In this guide, we will review the top 10 best character builds while playing Skyrim.
There are many factors that go behind a powerful build, but the ones below are what we personally recommend.
- Stealth Archer Build
- Bound Warrior Build
- Illusion Assassin Build
- Shadow Archer Build
- Battlemage Build
- The Necromancer Build
- Mage Assassin Build
- Pure Mage Build
- Paladin Build
- The Master Artisan Build
Various builds allow you to optimize your performance around a certain type of playstyle.
Stealth Archer Build
Stealth Archers hide in the shadows to eliminate enemies, and hence has gained a lot of popularity among players who love playing an archer build.
- Race (Bosmer for Archery, Khajit for Sneak)
- Standing Stone Buff – Select Thief
- Core Skills – While Archery, Sneak, and Illusion are quite important, players can choose any of these skills.
- Archery
- Sneak
- Illusion
- Pickpocket
- Speech
- Armor – For the Armor, players need to go with Light Armor.
- Ancient Shrouded Armor Set
- Nightingale Armor
- Bow – If you are looking for the best bow to go with this Stealth Archer build, there is no point in looking further than the Dragonbone Bow.
- Potions – While you can carry as many potions and poisons as you want, we recommend these three to surely be there with this build.
These are the basic builds that players will need if they want to use the Stealth Archer. While leveling up, players need to concentrate on improving their health over stamina. Since this build is all about stealth, make sure you don’t have any followers around with you while exploring.
Karliah’s Bow is one of the most powerful bows in the game and if you have managed to unlock it, it would provide you with better damage than Dragonbone Bow. Additionally, you can also equip Shouts with this build but make sure they are advantageous to you. You can use the Aura Whisper or Throw Voice if you wish to use this mechanic.
Bound Warrior Build
Bound Warriors utilize Conjuration magic to create Bound Weapons which are known to be way more powerful. The build is quite useful from the start to the mid-game.
- Race (Khajit)
- Core Skills –
- Conjuration
- One-Handed
- Light Armor
- Archery
- Gear – For this build, players will need to use the enchantment Fortify Magicka.
- Spells –
- Bound Sword
- Bound Bow
Keep in mind that this build is heavy on Conjuration magic and the spells will summon high-quality gear for players to use for one minute. Although the time seems short, the weapons are quite powerful. Along with this build, you can also use the Slow Time shout to get the best out of the Bound Bow spell.
Illusion Assassin Build
The Illusion Assassin build is similar to the Stealth Archer but involves close combat.
- Core Skills –
- Spells –
- Bound Dagger
- Bound Bow
- Frenzy
- Pacify
- Invisibility
- Gear – Daedric Dagger/ Dragonbone Dagger. For this build, players will need to use the enchantment Fortify Magicka.
Along with these, players can use the Aura Whisper, Bend Will, and Soul Tear sounds to lure enemies and strike them at ease. As mentioned, Illusion Assassin are quite similar to Stealth Archers. The only major difference is that Illusion Assassins focus on Daggers rather than Bows.