So... yet again... let's talk about builds!

Currently I am running 3 builds - each very different in it's own way:

1) Urug'Hai - 2 handed (sometimes one & shield), heavy armor, male, Orc using ebony warhammer, bow and armor. Currently member of the Companions and inveterate werewolf. Going Imperial and Dawnguard. Dragonborn ! Heavy Restoration, Enchanting and Smithing.

Great runthrough. WAM! CRUSH! KILL!

2) Den Moria - mage concentrating on Conjuration, Necromancy and Destruction. Heavy Illusion and sneak as well. High Elf, female. Some smithing and enchanting (not concentration).

Cool runthrough although, I added the Illusion and Sneak since she kept killing her followers. Less of a problem with Antronachs. Headed for college and Volkahir. Not sure where I'll go with being Dragonborn since she doesn't really seem like she'd be all that interested. If so, it will be the destructive ones exclusively.

3) Sayadina Rey - spellsword concentrating on heavy archery (I'm learning block with the bow! So cool). Female, redguard. Her spell set is minor destruction but heavy illusion, restoration and alteration with almost no conjuration.

Loving this runthrough. Was running with Faendal, but didn't really need him. Now she's solo.

Great runthrough so far. Enjoying her archery skills, even when she's not sneaking. She rarely, if ever actually uses her blade. Headed for DB & TG as well as Dawnguard. Not sure about being Dragonborn though, if so, only using the quiet and passive ones (Kyne's Peace, Aura Whisper, Throw Voice, etc.).

Been playing one character per night to keep it fresh. So far it seems to be working really well!

I've recently gotten back into Skyrim. Currently running with a cowardly Orc Thief, a Breton Witchhunter and finally an Imperial "Knight of Iron" build I saw on Skyrimblog (Only perks Alchemy, Enchanting, Smithing and Speech).

Been playin a hardcore thief. Aragonian, male. For 3 days now. lvl 23 already got marhunes dagon, and 100 in pickpocket with all perks in that tree except one for keys!!! invested 2 perks in lockpick, and gonna put there much more. Tho ill have to put somehing into speech too. Tought to go with alchemy, but no time now. Most important part, sneakin, already got assassins blade perk, and gonna go for shadow warrior, and all 5 in stealth.
Courently i have a problem, thiefs guild armor set looks so cool on me, but i dont have bonus in sneak att dmg + im playin on legendary, so i rly need that bonus. Those DB gloves would ruin it all!!! Muffle, i think me gonna need to cast the spell, i want to keep TG boots. Wonder if effect would apply, dont have the skill yet.
Courenty havin faendal for follower. My sneak still aint high enough to avoid combat.
Definition of my thiefs role play style is: Never too old for the gold! (well, hes a thief, after all)
For stone, probably gonna use Shadow stone. Cant invest too much in illusion, im a thief, not an assassin, so i try to avoid fights if possible.
"Pickpocket, now thats a real art. No rough stuff, just take it and go." - Bandit

I also haven't played in awhile, but just got back in with one of my favorite "weird" builds: Alteration-focused Shield warrior. Sword-and-Board melee, but no armor, allowing the Oakflesh class spells and Mage Armor perk to provide the bulk of protection. With the Lord Stone (+50 AR/+25% MR), the armor rating can actually be kept pretty comparable to similar levels wearing light armor. As a Breton and doing the Mara's quest early, this also maxes out Magic Resistance pretty early on. Along with this I'm going with smithing (for the sole purpose of improving shield rating), enchanting, and conjuring (mainly because I'm WAY too lazy to do enchanting without the Soul Stealer perk). It's a lot of fun. Quite satisfying to wear robes and get the shield-bash kill screen on a big heavy armor two hander orc bandit chief.

I just created two new characters to dwelve into the parts of Skyrim that are yet a mistery to me since I always play it sneaky. One is an Orc, great sword and heavy armor, no fancy items or spells, just that.
The other one is a mage, my first mage in fact. He specializes in destruction and conjuration, with a bit of illusion. His powers with fire are astonishing at the least, and no enemy gets close enough to him to realize he'd be dead in one hit.

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Edelst, female Nord with a sweet disposition for kids and a quick sword for draugr. Adventurer, collector of rare things and pretty gems and books. Currently using the Steed Stone to carry all that shiny loot. Uses one handed (either Ebony war axe found at level 15 or Dawnbreaker) and specializes in light armor, currently Elven and hoping to upgrade to Glass. Mostly uses Alteration and Restoration major, occasionally Conjuration if she's in a tight spot. While she's a good girl and doesn't piss off the law, she's good at sneaking around, occasionally getting sticky fingers for pretty things. Mediocre alchemist, but knows how to make a good invisibility potion.

Stillwater Stag said:

Edelst, female Nord with a sweet disposition for kids and a quick sword for draugr. Adventurer, collector of rare things and pretty gems and books. Currently using the Steed Stone to carry all that shiny loot. Uses one handed (either Ebony war axe found at level 15 or Dawnbreaker) and specializes in light armor, currently Elven and hoping to upgrade to Glass. Mostly uses Alteration and Restoration major, occasionally Conjuration if she's in a tight spot. While she's a good girl and doesn't piss off the law, she's good at sneaking around, occasionally getting sticky fingers for pretty things. Mediocre alchemist, but knows how to make a good invisibility potion.

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What kind of self respecting Nord wears that fancy elven stuff! Fur, Hide, Studded, Scale (and Horned Scale), Leather or Dragonscale, even Stahlrim or Imperial (if you're being ironic), but Elven? Fah! You're an embarrassment to your own race. Fah I say!

I decided to create another character which focuses on horse combat, Nord archer/two handed. Took a little bit to get used to the aiming from horseback and how the horse moves/able to spin around (can shoot running foxes easily now).

So far one of the most enjoyable characters I've ever had, I like hunting down the giants and mammoths for the intense moments of dodging their attacks.

Very fast pace since I don't have archer killcams or the favorite arrow misses cam.

Daelon DuLac said:

What kind of self respecting Nord wears that fancy elven stuff! Fur, Hide, Studded, Scale (and Horned Scale), Leather or Dragonscale, even Stahlrim or Imperial (if you're being ironic), but Elven? Fah! You're an embarrassment to your own race. Fah I say!

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Oh, boo. When you're running around barrows and happen to find a full set of light armor, you wear it. Beside, I haven't gotten my smithing to a decent level yet, so the armor I'd like to create is far from my reach. Glass armor, so close, yet so, so far.

Stillwater Stag said:

Daelon DuLac said:

What kind of self respecting Nord wears that fancy elven stuff! Fur, Hide, Studded, Scale (and Horned Scale), Leather or Dragonscale, even Stahlrim or Imperial (if you're being ironic), but Elven? Fah! You're an embarrassment to your own race. Fah I say!

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Oh, boo. When you're running around barrows and happen to find a full set of light armor, you wear it. Beside, I haven't gotten my smithing to a decent level yet, so the armor I'd like to create is far from my reach. Glass armor, so close, yet so, so far.

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No Glass! It's so, so... ELVEN! Have some self respect ya Nord! At least wear something appropriate!

Join the companions and wear there Wolf Armor for a bit. Sure, it's considered heavy, but, still, at least it doesn't weigh more than light.

Besides, you said you didn't have that many smithing perks yet. As long as you are above 25, you can make leather that's better than that crappy golden stuff that makes your butt look big!

Please man! Have some self respect! You're a Nord! What would the rest of the lunk heads think?

Oh! You could join the Stormies and get some savage and pretty good stuff or even kill a few Foreswarn. Anything's better than Elven.

Daelon DuLac said:

No Glass! It's so, so... ELVEN! Have some self respect ya Nord! At least wear something appropriate!

Join the companions and wear there Wolf Armor for a bit. Sure, it's considered heavy, but, still, at least it doesn't weigh more than light.

Besides, you said you didn't have that many smithing perks yet. As long as you are above 25, you can make leather that's better than that crappy golden stuff that makes your butt look big!

Please man! Have some self respect! You're a Nord! What would the rest of the lunk heads think?

Oh! You could join the Stormies and get some savage and pretty good stuff or even kill a few Foreswarn. Anything's better than Elven.

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I figured you were a Stormcloak. I choose no sides in this battle. I'm all about the shinies and aesthetically pretties.

Stillwater Stag said:

I figured you were a Stormcloak. I choose no sides in this battle. I'm all about the shinies and aesthetically pretties.

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Definitely not a stormie or even a nord bit, by the 8! Don't be besmirching our armor with your dirty nord hide! It's an obsenity!

Stillwater Stag said:

Oh, boo. When you're running around barrows and happen to find a full set of light armor, you wear it. Beside, I haven't gotten my smithing to a decent level yet, so the armor I'd like to create is far from my reach. Glass armor, so close, yet so, so far.

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DrunkenMage said:

I decided to create another character which focuses on horse combat, Nord archer/two handed. Took a little bit to get used to the aiming from horseback and how the horse moves/able to spin around (can shoot running foxes easily now).

So far one of the most enjoyable characters I've ever had, I like hunting down the giants and mammoths for the intense moments of dodging their attacks.

Very fast pace since I don't have archer killcams or the favorite arrow misses cam.

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This is an intriguing build, and one i have always wanted to do effectively. I have tried horseback archery (as a hunter RP character) but found the targeting really tough and the camera/view movement a bit frustrating.

Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

khazan99 said:

This is an intriguing build, and one i have always wanted to do effectively. I have tried horseback archery (as a hunter RP character) but found the targeting really tough and the camera/view movement a bit frustrating.

Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

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Takes a bit to get used to it, so you'll need to practice and make a lot of arrows. Once you're able to zoom in and slow time down it becomes so much better.

Shooting head on isn't too hard you'll miss a few times at first. The tricky one is shooting at an angle while riding, you need to aim either left or right of the target depending on which side you're aiming from.

Giants and mammoths are the easier prey due to them being much larger, deer you'll be able to chase down until you hit them.

A crossbow could be another option as you don't need to worry about drawing it, only shooting.

I wish they made horse archery better. It's do-able because I have killed with horse archery. But it's a huge pain and take a long time getting used to.

As for elven stuff....

But... but it's so pretty! And shiny!

I wish the guilds were better like previous titles because i always enjoyed making characters that surround those factions. you become leader in them too quickly and you're treated like the new guy still doing little jobs in skyrim.

At the moment i like running builds that are based on classes from earlier titles. playing as a Nord sorcerer in my current game.

Thorek said:

I wish the guilds were better like previous titles because i always enjoyed making characters that surround those factions. you become leader in them too quickly and you're treated like the new guy still doing little jobs in skyrim.

At the moment i like running builds that are based on classes from earlier titles. playing as a Nord sorcerer in my current game.

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Definitely agree about the guilds. They are way too shallow.

I have had some fun by playing a unit on one side or the other of the war. This is different than playing out the Civil War questline. To do this you need to be on PC and use a mod, like UFO, that allows multiple followers, with a mod that adds more random Imperial/Stormcloak patrols. Start with just your character, wearing the basic armor of that side. On Imperial side, use the Imperial Light armor set. Follow Hadvar, and take his command to report to Solitude as if it were an order from a superior officer. Once there, do a quest or two then give yourself a promotion--get a follower, and change your armor to the Imperial Medium (what Hadvar wears, with the leather patches on the breast). Give your follower the light version. Go kill more enemies, get another follower or two, do a couple of the Civil War quests, and eventually award yourself another promotion, changing over to the Imperial Officer armor. Make your first follower your sergeant, wearing the medium armor, with the rest in the light. Patrol the roads, attack camps, fight the war. Ignore all other quests and problems. By the time you work your way up to having two sergeants and nine or ten followers, it's much more realistic that you would be such a trusted advisor to the top brass in the final stages of the Civil War quest. Same all applies for Stormcloak side, using scale helm vs. Stormcloak helm instead of light/medium to distinguish grunts from sergeants.