Hello,

I'm normally not a gamer, so this is all new to me. I might be old enough to be your grandpa. I'm up to level 29, but I have saved five perks, pending this discussion. I'm an orc. So far, I've spread my perks around. One or two on sneak, a few on archery, a few on restoration and destruction, one or two on conjuration, and a few on alchemy.

Now that I have a better feel for the game, it seems like it's time to specialize. I suppose I could be a generalist, continuing to spread my perks around, but I'm not really sure.

So, question number one, and I'm really asking for comments and opinions. Who votes for specializing, and why, who votes for spreading perks around and why?

Question number two: If I decide to specialize, I've got to decide how to specialize. It may be too late to go for sneak and pickpocket, and that doesn't interest me much anyway. I was going to go for Alchemy, but I'm starting to think it's kind of boring and frustrating. It takes a lot of patience to stop repeatedly during a battle to poison weapons or drink potion.

It's tempting to specialize in restoration, destruction, and maybe conjuration. I do have the archmage's robes, and the mask of Morokei. But I understand that magic is not what Orcs do best. Maybe a waste of Berserker Rage -- that's what I depend on to defeat the worst enemies, particularly at close quarters. I might not be very good at close combat.

I'm thinking about enchanting and smithing. Really good armor, with enchantments, and some big weapons with enchantments, combined with Berserker Rage. That sounds promising.

On the other hand, I'm a fraidy cat, so I often try to shoot dragons and bad buys from a distance with a bow. Maybe archery... Also tempting.

I understand there's no right answer here. Please share your thoughts and opinions. What would you do if you were me?

Cheers, Daddyorc

smithing and enchanting will make you an absolute powerhouse, then you go from there to decide your main offense. I personally prefer sword and board but you seem like you prefer the magic slightly. Just go with what you have the most fun with and enchant your items accordingly.

Smithing, enchanting, sneak, and archery will make you an absolute powerhouse. Throw in some conjuration for meat shields and you are golden.

Specializing vs Generalizing. It is two different play styles really. Either can be successful, and after a certain character level, the game almost forces you to generalize if you want to keep leveling your character (which is not required for success in the game)

First point, Perks are enhancements to your skills, so they are not really critical to success, they just make success easier.

Now, the question to ask your self is what skills do you use all the time? What skills do you wish were better or stronger? Those are the Perks that you should select first. Then the next choice would be what skills do you want to buff up that you don't use all the time but plan on using. Also, some perk choices are really good, some are not. Some you have to pick so you can then select the next perk that you really want. So, even in skills that you use all the time, you may not want to put any perks in, like Lockpicking as they do not help the skill that much as compared to say LIght/Heavy Armor or one of the Weapons Perks.

You can always create a forked save, try some perks out and see how they work for you and the game, and if you don't like it, then go back to that save and choose different ones.

I would advise you to go with no more than 4 or 5 skills to specialise in. For example, when I started my character, I was all over the joint - alteration, illusion, sneak, archery, one handed, alchemy, smithing, enchanting. After a while, I also decided to specialise, and now I only use restoration a little bit, sneak/archery are my main combat tactics, and alchemy. I now avoid smithing completely, and enchanting increasing when I recharge my gear (occasionally I'll make a new enchanted item, but I deliberately only do it in rare situations.)

So from all skills getting a bit of use, now it's really only really sneak, archery, alchemy.

To me, specialising doesn't mean you absolutely cannot use skills (although, if you choose to do it that way, that's fine). It just mean's preferring to use certain skills over others, even when other skills may present a more direct/efficient way of solving a problem. I could have gone the route of a sneak/one handed (dagger) way, but I prefer using a bow.

Consider the 1 or 2 skills that you most gravitate toward instantly, and then try and build a character type that uses those and maybe 2 more quite significantly, but only dabbles in the other skills. Don't worry that you might feel like you miss using other skills, as the point of specialising is that you inevitably become less proficient at other skills as you become a master of the ones you choose. As you get better at the skills you feel naturally fit your style, you'll also have to develop the strategies you use in combat at enemies get tougher/you want more challenge. Say for me, restricting myself to an almost non-magical character, I've had to invest quite heavily in alchemy to give myself the edge that magic would otherwise, and I've had to come up with other ways to compensate for the loss of the utility some of the magic spells offer. But thats all part of the fun, trying to develop the character and my own playstyle that works in the game.

With a bit of planning and discipline, specialising can actually add a lot of depth to the game.

I play an orc mage on whatever the default difficulty setting is. Really, it doesn't make a noticeable difference past the first few levels, so if you really want an orc mage, go for it. It's definitely doable. You don't have to specialize too much, but some focus is good, imo.

If you want to wear robes, I'd advocate Alteration (you can get increased armor while wearing just cloth). If you go a ranged path it should be fine....I dunno that I'd try melee in that setup.

If you want a mix of magic and archery, you could still pump up your archery and use magic to augment. If you're not trying for sneaky, I'd say conjuration would definitely make a nice complement. Serves as a distraction and an extra source of damage if you have to kite. Berserker rage to take half damage is still nice, even if you're not whacking something with a great big honking weapon. Destruction could also be great to set up rune "traps" before you engage. If you have to retreat, you already have a nice surprise in their path.

So I think you could definitely work with what you've started. EDIT: But I would decide now a) what type of armor you want and what crafting skills you definitely want. Imo too many crafting skills make things a snoozefest...you seem to dislike alchemy so I'd definitely drop that. Smithing won't be as much use if you wear robes (thought it would help for your weapon if you go bow), enchanting is always useful.

I like to use seven main skills, all magic, sneak and 1 h. I also will perk enchanting and smithing for some cash and for my sword and robes. But I find picking seven, like in the previous ES game, is what works for me. I am extremely versatile when it comes to fighting, have some magical armor and distractions, and I can be invisible while I control my enemy's mind.

You can specialize in however many skills you want, or just stay and pick a few skills; either will work. But if you decide to specialize, you will have a deeper character and probably like him/her more from an RP aspect.

Anyway, do whichever and most importantly: have fun!

There's specialising and there's specialising.

No single skill is effective on its own in Skyrim, so you need to consider what skill sets work well together for what you want to achieve. For example, one-handed skill on its own is very weak, so you need to consider going heavy in smithing to improve your armour and weaponry, and selecting either of the two armour skills you want to concentrate on...to maximise your armour effectiveness you really need to decide on one style of armour, and work on that. Also, enchanting is a handy skill to maximise the potential of armour and weapons, but it's not a must have...although it is particularly handy if you want to make a lot of cash, through enchanting gear then selling it off.

If you go down the magic path, you will probably need to look at at least two, and probably three 'combative' skill sets...destruction, conjuration and restoration. Restoration will provide you with the obvious healing powers, but also the wards, although you could look at the armour type spells in alteration as well for that. Restoration also has effective spells and improvements against undead, which can be a real boon in some places. Conjuration will provide you with effective counters against multiple enemies, and certain of the spells provide you with stand-off or fire and forget type assets...when you have bad guys in the next room, no need to expose yourself to danger if you can conjure up dead things, atronauchs, or familiars to go in and do the dirty work or to soften them up. Destruction is more of a stand-off skill in this game, although it can be effective if combined with decent shield/block skills and the appropriate choice of spell.

As a rough comparison, I would suggest that pure spell-casters need to be prepared to fight more of a ranged battle, whereas the melee types need to be able to get in and get the job done quickly, and maximise their defensive equipment and abilities to do so. One thing to keep in mind is not to forget the Shouts you have available, regardless of your play or character style.

Daddyorc says:

Thanks for all the thoughful replies, folks. This is a great education. Keep them coming.

Hi Grandpa (I'm 64 lol). Been playing since 1982.

Anyway, consider the first character your test character. Someone you built to test the waters, so to say. Now that you're more comfortable with the game, it's time to build a serious character - the one where everything counts.

Here are some of the characters a lot of players build/play/roll. I'll let you decide which faction/type it should be based on their racial.

Assassin/thief, light armor, primary weapon is a bow. Lots of sneak as that not only affects your noise level - which needs to be low for an assassin - but it also has perks to increase your bow damage (and daggers, too). You need a backup weapon just in case the enemy gets to you - I use a 2H sword.

Perks: Here's my personal preference: Sneak levels itself as you're sneaking around. Reminder: Sneak only levels up if there's someone/something that can see you. Sneaking through an empty dungeon to return to town to sell loot does nothing for sneak. Neither does sneaking back in - till you get to the point where you stopped fighting. However, when I get close to the increased archery damage, I may put some perks in there. Speech, levels itself as you sell things. 2h sword levels itself, and it's a backup weapon - I don't put points there. Archery - yes, increase the bow damage, get to the perk that slows time X2 - makes shots easier as the enemy walks slower, and whatever else looks good to you. Light Armor - yes a few perk points, but not many. Enchanting - there are enchants on helms, gloves, jewelry that increase bow damage. When you get them disenchant and then enchant your gear. Be aware that early on, a helm with 30% bow damage increase doesn't translate to 30% enchant. It will get there as your enchanting goes up to higher levels. To make it worth your while, you'll need to put points in this skill. Also, when you upgrade your armor, you'll be able to put those damage enchants on the new gear and keep on rolling. Oh, don't powerlevel enchanting (or smithing/alchemy) - soon you'd be a god, on-shotting everything, and the game will be boring. I'm a great believer in maxing bow damage - hence enchanting - high bow damage = dead enemies. Enchant the bow, too. Frost is good because it affects health and something else. You want to be at long-range as a bow user. The further away you are, the more enemies you can kill before they get to you - talking about groups here.

Next, warrior type. Heavy armor, smithing and enchanting - again, not power-leveled. You need to decide either 2H weapon (I prefer swords they have the highest speed of any 2H weapon); sword and board (1H and shield); or dual wield 1H swords, axes or whatever. You can sneak, but I don't put any points in it for my warrior. I like to put points in a lot of things, but some are more important - for all characters - so I prefer to use perks for those things that improve defense, damage, etc. Speech is not something that rates perks in my play. Maybe some other time, but not now. Definitely put points in smithing and some in heavy armor. You need a bow probably for long-range purposes, but I don't put perks in it - I just have a bow to pull enemies towards me if, for example, I don't want to jump in the middle of a group. Plus, in the beginning it's nice to have a bow for the first few dragons you have to kill. Till you get some elemental resistances and better gear so you can take that 2H and wack the dragon up close and personal. Almost forgot, mining to get ore for your armor/weapons. When you kill a dragon and search his body, you get bones and stuff you can save in your chest - then later when your smithing level is high enough, you can use them to make dragon gear. Also, in dwemer dungeons, get scrap metal and other bits and pieces to make gear later. Learn to look near the bottom of mountains for ore/veins, also inside dungeons, near rivers, etc.

Last (for me), a mage. I like a pure mage, destruction-based. Bow as backup/dragon killing/pulling enemies but no perks. Real early in Helgen, while escaping, you may want to use a 2H sword, till you get out the keep and can start with the spells. You have to be careful to manage your magicka (mana). When you level up, most always select magicka (3 or 4 points in magicka, then 1 in health, repeat, and maybe few in stamina - or not). You need to have a large mana pool. Sneak a little, enchanting, maybe alchemy to make your own potions (but this means you spend a lot of time picking flowers/herbs along the way, and inside dungeons, etc. Or purchase them if you have enough money. Fire/Frost spells do 8 points damage early on, but lightning (or Bolts) do 10 points so that's what I use. Keep checking the Jarls mage - buy a chain lightning book - that spell does 60 points damage. Make sure to get the "dual hand casting" perk and the "stagger" perk. Two streams of chain lightning - 120 damage. Stagger - stops the enemy from getting close to you. Both combine for a winning experience. I prefer light armor instead of robes, but enchant everything. Later in the game you'll start getting staffs, but I haven't found any more powerful than dual casting CL. One thing about CL, it jumps to other characters, including any followers you have - and it will kill them. So, be very careful with it, switch to dual flames if your follower gets close. If on the PC, you can also make your follower "essential," which means they can't die. They'll still let you know they don't like getting hit with CL, but hey, war is war lol. My mage is level 36, I think, and still haven't seen any higher spells than CL. I'm sure they're out there, though. You can also do battle mage in light or heavy armor, combine with smithing, etc. It's a wide open game and your choice.

I just started a conjurer mage - using conjuration to fight battles. Some type stuff as pure mage, just different spells.

One last thing. If you level non-combat skills, and they increase your character's level, your enemies will level up with you. However, your combat skills will not level up, but your enemies' combat skill do level up - so they will be harder to kill, and hit you harder.

Sorry about the book. I probably missed some stuff.

Good luck and enjoy yourself.

PS: Forgot to mention, this website http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Skyrim is the best for Skyrim information that I've found. Excellent search box on the top left - type in quest name, item names etc. Lots of answers.

I like to focus on a few skills that I can use for every encounter that I enjoy.

For me it was:

Light Armor, 1h, Restoration, Black Smithing, and Alchemy

I focused on having a lot of armor through perks in light armor and doing a lot of damage through 1h. Crafting skills to help bring damage and defense up, plus make money so I don't have to loot everything.

Then I took sneak, archery and enchanting, and focused more on those after level 25.

Often in the open world I would go melee with anything and in dungeons against human type enemies I would sneak attack, alchemy helped with this by making invisiblity potions. If there were non human type enemies in a dungeon I would charge in and fight melee.

This way by using my "primary" skills I could handle anything, dragons, dragon priests, but if I wanted to I could pull off sneak fairly well. Plus, if sneaking failed, I did not have to worry about re-entering stealth, because I was fine in melee. Following those rules I've had the most fun so far.

Edit:

So for example, I had something like this at level 20 http://skyrimcalculator.com/#59773 Soon I would branch into sneak and enchanting, but by level 20 I'm very focused on dual wielding and armor, as well as crafting to make them better. I also played an Orc, for what that's worth.