Definitely straight up warrior. I use a mixture of melee and ranged combat as well as a bit of stealth.

really anything stealth-based. stealth gameplay is way more nuanced, allows you to bide your time, plan ahead, and as such, they make for better role playing characters because by consigning yourself to a more stealth-oriented class, you inevitably force yourself into creative limitations, building a character, not based solely on their potential strengths, but developing a character based on their weaknesses. builds that encourage these types of decisions, considering and accepting character flaws and weaknesses are by far the more interesting builds, at least in my humble opinion. i will say that the gameplay, overall, doesn't always cater to the more "subtle" approaches often found in stealth-based gameplay, but it does a serviceable job nonetheless.

also, my recommendation for anyone unsure of their build, i would suggest pocketing one perk every three levels (or every other level, if you can be that disciplined), so by the time you advance 20 or 30 levels, not only will you have a better idea of how to "branch" your character, you'll also have a handful of perks to dispense as you see fit. also, if it hasn't already been stated, the perk system is very unbalanced, so don't feel like you have to purchase every perk within a skill, even if you're role-playing a particular character type. i'll give the whole "perk system" the benefit of the doubt, considering it's a new concept, at least within a bethesda game, but i am hoping these balance it out a little better. essentially, since the perks are limited, people need to know they're giving up something, equal in value if they purchase a perk in another skill tree. there are certain perks, even entire trees that can be entirely ignored because of this imbalance (lockpicking i'm looking at you).

I want to make a spell sword but I want to be able to block. I wish I could switch from spell to nothing in the left hand using the 2 hotkeys so I could block with just the one handed sword

Melee, heavy armor, healing. Pretty much a Paladin build, but I find it fun to play.

well that kind of defeats the purpose of a spellsword. you could still raise your block, but again, given the focus of a spellsword or even a battlemage, being particularly fancy with a shield doesn't exactly fall into either character's purview.

also, i have a nord warrior, pretty basic, but i built this character based on his fairly simple philosophy that all magic = bad. which i have to admit, even seeing the blue magicka bar in the corner can be a little off-putting at times. i wish i could divorce my character entirely from certain skills and abilities.

It depends on race

If Nord:
primaries = one-handed, heavy armor, smithing
secondaries = destruction, enchanting
WEREWOLF!!!

If Argonian:
primaries = sneak, light armor, one handed, lockpick
secondaries = alchemy(for poisons), archery, pickpocket
VAMPIRISM!!!(sneaking bonus)

those are my two favorite playstyles

Spellswords are very fun in this iteration- you dont block with a spellsword- try disappearing- invisibility in offhand.

Race: Khajiit
Primary: Bow, Sneak, Lockpick, Light armour
Secondary: Smith, Alchemy, Enchanting, Speech

My favourite build is warrior (you can see under this post)
I want to try assassin build [(sneak, illusion, one handed(dagger) and stuffs like that...)] and try battlemage (primary: conjuration, destruction, alteration, restoration/secondary: archery) so i can t say that warrior is my favourite build.

Race- Argonian
Primary skills- One-handed, Archery, Alteration
Secondary skills- Block, Smithing, Light Armor

Now finally utilizing the favorites function, I can easily switch from an Alteration spell before battle to empty handed so I can block with the sword. I use Archery for fighting dragons and for weakening tough enemies from a distance, and I use Smithing for upgrading my weapons and armor. My only restriction that I set on it is that I use no enchanting (or disenchanting), and that I will never use any other bow but a Forsworn bow (For looks, mostly.)

This build currently has no name though... Anyone have any idea what this build would be called?

I once played an Imperial with the following build. Voice of the Emperor was a lifesaver and great for control (not to mention pretty good as a replacement for Illusion magic), but you can do this with pretty much any race.

Primary skills: One Handed, Restoration, Alteration
Secondary skills: Conjuration (just for the bound sword), Enchanting

I think I'll do this again sometime and put more points into Conjuration to raise some undead. It was very fun, and for some reason I leveled really fast and had more perks than I knew what to do with. I started using Smithing after a while, but that broke the game, so I deleted the file.

My brother uses a heavily armored Orc who dual wields maces...and is a master of Sneak. It's a ridiculous ninja-Orc, and both he and I love it. Full deadric, pair o'maces, and yet he can sneak around town in broad daylight. There's not much else his character does but be awesome.


Please, I implore you to get on http://skyrimcalculator.com/ and show us your build. It would help me a lot!


As stupid as I thought using both 1H and 2H would be, this actually sounds interesting! Tell me more

Trickster

Stealthy Breton conjurer female (light armor), Redguard pure mage female -- although there was that one restart as a male (no armor), Altmer battle mage male (heavy armor)...a pattern, it is sensed.

I should probably get around to making a fighter sometime soon. I don't know what. Orc maybe. They look really cool and I like the Orc followers in the game. ^{(I'll probably end up slipping magic into her repetoire anyway. Conjuration probably. My fondness for magic taints everything.)} I imagine it'll be satisfying and a change of pace to just smash something. Or maybe play a pure stealth character. If I can bring myself to not touch the magic.

Bosmer

Primary: Archery, Alchemy, Light Armor, Sneak

Secondary: One Handed, Lockpicking, Smithing

I love the assassin feel of the game. Especially finding a high up place and quickly firing my arrow for the kill and making a quick and clean get away.

I play as tanking warrior type characters in every game I play. In past elder scrolls games I played as an Imperial, this time I went Nord since we're in Skyrim. All enchanted legendary equipment. Ebony armor, dual daedric swords, and a daedric bow for range.

for skyrim, it's gotta be Nord Warrior or paladin

Race- Orc
Primary- One handed, Heavy armor
Secondary- Enchanting, Smithing, Archery

Very simple build but I had a lot of fun playing it. Dual wield war axes for close combat with heavy armor for max protection. Enchanting and smithing used to improve it with archery when close combat isn't an option.

<-- Race

I tend to play a warrior/thief mix, I guess my primaries would be my One-handed and Heavy Armor and secondaries would be Sneak, Alchemy and Enchanting. Also use block with dragon fights but that's the only time. I also go into Smithing so I can eventually get Daedric armor.

I never really thought about my characters build in great detail .. I just play the way that pleases me.

I tend to alternate between tanks and ranger/thieves.

Tank: usually Nord, but occasionally any of the other humanoid races or Orc, Heavy, 2H (although I've played with sword'n'board and DW), Block, Smithing. I tend to aim for at least steel plate with smithing perks, or for daedric. Usually Lord's Stone
Stealthy: usually xmer of some type (pretty much the same number of Dunmer, Bosmer and Altmer), Bows, Light, Sneak, Smithing to at least Advanced (because I have a mod which uses this to make heavy-duty Thieves armour with no enchantment). Usually Atranoch.

Common to all builds these I tend to use Enchanting a lot, I only use alchemy as a money pump. Magic skills are usually restricted to a hand-full of spells: Candlelight, Healing, Muffle for stealth characters, and maybe a couple of others. Not a fan of Mage builds because of the nerfed magic skills. Howver, I do at least some RP with all builds, so the above may change (I've tried no magic of any kind: no alchemy (but bought/found potions are OK), so scrolls, no spells.

First Character
Race - Nord (Werewolf)
Primary - Heavy Armor, One Handed
Secondary - Two Handed, Conjuration, Destruction

Second Character
Race - High Elf (Vampire)
Primary - Sneak, Destruction, One Handed
Secondary - Archery, Conjuration

With my Nord I prefer being a big tank that destroys my enemies with my one handed swords, while when I play as my High Elf i am an shadow assassin or super destruction mage.

I love my pure mage,

Race: High Elf
Primary: Destruction, Conjuration, Alteration
Secondary: Illusion, Restoration, Enchanting
Lvl: 58

At Lvl 58 I have a majority of the perk trees complete, And its just crazy what you can do. From Paralyzing one person, Calming another, dual summoing Dremor Lords, Using Call to Arms to buff up your followers, ect. Just all around fun, But as soon as the Mana gets low you perish.

That is why you should also practice alchemy and make hundreds of magika potions like i do for my High Elf

That is the brilliance of a spell/sword build. You are a capable mage, but able to hold up in melee should your magicka run out.

Just got my first set of heavy armour for my high elf, coupled along with healing and destruction spells with a one-handed sword and I'm loving it. It combines the bad-ass mage abilities with the "up in your face" nature of a warrior. Use enchanting and your heavy armour can even have perks as good as the usual mage robes anyway.