The Life of an Assassin in Skyrim (Character Build)

Teritus said:

Very good article. But I want to point out that stealthy gameplay doesn't always work. Like I was recently in a dungeon and met three enemies in one room. I couldn't sneak up on more than one of them, and then it becomes very difficult to take out the others (I think one of them was a Mage).

Anyway, I'm enjoying playing an Assassin now, but I had to ask this question.

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That's where alchemy comes into its own. Create a bunch of invisibility potions (if you're going the illusion route, then ignore my comment on alchemy). Anyways go invisible and retreat. Unless, you have trained up in one handed (I think every assassin should do that as lets face it, you WILL experience close combat in the game).

Legendary daedric dagger does 150 +damage

Excellent write-up. Looks like a lot of work has been put into it.

Your site looks really good too, did you make the logo and come up with the name yourself?

I'm thinking that this might be better placed in the Tutorial section, as well.

Overall, good job.

I honestly haven't done much dual wielding, but did notice that daggers are much faster. My real problem with the dual wield system is no blocking and relying on power attacks to stagger enemies, vs shield bashes which always shut off a dragon's breath weapon.

The Balance said:

I honestly haven't done much dual wielding, but did notice that daggers are much faster. My real problem with the dual wield system is no blocking and relying on power attacks to stagger enemies, vs shield bashes which always shut off a dragon's breath weapon.

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I think thats a balance in game, becouse dual wielding does more damage than one sword. It's absolute offense.

Yeah, but blocking and interrupts are so crucial... I'll give it a try at least.

My own thoughts, additions... from a guy who pretty much plays these games exclusively as a stealth character in a self-imposed "hardcore" mode.

All of my perk points have been spent in;
stealth
light armour
one handed (ONLY in the dual dagger branch)
archery
lockpick

I spend my stat points in 3-1 ratio (stamina to health)

Single enemies fall to either a stealthed, poisoned arrow shot at a 3X damage modifier. Use your best arrows, unless attacking a "known" lower-level enemy, mudcrabs, wolves etc. I currenly use an ebony bow with a frost damage modifier. The actual bow means nothing... it's the damage that matters.
If a first shot fails to take the enemy out... run (this is where stamina comes in) and restealth.
I have cleared entire dungeons without ever using a hand weapon.

If in close quarters, or facing tougher enemies that you KNOW will not fall to arrows, break out the dual daggers. Patience is key. I use Mehrune's Razor and the Blade of Woe right now, but again, it's a matter of what you want to use and how much damage the weapon does. If i come across rooms with more than one enemy in it... I resort to the bow. Fire an arrow down a hall, or into an empty room. They will go looking for the source. You have to act quickly, pick an enemy out of the line of sight of the others, roll into place and cut him down. Roll into the shadows and repeat. If it's simply IMPOSSIBLE to break up the group... use Shadowcloak of Nocturnal. Activate, crouch... sneak up behind the first, backstab, stand, recrouch, repeat. I have cleared entire rooms of enemies this way.

When facing really tough enemies. Poison is your friend. Dragons... giants... get your best arrow, your strongect poison, and find a good hiding place. Pick your shot and let fly... then move. Find another hidey-hole, repeat.

when all goes bad... and it will occasionally... RUN. Use that amazing stamina to your advantage. If you can't get away? Lead your enemy into another group of enemies. Leading a giant into a bandit camp is great fun.

Essential equipment? Anything that improves archery damage and backstab/sneak attack damage.
The perks are self explanatory.

I may be showing my newb-ness here but how are you guys able to figure out exactly how much damage you are doing? I hear talk of dps, per hit, etc. and I have not been able to find out anywhere (other than the weapon itself) of how much damage I am actually doing to a target when I hit it. Can someone shed some light for me? I am on the PS3 FYI.

Having stealth charecter, shadow is your defence. After detection you go to full offense to eliminate enemys as soon as possible. Dual wield balances the assassin style of play. Becouse personaly just backstabing for me is covardly. But dual wielding balance this out, for not be able to defend (fighting like that is kinda brave or very stupid xD ).

Btw when you wil try out dual wielding, use khajiit withouth helmet, becouse kill cutscene it's epic! When you see face of your character you practicly expect he is gona roar.

I think you have a great character build and playstyle but I tend to agree with BlackRat on a few points.

First, as a stealth assassin character I think you should go with 2-1 or 3-1 stamina-health upgrades. Assassins aren't known to be hearty but more quick on their feet and I think these ratios work better. And like BlackRat mentioned, when you don't have much health you really can't afford to get into face-to-face fights, which is exactly what an assassin avoids.

With my stealth character if my first shot fails to take the enemy down I run to a predetermined location and attempt to hide so I can get another sneak attack. I've also sometimes just completely avoided combat, either by sneaking via alternate routes or even shooting an arrow to draw an enemy's attention away.

Second point I wanted to make was I don't really see an assassin using a shield, since that definitely means you plan on face-to-face combat. Don't get me wrong, play however you enjoy. d;-) I just think of assassins avoiding that type of fighting. In fact, I would forgo the shield and carry poisons instead.

Anyways, always great to see people playing the stealth role. It's my favorite. d;-)

BIGwooly said:

I think you have a great character build and playstyle but I tend to agree with BlackRat on a few points.

First, as a stealth assassin character I think you should go with 2-1 or 3-1 stamina-health upgrades. Assassins are known to be hearty but more quick on their feet and I think these ratios work better. And like BlackRat mentioned, when you don't have much health you really can't afford to get into face-to-face fights, which is exactly what an assassin avoids.

With my stealth character if my first shot fails to take the enemy down I run to a predetermined location and attempt to hide so I can get another sneak attack. I've also sometimes just completely avoided combat, either by sneaking via alternate routes or even shooting an arrow to draw an enemy's attention away.

Second point I wanted to make was I don't really see an assassin using a shield, since that definitely means you plan on face-to-face combat. Don't get me wrong, play however you enjoy. d;-) I just think of assassins avoiding that type of fighting. In fact, I would forgo the shield and carry poisons instead.

Anyways, always great to see people playing the stealth role. It's my favorite. d;-)

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Is that ment for me?

No, the OP. d;-)

Teritus said:

Very good article. But I want to point out that stealthy gameplay doesn't always work. Like I was recently in a dungeon and met three enemies in one room. I couldn't sneak up on more than one of them, and then it becomes very difficult to take out the others (I think one of them was a Mage).

Anyway, I'm enjoying playing an Assassin now, but I had to ask this question.

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Someone else already gave you the idea to just use an invisibility potion or spell, and that's a great solution. Here are some others.

You can generally sneak attack with a bow and then run out of sight and hide and then go back and sneak attack with the bow again. Rinse and repeat. It takes time but I've emptied rooms that had multiple enemies this way and never took a hit.

Another thing you can do if you use illusion spells is use Fury or Frenzy. This is the only school of magic I allow my current character to use, and I've also cleared rooms with multiple enemies this way. Hit one of the enemies with a Fury or Frenzy spell and they will go crazy and start attacking their buddies. When they die, hit another one with a spell. Eventually you're left with one guy and he's usually hurting from all the fighting with his friends. Take him down and you're home free.

If you want to just avoid combat altogether and you don't have invisibility potions or spells, try this. From a distance shoot an arrow to one side of the room. They will hear it and go investigate while you sneak through on the opposite side. d;-)

Piggybacking off the shoot an arrow trick, there's a shout you can find that distracts enemies and makes them go to the shout's target location. That's great for lining up bow shots, and/or walking right past them.

Although, walking past enemies is usually a plops idea, unless you plan on walking past all of them - otherwise you might end up with 10 enemies in a room instead of 3.

Also, BIGwooly's right. Stealth, bow sneak attack, run (or tumble) away, come back, repeat. it works, but is a bit abusive to the downright stupid AI this game has.

Thanks for the tips and advice! I just created an evil assassin character and it should be entertaining considering I've mostly played morally gray/good characters so far.

Lots and lots of fun for those who really want to get involved with their character's choices in combat. Let me know how it goes!

Thanks to everyone who replied to me. I didn't want to trouble you or sound "nooby", I'm just fairly new to the game, that's all.

Definitely made me more interested in an assassin type play through. Thanks for the info!

Teritus said:

Thanks to everyone who replied to me. I didn't want to trouble you or sound "nooby", I'm just fairly new to the game, that's all.

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We are relatively all new, only one month passed after release of the game.

Panthera Tigris said:

We are relatively all new, only one month passed after release of the game.

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Quite true!