Hi peeps,

I finally created a character i like. She is a thief/assasin and does what she feels is best.

In leveling, of course, ill get my perks. And there is my problem. In previous elder scroll games i had 6 main skills i upped and leveled by. Now i have a larger pool. My question is, is the advise to max out 6 skilss (ie. 1handed, sneak, pickpocket, speechcraft, archery, light armor) or spread out so i add for intance some basic enchantment (creating my own weaps), alchemy (poisons and health) and lockpicking (obious eh?)?

Please i need some advise

Cheers,

G

I also have a character like that. I do find myself hooked on alchemy, enchanting and smithing also.
They are very powerful, but hey, if you want to rp in a single player game you have to control yourself!

Crafting can end up leveling your character beyond what your combat and defense skills are if you grind it. Since you don't need the best armor and weapons until later in the game, you don't need to grind crafting early on. So, what I did was every few character levels I would grind some crafting. This way when the game was throwing harder stuff at me, I could make or improve my armor to meet it. I would never let my grinding level my character more than one level. I would then let the game level my character by combat and exploring a few times, then go back to crafting for a level.

I concentrated on Sneak and Archery for my Shadow Warrior, Morigana. Sneak has some awesome perks, well worth getting. I got most of the perks in Archery, beside the Paralyzing one, since I can create awesome Paralyzing potions. So, yea, definitely put some perk points in Alchemy. I also had to get her a Deadric Bow, so I did level smithing. I did find a Daedric bow at lvl 30 in a Giant's Camp Chest, but I wanted to be able to create my weapons and enchant it when I needed it.

I always level enchanting to at least the 'Fire Enchantment' perk, with maybe 3 points in the base skill. Speech craft I get up to Merchant and PIckpocket I only went to "extra pockets" (with only 1 or 2 points in the base skill).

I would concentrate on your Sneak and Archery skill for now (or one handed if you prefer that). My rule was usually, if I leveled up and had not enough points in a skill to spent a perk, then that point went to the next important skill on my list.

Sneak (all the way)
Archery or One Handed (concentrate on one or the other to create a stronger fighter)
Light Armor (all the way on the base skill - 5 points, and the set perk, which gives you 25% armor bonus)
Pickpocket (I only did it up to 'extra pockets', with maybe 3 Perk points in the base skill)
Alchemy (either put all your perks in the base skill, or one in base and level up to create stronger poisons)
Enchanting (3-5 Perk points only, since I just needed the Fire Enchantment and didn't enchant much else. I wore the DB and then the ancient assassin armor the whole game)
Speechcraft (up to Merchant, with just 1 Perk point in the basic skill)

Don't put perks in Lockpicking, you will open the locks with or without perks, and if you have trouble, that's where enchanting or alchemy comes in.

I have a lot of fun with this character. She's level 58 now.

Edit: I forgot Smithing LOL So yea, at least get it up to 60, so you can improve Arcane Gear. This will take only 2 Perk points, if you just go that route.

I have never maxed out an entire perk tree. The reason is I don't like all the perks in them. So for example one handed I didn't put any perk points into the mace perk because I never use them. This gives me plenty of left over points to spread around.

Use this to plan out your perks.
http://m.ign.com/wikis/the-elder-scrolls-5-skyrim/Skill_Builder

Yea, same here. The only 3 trees I've completed (across 2 toons), are Smithing, Enchanting and Sneak. Cool Skill Builder, I didn't know Skyrim had something like that! I'll work on my 4th toon, which is still in the Helgen Keep. I started her this morning, but had to go to work. LOL

First off, don't spend all your perks as soon as you get them. Sometimes you need to wait until your skill reaches higher level before you can unlock certain abilities; don't waste perks on something you won't use just because no other option is available at the moment. It's good to have two or three spare perk points.

Think about how you intend to build your character, what skills will she use. You need at least one weapon skill (one-handed in your case) and something for defense, be it armor or stealth. Then look at the skill trees and decide which abilities will be useful; usually you won't need more than half of the tree, depending on the build. Armor should probably be maxed, but sneak not necessarily, you really need only the right branch. One or two crafting trees are useful - if you max out armor, you don't need Smithing, so you can take Enchanting. Alchemy is good for archers (poisons), but if you're a melee assassin you'll probably backstab everyone anyway, so all you need are buffs and restore potions.

From Speechcraft again, only left branch; bribe or intimidate checks can usually be passed without the perks if you ever need to. Put only one perk in the first ability, even without it you'll have more money than you can ever spend. Lockpicking and Pickpocket might seem interesting for a thief, but the former is in fact useless. The latter has some very handy perks, though - Extra Pockets, Poisoned (for fun, but also stealthy kills if you develop the poison route in Alchemy).

Instead of Archery, you might want to consider a magic skill, for example Illusion. It synergizes with an assassin very well; makes for nice crowd control when your stealth breaks.

Generally, you probably won't max out any skills on a roguish character, you just don't need it. On my archer/conjurer I invested points in 8 skill trees, none of them is maxed out: Smithing only for Arcane Smithing, Pickpocket for Extra Pockets, only 3 or 4 perks in Light Armor and so on. As you play, you'll discover which abilities you need and then you can perk them.

<sub>Thanks peeps, i did save some perks of course. I was focussing on 6 base skills, but will add smithing, enchanting and alchemy too now. I dont know if ill max out my one handed and archery or either. I dont like or use every perk which is available on those trees. 1 thing is that in my one handed i wont spend in axes or maces since i use daggers. I use bows to bring down strong enemies in sneak mode so they are weakend and i finish em off with my dagger.

I do have a few questions left:
1 Would u max the first skill of 1 handed and/or archery to 5/5?
2 Is critical perk on archery worth the point?
3 What do u mean by, and how does grinding and leveling work as described by CCNA?

Cheers,

G</sub>

I've found I do best if I play my character very true to their calling (how I'm going to play them) and not spend any perks for the first 10 levels... then I look at what is "naturally" leveling for guidance.

Then I ask if the places where I have levels benefit me as a player. IE: If you're the sort who can pick locks without needing the perks, then lockpicking is sort of a loss of perks that could have been spent elsewhere.

Then I spend the points and each point as I gain it after I have a clearer picture in mind.

For my thief assassin I used sneak, archery, one handed, light armor and then spent some points in enchanting because I found some secsy unenchanted assassin gear and wanted to make it "really" mine. I'm having to go back now and fill in the pickpocketing because I find it a devious way to assassinate. (pickpocket poisons onto them and well... they do the work for you and you get to watch. cruel and totally fitting to this character)

1. Yes, those perks are worth it. You will be doing double damage at 5/5 compared to 0/5. These are typically the best perks in any skill.
2. No, critical damage is very low. I would avoid it.
3. Grinding means focusing on that single skill. If you level it too much, your overall level will become inflated.

This. Also, be very careful about maxing ability constellation numbers (100) because you will level your class past the mobs LVLs (I don't know if it's printed anywhere official, but most people agree and I've noticed it too, that the mobs cap at 50). To me I'm OK with that, but a lot of people who have gotten to 81 say they've 'broken' thier game because it's not "challenging" enough.

These. I didn't put any perks in Lockpicking on my 1st character. It's almost 90 now and I can always open Master locks with only 2-3 picks broken at worst. There's also a Stone you can activate that helps picking (it doesn't help LVL your skill, but it will automaticlly open lower level locks).

The thing about Smithing is if you want to get Legendary Ebony or Daedric weapons you might want to max it to 100 with those perks otherwise you have don super enchanted gear and drink max pots.

Also, everything else Agrona said.

This to be sure.

Also, along the lines of what Rosveen said: see how you play your character because you may find you play differently than a "standard" or "recommended build" type. I'm like that - many people in MMOs get mad at me because I don't use standard builds and standard play styles for most classes.

This again.

1. I will always Max the 1st Perk set of 1-H because I'm a melee-er by nature, but I would recommend at least one of those be maxed.
2. IDK
3. You can grind Smithing, for example, by just making Iron Daggers (I do this. ) so my Smithing will be at 100 before I hit like LVL 20. You can also do it with Alchemy by just acquiring ingredients (farming or buying) and just make a $***load of pots. You can do the same with Enchating (if you have enough Soul Gems (farming or buying) by Enchating every weapon you collect/craft.

Use the Guardian Stones. I actually run (Fast Travel) to them and activate whichever one I need. If I'm going to grind Enchanting I activate the Mage Stone and Fast Travel back to an Enchating Table. If I'm going to grind out Smithing I activate the Warrior Stone. If I'm grinding out Alchemy I activate the Thief Stone.

Also, even as a Thief/Assassin type you may want to have the Warrior Stone active at lower levels to level up your armor and 1-H skills. That being said, I believe Archery is probably Thief Stone sooo...you decide.

Agrona mentioned only going to Fire Enchanting - you'll need to go past that if you want to Double Enchant items. I will always do this on any character for 2 reasons:
1) I want to be able to put 2 enchants on items. (Be advised that you must put both enchants on at the same sitting - you can't put one on and come back later to put a 2nd one on. )
2) I like to have Frost and Shock enchants for when I fight Mages - mainly Shock because so far both of my characters have been Nords.

One more thing about Enchanting and I'll give you time for your head to explode: I've not found Soul Siphon to be very useful - maybe I'm using it wrong, but, as I read it, it should be a permanent effect. It just doesn't seem to recharge the weapons much or make them discharge noticeably slower.

I recently rerolled my thief due to it becoming too powerful.
I was using 1h, archery, light armor, Sneak and pickpocket. But I also had 2 perks invested into smithing(for arcane blacksmith perk) this made my character very strong and it was fine for a while, but the real lack of challenge started when I got high into the levels(past 50). At this point I was using enchanting solely for the purpose of leveling some magic skills(made spells use 0 magicka so I could spam them and raise the skill effortlessly) since I though I needed it to reach the level cap(which is actually one of the big problems with the balance since I believe enemies stop scaling after lvl 50). Needless to say the game quickly became boring and lacked any type of challenge, not to mention it was defecting my character from from my "Rogue" build.

Now after starting anew, I find that sticking to a specific class of build makes the game a lot more fun. I am completely ignoring crafting skills, except Alchemy, although, I haven't put any perks into it some of the poisons are still very useful. Weaker armor and weapons means I have to utilize all kinds of dirty tricks and tactics befitting a Rogue.
So, just stick to what you think your character or class should be and you'll enjoy the game to the fullest.

Also I believe speechcraft and lock-picking perk trees are a waste. Money soon becomes abundant with nothing to spend it on, and most speech challenges are very easy to pass, and lock-picking is also easy and allows you to open master chests at the very start of the game.

Edit: holy spelling mistakes galore. English is not my main language so please excuse my grammar.

Yes, what I said! hahahaha

But yea, on my Assassin I just went to the Fire Enchantment, since I wear the Ancient Assassin Armor, so no need for any fancy enchanting. As long as my Fire Enchantment is high, I'm good. My other weapon is usually enchanted with Storm, in case I have to deal with Mages, but I don't get the 25%+ Storm perk.

I agree though, it is nice to put 2 Enchantments on a weapon. So, I might work on that going forward, since most of my other skills are maxed already. lol

Yea, I never have put perks in Soul siphon or any of the other things on that side of the Enchantment tree. Just used the perks up the left side (Fire, Frost, Storm and then the Twin thing)

Concerning the other questions:

Yes max either Archery or One Handed to 5/5 (you can always put more perks in one or the other later on)
I usually take the Crit Perk in Archery and I can see a difference. I crit more often that way.

I've never put it into Archery, but I did put it into 1-H (Sword-wielder) and I definitely noticed a differece - it seems to go off waayyy more than the 10% and up that's reported. I'm on my new Assassin girl now so IDK what the 2nd and 3rd tiers are, but as fast as I attack 20% (or whatever 3rd tier is) gives a pretty good chance of it going off multiple times in a single fight.

1. Yes, definitely.
2. Depends. Critical damage is calculated from your weapon's base damage, so if you improve it by smithing it will make less and less difference. On my archer I noticed that criticals gave me a nice boost early on, but later I barely noticed they happened. Without Smithing, the crit perks might be worth taking in Archery to maximize your chance of taking out enemies before they reach you. I wouldn't take them in both archery and one-handed, though.

It's probably because the perk is required for critical hits to happen at all

10 % MORE crits, but I should land criticals without the perk, no? Hmm, I'm usually just happy when I kill my enemies. I was never one to study the numbers, like some people do (mainly MMO players LOL)

@ buckom - I LOVE the Critical Charge perk in the 1-H Tree hahahahahahahaha Especially the bandit reactions. Famous last words... "What's the rush?" LMAO

Critical Shot - 10% chance of a critical hit that does extra damage.

Nothing about 10% more crits. I've never landed a critical hit without the perk. Then again, I'm terribly unlucky and I can play for 50 hours without seeing a single dragon, so maybe I don't see criticals either.

LOL I see what you mean, but yea, I need to pay attention to it and see if I land crits without the perk.

Don't Critical Hits also stagger an enemy? That is much more valuable than a few points of damage.

Just follow the path of Sonja the Sociopath and you'll be fine. She's a cold-blooded killer with principles. Basically you want to be a lying, cheating, sh**. Remember two principles. First: If you do Meridia's Daedric Quest, DO NOT tell her that you'll keep her sword and that she can find someone else to spread her word -- she has you about 40,000 ft up in the air and that's a long way down. Remember -- self-preservation comes first. You're going to join the Thieves Guild so same with stuff like dealing with any of the that stuff especially toward the latter part of the quests because you don't want a dagger in the back. And you'll want to follow in my footsteps in the Dark Brotherhood as well. Again think self-preservation... with principles: don't rat on your friends, mind your own business, and keep your mouth shut. People who rat out their friends are not friends. And second: You'll want to do good things around towns, like give beggars money, do good deeds for the locals, and be nice to the little brats even though you hate them. Being loved by your fellow citizens is a great cover for your more nefarious activities, and it will get you better prices from vendors. No crimes where you live. Do that in a different jarldom. You'll become a Thane.

Sonja is loved in Riften and Whiterun and is becoming loved in Windhelm. We won't talk about Markarth and Solitude and Falkreath.

* Smithing -- this is important. You want to protect yourself, AND deal some damage. Don't worry about being overpowered early in the game. It will catch up with you soon enough. When you hit level 46, the Falmer start using some real nasty tactics and can take you down faster than you can say Sonja Stormcloak.

* One-handed -- you want to put 5/5 here and don't forget the savage strike for your power attack. critical chances aren't that great. This will level up on its own. You can't grind it.

* Blocking -- you need to determine if you want to use a shield or go two handed. Shield bashing is a nice perk.

* Light Armor -- again 5/5 defense is important. I didn't take the matched set because I don't wear one. But you'll want the dragonscale as soon as you can get it.

* Enchanting -- get the Soul Trap spell as early as you can. Dwemer ruins have a wealth of soul gems and some are even filled. This skill you can grind. You know all the iron daggers you made? You keep them and enchant them. Petty soul gems -- wolves, spiders. Lesser: bears, snow wolves Common: Cave bears, snow bears. Greater: Fire Atronachs etc. Grand: Giants, Mammoths. Black (grand): People, Thalmor (Sonja is a racist -- there are people, then there are Thalmor). I usually reserve the black soul gems for those special a-holes. Don't worry about overpowering this. The game will catch up with you.

* Lockpicking -- now this one is up for debate. Personally, while I was able to unlock Master locks from the get go due to experience from Fallout, It can become a very time consuming thing, so I did get this up to Adept level and added a bunch of +XX% enchanted stuff that either I found or made. Then I have ADD and don't like to mess with this stuff.

* Archery -- A lot of people like archery. I svck at Call of Duty unless I'm going spray and pray so when the heat is on I like to melee.

* Illusion -- not necessary to max but you'll need Muffle for quite a while. So buy that spell and up your magika so you can use it. You'll need 130.

Horses svck except for Shadowmere.