We have been told there is a soft cap at level 50, meaning 49 base perks. We have also been told that after level 50 the game is not balanced, and so it seems rather pointless to me to build a character after that point because you would be strong enough to make choices not matter, and the amount of effort would be far, far higher. As such, I am interested in builds looking at the natural 49 perk limit.

Here is the one I am looking at currently. The idea is a heavily armoured warrior who can take a beating:

Heavy Armour: Juggernaut (5) + Well Fitted (1) + Tower of Strength (1) + Matching Set (1) + Reflect Blows (1) = 9

Block: Shield Wall (5) + Deflect Arrows (1) + Elemental Protection (1) = 7

Smithing: Steal (1) + Arcane Blacksmith (1) + Dwarven Smithing (1) + Orcish Smithing (1) + Ebony Smithing (1) + Daedric Smithing (1) + Dragon Armour Smithing (2) = 8

Enchanting: Enchanter (5) + Insightful Enchanter (1) + Corpus Enchanter (1) + Extra Effect (1) = 8

One Handed: Armsman (5) + Bladesman (3) = 8

Archery: Overdraw (5) + Eagle Eye (1) + Powershot (1) + Quick Shot (1) + Bullseye (1)

I may make room for some Alchemy perks depending on its tree, but this covers what I want. I will have total control over my armour, making it and enchanting it my self to the highest degree. I will master the defensive aspects of Heavy Armour and Blocking, and the pure offensive aspects of One Handed and Archery. I only really have Archery because I think a range attack is needed, that may be dropped once in game.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on your builds?

I still need to know the perk tree of Conjuration, Alchemy and Speechcraft to make and post a build.
And even then it's a tough call, since we don't know when skills reach 100, and how many can reach 100 when we hit lvl 50. Since some perks require a skill of 100/80/70.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Conjuration

Why not do it out of 69 perks since we know that the actual level cap is around 70?

Archery: overdraw 5 + eagle eye 1 (also know as sniper) = 6
One-handed: armsman 5 + bladesman 3 (swords) = 8

Light armor: wind walker = 4
Alteration: novice + apprentice + overcharge + resist magic 3 = 6
Restoration: all but auto heal = 12
Illusion: overcharge + novice + animage + kindred + silent + hypnotic gaze = 6

Smithing: steel + arcane + elven + advanced + glass + dragon = 6
Speech: barter (1) + double persuasion = 2 (hoping)

total 50


Possible more:
wax key (3) if it can be used on "requires a key" doors
extra pockets (pickpoket)

Those arn't trees, those are the apples in the tree. I need to know where the apples hang and how they are connected.

That's a list, not a tree. I have no idea what is needed to get what, but I'm sick to my stomach just thinking about it. I had things planned out. I thought my character was going to be awesome, but thieves have way too many skills and not enough perks to go around. If you're a fighter, you don't need all of the fighting skills. If you're a mage, you don't need all of the mage skills. But if you're a thief, you need all of the thief skills - with the exception of alchemy - but then you probably need enchanting too so you're screwed. I have no idea what I'm going to do. I wanted to put a lot of points into speech, because I wanted to be able to sell things, but I also need sneak. Lockpicking and pickpocket are also going to be necessary, to some extent, and I'll need a few points in light armor as well. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do combat wise because daggers have been ruined for me.

Nice reading. I explained why I picked 49 before I posted my build to answer this exact question.

Building mine too... but waiting on Speech and pick pocketing full trees with requirements and all.

Fun thread.

I'm thinking of doing a pure warrior--no magic at all (including avoiding enchantments and the more magic-y dragon shouts).

Heavy : Juggernaut (5) + Well Fitted (1) + Fists of Steel (1) + Tower of Strength (1) + Cushioned (1) + Matching Set (1) + Conditioning (1) +Reflect Blows (1) = 12

Archery: Overdraw (1) + Steady Hand (2) + Eagle Eye (1) = 4

Smithing: Steel (1) + Elven Smithing (1) + Advanced Armors (1) + Dwarven Smithing (1) + Orcish Smithing (1) + Ebony Smithing (1) + Daedric Smithing (1) + Dragon Armour Smithing (1) = 8

Sneak: Stealth (1) + Backstab (1) + Deadly Aim (1) + Muffled Movement (1) = 4

2h: Two Handed Prowess (5) + the last 5 perks (not sure of their names) = 10

That's only 38. The rest of the perks will depend on how the game goes. I might invest in weapon type specific perks under the 2h tree, go for more advanced archery or invest into alchemy if I'm not satisfied with my potions.

Huh, I like the build. I would probably drop the "target undead" spell in Restoration though, to bring it to 49. Never personally found specialising like that in these games paid off, unless you did it in every field (like going melee/unarmed in FO:NV getting hunter for every race).


And ooooo, I like this one even more xD Hmm, I think I would go dual wielding just out of personal taste but I really like the Sneak/Archery perk choice to get enough for a solid critical to open the fight.

Here's mine.

49 Perks

Destruction: Novice+Apprentice+Adept+Expert+Master+Augmented Flames(2)+Augmented Frost(2)+Double Casting+Impact+Rune Master = 12

Conjuration: Novice+Apprentice+Adept+Expert+Master+Elemental Potency+Twin Souls+Dark Souls+Necromancy+Atromancy+Summoner(1) = 11

Restoration:Novice+Apprentice+Adept+Expert+Master+Recovery(2)+Ward Absorb=89

Sneak: Stealth(5)+Backstab+Deadly Aim+Assassin's Blade= 8 8

Speech: Haggling(2)+Bribery+Persuasion= 4

Illusion: Novice+Animage+Kindred Mage+Quiet Casting=44

Pickpocket: Light Fingers(2)= 2

I've actually been waiting for a good excuse to post this.
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Edited so it takes up less space.

I think Dragon Armor is only 1 rank.

@Flow: you will want to max overdraw to get maximum dmg out of the bow, so that is 42


I was looking at alchemy, but most of those perks seem to be "quality of life" rather than "game changing"

ex. discovery perks, double duration poison (useful but not must have)
Poison resistance is fun but unless you can get to 100% you will still need a cure from time to time.

I'll need to know what the Master spells are first - if there are some awesome spells there then I'll probably need them perked as well.

Essentially though I'll be getting:

One handed - 8, (the usual, 5 boost, 3 critical)
Enchanting - 8 or 9, not sure how many, haven't seen the final tree but sounds like 8 or 9
Destruction - 13, all but rune master and the elemental criticals
Restoration: 10, all but auto heal, dual casting and necromage
Alteration: 13, all but dual casting

52/3 - bollox

Oh well

All smithing perks seem to be "1) you can make" and "2) you can improve by double" so I only picked 2 for Dragon Armour as it would be the only one I would want to improve by double. Or at least, the only one I would want to invest perks in to improve by double.

My ultimate perk goals for a stealthy ranged trickster:

Archery with overdraw x 5, eagle eye and steady hand x2
Sneak with stealth x 5, Deadly Aim, Silence (running) and Shadow Warrior (vanish)
Illusion to Master for Quiet Casting
Destruction to Master along with Rune Master and augmented damage
Alteration to Master??? (I'm sticking with Alteration for now because I'm guessing there will be times when I can't hide and my cloth might feel a bit too thin without some nice armor buffs)

Once I reach these goals, I'll flesh in the rest to supplement damage and effectiveness of spells.

In the trees posted by others, it's pretty clear which perks have ranks and which don't. From what I've seen none of the smithing perks have ranks. They read to me as "you can make AND improve" all with just one perk. I may be wrong though.

@Dinaminjo Yeah, investing more in Overdraw is a possibility, but what I really want is to start of fights with the 3x Deadly Aim bonus and then switch to 2h from there. I don't know that I'll care how much damage I do with a bow, I just want to start off the fights by making things come to me.

This is what i'm doing so far. I've included the prerequisite that I need to choose it...

This is 35 so far. I'm still waiting on speech and pickpocket. Speech will be the higher prority for me over pickpocket.

Destruction: 9 Points
Novice: 0
Dual Casting: 20
Apprentice: 25
Augmented Shock: 30
Impact: 40
Adept: 50
Disintegrate: 70
Expert: 75
Master: 100

Restoration: 10 Points
Novice: 0
Dual Casting: 20
Regeneration: 20
Apprentice: 25
Recovery: 30 x 2
Adept: 50
Necromage: 70
Expert: 75
Master: 100

Lockpicking: 11 Points
Novice: 0
Apprentice: 25
Quick Hands: 40
Wax Key: 50
Adept: 50
Golden Touch: 60
Treasure Hunter: 70
Expert: 75
Locksmith: 80
Unbreakable: 100
Master: 100

Sneak: 5 Points
Novice: 0
Apprentice: 25
Adept: 50
Expert: 75
Master: 100

I don't think so. Look at these. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Smithing

I'm gonna try to get every single Mage Perk, lets see if that's possible.

Alteration 10
Conjuration 15
Destruction 17
Enchanting 9
Illusion 13
Restoration 12


Total Perks: 76

So I will need to be Level... 77?! In order to have all my ultimate mage, without wasting a single perk! This will definitely be a challenge, but worth it.

SPEECH Buying and selling price 10% better (5), Allure (2), Master Trader (4), Bribe (1), Fence (1) = 13

ILLUSION Illusion Dual Casting (1), Illusion Ranks (5), Animage (1), Kindred Mage (1), Hypnotic Gaze (1), Aspect of Terror (1), Rage (1), Quiet Casting (1) = 12

ALTERATION Alteration Dual Casting (1), Alteration Ranks (5), Mage Armour (1), Stability (1), Atronach (1) = 9

SNEAK 20% harder to detect (5), Backstab (1), Assassin's Blade (3), Vanish (1) = 10

PICKPOCKET Night Thief (1), Poisoned (1), Misdirection (1) = 3

ALCHEMY Poisons are 25% more effective (1), Poisons last for twice as many hits (1) = 2

TOTAL = 49

More or less. I'm assuming I can use Alteration to substitute for Lockpicking and Light Armour.

I think there are 13 enchanting perks, 14 alteration and 13 restoration - so you can add to those I'm afraid

The thing is, while I appreciate limiting perks increases specialisation and playing over and over (which I can't do because of a lack of time) you should be able to fully specialise in one main area of the game i.e. max out in either a rogue, warrior or mage

As it is you can't do that - I wish there were more perks, I'm really going to miss out on certain playing styles

All those speech, sneak, pickpocket, and illusion perks. I guess you're planning on playing a really manipulative character.

Ah, fair enough. That does seem to contradict the perk trees posted by someone else, so I suppose we'll see in a few days.