OK. Was looking at a sneaky archer who falls back on illusion magic. I was looking to include alchemy because I wanted to make my own poisons (and I just enjoy it a ton) but not having played a weapons-based character before, I wondered if, for playability, I should really focus on enchanting instead to beef up my weapons.

Opinions on how hard I'd be making it for myself if I take alchemy over enchanting?

It's perfectly viable to play without enchanting, especially if you play a sneaky illusionist sniper. With your build type you could probably even pull it off on master difficulty.

I'd pick Enchanting over Alchemy (and Smithing over both of those), as that gives you the biggest increase in damage (looking at skill % enhancements and all), but the game is perfectly playable without either.

I can't get enchanting to work at all for my warrior - Blacksmithing is too important, and I don't have the time, cash, or desire to rush that skill up to 60 so I can get the Arcane Blacksmith perk... once I get that, I won't be so hesitant to enchant my gear.

Depends, as a sneaky archer you probably should be able to pull it off even on master. I play warrior on master and without any magic resistance enchants im pretty [censored]

I have an archer with similar skillset on Master. I only use Alchemy, no Enchanting at all and it's perfectly playable.

I like the Alchemy side of what you are thinking about. Its not to difficult to get 10 sec paralyze potions with a relatively low alchemy skill. With a bow damage of around 100 and added damage from the occasional poison, I find the game just right.

Played three characters so far and wouldn't play without enchanting skill. Makes legendary/unique weapons largely unimportant.

No skill is required for play in this game... in fact, the three characers that I've played have all ended their careers before level 42. There's no "must do" or "must have" to comment on in this game.

Hmm, this is encouraging. I'm playing on whatever difficulty it defaults to...adept or something? So that's good to know. Do you get hit enough to make light armor perks work it? In my head, with high stealth and the illusion magic as a backup, I shouldn't be taking too many hits unless I do something really stupid. My first character is nowhere near done, but in Oblivion I liked to keep a second character with a totally different feel on backup if I just wanted an occasional change of pace (and my hypothetical build should do just that).


I realize. I'm OK to run with sub-optimal characters -- my current, first playthrough is an orc mage, and orcs of course aren't exactly prime spellslinger candidates. What I DON'T want is a totally unplayable character. I got my fill of those in Neverwinter Nights.

Edited for typos.

as far as playability, you do not need enchanting. no skill is a must.
it looks like you need to decide who you want your character to be this particular playthrough.

Problem is, the game practically buries you in potions(especially instant health restoration, very bad game mechanic and a major crutch) and you can buy very powerful ones from NPCs. But, NPC enchanters will not enchant your gear, and the best enchants are those you choose yourself, and on gear you choose yourself, to fit your character's play style best - they're generally going to be better than things you find. The game doesn't give you a decent substitute for enchanting like it does for alchemy. I'll probably never take alchemy on a character in Skyrim, but enchanting is basically a must for all characters for me.

My sword & board, light armor, sneak+bow, "ranger" type character did fine without Enchanting. Didn't overlevel the smithing either (only hit 100 skill at high character level). I was able to improve weapons and armor to "superior" & "exquisite" through mid-game. (it got better as my Smtihing got higher, obviously.) Only enchant I stuck on anything was the typical "1 second Soul Trap" sword, so that I could keep my looted enchanted weapons charged.

(Still had plenty of enchanted gear, but it was 98% found loot and 2% storebought.)

I used to think like that, then I took an... er, I mean, then it dawned on me: Smith first, then enchant. When smithing skill increases enough that I could further improve on the item, make (or buy (or find)) a new one and smith that first, then enchant it and sell the old one.

There's no reason you can't focus on enchanting without also keeping yourself in well-forged gear even before you have Arcane Blacksmith.

I dont have enchanting on any of my characters..

I lack enchanting and enchanted equipment on my spellsword assassin. I like doing close-up work with daggers, though, and when I get caught I really feel the lack of enchantments. In my light armor, I get beat up pretty badly in straight fights with anything more dangerous than a bandit or wizard adept. Makes playing a lot more fun, though.

Not really I mean it does help a lot of you wanted to sneaky and all but for as a 2 handed warrior, the only piece of enchanted item on me is my Deadric boots, as for the rest is all blank except my accessory. You probably would want some magic enchantment on your gears if you're planning to fall back illusion though.

You can do fine without it of course, as you can do fine without almost every skill in the game. Could solely use conjuration if you wanted and do fine. Point is, enchanting just gives a size-able bonus you can't get anywhere else. Smithing and alchemy give bonuses as well, but you can hit armor cap without smithing and chug potions without alchemy, while you really can't have decent enchants without enchanting. If you like customized enchants on your gear, it is a must. If you're fine with the inferior pre-enchanted junk you can find throughout the game world, sure you can go without, the game isn't hard regardless.

Enchanting is never a must, quite the opposite.

TBH, if you go alchemy, it can replace illusion nicely. You aren't going to be using illusion that much as an archer, that's more for dagger builds. If you're going to be a mix of dagger/bow, then illusion is viable. Alchemy is powerful, but it can be tedious to level and it clutters your inventory.

Deep Archer Build - alchemy and no illusion
Archer/Dagger mix - illusion and no alchemy

100 Enchanting is over-powered as [censored] if performed correctly. Just an example, I have four pieces of equipment that each give me a 40% damage increase for One-Hand swords, and all those pieces also give me +25 Heavy Armor. With 5/5 in One-Handed and my Daedric Sword upgraded past Legendary (my total Smithing was around 200+ when I upgraded it), it does 321 damage.

Is it nice? Yes. Is it required? Absolutely not. In fact, I recommend avoiding Enchanting altogether and even Smithing if possible. Combined 100 of the 2 skills makes the game a cake walk.

Alchemy does not really replace illusion, pacify is an amazing spell for sneak attacks that you can't really use without perked illusion. I made frequent use of it as a sneak archer and it'd obviously work well for a dagger build too.

Depends on how much you like the combat. The way it works currently, it makes no difference to me how challenging it is since it's so simplistic and imbalanced anyway. Enemies are mostly just sacks of health that zerg you. I'd rather have a build that just breezes through it.

I don't think you need Enchanting for your build, because you will fight from a distance and from sneaking very often. Some enchanted items, f.e. higher bow damage, would however be a help. It's very easy to bring Smithing up to 60 btw. It's rather an annoyance to level alchemy (I don't like yielding for flowers) and Enchanting however, at Lvl 46 I'm 21 in Alchemy and 57 in Enchanting.

I wonder about people who say you don't need any perk to play Skyrim. Maybe if you are a real gaming pro you are so skilled, you don't need it? But I do. I play one of my chars as a "naked" melee without magic with onehanded sword and shield on master, and some enemies kill me with one stroke/arrow and some strong enemies or a multitude of normal enemies kill me after a short time even when I'm blocking. I need some additional damage for my sword and blocking for my shield and a paralyze enchant for the rare occasion, when I can lower my shield and hit an enemy. I usually don't craft at all in my games, but for this char I need Enchanting and Smithing. Don't bring Enchanting to 100 however, it would be far too easy to win then.

Let me doublecheck something with you guys. I keep reading about "hard cap" and "soft cap" and since I'm nowhere near that on my first character, I'm a little uncertain what "level" I should be assuming I can reach.

I tend to stick with a character a long long time so assume boredom is not a factor.

Also, thank you all very much for your very thorough replies. Anecdotes and the "why" behind the way you feel about it are very helpful to me.