So, I thought I would get a little discussion going on what builds people like to use within the game. As a player who has started the game numerous times but only gotten to a maximum of level twenty before restarting, I have tried out a few and had difficulty finding one I like. Playing as an "all-round" character is possible, but later on in the game you find yourself not particularly great in any special fields required. I found being a plain melee warrior character pretty plain and boring, so never really gave that a go either. My last build was a ranger character who used light armour, archery, one-handed swords and a little bit of restoration for healing purposes.

Current Character Build:

Race - High Elf
Primary Skills - Destruction, One-Handed, Heavy Armour
Secondary Skills - Restoration, Enchanting

I shall be using one-handed weapons in my right arm and a destruction spell in my left (occasionally switching to a healing spell). I shall use heavy armour so that I can get up close to my foes and take as much damage as possible. Restoration will help improve my healing spell's effectiveness, whilst enchanting will allow me to add magicka perks akin to the mage robes which offer no protection whatsoever.

What builds are you using?

Race - Breton
Primary Skills - Archery, Light Armour, Sneak
Secondary Skills - Destruction, Conjuration

I summon two Dremora Lords which get up close an personal to my enemies while I take them out one by one with my Nightingale Bow... If things get too hasty I switch to my Lightning Storm spell and disintegrate my enemies.

Pretty nice build, but wouldn't a dark elf have been better for archery with a mixture of spells?

Current Character build:

Race- Bosmer
Primary Skills- Archery, Light Armor, Lockpicking, Alchemy,
Secondary Skills- Sneaking, One Handed, Smithing

I like to be a sneaky character that kills the enemy before they even get close enough to attack back. As soon as I started I joined and finished the dark brotherhood quest line. I have not even done the quest for the first dragon yet.

Race-Nord
Primary Skills-One handed, Heavy Armor, Block, Smithing
Secondary Skills-Two-Handed
Skills that get used a lot but I don't focus on but they're a high level anyway-Lockpicking, Enchanting, Speech

Pretty much a pure warrior, I put a lot of focus on being able to close distances and Controlling one-on-one melee fights. Mages kill me so easy though, but that's why I have Spellbreaker. And I play on Master difficulty, in case anyone wants to judge me based on difficulty I guess.

I am a:

Race - Breton
Primary Skills - Destruction, Illusion
Secondary Skills - Alteration, Sneak, Speech

A mage with a silver tongue. Sneak in, shoot fireballs at stuff, loot their butts, then sell it really, really high.

Assassins are fun to RP, and I like stealth gameplay so...

Race- Breton
Primary Skills- Sneak, Light Armor, Archery
Secondary Skills- One Handed, Illusion

Alchemy can be added to the list, but the main idea is to toy around with my enemies while in stealth and be nimble and deadly with a good blade if I need to engage directly, Illusion can save your life and help you sneak, so it goes well with this.

I like the idea of playing solely as a mage, but find it quite difficult to do as you are so vulnerable once you're out of magicka. Hence, I do a mixture between one-handed and magic in my builds generally.

Being sneaky in games such as Skyrim is something I have never attempted. I like being a total bad-ass and just owning everything that gets in my way. Top if off with becoming a vampire lord and I'll be unstoppable...bwahahaha.

No favorite build here.

Basically I like the basic Mage, Warrior, and Stealth archetypes.

Of those, if I had to choose, I'd probably pick a Mage; Breton focusing on Conjuration and Alchemy. But pretty much all my characters use some stealth at some time.

Reason enough. I have 400 base magicka though (without armor adds and stuff - It's like 530 with xD) so if I see myself running low, I whack on a nice invisibility spell and wait for it to fill up. xD

The spellsword build is pretty good for Skyrim and mine is pretty similar to it. Check it out. It's a mage, but minus a lot of the negatives.

Race: dark elf

Primary skills: light armor, one handed, restoration

Secondary skills: sneak, alteration.

I sneak a bit but my main focus is on combat dualwielding one handed wepons and healing my injuries.

Imperial Bard

Speech
Lockpicking
One Handed
Illusion
Restoration

Gotta say went with high elf mage class this time around and really enjoying it I solely use magic no swords or bows in my inventory

Honestly, I might just do that. I've done a battlemage before. Heavy armoured, fireball-throwin' type. Never with a melee weapon though. Hmmmm.

Race: Dark Elf

Primary Skills: Sneak, Illusion, One-Handed

Secondary Skills: Light Armor, Destruction

I play as a very sneaky nightblade type character, I mainly cast spells like frenzy and runes to cause some chaos, then I sneak up and get back-stab attacks on any survivors. I am a person who is always getting bored with characters and creating new ones, but this is a build that I have stuck with for quite a while.

I've just started as one and it's a fun combination after around 2 hours of gameplay. Magic is just...bad-ass and with that build you don't have to worry about running out of magicka either.

I've a level 28 pure mage Breton right now. Played a Redguard pure fighter/paladin type up until level 52 before. I must say I miss the "up in your face" fighting style of the fighter. I don't really want to abandon my mage prematurely, but the idea of a spellsword sounds really good to me. I may like it a bit more... less to think about during combat.

If I go spellsword, which race do you think is best for it?

I recommend using either a high elf, dark elf or breton for a spell/sword build.

28 doesn't seem too high to start adding one handed to the mix. You can eve use a bound sword and raise conjuration as well. There are perks that make them much more usefi=ul then the base spell.

It isn't, but then again starting afresh isn't bad either. I love the thrill of starting a new character and never get past level 25 because I always keep restarting to experiment with loads of different character builds. Going to stick with my spell/sword high elf though and get him to a decent level so I can finally finish the main quest and also experience the Dawnguard DLC which apparently comes out end of this month on Xbox. So excited

I've been playing my Arcane archer for awhile I absolutely love him. I'm also one of those people with "restartitis"...

Race: Dark Elf

Primary skills: Archery, Conjuration (only use it to Bound Bow), Alteration, Sneak.

Secondary skills: Illusion, Alchemy.

Basically, it's an Archer/Assassin using utility magic. I use armor spells with Alteration because I only wear robes, use Muffle and whatnot with Illusion, conjure my Bound Bow (looks "arcanish" [awesome]), poison my arrow when needed and sneak. It's very fun to roleplay and he's somewhat like a "justified assassin"/ranger, with knowledge of the arcane arts.

I'm thinking about throwing a little One-handed in there to roleplay he keeps a dagger in his boot just for situations where the bow might not work out (as in I come around the corner and someone is right in front of me with their back turned so I don't have to shoot them and have them go flying across the room). Also, so I can cut someone's throat.

Race: Nord

Primary: One handed, 2 handed, archery, light armor, smithing

Secondary: Sneak, block

I wanted a fast, combat oriented fighter. He can change his tactics for any situation and at level 41 I am loving it. It is very effective and a blast to play.

I always get moaned at for never getting anyway within the game due to how much I restart, but I love restarting to find interesting combinations of abilities. It is why I love the class-less system of Skyrim as you don't have the usual restrictions of a mage solely using magic or a ranger solely using bows. Nice build, by the way.