can select a different set of arrows if you prefer.

You can select an Archery perk that let you hold M2 while the bow is fully drawn to slow down time and zoom in on your target. Archery perks include Overdraw which increases bow damage,  Critical Shot which increases the effects of critical hits, Hunter's Discipline which let you recover more arrows from dead bodies, Ranger which lets you move faster with a drawn bow, Bullseye that gives you a chance to paralyze the target,  Eagle eye which lets you zoom,steady hand which slows time as you zoom,  power shot which makes arrows stagger enemies,  and quick shot that lets you draw a bow 30% faster.

Khajiit and Redguard start with a +5 bonus to their archery skill. Wood Elves start with a +10 archery skill bonus.  Regardless of race, archery can be raised all the way up to 100 by using the bow a lot and hitting enemies.