I have accumulated alot of perk points, but am too afraid to spend them.

I figured I would start this thread as a discussion for all types of builds, stealth, warrior, mage, etc.

Since my character is an all purpose build, doing anything and everything.

What are the perks that are simply too great to miss, and why do you think so?

So far, I have found the dual casting perks to be too great to miss, as well as eagle eye for archery, and steady hand.

It would be crazy to miss them.

All purpose build right? Then invest in Smithing, Enchanting, Alchemy. Then put every thing else into one handed, slo-mo for archery, a couple into sneak, rest into the necromancy side of conjuration and most of Illusion (dual casting is a must). If any are left over invest them into destruction and if by any chance you have at least three left over get necromage in restoration.

This makes for an ultimate class I call the "chosen"

assassin's blade, deadly aim and backstab for assassins
quick reflexes, elemental protection, shield charge and respite for one handed warrior
quiet casting for assassin mages

Depends entirely on roleplay and build, IMO.
I'd consider the first perk in the Restoration tree very useful - you can cast the basic healing spell for almost no magicka. Very handy in boss fights.

Sounds awesome, but which perks, specifically? Could you name the favorite ones you had in mind?

I was considering the perks in light and heavy armor which grant the bonuses to armor. Those seems difficult to want to pass up.

I have no interest in taking any smithing perks aside from the one which allows you to improve enchanted items. I wouldn't mind improving artifact / rare quesst reward /unique items.

As for creating gear, that takes away from the fun of finding and looting weapons and armor.

Everything you can create, can be found. So I see no point in taking perks to create types of gear.

As for other perks, I am clueless as to what I want.

I am interested in everything.

None ...

I've been playing permanent level 1 with no perks and don't miss them at all ...

To be honest I don't think there are any "necessary" perks. No matter what you choose you can be successful. It also depends on how you are role-playing or building your character.

I usually just put perks that fit my character and his style. My Assassin Archer was simple, I put every perk into Sneak, Light Armour, and Archery. I just completely mastered the entire trees to show I was a master of stealth, light armour and of the bow. I also added a few to One-handed for cutting throats with my single dagger. My next target would of been Alchemy but I never needed to.

My Warrior was simple too: One-handed, Block, and Light Armour. And my mage is just aiming to master all five schools of magic, possibly Enchanting later on as well.

If you want to make an ultimate god-like character I'd say put perks into Alchemy, Enchanting and Smithing. I haven't actually tried this but I've read a lot about a combination of these skills will make you overpowered.

But if you're like me just pick what fits your characters style. I do have a hard time deciding on what to put perk points in first though. My Mage is at level 5 and hasn't even put a single perk in. I might put a perk into each school of magic at first.

Oh if you don't like crafting then it makes building your character that more easy. Put points into the regenerate magicka side of restoration as well as avoid death if you can. Put however many you want or need in archery just make sure you have the slo-mo perk. Pump in Skill points into the one/two handed damage. Upgrade illusion preferably up to the silent casting and aspect of rage as well as dual cast. The rest is up to you. Just make sure you avoid those "cost reduction" perks In the mage tree, they're loose ends.

Indeed it does. Hitting the armor rating cap is very simple by putting perks into the crafting skills, as is smithing monstrous one-hitting-everything weapons.
And as if that weren't enough, you can have double enchantments on gear and weapons, and brew potions fit for the Divines too.

If you just want perks that are powerful, then these three schools are a sure bet for power.

Extra pockets is useful for the 100 extra pounds you get.

I start my builds thinking about two things; Offense and Defense.

Most of this game is combat based so unless I plan on having a follower the whole game whatever I pick needs to be my highest skills but if you have so many perks points that you dont know what to do with then you either boosted yourself into a bad situation or you have been doing just fine without using much combat. Either way if you dont need combat perks nothing else is must have.

Smithing, Alchemy and Enchanting aren't really nessessary for any build.

Speech and lockpicking perks are almost usless you max them out.

Pickpocket sneak and illusion is really mor for RP pupouses and can make your guy OP.

I totally agree. Extra pockets is fantastic.

Other than impact for a dedicated destruction mage and assassins blade for a dedicated thief none of the perks are necessary. Impact and assassins blade make characters that are otherwise terrible at combat insanely deadly and are very important for a pure mage and thief. As for all other perks anything that you can get in a given tree can be achieved through crafting and likewise. That means you can spend perks without fear that your gimping your character. If you can deal damage, prevent damage and heal damage I really think you have all your bases covered. Between perks and shouts you have so many tools at your disposal that almost no perk is critical and you shouldn't hoard perks. Just spend perks in skills you use all the time and you will be fine or to make up for shortfalls.

For me it's Respite. Your spellsword or battle-mage never has to level up stamina again.

It's probably more important to have focused leveling rather than spreading out your skills. Perks do help, yes, but making sure you can keep up with the scaling of the enemies is more so. Unless you WANT to make things harder for yourself, do the following:

1 - Find out which trees you like, No point in playing the character for "uber" if you find it boring. Use what you find fun.
2 - The above is NEVER lockpicking. If you thought it was, slap yourself. Pick locks as rarely as possible - it's just not worth it, really. If yer a thief, start pickpocketing keys as soon as you can.
3 - Don't worry about leveling speech. Unlike lockpicking, speech is actually somewhat useful. Just don't throw any perks into it unless you're going for a merchant build (in which case, yer probably Smithing, Alchemy, Enchanting, Speech focused)
4 - Only invest perks into things you use. It doesn't matter how uber it is, if you never raise dead anyways, why waste perks into it? Or if you do, but don't use, say, 2-handed weapons, don't bother spending perks into them.

All and all, invest into what you actually use. Almost every perk can be useful (though yes, there are exceptions), so long as you're making use of it.



As for general perks... I will always suggest investing five perks into alteration: Novice Alteration, Apprentice Alteration, and all three levels into magic resist. Only time NOT to do that is if you're a Breton, in which case only spend two points, since the third will be wasted. Magic resist helps a whole heck of a lot, and IMO is a must-get perk. If you want a must-get offensive one from me... well, you'll need to tell me how you fight. :/

Only perk I get every time (and I might not bother with a mage) is Arcane Blacksmith.

edit: Oh, and Steel Smithing since I have to take that to get Arcane Blacksmith.

In every TES game, I have never liked playing "one build."

Each game is so incredibly massive, that it never made sense to me, to role multiple characters, cluttering up an already huge game.

I always role one ultimate character, for one amazing playthrough, after a few test characters.

I go for the max level, max in all skills, and I do not pick one build, or specialty.

I want the entire game.

I wear heavy armor, light armor, regular clothes... I enjoy archery, melee, casting, and stealth/daggers/assassination.

I have a goal to select all the best perks from each skill tree, skipping over the useless ones.

I'm the opposite - my 'god build' is my first, and then I branch out into 'proper' builds later on. Honestly, I find 'proper' builds far tore enjoyable than a god character - I say proper since a god character doesn't really conform to any build. It's also more appropriate for a roleplay - my thief wouldn't have the strength nor desire to lift a greatsword, and my Mage wouldnt have any desire to pick someones pockets.

I don't think my characters inTES qualify for the title of 'god' builds.

More like 'smart' builds.

I never want to miss out on anything TES has to offer.

Of course I realize that I cannot have every perk, unless I cheat through the console, but I would still love to see which perks are everyone's favorites, and then figure out which perks I want to go for.

I mainly want to see if I can get all the best perks in one character.

I enjoy the bash perks on the Block tree. Also Deadly Reflexes can be lots of fun. Nothing like dancing around an angry bear.

I really want to have all of the unique animation perks.

For example, deadly strike.

You sprint, and at the same time as you're sprinting, you perform a power attack.

With this perk, it causes you to actually jump into the air, and strike.

Just like in fallout 3, the cannibal perk gave a unique animation to actually crouch down and devour corpses.

I never really needed the perk, but I took it just to see the animation.

I want all of the animation perks in skyrim, but it is difficult to tell which ones they are.

Like for instance, "backstab" in the sneak tree.

Do you actually see a unique backstab, after choosing the perk, or is that just what it is called?

The perk description is not specific..

Does anyone know all of the perks which give unique animations?

Bump.

This - that basic Restoration one is about the only perk which is useful to all builds. Well, almost: I've played a character who refused to cast any spells. You can get through without any perks in Speechcraft, Enchanting or Alchemy (alchemy is useless except as a money-pump anyway). The other perks are entirely used-skill related: Juggernaut for Heavy characters etc. For melee fighters you will always want the general armour perk, and the general weapon perk for your prefered killing tools. Many of the more specific ones aren't a lot of use excpet to get more useful higher ones (which is why I modded the game to remove most of the dependencies).

If your playing the game in Master. Conjuration is a must have. It will save your butt many times believe me.

Perks seem to fall into several categories. There are the no-brainer perks. For example, I think perks that improve your favorite armor and weapons by 20% each tick are no-brainers (unless of course you don't use weapons or armor). There are the easily skipped perks, like everything in the lockpicking tree. These don't give you anything truly useful, and perk points are too scarce to waste frivolously. Then there are the perks that give you new abilities, like zooming for archery or silent rolls for sneak. I tend to go for these as well, since they improve the versatility of my character so much.

A lot depends on what you're going for. I like focused characters, and I go as far as saving before reading an unknown skill book, so I can backpedal if I get a bump in a skill I don't want to improve. My current character will not touch destruction, illusion or alchemy. However, my previous character leveled destruction far enough to buff the elemental damage of enchanted weapons. The perks there were a must for that character, while the current one will ignore them.