Skyrim Tip #52 Leveling Conjuration

When speed-leveling Conjuration magic, don’t be afraid to spam Soul Trap on dead animals/monsters.

Skyrim Tip #51 Leveling Destruction

When speed-leveling Destruction magic, it’s a smart idea to use Runes (they cause the most damage per second).

Skyrim Tip #50 Leveling Exploits

Be very careful when you use leveling exploits. If you find yourself with a completed sneak skill, at level 25, and steel weapons… Well, you’re in trouble.

Skyrim Tip #49 Punchingbag Dragonpriest

The attacks of dragon priests are entirely magic-related. They haven’t figured out how to just slap us yet. Until they do, we have a very powerful means of attack against them: drain them of magicka! It leaves them completely powerless.  This can be done through potions, spells (?), powers, weapons (like the Staff of Magnus), and a certain shield named Spellbreaker, which nullifies some magicka damage.

Skyrim Tip #48 I Don't Like Ulfric

Does Ulfric seem fishy to you? I think he’s a bad apple.

Character Archetype: The Assassin

Race: Khajit

Gender: Female

Statistic Focus: Health 60% Magicka 20% Health 20%

Primary Skills (you’ll want to level these ASAP): Sneak, One-Handed

Secondary Skills: Alchemy, Pickpocket

Stone Ability: Shadow Stone

Essential Perks: Stealth (Sneak), Backstab (Sneak), Assassin’s Blade (Sneak), Armsman (One Handed), Dual Flurry (One Handed), Dual Savagery (One Handed)

Weapons: Dual One-Handed weapons, but move to daggers once you get the perk, Assassin’s Blade. Keep a bow for misdirecting and distracting foes, or for where sneaking isn’t an option.

Armor: Light Armor for protection without sacrificing speed or stealth

Follower: None. You probably don’t want one since it will make it really hard to sneak with a Viking following you. If you want someone to distract enemies, use a tank like Vorstag or Iona. Try to get them to wait at a distance, though.

Advice:

·       As a Khajit, you already have the One Handed and Sneak necessary to be a good assassin, plus bonuses to your Alchemy, Archery, and Lockpicking for backup.

·       For a good assassin, every situation is a puzzle to be solved (Bethesda’s words exactly), so when you see an enemy, drop into a crouch (if you don’t walk through dungeons in one already, like I do) and figure out how to sneak up on them for a one-hit KO backstab.

·       If you’re looking to get into an outdoors camp or ruin, it’s much better to wait until night, where you can sneak around. Pay attention to the weather, too. A stormy night will offer much better protection than a clear one.

·       In dungeons, keep an eye out for alternate paths, or ways to get behind your foes.

·       In crypts or catacombs, there will probably be times where you can walk right by sleeping (or alert) draugr without catching their notice (assuming your Sneak is high enough and the lighting is gloomy).  Don’t miss on the opportunity to shank some unsuspecting draugr, though. It levels up your skills, it ruins their day, and it makes you smile.

·       At earlier levels, your Sneak is gonna suck, but once your skill gets high enough, you will be able to walk across fully lit rooms without being seen, or to stab someone in the back and walk away before they realize they’ve been hit (seriously). Your sneak skill levels up when things are looking for you, but cant find you. So when that eye is partially open, or closing, your skill is leveling up, regardless of whether you’re hiding from enemies, animals, or Housecarls.

·       Assassins need fast, sneaky ways to kill their enemies before they can retaliate. Perks in One Handed and Sneak will increase your damage output to the point where you’ll be able to one-hit almost anything if you get the drop on it.

·       Alchemy is a great supporting skill to have: poisons increase your damage output and potions heal you and increase your defenses (like your Sneak or Light Armor skills). Ever think about adding potions/poisons to your favorites menu?

·       Pickpocket is worth looking into and totally easy to level up (my friend says you can master Pickpocket in an hour, but I’m not sure I believe him). At first, pickpocket is only good for stealing enchanted jewelry or gold, but once you’ve nearly mastered Pickpocket, you’ll be able to steal the weapons or armor off of foes before killing them (which is sweet).

·       Use your racial ability, Night Eye, when you want to see better. It’s unrestricted (unlike other racial abilities), free, and silent.

·       The Shadow Stone gives you the ability to turn invisible once per day. Even if you know the spell for invisibility, the Shadow Stone can still be useful.

Skyrim Tip #47 Civil War Counterparts

Have you thought about which Jarls are more fit to rule than their civil war counterparts? Would you replace Jarl Igmund (in Markarth) with Thongvor Silver-Blood? Or Jarl Balgruuf (of Whiterun) with Vignar?

Character Archetype: The Spellsword

Race: Dark Elf

Gender: Female

Statistic Focus: Health 40% Magicka 30% Stamina 30%

Primary Skills (you’ll want to level these ASAP): One-Handed, Destruction

Secondary Skills: Light Armor, Illusion

Stone Ability: Lover Stone

Essential Perks: Armsman (One Handed), Fighting Stance (One Handed), Destruction Rank Perks, Augmented Flames/Shock/Frost (Destruction), Impact (Destruction), Agile Defender (Light Armor)

Weapons: One-Handed weapon and spell

Armor: Light Armor for speed and mobility. Look for enchanted armor that increases your maximum Magicka or Magicka regeneration rate

Follower: if you want a tank to absorb damage, use a warrior like Lydia or Vorstag. If you want anged support, use Jenessa or Marcurio.

Advice:

·       As a Dark Elf, you might have to work a bit harder to level up your one-handed skill (which doesn’t come with a bonus), but the rest of your skills are a good fit.

·       A spellsword is all about flexibility, switching between weapons and spells as the situation demands, aggressively creating and exploiting enemy weakness.

·       Use Destruction spells to soften up foes from a distance before they can get close to you. Use Flames on weaker enemies to cut down their health, Frost on stronger opponents to slow them down, and Shock on mages, to drain their Magicka.

·       Your best defense is a good offense.

·       It’s pretty effective, at earlier levels, to use your Flame spell in one hand while you chop away with a One Handed weapon in the other.

·       As your enemies level up with you, it becomes really important to stagger them. Take the perks Fighting Stance (to power attack more frequently) and Impact (to let spells stagger enemies)

·       Your racial ability is Ancestor’s Wrath, a Flame Cloak spell. Use this at earlier levels to inflict damage at close combat, or if you’re surrounded by a few enemies. Watch out though, at higher levels, using the actual Flame Cloak spell is much more effective and powerful (unless you want to conserve Magicka)

·       Being a spellsword, you can focus your attention almost solely on offense, but it’s a good idea to learn a few Ward spells (for facing mages) or a Flesh spell (like Oakflesh, Stoneflesh) to increase your armor rating against some of the tougher bad guys. Neither one of these should slow you down too much

·       It’s really important that you balance your One Handed and Destruction skills. If one falls behind, it won’t be much use to you

·       Since spellswords don’t use blocking or shields, your armor is your only real defense. Don’t neglect Light Armor perks!

·       When you’re facing a large group of enemies, using Illusion spells like Fear or Frenzy are a huge help because that will disrupt the bad guys and give you the chance to fight one at a time.

·       Your skills as a spellsword are pretty wide-ranging, so the Lover Stone is a pretty good way to keep them pretty advanced. If you notice that one skill is falling behind, you should switch to a specific (Warrior, Mage, Thief) stone to balance your skills out again.

Note: When you meet the leader of the greybeards in the main questline, you can meditate with their leader to attain the perk Force Without Effort (Fus), which allows you to stagger 25% less and enemies to stagger 25% more.