So I played a pure mage for a while in Skyrim and took a break for quite some time. Feeling the urge to go back in but playing as more of a pure figher which I never normally do. Just wondered if anyone has any suggestions on build e.g. how much to add to health and stamina when levelling and what skills to focus on (on handed, dual wielding, light or heavy armour, any magic schools etc). Also on playstyle as I imagine it's quite different.

Cheers

Focus more on stamina if you're dual wielding or using two-handers, health if you're a sword-and-shield type.

I prefer sword-and-shield myself, as it's more strategic. You need to know when to block, when to attack, and when to dodgy. Especially with light armour. Dual-wield and two-handed weapons devolves into who can hit the hardest and most often, and doesn't require that much thought. In my opinion, that's less like an actual fight.

I also prefer the sword-and-shield style. Whenever I use two-handed weapons, it justs ends up with me button mashing RT (I'm on xbox) which takes little skill and is boring. With sword-and-shield you have to mix up your attacks between power attacks, normal attacks, block and shield bashing. It's more fun and more of a challenge taking this playstyle.

I would focus mainly on the health attribute when levelling up, maybe choosing stamina here and there. The only magic I use with this playstyle is restoration to heal myself after a fight.

Enchantment and alchemy would probably be more useful. You can really upgrade your mundane weapons and armour and mix up some pretty nifty potions that do everything you'd want in a spell. Also, alteration or illusion can come in very handy if you're lightly armoured: ebonyflesh and frenzy are invaluable if you're fighting multiple enemies.

if you want to go dual wield there are some hotkey and favorite selection bugs, or quirks that require a certain method of equipping and playing to get around so let us know if that is where you are leaning. sword and board with some archery (a melee skill in this version) is also good. one thing to be aware of with that is the first shieldwall perk is great, the subsequent ones not so much as they are only 5% increments so best to avoid them early on and spend perks on something else.

sword and sheild is by far the best choice for a stander fighter,

but I much more perfer to kill from the shadows

I was going to say, don't forget archery to cut down the number of enemies at minimal stamina cost until you're ready to come out swinging...

One of my characters is a Level 15 Orc warrior. He's leaning more and more heavily toward the sword and board play style, but still relies on two-handed weapons against tough foes that can soak up a lot of damage. As his Blocking skill improves he'll probably use the two-handers less and less. He wears heavy armor and only uses magic for healing and setting off the occasional puddle of oil on a dungeon floor. Level-ups alternate for now between health and stamina - I have not leveled up magicka on him.

As far as the play style goes, I've found his to be much easier at the low levels than it was for my mage, to the point where I'm seriously considering upping the difficulty level for him. You can dish out surprising amounts of damage against low level Bandits and even creatures like Bears by just meleeing them to death. Keep a close eye on your stamina and health, though, and retreat as needed to heal and rest up.

You will still need Archery skill, though, to force dragons to land if nothing else (at least until you've acquired the Dragonrend shout), so you can pummel them to death with your melee weapon of choice. It's also helpful for softening up really tough enemies like Dragon Priests before closing in for the kill.

And of course, playing melee is the only way you'll see any kill cam animations.

If you already have a character and have been through the game then just go wild on your second character. Find crazy ideas and try to make them work.