Challenging Builds?

[Grob]

Does anyone have a really hard build to play as? Skyrim is too easy now- I've done: only Illusion with no armor, only fists, assassin (dagger), archer, sword and shield, dual wield orc, mage and non-adventurer. All on Master. I don't want a sneaky character, gets really boring. Just an interesting (and hard) build. Thanks!

 

[Iveri Sarothil]

Archer with no points in Light Armor at all.
Mage Redguard.
Sword, no shield.

Or, pick any build and choose to wear only clothing - no armor at all. Be a dagger-wielding assassin with no armor, just a really good Sneak and One-Handed sort of thing. Maybe add Illusion along with it - but to make it hard, don't go with Illusion.

 

[The Phoenician]

I'm working on an unarmed battlemage. So far it's my most challenging and fun build. I just hit level 18 so I can't tell you how well it plays out at later levels. But even with the Fist of Steel perk and finally getting decent enchants for my armor I am no where near being over powered.I'm also not power leveling any skills.

Here is what I'm going for.

Heavy armor
Unarmed
Destruction: lightening mostly
Cunjuration: Soul trap / Raise Dead

Smithing
Enchanting
Alchemy: instead of restoration

I mostly go to the fist after I run out of magica. Which was quite often since it is hard to find armor with fortify magic.

 

[Skulli]

I'm working on an unarmed battlemage. So far it's my most challenging and fun build. I just hit level 18 so I can't tell you how well it plays out at later levels. But even with the Fist of Steel perk and finally getting decent enchants for my armor I am no where near being over powered.I'm also not power leveling any skills.

Here is what I'm going for.

Heavy armor
Unarmed
Destruction: lightening mostly
Cunjuration: Soul trap / Raise Dead

Smithing
Enchanting
Alchemy: instead of restoration

I mostly go to the fist after I run out of magica. Which was quite often since it is hard to find armor with fortify magic.

Fists do not scale well at higher levels. Even as a Khajiit with Puglist gloves, potions & enchants, only does 16 points of damage.

To choose a weapon that still leaves this a hard build, get a slow two handed hammer, like the daedric one at that Orc Stronghold via quest.


Use your shouts like Warcraft cooldowns, hotkey them and use them asap.

 

[FullmetalHeart20]

How about no armor and no points in health? Pretty much anything would be hard after that.

 

[Skulli]

How about no armor and no points in health? Pretty much anything would be hard after that.

At best, you will get 3-shotted.

 

[mcfrg]

Even though the popular builds may be easy after a while, they are still challenging early on if you play Ironman (dead is dead) or at least, you have to restart if you're out played, not from some silly mistake. The fun part is being constantly on edge. If a cat ambush and manage to kill you, then you have to restart for example.

 

[Skulli]

Even though the popular builds may be easy after a while, they are still challenging early on if you play Ironman (dead is dead) or at least, you have to restart if you're out played, not from some silly mistake. The fun part is being constantly on edge. If a cat ambush and manage to kill you, then you have to restart for example.

A death at level 36 would give me a cardiac event.

 

[imaginepageant]

Pacifist. No killing anything, ever. No, not even then. And no making others kill for you, by using Fury spells, casting summons, or keeping a follower. Just you, alone, not killing things.

The reason this build was so challenging for me is that it was a complete 360 from how I always played the game before: by fighting enemies. That's kind of what the game is about, isn't it? Fighting and killing becomes reflex in a game like Skyrim. Take that away, and you've suddenly got a whole new game on your hands.

The skills I used:

Illusion: Calm and Fear to placate aggressive enemies.
Alteration: Mage armor for those sticky situations I inevitably wound up in, and eventually Paralysis, though I never got that far.
Restoration: To heal myself, and others, and to cast Courage spells on friendlies who defended me of their own free will (including an epic bear vs. dragon battle that I will never, ever forget).
Sneak: Because sometimes all you can do is tiptoe around a foe.
Pickpocketing: Entirely unrelated to pacifism, but I wanted a secondary aspect to the playstyle and being a kleptomaniac was a lot of fun.

I also carried a long bow and some arrows, to create distractions.

This was not only one of the most challenging builds I've ever played, but above and beyond the most fun build. I gave it up around level 30, when I realized halfway through the Snow Veil Sanctum quest that all those Draugr Mercer was killing counted as my own kills in the game stats, and I didn't have any saves from before the start of that quest. I was devastated. But I do plan to play this build again someday... and either stay out of the Thieves Guild, or not do that particular quest until I've got 100 Illusion and can Calm and Fear those Draugr before Mercer can get his hands on them. (If you're wondering what I planned to do about killing Mercer, there's a way to do it without it counting as a kill. A very difficult way, but someone else playing this build was able to do it, so I know it can be done.)

 

[Psiberzerker]

Unarmored (Including Mage Armor) is the easiest way to raise the difficulty. The build I've done that Never got over powered was 2H assassin. No Backstab Multipliers, Armor, nor Magic (Beyond the occasional Vampire Dust.) You still have Sneak/Surprise, but failing that, you have to fight your way out, and you only ever get Double Damage. Invest in Health, lots of it.

I've also done a Support playthrough. Similar to the Pascifist, only instead of not killing, I basically followed Lydia through the main quest with Healing Hands (and others) to keep her off her knee. For role-playing, I've also done the Traveling Tinker, and Arms Dealer. Smithing, Enchanting, and Armor, but no weapon skills, and a bodyguard (In this case, Jenassa, or Uthgerd) to demonstrate my wares. Not unlike the Khajiit Caravan, you have a Merchant, and Warriors to fight off the bandits. Of course, you still have to go through dangerous places on the way, or into Dungeons to mine for Ores, so it's a good idea to hire some Protection.

I still agree with the Pascifist being the greatest challenge, especially if you Don't use Invisibility. Gets kind of dull, eventually, and severely limits the Quests you can take (Kill the Bandit Leader at...) but for sheer dificulty, that's the way to go. My previous suggestions are more somewhat challenging ideas to consider for fun play-throughs instead of the ultimate Challenge.

At least to me, getting bored isn't just the relative difficulty, that's easy to avoid by not doing all the things we do to make it easy. Crafting up to über power, taking advantage of Sneak, and Illusion, and Damage multipliers to never get hit, and 1hk. In addition to that, once we've done All the quests, and Achievements, killed every enemy, and become the most powerful mortal of the age multiple times, every subsequent playthrough is pretty much a re-run.

To counter this ennui, I role play. I'm not talking about adding Rules, like sleep, and food to make it more "Realistic" (In a game full of Magic, Dragons, Werewolves, and Gods/Demons that talk to people) but letting the Character decide whicch path to take, which choices, and how to approach every fight. This is beyond the Game Mechanics of the Build, but creating a holistic Charcter, with a background, motivations, goals, and Opinions.

Never traveling with a Dunmer, because she doesn't trust them. Avoiding confrontation, and face-to face combat, because she's a coward, or not using Magic because it's Evil. Having reasons for all these things that apply to the PC, instead of the Player looking through the screen deciding "This is too easy" and max/minning from the keyboard to make it more difficult. Try to get into the Character's head, see it through their eyes, feel their surprise, and fear for their life when that Draugr steps out of the casket just like it always does. At least for me, this doesn't make a whole new game, but more fun that just going through the same motions over again...

 

[Psiberzerker]

There are also combos that are generally avoided because of Conflict. Like Spell Absorbtion, and Summoning. If you play a Conjurer with the Atronach Stone, every time you cast a Summoning spell, there's a 50/50 chance of it failing. That sucks, unless you happen to think Conjuration is OP (and it kind of is...) In character, you can rationalize that these Daedra are real beings with personalities, and maybe they don't Want to come do your bidding, again, right this second. This is the kind of self imposed nerf that is automatic, you don't have to think about it, and can assume that the Character is not aware of the Conflict.

I did pretty much that exact thing with Dreadfall, the Assassin with a Greatsword. She figures a Dagger is ok, but a Greatsword is better, right? It's not like she can actually look further up the tree to see Assassin's Blade in the constellation, when she never even goes as far as Backstab on that limb, so she's blisfully ignorant. (She also lampshades this by thinking to herself how stupid the Dark Brotherhood is by all using those puny little blades. Except Angbjorn, of course, who she had a little crush on. She's basically the same build as him, right down to being a Werewolf.) That, and it actually looks pretty cool when she slits someone's throat with 50 inches of Skyforge Steel in a black dress, and hood.

Not saying you have to use my build, nor anything like it, but there's plenty of these conflicting combos in the game that can effectively take the OP out of the Build. Instead of abusing the system to make yourself as powerful as possible, try finding the ones that cancel each other out, or at least partially limit them before they become gamebreakers. Those are the only ones that come to mind off the top of my head, but I'm sure there's lots more...

 

[FullmetalHeart20]

Pacifist. No killing anything, ever. No, not even then. And no making others kill for you, by using Fury spells, casting summons, or keeping a follower. Just you, alone, not killing things.

The reason this build was so challenging for me is that it was a complete 360 from how I always played the game before: by fighting enemies. That's kind of what the game is about, isn't it? Fighting and killing becomes reflex in a game like Skyrim. Take that away, and you've suddenly got a whole new game on your hands.

The skills I used:

Illusion: Calm and Fear to placate aggressive enemies.
Alteration: Mage armor for those sticky situations I inevitably wound up in, and eventually Paralysis, though I never got that far.
Restoration: To heal myself, and others, and to cast Courage spells on friendlies who defended me of their own free will (including an epic bear vs. dragon battle that I will never, ever forget).
Sneak: Because sometimes all you can do is tiptoe around a foe.
Pickpocketing: Entirely unrelated to pacifism, but I wanted a secondary aspect to the playstyle and being a kleptomaniac was a lot of fun.

I also carried a long bow and some arrows, to create distractions.

This was not only one of the most challenging builds I've ever played, but above and beyond the most fun build. I gave it up around level 30, when I realized halfway through the Snow Veil Sanctum quest that all those Draugr Mercer was killing counted as my own kills in the game stats, and I didn't have any saves from before the start of that quest. I was devastated. But I do plan to play this build again someday... and either stay out of the Thieves Guild, or not do that particular quest until I've got 100 Illusion and can Calm and Fear those Draugr before Mercer can get his hands on them. (If you're wondering what I planned to do about killing Mercer, there's a way to do it without it counting as a kill. A very difficult way, but someone else playing this build was able to do it, so I know it can be done.)

Well isn't that a bit too much? Even the Doctor, the biggest pacifist in time and space, gets his hands dirty if there's no other way. And a lot of cases in the quest lines where you have to kill kinda leaves it open to justification. For example, wiping out the Dark Brotherhood would probably save hundreds down the line, and they're unrepentant murderers for hire. If you don't attack the Forsworn assassin in Markarth, he kills an innocent woman. And the draugr are the undead forced to walk the halls of some tomb forever. They're already dead, so just put them to rest. And do ghosts really count as a kill? That doesn't even cover the dwemer machines.
A bit of moral ambiguity could make pacifist more interesting and open up new avenues of play.

 

[Psiberzerker]

Well isn't that a bit too much? Even the Doctor, the biggest pacifist in time and space, gets his hands dirty if there's no other way. And a lot of cases in the quest lines where you have to kill kinda leaves it open to justification. For example, wiping out the Dark Brotherhood would probably save hundreds down the line, and they're unrepentant murderers for hire. And the draugr are the undead forced to walk the halls of some tomb forever. They're already dead, so just put them to rest. And do ghosts really count as a kill?
A bit of moral ambiguity could make pacifist more interesting and open up new avenues of play.

Ok, you can't Destroy the Dark Brotherhood without first Killing Grelod the Kind in cold blood in front of a bunch of children. I know, she's not a nice person, but that doesn't change the fact that this is cold blooded murder for a Child. What kind of moral lesson does that teach? Stick around to see what the other kids learned, and let me hear your rationale then. Once again, doing evil unto evil is still doing evil, particularly if it's for personal profit, or sadistic enjoyment and only rationalized as "The right thing to do." Hitler thought the Jews were evil, and Genocide was the Right thing to do, or at least that's what he convinced Germany in all his impassioned speeches. Not comparing you to Hitler,nor calling you a Nazi, but that should illustrate the far extreme of the mindset that "It's okay if I vilify them first."

The idea is to make it a Challenge, and this does so, handily. If you're into Role Play, then it's not how you can justify it to yourself for the Character, but actually playing a character who is incapable of killing, nor condoning it, even when necessary. It's not about you, the player, but the Character, that's what Role Playing is all about. That, and it's hands down the most challenging build I can think of.

 

[FullmetalHeart20]

What about Alduin? You have to strike the final blow. This build seems to go beyond challenging, into impossible. Or you could avoid every main quest ever.

 

[The Phoenician]

Fists do not scale well at higher levels. Even as a Khajiit with Puglist gloves, potions & enchants, only does 16 points of damage.

To choose a weapon that still leaves this a hard build, get a slow two handed hammer, like the daedric one at that Orc Stronghold via quest.

Thats why I'm using Fist of Steel. Since it adds you're gauntlet's base armor rating to you're over all damage and makes the Puglist gloves obsolete. Which you need to disenchant anyway. Granted at best I might do a little better than iron weapons. But I want this build to be harder than it needs to be. I did start off using 2 handers but made things to easy.

I think the war hammer you are referring to is Volendrung. It actually has swing speed closer to a greatsword.

 

[Twiffle]

Use shouts only, , any race, any faction, any M.H.S combination you want, just use shouts and run around alot trying to dodge getting one shotted. If that doesnt work and the game is still too easy,, try covering one eye and play without depth perception, , or just buy another game and go and enjoy that instead of looking down at us mere mortals,

 

[Psiberzerker]

Thats why I'm using Fist of Steel. Since it adds you're gauntlet's base armor rating to you're over all damage and makes the Puglist gloves obsolete. Which you need to disenchant anyway. Granted at best I might do a little better than iron weapons. But I want this build to be harder than it needs to be. I did start off using 2 handers but made things to easy.

I think the war hammer you are referring to is Volendrung. It actually has swing speed closer to a greatsword.

Exactly, the idea is to make it harder, not gimp yourself, then minmax the challenge away again. Look at the Skooma dealers out in the sticks, nothing but some Iron Gauntlets, some of them. Nor that's how a MAN fights. Weapons are for Milk Drinkers!

 

[Erqiosk]

Two handed + Light armor / nothing. I started to play a barbarian-like character but it got really tricky after a while when every 2h bandit kept 2 shotting me to death, even on Adept difficulty. Might still work if you put effort and played carefully. ( i was tooo barbaric engager xD )

 

[imaginepageant]

What about Alduin? You have to strike the final blow. This build seems to go beyond challenging, into impossible. Or you could avoid every main quest ever.

I had planned on Alduin being my one and only kill in that playthrough. I won't justify any other kills, like saying Grelod is evil and deserves to die, or is be saving Margret from the Forsworn assassin by killing him. But, if Alduin lives, he will bring about the literal end of the world so I personally think that's a good justification.

But, you can just not finish the main quest. I've only ever finished it once, in the dozen or so playthroughs I've done, so for me, at least, that wouldn't be a big deal. Same goes for any other questline in which killing someone is unavoidable - just don't do that questline. However, nine times out of ten, killing is avoidable, even where you might not think so. I made it to level 30(ish), and halfway through the main and Thieves Guild questline without registering a single kill in my game stats. That's what makes this build so challenging - having to find different strategic routes than just plowing down whatever gets in your way. It challenges you to change the way you normally think in a game like this. Justifying killing this or that persons takes the challenge, the fun, and therefore the point out of this build.

 

[Adam Belmont]

I thought about a Spy build. No weapons, fists and no armor. Sneak, alchemy, speech pickpocket and lockpicking. Is something like a thief build but he will not steal to profit but to gather information and will kill only when is necessary. Something like that, never did it, but must be hard.