Hi everyone!


I need some advice for my thief build and I'm fairly new to the game. I've also never played a thief character, so any help/feedback is appreciated!

(note: also new to board, let me know if topics about builds are obnoxious or not allowed!)

Archery: 9 points, 5/5 in Overdraw and taking it up to Power shot in the left sde
One Handed: 3 points in Armsman, just in case... can easily be a throwaway
Light Armor: Left side up to Wind Walker, 5/5 in Agile Defender
Smithing: 5 points up to Dragon Smithing
Sneak: 9 points, everything except 1/5 in Stealth
Illusion: 9 points, everything on the right side plus Dual Cating
Enchanting: 8 points, 5/5 in Enchanter and all the perks in the middle

I guess I'm not sure if Smithing is necessary or even that many points into Light Armor for a thief. I'm still undecided as to what armor I should use. I've seen many thief builds that don't use smithing. I also started using robes in early levels to help my magicka pool and I ended up using Alteration spells to boost my defense. I don't really like the look of light armor and I like running around with a bow and robes on -- this is more for roleplaying thananything else. Do any thieves use the mage armor path? I'm thinking I could get away from it, because being a thief is about minimizing contact right? It doesn't sound like a priority for my thief character to have much defense.

also, I sort of just picked Illusion because it made the most sense. Do I need all those perks? If you can recommend me a better magic tree for a thief... or if I don't even need to bother with magic to have fun with a thief build, let me know what you think!

Also, what are the most necessary enchanting perks? Do I really need 5/5 Enchanter to create good gear?

http://www.imperial-library.info/sites/default/files/dogate_til_fishystick.jpg

Light armor isn't essential for a thief, but there will be situations where combat is unavoidable if you avoid armor I would recommend spending some points in illusion as well, at least for silent casting and expert illusion perks. Which will allow you to use the invisibility and muffle spells relatively cheap and silent. Both of these can come in handy (a lot) when you are a thief without armor.

Personally I find both enchanting and smithing to be unnecessary, I also don't like it because you can get way to powerful and enchanted things are worth a lot of money which thieves would probably like.

I agree with this. I'm doing Enchanting for the first time in ten years of playing Elder Scrolls games. I've never felt I needed it. In fact I'm only doing it now because I'm playing a mage and it seems like an appropriate roleplaying skill.

I have only done Smithing on one of my four characters. I haven't missed Smithing at all on the other three.

You plan too much. Just play the game and see what you end up with.

For Light Armor, Windwalker is an excellent perk for sneaking (detection has sound and vision aspects, and the weight of your gear is an aspect in how much noise you make), but if you get into Smithing, perking the full 5/5 in Agile Defender may be redundant.
Also, I'd perk the Smithing tree on the side that you want for a weapon. With Light Armor you may be better off having a Light weapon as well, as you will then have the perks for both gear and weapon. Your weapon damage is not capped, so it benefits the most from Smithing.

I've never taken Dual Casting in any magic school, and don't think it's worth the perk.

My preference for Enchanting is everything up the centre, with 5/5 of Enchanter, plus Fire Enchanter. I get a lot of use out of Enchanting, and if you sneak and have a follower, you at least need to create a pair of Muffle boots for them. Enchanting them yourself is the only way to get the effect at 100% for your follower.