Make 100 health potions. Own everything.

Why would you join the Companions as a thief/assassin? The Companions are all about being a big, hulky warrior.

The trick I use is to shoot the farthest mob or shoot an arrow behind them so they go look. It gives me more time to deal with them. I have about the same skill set as OP except I leveled smithing and have started on enchanting too.

I'm a rogue/assassin but I use a light-weight shield, I tried dual weapons at the beginning and without a great armor it is not really suited for rogues.
With a good light shield you are still silent can defend urself against 5-7 enemies and deal great damage to them with the bash and ur one-handed weapon. However I got a great sword (frost damage + frozen bite wich can froze an enemie for 2 secs) .
Assassination works well with a sword but u can switch to dagger to take down an enemi then switch back to shield and sword when u aggro his foes.
I use to slay dongeons with my bow but I didn't maxed my skills so it is a bit weak now.
You can also sneak behind your enemie then change weapon just before attacking (masse backstab is awesome !!).


About the companion it is not a real problem , usually those who can't be told to stay put are immortals and if they got detected u are still concealed in the dark, just walk foward they'll catch up with u later.

Get the clue?

relying on bows was your first problem
focusing on lockpicking was your second
not backstabbing was your third
light armor doesnt matter you should not be going toe to toe

Your a sneak 'class', and u have issue with having 12 x sneak attack bonus + x2 with a double blow ?
6 x from backstab perk (even more with dagger 15 x), double with DBH gloves , and dual wielding double blow = usually takes away atleast 1/4 of a 'boss' health then u dont even need shadow warrior u just sprint back behind a pillar and sneak again until your hidden again (with shadow warrior it just makes it much easier)
So rince & repeat two more times = profit.

And if you really have issues with that, probably is because you leveled crafting skills or 'non combat' skill too much compared to your combat.

I use the full set from dark brotherhood. I got the 15x dmg perk from sneak.
The thing is when I get detected I cant do much or vs more enemies. I guess it's because I don't have any magic stuff levelled.

On that quest, I'm pretty sure Farkas can kill just about everything by himself.

This is why youre having trouble.

The level scaling is garbage and ruins the game for anyone who doesnt focus on combat skills.

Archery. Archery. Archery. Archery.

That is all.

And I hate to say this, but don't waste time on speech. This is not New Vegas, and, as expected, speech is pretty useless. http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1024&bih=653&tbm=isch&tbnid=OUbCTBvHHCv95M:&imgrefurl=http://goldencoathanger.com/2010/12/11/marvel-i-am-dissapoint/&docid=x8Ck1kViZbNCxM&imgurl=http://juliewashere88.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/magneto_is_sad.jpg%253Fw%253D500%2526h%253D352&w=500&h=254&ei=5wDITuCLAYjl0QGWifED&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=586&vpy=283&dur=198&hovh=160&hovw=315&tx=230&ty=126&sig=107872295370411723837&page=3&tbnh=127&tbnw=178&start=34&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:34

Why? I love speech as I can invest into shops and I can sell stolen goods to them and sell any item to any shop, instead of only weapons to blacksmiths..

K.... heres the deal.... when you play a non-combat class the scaled NPC's will out-class you....some times sneak fails you ( especially in the daytime out in the world)

You HAVE to make a point of balanceing our combat skills.... with your more passive/stealth skills...

I'm like you man... playing a stealth charecter....and was goin thru waht you are now.... once you start gettin your combat stuff up and get the damage multiplyer perks you'll be ok : )

I am an assassin/thief as well, and I feel overpowered. (default difficulty)

I'm a sneaky assassin type an i level light armor and sneak and bows and one handed and i pwn

Get the shadow warrior perk and you can toe to toe anything that isn't a dragon.

It honestly is the most overpowered ability there is.

Alchemy coupled with sneak character is quite nice. That and complete one of the guild questlines for nice gear .


I'm nicely set up now as a thief/assassin character with lots of self made paralysis poisons (12 second paralyze) and invisibility potions (50 seconds).

I can sneak behind a giant and kill it in one single hit from my dagger when I put poison on it . Sure, I get completely destroyed if I go toe to toe but that's granted for thieves.

Use the good old hit and run style and conjuration. it gives you time to escape and go to stealht again. then for the next enemy. I use this tactic on my heavyarmor1handedconjure-destroyerresrtorer. Actually works so well that my heavy armor skill is very low since I hardly never take damage.
And for the low 1hand skill or low archery skill: go to the dungeons you've already cleared. Enemies should be the same level when you originally killed them meaning they are easy. And of course as you know you can buy skillups from certain npcs like Aela.

Oh and remember to use potions. And enchanting. Especially on your armor. 100 extra live points is quite nice.

I had the same problem I had used bow and 2h and another character with bow and just one sword, both fealt very underpowered I ended up making a new guy and use a bow and also sword and shield, the shield is making all the difference I can now finally enjoy the game and wen I die I feel like its my fault not the games

A 29 second paralysis potion does the trick.

Companions can be useful for stealthers too...I use mine to lure the enemy into a spot I can sneak-attack more easily. Also, I'm not a tank So it's good for companion to get enemy's attention first.

Archery will fix everything.