There are lots of ways to play as an Assassin in Skyrim Special Edition. You can concentrate on just one weapon, like a dagger or bow. You can use Illusion spells to hide yourself and Restoration for healing, or write off magic altogether. Good guy vs. bad guy.

1. Skyrim Best Mage Build For Legendary Difficulty
2. Skyrim Builds For Legendary Difficulty
3. Skyrim Best Build For Legendary

Best builds for legendary playthroughs (self.skyrim) submitted 2 years ago by joshwolfel I want to start a legendary play through with no mods, I was wondering what the best most fun builds are to play. What I need to know is, what is the most powerful build that could beat all other builds in a one on one fight. Imagine a maxed out mage, archer and warrior with all the best items, perks. One of the most fun ways to play Skyrim Special Edition is with an assassin build. They aren't as strong in direct combat as other builds, but it is probably the most overpowered build in the game. They aren't as strong in direct combat as other builds, but it is probably the most overpowered build in the game.

...you get the idea.

But let's forget about roleplaying for a minute. Let's say you want to create the most powerful assassin possible.

This is how you do it.

Skyrim Assassin Build Race: Wood Elf or Khajit (or Whatever You Want)

To be honest, race isn't a major factor. Wood Elves get a starting bonus to Archery, and Khajits get a starting bonus to Sneak. But since every race can max out every skill, it all evens out at the end.

If you don't necessarily care about the starting stats, I have two recommendations for how you should choose your race:

1. Pick your favorite race: Love Argonians? Cool -- getting assassinated by a lizard would be kinda scary. But if you love something else, just go for it.
2. Pick based on racial ability, not stats: The night vision that Khajit can use is nice if you install lighting mods. Nords have Battlecry, which help them get out of a jam. The extra magicka buff that High Elves boast is nice if you plan on using Illusion (which you should).

The point is -- race isn't too important. Pick one you like, and move on!

Skyrim Special Edition Assassin Build: Archery

This is a must.

While it is more satisfying to sneak up behind a baddy and slit their throat, that isn't always an option.

Here are a few reasons why you need to invest in Archery:

• Whittle down groups of enemies from afar: It's difficult to sneak up on a group of 2-3 enemies, as they have a wider range of view. Taking them out without getting close puts you in less danger.
• Take out animals: Animals tend to hear/smell you better while sneaking than other enemies. Even though a high enough sneak score will eventually let you sneak up for a dagger strike, killing beasts from far away is very useful early game.
• Dragons: These suckers fly. You can't. And even though it's nice to get a stealth attack on one with your dagger, there will be many battles where you won't have that luxury. Having a bow or crossbow to attack from afar is critical.
• Poison Arrows. You can have a lot more fun with poisoned arrows than you can with a poisoned dagger. Throw a Fury potion on an arrow and watch your enemies mow down the poor soul who got the arrow in his back! Or apply strong health poisons to your arrows to take out a dragon very quickly.

So, yeah -- don't ignore Archery!

Assassin Build - One-Handed Weapons

Let me be clear -- you won't be investing many perk points here. Armsman is great, but that's the only perk you need to invest in.

The reason you don't need to invest in anything else is that you're an assassin. Assassins don't do well in melee combat. They can hold their own, but their expertise is taking out enemies without getting noticed.

Armsman is critical because it adds so much damage to your sneak attacks. Even if you only take 2 points in it, that's increasing your damage by 40%. Multiplied by a factor of 15 (from the Sneak tree) adds up.

Skyrim Assassin Build: Illusion

First off -- you should use Illusion because it's the most fun tree of magic in the game.

But secondly, it's basically built for assassins.

Here's why:

• Muffle helps stealth up to enemies early game, while you're still improving your Sneak skills.
• Invisibility... well, its pretty obvious how useful this can be.
• Silent Casting is critical to make sure you don't alert enemies to your presence.
• Frenzy, Pacify and Fear can all be useful in the right situations. When you get a ton of enemies bearing down on you, these spells could be the difference between life or death.

Illusion is also very easy to level up, as Muffle tends to give you more experience towards it than it probably should.

Do you have to use Illusion? Like everything else in this guide -- of course not. But why wouldn't you? It's utility is unmatched, making you a much more capable taker of life.

Assassin Build: Blacksmithing

To inflict maximum damage, you need the best weapons available. Even though you can obtain Daedric weapons with a Sigil Stone, the easiest (and most logical) method is to build up your Blacksmithing skills.

Skyrim Best Mage Build For Legendary Difficulty

For one thing, this allows you to improve your daggers and bows much better. More damage means yet MORE damage from your sneak damage multipliers, which equals profit.

Secondly, it helps you stay ahead of the game as you encounter more difficult enemies. It's not easy to get your hands on a Glass or Daedric dagger early game. But if you can make something more in the mid-range, like an Orcish dagger and bow, that helps.

Plus, you'll be glad to have that extra damage when you go up against something you can't sneak attack, like a dragon that's already spotted you.

Skyrim Assassin Build: Alchemy

I'll be honest -- Alchemy was never my favorite skill tree.

But it's very useful.

In the quest of making the ultimate assassin, having a few poisons attached to your hip will be very handy.

• Fury poisons can help whittle down a group of enemies charging at you.
• Health poisons will bring even the toughest foes down quickly.
• Magicka poisons can be useful against mages that weren't happy to find you sneaking around.

If you don't want to invest in this tree, you can always buy poisons. The problem is that it's always a gamble whether or not the shopkeeper will have what you're looking for. Nevermind the fact that you can make stronger stuff than is available in stores.

Skyrim safety regulations or something.

Plus -- they aren't cheap!

Assassin Build: Dragon Shouts

Skyrim Builds For Legendary Difficulty

I love dragon shouts. I think they're one of the best aspects of the game.

Anyways, some fit with the assassin gameplay more than others. Here are a few I'd recommend:

• Throw Voice: Besides just being funny, this one does prove useful. It gives you the ability to get an enemy's attention, which is nice for getting them to turn their back to you. Granted, just shooting an arrow at a wall or the ground can do the same thing, but it's not as fun and that's more difficult when you're out in the open on flat terrain.
• Aura Whisper: Why does the military invest so much time and money in reconnaissance? Because it's useful to see your enemies and know what they're doing. That's exactly what this shout does, which is especially useful for stealthy characters.

• Marked for Death - If you get into unavoidable melee combat, you'll be thankful to have this one. The effects stack, so using it multiple times will quickly diminish your enemy's defense, letting you take them down quickly.

Need more? A few great defensive ones are Ice Form, Unrelenting Force, Whirlwind Sprint or Become Ethereal. Personally I think the 3 I highlighted fit an assassin character the best, though.

Assassin Build Followers: Warriors

When you're snooping around caves, dungeons, etc. you don't really want any kind of follower. They're too loud and dumb.

But it's not a bad idea to travel with one. When you get caught out in the open, you might appreciate the help that a strong follower can provide. A beefy warrior follower such as Mjoll or Farkus is best.

Why? Mainly because they'll charge into combat, letting you decide what you want to do. If it's a fight you can't win, you can run! If it's something you and your follower can handle, whip out your bow or Illusion spells and have at it.

The problem with archers and mages is they'll also want to hang back, essentially expecting you to tank for them.

Not good.

The Best Armor for Skyrim Assassin Builds: Dark Brotherhood or Nightingale (Light Armor)

You probably could've guessed that Light Armor is the way to go. It provides some defense, while also helping you stay stealthy.

The thing is -- which one should you go with?

Skyrim Best Build For Legendary

If you're partial to one of the kinds you can craft (such as Glass or Elven,) that's fine. Go for it!

But if you want to look the part of an assassin, it really comes down to either Dark Brotherhood or Nightingale armor. The Dark Brotherhood helps you do more damage, which is what you're looking for.

The Nightingale set is more catered towards thieves, but is the coolest looking armor in the game. If you're going for Skyrim's version of Fashion Souls (a.k.a. Dark Souls) this is the best one for you.

Gameplay

You can probably guess how to play an assassin, but I wanted to break it down quickly here.

• When entering a cave or fort, tell your follower to wait for you far away so they don't attract attention.
• Use your bow to take out enemies in groups.
• Decide which shout is best for your situation (such as Aura Whisper while in a fort) and use it wisely. Remember that enemies hear most shouts (although Aura Whisper is quieter and harder for them to hear).
• When you find enemies by themselves, go for a dagger kill to maximize damage output.
• Use potions or spells when you're in a pinch, going up against strong enemies or need a boost to your Sneak skills.

You don't have to roleplay (such as taking lots of contracts from the Dark Brotherhood) but you can if you want!

Conclusion

One of the most fun ways to play Skyrim Special Edition is with an assassin build. They aren't as strong in direct combat as other builds, but it is probably the most overpowered build in the game.

Good luck and have fun in Tamriel!

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1. The Puncher or the Swiper? (Unarmed Build)

As the most viable unarmed options in the game, Khajiit’s naturally have claws that do 15 points of unarmed damage. There’s a perk in the Heavy Armor tree that’s only use is to help out people who want to go on this build-path – Fists of Steel (Heavy Armor 30). The perk makes unarmed attacks with Heavy Armor gauntlets do their armor rating in damage, which stacks with the base 15 damage for khajiits. Since you won’t have to invest in any other weapon perk trees, invest in Smithing so you can make the best gauntlets you can, as well as Enchanting, to add unarmed bonuses to those gauntlets. You’ll also have very high armor ratings, so you won’t have to worry about healing very much.

2. Assassin’s Creed: Dovahkiin (Dual Dagger Sneak Build)

This build is for those who want to never take damage. The main perk to get is Assassin’s Blade (Sneak 50), which adds 15x sneak damage with daggers. FIFTEEN times damage is nothing to scoff at. And combining that with Shadow Warrior (Sneak 100), which stops combat whenever you crouch, for even more sneak attacks, is just ridiculous. This build can even be played without fully relying on the sneak aspect – with the Elemental Fury Dragon Shout (at max level, it DOUBLES your weapon attack speed), you’ll have probably killed everything before the 15 second time limit on the shout has passed. Add on some of the most awesome finishing-blow-cams in the game and you’ve got one of the most powerful melee builds in the game.

3. Can’t Touch This (Conjuration Archer Build)

My personal favorite, the conjuration archer build is, in my opinion, the perfect mix of not taking damage while dealing lots of it – low risk and high reward. The build revolves around the Bound Bow skill (Conjuration 50), which you can buy from Farengar in Dragonsreach. This spell basically gives you unlimited arrows, along with damage modifiers from both the Archery and Conjuration skill trees (The higher the conjuration level, the stronger the bow. And your archery perks all apply). The conjuration tree also conveniently gives you some of the best tanks in the game – Antronachs. With the spell Flame/Frost/Storm Thrall, you can permanently (until it dies) an antronach, and coupled with Twin Souls (Conjuration 100), you can summon two at a time. To get the spell, have level 90 Conjuration, and go to Phinis Gestor in the College of Winterhold. The strategy behind this build is self-explanatory, and oh so fun.

4. The Haley Joel Osment (Necromancer Build)

This build is quite similar to the Conjuration Archer build in that you raise your Conjuration level for tanks. The difference is that instead of investing into archery, you go purely defensive, so you really don’t have to do anything at all. It’s quite the lazy man’s build – you basically follow your minions around and watch them pillage whatever you wish. You get the unlimited zombie skill, Dead Thrall, identically to the other thralls – by talking to Phinis Gestor at level 90 Conjuration. Invest in wards and Magic Resistance (Alteration 30) to keep adding to all aspects of your defense, and have fun with the perfect sadistic evil character. Note that people around Skyrim may not take too kindly to your zombie followers…

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• Awesome article, thank you for sharing these great ideas! I usually like playing as Khajiit, so I will probably try the first first :)

• Nothing can be more OP than the Sneak/Illusion assassin build. Master Sneak to take x15 to dagger backstab damage, quiet cast and other perks that lower the noise , and master Illusion to use Invisibility spell.

  Plus the assassin glove that doubles your sneak damage, to a total of 30x sneak damage with daggers.

  Dagger on the main hand, invisibility spell on the other. And now ur ready to 1 hit ko every enemy in the game, and their friends won't even notice

• Read over them and think the unarmed is an awesome build gonna give it a shot thanks for the advice.

• 'you can permanently (until it dies) an antronach'

  You just an aNtronach.

• 100 blocking and your enemies won't be able to stand your op awesomeness.

• I'm level 126 Breton Mage warrior *no armor tho*

  100 in ALL MAGIC SCHOOLS

  100 sneak *avoid combat yo*

  100 enchant

  100 archery *bound bow*

  100 1h w/out shield *bound sword*

  100 smithing *for the follower, and some sword for fun*

  1326 in magicka tho health is too low and standing in 360 with my follower carries all my stuff stamina only 270

  it's fun decapitating random bandit in the way with at least my Blades Sword standing at 115 and the enchantment at 120 *combined extra effect*

  and it's real

• I have four different characters that maybe aren't quite unique but that make the game fun in their own way.

  1 - Orc Tank - Specialized in heavy armor, two-handed (warhammers to be specific, since they deal the most damage), and smithing. By the time you get to Daedric weapons and Dragonplate armor, there isn't a single thing that can challenge you. Perhaps not as fun/challenging, but it's always nice to be able to be a juggernaut when you feel like it.

  2 - Dark Elf Assassin - Specialized in sneak, archery, and light armor. Makes the Thieves Guild/Dark Brotherhood questlines a bit more interesting.

  3 - Nord Warrior - Specialized in heavy armor, one handed, and block. I never really liked using a shield until I made a concerted effort to get good at it. There's nothing quite a satisfying as being able to disarm an enemy and have enough time to laugh at them as they try to punch you in Stalhrim armor before you hack them to pieces with a war axe.

  4 - Altmer Wizard - I intended to make a necromancer, but chose to go down the atronauch path instead of zombies, as there aren't always dead bodies to resurrect. Specialized in conjuration, alteration, and destruction (lightning focus, to aid in fighting other mages). This is what I'm working on right now, and I've found it to be the most difficult yet since I'm not using any armor other than that offered by alteration spells.

• Another great build is the Silver tounged puppet master or the NO COMBAT/Limited combat build.

  imperials work great

  build up speech lvl 100(most perks will help)

  sneak lvl 50+(only perks that do not deal with combat)

  Illusion lvl 50+(all but the nearly useless quite cast perk)

  use fury and calm and the brain between your ears to make enemies kill each other then calm when only one enemy blocks your path and enjoy the fun of playing the game in a way it was not intended

• I have a kajiit battlemage with heavy armor conjuration and one handed as main. I use my atronachs as dps or tanks, whatever fits the moment. Very fun playstyle, can be a little hard in the beginning since you have to have high stamina, health and magicka and perk in many things to be effective but it's worth it. Plus, hoods look awesome on kajiit and with heavy armor. :)

• Since Morrowind had to deal with worse hardware in the Xbox 1, its graphics and animations are nowhere near as good obviously. But that game had a story which was much more enthralling and epic in scope than both oblivion and skyrim. There was so much prophecy surrounding the main character in morrowind, and you were such a controversial figure in that land. Having the main character be dragon born in skyrim was kinda like that but the Nerevarine was way cooler. Also enchanted weapons that recharge themselves over time was a nice game mechanic as well as the fact that you needed special armor to wield some enchanted weapons since they were too freaking epic.

• i just figured out that what i thought was my really unique playstyle has been an exact replica of the ConjurationArcher this whole time.....still, two dead thralls atacking an enemy that's taking arrows to the face can never go wrong.thanks 4 putting this site out, tho

• Ttocs dude, you are awesome.You gave me so many ideas on how to create an awesome character that suites me and my style of play. Thanks.

• how would i make the Assassin’s Creed: Dovahkiin (Dual Dagger Sneak build. how would i train it and what should i put my stuff on when i level up and where would i train them

• What other skills can I get besides conjur and archer like could I add destruction and maybe even one handed and just be everything and be able to conjur all my weapons?

• With the assassin one, get the gloves from the dark brotherhood and you'll have X30 bonus instead of X15

• The Assassin's Creed Dovahkiin is very close as a concept to what I am playing right now. In addition to what you mentioned, I can recommend a combination of 5/5 Armsman for 100% extra dagger damage (dual Flurry and Savagery for dual speed and damage are optional), and a double backstab damage enchantment on the gauntlets (like the assassin gloves), plus one handed fortify enchantments and legendary daedric daggers.

  The resulting damage should bring down any monster on any difficulty in one sneak attack - and also deal massive damage for regular and/or dual power attacks (the decapitation perk savage strike should add to the damage and fun of the build)

• Forfender:

  Breton, 25 starting conjuration and 25% resist to magic. Also you can get the bound bow at Fort amol early in game. It's in the prison section in a bucket under a lantern.

• My first playthrough i basically just ran in and tried everything out. does anybody have any recommendations for a race that would suit the conjur/archer? thanks

• I'm am going to definitely use the conjuration archer, but i might also use a bound sword/axe to make it funner. i still haven't finished my first playthrough, so i still might change my idea

• Nice build ideas, and names! I love watching my minions pillage, but the dual daggers build sounds fun too.

• I'm making a pure mage warrior and my talent trees are alteration and conjuration. The conjuration let's me summon my own weapon plus a minnion and alteration gives me my armor

• Best archer is wood elf with max bow, max smithing, max enchant. Best bow with best fire/frost etc enchants, with +% bow damage enchants to as many items wearing.

• I agree. The archer I have been working on doesn't use any other weapons. I have been looking for a new place to start spending perk points and Conjuration sounds like a fun concept. Definitely gonna start working on this tonight. P.S. Khajiit in dragonsclae armor look awesome

• I didn't think the Conjuration Archer would be a good one, until I read about it. Seems like a good idea, and one that I'm willing to experiment with. Well done on the works, you've got a new follower! ^_^