Hello all, i'm still reasonably new to the game but i've been playing as a warrior, i don't like magic, so i stick to sword and shield ;p, i just prefer being a brute type, but anyway, i've been struggling against magic, and i've done some digging on skyrim race abilties, apparently The Breton have a 25% resistance to magic, which seems quite good, but if your a warrior and go into block/one-handed there is a perk that allows your shield to block 50% resistance to magic, would this stack up meaning you have 75% resistance to magic?

Anyways what is your take on this guys?
Do you think it will come in handy?

Thanks for reading and i would like to see some discussion on this matter and what would be best for a warrior, thanks ;d

There is no race that is 'best' for anything after about lvl 5, before then some races have a small bonus in some skills. So choose whichever race you think looks best really.

I think that's a great RP concept for a warrior who plans to fight a lot of spellcasters, perhaps he hates them for some reason. And yes, the resistances will stack up to a cap somewhere around 80% I believe.

As homicidal mentions, the skill level racial boosts tend to even out after a few levels, so there is not really much drawback to playing a Breton warrior. And once you get up to a higher level (perhaps in the 20s), there are plenty of resist "X" equipment to be found in loot.

Keep in mind, the block perk is specifically for elemental damage (fire, frost, shock, including spells and dragon breath), and your racial ability would be for "magic resistance." I'm not quite sure whether dragon fire/frost breath is considered magic damage or not. Perhaps someone else can confirm?

I'm pretty sure it would stack yes but I don't find bretons to be the best melee fighters in Tamriel. It may be hard work trying to get that perk in the first place depending on what difficulty you're playing.

You may find it easier to play as one of the races built for fighting such as Nords, Orcs or Redguards but ultimately if your having trouble against mages, stay away from them.


Happy playing!

Also consider the Atronach sign for a Breton; The 50% absorption gives an average equivalent of 62.5% resist and it stacks with the Breton power for complete immunity to magic once a day.

Edit: Corrected

Yes. Bretons have hands-down the best racial ability in the game. It is basically wearing a free resist magic ring (of high quality) for free. Since enemy spellcasters can give great troubles throughout the game, neutralizing their attack form is just excellent.

The other racial ability that stands out is that of the orcs, with the half-and-double damage power.

The other races abilities are marginal in comparison to these two. Third place goes to high elves, but their power is less that the other two.

To correct the above post- absorbtion and resist do not stack directly. resist activates first, and then the absorb.
so 25% resist + 50% absorb = / = 75% resist.

Dragon breath is also resisted by magic resist.
magic resist caps at 85 % (in the case of a breton: lord stone + racial ability + mara bonus + 2 alteration resists = 85% = no worries from spells and at the cost of 0 item slots)

That's why I said "equivalent of 75%"

It's not though. One reduces damage by 50% another by 25%, but they stack multiplicatively not additively. So it's an "equivalent resist" of 100%-(75%*50%)=62.5%

You're right, my mistake.

I have to disagree with your findings - 25% Magic Resist is NOT the best racial ability in the game. In the past games, Bretons had the strongest racial ability, because it was a whopping 50%.

I'm fine with just Cold Resistance - the other two damage types are neither common nor painful enough to bother with.

My Breton has the 25% racial magic resist, 3 perks of magic resist and a necklace and I also gulp a Resist Fire or Resist Frost when the battle begins. She can pretty much stand right in the blast and just fire back at them. The recent Elder Dragon was stronger but she still did ok and had time to run around and use her Heal spell. I'll always take those magic resists no matter the build...especially since she wears cloth instead of armor. Right now she has the Steed Stone but I'll have to take a look at the Lord Stone.

I think resistances all cap at 85%. However, Bretons have magic resistance while the block perk is elemental resistance, and I am not quite sure how these stack.

Googled it and I think this is how it works: "Spell Absorption is a percentage chance to completely negate a spell and instead gain magicka. Magic Resistance cuts the magnitude of all hostile spells that strike you. If the spell has no magnitude, its duration is cut instead. Elemental resistances cut the magnitude of any corresponding elemental spells that strike you, and they stack multiplicatively with magic resistance."

I don't think bretons have the best racial in the game. I believe that belongs to the orc (warriors, although damage reduction is still viable for casters). Their racial can be used against any opponent at any level or difficulty, and the damage reduction effects physical and spell damage. Bretons are only effective against other casters. Plus those effects can be achieved through gear, perks, and stones, where as the orc's racial is truly unique and its effect can only be acquired by being an orc.

Breton I believe holds second place

Here's the thing though, physical damage? Eh, it's easy to get to the 80% cap. Berserker Rage might help out early on, but later it doesn't look to me like it would be anything that great. The fact it only lasts for 60 seconds once per day is a big detriment.

Get good armor any number of ways and a decent armor skill, and a Breton has a huge advantage with his magic resist. He can hit the cap without any magic items, or use a magic item or two and hit the cap another way (leaving some of the non-item bonuses up to his discretion). This gives a lot of flexibility without having to worry about a once-per-day power being available. I think this makes the Breton power better.

I do think some of the other races could use some tweaking. I don't think Bretons are overpowered, but it does seem noticeably better than what other races have.