Orcs and archery

So I am looking to start the game again after having done all DLC so far and nearly everything in the base game. I was playing as an Argonian before, thoroughly enjoyed sneaking about, but this time I'm looking to be more in their faces, so to speak. I want constant confrontation, so I'm done with the sneaking, but I'd still like to attack from afar.

I was thinking of starting an Orc, purely for their Berserker Rage power. Now from what I've heard about this power, it doesn't affect magic (Obviously) but doubles your melee damage output, and makes you take only 50% of normal damage. What I assume this means is that if you have an axe that can hit for 30 points of base damage, that will be doubled to 60 points of base damage on top of whatever else you have as far as perks go. Same with being hit, if you're hit for 50 points of damage, that will be halved to 25, on top of armor rating.

Now here's what I don't know about: How it affects archery. The first thing I don't understand is, does Berserker Rage actually affect archery damage, since it's not physically swinging a weapon at the enemy? Or does the game actually count it as physical damage anyway, as long as it's not magical?

Plus, I'm a little confused about how perks factor in to it all - my assumption is that Berserker Rage affects the base damage of the weapon without perks and active effects, but is this actually true? On top of that, there are a few archery perks that increase critical chance. How are criticals affected by the power?

Thanks to anyone who can help.