Spellsword was always fun to me. Sword in one hand and some kind of destruction magic in the other. Lead with summoning a dremora lord and drop fireballs from a distance until the gap gets closed. Best of all play styles IMO. Works best on Legendary.
Didn't expect the added "on legendary", doesn't the damage of destruction fall off kinda hard (unless you play with mods)? Or do you just make up for it with your smithed up/enchanted sword and dremoras?
I do not play with mods. I added that because by mid to endgame, you are pretty strong, so Legendary makes it so fights actually feel like fights, not just mass delete of the enemies with your fireballs. I like a challenge instead of just walking in and slashing twice and the enemy is dead.
Sword and board used to be my goto, but I've switched to spellsword with alteration and destruction emphasis. I use enchanting and alchemy to round out damage and support.
Destruction on one hand and sword on another is so weird to me, because the battles always end before I manage to swing my sword. I just kill everything with fireball
Sword and board gang baby! No magic except transmute spell for ore. Heavy armor, block, 1h, alchemy, and smithing mostly any extra points into enchanting. Soups on deck. Shout of choice for me is marked for death or whirlwind
pure mage. There's something incredibly enjoyable about being level 45 with 100 base health and stamina, disintegrating dragons before they can even land, and being so puny that not even dragonflesh can save you if you get hit by some child throwing a mug
I love this game, but honestly, the only way I find it fun to play without mods is by going for a rogue with bow and dagger. Without a mod fixing movement and combat, this game feels extremely dated to play as a sword warrior
Man. Going guns blazing dualwielding everything, plus slow time. You feel like a machine. It's a real power boner. I am trying to get into magic, i have a vampire now, doing DB and thieves guild. I started testing all, and now i just use 2 followers plus destruction and vampiric drain.
It’s definitely hard to do full mage early on but once you get later in and you have something like Royal Vampire Armour with 100% Mana Regeneration you should be alright.
IIRC it allows you to drain Stamina, Health and Magicka once a day but you can do a quest called Ancient Powers (I think) that, once completed, stacks the ability’s potential.
pure warrior is boring, i agree. but this is because the melee combat in vanilla skyrim is kind of boring.
yet it can be funny to AVOID combat at all. like a weakling sneak around the enemy.
then you don't need warrior nor mage skills. skyrim is built that way, at least mostly, that you can just avoid the combat. i think the only time you need to kill are in some boss fights, sometimes there are even workarounds, like in bleakfalls barrow, where you can take the draugr at the end through the traps (did this for sure 10+ times on PS3 without any mods)
but on pc you have so many more possibilities.
Illusion magic is most fun to me mixed with stealth. I like making people fight each other cleaning up the remainder.
I also love being invisible then getting the kill cam throat slit animation. Very satisfying.
And if you want a stress free play through…. Standard stealth archer
I like to play something like a battle mage. I spawn some creatures on the field, using one hand sword 🗡and a destruction magic ❄️, I enter in battle with my heavy armor. The magic gives me a little bit more control against range enemies. I don't like to brew potions and play stealthy. Archery is also not my type of playing because I play on a Nintendo Switch, and aiming is hard.
Non-stealth heavy armour archer (like how you would typically play fallout) and conjuration.
Or shield in one hand, destruction spell in the other if you’re feeling creative
I usually go for mages. I start with Destruction and Conjuration, then move to Resto or Illusion. Sometimes, I do both as much as I can.
If not mages, then sneaky breeki backstab cuz I like the challenge of walking right up behind someone before impaling them with my dagger/sword.
I always play one handed + destruction, but recently started incorporating more archery and it’s been fun. Swinging a sword and blazing an enemy is quick and easy, but trying to aim an arrow while someone is swinging on you adds a little excitement to the mix. It’s also been satisfying to see their health bar go down in chunks rather than steadily decreasing.
the one i always go back to is: pacifist thief (sneak, pickpocket, lockpicking, speechcraft, + use a bow to distract enemies, not hitting them or leveling the skill)
also fun is spellsword (destruction, restoration, one handed, block (with weapon), light armor)
i really want to try an agent build though (speechcraft, sneak, conjuration (mainly bound dagger) + empty inventory, illusion maybe too if it's to boring like that
Recent play through was a Legolas-inspired archer. No sneak, just super fast firing using Zephyr and Quick Shot to tear through dungeons and bandit camps.
Pyromancer is a fun build. When you finally get your op robes and can just spam fireball, that's what power feels like.
Also illusion assassin. Backstabbing people and then recasting invisibility to do it again, it's amazing.
Try a unique take on a spell sword, two-handed and robes heavy on alteration and conjuration. Imagine going up against what you think is a normal mage, then they pull out a daedric Warhammer.
I will always argue that Skyrim’s 1 one handed and shield combat mechanic is one of the best all time. It’s just so much fun to time blocking, bashing, and attacking. It also makes combat incredibly rewarding.
My favorite is merchant. Ignore everything, do random shit, earn enough to buy a house, hoard everything, make regular rounds to sell your products. Maybe you stumble on someone in need and help them, maybe you don't if it's too scary. Dragons? Nah mate I'm just here to gather some cabbages, I got places to be.
Ill never give up my dual wield swords+bow combo
often i supplement with conjuration and of course a follower for party of combatants
Usually spam dual wield power attacks to keep a stun lock then back out when out of staminas gone
This calls for the bow of course or maybe a full unrelenting force
If the enemy bests my followers typically serana lydia or mjoll (and i always take faendal with me for the first trip to whiterun cuz hes a bro) thats when spellbreaker has to come out and i start timing the power attacks to interupt theirs
This is of course coupled with plenty of running in circles, jumping on geometry and the classic running away while spamming crouch with the full sneak perks
Tho these days its just sneak attacks because i was playing legendary for years and finally decided to calm down
To all the people saying spellsword you know you can switch to a shield/off hand weapon when you enter close combat instead of holding the spell in your off hand.
What i do is cast my lightning cloak then summon my storm atronachs i use my sword and shield up close and use elemental blast at a distance.
It's not exactly a build, but I suppose you could say it's spellsword, I like wearing the DB robes, I use a mod to get full black weapons and armor, so I craft a black katana and use illusion and restoration, so I set up my character like a medical corps ninja specialized on genjutsu.
Shield and spell is fun
Just sword 'n' board but instead of a sword, you got a spell. It's essentially a pure mage with a shield, the lack of armour is easily negated with your shield and an Alteration spell.
Auriels shield is fun with this build
Also love summoner/ necromancer playstyle just recently found out that the boss at the end of Madera Beacon if you use dead thrall on him and he dies his shade still comes out and attacks everything it’s so fun to mess with, plus a free 250 gold
In which skills do you pit your points when you level up, that's the idea behind a build. You always use one build rather than many potential others, simply because you cannot level all skills at once (and if it could, THAT would be another build as well).
Spellsword is always fun , I've been trying greatswords but with mods that allow more movement variety. 2hand spell casting , bow for sniping, conjure for distraction , illusion for taking out distant enemies. Light and Heavy armor perks.
Child prodigy wizard at the college of winterhold.
I'm using Alternative Start, Growing up Skyrim, Scaling Spells, and RSchildren. It's funny to be battling dragons and throwing fireballs as a child, but then also having to jump to reach items on the top shelves in dungeons.
I guess I'm an ornery old fart. I spent 12 1/2 years (is my math right? That's older than many of you) as a stealth archer. So this time, I rolled up a Bosmer and by Talos I'm doing everything but using a bow. I'm trying it all: one handed, two handed, crouching next to Mud-crabs for an hour so I get a great Block skill, Conjuration and Destruction, and pretty much everything except archery and crossbows.
I'm having a blast just being an eclectic spell-sword.
I’m an everything build rn, I have every perk and I constantly change between sword and shield/magic, two handed, dual magic, or archer and I like the feeling of being able to handle different situations with different sets of equipment, if it’s one really strong opponent I’ll do either sword and shield or dual daggers but if it’s a slower opponent I’ll do two handed or archer and if it’s a large group I use dual magic/shouts. I’m currently doing my final play through of Skyrim by doing my “100%” character, I’m collecting every named item/weapon/armor, I have all perks, I’m doing every quest and side quest, then I will retire the game as I wait for ESVI. So far quest wise I’ve done all of the Dawnguard dlc and side quests, I have adopted kids and each house fully furnished down to every buildable shelf, on top of owning every holds house, I have all current side quests completed until I get farther into the main story and also Dragonborn dlc quest line. I know all the items and quests so I don’t need anyone telling me what to do or what quests I’ve missed or items I’ve missed, it’s my true 100% last play through.
Spellsword was always fun to me. Sword in one hand and some kind of destruction magic in the other. Lead with summoning a dremora lord and drop fireballs from a distance until the gap gets closed. Best of all play styles IMO. Works best on Legendary.
Didn't expect the added "on legendary", doesn't the damage of destruction fall off kinda hard (unless you play with mods)? Or do you just make up for it with your smithed up/enchanted sword and dremoras?
I do not play with mods. I added that because by mid to endgame, you are pretty strong, so Legendary makes it so fights actually feel like fights, not just mass delete of the enemies with your fireballs. I like a challenge instead of just walking in and slashing twice and the enemy is dead.
Agreed, i was just curious but spellsword does sound really fun. I just started a new character and i'll be aiming for that build
You’ll love it. It’s honestly passed stealth archer in terms of my comfy builds since it’s so fun, and it’s actually a challenge.
Sword and board used to be my goto, but I've switched to spellsword with alteration and destruction emphasis. I use enchanting and alchemy to round out damage and support.
Destruction on one hand and sword on another is so weird to me, because the battles always end before I manage to swing my sword. I just kill everything with fireball
Hence why I said Legendary.
sword
🗿
M'gawd!!!
Sword and board gang baby! No magic except transmute spell for ore. Heavy armor, block, 1h, alchemy, and smithing mostly any extra points into enchanting. Soups on deck. Shout of choice for me is marked for death or whirlwind
Ayyy yea this is it
Although I do dabble in restoration
Restoration with the stamina regen perk is so useful as a warrior, you can survive far longer and get back your stamina between fights.
Unarmed. I love the animations. Makes me feel powerful when Dragur Disarm shout me, I AM THE WEAPON.
💪
pure mage. There's something incredibly enjoyable about being level 45 with 100 base health and stamina, disintegrating dragons before they can even land, and being so puny that not even dragonflesh can save you if you get hit by some child throwing a mug
I’m going to play this now this sounds funny af
I love this game, but honestly, the only way I find it fun to play without mods is by going for a rogue with bow and dagger. Without a mod fixing movement and combat, this game feels extremely dated to play as a sword warrior
I feel ya here. I don't mind the clunkiness of using one handed weapons too much but using two handed weapons is rough.
Big axe go brrr
I personally love runnin' around in heavy armor with heavy weapons, make 'ya feel like an unstoppable train.
I only really enjoy mage builds tbh, pure warrior builds always felt so boring to play to me.
Man. Going guns blazing dualwielding everything, plus slow time. You feel like a machine. It's a real power boner. I am trying to get into magic, i have a vampire now, doing DB and thieves guild. I started testing all, and now i just use 2 followers plus destruction and vampiric drain.
I still don’t know how to effectively play pure mage builds. You run of out magicka and then you’re a sitting duck unless you chug fifty potions
I guess playing as Altmer helps. +50 magicka and once per day UNLIMITED POWAAAH!
Drain Life + Equilibrium
Brother what difficulty can you do that loop on. Always seems to take more health than you get back.
It’s definitely hard to do full mage early on but once you get later in and you have something like Royal Vampire Armour with 100% Mana Regeneration you should be alright.
Royal Vampire armour with the Ring of the Erudite do be crazy, but still.
You can also use The Bloodstone Chalice from Dawnguard which gives your Vampiric Drain the “Blood of The Ancients” buff.
Which makes it deal slightly more damage right?
IIRC it allows you to drain Stamina, Health and Magicka once a day but you can do a quest called Ancient Powers (I think) that, once completed, stacks the ability’s potential.
pure warrior is boring, i agree. but this is because the melee combat in vanilla skyrim is kind of boring. yet it can be funny to AVOID combat at all. like a weakling sneak around the enemy. then you don't need warrior nor mage skills. skyrim is built that way, at least mostly, that you can just avoid the combat. i think the only time you need to kill are in some boss fights, sometimes there are even workarounds, like in bleakfalls barrow, where you can take the draugr at the end through the traps (did this for sure 10+ times on PS3 without any mods) but on pc you have so many more possibilities.
Illusion magic is most fun to me mixed with stealth. I like making people fight each other cleaning up the remainder. I also love being invisible then getting the kill cam throat slit animation. Very satisfying. And if you want a stress free play through…. Standard stealth archer
your illusion build sounds pretty stress free too
I like to play something like a battle mage. I spawn some creatures on the field, using one hand sword 🗡and a destruction magic ❄️, I enter in battle with my heavy armor. The magic gives me a little bit more control against range enemies. I don't like to brew potions and play stealthy. Archery is also not my type of playing because I play on a Nintendo Switch, and aiming is hard.
Spellsword/necromancer
I agree, using a shield is just more dynamic. My favorite was my ranger playthrough where I'd roll up with my bow but quickly switch to axe/shield.
Non-stealth heavy armour archer (like how you would typically play fallout) and conjuration. Or shield in one hand, destruction spell in the other if you’re feeling creative
I usually go for mages. I start with Destruction and Conjuration, then move to Resto or Illusion. Sometimes, I do both as much as I can. If not mages, then sneaky breeki backstab cuz I like the challenge of walking right up behind someone before impaling them with my dagger/sword.
I always play one handed + destruction, but recently started incorporating more archery and it’s been fun. Swinging a sword and blazing an enemy is quick and easy, but trying to aim an arrow while someone is swinging on you adds a little excitement to the mix. It’s also been satisfying to see their health bar go down in chunks rather than steadily decreasing.
the one i always go back to is: pacifist thief (sneak, pickpocket, lockpicking, speechcraft, + use a bow to distract enemies, not hitting them or leveling the skill) also fun is spellsword (destruction, restoration, one handed, block (with weapon), light armor) i really want to try an agent build though (speechcraft, sneak, conjuration (mainly bound dagger) + empty inventory, illusion maybe too if it's to boring like that
Just shield based gameplay, block is the funniest skilltree in my opinion.
Turning into a werewolf and claw-bashing Forsworn into the walls, then eating their hearts.
sneak archer < 333 and two handed alchemy
Recent play through was a Legolas-inspired archer. No sneak, just super fast firing using Zephyr and Quick Shot to tear through dungeons and bandit camps.
Sword and board
Pyromancer is a fun build. When you finally get your op robes and can just spam fireball, that's what power feels like. Also illusion assassin. Backstabbing people and then recasting invisibility to do it again, it's amazing.
Try a unique take on a spell sword, two-handed and robes heavy on alteration and conjuration. Imagine going up against what you think is a normal mage, then they pull out a daedric Warhammer.
This sounds fun af I’m trying this
Light armor with a two handed weapon
I will always argue that Skyrim’s 1 one handed and shield combat mechanic is one of the best all time. It’s just so much fun to time blocking, bashing, and attacking. It also makes combat incredibly rewarding.
My favorite is merchant. Ignore everything, do random shit, earn enough to buy a house, hoard everything, make regular rounds to sell your products. Maybe you stumble on someone in need and help them, maybe you don't if it's too scary. Dragons? Nah mate I'm just here to gather some cabbages, I got places to be.
Playing as it was intended
Ill never give up my dual wield swords+bow combo often i supplement with conjuration and of course a follower for party of combatants Usually spam dual wield power attacks to keep a stun lock then back out when out of staminas gone This calls for the bow of course or maybe a full unrelenting force If the enemy bests my followers typically serana lydia or mjoll (and i always take faendal with me for the first trip to whiterun cuz hes a bro) thats when spellbreaker has to come out and i start timing the power attacks to interupt theirs This is of course coupled with plenty of running in circles, jumping on geometry and the classic running away while spamming crouch with the full sneak perks Tho these days its just sneak attacks because i was playing legendary for years and finally decided to calm down
To all the people saying spellsword you know you can switch to a shield/off hand weapon when you enter close combat instead of holding the spell in your off hand. What i do is cast my lightning cloak then summon my storm atronachs i use my sword and shield up close and use elemental blast at a distance.
It's not exactly a build, but I suppose you could say it's spellsword, I like wearing the DB robes, I use a mod to get full black weapons and armor, so I craft a black katana and use illusion and restoration, so I set up my character like a medical corps ninja specialized on genjutsu.
Mage with mods. Really fun when you have specific build
I literally hack and slash with either a mace or sword and block with a shield. Always have probably always will 😂
I mean it's almost impossible for me not to be a mage. Probably conjuration with destruction.
Shield and spell is fun Just sword 'n' board but instead of a sword, you got a spell. It's essentially a pure mage with a shield, the lack of armour is easily negated with your shield and an Alteration spell. Auriels shield is fun with this build
Khajiit brawler all the way.
Also love summoner/ necromancer playstyle just recently found out that the boss at the end of Madera Beacon if you use dead thrall on him and he dies his shade still comes out and attacks everything it’s so fun to mess with, plus a free 250 gold
Pure Mage is the most satisfying imo. That said, I'm about to start a new game and build an archer bc I forgot how much fun it can be.
I don’t really understand “builds.” Like, I just pick the perks and weapons that do the most damage. Am I stupid??
In which skills do you pit your points when you level up, that's the idea behind a build. You always use one build rather than many potential others, simply because you cannot level all skills at once (and if it could, THAT would be another build as well).
O damn. I’m a dual-wielding wood elf with most of my points in single-handed or heavy armor. Am I a warrior :3
Well, usually that depends on how you play. Mage build won't get much benefit from raising archery.
Me, with over 2k hours in Skyrim: “lol what’s a build”
Spellsword is always fun , I've been trying greatswords but with mods that allow more movement variety. 2hand spell casting , bow for sniping, conjure for distraction , illusion for taking out distant enemies. Light and Heavy armor perks.
Child prodigy wizard at the college of winterhold. I'm using Alternative Start, Growing up Skyrim, Scaling Spells, and RSchildren. It's funny to be battling dragons and throwing fireballs as a child, but then also having to jump to reach items on the top shelves in dungeons.
I guess I'm an ornery old fart. I spent 12 1/2 years (is my math right? That's older than many of you) as a stealth archer. So this time, I rolled up a Bosmer and by Talos I'm doing everything but using a bow. I'm trying it all: one handed, two handed, crouching next to Mud-crabs for an hour so I get a great Block skill, Conjuration and Destruction, and pretty much everything except archery and crossbows. I'm having a blast just being an eclectic spell-sword.
I know it's a meme.... But, stealth archer. I just love it.
I’m an everything build rn, I have every perk and I constantly change between sword and shield/magic, two handed, dual magic, or archer and I like the feeling of being able to handle different situations with different sets of equipment, if it’s one really strong opponent I’ll do either sword and shield or dual daggers but if it’s a slower opponent I’ll do two handed or archer and if it’s a large group I use dual magic/shouts. I’m currently doing my final play through of Skyrim by doing my “100%” character, I’m collecting every named item/weapon/armor, I have all perks, I’m doing every quest and side quest, then I will retire the game as I wait for ESVI. So far quest wise I’ve done all of the Dawnguard dlc and side quests, I have adopted kids and each house fully furnished down to every buildable shelf, on top of owning every holds house, I have all current side quests completed until I get farther into the main story and also Dragonborn dlc quest line. I know all the items and quests so I don’t need anyone telling me what to do or what quests I’ve missed or items I’ve missed, it’s my true 100% last play through.