So, I'm planning on making a new character that'll focus on sneaking. It seems that sneaking holds extreme power.
On a youtube video, I saw a guy take out an Ancient Dragon with one hit while sneaking. (Youtube Video Difficulty on Master)
So, what I want to know is what one to increase most?
I'm thinking stamina buuuttt what's your opinions?

Health if you want to play serious.


Ignore Magic unless you're a mage, and Stamina is useless compared to health.

What little stamina you could ever need you'll attain through enchants on your gear if you are a pure physical damage dealer.


The Steed stone will provide you with mobility, speed and bag space, and can be changed to the Lord Stone for particulary hard encounters.



If you're playing on Master, you will NEED every point of Health unless you want to be instagibbed.


Go health all the way.

Invest up to 200-250 magicka for Fast Healing if you don't like using potions. The rest 2:1 on Health and Stamina.
Edit: Where's the Steed stone?

No, no, no. I didn't mean I was playing on master, I was simply stating the youtube video I saw was on master difficulty. Would you still recommend this though?

Really? Didn't think I'd need that, considering you can max out your armor later on.
Edit: I suggest looking it up. Shouldn't be hard to find.

I got my stamina up to 200 and the rest I invested into health. Pretty much perfect imo.

Edit: I would not invest in magicka by the way. You can run off and take cover and heal with your 100 magicka, regenerate, heal some more while losing detection. I had an over abundance of magicka potions by the time I finished all main quest/faction lines.

Pure Health is the best way to go unless you're a mage.


If you are ever in doubt, fill the red bar!

I'm liking this reply. Thanks. =D

Yessir =) Note that every level I traded off adding to stamina and health until my stamina was 200. I didn't go pure stamina to 200 then start with health.

Stamina also makes a HUGE difference when travelling if you are like me and like to run to each location, stopping at every point of interest on the way.

What perk did you start spending skill points in first? One handed?

I've upgraded Stamina about twice as much as Health, and I haven't touched Magicka. I'm a greedy bastard and hate having to ditch loot, so Stamina FTW. I've got enough Exquisite Steel Armor to preserve my health.

Sneak. I raised sneak whenever possible, raising one handed and archery when sneak didn't meet requirements for another perk.

At 100 sneak with all perks and a -20% detection rate ring of minor sneaking, I can basically walk anywhere except directly in front of an NPC 5 feet away. Then with shrouded gloves + sneak perks, I do +3000% damage with backstabs one shotting anything.

Final question, where do you find these shrouded gloves? Thieves guild quests?

Stamina is deffinitely the most important stat to raise. Magicka is only important if you cast spells, obviously. Only go pure health if your play style is that of one who stands and gets beat up in Heavy Armor while he swings maddeningly with a two-handed sword.

As a sneak you're gonna be relying on stealth kills as your primary attack so, unless you're spending a lot of time zoomed in on the bow, you shouldn't need invest as much in stamina as a heavy hitting two hander.

I'd go for health as you WILL get cornered sometimes and you'll need it to stay in the fight.

As for magic, if you're going pure sneak, don't bother with it.

Thanks

If you're going sneak, I highly recommend getting the Aura Whisper shout.

You get them from the Dark Brotherhood.

It really depends on your playstyle, really. I duel wield my rogue with long blades, this is why I invest stamina points on him. You could go pure health on him, it wouldn't really matter.

alot of conflicting opinions here ive noticed.

Personally, i think they all hold merit but as for my own.

Magicka not required, the amount you do have is enough (honestly it really is) if you are planning on being sneaky, UNLESS you like to use the illusion tree, if thats the case, chances are you will perk in this tree anyway and a illusion mana cost reduction enchant on a piece of armor will MORE than suffice.

The Health/Stamina arguement.. very valid....

If for example your backstab does fail (given how buggy it "can" be, ive had backstab fail whilst being completely hidden) then a nice health pool will get you out of a tight spot.

Id go 2:1 Health/Stamina until you reach 200 stamina, then drop the rest in health. (If you end up 10 magicka short or even 20 short of casting 2xfasthealing, then an extra 2 points in magicka will not harm at all, but as stated, so many potions laying around, magicka should not be an issue here that cant be solved with a timely potion).

As for perkage, at lower levels, it really is about Archery/Sneak. Try to get sneak and archery up early and you really can take a grip of an encounter. Currently on Master difficulty, ive crafted my warrior a lovely little bow and one shotting people. He is only level 12 on this run, with alot of points invested into smithing already (so combat wise, at a disadvantage).

I only use magicka because I feel like it's appropriate for my Breton to at least know some healing spells. Magical background obliged.

I get stamina all the way to 250 before getting health.

Basically if you playing the sneak type you shouldn't worry about your health, most of the times you can kill the enemies before they see/hit you.

If you are losing lots of health then you are playing it wrong. When fighting dragons you may have to resort to healing potions or healing spells though. But then, who doesn't?

Personally my stealth character takes mostly stamina. Now let me be clear In any sort of toe to toe fight its not effective - AT ALL. But theres somthing charming to me about the pansy whelp. Whenever I get detected by somthing bigger than a mudcrab I turn around, firmly squeeze the left bumper and get the oblivion out of there. Its interesting, to have that intense fear for the creatures of skyrim, and while I dont really expect many to share my love for being the biggest coward in the North, its kinda fun.

I split my health and stamina 50/50 and none no magicka.

As a sneak, stamina is your friend. Once your cover is blown, I find it better to chain power attacks for a faster kill than trying to win a fight of attrition on health. If you're dual wielding (which as a sneak you should always be dual wielding during melee), the enchantments on your weapons will do incredible damage if you have a healthy stamina pool and constantly use the dual wield power attack. I typically lead with an Absorb Health dagger in my main hand, Paralyze dagger in my off hand (or Soul Trap, depending on whether I need to fill a gem or star). Once my off hand dagger's enchantment lands, I switch it out for another dagger with an enchantment fitting the situation.

What's especially effective is having both blades being enchanted with Absorb Health. The power attack will land 3-4 times each attack, svcking their health dry while keeping your own health full as you chain the attack. I usually do this in those whoopsie moments where I find myself mobbed by numerous attackers and need to keep swinging rapidly.

Enchantment damage will always be consistent, whereas your weapon damage can be mitigated by your opponents armor rating. So you want to land them as many times as possible.

it just depends on playstyle really.

i rarely use heavy attacks and rarely run out of weight to carry stuff, so i haven't put a single point in stamina

i pretty much split the points evenly between health and magic