Hello guys I want to complete the game for the first time, I've never been past chapter 3 and I could do with some advice.
At the moment I'm at chapter 1 still, I know most of the stuff I shouldn't do (using permabuffs etc).

I'm planning to make an archer, so far my stats are as follows:
Dex 40 (45 with the Dex ring), Bow 51
Pickpocket, skinning and lockpick learned
I use 35 dmg bow and 40 dmg Dex sword, I have the master sword ready from killing ramirez.
I've done most quests for all guilds before joining militia, I've cleared most bandits and almost all weaker monsters. I haven't touched: wargs, skeletons, orcs, lizards, snappers and shadowbeasts. I have killed Dexter already.
I'm planning to go with lares to the deep forest and lure nearby wargs and orcs to him using speed elixirs and/or SONICWEED before using the circle mechanism. Is it going to be okay if I use speed elixirs or is there another method?

I bought fire rains and thunderstorms, summon demon and some other scrolls just because I have a lot of money in my fat pocket. This includes: ice waves, warg and shadowbeast transform, a bunch of 75g summon scrolls. I only went to merchants in khorinis, haven't been to check fire and water mage merchants.

Oh and ive killed entirety of lobarts farm (people... I see dead people...) c_c After finishing militia quests.

Next time I play I will try to use lares to kill mobs in the deep forest, get another piece of ornament from onars farm, see what else I can do to get exp, I assume I'll get 1 level more, maybe 2 if I knock down some npcs or find people to pickpocket. Then I'll have another go at killing stronger monsters, kill what I can and probably move to chapter 2 as I don't see what else I can do with only beefy monsters left.

Can you guys tell me if there is anything crucial I need to do before I move up to chapter 2? Also I noticed goblin skeletons have very low magic defence, is it the same for other types too? If so, which scrolls can I use to kill them? (cheap and useless in later chapters so I Dont lose anything) I have about 2300 spare gold at this moment.
Any locations I should go to right after I begin chapter 2 to get some nice Dex /hp / Def items or otherwise useful stuff?
At what point do you recommend I stop developing bow skill and use power up? for the same token, at what threshold is it OK to stop training Dex and start using power ups?

Tyvm for going through all this :)

Already finished the game can be deleted

Ok you won't benefit from this, but others might.

If your making up an archer. You want to get up to 64 dex as fast as possible so you can use your composite bow and master rapier. This also helps with your damage, and your pickpocket skill. I would get 34 in strength, 1 handers since you'll be good with swords also, and in many fights swords are easier than archery, where some fights archery is better than swords. For instance, when i fight orcs, golems, etc its very easy to fight them with swords.

Later you want to raise bows to 34, and not touch it after that. It will raise up some with your boosts/tablets, etc. You don't need a high bow skill, it only adjusts range and thats enough. All into dex. You need 160 for best bow and 120 for best pickpocketing anything. As an archer i would get 94 dex eventually with lps and then let items boost the rest. 94 dex will take you 18 levels so thats a good chunk.

(Edit: after playing as a mage, you can reach 160 dex for the best bow with about 75 starting dex, not 94. While having 180 dex compared to 160 dex is a bonus 20 damage, that extra lps an be vastly used better in something else. So get to 75 dex then use your dex items. NOT 94)

You can pray at shrine of innos for boosts. Your max is 10 strength, 10 dex, and 20 mana. Thats 4000 gold total. You want to save and donate and get your 20 mana before you join the mercs, you cant get it after, only str and dex. You want to pray and get your strength ONLY after you use lps to 34, and get your dex much later after your a merc and you reach your max dex of 94 for best benefit.

For speed potions, etc it's awesome. In the DLC with the pirates you can buy cheap speed potions for like 30 gold, so make and use what you want, and in the DLC you'll want to buy hundreds of the cheap speed potions from the pirates so you can speed about when ever you want.

Summon scrolls. Don't waste money on cheap ones. The only ones that are really beneficial are demons, golems, skeletons. Weaker summons get killed pretty easy so ignore wolf and goblin skeleton summons. With transformation scrolls, also ignore weak scrolls. Best is wargs, dragon snappers and shadowbeasts. Transforming into others? not worth it, your much stronger.

If you have the dlc/night of raven play the dlc once you start chapter 2, and before you do the chapter 2 mines. The dlc is good and easier than fighting the hordes of orcs in chapter 2 mines, a good way to level up a bit more. You can pretty much kill every enemy in chapter 1 and reach level 20 even before starting chapter 2 or the dlc, makes it easier. Hitting 64 dex for the 2 good weapons is the main way. Really the only hard foes are wargs, orcs are very tough but have a easy attack pattern. learn to fight orcs in melee, you'll be fighting hundreds of them in chapter 2. Easy. They charge with a overhead hit. Disrupt them with a 1-2 quick combo. back up a tad so they charge again, repeat. They are scary but with practice, one of the easiest foe attack patterns. Orcs and trolls are easily abused. Use ledge mechanics to shoot down wargs, they don't have an easy attack pattern. Them and skeletons to me, hardest chapter 1 foes, though skeleton attacks can be figured out with some effort. Just brace for a 1-2 combo hit each time.

Skeletons are resistant to arrows, so you'll have to use magic and melee. Same with goblin skeletons. Good to use those fireball/firedart spells on. Save the AOE spells (storm, fire rain) for some very tough areas, like the undead tomb, or if you want to try to hit a group of skeletons in the forest. I once dropped a nice storm spell in the center of a group of about 6-8 skeletons of various types in the forest. They would be good for wargs, except you cant really get a large group together to use on, they are too fast and strong.

So thats my advice. Get your strength 34, 1 hander 34, and dex to 64 asap. Before picking faction, raise strength to 44 with innos pray. Get 20 mana with innos praying. Donate 20 times of 50 gold to the firemage by the merchants. (costs 1000 gold). Get your basic skinning skill, thieves skills, etc. Ignore forging.

Now, as to skinning. There are many different skills. Basic skinning of furs as apprentice to bosper is essential. If your a merc, you want skinning horns for a nice quest in chapter 3 as a merc. Rest? ONLY useful if you dont have high dexterity and won't pickpocket much, like if your a strength based paladin 2 hander with low dex. All the skinning skills i think take up 40-50 lps, which personally i love for extra money, but isn't needed if you are a high dex person with pickpocketing. Test it out, i bought all the skills. In chapter 2 i already had 40,000 money WITHOUT selling any skinned items. I had plenty of money for anything. So you don't need skinning for money other than the basic skinning you learn from bosper. Nice to have, but not needed. I think it will be needed for money if you don't have pickpocketing good and high dex (a strength character) who won't get as much money from pickpocket. You might get 8000 gold from all the stuff you get with the extra skinning skills. Not worth it except if you can't pickpocket good and might need the extra money.

It won't make much difference really. Going up 10 points in dex or strength at high levels costs you 50 lps, whiich isn't a huge deal, but that 50 lps put into all the skinning skills = tons of extra money over the game. But you wont' really need that much extra money with pickpocket.