Style Development ~ A Guide On How Develop Your OWN Style And Build

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Squirrel_killer-

The blade in the dark and the hand at your throat
A few words before we start:

Now let me start off by explaining why I wrote this.

I do not believe someone should ever truly 100% follow another person’s “build guide” in ANY RPG and definitely not in one that gives you the freedom which a game like Skyrim gives you. I do suggest reading all of them you can if you think it may help and take what you find useful from them. Just remember three things about them:

1)Another person’s build is what works for them, not necessary for you.​
2)They are only that person’s opinion, and opinions are neither right nor wrong.​
3)There is no such thing as the “best build”. In time if you keep at it you will develop a build that can handle any situation.​

Now with that said let us get to down to business. This guide is meant to help you make a build that works for you and to develop a play style that feels right to you. Throughout this guide I will use myself for an example. however I DO NOT expect you to imitate my build in anyway because it’s “better”, because in anyone’s hands but my own it won’t be as useful as it is for me due to how it has developed with me as I have played through the game. You are of course welcome to take from it anything that feels right for you.

Getting started:

Let’s start at square one, character creation. Try out the different races until you find one whose racial abilities work for you. My character is a Khajiit, not for the starting stats (those quickly disappear later on in the game) but because what it always has that makes it unique: claw attacks, which I make good use of if my weapon is lost or in brawls, and the “Night Eye” power which can be used unlimitedly at no magicka cost as well as silently and instantly which helps with my particular style of play. Now don’t be afraid to make six thousand new characters while trying to settle. There is no best race only the best race for you. If you want a quick summary of the different races and their personal powers and abilities there are many available on different wikis and web-sites, I did not see one on this forum but I may have looked over it. However one is available here at the UESP wiki. Once you find the right race for you then you are ready to play the game and start developing a proper play-style.

Next is to develop a play-style. Let me explain what that means. Your play-style is independent of your skills, perks, or exact equipment stats but rather how you use them together as you quest and explore the land of Skyrim. Your style began development the moment you began testing out different races but now it is time to really start developing your style. Try different weapons and tactics such as sneak attacks, rushing in, duel wielding, using different weapon and spell combinations, attacking from a distance or up close, luring targets into traps, and other tactics until you find what works for you. Sometime's you'll need to swap out Guardian Stones a few times for the early game boost. If you end up using skills from multiple Guardian Stones try the Lover Stone (found here map by UESP), it gives 15% leveling boost to every skill unlike the more restricted Guardian Stones 20% leveling boost to certain skills ignoring the others. My personal tactic involves a “thief/assassin” approach, I always explore and approach dangerous areas and dungeons stealthily sticking to the high ground moving slowly and deliberately, as I spot my first enemy I notch an arrow take careful aim watching his patrol route for the perfect moment, and then I fire my arrow and, due to practice and patience, kill my target with that single shot if possible, normally by adding any required poisons or by using one of my less numerous higher quality arrows which I typically don’t use due to expense reasons. Then I sneak down taking out my targets quickly and precisely. If one gets close enough I use my dagger and I have my flames spell in the other hand. When necessary I use shouts to take down my enemies as well. But only if I am detected or they get close enough to be a threat. I also use backstabs if I can get close enough with my dagger. That is my play-style. It stays the same independent of what my perks, my skill levels, the quality of my weapons and armour or their enchantments are.

Mid-late game development:

Now by now you have begun to gain a few levels and raised your skills. So start to get perks that you would use or ones that actually would further increase that which you already do. Sometimes you need to get a prerequisite perk for the ones you would actually make use of. Also note that while some perks look nice they aren’t worth having or you just wouldn’t use them enough to make them worth the perk point(s) to get. So really think about if you should really spend that point. Also sometimes enchantments, spells, shouts, standing stone or faction-related effects will make a perk 100% unnecessary, and vice versa. Take everything into account before you spend a point on a perk, but remember just as your play-style should dictate where to spend those precious perk points so should your perks help your play-style grow.

Let us move on to armour and weapons. I am not going to go on about comparing different weapon types and armours here. I am not going to be comparing two-handed to one-handed to bows to magic. Nor am I going to compare light armour to heavy armour to robes. By now if you have been comparing as I have suggested you do I would expect you to have decided which of what you prefer. Nor will I go on about quality and what is the best quality armour and what is the best quality weapon. But it is time to think about enchantments. Different enchantments have different uses. Also there are many unique weapons and armours that have exceptionally powerful and useful enchantments and abilities that are available nowhere else. Some require quests to get others just require taking the time to get them. There are plenty of guides on where to find them and how to get them so go read those. It is not my job to tell you where they are so go out and find them yourself. But what is my job is to tell you how to pick the ones you want. Aim for enchantments that will help you. If you don’t need a rare one of a kind item to get that enchantment then it is most likely more easily found elsewhere. However if the enchantment is only on that rare item then take the time to recover it because it will be invaluable. I personally use a bow of the best quality I can get with a very simple one second soul trap enchanted using a grand soul. This makes soul collecting very easy and the number of charges is extremely high so it doesn’t run out very often. I also use Mehrunes' Razor, a unique daedric artifact that does base-damage of 11 and has a 1.98% chance to one hit kill anything including bosses or dragons. I also wear light armour; more specifically I wear the nightingale armour, which gives 30 extra points to stamina and 30% frost resistance, nightingale boots, which gives me a muffled enchantment, nightingale gloves, which makes lock picking 20% easier and a 20% damage boost to one-handed weapons, and Krosis, a dragon priest mask that gives me a 20% boost to lock picking, archery, and alchemy. As well I wear an amulet of Talos, which makes my shouts recharge 20% faster, and a ring that gives my bows a 16% damage boost. I make use of all those effects, for the most part. For a rather well done mostly complete list of unique items you can go here, for non-unique enchantments you can go here. Both lists are courtesy of UESP.

Finally I will make a brief note on shouts. Every shout in Skyrim has a use. I suggest collecting at least the first word of them all and trying them out. Depending on your play-style some may be more useful than others. I personally use fire breath the most since it lets me clear large groups of enemies. Now go out and find them! And as for a nice tidy list of them all let us thank UESP once again for this link.

Before I go:

Now then I am absolutely sure you found that absolutely useless. But this guide was only meant to help guide you to making a character that works best for you and not something that works for others. But if you have any suggestions just say so. Also if you want to donate an example of your own unique play-style then do so. Now happy thieving, hunting, exploring, murderous rampage, or whatever else you do. And remember if you didn't develop the style then it isn't the best one for you.
 
Kudos, I like it. Especially the part about Not following someone else's build guides. Not only does it rob you of your own unique character, but it's largely impossible to get the exact same playthrough, or close enough to follow it completely.

Now, I would like to say that the initial skill bonuses are not useless after a certain point. NPCs level with you, or go up in tiers so that you eventually run into Bandit Marauders, and Draugr Death Overlord, but only if you level past 50. This is the main reason why I limit the number of skills I work in a given build. While you Can grind up all 18 skills to 100 for a maximum of 80 perk points, keep in mind that unless these increase your combat effectiveness, you can still get killed.

So, rather than post another Build, here's a few guidelines to keep you perk efficient: First of all, Crafting is for higher level. If you have 100 in 1 handed, Destruction, and Heavy Armor, you shouldn't need capped out armor, enchanted weapons of please don't hit me with that, and 100% off Destruction with Impact, because you will be far ahead of the NPC's curve in Offense, and Defense. Doing the crafting loop doubles the # of skills, and more than doubles the tier of the enemy. Yes, you can more than double the effectiveness of your weapons, but not Destruction. At that point, it becomes extremely under powered, so now you have to add Archery...

Next, there is such a thing as Too Much Armor. As most of you are no doubt aware, it's capped at 80% damage reduction (you can stack it with Dragonhide to Decimate all physical damage) but unless you are getting killed, you have enough. For Efficiency, I respectfully suggest investing in enough armor that you're surviving comfortably, and spend the rest on something else, like dealing damage, or magic defense. That way, you don't have to fill your only Stone slot to compensate for the penalties attached to your tank suit.

Learn which skills are useless, and which you can do without. This also goes for perks, if you aren't going all the way to 80, you should make ever one count. Stealth is a perfect example, I always put 1 perk in it, to unlock the rest of the tree, but Sneak quickly becomes so powerful that you can just stand there, waiting for the enemy to walk right up to you. There's plenty of Light armor scripted to Fortify Sneak, and Muffle, so you can use them at lower levels until your skill makes them obsolete.

Lockpicking, I don't bother with. You can Command followers to unlock any chest, and there isn't a single door you Have to pick in the entire game. I know a couple that are handy, like the one in Shriekwind Bastion, but even those can be gone around. Even if you do it, most of the perks are garbage, and you have to put points in several to get to the good ones. Lastly, you can pick any lock in the game if you have enough pics, and know how to work the minigame. (Assuming it's pickable in the first place.)

Speech is almost unavoidable. It can be minimized by playing Radient. Instead of picking up anything of value to sell, if you only carry what you use, and stuff like it, the game will take notice. Eventually, random loot will start coming through with more gear like you use, and less stuff you have no interest in. Craft Grinding is another way to drive up Speech with a quickness, adding another skill, and a whole lot more levels for your glitch suits, and FortResto Potions.

IME, the most efficient builds are limited to 3-5 skill trees, depending on whether they're completely filled. 1/2 handed, Restoration, Destruction, and Illusion eat up a lot of perks fast, but only if you try to do everything at once. Take 1 handed, for instance. You don't need all 9 weapon specific perks. Specialize a little. The 2 branch trees can also be half done, for instance, juts the Light side of Smithing. Block has a defense, and Bash side, or you can just fill in the lower arc to Elemental protection, and Deadly Bash, and leave it at 50. (Block runner is pretty nice, though. Disarming Bash isn't reliable enough to bet on.)

You can also switch classes, mid build, and for different kinds of fights. An Assassin, for instance, can start off stealth shooting until unlocking Assassin's Blade, when he'll have enough Stealth(1) to backstab. I usually switch up for Dragons, as they're the only fliers, and Dont Have to Land. For instance, my primarily Hack&Bash cleric will swap in Ward/Absorb, and lightning bolt. My Conjurer, who uses mostly Flaming Familiar, and Ice Storm as a combo will probably doublecast Lightning until it's grounded, or unlocking Dragonrend. Also, Nightblades have nothing on the Dov, so should probably pull a bow instead.

If you're doing Destruction at all, get it out of the way first. Augment Elements work on other schools, enchanted weapons, and elemental summons like Atronach, but because of the low damage cap, it's most effective at lower levels. Slow levelers, like Armor (on non tank characters) should be kept leveling throughout. Fast levelers (like Conjuration) should be saved for high levels, when the XP gap is so wide it takes forever to unlock another perk. And save Skill Books. Have Lydia pick them up. Trust me, when you're trying to go up those last 5 levels in Block, you'll be happy you saved those points. Same with XP quest rewards, like the Bards' College. I'd say the same about the OI, but most people use that to bookshelf train anyway. I like to avoid anything that levels 6 skills at once, whether I want them all, or not. If you're going to do it, make a pure Mage.
 
J

Jeremius

Guest
just one quick question, most people say not to take a weapon specialization perk at all, and i am inclined to agree with them. Why Specialize when you can kill the enemy outright without it?
 
just one quick question, most people say not to take a weapon specialization perk at all, and i am inclined to agree with them. Why Specialize when you can kill the enemy outright without it?
The bleed damage for axes is Ok, but yeah, taking all 9 of them is a waste. Personal preference, and all, but none of them will win the game for you, and 3 points is quite an investment.
 

Squirrel_killer-

The blade in the dark and the hand at your throat
just one quick question, most people say not to take a weapon specialization perk at all, and i am inclined to agree with them. Why Specialize when you can kill the enemy outright without it?
I would also agree. There is however one time I would suggest getting them. This is very late game when you have settled on that one particular maxed out weapon that's been enchanted and upgraded until the real name of the weapon should be "Slayer Of Gods" due to the fact it out right murders everyone. Then grabing a point or 2 of specialization may be nice, but still mostly unneeded.
 
They can also help with a maxed out combo, even earlier in the game. If you take a Handaxe of Burning, then H&S, and possibly Lingering Poison, you can do a lot more damage per second than the initial strike, then go onto another target while they die. (Or Turtle, hit them again to stack it on particularly tough foes, et cetera.) I do this on Spellblades, with Firebolt, Flame Cloak, Critical Charge, and H&S is just a bit more spice sprinkled on.

The Critical Strike isn't very reliable, even maxed, but if you dual wield, and do the double Power Attack, that's 2 swords, and 4 strikes with a high likelyhood of landing at least 1. Dual Flurry/Savagery, and the intrinsic fast striking combines with Moar Damage, not per strike, but often enough to add up. (Just don't depend on it for Backstabs, or finishing strikes.) For instance, I tried this with a maxed out Redguard, (nothing but 1H) on Alduin. With Critical Strike (3) I was able to kill him before he took back off. Without, I could not. Large Sample Size, with lots of weapons (Bound, and Drainheart Swords, BoW, Windshear, Nightingale, and some other favorites.)

Bonecrusher is pretty damned useless. There's very few enemies with significant enough armor for it to warrant 3 perks, and even they generally aren't affected an impressive amount by it. Gives a little extra oomph to smashing Dwemer Spiders, yay. There's much more effective bonuses for 1 point at lower levels. When you can 1 shot a Centurion from behind with a Dagger, it really shews how little maces are actually improved by this.
 

Tazi

New Member
This is almost exactly my play style and armor style. Except I don't have the Krosis mask yet. Currently working on it. I have the Talos necklace and I use the ring for extra % damage.
Very cool.
 

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