What Build Should I Try Next?

[Elvus]

I took a couple month hiatus from Skyrim and now I want to make a new character but I'm unsure where to start again. I've played as a "sword and board" orc paladin who I messed up by choosing bad perks because I was a newb. Then I made an assassin who is a really fun character but he's too all over the place with perks and I'm just bored with him. After this I made a pure mage who was fun at first but now can't kill anything anymore because destruction magic is WAY under-powered at higher levels. I'm interested in hearing your favorite playstyles and builds. Please give me some ideas guys!

 

[Howarthee]

I started out as a one-handed semi-sneak warrior...I figured that would be my main build, but I did what you did and my perks were all over the board.
I retried and I really love my sneak-mage. I'm using almost exclusive magic until I get to a high level where it doesn't scale well, then I'll switch to archery mostly with some magic thrown in (to stagger with impact mostly, it's a lifesaver!).
My next will be exclusively one handed and enchantment. I have yet to try the enchanting tables in depth.
I hope this gives you some ideas!

 

[Elvus]

If you're sneaking it probably wont be as bad since you usually get a sneak bonus. But dragons as a high leveled mage are UBERMODE hard,LOL.... you'll see bro . I'm considering making a sneaky pure archer but I'm certainly open to other ideas if someone can convince me of something more interesting/challenging/fun. I've experimented a lot with all the enchanting stuff and it's a blast for sure.

 

[Howarthee]

I'm already experiencing the dragon thing a little...I had just gone outside at the mages college and a frost dragon appeared. Of course no one was around to help me, but thankfully I had bunches of potions to get me through it, of course hiding behind pillars helped. I'm kind of afraid to level up more...>.< I was going to do pure archer, but decided to use magic first, I've never used much of it, not even in Oblivion.

 

[Elvus]

Archery is really fun in skyrim,you should deffinetly try it man. I enjoyed it quite a bit on my assasin but because I used one handed and archery they both are below 70. In my opinion archery is much more fun than one handed but you can't block with a bow, So I'm a little reluctant to try a pure archer build yet until I learn more about it from someone.

 

[Squirrel_killer-]

Try to keep a very concentrated build. I like assassins and non-destruction mages the most. Avoid crafting until a) the game needs a raised level or b) you can't survive without (which has yet to happen to me). You never need more than 5 skills max to have a good solid build, extras just add favor. Melee, range, defensive, support, support. For some builds you can just drop the melee. In others you can go all out with only 3 skills.

One build that can't be stopped is this: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Skills Builder - IGN

Only use the skills that have perks absolutely nothing else (besides armor since DP masks count as armor). that build will never run into a destruction mages nightmare: damage scaling. Your Dremora Lords for melee and Storm Atronachs for range paired with your Fury spells will kill everyone you meet. Top it off some alteration to defend from damage and Restoration for minor heals, and I never even needed a follower. This build got retired because I ran out of things to do with it. And I never really used Enchanting much either. In fact it was nearly left out of the build when I played it not long ago.

If you want something different try that or Shadow Summoner.

Assassin with conjuration and silent casting (Illusion is a joke to grind). Full list of skills: Sneak, One-handed, Archery, Light Armor, Conjuration, and Illusion (only until you can get silent casting).

Perks: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Skills Builder - IGN

Use conjuration to summon a Bound Bow for range and Dremora Lords/Storm Thralls if you're seen. Dual-wield dagger and sword for melee combat and sneak attacks. That there doesn't even need crafting to work out to be effective.

 

[Elvus]

Concentration is exactly what I lacked the first 3 times around...In fairness to myself though I think a lot of people get excited about too many skills and end up just having a mediocre character.

I've been considering a heavy armor archery character. Apparently heavy bows (Dwarven,Orcish,etc) have less of an arc than the light bows ( elven,glass,etc) so long range shots would be easier with a heavy bow. Making a character with perks in the light armor smithing as well as heavy armor perks so I could make heavy bows while wearing the sneaky light armor seems like a waste of perks, in the short term anyway. Surely someone has tried a heavy armor archery build.

The thing I can't seem to understand is how people get by without having perks heavily invested in the overpowered crafting skills like enchanting,smithing and alchemy AND still have enough perks to go into your combat and sneaking abilities. By the time you're level 80 you might have all or most of the perks you need to be efficient. I think I'm thinking about this too much .

 

[DovahCap]

I reccomend the almost-pure warrior. Mainly putting perks in every Warrior tree, other than onehanded/block or two handed depending on your weapons preference. The thing that makes it unpure is Enchanting, because honestly, enchantments make weapons so much more awesome. If you're going this path, destroy the DB and don't get involved with the Thieves Guild, though.

 

[Elvus]

I think that sounds like an enjoyable build Dovahcap,but what do you use to heal yourself if you don't use alchemy or restoration?

Enchanting is probably the most useful skill in the game,I can't see how you could avoid using it in any build. I've not used a shield & sword much in this game so that would definitely be fresh for me.

 

[DovahCap]

I think that sounds like an enjoyable build Dovahcap,but what do you use to heal yourself if you don't use alchemy or restoration?

Enchanting is probably the most useful skill in the game,I can't see how you could avoid using it in any build. I've not used a shield & sword much in this game so that would definitely be fresh for me.

Potions can be bought from almost anywhere, and who needs health restoration when there's no wounds to close, thanks to heavy armor?

 

[Elvus]

But all the amazing poisons,fortify skill potions and restore health and stamina potions...I love alchemy AND enchanting .

 

[DovahCap]

I just never understood alchemy, :c

 

[Elvus]

That's how I felt about alchemy when I first started,it LOOKS confusing and intimidating but it really isn't. Use a cheat sheet for alchemy ingrediants like this one : Potions (Skyrim) - The Elder Scrolls Wiki and pretty much just horde any and all alchemy ingredients in a specific spot in your house. After you've accumulated enough (I find my stash can get pretty heavy so I don't carry it with me all the time) you just make as many restore health potions as you can with the ingredients you have since this will probably be your priority most of the time.

Also resist fire,ice,shock,poison and mage potions as well as slow poisons are made from fairly cheap ingredients and yet fetch a pretty high price you can more than break even by making them from store bought ingredients and then selling them back to the alchemy store. You'll get a lot of alchemy levels doing this a lot. It just gets boring after a while.

 

[DdraigGwyn]

If you find things getting too overpowering, one option is to do the Night to Remember quest to get the Sanguine Rose. That has helped me out of a lot of tight situations.

 

[Savior of the Damned]

One of my first and fav builds was an Orc heavy armoured 2-H warrior, and when things got abit messy, BAM! werewolf time and after the job is done I pull out the cannibullism card to heal myself and give a nice stamina boost

 

[Elvus]

I've played around a with a character almost exactly like what you said,Savior. I failed to mention that one. And you're right it is a very fun build . I really like Orcs a lot. they're one of my favorite races to play without a doubt.

 

[Savior of the Damned]

I've played around a with a character almost exactly like what you said,Savior. I failed to mention that one. And you're right it is a very fun build . I really like Orcs a lot. they're one of my favorite races to play without a doubt.

Yeah, Orcs are awesome, I do want to do another playthrough with one but have it off the trail of your standard orc warrior. But atm I'm just enjoying my Nord battlemaster Oragar waaaaay to much.

 

[ryguy014]

i had a high level pure archer and it was really fun to do sneak 1 hit kills with the bow and take everyone out and not be seen. but now i have a level 20 pure mage and its really fun to play around with all the different spells, its more stratigic