Alright; have you considered adding some stealth? It might help if you have to fight a group of enemies.

I'll get Sneak leveled but none of the perks look particularly useful.

What about assassins blade? You might be able to one shot certain enemies with that; also are you sure you want intense flames? It might get a little annoying when certain enemies run away from you.

I also think Rune Master might be appropriate for your play style, when a group of enemies charge you; you can just lay a trap in front of them.

Yeah maybe I'll take that instead of intense flames.

Orc Artificer

Dual wielder in heavy armor, who focuses on making his equipment the best it can possibly be.

One Handed 12 perks
Armsman (5 ranks), Fighting Stance, Dual Flurry (2 ranks), Savage Strike, Critical Charge, Dual Savagery, Paralyzing Strike

Smithing 8 perks
All but the light armor ones

Heavy Armor 9 perks
Juggernaut (5 ranks), Well Fitted, Tower of Strength, Matching Set, Reflect Blows

Enchanting 13 perks
All of them

Speech 8 perks
Haggling (5 ranks), Allure, Merchant, Investor

My build with perk choices is listed below. I'm going for a hybrid for sure, and I'm not sure about some areas. I'll put my concerns at the end:

45 total points spent

One Handed
Armsman: 5/5
Fighting Stance: 1/1

Heavy Armor
Juggernaut: 5/5
Well Fitted: 1/1

Block
Shield Wall: 5/5
Deflect Arrows: 1/1
Elemental Protection: 1/1
Block Runner: 1/1

Smithing (Unsure here relative value of armor types)
Steel Smithing: 1/1
Elven Smithing: 1/1
Advanced Armors: 1/1
Glass Smithing: 1/1
Dragon Armor: 1/1

Destruction
Novice Destruction: 1/1
Apprentice Destruction: 1/1
Augmented Frost: 1/2
Adept Destruction: 1/1
Deep Freeze: 1/1
Expert Destruction: 1/1
Master Destruction: 1/1

Restoration
Novice Restoration: 1/1
Regeneration: 1/1
Recovery: 2/2
Respite: 1/1

Speech (Not crucial to the build)
Haggling: 5/5
Allure: 1/1
Merchant: 1/1
Investor: 1/1

None of the perks for one handed really call to me. Don't need my weapons doing anything fancy, so I didn't put many perks there.

I'm also concerned that the playstyle I'm imagining won't work out. Basically, I want to always have a shield, and alternate between spells and a one hander, focusing on frost destruction for the freeze. I've been assuming it's possible. Hope so

I'm on the fence about putting more points into restoration. Are the further magika reduction perks going to be worth it?

With speech, I mainly though that in as a way to make my life easier. I'm not a fan of running around town to sell stuff I've found. I also wonder if I should invest more in smithing, or just leave it as is and work around the armor types not included.

I'd love to get some feedback on my build thusfar, especially ideas for where to spend the few extra points.

I've got ideas for several builds that I hopefully will get around to playing eventually - These builds all use 50 perks, so I'll just have to get to lvl 51. Sorry this is a super long post, but maybe others might be inspired for builds by what they see here. You'll notice that I've gone into the alteration builds for my warriors, because i think the magic resistance is nice, and i've gone into the lockpicking tree for most of these builds as well simply because the perks that give you a greater chance for more money and better items are too good to pass up. Of course, all this is subject to change because we haven't seen the official perk trees. These are based off the information here: http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1250628-layout-of-perk-trees-2/

Anyway, here goes:

=====
TANK
=====

*HEAVY ARMOR* total = 8 (or 11)
- Juggernaut (1-5)
- Well Fitted
- Tower of Strength
- Matching Set
- Fists of Steal (?)
- Cushioned (?)
- Conditioning (?) (the extra mobility might be useful in combat)

*BLOCK* total = 10
- Shield Wall (1-5)
- Power Bash
- Deadly Bash
- Deflect Arrows
- Elemental Protection
- Block Runner

*ONE HANDED* total = 10
- Armsman (1-5)
- Bladesman (1-3)
- Fighting Stance
- Critical Charge

*SMITHING* total = 7
- Steel
- Arcane
- Dwarven
- Orcish
- Ebony
- Daedric
- Dragon

*RESTORATION* total = 5
- Novice
- Adept
- Apprentice
- Respite
- Regeneration

*ALTERATION* total = 5
- Novice
- Magic Resistance (1-3)
- Apprentice

*LOCKPICKING* total = 5
- Novice
- Apprentice
- Adept
- Golden Touch
- Treasure Hunter

==========
BERSERKER
==========

*TWO-HANDED* total = 13
- Barbarian (1-5)
- Devastating Blow
- Deep Wounds (1-3)
- Sweep
- Champion's Stance
- Warmaster
- Great Critical Charge

*LIGHT ARMOR* total = 10
- Agile Defender (1-5)
- Matching Set
- Custom Fit
- Wind Walker
- Deft Movement
- Unhindered

*SMITHING* total = 7
- Steel
- Advanced
- Elven
- Glass
- Dragon
- Arcane

*ALTERATION* total = 5
- Novice
- Apprentice
- Magic Resistance (1-3)

*LOCKPICKING* total = 5
- Novice
- Apprentice
- Adept
- Golden Touch
- Treasure Hunter

*ALCHEMY* total = 10
- Alchemist (1-5)
- Physician
- Benefactor
- Experimenter (1-3)

=======
RANGER
=======

*LIGHT ARMOR* total = 10
- Agile Defender (1-5)
- Matching Set
- Custom Fit
- Wind Walker
- Unhindered
- Deft Movement

*ARCHERY* total = 11
- Overdraw (1-5)
- Power Shot
- Critical Shot (1-3)
- Ranger
- Hunter's Discipline
- Quick Shot
- Eagle Eye
- Bullseye
- Steady Hand (1-2)

*ONE HANDED* total = 6
- Dual Flurry (1-2)
- Bladesman (1-3)
- Dual Savagery

*ALCHEMY* total = 14
- Alchemist (1-5)
- Benefactor
- Physician
- Experimenter (1-3)
- Poisoner
- Concentrated Poison
- Green Thumb
- Snakeblood

*LOCKPICKING* total = 5
- Novice
- Apprentice
- Adept
- Golden Touch
- Treasure Hunter

*SNEAK* total = 4
- Stealth
- Backstab
- Muffled Movement
- Deadly Aim

=========
ASSASSIN
=========

*ONE HANDED* total = 6
- Dual Flurry (1-2)
- Bladesman (1-3)
- Dual Savagery

*ARCHERY* total = 10
- Overdraw (1-5)
- Power Shot
- Critical Shot (1-3)
- Hunter's Discipline
- Eagle Eye

*SNEAK* total = 9
- Stealth (1-5)
- Deadly Aim
- Backstab
- Assassin's Blade
- Muffled Movement
- Light Foot
- Silent Roll
- Shadow Warrior

*LOCKPICKING* total = 5
- Novice
- Apprentice
- Adept
- Golden Touch
- Treasure Hunter

*ALCHEMY* total = 10
- Alchemist (1-5)
- Concentrated Poison
- Physician
- Benefactor
- Poisoner
- Green Thumb

*ILLUSION* total = 10
- Novice
- Hypnotic Gaze
- Apprentice
- Aspect of Terror
- Adept
- Rage
- Expert
- Kindred Mage
- Quiet Casting
- Master of the Mind


======
Thief
======

*ONE HANDED* total = 6
- Dual Flurry (1-2)
- Bladesman (1-3)
- Dual Savagery

*ARCHERY* total = 11
- Overdraw (1-5)
- Hunter's Discipline
- Critical Shot (1-3)
- Power Shot
- Eagle Eye

*SNEAK* total = 9
- Stealth (1-5)
- Deadly Aim
- Muffled Movement
- Assassin's Blade
- Backstab

*LOCKPICKING* total = 7
- Novice
- Quick Hands
- Apprentice
- Golden Touch
- Adept
- Treasure Hunter
- Expert

*PICKPOCKET* total = 10
- Light Fingers (1-5)
- Cutpurse
- Night Thief
- Misdirection
- Extra Pockets
- Perfect Touch

*SPEECH* total = 7
- Haggling (1-2)
- Investor
- Allure
- Fence
- Merchant
- Master Trader

=====
MAGE
=====

*CONJURATION* total = 9
- Novice
- Mystic Binding
- Apprentice
- Summoner
- Adept
- Atromancy
- Expert
- Elemental Potency
- Twin Souls

*DESTRUCTION* total = 12
- Novice
- Apprentice
- Adept
- Expert
- Master
- Intense Flames (1-2)
- Augmented Frost (1-2)
- Augmented Shock (1-2)
- Dual Casting

*ALTERATION* total = 12
- Novice
- Apprentice
- Adept
- Expert
- Dual Casting
- Magic Resistance (1-3)
- Mage Armor
- Stability
- Atronach

*RESTORATION* total = 8
- Novice
- Apprentice
- Adept
- Expert
- Dual Casting
- Recovery
- Regeneration
- Necromage

*LOCKPICKING* total = 5
- Novice
- Apprentice
- Adept
- Golden Touch
- Treasure Hunter

*SPEECH* total = 4
- Haggling - Persuasion
- Bribery - Intimidation

Going Warrior!
Haven't really made up my mind on the Armor yet, but let's use the Light Armor in this example, since it's the one I kinda wanna use the most.

Blocking (12)
Maxed out.

1 Hand (12)
Armsman (5), Bladesman (3), Fighting Stance, Savage Strike, Critical Charge, Paralyzing strike.

Smithing (7)
Everything in Light armor, Dragonsmithing (2)

Light Amor (10)
Agile Defender (5), Custom fit, Matching Set, Unhindered, Wind Walker, Deft Movement

Restoration (3)
Novice Restoration, Regeneration, Respite.

Alchemy (2)
Alchemist (1), Physician (1).

Archery (x)
Overdraw (x)


Not sure about Archery yet. We'll see ^^
That's 46 points with xx to use in Archery or something else.

Feedback, please >_<

After hearing about a few new things (staves among them) I have changed my build a fair bit and it is now very similar to yours. I am looking at:

Light Armour: All perks = 10
Smithing: Light armour branch + arcane = 6
Enchanting: Elementals + enchanter (5) + corpus + insightful + extra effect = 11
Destruction: Up to master + frost (2) = 7
One Handed: Armsman + critical = 8
Restoration: Up to master + recovery (2) = 7

Total = 49

Idea here is to max out natural armour through smithing and enchanting while keeping as much mobility as possible, then alter between CC frost magic or healing/warding magic in my off hand to support combat. I have Light Armour maxed out, and Enchanting close, but the rest are mainly to increase efficiency (up damage/reduce cost) and a few juicy perks where possible.

Given how the spells in game pan out, I may remove the master/expert level perks from the schools for something a little more useful. I may also use fewer enchanting perks (elements, may stick to fire/frost). If so, I will either unlock a few more Restoration perks or maybe Illusion/Sneak depending on how I feel gameplay wise. I think it would be hard to get much that's useful out of these however, more so compared to what I would be giving up.

Playing an Imperial or Redguard who uses sword in one hand magic in the other, with the occasional dual-wield for the sword. Light armour wearing.

One-Handed;

Armsman- (5/5)
Dual Flurry- (2/2)
Dual Savagery- (1/1)
Bladesman (3/3)
Fighting Stance- (1/1)
Savage Strike- (1/1)
Critical Charge- (1/1)
Paralyzing Strike- (1/1)

Totals at 15 perks.

Smithing;

Steel Smithing- (1/1) [Can someone confirm this is a perk you need to invest in, or is it automatically given at the start?]
Elven Smithing- (1/1)
Advanced Armours- (1/1)
Arcane Blacksmith- (1/1)
Glass Smithing- (1/1)
Dragon Armour- (1/1)
Dwarven Smithing- (1/1)
Orcish Smithing- (1/1)
Ebony Smithing- (1/1)
Daedric Smithing- (1/1)

Totals at 10 perks.

Destruction;

Novice Destruction- (1/1)
Apprentice Destruction- (1/1)
Adept Destruction- (1/1)
Augmented Flames- (2/2)
Augmented Frost- (2/2)
Deep Freeze- (1/1)
Augmented Shock- (2/2)
Disintegrate- (1/1)
Rune Master- (1/1)
Destruction Dual Casting- (1/1)
Impact- (1/1)
Expert Destruction- (1/1)
Master Destruction- (1/1)

Total of 14 perks.

Light Armour;

Agile Defender- (5/5)
Custom Fit- (1/1)
Unhindered- (1/1)
Matching Set- (1/1)
Wind Walker- (1/1)
Deft Movement- (1/1)

Total of 10 perks.



All of that brings me a grand total of 50 perks with 4 maxed out trees (besides destruction which is missing 1 perk that I find useless.)

Ghost Archer Build

Archery: overdraw 5, critical shot 3, eagle eye 1 = 9

Sneak: stealth 5, backstab 1, deadly aim 1 = 7

Alchemy: all (only 1/3 in experimentor) = 13

Alteration: all minus stability & atronach= 12

Illusion: all minus master of mind, rage, aspect of terror, hypnotic gaze= 9

=50

Race(s) with most skill bonus towards build:
Bosmer +10 archery, +5 sneak, +5 alchemy = 20
Khajit +10 sneak, +5 alchemy, +5 archery = 20
Dunmer +5 alchemy, +5 alteration, +5 illusion, +5 sneak = 20
Breton +5 alchemy, +5 alteration, +5 illusion= 15

Which race? Help Please!

I don't think so. Look at these. http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Perks

People using Steel Smithing as one of your perks- I don't think it is. If you aren't able to smith Steel, how do you train the skill in the first place? Can you smith iron before steel? Either way I'm unsure, if someone could confirm it's a perk you don't start with it would be great.

I'm working on an Assasin build for dark brotherhood, I was going to max archery but now i'm thinking of going destruction instead what do you all think?

You do not start with any perks. You can smith Iron/Leather/Fur/Jewels at the start.

• Any word on whether daggers are effected by one hand perks? I'm really interested to know whether I can decapitate someone with a dagger...
  
• What are 'advanced' armours -- armour types, or new ways to make other armours?
  
• What exactly is the advantage of being able to perform a silent forward roll while sneaking? Sounds like a novelty perk as a prerequisite for the 'silence' perk.
  
• Light amour characters (especially warriors) are screwed because while their armour is glass / light dragon their weapons will ideally be deadric which are on the other side of the tree. Even if you just tried to find deadric weapons you wont be able to improve them. Seems no point playing a light armour barbarian unless you take entire smithing tree... You may as well pick heavy armour.
  
• Doesn't seem much point maxing the light armour tree for an assassin because ideally you'll avoid combat out-right. Same with smithing. It's as if you're better sticking with whatever daggers you can find and using poison. Even if you did invest in smithing you're better investing in the heavy armour route because I'd rather improved deadric daggers than awesome armour.

Thoughts on my points?

Arcane smith total perks used 40

*Destruction* total = 9
Novice - Dual casting
Apprentice - Augmented shock
Adept - Impact
Expert - Disintegrate
Master

*restoration* total = 6
Novice - Regeneration(might not get this one)
Apprentice - Recovery I
Recovery II
Avoid death

*Enchanting* total = 8
Enchanter I - Soul squeezer
Enchanter II - soul siphon
Enchanter III - Insightful Enchanter
Corpus Enchanter - Extra effect

*Alteration* Total = 11
Novice - dual cast
apprentice - Mage armor I
adept - Magic Resistance I
Mage armor II - Magic resistance II
Stability - armor III
Resitance III

*Smithing* total = 6
Steel smith - dwarven smithing
orcish smithing - ebony smithing
daedric smithing - dragon armor

I'll be taking smith for my companion character. I'm ignoring illusion and conjuration because I don't plan on using illusion except for the occasional light and maybe a chameleon spell occasionally for the lulz. With conjuration I may take some atranoch spells but having normal length and strength will be fine with me. With the left over perks I'll probably put a few more into restoration, enchanting, and maybe one or two in conjuration. I'm assuming you don't need adept/master/whatever to get some of the higher magic perks. If you do then I guess I'll be using leftover perks for those master perks and such.

Not putting anything into alchemy or restoration could come back and bite you in the blubber.

One handed:
perk--- number of points invested---description
- armsman 1-5 One-handed weapons do 20-100% more damage
- Bone breaker 3 Attacks with maces ignore 25% of armor.
- Fighting Stance 1 20 Power attacks with one-handed weapons cost 25% less stamina.
- Dual Flurry 2 Dual wielding attacks are 20% faster.
- Dual Savagery 1 Dual wielding power attacks do 50% bonus damage.

Heavy armor
Juggernaut 1-5 Increase armor rating 20-100%

Enchanting
- Enchanter 1-5 Enchantments are 20-100% stronger.
- Soul Siphon 1 Death blows to creatures trap souls for weapon recharge
- Soul Squeezer 1 Soul gems provide extra magicka when recharging enchanted equipment
- Insightful ? Enchanted armor is 25% stronger.
- Extra Effect 1? An extra effect on already-enchanted weapons can be applied.
- Fire Enchanter ? Fire enchantments are 25% stronger
- Storm Ench ? Shock enchantments are 25% stronger.

Alchemy
- Alchemist 1-5 Potions are 20% stronger
- Physician 1 potions you mix that restore health magicka and fatigue are 25% stronger
- Concentrated 1 Poisons last for twice as many hits.
- Green Thumb 1 Two ingredients are gathered from plants.
- poisoner ? potions you make are 25% stronger.

Something like this. Might go dual daggers and be more stealthy instead of beaing a heavy armor guy though.

Oh, and ill put as many points as it takes to get blacksmithing to the point where i can upgrade the best tier weapons.

Copied someone's template from the first pages because it looks neat, my character's going to be an Orc dual wielding axes, I don't know how viable this will be but I plan on just rushing in and slicing things dead with my axes, before they can kill me:

I'm quite excited about the Speech perks. Always love that sort of thing. I'll be taking every single speech perk.

Why did you pick light armor branch of smithing if apparently you specialize in heavy armor?

You're quoting a pretty old post. I know better now.

It seems alot of people are playing warriors(color me surprised) with heavy armor, and taking advantage of smithing.


He's making an ironic statement; it's pretty obscure; you wouldn't understand it.

Here's mine refined and finalized:

---Offense---

One-Handed 8
-----
Armsman: 5/5
Hack and Slash: 3/3
-----

Destruction 9
-----
Novice Destruction: 1/1
Apprentice Destruction: 1/1
Adept Destruction: 1/1
Expert Destruction: 1/1
Master Destruction: 1/1
Augmented Shock: 2/2
Disintegrate: 1/1
Rune Master: 1/1
-----

---Defense---

Heavy Armor 9
-----
Juggernaut: 5/5
Well Fitted: 1/1
Tower of Strength: 1/1
Matching Set: 1/1
Reflect Blows: 1/1
-----

---Utility---

Restoration 9
-----
Novice Restoration: 1/1
Apprentice Restoration: 1/1
Adept Restoration: 1/1
Expert Restoration: 1/1
Master Restoration: 1/1
Regeneration: 1/1
Recovery: 2/2
Respite: 1/1
-----

Alteration 7
-----
Novice Alteration: 1/1
Apprentice Alteration: 1/1
Adept Alteration: 1/1
Expert Alteration: 1/1
Master Alteration: 1/1
Stability: 1/1
Atronah: 1/1
-----

Speech 10
-----
Haggling: 5/5
Allure: 1/1
Merchant: 1/1
Investor: 1/1
Fence: 1/1
Trade Master: 1/1
-----

---Miscellaneous---

Smithing 7
-----
Steel Smithing: 1/1
Dwarven Smithing: 1/1
Orcish Smithing: 1/1
Ebony Smithing: 1/1
Deadric Smithing: 1/1
Dragon Smithing: 1/1
-----

Enchanting 10
-----
Enchanter: 5/5
Soul Squeezer: 1/1
Soul Siphon: 1/1
Insightful Enchanter: 1/1
Corpus Enchanter: 1/1
Extra Effect: 1/1
-----
Total points used: 69