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Blackdoom59

BATMAN!
Work In Progress
Please note that the statements below are my opinion .If you believe I was wrong at some point please warn me in the comments.
The perk’s name color will mean the following:
Green-Essential
Orange-Situational/Only gotten for an upcoming essential perk.
Red-Nearly useless


Combat Perk Trees

Archery:
Overdraw-Essential, get it to the maximum level ASAP (as soon as possible) as it will double the damage you deal with the bow.
Eagle Eye-Only if you plan on sniping .It is gotten because of the upcoming
Steady Hand-Once again only for range sniping .I suggest taking one level tough , but not both since it will become too slow.
Power Shot-Amazing for combat archers .The stagger won’t work on the big enemies (giants, dragons …)
Quick Shot-30% faster attack speed for bows .Good synergy with power shot, therefore essential.
Bull’s Eye-Will work amazing in some situations .It stacks with the stagger and any paralysis enchantment, making your ranged attacks bash the enemy.
Critical Shot-I found it useful to take one of the levels however taking them all makes little difference.
Hunter’s Discipline-Good late game when you can’t easily find the Daedric (or whatever you use) arrows.
Ranger-This is useless because you can obtain the same effects with the sneak unsheathe: Sneak, move forward slowly while unsheathing your bow then proceed moving faster. This will improve the sneak movement speed as well as allowing you to run with the bow ready to shot.If you find this trick hard to master, or you don’t want to do it then I’d consider this perk Essential.

Heavy Armor:
I won’t talk about the skills that improve the armor rating because some of you believe in the maximum armor rating and some of you don’t.
Fists of Steel & Cushioned–Only gotten because of the upcoming.
Conditioning-Half of the steed stone’s effects in one perk .Very useful
Tower of Strength-Less stagger is always useful.
Reflect Blows-An amazing effect .I suggest getting it as soon as you reach 100 heavy armor .Note that you will still receive the damage , however the enemy will receive it also.

Block:
First understand that block does not have a cap unlike the armor rating and it stacks with it.This means that with block you can reduce the damage you take to a worthless number.
Shield Wall-At 5/5 you double the reduced damage with block-essential.
Quick Reflexes-If you like the time slow, then you should take this perk. Be warned that there are A LOT of bugs that come along with it however I know of only one, which luckily works in your benefit : If multiple enemies are power attacking you at the same time you will have infinite(or very, very long) slow time , meaning that you will move normally while everything around you slows. This can’t be stopped by entering a room or exiting to Skyrim.
The left side of the tree should be taken if you decide to block with a shield , while the right one works better for bashes , that are nearly useless with the shield but their use increases if you use a two handed weapon to block (or even a one handed weapon with nothing in the off hand)
Deflect Arrows-A strong perk that I would call essential. This should be gotten really early in the game for shield users (it does not work with two handed block).
Elemental Protection-This reduces the damage taken by destruction spells of any kind with 50%.Shield users should get this ASAP once again as dragons will stop wounding and start tickling you.
Block Runner-Gotten to advance in the tree mostly. The sneak unsheathe trick works with shields as well , but I find moving with a shield risen stupid since it blurs your view and it isn’t that hard to just pull up the shield when the time needs(as the animation takes about .5 seconds)
Shield Charge-You will have a lot of fun with this perk as you will inactively fus-ro-dah every enemy that gets in your way. There is a bug about it that I wouldn’t suggest on using. It consists of you sneaking with the shield risen then running. This will make you shield-sprint infinitely however you will run out of it sometimes .No one discovered the duration of the actual sprint or what causes it to stop but it will happen and I believe after it happens you will not be able to do the bug ever again.
Power/Deadly/Disarming Bash-The damage of the bash matters of the weapon material (iron-daedric).The damage will be increased if you use two-handed weapons , and at it’s best a bash will deal 90 damage with a daedric two handed weapon and a power bash with that will deal twice as much.

Two Handed
Barbarian-Double damage for 2 handed weapons – essential.
Limbspitter&Deep Wounds-You won’t notice anything different if you have those perks .They may be useful on one-handed but two handed weapons have way to low attack speed for them
Skull Crusher-If you use warhammers I would suggest taking all of the 3 stages of the perk. Every single humanoid in the game that wields armor is going to be effected by it .The effects also work on armored deadra and probably dwarven robots as well(I’m not sure).
Champion's Stance-For two-handed weapons this perk is NECESSARY since it will cost you a plops load of stamina to do power attacks and two handers will find power attacks very useful.
Devasting Blow-This perk increases the chances to do a finishing move by adding a brand new one .To give some information about finishing moves – they will only occur on the last enemy alive if he has below 25%IMO adding chances to the finishing moves are going to help a lot especially against bosses.
Great Critical Charge-Some of you may enjoy doing this move, however I find it very annoying. IMO you can use it only once per battle(the first hit) or use it to chase down a fleeing enemy .If you like it , take it, if not don’t (unless you haven’t taken the devasting blow because that will make it useful for climbing the perk tree).
Sweep-Essential .This is one of the few perks that break the game .Sideways power attacks are used by moving left or right when power-attacking .This perk will render those power attacks to cleave all enemies in front of you. That resolves one of the biggest problems a warrior has-being outnumbered.
Warmaster-Useles. The backwards power attacks are mostly used to deflect an enemy forward power attack if timed correctly .You will most likely miss if the enemy is not running into you. This perk gives 25% chances , which means only ¼ of the times the attack hits(if it hits) to paralyze the enemy for 3 seconds or so .A complicated maneuver with a low chance to proc a weak effect. If you take it you must be either bored or a really good player.

One Handed
Armsman-5/5 to max your damage output.
Dual Flurry – 2/2 This perk makes dual wield attacks and power attacks a lot faster than the info shows .With both points into dual flurry you will finish a dual wield power attack in about .5 seconds .Since I’m at the dual wielding part , let me explain a little bit about the combination of weapons worth dual-wielding with. Dual flurry and Dual savagery will NOT work with dual daggers because of the flip animation so you will gimp your damage .Some good choices are dual wielding swords , because axes and maces have way to low attack speed .If you mean to combine , always keep the weapon with the fastest attack speed in the off-hand , that way power attacks will be faster .Here are some good combinations(first weapon = off hand , 2nd weapon = right hand).Dagger, Sword | Dagger, Axe |Dagger, Mace| Sword, Axe| Sword, Sword| Sword, Mace|
Dual Savagery-All of the power attacks will 50% more damage if dual wielding. That means all power attacks, not just the dual wield power attacks, the only condition is to dual wield.
Hack and Slash-Axe users may find this very helpful, especially at lower levels .If you are an axe user I’d suggest taking all of the 3 points into Hack and Slash since the bleeding damage (early on) can surpass your axe’s damage. Try merging this perk with shouts such as elemental furry or slow time.
Bone Breaker- If you use maces I would suggest taking all of the 3 stages of the perk. Every single humanoid in the game that wields armor is going to be effected by it .The effects also work on armored deadra and probably dwarven robots as well(I’m not sure).
Bladesman- Sword users may find the critical helpful but keep in mind that the critical will only add 50% damage to your attack .I suggest taking only one point in it and letting the perk be until you have no better option to spend the point then in this perk.
Fighting Stance-Not really essential , the power attacks with one handed weapons don’t cost a lot of stamina .Gotten to advance in the perk tree.
Savage Strike- This perk increases the chances to do a finishing move by adding a brand new one .To give some information about finishing moves – they will only occur on the last enemy alive if he has below 25%IMO adding chances to the finishing moves are going to help a lot especially against bosses.
Critical Charge-Some of you may enjoy doing this move, however I find it very annoying. IMO you can use it only once per battle(the first hit) or use it to chase down a fleeing enemy .If you like it , take it, if not don’t (unless you haven’t taken the Savage Strike because that will make it useful for climbing the perk tree).
Paralyzing Strike-Useles. The backwards power attacks are mostly used to deflect an enemy forward power attack if timed correctly .You will most likely miss if the enemy is not running into you. This perk gives 25% chances , which means only ¼ of the times the attack hits(if it hits) to paralyze the enemy for 3 seconds or so .A complicated maneuver with a low chance to proc a weak effect. If you take it you must be either bored or a really good player.
Smithing
I won’t go over smithing because some of you believe in the maximum armor rating and some of you don’t .I will talk about the Arcane Blacksmith perk. It is useful only in one situation-when you have guild armor (thieves guild armor / shrouded armor / nightingale armor) and you want to improve it. If that’s not the case, then just upgrade the piece of armor and then enchant it.

Non-Combat Perk Trees
Light armor
I won’t go over the perks that increase the armor rating because some of you believe in the armor cap and some of you don’t.
Unhindered-Once again half of the steed stone’s effect , always good to have.
Wind Walker-If you plan to use light armor over heavy armor I assume you took it especially for the decreased stamina drain .This perk takes that one step further.
Deft Movement-This is once again an amazing perk that may even save you sometimes .I consider it superior from Reflect Blows especially because with Deft Movement you will completely ignore damage , while Reflect Blows lacks that effect it deals the damage back.

Sneak
Stealth-1/5 in the early game will suffice .Take the other points if you have absolutely nowhere to put them because they will only increase the percent with 5.So you go from 20% with one perk to 40% with other 4 perks.
Muffled Movement-This perk will help you a lot in slipping undetected. Don’t worry about it being useless because you have enchanted gear or the spell because the effects actually stack. However with every stack the effect tightens up. For example you have the perk -50% , then you add the shrouded boots and it will increase the muffle to 75%.Add the spell and you have 87.5%.All the muffle effects will eventually become useless after you take the perk Silence which I will talk about in a second.
Light Foot/Silent Roll-Player-wise. Even if you don’t like them you will have to take them for getting farther in the perk tree. Some would say light foot is more of a burden to carry then a benefit as you will not be able to activate the traps that will hit your enemies however I rarely use the traps(mainly in the early levels) so I can’t say it’s so weak.
Silence-This perk may seem useless at first look since you can’t really go around a dungeon without sneaking and then sneak just for the backstab bonus because this perk consists of the muffle effect (mentioned above) that will reach it’s limit. So you won’t be heard so well but you can be seen easier if you are not sneaking and have the perk.
Deadly Aim (will go over backstab after this)-Increases the backstab multiplier of the bow.Typical assassins will find it hard to take out targets at long rage when out in the field(especially at day) so using the bow is a mandatory.

Assassin’s Blade/Backstab-At first look you will have to get the backstab in order to reach assassin’s blade .However the question of who will do the most damage is a matter of role play and how deep you intend to get into the game. Without a doubt at the start of the game you will come to compare the damage :
Dagger-4 x 15 =60
Mace-9 x 6 = 54
The difference is just 6 damage however in order to dish as much damage as possible you will take the dagger. However, later in the game you may go and look at a perk tree called “Enchanting” and may spend some points in it. The dagger gets the bonus from the armsman perk however it will not get the bonus from any potion/enchant that fortifies one handed weapons. Meaning that later in the game that little 6 damage difference between dagger and mace may turn into a 10 difference between a mace and a dagger(or even more if you plan to become overpowered).So sooner or later maces , axes and swords will start doing more sneak damage then the daggers .I suggest , however, taking the perk early for you will not be able to find decent enchants for fortify one handed.
If you believe my statements were false , Pms00has a video in which are shown the exact words I used in this little guide:

Lock picking
Most of the lock pick perks are useless .The reason for this is that you can buy more locks or save before you lock pick .I found only 2 perks that are going to help you. However you will have to waste other perks for them.
Quick Hands can be considered bugged. You can stand up, with 10 people looking at you and pick a lock without getting a bounty. It may be considered useless however sometimes it will save you some time.
Treasure hunter is a very good perk. Special treasures are either found at the end of a dungeon or on some master lock , guarded by traps chest , either way , they are quite rare. Treasure hunter will render you the ability to find enchanted weapons , armor , jewelry , high quality materials as well as soul gems.

Pickpocket
Light Fingers/Night Thief – Are mostly gotten to advance in the perk tree , however night thief will turn useful eventually. Light fingers should be taken 5/5 if you got the perks to spare , are unwilling to save after every pickpocket , are unwilling to enchant/find enchanted stuff .
Poisoned-If you like it take it .Personally I find it useless, and the people who make “poisoned” builds around this single perk, alchemy and stealth are heavily bored. You can always poison a weapon and attack with it.
Extra Pockets-An amazing perk.1/2 of steed stone’s effects, once more.
Cutpurse-Gotten to advance in the tree.
Keymaster-Player-wise.
Missdirection/Perfect Touch-Will turn you into a combat pickpocket-er. Tough gotten for the fun of watching naked people attack you with their bare fists you can also double some specific weapons such as the blade of woe , nightingale bow and so on.
 

Blackdoom59

BATMAN!
I am sorry for not updating for such a long time.It's a funny story really -I was on a trip out of town so I could only write on my phone.I did however finnished all of the perk trees , even lycantrophy and vampirism , but when I got home my USB didn't work and I had to write it all down from my phone to my pc.It took about an hour and when I finnished I closed the notepad.Then the "want to save" message came and my first tought was "wait I forgot to copy the text" so I pressed "No".Haven deleted the text from my phone I had no way of getting it back I got pissed mad and quit.

I am trying to give you the best possible information about the perks and keep a decent english(english is not my native language so I have to do multiple check-ups).I also have a request.I never took the 2 points in enchanting Soul squeezer and Soul Siphon so I would like if one of you would tell me what they actually do(especialy soul squeezer).
 

Shenron

New Member
Thanks for the update :) Appreciate the research put into this! Could you talk about "Shadow Warrior"?
At first glance it is a mega overpowered perk, but I just want your thoughts on it. Would you use it? I heard it completely breaks the game/immersion and changes your whole play style.


PS:

Deadly Aim (will go over backstab after this)-Bow that sneak a bit should get this ASAP as it increases the critical multiplier.

Typo?
 

Blackdoom59

BATMAN!
Thanks for the update :) Appreciate the research put into this! Could you talk about "Shadow Warrior"?
At first glance it is a mega overpowered perk, but I just want your thoughts on it. Would you use it? I heard it completely breaks the game/immersion and changes your whole play style.
Thank you for noticing the typo.
Shadow Warrior is broken IMO and that's why I haven't talked about it.I got it once for fun's sake but it turns you into a combat assassin which makes no sense since an assassin should avoid combat, right?With it you can run up to a giant , then sneak attack him.Do that a few times and he's dead.Just like that.

It does change your whole play style.You will slowly stop staying crouched and walking around , noticing the situation and picking the kill order and start rushing in like a warrior and sneak-attack everything with it.

If you ever reach 100 sneak on a character and want to take the perk , take a save first.
 

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