?I'm talking about the perfect assassin that never does anything with anyone else but himself\herself.
He or she will never use any companions or any spells like Conjure Summon, Reanimation. You must be all alone, forever.

So what is a perfect lonely assassin build, in your opinion??

When I say perfect, I mean as in the most fun, most challenging build.

Requirements(rules) for the build:

• Stealth by (Sneak and \ or Illusion)
  
• Armor by either (Light Armor and \ or Alteration = you choose to wear cloth)
  
• Weapons that benefit from sneak attack, such as dagger, sword, bow, bound bow, bound sword.

• You must make your choice in what to take that is in the requirements for this build.
  
• Explain what other skills you would have.
  
• Make a decision between taking all of your 'level up points' into only Magicka or Stamina or maybe split them 50\50, 70\30, you must decide.

?You will not be allowed to put any 'level up points' into Health. You belong to the shadows, there is no room for health there.?

?So are you ready for this challenge, to show us your perfect lonely assassin build by following these rules that was described above? Give it a go, let's see if we get all the same builds or many different and how different.?

Sneak attack bonus x30 with daggers, 100% illusion cost reduction. Infinite casts of invisibility.
Dovahkiin used invisibility with sneak attack dagger - it's super effective!

This is the most easiest boring build I can imagine and will never play as.

You must know a perfect build isn't a overpowered build.
Overpowered build is not a perfect build, this will not give you any challenge and without challenge we have nothing to strive for.
Perhaps you didn't know or don't agree with me in what I say now but this is what I ment in my topic then, so now you know and everyone else. Cheers.

And you pretty much slacked with the rules for making the perfect build. But that doesn't matter as the build you described was more or less a cheat. As in too easy, no fun as you said it yourself.

I perked archery but not the master paralyze perk, perked one handed tree for blades but not the paralyze perk , sneak but not the dagger 30x bonus and not the shadow warrior perk only the bow and up to the second last perk in the tree, and perk conjuration up the bounded weapon side. No armor what so ever just clothing and no physical weapons just bound bow and sword. The only time I use my bound sword is when the baddie gets in too close or when a dragon is on the dirt and just about dead, other then that it's bound bow all the way and a lot of hovering in the shadows.

I thought about this. But bound weapons render the game too 1-dimensional for me. I need smithing!

This is how I play. my wood elf in sig is a wanderer and very self-sufficient. Power lies in LACK of numbers. Favorite build. I don't use magic so invisibility is only acquired through potions, therefore I'm forced to use it sparingly. And I don't search for invis potion ingredients. If I find them, I find them.

I'm unseen. unheard. unknown.

I just wanted to steep away from the smithing side of things for a change. Fortify archery enchants effect the bound bow so if you can get that enchantment up high enough you will be doing the same damage as a top rated fully smithed daedric bow, added benefit is that there are no weapons in your inventory to weigh you down and it's the ultimate concealed weapon

This is my perfect assassin build - http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1366695-my-perfect-assassinthief-setup/

Not your description but I hugely enjoy playing it, conjuration (undead) and illusion are great together.

I have a few assassin builds:

1. Probably my most fun build is my Dagger and Destruction assassin. This build shuns bows and arrows because a true professional gets up close. Pretty much slit everyone's throats and if you get detected or caught off-guard use your fire and ice destruction spells along with improved vampiric drain to heal yourself instead of using restoration. This build pretty much just wears clothing like miner's clothes with a hood, boots, and hand wraps or robes or even Cicero's outfit, mobility is key in this build.

Sneak
Destruction
One-Hand

2. My "pure" assassin is Dagger with ancient shrouded dark brotherhood armor, no spells, no bows and arrows, with this build I either do a one-hand with blocking with the weapon, or duel-wielding. My secondary weapon for this build is pickpocket, this is why imperial is the best race for this kind of build cause if your get caught pickpocketing, just use your calm voice of the emperor spell. Basically go around screwing around with your enemy, taking their weapons away, putting a frenzy poison in their pockets. This build is heavily reliant on alchemy, which is a little annoying.

Sneak
Alchemy
Pickpocket
Light Armor

3. Probably my most boring assassin build is my bow and arrow and duel-wielding assassin. Just go around and pelt everything with a smithed out - maxed out bow.

Sneak
Archery
Light Armor
Smithing

I think I'm going to redo....again....my destruction / dagger assassin but with a little bit of necromancy with it.

Being a vampire really adds life to the assassin role-play too.

Interesting build. Not something I would do, but interesting nonetheless

I tossed around the destruction assassin for a long time and thought it was unviable. but apparently it works for you. do you find equipment that fits your character or do you self-enchant?

Also, I don't like going pure dagger. I honestly find it more boring than coupling it with a bow. Just because you have a bow doesn't mean you have to use it. Tasteful discretion is the name of the game.

My daggger - destruction assassin plays on adept with no enchanting or smithing. If my character runs out of magica, he relies on his one hand skill. Atronoch stone or ritual stone works well with this build I've found.

This character will wear just clothing like miner's clothes with shrouded hand wraps and shrouded hood with shrouded boots, or wear cicero's outfit or wear robes with the other stuff. No armor for this build.

I'd also like to ask what you found boring about a bow/dual wield assassin?

The duel-wielding is not boring. It's the bow part that's boring for me. Relying solely on your dagger or pickpocketing is much more challenging because you have to find the right route to the target.

Have you ever watched the movie "the professional" ? The guy is so badass, when he teaches the little girl how to be an assassin, he says the first thing you learn is the rifle and the last thing you learn is the knife, because "a true proffessional gets up close." I pretty much live by those words.

Also, bows and arrows require a dependancy. You are pretty much forced to smith to get any real use out of it and you can run out of arrows but you can't run out of fire and ice. I like my assassin characters to be as self reliant as possible, even alchemy is a chore for me because it requires a dependancy. When your character is so self-reliant, you really feel badass and practical, which is what an assassin should be.

Honestly, I believe any assassin is self-reliant. Yes, magic means you don't have weapons and all you need is your mind and hands, but just because you wield a bow and use potions doesn't mean you no longer are. That's the warrior's way of attaining self-sufficiency.

So at this point it comes down to opinions and preference. A hunter is the most self-reliant person you can find (bow) and alchemy I believe is a great combination that further aids self sufficiency. You gather the materials yourself, create them yourself (using that fancy brain you use as a mage) and can fortify just about anything with them. And an archer doesn't even need to smith. I can find good enough bows to do my bidding if I so please, and arrows are in abundance. You could argue that "what if" you don't have them. But I'll cross that bridge when I get to it (and thus far I haven't).

Not saying you're wrong or telling you how to play... simply justifying my own means because I have ALWAYS felt more than self-reliant. Hell, all of windhelm could rely on me to do their bidding.

Either way, may the blessings of Nocturnal guide you fellow assassin.

Bows and arrows are totally legite. It's just doesn't feel right for me is all. I like to stay out on the field for long periods of time in between assassinations and I don't want anything that will make me go, oh ok I gotta run into town and grab this or I picked up too much junk and now I have to go to a city. It ruins immersion for me.

Silence, my brother.

I want to create myself a Wood Elf, Assassin but I can't make myself decide what to use.
I'm very indecisive.

It's either this version of an assassin for me:

• Alteration for Detect Life & Undead
  
• Conjuration for only Bound Bow & Bound Sword (insted of Dagger)
  
• Destruction for some versatility
  
• Sneak (for extra damage with Sword and Bow)
  
• Archery (for extra damage)
  
• Illusion for crowd control

or this:

• Sneak for Stealth, etc
  
• Pickpocket, so I can put poisons on my targets
  
• Alchemy for making poisons
  
• Archery
  
• Bound Bow or ordinary bow, not sure about that

or something like that .. As I said, I'm bit indecisive about this ..

Take what I say with a grain of salt, but if those are my options, either do destruction or archery, it's redundent to do both. Remember destruction ignores armor, faster, and doesn't require maintenaince.

There's a shout called Aura Whisper. It's my favorite shout, it allows you to detect life and undead for 30 seconds if you use the entire shout. So if the only reason you want alteration is for this, then this solves your problem and won't cost you any perks.

For alchemy, make as many ravage and lingering poison health as you can, if you make regualer poisons it won't really hurt your enemy that much when you put it into their pocket. But if you've got a high alchemy skill and some enchanted alchemy gear, you can make ravage and lingering poisons strong enough to instantly kill a lot of people on adept difficulty just by putting it in their pocket.

Or you don't have to do alchemy at all. You can just buy poisons and pickpocket their weapons. It's pretty entertaining to take the weapon off a bandit chief and then slip frenzy poisons on his weaker buddies.

The one i based off my friend who is obsessed with fire and sharp things.

Well here is the problem if I chose to use Destruction as an assassin for The Dark Brotherhood.
It doesn't exist any spells that hit without making noise that kills my target - sure you can charge up without making any noise, but when it hit - it will alarm others around him\me, what ever - compare to using Bound Sword or Bound Bow that won't make any noise when you kill.

If you take the quiet casting perk in the illusion tree, your destruction spells are silent. If your a good enough sneak, you can kill things before they even find out where it came from and their buddies will have no ideae whats going on.

I don't do illusion. I use my destruction for combat. Like after I slit a guy's throat, I'll resurrect his corpse, and while the corpse is fighting I'll use my destruction. And some things are really hard to sneak up on like automons and bears and such so that's when destruction is useful....oh and dragons.

It might sound stupid but I find it amazing how different people gravitate towards different playstyles. there are truly so many ways to play this game. I can't image a "true" assassin to use magic. it's just not what my lore allows. Yet your concept gives you entirely new doors to open when it comes to character creation.

Sh*t still fascinates me.

You know there is one guy in The Dark Brotherhood that uses Destruction magic. Time has changed from the previous Elder Scrolls game.


There is also

Spoiler

armor (cloth) for Destruction magic, a complete set that in my opinion looks awesome, that will be yours

when you join The Dark Brotherhood.

Well I was gonna reply to him but you already got some good pointers. But I'll reiterate for my own opinions.

Do either destruction or archery. I know it's hard to let go of archery and destruction is enticing, but having both is redundant, sorry :/
I was going to go with alteration for detect dead/life as well until I learned of the aura whisper shout. So unless you REALLY want the perks in the alteration tree, I advise you don't bother with alteration (even then, I still wouldn't).

I don't see why alchemy doesn't go in your first build. It's viable (and reliable ) for ANY stealth player. Alchemy will be your best friend.
Which leads me to reverse-pickpocketing poisons. It can be useful--if you remember that you have the ability. Usually though, you're better off slitting their throat.

Bound weapons are fine, but I would keep a dagger (maybe Mehrune's Razor?) on hand for the x15 bonus. what kind of assassin doesn't use daggers? lol

Lastly, if you don't have a problem using magic like our friend Iron, illusion is incredibly fun to use. And might I add, it's quite viable on its own if it's the only school of magic you focus on.

those are just my two cents. probably left some stuff out, but I'm trying to multitask now so forgive me

Destruction and archery can work brilliantly together, weak to magic/elements poisons sneak bow attack followed by a barrage of destruction spells.

My idea of an assassin is one that utilises any method to kill a target, if it's more efficient to kill from range then he does that, he's not going to put himself in unnecessary danger because of some rule he's set himself "alway kill close up".

Vampire, Mehrunes Razor, Shrouded armor, Max sneak... the end