ok i'm level 40 with a pure warrior character atm and honestly i'm a bit burnt out of him...(game becomes a bit lol when your just running around with a claymore nearly one shoting everything while nothing can bring you past 95% health)

so i'm going to make a stealthy assassin type but i have nearly no clue where to start besides the super basics so help me out here...

for weapons i assume one hand / archery? and is dual wielding good? ... also daggers or swords

light armor/ sneak is a given, but is lock-picking even worth it? i don't have a point in it on my warrior and i can do masters no prob.

what races are most viable?

what other skills should i be going for? and how should i distribute my magicka / heath / stamina when i level?


basically i want to be a ninja going around stabbing people in the back with no one ever seeing me, i guess having archery as a backup

any and all advice is welcome, thanks in advance

My assassin type character started off using bows for all sneak attacks. Its a pretty good way to level up archery and sneak. When they got close I would go duel weapons on them(Not daggers). I dont see a point in using daggers over swords, axes or hammers unless you are going for the assassination.

Also in the same boat here. any tips?

Can we also talk about light armor over heavy here? i know ppl are saying heavy is to loud to sneak, but i don't see anywhere, where it says heavy armor creates more sound when moving then light armor, and I'm the kind of player where if its not mentioned in game, they didn't put it in. AND THEN heavy armor has a perk where it reduces sound by 50% So I understand there is sound, so am i just suppose to guess at the diff lvls of sound for each armor? a number, or some thing would really help me decide if Heavy with that perk, would put it close to, better, or just a little louder then light armor.

I tell yea, I think I'm gona go heavy armor assassin.... .. . . .

heavy armor has no perk for itself to reduce sound by 50% its reduce fall damage

Lockpicking - no, you don't need perks in it. I'm the same as your warrior on my thief, can do master locks with no perks.

I'd definitely recommend a bow/sneak build. I went with bow and 2hand but i've barely used my 2hand - bows that good. Sneak sniping people is cool, and with the bow perks to be able to run while drawing etc, you don't even need to change to melee at all. I just side-step and sprint around shooting things. Thats if you even get detected. If you really don't want to be you can just stealth kill everything except dragons basically.

I'd recommend pickpocket too, as it's easy to level, has good perks like +100 carry weight and can pickpocket weapons and armour people are wearing. Just make sure you join the thiefs guild and unlock the fences early, or your house will be overflowing with crap you can't sell fast enough like me hehe. Pickpocket also has the benefit of levelling you up quite a bit without strengthening your character if you know what I mean. I see that as a benefit anyway as it makes the game more challenging. Bow/sneak is so strong that you'll probably need to play it on highest difficulty and with little tricks like that to keep it nice and hard. If you like a challenge like I do anyway.

So in summary - Archery, Sneak, Light Armour, Pickpocket and some type of melee skill are all you really need. I went Wood Elf, but really any race works after a few levels. If one has a racial you like then take that as a lot of the thief "races" have crappy racials imo. The furry one of seeing at night might be useful, haven't tried it.

My assassin/thief character is fun

It took a while to get to this point but right now, my character wields no weapons.. he conjures up a pair of swords or a bow when it's needed (and looks like a badass when doing so )
I used a bit of illusion magic early on, like muffle to aid me in my sneaky ways.. I use light armour mixed with regular cloth for some magicka upgrades, my other perks are mostly in stealth.. alchemy and lockpicking
By no means an 'optimal' build but i've had no issues playing this way, and spreading my levelup stats across all 3 options to maintain whats needed.. archery perks helped alot

Have fun with your sneaky assassin.. it's fun

Sneak + 1 hand + Archery here.

I tend to switch between the bow and the dagger depending on the situation. If there are multiple targets in one room, I'll use the bow, if there's only one, I'll use my dagger to assassinate as it's quieter and saves on arrows. Sometimes I use my bow to cause a diversion, which will send enemies looking in the wrong direction so I can sneak up behind them and backstab. Backstab does a lot more damage than a bow shot for me with my 15x sneak attack bonus.

The most important skill is Sneak, as that is what allows you to pick your targets tactically, and I hear at higher levels of sneak, you're virtually undetectable so can just backstab everyone in the room.

Also, because I'm also levelling 1handed, if I do get caught, I switch to dual swords and buzzsaw them to death, though I prefer not to, it's too messy and gets blood all over my Batman armor.

Yes, getting perks in Lockpicking is worthless, but I pick so many locks I can't help levelling it.

are dual wielding swords good? the idea of being all fast and with light armor with 2 derdric swords sounds beyond awesome

Dual wielding anything is always 100% more awesome, just ask John Woo.

Generally though, I only use the dual swords when I've been spotted, and I just frantically mash the buttons till they die. It's my fallback. I have put a lot of perks into it though, so I hit pretty hard.

Drawbacks would be fighting NPCs with shields, getting your power attack blocked is annoying, and you can't block when you dual wield, so it's generally a race to kill him before he kills you.

is there a downside of having dual wield vs just one?

Ah yes, I edited my post as you were posting... You can't block, so you just have to attack attack attack and hope they die.

blocking is for pansies lol. ...so you dont get a damage or attack speed decrease for 2?

I'm honestly not sure, you do get a slight damage reduction I think, but nothing massive, and I've not seen any issues with attack speed. Holding down left and right at the same time to do a power attack turns you into a whirling tornado of knives. The attack speed is dependent upon the weapon, from fastest to slowest Daggers, Swords, Axes, Maces. I find the damage of swords outweighs the slightly slower attack speed. Daggers do almost no damage unless you use them in a sneak attack.

The only class that will give you a challenge is mage. My thief 1 hits EVERYTHING with sneak attacks. The only monsters that actually get a chance to hit me are roaming elder-ancient dragons.

I despise mages... Why do they have so much health?!

Also, have you ever managed to backstab a wisp mother?

Yeah Sneak is insane. People are saying it's been toned down since the previous games but i'm not sure I agree. Mines at 76 and I can basically stand 2m away from someone in a well-lit room with them facing directly towards me and they're clueless. A well-lit room but not broad daylight, maybe that's what they toned down. Need to use the shaddows etc a bit there, but it's still amazing. I basically can't be detected until they literally walk into me after they're already alerted (after I shot their colleague for example). And when they look for me I can just stay where I am and pick them off 1 by 1. Unless I feel like levelling Archery a little more and not killing everything in one hit. Then it's lots of sprinting and dodging hehe.

It's pretty funny when a couple of people are sitting at a table and you one-shot one through the throat and the other person says, "What was that? Is someone there?" proceeds to look for you for a bit, then sits back down across from their dead friend and says, "Hmmm, I must be hearing things." Or you shoot a particularly strong mob in the face and they look for you for a while and then sit back down with an arrow in their forehead and say, "I'm hearing things again." Lol. My current Glass Bow does 72 damage with just Steel Arrows and a Sneak attack makes that 216 damage. I still use Steel Arrows as I have hundreds of them and am saving the Dwarven, Ebony and Elven ones for when I need them. Eventually i'd like to Enchant a full set of Armour and Jewellery with all +Archery Damage, but it's hardly necessary at this point, pluss my Enchanting svcks. But i'm saving my Grand Soul Gems!

That's another reason I highly recommend Pickpocket - arrows. Just about every guard carries 10-20 arrows and you can pretty much build up an unlimited supply. Along with the perk that lets you retrieve double arrows from dead enemies. But you don't even need that if you take Pickpocket, apart from to get to the Ranger perk. I think without Pickpocket I would of run out of arrows or been forced to buy them (perish the thought!). Or atleast early on anyhow.

Enjoy your Assassin! Next time I play i'm going to join the Assassin's Guild as i've almost completed the Thief's Guild quests

I use my trusty Khajiit ( I think my Favorite Race in there is ). I really love this character. My first real character of me experiance of Skyrim and cant get enough of him. He is highly skilled in Destruction, 1h weapons, sneak, lockpicking. And slowly working on Light armor, pickpocketing, conjuration, block. I switch on and off with my magic combat and my physical combat. I use sword and shield sometimes and destruction magic the other time. Works really well and keeps Raksada well balance and interesting. And I also suffer from Restartidis and I highly recommend this character because we actually have a bond I dont think will ever be broken

for leveling, whats the balance between health/stam? i assume nothing in magic

I have nearly 200% sneak bonus increase on my armor + the muffle spell. I've walked up to a dragon priest's face without being detected. I literally have to bump into an NPC or attack it to be detected in this game.

o and also, smithing or enchanting for uping your gear?

I have a question about sneaking and Heavy Armor. Obviously Light Armor is more effective than Heavy for sneaking around. However, what about once you include either the Conditioning Perk (Heavy Armor weighs nothing and doesn't slow you down when worn), or the Steed Guardian Stone (Same effect). Does it then make it equal to sneaking naked, or would you still be less effective in sneaking? Would be nice if anybody could confirm on this somehow.

Don't you need daggers for the backstab/one hit kills?

Talents, roughly level 35(ish)

• Sneak: All talents
  
• Archery: All of left side up to Quick Shot.
  
• Light Armor: Agile Defender 5/5, Custom Fit, Unhindered
  
• One Handed: Armsman 5/5, Dual Flurry 2/2, Dual Savagery

Sneak and Archery were the first two I focused on, using Light Armor, and One Handed as fillers. Once 25 hit, and sneak was full I started to really get into DW daggers. Having 5/5 (even 4/5) sneak makes getting up to people with daggers a breeze. The x15 damage is insane.

Misc

• Stone: The Serpent
  
• Most Used Powers: Dash Shout, DW Swing Speed Shout, The Serpent Active
  
• Bow Enchant: Fire
  
• Dagger Enchants: Life Steal

All in all I am happy with this kit for an assassin. It works well on Master, although a little rough in the 10-20 levels.

EDIT: Stam up to 150, rest in health. No need for lock picking perks, just get yourself a few "% increased lock picking" items until you fill out your combat stuff. After they are filled Id look into putting points into Alchemy, Pick Pockets, Black Smithing, and Enchanting. In whatever order suits you.

Depends if you're going Archery Thief or Melee. Or both.

If Melee i'd assume you basically need no Stamina other than for the odd Power Attack, as somebody else suggested 150 i'd agree with that. If Archery you do want some Stamina as the Zooming Perk and the Slow Time while Zooming Perk absolutely rule, and sometimes you do a fair bit of that to avoid blows or hit fast moving enemies. Zooming uses a fair bit of Stamina, it drains away while you stay Zoomed In.

To give you an idea my Stamina is at 180, so I put 8 lvls into it. I probably wont go higher than 200, as I rarely run out of Stamina now while Zooming. My health is 340 and my Magicka is 100.