Which skill do you use ZERO perks in that you use frequently?

[Panda Rawrlord]

Restoration. Perks like Necromage and Avoid Death sound amazing but all my characters only ever need is the Healing spell.

 

[Daelon DuLac]

Restoration. Perks like Necromage and Avoid Death sound amazing but all my characters only ever need is the Healing spell.

I really do need to do a character that is in to Restoration. I sometimes have fun with the turn undead and set undead on fire scrolls, so, who know.

 

[AJK]

There are a couple Restoration perks that are great to have. "Regeneration" (Healing Spells cure 50% more) and "Recovery 1/2" (Magicka regenerates 25%/50% faster).

On the other side of the coin, I don't use Alteration much, but I do like to spend a few perks to get some Magic Resistance.

 

[Lucid]

For a warrior I like the restoration perk where healing spells restore stamina too. I get a lot more power strikes and shield bashes in with that one.

 

[Daelon DuLac]

There are a couple Restoration perks that are great to have. "Regeneration" (Healing Spells cure 50% more) and "Recovery 1/2" (Magicka regenerates 25%/50% faster).

On the other side of the coin, I don't use Alteration much, but I do like to spend a few perks to get some Magic Resistance.

I'm too busy upping my melee skills and armor on my warriors and my destruction/conjuration as we as melee on my spell swords (and, of course, I always up my enchanting, speech, sneak and smithing - ALWAYS!). Sorry everybody that thinks smithing and enchantment isn't important. I do. I HAVE to have them. Otherwise my armor and weapons are just terrible and I can never get enough regeneration or skill bonuses.

 

[shadowkitty]

There are a couple Restoration perks that are great to have. "Regeneration" (Healing Spells cure 50% more) and "Recovery 1/2" (Magicka regenerates 25%/50% faster).

On the other side of the coin, I don't use Alteration much, but I do like to spend a few perks to get some Magic Resistance.

I'm too busy upping my melee skills and armor on my warriors and my destruction/conjuration as we as melee on my spell swords (and, of course, I always up my enchanting, speech, sneak and smithing - ALWAYS!). Sorry everybody that thinks smithing and enchantment isn't important. I do. I HAVE to have them. Otherwise my armor and weapons are just terrible and I can never get enough regeneration or skill bonuses.

I always up smithing and enchanting. I love the Dragonscale armour and dragonbone weapons and I enchant everything

 

[Irish]

I never put perk points into Lockpicking. Seems pointless especially when equipped with the Skeleton key.

 

[Daelon DuLac]

I never put perk points into Lockpicking. Seems pointless especially when equipped with the Skeleton key.

I rarely do the TG quests and always turn the key in. Somehow, it just doesn't seem right. Even my most evil characters are smart enough to know not to piss off a Daedra.

 

[Irish]

I never put perk points into Lockpicking. Seems pointless especially when equipped with the Skeleton key.

I rarely do the TG quests and always turn the key in. Somehow, it just doesn't seem right. Even my most evil characters are smart enough to know not to piss off a Daedra.

I usually return the key, as well, but that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun with it before I do.

 

[Gigapact]

I never do lockpicking and never will. If you had to pick locks in real time and there was a chance of a guard walking past or getting attacked and having to start again, maybe it would be useful. Otherwise, no.

For those that haven't tried alchemy, I highly recommend it. You can create far better potions than you'll ever come across in the game. Paralysis for 20+ seconds, invisibility for well over a minute, +100% fortify smithing/one handed/two handed etc. Slow poisons to make enemies move at 50% speed for well over a minute. Every health potion you make can be better than potions of extreme healing. These potions fetch a lot of money too

Anyway, I use the basic health restoration spell a lot in the early game without ever putting perks into it. I should do a game using that tree next time

While I agree that you can make some powerful potions, do you really use them? I don't. Pretty much the only potions ever use are healing, the occassional invisibility (if I'm doing a thief or assassin) and your standard fortifying smithing or enchanting (and frankly I can guzzle multiple ones I find (they do stack in my game apparently) along with items (ring, necklace, gauntlets, etc...). Of course they may just stack because of the glitches in my game. Hey, I even get souls from Drauger and skeletons, which you not supposed to, so maybe I've got some cool glitches. Never use poisons (not even paralysis or slow, although they sell for good money). I'll stick with potions of ultimate healing. By level 30 I usually have a couple dozen anyhow.

I didn't realize you weren't supposed to be able to absorb souls from skeletons and drauger because I absorb them too! If that's true, then finally I got a useful glitch.

 

[Gigapact]

W

I never put perk points into Lockpicking. Seems pointless especially when equipped with the Skeleton key.

I rarely do the TG quests and always turn the key in. Somehow, it just doesn't seem right. Even my most evil characters are smart enough to know not to piss off a Daedra.

Well really I never found the skeleton key useful a lot, so I turn it in too, plus it's the right thing to do

 

[Daelon DuLac]

I never do lockpicking and never will. If you had to pick locks in real time and there was a chance of a guard walking past or getting attacked and having to start again, maybe it would be useful. Otherwise, no.

For those that haven't tried alchemy, I highly recommend it. You can create far better potions than you'll ever come across in the game. Paralysis for 20+ seconds, invisibility for well over a minute, +100% fortify smithing/one handed/two handed etc. Slow poisons to make enemies move at 50% speed for well over a minute. Every health potion you make can be better than potions of extreme healing. These potions fetch a lot of money too

Anyway, I use the basic health restoration spell a lot in the early game without ever putting perks into it. I should do a game using that tree next time

While I agree that you can make some powerful potions, do you really use them? I don't. Pretty much the only potions ever use are healing, the occassional invisibility (if I'm doing a thief or assassin) and your standard fortifying smithing or enchanting (and frankly I can guzzle multiple ones I find (they do stack in my game apparently) along with items (ring, necklace, gauntlets, etc...). Of course they may just stack because of the glitches in my game. Hey, I even get souls from Drauger and skeletons, which you not supposed to, so maybe I've got some cool glitches. Never use poisons (not even paralysis or slow, although they sell for good money). I'll stick with potions of ultimate healing. By level 30 I usually have a couple dozen anyhow.

I didn't realize you weren't supposed to be able to absorb souls from skeletons and drauger because I absorb them too! If that's true, then finally I got a useful glitch.

At least according to the latest Skyrim bible you're not supposed to be able to (http://ebookbrowsee.net/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-manual-pdf-d318701940). I just thought it was amusing. After some research, apparently it's not something new although I do wonder why zombies do not have souls but skeletons and draugers do?

 

[SkeevyLittleElf]

Lockpicking easily. Everyone uses it frequently at one time or another, and I can pick "master" level locks without leveling the skill up at all.

 

[Daelon DuLac]

Lockpicking easily. Everyone uses it frequently at one time or another, and I can pick "master" level locks without leveling the skill up at all.

Absolutely. Think about the Master & Expert locks in Shrouded Hearth Barrow. I'm doing them at level 5 when I'm heading up to High Hrothgar for the first time.

 

[Jeremius]

Lockpicking for the most part. Maybe speech.

 

[Snake Tortoise]

Damn you seem to know a lot about alchemy which I am clueless in. Every time I try to level it up, it seems to take forever. What's the most efficient way to level alchemy? If you don't mind sharing

It takes a while, but not nearly as long as speech, one handed, two handed, light/heavy armour and archery. I think I hit 100 alchemy this time when I was level 35-37, which is about right I think.

What I did was wrote down lists of specific potion ingredients that I'd want to use in the game. As a two handed warrior (two handed, heavy armour, smithing, alchemy, some speech, some block) I wrote down the ingredients I'd need for the following potions: paralysis, fortify smithing, fortify heavy armour, fortify two handed and restore health. From the start I looked out for those ingredients in shops, dungeons and the wild.

I'd stop at the alchemist every time I arrived in a town. I'd always clear them out of ingredients except the expensive ones I wouldn't make a profit from- or at least the ingredients I didn't know how to make a profit from; daedra hearts and fire/frost/void salts. Otherwise I'd buy the lot. Then when I did my potion making I'd first make the potions that would be useful to me, then the ones that made the most money (best for leveling and making cash) and then I'd just make whatever potions I could with what was left. I'd say 75-85% of ingredients I used were bought, with the rest picked up. I never went out of my way to find specific ingredients. Most potions I made I sold immediately after

Always carry around your apparel with fortify alchemy enchantments and wear them before making potions. One other thing; I'd always look out for bear claws, hanging moss and giant toes. Combine the three and you make a ridiculously expensive potion that does wonders for alchemy leveling!

While I agree that you can make some powerful potions, do you really use them? I don't. Pretty much the only potions ever use are healing, the occassional invisibility (if I'm doing a thief or assassin) and your standard fortifying smithing or enchanting (and frankly I can guzzle multiple ones I find (they do stack in my game apparently) along with items (ring, necklace, gauntlets, etc...). Of course they may just stack because of the glitches in my game. Hey, I even get souls from Drauger and skeletons, which you not supposed to, so maybe I've got some cool glitches. Never use poisons (not even paralysis or slow, although they sell for good money). I'll stick with potions of ultimate healing. By level 30 I usually have a couple dozen anyhow.

That's a fair point. It's a shame that when your potions get really good you no longer need them so much. In my current game the potions I use a lot are fortify smithing, fortify two handed and restore health. Fortify smithing is effectively in use permanently because the extra weapon strength and armour value never goes away. Two handed helps with dragons and bosses (I'm on a mission now to get every dragon mask). I used fortify heavy armour fairly often until I hit the armour cap. I used resist fire and frost potions until I found the right enchanted gear (a Nord wearing the Otar mask and items to resist fire and shock makes those potions far less useful now). Paralysis potions were essential early in the game for non draugr bosses, bears, trolls and even sabre cats. I even used a few invis potions one time when I had no other option but to charge past a named draugr and his henchmen to take the White Phial

While many of these potions became redundant past a certain point, they were extremely useful to me in the early and mid game and always gave me options. Especially since I'm not using enchanting. In previous games my character would be a monster at level 41, but isn't so special this time and relies on those restore health potions a lot. I'm still yet to find some ebony gauntlets with a useful enchantment, and my armour only gives me +40 health which is nothing compared with the things you can do with level 100 double enchanting

I see alchemy as a useful alternative to enchanting that in one respect does the exact opposite of enchanting. Enchanting is useless at the start of the game, only slightly useful in the middle and extremely powerful at the end. Alchemy is a great in the early and middle parts but a lot weaker at the end. I think that's ideal because Skyrim is far tougher at level 5 and 25 than it is at level 45

 

[AJK]

There are a couple Restoration perks that are great to have. "Regeneration" (Healing Spells cure 50% more) and "Recovery 1/2" (Magicka regenerates 25%/50% faster).

On the other side of the coin, I don't use Alteration much, but I do like to spend a few perks to get some Magic Resistance.

I'm too busy upping my melee skills and armor on my warriors and my destruction/conjuration as we as melee on my spell swords (and, of course, I always up my enchanting, speech, sneak and smithing - ALWAYS!). Sorry everybody that thinks smithing and enchantment isn't important. I do. I HAVE to have them. Otherwise my armor and weapons are just terrible and I can never get enough regeneration or skill bonuses.

I don't use smithing at all except to make jewelry. I joined the Thieves Guild pretty early on and the TG Armor worked for me for a long time. The bonus to carry weight is great as well. And on the weapon side, once I got Chillrend I was good for a while. That's STILL usually my go-to sword, although now that I have the Extra Effect enchanting perk I will be making my own version with Paralyze and Chaos Damage.

The Nightingale Armor is still my favorite and most-used armor.

 

[Sparky04]

alchemy, lockpicking, speech, resto (on one of my characters)

 

[conchvegas]

Illusion. The only thing I use it for is guiding me if I'm lost. Could probably invest some more perks in it, but really just can't be bothered.