So far in my Skyrim playthroughs, I have two characters:
Malak gro-Nagorm, the highest armor rating and health possible. This rating doubles with his racial power.
Qorwynn Aundae, the stealthy vampire. He casts the strongest illusion spells in the game and assassinates the last person standing. If he's seen, he's dead.
Now I'm going to create a Nord werewolf, Beowulf. By level 81, he should have 500 health and 500 stamina. I overheard that werewolves use light armor perks, which is very good to know. I'm wondering what hand-to-hand perks help out werewolves in beast form.

-What other perks do werewolves benefit from? One-Handed? Two-handed? Should I obtain smithing and enchanting perks? Is stealth really worthwhile?
-By level 81, should I have 600 health and 400 stamina instead? 1000 health? 1000 stamina?
-Should I choose a different race?
-What artifacts should I acquire on this playthrough?

My goal is to become the strongest werewolf while in beastform. If I have extra perk points that I won't benefit beastform, then I may spend them
to improve my armor via smithing and possibly archery.

A lot of people will tell you werewolves are weak and useless after a certain level. I have yet to confirm that in my play-through. Werewolves are best used for handling either really strong melee enemies(giants, etc), or large mobs of regular enemies(bandits, Falmer, Forsworn) . You can be damaged while transforming, so it is best to transform before you get into a battle. Using the Aura Whisper shout is really useful for evaluating your plan of attack. I usually find myself sneaking as close to the enemy as I can without being detected and transform. Once I'm in beast form, I'll start of with a howl, which will send the enemy demoralized and running in fear. At this point, I'll target a single lone enemy, kill said enemy, feed to recover any health lost and keep the blood lust going, and repeat.

When you are transformed, your stamina is increased by 100 and you don't suffer from encumberance. You can make yourself your own horse.

When transforming, make sure you are undetected. If someone spots you transforming, that's an automatic bounty on your head. Any crimes you commit as a beast won't transfer to you(as long as no-one caught you transforming).

Does Namira's ring improve how much health you recover?

I haven't done Namira's quest, so I wouldn't know. I have read on UESP that any active effects will transfer over when you transform, but I've never tested it for myself. I believe feeding is the only way to recover health while in beast form. If not, it is a whole lot more efficient than waiting. Like I said, it also extends how long you stay in beast form. Chances are you won't want to revert while in the middle of a fight unless you have your armor hot-keyed.

Should I assume you know about Hircine's RIng?

That I do, but I haven't truly experimented lycanthropy in Skyrim because I thought the quest to cure the disease was a one time quest, so I didn't want to stay stuck as one with my main.

I plan on finding these artifacts for Beowulf:


I'm not sure what other valuables I should hunt down, and if I should enchant a ring/necklace instead. I also have no clue what to spend all my perks on. I read somewhere that some armor needs the ebony smithing perk to be fortified, even though it's light armor. I guess he'll turn into a hunter/wolf. Perhaps hand-to-hand, but I don't want to use blades.

I know there's one perk in the Heavy Armor tree that boosts your punching attacks based on what gauntlets you're wearing. I also believe werewolf defense is based on the light armor skill, so a few perks in light armor probably wouldn't hurt. Otherwise I say play the character you want to play. You'll probably get the least benefit out of a pure warrior build since you'll eventually reach a point where you'll be more useful outside of beast form (probably a source of "werewolves are useless" complaints).
The biggest advantages I get from being a werewolf is the ability to travel around the battlefield and the map much faster without encumbrance, and the power attacks, which will knock down anything smaller than a dragon. The beast form also comes with some cool finishers (pouncing on a guy and tearing his chest out, grabbing a guy's throat and squeezing till his head pops off his neck, grabbing an enemy with one hand and throwing him so hard he dies on impact).

Afaik, only one-handed and lightarmor give a boost. It's negligible though, in comparison to normal forms with high lvl armor/weapons. The only benefit then is fast stam regen and disease immunity.

As for the above comment about not getting any benefit out of a "warrior" build, it just depends if you're light armor/one handed. Plenty of warriors like that.

Sorry, by warrior build, I meant the traditional "guy in heavy armor with a great sword" who probably fully invested in armor, weapon, and smithing perks. You can't really expect to go from a hulking "Conan the Barbarian" in unholy demon armor and carrying a Sword of Smiting to turn into a bare wolf-beast fighting bare-clawed and expect the same damage output, can you?

Uh, Conan was actually a light armored thief. Sometimes a twohanded sword, sometimes dual wield.

I don't read much comics. What if I said Black Knight instead?

I don't know who that is.

I'm just saying though, warrior builds are hard to define in this game. So many are wearing studded or scale armors. Think of Jarl Baalgruff's brother, Avulstein Grey-Mane, or Njada Stonearm. Nords themselves get a boost to light armor, not heavy. The whole warrior in plate image is just one expression - but it's definitely not optimal, as far as werewolves go. I agree on that.

As I said in the original post, I already made a warrior. He's actually a hybrid of warrior/assassin and has both the greatest defense possible and also has a nasty blade/bow with enchantments and poisons respectively.
My second character made the most out of being a vampire, so my third will make the most out of being a werewolf, mostly in beast form. My main question at the moment is if werewolves use one-handed or two-handed perks. After I abuse the hell out of all perks a beast form werewolf uses, I'll take care of the rest. I'm probably going to put the rest in stealth and archery. Pickpocketing skills are a lot of fun as well.

EDIT- Also, does beastform consist of "a full set of light armor?" If so, it would be awesome to get that 10% chance to dodge perk.

One handed then. Two handed does nothing for beast form. And despite the wolf being dual wield, it's not actually dualwielding, I believe. That perk wouldn't help.

Your hybrid warrior/assassin was already on the right track for a werewolf (assuming he was light armored).

Also, I'd boost health more than stam, if you're going to attempt beast form a lot. They get badass stam regen. They need health.

Awesome. I'm assuming it would be essential to include that heavy armor perk that increases damage based off of your armor rating, and then boost your light armor all the way to maximize damage output? Which one-handed perks should I include? Sorry if I'm asking too many questions.


He had 900/1000 health (I forget), heavy armor, and a shield. When using his racial perk he has the highest defense possible. The only reason why he was a hybrid is because I had extra perk points to spend, which I then put into stealth and archery.

does light armor and 1handed increase while in beastform?

if not.... as soon as you get hircines ring you could basically play a pure werewolf, not fighting in human form at all... or not much. would also pretend you from lvling, if skills don't increse, which protects you from maybe getting weaker in high lvls.

That's a great idea. Let me check...
This may take a while. I quickly finished the quest in Falkreath and now I have to begin the Companion's quest line.

Huh. This is unfortunate:

"-Armor rating in Werewolf form is affected by their skill level in Light Armor and all five ranks of the Light Armor perk Agile Defender.
-As of patch 1.3.10 (Earlier reports in the talk page), this is no longer true and Werewolf form has 0 base armor. This may or may not be intended; it has not been mentioned in the patch notes."

Perhaps it's best to wait until all the patches are out before attempting such a playthrough. I'll continue with my third character, but it will be a very blind game.

I tested it, and I couldn't for the life of me gain any experience while in werewolf form. This doesn't necessarily prove that certain perks don't work in this form, however.

EDIT- One-handed increased. I'm pretty sure all one-handed perks are effected, which means I won't have a two-handed character after all.

According to the book, ''Beowulf'' means Beehunter...

I say make it interesting and get the cursed ring.You will have random changes to contend with , which imo fits the werewolf "wild as hell" idea better.Maybe later finish the quest as you evolve and gain better control of yourself and overcome your beast half. Kind of a skyrim "the hulk" story.

You want alternation. The passive skills are vital when you are unclothed in wolf form. Combine with Breton passive power, Mara's blessing and Atronach Standing stone to be near invulnerable against magic users. The flesh spells will also still be in effect until their timer runs out.

Thanks, but what scares me the most are archers as well as warriors. The Flesh spells would be awesome if they last a good amount of time. Do you know how long higher ones generally last? It may be a good idea to enchant alteration reduction on my boots and gauntlets while wearing the saviors hide. I'd rather be a Nord because I aready made a Breton, but I did delete him anyways... Also the Nord's racial ability is appropriate with the werewolf's roar. Now that I, do illusion spells help?
That sounds like fun, actually. Is the ring truly random or does it make you change at night?

> Atronach Standing stone

I actually favor the Lord stone for this: the magic resistance will bring you to the cap in combination with other things, and the 50 points of armor WILL remain active while in beast form. It isn't much, but it still helps.

The guide says as a werewolf you cannot loot any bodies. Does that mean if you kill a gaggle of forsworn you cannot loot them after you change back?

Does this nullify the alternation flesh perk with this stone active?
You cannot use the interface in beastform. Once you calm down and turn back, you can once again loot bodies.

> Does this nullify the alternation flesh perk with this stone active?

Not as far as I can tell. If you have the Mara quest reward, the Lord stone active, and 3/3 in the Alteration talent, you should have 70% magic resistance at all times - and if you're a Breton then you can leave the talent at 2/3 and your racial will take you to the cap.