Skyrim Argonians
When I role play, I find myself picking either elves or humans for my character’s race. This predilection goes back to my early days of playing tabletop classics like Dungeons and Dragons, so when Skyrim came out I naturally gravitated towards the elf and human stock. Am I strange? Apparently not — out of the ten playable races in Skyrim, seven are either elf or human, so obviously these races are the most popular. On my second play through of Skyrim however, I wanted to challenge myself by completely altering my playing style and going a different route. For this reason I selected an Argonian, a scaly reptilian hailing from Black Marsh. Am I having fun? Absolutely! In many ways my second play through of Skyrim is more enjoyable than my first, and today I present 5 quick facts about Skyrim Argonians:
1. Favored Skills
Skyrim Argonians start with bonus Light Armor, Sneak, Lockpicking, and Pickpocket skills above the base level of 15. These favored skills make Argonians a perfect choice for playing a thief. In fact, my Argonian recently became a proud card carrying member of the Thieves Guild. Interested in playing a thief? Check out the Skyrim Fansite’s earlier article: The Best Skyrim Character: Warrior, Thief or Mage?
[table caption=”Favored Skills” width=”500″ colwidth=”20|20|20″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Race,Light Armor,Sneak,Lockpicking,Pickpocket
Argonian,20,20,25,20
[/table]
2. Health Regeneration
Even though I wanted to “play outside the box,” when I first considered picking an Argonian I was somewhat hesitant. I wasn’t certain if an Argonian would be tough enough to survive the early stages of the game. This hesitancy was not only unfounded, but but was based on my ignorance of Argonians in general. Skyrim Argonians have the racial power Histskin — an ability to regenerate health a whopping 10X faster for 60 seconds. The power to regenerate health quickly is a real advantage, especially at early game levels. Believe me, Histskin has saved my character’s lizard butt on more than one occasion when engaged in battle.
3. Water Breathing
As you know I love Skyrim, but one of the things I find frustrating with the game is swimming. When a character goes into the drink not only do the graphics take a step backwards, but the controls are wonky. In my first play through of Skyrim I tended to avoid water all together. This aversion to water was the result of my character inadvertently drowning while I was wrestling with the controls. Skyrim Argonians though have the natural ability to breathe underwater and can’t drown. This ability proved useful in the early stages of the game when I wanted to avoid dangerous encounters. Instead of hoofing it down the road and through the wild, I would swim to different locations to avoid that random Frost Spider and bear that always seemed to cross my path.
4. Disease Resistance
Skyrim can be a dangerous place. Not only do characters have to worry about menacing enemies such as Daedra and Dragons, they have to give a thought towards contracting diseases. Granted, Skyrim diseases are more nuisance than deadly, but they’re easily contracted from encounters with animals and traps and are a hassle to deal with. Thankfully for Skyrim Argonians, living in nasty swamps has given the race a natural resistance to disease (50% Disease Resistant to be more exact). While this ability hasn’t stopped my character from completely getting sick, it has definitely cut down on my trips to local shrines seeking cures.
As if there was any doubt, last week’s Zenimax video confirms absolutely that Argonians will be a playable race in the upcoming Elder Scrolls Online game. For a guy with a penchant towards elves and humans, I have to say that this fact gives me a lot of joy. In my second play through, I’ve really become fond of Skyrim Argonians and I would have hated to see the race disappear from ESO. It’s nice to know that my marsh friends are sticking around for next exciting chapter in the Elder Scrolls legacy.
Final Thoughts
So how about it fellow travelers? What are your thoughts about Skyrim Argonians, and if you haven’t played this race yet would you do so in the future? Share your opinions with your fellow fans in the Speak Your Mind section below.
Playing with an Argonian now, just chose him because he was topmost in the race selection box. Made him a pyromancer thief, for those who do not let me steal their coin face the fire of the Dovahkiin.
Nice! I pity the fool that catches your Argonian picking their pocket.
i feel that argonians have good effects but dont have good race stats, i feel the redguard is the best human race, the khajitts are the best beast race and the altmer is the best elf race. i say this because the redguard has onehanded destruction archery block smithing and alteration. the nord is only skilled in combat and speech the only magic he has is alteration. the imperial is just good at magic and fighting while the redguard has archery fighting and magic. the khajitt is better than the argonian because the khajitt is sneakier has the same perks but also has one handed and archery. the altmer are the best elves because from the bat they are good at all magic and also have 50 extra points added on so therefore you dont have to worry about leveling up your elves magika for 5 levels
Excellent points, whiteout. You have great Skyrim insight. When I decided that I was going to play a beast race on my second play through it was a real tough choice between the Argonian and Khajitt. I opted for the Argonian primarily for the Histkin and water breathing abilities. On my next play through I’m playing a human, and I think I’ll go with a Redguard for the reasons you mention.
Argonians make real good tanking Blood Mages in a way that only fits the Argonian.
All points go to Health, not Magicka. All armor and jewelry will be enchanted with Fortify Health and Fortify Healing Rate when possible as this does stick with Histskin and the more Health you have the better Histskin will work. The headgear xan have Fortify Magicka.
Then use Equilibrium in your off-hand and a spell of your choice in your right hand.
The Shout you want to use is Become Ethereal to acompany your unnaturally fast healing abilities.
Therefore the best stone you could use is the Lady Stone: Health and Stamina regenerate 25% faster. This also stacks with Histskin.
And there you go; your tanking Blood Mage.
Best night blades/healer combo