Top 10 Skills In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
In Skyrim, it is essential to pick which skill trees to grace carefully, as you will probably only ever get 50 or so points to allocate. So here are the top 10 skills for the best/most fun gameplay!Probably a skill I have in all of my accounts and builds I make! It is very versatile as well as powerful. If you invest in all 5 Armsman points, you can deal massive damage to any opponent and probably be the most versatile person in battle. One-handed allows for the use of other great skills like Destruction, Block, and my personal favorite combo skill, Restoration.
One-handed weapons swing faster than two-handed weapons by default, and daggers are the fastest of them all.
Make a Dragonbone dagger, use the "Elemental Fury" shout, and watch as your enemies fall to blows that happen so fast they can't yell, "Hey, watch it!" as they die.
When you have 100 Sneak, you've beaten half the game, no questions asked. You can literally walk past any enemy, and the damage bonuses you get are overpowered. Daggers become like 3x stronger than most weapons you'll come across in the first half of the game.
If you combine this with Pickpocketing, you'll be overpowered. This is the best skill for a thief or assassin, and I can't recommend investing time into it enough.
If you play stealthily, this is the skill for you! (Or if you want to pickpocket an item instead of killing someone in a quest, lol.)
Regardless of whether you go warrior, mage, or magic knight, you need ranged moves that don't rely on your Magicka.
Very handy if you have melee-oriented followers, since you can stay behind them and let loose.
Archery is very important in Skyrim because the dragons are most likely going to try to stay away from you and spam shouts. Plus, who doesn't like the slow-motion stealth kills?
Since this is in Skyrim and not the TES series altogether, I'm voting Archery. This is because the archery system in Skyrim is extremely immersive. But overall, for the games, I would say one-handed.
Nothing quite like the mischievous fun of systematically looting a random peasant and then just walking off.
Taking people's keys for their houses? Yes, please.
While it's not as good as Heavy Armor (in my humble opinion), it's still helpful in situations where speed is more important than tankiness.
Granted, once you get the "Conditioning" perk in Heavy Armor, it's a moot point, but this skill shouldn't be overlooked. If nothing else, it's some easy leveling if you let a bandit attack, as long as you watch your health.
Sure, Heavy Armor with the right perks can render this useless. But Light Armor with the right perks can render even Daedric Armor useless. Plus, the Dragonscale looks badass.
I have level 100 Enchanting. One day, I decided to create some dragon scale destruction magic armor. After creating it, I was toying around with some spells and suddenly realized I was casting destruction spells and the Magicka bar wasn't showing up.
That is because the destruction enchantments I used combine to make the suit use 100% less Magicka when casting destruction spells. So now I can cast any destruction spell I want with no cost at all, no matter what level I am in Destruction.
Enchanting is by far the most useful skill. You are invincible if you are good at enchanting, and I think Smithing comes in a close second place.
The only limiting factor is that it's tied to your Magicka. Other than that, it's your jack-of-all-trades combat magic:
Fire = Damage over time, a nice "go-to" element, and it's the easiest to level. It's ideal for taking out "rogue"-type enemies since they generally have lighter armor. The damage over time has a greater effect and still happens even if they go invisible.
Frost = Damage to Health and Stamina. This is ideal for taking out "warrior"-type enemies since you stop their power attacks and, with the more powerful versions, slow their advance, buying you time to make your next move.
Shock = Damage to Health and half that to Magicka. This is ideal for taking out "mage"-type enemies since you take the biggest weakness of magic and use it against them, opening them up to other attacks.
As a whole, Destruction magic is a Magicka-guzzler, so unless you have an enormous amount of Magicka (or a million Magicka potions), it's generally better to open up attacks with Destruction and then follow up with more traditional melee attacks.
Even if you abhor magic, get Fire Bolt, Ice Spike, and Lightning Bolt:
- relatively cheap to cast
- reasonable damage to enemies
- combines with the "Impact" perk to knock enemies back
Regardless, make sure you can aim well since a missed spell still costs Magicka. Be mindful when using Destruction in a village or town, or the bounty on you will add up faster than you can say "FUS-RO-DAH!"
It may be slower than one-handed, but it is absolutely devastating, even more so when you level it up. The slowness of the weapon is no problem because NPCs don't really block when they should, and you can still do plenty of damage when they are blocking.
Who doesn't want to go around as a tank and destroy everything with the weapons with the highest attack ratings?
Nothing is better than decapitating guards with a greatsword.
Easy to level if you have the materials. Being able to make Plate armor at level 13 makes you practically untouchable since, while enemies scale to your level, their equipment does not.
This in turn allows you to stand there in safety to take a few blows (leveling up your Heavy or Light armor skills, depending) or just hold the block button (leveling up your Block skill).
Even better, with the Arcane Smithing perk, you can now upgrade weapons and armor that are enchanted. A lot of the best equipment in the game you either find enchanted, or you'll want to put enchantments on yourself.
So basically, leveling Smithing will almost directly level Heavy and Light armor, One-Handed and Two-Handed (better weapons = more damage = faster skill leveling), Enchanting, and Block.
That's 7 skills for the price of a bajillion iron daggers. (CHEAP!)
He does all the dirty work, and you come in for the final blow. It's like having a second follower. Why learn Destruction spells when you can have someone else do them for you? Also, conjuring Dremora - who doesn't want to do that?
Spamming Soul Trap on a corpse to level up Conjuration to 50 quickly and summoning expert-level summons afterward can be a way to level up almost as quickly as Smithing. I wouldn't recommend it, though.
This makes playing the game on legendary much easier. At 100, you can have two permanent summons.
Alchemy ties with Enchanting for the most useful skill. The route to power in Skyrim is understanding that effects stack. Once you have acquired items with Fortify Alchemy, this skill becomes a beast.
High-level alchemists equipped with a full suit of enchanted gear can craft potions in mass quantities that sell for thousands of dollars and can essentially make you the master of any trade. Potions can make your Smithing 150% more powerful, your Destruction magic stronger, your Sneaking better, or... you get the idea.
Alchemy is also easy to level. The key is to purchase every ingredient in shops, pick every flower and butterfly you see, and grind out those potions.
The advantage/disadvantage between Heavy and Light armor is very much what you would expect. Heavy offers greater protection but slower movement. Light offers lesser protection but faster movement.
However, Heavy armor has the perk "Conditioning," which removes any speed or Stamina penalty. That alone makes Heavy armor the superior choice.
Light armor is better for Sneaking, yes, but if you're wearing Heavy armor, you're not bothering with Sneaking in the first place. The only real change is going from a tank that can go 20 mph to a tank that can go 50 mph.
All the benefits, but now you can slay your enemies even faster.
This may very well be the hardest skill to level up and possibly the most expensive (next to Smithing, Alchemy, and Enchanting). You're going to have to buy items if you can't obtain them otherwise due to scarcity or lack of time. Plus, it's a great way to make a little extra money with all the potions and enchanted weapons that you're blessing the lands of Skyrim with.
If you have high enough Speech, you can kill someone in the middle of a town, tell the guards you didn't do it, and they'll believe you. It's hilarious.
It doesn't matter who you are or how powerful your build is if you're dead because of low Health.
It can be perked to restore Stamina, which greatly aids Block for infinite shield-bashing. Plus, infinite sprinting is utilitarian perfection.
An easy-to-miss perk with two ranks improves your Magicka regeneration by 50%, which stacks with any other Magicka regeneration you may have. This means more healing and more Stamina regeneration, which means more baddies dead and you not dead.
And if that wasn't enough, there's another perk that effectively saves your life for free with only a minute-or-so cooldown.
So on the off-chance you nearly bite the dust, you come back from the brink, ready to finish the fight.
Even the edgiest red-and-black lone-wolf wannabe would be remiss not to have this skill.
If you want to get really good treasure or fight Karstaag, you need better Lockpicking!
In terms of shields, I would only use the Spellbreaker for its amazing ability to double as a ward. I use it to obliterate ancient dragons.
Block is so easily ignored, but it is incredibly useful. It can save your life and eventually be used as a weapon!
Imagine never taking melee damage from any foe unless you are staggered.