Second Thoughts...

[imaginepageant]

What's the recharge on elemental fury? like 2 minutes? Unreliable.

No, it's only fifty seconds to recharge when using all three words (forty seconds when you have an Amulet of Talos or Blessing of Talos, thirty seconds when you have both). It will increase your attack speed by 70%. This effect also stacks with the Dual Flurry perks, which increase your attack speed by 35%.

Watch this video. He's at level 34, so somewhat advanced, and he's using swords instead of daggers, but they're Dwarven and Forsworn swords, so not the best at that level. Plus, he only uses the first word of the Shout. See how quickly he kills a dragon—and then a frost troll for good measure, before Elemental Fury even wears off, let alone recharges for a second use.

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I don't know what else I can say. I used Elemental Fury with dual daggers exclusively in melee combat with my last assassin, and about 90% of the time, I killed my enemies before the Shout wore off—dragons, Wispmothers, Lurkers, you name it. Trust me when I say this method works.​

 

[Trickstar]

I think this is funny because, in my experience, an assassin is by far the most powerful character in vanilla Skyrim =P

 

[Pendalyn]

Not sure what you are complaining about here. I played my character to level 50 before triggering the dragon part of the MQ, and ran off to join the thieves guild right after helgen. I was able to kick some pretty serious ass by using a bow, and getting that and my sneak skills up. Then took a dagger, and backstabbed the hell outta skyrim. This got my one handed up. Once I had to start fighting dragons, I got a shield, and it took me all of 3 real time days to get my block up to a very reasonable number.

I'd argue, that she was actually one of the most powerful characters I had. After 230+ hours of game play, I could pretty much have my way with anyone I wanted, and those I couldn't I just send Lydia after while I showered them with sneaky arrows.

 

[Pendalyn]

I'll admit, my light armor skill wasn't up to snuff, and at level 50, it was a challenge to find opponents I could let hit me so the skill would rise, without killing me quickly.

 

[Dynnge]

I don't know, maybe it's just me. My radical views on rogue characters are breed from passion not hate.

 

[Torok]

I've played every basic build in Skyrim—warriors, mages, thieves, assassins, and even pacifists. I keep going back to rogue types, because that's the play style I most enjoy, and I've never had an issue. In fact, though it is certainly more of a challenge in the early stages of the game, in the later stages I find it easier to be a rogue than a warrior. Armed only with my bow, I can clear out entire dungeons, including the Draugr Death Overlord or Dragon Priest bosses, without ever being spotted or hit. Even with a really jacked warrior, you're still going to have to face high-level enemies with hard-hitting weapons in melee combat, and you don't get any special damage bonuses, like rogues do with sneak attacks.

What exactly is it that you're having trouble with, and need help with?

By the way, there is no obligation to be the Dragonborn. You can simply not do the Dragon Rising quest. You'll never unlock the first Shout, and you'll never become the Dragonborn. I think there might be an issue with the civil war questlines, when you have to bring Ulfric's or Tullius's message to Balgruuf, but even then, you can just complete Dragon Rising, and forget all about the main quest. Sure, you'll be able to Shout now, but you don't have to.

actually there are several issues

1- You must be the dragonborn to finish the civil war as you have to take care of Balgruff's dragon problem which will result in your absorbing a dragon soul

2- After you beat Durneviir in the soul cairn he will call you "qaunarrin or something" and he says he has some urge to call you a fellow dovah for some reason and he does not know why and that's if you have not become the Dragonborn yet as in he can sense your Draconic Soul

3- Your character can still understand the Dragon word walls someone who is not dragonborn or a dragon for that matter would NOT absorb their meaning

There is a mod that fixes all but # 2. Skyrim unbound.

 

[Daelon DuLac]

I think my biggest issue is when I play assassin type characters I tend to focus more on actual fighting (dual wield especially) and less on sneak checks. Dragons are the bane of my existence when it comes to sneak characters, unless I'm using a semi powerful bow.

You definitely need to take advantage of sneak attacks. Some tips:

- Before you shoot, scope out a good place to hide (behind a rock, in the shadows, etc). Then, move a little ways away from it, shoot, and sneak back to your hiding spot. Enemies will look for you in the place you shot from, so try not to hang around there for long, especially if it's somewhere your enemy can get to (e.g. down the hall in a barrow, as opposed to way up on a cliff above an Imperial camp).

- Stay as far away from an enemy as you can when shooting them, because that will give you more time to move and hide without them seeing you.

- Get boots with the Muffle enchantment as soon as you can (guaranteed from the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood, very rare to find randomly in shops). Until then, and while you're building up your sneak skill, sneak veeeeeery slooooooowly when near enemies, as you'll make less noise. You can also take off all of your armor and sneak around naked to make less noise—not a great idea when you might suddenly be attacked by, say, a sabrecat, but to sneak past a single draugr, or for some late-night thieving, this can really help!


I've got to head out, but I'll think of some more tips for you and be back with them later.

I'm well aware of how stealth works and the benefits of sneak attacks. I guess my biggest thing is, after playing for so long, sneak attacks are the only good thing going for assassins (illusion not included) and I find it hard to accept that. Assassins should be dominating the melee game.

My assassins are always expert sneaking, but are also expert archery, one-handed and light armor. I agree with you. An Assassin is also a melee character build and should most certainly be able to handle an actual battle as well as kill silently. A thief is strictly sneak and avoids melee. Perhaps that's why my assassins mainly kill with archery (a'la sharpshooter assassins in many other games) with only the occassional sneak up and slit their throat and don't have issues actually slaying. My example on that would be there Werewolf in the DB. Do you really think he's using a whole lot of sneak in his assassinations? I see him more as blitz attacking after stalking his "prey".

 

[Pendalyn]

Are assassin who are melee heavy really assassins? I guess I equate the word with stealth and sneak and intrigue, not hack and slash. I'm trying to think of examples in history, both real and Tamrielic, where assassinations were done hack and slash style leaving much evidence of the crime. I know Dragonborn gets attacked by assassins, but even they are lightly armored, lightly weaponized, and have always felt a bit out of context when they come for me. They would, in my opinion, be much more realistic and much more effective if they were to attack you out of the shadows, or from a hiding place and your choice was to flee the area if you couldn't see them, or track them down and kill them.

If you want to build a strong melee character, with some sneak skills, why not just build a dual wield or shield and sword warrior who happens to sneak well?

added from the wiki:
riviaEdit

• Their armor cannot be looted.
• They can be triggered even if the Dragonborn has begun the Dark Brotherhood questline.
• They prefer to dual wield.
• They wear light armor, and move quicky.
• They are muffled because of their boots, and tend to backstab.
• Many of these assassins are Argonians or Khajiit.

 

[Twiffle]

Just one thing i would like to add regarding assassins, , assassins are never ever ever seen or known, , look up Georgi Markov, he was assassinated by an umbrella, , so in retrospect, sneak, sneak sneak and then if all else fails sneak and be unseen. IMHO.

 

[Trickstar]

I agree with Pendalyn.
I know many RPGs typically give assassins the highest base melee DPS. The problem is, those games usually don't have a real stealth system outside of "backstab = extra damage" so they have to give the stealth character (who usually has low defense) some pros.

Assassins messily fighting with a troll or so never seemed stealthy to me and doesn't fit the image the word "assassin" creates. I always thought assassins should be more burst damage and one shot one kill types, like Zer0 in Borderlands 2 (play that!)

Now of course they'd need combat skills to even survive Skyrim's harsh wilderness. But not combat skills comparable to that of a trained warrior.