What's the Best Character Build to Play in Skyrim?

[InspiredE1705]

I just bought Skyrim today on it's 33% off Steam Sale. Jan & Feb were kinda dead in games sales so I jumped in on Skyrim today.

I don't know what's the best character build on Skyrim... Maybe I'd like to have powerful arrow stealth kills, some good magic, and a sword and shield if I ever get into melee fights.

So what are your recommendations and what have you played and how good is your character? Also recommend character builds not to use!

[dbar]

I've only been playing Skyrim for a week now, but I hear ya: so many options!

Right now my main character is a battle mage with a decent bow for backup. Tried a dedicated mage / magic-only and had some...uh... difficulties.

Also for my melee characters, I've found that smithing is a GREAT way to level up and build your health and stamina. Man, so many iron daggers. Ugh. Enchantments never hurt either.

[iMaCuLaTe]

Originally Posted by InspiredE1705

I just bought Skyrim today on it's 33% off Steam Sale. Jan & Feb were kinda dead in games sales so I jumped in on Skyrim today.

I don't know what's the best character build on Skyrim... Maybe I'd like to have powerful arrow stealth kills, some good magic, and a sword and shield if I ever get into melee fights.

So what are your recommendations and what have you played and how good is your character? Also recommend character builds not to use!

If you're looking to build a stealth character with magic (illusion is prolly the best option for a stealth character and it's very powerful end game) I would put points in the following categories...

Archery (don't bother getting that slow time crap or the one where you get more arrows and supposively "move faster while aiming" they're not worth it)

1H Weapons (I particularly like using 2 swords for the crit bonus and then using healing magic/soul trap/fear when I need to)

Light Armor (definitely some good stuff for a stealthy dude)

Resto (At least get enough for the point where you can heal your health and stamina at the same time. but the majority of the resto tree is good)

Illusion (this is an awesome school of magic for a stealthy character due to the invisibility and the manipulation of other charcters with fear/calm and frenzy)

Lockpicking (I wouldn't fill the whole tree up, but I would at least go up to the points that let you find more gold and special treasure in chests)

Enchanting (In my opinion no matter which kind of character you would like to play chanting is awesome for making really cool weapons)

Sneak (obviously if you want to be a stealthy character the majority of the stuff in this tree is pretty crucial)

Well, I hope this gives you some ideas for your character. I personally have a lot of fun with my Khajit dude (Although I'm really disappointed they removed acrobatics because khajit were awesome in morrowind and oblivion for jumping around towns and on top of buildings)

You can obviously try out whatever you'd like, but based off of what you mentioned I would recommend putting some points in these trees I mentioned above.

Also! I would recommend putting you stat points like this...

Health = 50%
Magic = 30%
Stamina = 20% (mostly because if you have the perk where your heals restore stamina you don't need a lot. Especially if you only use your power attacks when necessary)

And remember, because you're using the PC. If you choose a perk you don't like, you can always use the console to remove it and place it elsewhere. I've been told there are around 80 points that you can use once you're maxed out. Well, enjoy the game! Good luck with building your character.

[sanjie]

I personally think that lockpicking is a waste of perks. Later on, you wouldn't really need the golds coming from treasure chests because of the loots.

[Hungry Man]

Easy mode. Get Bound Bow ASAP and get conjuration up. Do thieves guild quests.

Focus on Archery and Sneak. Only wear Light Armor.

You'll get good armor from thieves guild (the best IMO for this character) but I won't go into details because it'll include spoilers.

I started off as a mage my first playthrough - big mistake. You ebb and flow between being broken and way behind. Archery you can either focus on it and make the game easy (turn the difficulty up) or you can spreaed around a bit, work on light armor or conjuration, and keep things interesting.

edit: in short, archery + conjuration

[GeorgeOkeefa]

Everything is pretty much good. The game simply isn't difficult on highest difficulty. Every play-through I've done was on max difficulty, and never had any big problems, I see a lot of people with the same "problem" on other forums.

Though one time I did abandon a playthrough because I pumped smithing up a lot, like way too much. The level scaling screwed me cause I had next to no combat skills that scaled with me.

Sneak is incredibly, stupidly easy. You basically one shot everyone except bosses not that far into the game if you sneak alot. And its not like the sneaking system is difficult to use.

[InspiredE1705]

If I get bored with my Sneak character can I switch to playing a Mage character? That is, can I switch between two different games / characters often?

[s2odin]

Focus on bows and stealth

I can OHKO 90% of all enemies due to stealth bonus and bow damage bonus.

Don't worry about lockpick.

Spoiler :

In one of the Thieve's Guild quests you get the Skeleton Key (unbreakable lockpick). Don't turn that quest in and you have an unbreakable lockpick forever.

[key001]

Mage wearing robes with a lot of resistance to lightning. You can kite everything by running in circles except lightning mages.

[Kevin]

Just do Conjuration and carry a shield.