The Skyrim Fansite would like to thank Nathaniel for today’s excellent article on building a strong Skyrim character. Nathaniel’s proven ideas will benefit both new and veteran players alike. He originally posted his tips in the comment section of an earlier Skyrim Fansite article, Create The Perfect Skyrim Character, but we felt that his great advice should be featured in its own post.
Building A Strong Skyrim Character
This is for anyone who wants to build a strong Skyrim character. It’s VERY long. However it contains the summary of 21 days of my knowledge of power assistance.
Tip #1: Race
Personally I picked the Breton and raised him in the ways of the Warrior. The Bretons have a good resistance to magic. I really don’t see the point of picking an Orc just because he starts off with good Warrior stats,or a Dark Elf just because he begins with good stealth skills. I mean you can get ANY race to be just as good as weapons as an Orc or as stealthy as a Dark Elf as the skill levels are 100 no matter what.
I used to use Destruction magic as my main weapon, but the limitations eventually made me switch to weapons. Magic is limited in number of times used and needs to be recharged. On the other hand, you have an unlimited amount of swings with a weapon (although not power swings). Destruction magic gets more complicated to use and you have to be careful around companions or worse yet”¦ guards. Even the Master destruction spells aren’t as powerful as a good weapon in the hands of a strong Skyrim character.
Restoration magic is good to have around. I know I’m stating the obvious, but I got myself into countless pinches where Restoration saved me. I used a Perk to increase Healing by 50% and another Perk to reduce adept healing by half, so basically I can heal as much as I need. There’s also a Perk that gives Stamina when healing ( I use it for unlimited sprint). This goes well with Vampires as they don’t regenerate Stamina in sunlight.
Conjuration magic is also quite good. With master conjuration spells you can have two summonings following you almost forever (until they are killed or you wait a year in game time) AND have a companion to follow you as well. A fighting force of FOUR! Sadly Dremora lords will not follow you forever — only the Atronachs will with the spells Flame Thrall, Frost Thrall, or Storm Thrall. So beef up those Atronachs with the Elemental Potency perk if you want to build a strong Skyrim character.
Build a strong Skyrim character with Conjuration magic.
Tip #5: Other Magic
Sorry for the lack of advice here. I never really got into the other magics. I don’t really care about Illusion because I don’t need it for weak enemies and can’t use it against the strong ones (Dragons, Dragon Priests, High level enemies.) Alteration is OK, but I’m too lazy to use it. However, Alteration does deserve this mention: Master level Alteration will allow you to use a spell that temporarily blocks 80% of damage.
With Master Smithing, Alchemy, and Enchantment you are able to wield two swords — each of them capable of 500+ damage per hit! You also are able to put powerful enchantments on the weapons. My choice enchantments were fire damage (as enemies on fire take more damage), and absorb health on strike( to heal me while focusing on attack). However, if you’re only going for power and not style, then you’ll want dual maces. The idea of a guy running around with two maces looks stupid to me, and personally I much prefer swords. That being said, I can’t ignore the fact that maces can ignore a good deal of the opponents armor if you equip the Mace Perk.
Use heavy armor — preferably Daedric armor. “But Nathaniel — heavy armor quickly drains stamina when sprinting and slows you down!” Well yeah it does — until you get the Conditioning Perk. With Conditioning the armor doesn’t weigh anything, slow you down, or even appear as carried weight. Heavy Armor is an excellent choice for a strong Skyrim character — the armor can take more of a beating, and with Conditioning you can sprint for a good while.
Wear Heavy Armor for your strong Skyrim character.
Tip #8: Companions
Treat your companions well, and don’t forget to give them the best equipment like Daedric armor or weapons. I’m not really sure who is the best companion in Skyrim (I chose Aela the Huntress pretty much because she seemed likable enough), but anyway it’s up to you.
Personally, I didn’t really get into Alchemy until I was at a higher level ( mostly so I could grow some levels). But let me tell you, Alchemy really helps out health, magic, invisibility etc. My favorite mixture and personal brew was the Deathbell, the Saltpile, and the Falmer ear. This little number poisons enemies AND slows them to half speed! Combine with Slow Time Shout, and your opponent is in for a world of hurt!!!
Tip #10: Powerful Creatures
Powerful creatures include Vampires and Werewolves.
Want to be a Werewolf”¦don’t! Werewolves (though fast) aren’t that great. Their attacks are”¦meh, they wear no armor, they can’t use potions, and turning into one leaves you open to attack for like 5 seconds. Eating someone doesn’t restore that much health and leaves you open to attack.
Vampires aren’t that bad, but it’s a shame vampires powered down since Morrowind. They offer Perks, but I don’t think they’re great except for the last one. Embrace of Shadows it is a good Perk but it’s only available when you reach the last stage of vampirism (if you progress to the last stage though, every guard will attack you on sight so I don’t bother with it). Vampires have reduced Health, Magic, and Stamina when in the sun, and the attributes don’t recover when in the sun. My advice for a strong Skyrim character: don’t pick a Vampire unless you really like them, because you have to continue feeding unless you want every guard after your head.
A strong Skyrim character needs to fight Dragons, and these winged beasts can offer a heck of a fight. Dragons don’t really have weaknesses. Use Dragonrend to ground them, and hit ’em hard. Never let your Health drop below 50% if you’re right next to a Dragon — they can finish you with a single attack (just like in the video below).
Nathaniel Marsaw is a fan of Skyrim and the Elder Scroll series. He's invested hundreds of hours into the game. His favorite character build is the Breton Warrior.
Great tips!! Wish I came across this when I first started playin bit over a year ago as I was quite the model noob and learned the hard way by making a ton of mistakes lol. Personally I often love the warrior builds..mainly two-handed greatsword warriors with heavy armor. Favorite two-handed weapon= Stalhrim greatsword..because this is arguably the BEST weapon to enchant ideally with the epic chaos damage enchantment as part of it is frost and frost enchantments applied to Stalhrim weapons are like 25% stronger. My choice of heavy armor is dwarven..I’ve improved it to legendary multiple times over and double enchanted everything with the Extra Effect perk so it’s top of the line for my build 🙂
Other than that I dabble as a sword and shield tank with the awesome Spellbreaker shield (arguably best shield in the game). I’m also workin on a Mage build for another character but I just love the classic satisfaction of swingin melee weapons and sending your enemies off to oblivion that way lol.
Christina
7 years ago
I chose a mage… I found that there is some hardships with enemues in close combat. So I added the wear wolf power…the fact that you can literally massacre a base in minutes going full throttle (run, jump, attack, dont stop) as a wearwolf really helps out on the tough ones.
Jane
9 years ago
I really like playing an Elf. I hate the Thalmor though. I kill them when ever I come across them. I like duo welding swords enchanted with fire. I wish they made Hadvar a follower. He is one I would like on my side as he was not ready to let me be killed at the beginning so I always follow him out of helgen.
I would really like Hollywood to make a movie of skyrim.
I enjoyed reading your comments.
Elves are pretty cool. Yeah, I get the whole hating Thalmor thing. I tended to kill them most of the time I met em. I mean, they do a lot of questionable things, but technically they are in the right most of the time. I mean, they spared Skyrim after beating them as long as they abided by certain terms. Pity about Hadvar too, but I guess he’s a soldier first and foremost. Glad you enjoyed reading the comments. 🙂
pat
8 years ago
The best weapon attachment is tge chaos damage. Its avaikable in solsthie via quest. If u have ur destruction up to 60 it adds 48 damage from each fire frost and storm in every hit
Yeah, that enchantment is now one of my favorites. Soltheim is full of ways to get even stronger than before! 😀
AlwaysFaithful
8 years ago
Not counting the DLC, which changes a lot of vampire based issues, destruction magic still holds the potential for best fighting style. The range is ungodly, and the damage potential with mastered enchanting is unlimited. Fully mastered enchanting plus reduced cost to cast [not the reduce cost plus magic one, the single reduced cost enchant only] a lots you two classes of spells that cost 0 magic to cast. Me personally, I enjoy alteration and destruction, using restoration and conjuration to keep me and my army going. Heavy or light [heavy takes longer to be useful to a mage, but potentially higher rewards in the end] keep the battle mage pertinent to all combat situations. This is just my preference. In the end, when, if, magic used like this does fail, summon a blade and hack away.
Vampires:
When it comes to the vampires, you are correct. Vampire lords did solve a good deal of issues. I rather like how blood drain gained the explosion effect and can now hit multiple enemies. The damage done is pretty respectable too. That being said, there are a good deal of issues with it still. The first is that the blood drain explosion can very easily hit companions, and you can’t remove the blood spell unless you want to only use claws. Furthermore when on a quest your allies can very easily become enemies when you transform. Say you’re doing a hard quest with allies like in a big battle against the Stormcloaks/Imperials or with former Dragonborn against Alduin. In these sorts of situations, you can’t use your power when you need it most. Lastly the fact you don’t regenerate magic in the sun is deadly for prolonged battles. In short, Vampires face the same problems as I stated, with the exception being, they’re now stronger.
Magic:
I’ve gone and went full mage while playing this game, and let me tell you…it was a lot of trouble. In the beginning and mid-tier, I was rather weak and constantly had to run around kiting enemies. Even then, dying was pretty common. Eventually, I reached master level. Got destruction up to 100, pimped out my gear with enchanting so that I could use magic a ton, got the necessary perks and wore a mask from the DLC that boosts shock spells. Even after all that…I wasn’t very powerful. I mean I was…but I also wasn’t if that makes sense. High-level bandits were still an issue. Even mid-level bandits were annoying. Even after hitting them with expert level spells that damage wasn’t impressive. Honestly I had to keep dual charging expert level spells and keep staggering them repeatedly to kill them. Master level destruction spells take too much time and magic to use on non-bosses. Especially when there are a lot of them. They’re just not practical, especially when you have allies. I mean using the lightning master level destruction spell on a dragon was pretty cool. You basically fire off a Kamehameha at the dragon which CAN kill it quickly. But it’s hard to hit while flying and even with the right perks and gear, consumes a lot of magic. Even if you summon a weapon and get the perk to strengthen it, it doesn’t even have 1/5th of the power it could have.
Lord Garth of Sunderland
8 years ago
On my PS3, I have a Level 74 (legit) Breton Battle Mage. I’m pretty much 100 on almost every skill. My armor rating is around 1050 without a shield. I have duel enchanted Ebony Helmet, duel enchanted Ebony Boots, duel enchanted Ebony Gauntlets, and duel enchanted Daedric Armor. I duel wield duel enchanted Daedric maces with damage around 470 each. I’m approaching 400 hours into the Legendary Edition and have completed the main game as well as the DLC’s. I’m pretty much to point where I like to duel wield knifes now because I’m so over powered, but I still can’t get enough of this game. I still play it today (12/22/16), and I’ve also completed the main game on my Xbox360 with my Level 42 Khajiit Archer.
I would recommend joining the Companions and becoming a werewolf. This makes you immune to disease and will prevent you from obtaining Vampirism and turning into a vampire. I was a stage 4 vampire once and it SUCKED!!! I had to google how to get rid of it, and I finally got cured. I NEVER even transformed into the werewolf because, why??
J
7 years ago
Guards don’t attack you as a full vampire…
jj
7 years ago
don’t forget enchanting to me you need it for a god build and you can enchant items to increase enchanting then you wear the stuff that increase enchanting then you enchant you stuff my armor was nearly 1000 and I had a bow with damage of 600 plus arrows so sneak attacks deal like 1800 damage
oh and my by was enchanted with frost so add on another 100 dam
RobertNab
7 years ago
I would like to play as a Thalmor Bounty Hunter (hey! I don’t think Thalmor are that bad. They just have an annoying attitude… which I can sometime have.” He uses the spell Calm in one hand and the Bound Sword in the other. He has decent armor. My only question is, is he using to much Magika? Will it be hard to gain it back fast enough for a succesful fight. Please state your honest opinion, and thank you!
Great tips!! Wish I came across this when I first started playin bit over a year ago as I was quite the model noob and learned the hard way by making a ton of mistakes lol. Personally I often love the warrior builds..mainly two-handed greatsword warriors with heavy armor. Favorite two-handed weapon= Stalhrim greatsword..because this is arguably the BEST weapon to enchant ideally with the epic chaos damage enchantment as part of it is frost and frost enchantments applied to Stalhrim weapons are like 25% stronger. My choice of heavy armor is dwarven..I’ve improved it to legendary multiple times over and double enchanted everything with the Extra Effect perk so it’s top of the line for my build 🙂
Other than that I dabble as a sword and shield tank with the awesome Spellbreaker shield (arguably best shield in the game). I’m also workin on a Mage build for another character but I just love the classic satisfaction of swingin melee weapons and sending your enemies off to oblivion that way lol.
I chose a mage… I found that there is some hardships with enemues in close combat. So I added the wear wolf power…the fact that you can literally massacre a base in minutes going full throttle (run, jump, attack, dont stop) as a wearwolf really helps out on the tough ones.
I really like playing an Elf. I hate the Thalmor though. I kill them when ever I come across them. I like duo welding swords enchanted with fire. I wish they made Hadvar a follower. He is one I would like on my side as he was not ready to let me be killed at the beginning so I always follow him out of helgen.
I would really like Hollywood to make a movie of skyrim.
I enjoyed reading your comments.
Elves are pretty cool. Yeah, I get the whole hating Thalmor thing. I tended to kill them most of the time I met em. I mean, they do a lot of questionable things, but technically they are in the right most of the time. I mean, they spared Skyrim after beating them as long as they abided by certain terms. Pity about Hadvar too, but I guess he’s a soldier first and foremost. Glad you enjoyed reading the comments. 🙂
The best weapon attachment is tge chaos damage. Its avaikable in solsthie via quest. If u have ur destruction up to 60 it adds 48 damage from each fire frost and storm in every hit
Yeah, that enchantment is now one of my favorites. Soltheim is full of ways to get even stronger than before! 😀
Not counting the DLC, which changes a lot of vampire based issues, destruction magic still holds the potential for best fighting style. The range is ungodly, and the damage potential with mastered enchanting is unlimited. Fully mastered enchanting plus reduced cost to cast [not the reduce cost plus magic one, the single reduced cost enchant only] a lots you two classes of spells that cost 0 magic to cast. Me personally, I enjoy alteration and destruction, using restoration and conjuration to keep me and my army going. Heavy or light [heavy takes longer to be useful to a mage, but potentially higher rewards in the end] keep the battle mage pertinent to all combat situations. This is just my preference. In the end, when, if, magic used like this does fail, summon a blade and hack away.
Vampires:
When it comes to the vampires, you are correct. Vampire lords did solve a good deal of issues. I rather like how blood drain gained the explosion effect and can now hit multiple enemies. The damage done is pretty respectable too. That being said, there are a good deal of issues with it still. The first is that the blood drain explosion can very easily hit companions, and you can’t remove the blood spell unless you want to only use claws. Furthermore when on a quest your allies can very easily become enemies when you transform. Say you’re doing a hard quest with allies like in a big battle against the Stormcloaks/Imperials or with former Dragonborn against Alduin. In these sorts of situations, you can’t use your power when you need it most. Lastly the fact you don’t regenerate magic in the sun is deadly for prolonged battles. In short, Vampires face the same problems as I stated, with the exception being, they’re now stronger.
Magic:
I’ve gone and went full mage while playing this game, and let me tell you…it was a lot of trouble. In the beginning and mid-tier, I was rather weak and constantly had to run around kiting enemies. Even then, dying was pretty common. Eventually, I reached master level. Got destruction up to 100, pimped out my gear with enchanting so that I could use magic a ton, got the necessary perks and wore a mask from the DLC that boosts shock spells. Even after all that…I wasn’t very powerful. I mean I was…but I also wasn’t if that makes sense. High-level bandits were still an issue. Even mid-level bandits were annoying. Even after hitting them with expert level spells that damage wasn’t impressive. Honestly I had to keep dual charging expert level spells and keep staggering them repeatedly to kill them. Master level destruction spells take too much time and magic to use on non-bosses. Especially when there are a lot of them. They’re just not practical, especially when you have allies. I mean using the lightning master level destruction spell on a dragon was pretty cool. You basically fire off a Kamehameha at the dragon which CAN kill it quickly. But it’s hard to hit while flying and even with the right perks and gear, consumes a lot of magic. Even if you summon a weapon and get the perk to strengthen it, it doesn’t even have 1/5th of the power it could have.
On my PS3, I have a Level 74 (legit) Breton Battle Mage. I’m pretty much 100 on almost every skill. My armor rating is around 1050 without a shield. I have duel enchanted Ebony Helmet, duel enchanted Ebony Boots, duel enchanted Ebony Gauntlets, and duel enchanted Daedric Armor. I duel wield duel enchanted Daedric maces with damage around 470 each. I’m approaching 400 hours into the Legendary Edition and have completed the main game as well as the DLC’s. I’m pretty much to point where I like to duel wield knifes now because I’m so over powered, but I still can’t get enough of this game. I still play it today (12/22/16), and I’ve also completed the main game on my Xbox360 with my Level 42 Khajiit Archer.
I would recommend joining the Companions and becoming a werewolf. This makes you immune to disease and will prevent you from obtaining Vampirism and turning into a vampire. I was a stage 4 vampire once and it SUCKED!!! I had to google how to get rid of it, and I finally got cured. I NEVER even transformed into the werewolf because, why??
Guards don’t attack you as a full vampire…
don’t forget enchanting to me you need it for a god build and you can enchant items to increase enchanting then you wear the stuff that increase enchanting then you enchant you stuff my armor was nearly 1000 and I had a bow with damage of 600 plus arrows so sneak attacks deal like 1800 damage
oh and my by was enchanted with frost so add on another 100 dam
I would like to play as a Thalmor Bounty Hunter (hey! I don’t think Thalmor are that bad. They just have an annoying attitude… which I can sometime have.” He uses the spell Calm in one hand and the Bound Sword in the other. He has decent armor. My only question is, is he using to much Magika? Will it be hard to gain it back fast enough for a succesful fight. Please state your honest opinion, and thank you!
Awesome tips but do you have a link for Alchemy?