The problem I have is whenever engaging in toe to toe combat, its always a struggle. I have illusion and alchemy but Alchemy is such a slow leveler and I refuse to exploit or just make giants toe and wheat. So im thinking this:

One handed
Sneak
Light armor
Archery
Alteration
Illusion
Conjuration
Enchanting

Thoughts?

All of My Conjurationists and Necromancers begin by Casting Oakflesh, Casting Bound Sword, and being aggressive.

I invest into Novice Alteration at level Two.

I invest into Novice Conjuration at level Three.

I invest in One Handed if I can place a perk for levels 4,5, and 6

At level ten, I begin to have Extra Perks. I can begin using Illusion and "aquiring" the Bound Bow Spell Tome (I have never purchased the Spell Tome, ever).

My characters that follow this route place the first ten level ups into Health, and I know from experience I never need to actually invest anything into Magicka if I invest into Cost Reduction Perks, and rely on Quest Rewards for a Magicka Pool.

I do not use Armor because Robes have better benefits for the Playstyle I use. Robes do not rob Stamina like Armor, Bound Weapons are Wieghtless. There is a set of Hide Boots hidden near a Forsworn Camp that have Muffle and Inreased Stamina Regeneration as an Enchantment.

Sweet thanks for the tips. Are there any gloves/gauntlets or boots that go with mage robes?

Yours is clearly the type of lineup that ends up being extremely fun in the endgame, but a real pain early-to-mid. Capping Enchanting is a must, but imho your priority should be skilling Illusion and unlock Quiet Casting as soon as possible, no matter if you're going to use Illusion for stealth or mind-control.

Favored shout should be FUS, so you open up enemies for close strikes without fear of retaliation.

It's funny, because yours looks a lot like my latest idea for a character.

Any crafting proffesion for an Assassin except Alchemy,purely for the poisons(RP) is a waste of time.

Illusion you can get at the end ,after you finished the essential one hand ,archery, sneak and light armor skills.

Alteration is useless.

Enchanting is absolutely useless and a waste of time and it only makes the game dull,because you become overpowered.The same goes for smithing.

All other points should go at random usefull skills in pickpocketing,speech,etc...

Conjuration is for wizards,mages,necromancers,etc .wtf man?

If you don't wanna have problems in toe to toe,make sure to always have one handed up to par and level up health.Never level up mana with assassin,except if you wanna have the invisibility from Illussion that much,just enough mana to be able to cast 1 at a time.

Just one word: perks.

Even if you strictly only get the important ones, you won't master half of those skills before you're over level 50.

So during most of your gameplay, only a few of the skills you mentioned will be effectively part of your character's build.

Make Illusion and Sneak your top priorities. With a fully decked out Illusion tree at level 100 and the 5/5 sneak along with the perks up the right side, your enemy will be dead before they hit the floor and will never hear you coming.

Thanks. I'm not choosing alchemy because of the fortify archery glitch when using that potion, and archery is a main for me. I'm just debating whether or not to use light armor, but theres no good unenchanted light armor that fits an assassin.

You might even consider going cloth. Once you're able to cast silently, you can just power up with oakflesh spells before every fight without alerting enemies.

Personally i find the idea of a guy in a robe with a bow severely cool.

Yeah, the only problem is that the robes are already enchanted. Is it possible to be an efficeint rogue/assassin without enchanting, smithing, or alchemy? Like, someone who can stand toe to toe with enemies?

Well, i've done an unusual assassin (or perhaps rather ranger) character this time. Smithing, Marksman, Light Armor, Sneak, Conjuration. Get the enemies with a sneak attack with an improved bow, when they get too close, attempt to stay hidden, if they notice me, summon back up and run away

Usually i use alchemy instead of smithing, and one-handed weapons instead of conjuration, making the playstyle somewhat different, but this sniper is proving quite fun too. Alchemy especially is good for the poisons you can make, they give major help when going against dragons that you usually can't sneak attack and cant hide from when they notice you. Though you can pull them near other enemies and have them fight it out

I've never much liked Illusion with a sneaky character, especially when alchemy provides Fury effect too. Conjuration though is handy for backup when things go wrong, and Bound Bow when you want to take a difficult shot, but don't want to waste good arrows for the misses, or against enemies from which arrows just bounce off. Also the perk for automatic Soul Trapping with Bound Weapons is handy to have.


Well, i'd say they are not supposed to stand toe to toe with enemies. They fight dirty. Sneak attacks, poisons, distractions With my usual assassin build, when a Bandit Marauder sees me i use paralysis poison on him and kill him before he recovers :trollface:

But, realistically, could an assassin or ranger smith weapons up to ebony and such? Thats where my realism comes in.

If you're asking me, you're asking the wrong person. When it comes to games and how i play them, i require that they screw realism But i'm going with the light side of smithing tree, so she'll have elven, nordic carved, glass, and eventually dragonbone weapons.

Which potion? trueshot?! ... or something?

Alchemy is only used for poison and health.All other potions are for making money= selling.

But wouldn't a true shot potion be used for damage for me?