what do YOU put into a thief/assassin build?

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crackjuice

New Member
what do YOU do, im trying to build a good thief/assassin and im not sure where to put perks or the +10 to magika, health, or stamina. i want to know what works and whats fun and not to over powered. so if you have a sweet build post it here! also if you wana share your other build feel free.
 

Friday is My Day!

Well-Known Member
Well, I put my first five points into Health (giving me 150 Health), then I put the rest of my points into Stamina. With low health, it really stresses the importance of not being detected, which is the funnest part to me!

On my current Assassin, I'm not using any magic whatsoever, the skills I'm focusing on are:

Sneak: Every perk on this tree is great (especially Assassin's Blade), but I only put ONE point into Stealth.

Archery: Every perk again, mate, this tree is great!

One-Handed: I mainly put points into the first perk, Armsman, to increase my backstab power.

Light Armor: I'm mainly trying to get up to the Windwalker perk, so I can regenerate Stamina more quickly.

Alchemy: Invisiblity Potions, Paralysis Poisons, and other useful things for an Assassin can all be made with Alchemy.


- Now, unlike most people, I don't TOUCH Smithing because it makes you insanely overpowered. But if you wanna Smith yourself an awesome Daedric Dagger, all power to you. :)

Hope this helped man! If you'd like me to elaborate on something, let me know!
 

dunklunk

You seem a decent fellow. I hate to die.
Yeah, what Friday said was basically what I did, too. I would switch back and forth between health and stamina, but mostly stamina. Cuz if you're gonna be a thief, you gotta be able to carry all that loot, right? I almost totally ignored magic.
 

Morgan

Well-Known Member
My first char was a Breton assassin almost exactly like what Friday described. I DID train smithing all the way up, but ended up not using it much. I had a legendary bow, but my endgame armor and weapons were mostly named non-improveable pieces.

Even after many other chars and builds, my single favorite thing in Skyrim is crouching on a bit of rock above a foresworn camp and lining up a shot. Timing the patrol path. Letting loose at exactly the right second. The arrow sails through the air. I'm so far away I have to wait a couple seconds to see if it hits. Then PLUNK! and down goes the foresworn. All his buddies run around like crazy, looking for me, but I'm way too far for them to ever find me. Eventually they settle down, and I pick the next target, watch the patrol, line up the shot . . . You can work through an entire outdoor foresworn or bandit camp, and it is extremely challenging and satisfying.

So, seriously, archery and sneak is what I would pick. Lots of points into stamina and get the Windwalker perk Friday mentioned. These allow you to zoom in your shot with Eagle Eye first. If you get Steady Hand (slows time while zooming with Eagle Eye) make a save first. Lots of people find this perk really useful, but I did not. It actually interfered with my ability to time shots pretty significantly, and once you get it you can't zoom without it. I lost a few hours of playing time because I had to go back to a save from before I got the perk, and I didn't think to make one just before picking it.
 

Streets

The Gentleman Owl
I will bring an example of a slightly different Assassin build I made once. It was an Argonian for RP and if he gets caught pop Histskin so he doesn't die so easily. I put a LOT of points into Magicka first (up to 200 or so), then slowly built up Health and Stamina, eventually Health overtaking the other two.

Conjuration - Bound Bow and Bound Sword are the only weapons he used, no Atronachs or Undead.
Illusion - Muffle, Quiet Casting and eventually Invisibility, no Fear, Fury, or Calm.
Alchemy - No Perks at all, just made Paralysis poisons for sticky situations.
Light Armor - Up to Wind Walker
Sneak - 1/5 in the first, then Backstab and Deadly Aim, but NOT Assassin's Blade.
Archery - Up the left side, ignoring Steady Hand.
Ohe Handed - Armsman, Fighting Stance, Savage Strike.

Bound Weapons worked very well since I ignored Smithing and Enchanting. You pretty much have to use regular weapons until you can get the Bound Bow and actually have enough Magicka to cast it. You can start as Breton for 25 Conjuration or High Elf for 150 starting Magicka, both those will help the start. At end game, with Muffle, Invisibility, and Quiet Casting, you are pretty untouchable, so be warned.
 

sahqonsah

Member
These are all great Fridays was excellent, I would personally use dual wielding daggers and don't touch smithing or enchant, I'd get all the sneak skills there all good and put 1 point in the first one no more. Don't use any magic and I think illusion takes the fun out of it, get your health to 200 then put the rest in stanima and get all the archery perks focus on archery more than melee and alchemy skiils are good too those poisons can be potent and pickpocketing too, the extra pocket perk is great and being able to kill someone silently in a public area by putting poison in there inventory is good for an assasin. I think a female dark elf would be great for this because they look awsome in nightingale armour, two ebony daggers for your stealthwork and switch to nightingale sword and blade of woe for when you get caught
 

crackjuice

New Member
I will bring an example of a slightly different Assassin build I made once. It was an Argonian for RP and if he gets caught pop Histskin so he doesn't die so easily. I put a LOT of points into Magicka first (up to 200 or so), then slowly built up Health and Stamina, eventually Health overtaking the other two.

Conjuration - Bound Bow and Bound Sword are the only weapons he used, no Atronachs or Undead.
Illusion - Muffle, Quiet Casting and eventually Invisibility, no Fear, Fury, or Calm.
Alchemy - No Perks at all, just made Paralysis poisons for sticky situations.
Light Armor - Up to Wind Walker
Sneak - 1/5 in the first, then Backstab and Deadly Aim, but NOT Assassin's Blade.
Archery - Up the left side, ignoring Steady Hand.
Ohe Handed - Armsman, Fighting Stance, Savage Strike.

Bound Weapons worked very well since I ignored Smithing and Enchanting. You pretty much have to use regular weapons until you can get the Bound Bow and actually have enough Magicka to cast it. You can start as Breton for 25 Conjuration or High Elf for 150 starting Magicka, both those will help the start. At end game, with Muffle, Invisibility, and Quiet Casting, you are pretty untouchable, so be warned.
just wondering but why only 1/5 in the first sneak skill?
 

Morgan

Well-Known Member
I think the idea is that sneak skill is pretty powerful as is, especially with the inevitable muffle buff, so you don't need to increase its effectiveness all that much. You just need to get the first perk to unlock the more important higher level ones.
 

Uther Pundragon

The Harbinger of Awesome
Staff member
I played a pacifist thief. My tools were sneak, pickpocketing, and lock picking. The only weapon I carried was a bow and some arrows, used to distract npcs. Almost all of my levels went into stamina mainly for when I need to outrun something in a hurry. It was the most fun I've ever had as a thief.
 

Streets

The Gentleman Owl
just wondering but why only 1/5 in the first sneak skill?

Morgan is correct, don't need any more +%sneak, just need it to unlock the further perks. Usually people do this even if they aren't using Muffle or Invisibility, because you can take the weightless light armor perk, and sneak even has its own Muffled Movement perk as well. Basically sneaking is effective enough that wasting 4 extra perks into it isn't really worth it.
 

Derpo

Member
i have 2 assassins, one who specializes in poisons and pretty good with a bow and pretty good with dual wield((if i get caught)) my other is my morag tong assassin relying heavily upon illusion to muffle footsteps. force enemies to kill each other or if hes caught, calm+backstab=profit and hes pretty good with a bow as well. though sucks in mono to mono combat. hence why i rely heavily on calm. as for RP they are both very different one is bloodthirsty and dousnt really care who his target is ((he is also a vampire noble from Cyrodil)) my other is a dark elf Ex-morag tong who desperately fights his own blood lust sometimes confusing his desire for justice with blood. he destroyed the dark brotherhood((the hateful enemies of the morag tong)) and keeps the sacred((and plopsty)) relic of the morag tong, the Ebony blade.
 

sgt dole

Xbox Ambassador
To build a good assassin class I prefer to use these perks:
  • Sneak
  • Archery
  • Light Armor
  • Illusion
  • Smithing (make your own daggers, etc.)
  • One Handed
 

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