Most fun: Archer, Swordsman, or Mage?

[LordSn0w]

Ok well I have played skyrim a lot, and I want to do one last play through with realism mods (frost fall etc), and alternate start, and K enb. I will use a female nord character, no armor, just clothes or maybe some light armor. Should I play as a dual swordsman, all out mage, archer-mage, or battlemage? It's not about which is best, but most FUN.

[Matth85]

It all depends how long you plan to play, and if you want some perk-overhaul mod.

This is also ALL personal opinions. Like every RPG ever made. It's about what you want to feel like being. A strong warrior? A fierce battlemage? A humbe Mage? A dangerous trickster? You name it!

 

How I percieve it:

 

Battlemage:

offers a ton of fun. Especially with mods such as SPERG. Allowing for some fun battlemage moves, such as having a 20% chance to make enemies take 300% fire damage for the next 4 seconds, and a 5% chance to shoot a second spell of your previous used spell, instantly.

You also get to enjoy both worlds.

Master level magic effects? Sure.

2 Dremora Lords? No problems.

Watch your enemies kill each other? Aw yeah!

Be unkillable by mages? You bet!

Use that legendary Dawnbreaker, and whatever cool armor/shield you want? Of course!

 

Though it is pretty boring early on. There is no synergy between the 2 combat style early to mid game. You most likely run around as a warrior, who cast flame to deplet the magicka for levelling.

Personally I sit at my 220 hour mark, on this particular character of mine. No mods used, not before now.

My character simply feels powerful!

 

Warrior:

They got it quite good now. You start of good, you get better mid-game, you murder everything in the end.

Though it is rather amusing to cut of enemies head with whatever sword I have at hand. Dual wield, 2 handed or slapping a shield on. The possibilites are endless!

My warrior was a no-magic user, and focused heavily on shouts and alchemy. It was extremely fun mid-game!

The fun stopped towards the end game, where enemies either took 3-trillion hits to murder, or I could kill too fast.

 

Pure Mage:

Challenging, but a little fun. A pain in the start, extremely fun in the middle, and a disaster in the end. This is with no mods though.

In the beginning you go no magicka to cast these beautiful spells.

In the middle it was all out tactical. Cast alteration spells before combat, ward off the spells, then lob fire bolts until stuff died!

In the end you do no damage at all. Of course, this is fixed with mods.

 

Archer:

Well, I don't like it. Yes, sure, it is fun to 1-hit sneak kill. But that got bored after under 10 houres for me. Going no-sneak-archer is not my thing either. Albeit fun in the end, when you can actually do stuff -- especially with crossbow. The start of the game is a pain. Shoot - run for your life until your companion takes aggro, or go somewhere the bandit can't go, and lob arrows. Cheap.

 

So, personally. Fun rating:

Battlemage - So varied, so strong. I always play battlemage. They feel powerfull, they let you really enjoy both magic and melee. Takes time to play tough, a lot of skills need to get to a decent level before things become fun!

Pure Warrior - Hey, chopping heads and stabbing dragons is fun! Easy all around, though needs Smithing towards the end to keep the flow going.

Pure Mage - Fun at some points. Frustrating at the rest. Fixed with mods, though I still take a Battlemage over a pure mage. Same spells, more choices.

Any kind of Archer - If I can't lay down traps and kite, archery is not fun in my humble opinoon. So no fun if you ask me.

 

Take this as you want.

 

Matth

[LordSn0w]

It all depends how long you plan to play, and if you want some perk-overhaul mod.

This is also ALL personal opinions. Like every RPG ever made. It's about what you want to feel like being. A strong warrior? A fierce battlemage? A humbe Mage? A dangerous trickster? You name it!

 

How I percieve it:

 

Battlemage:

offers a ton of fun. Especially with mods such as SPERG. Allowing for some fun battlemage moves, such as having a 20% chance to make enemies take 300% fire damage for the next 4 seconds, and a 5% chance to shoot a second spell of your previous used spell, instantly.

You also get to enjoy both worlds.

Master level magic effects? Sure.

2 Dremora Lords? No problems.

Watch your enemies kill each other? Aw yeah!

Be unkillable by mages? You bet!

Use that legendary Dawnbreaker, and whatever cool armor/shield you want? Of course!

 

Though it is pretty boring early on. There is no synergy between the 2 combat style early to mid game. You most likely run around as a warrior, who cast flame to deplet the magicka for levelling.

Personally I sit at my 220 hour mark, on this particular character of mine. No mods used, not before now.

My character simply feels powerful!

 

Warrior:

They got it quite good now. You start of good, you get better mid-game, you murder everything in the end.

Though it is rather amusing to cut of enemies head with whatever sword I have at hand. Dual wield, 2 handed or slapping a shield on. The possibilites are endless!

My warrior was a no-magic user, and focused heavily on shouts and alchemy. It was extremely fun mid-game!

The fun stopped towards the end game, where enemies either took 3-trillion hits to murder, or I could kill too fast.

 

Pure Mage:

Challenging, but a little fun. A pain in the start, extremely fun in the middle, and a disaster in the end. This is with no mods though.

In the beginning you go no magicka to cast these beautiful spells.

In the middle it was all out tactical. Cast alteration spells before combat, ward off the spells, then lob fire bolts until stuff died!

In the end you do no damage at all. Of course, this is fixed with mods.

 

Archer:

Well, I don't like it. Yes, sure, it is fun to 1-hit sneak kill. But that got bored after under 10 houres for me. Going no-sneak-archer is not my thing either. Albeit fun in the end, when you can actually do stuff -- especially with crossbow. The start of the game is a pain. Shoot - run for your life until your companion takes aggro, or go somewhere the bandit can't go, and lob arrows. Cheap.

 

So, personally. Fun rating:

Battlemage - So varied, so strong. I always play battlemage. They feel powerfull, they let you really enjoy both magic and melee. Takes time to play tough, a lot of skills need to get to a decent level before things become fun!

Pure Warrior - Hey, chopping heads and stabbing dragons is fun! Easy all around, though needs Smithing towards the end to keep the flow going.

Pure Mage - Fun at some points. Frustrating at the rest. Fixed with mods, though I still take a Battlemage over a pure mage. Same spells, more choices.

Any kind of Archer - If I can't lay down traps and kite, archery is not fun in my humble opinoon. So no fun if you ask me.

 

Take this as you want.

 

Matth

Thanks so much for the answer. It was the best possible answer I could have asked for. I think I will go with battlemage. Also I checked out ur mods, and both swords look great, I will probably use them when I start my new character. Also if u could endorse character mod it would be great. I might make a companion version soon. http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/42664//? Do u think if I made a unique companion version (such as a healer), it would be popular?

Thx,

Sn0w

[Shadeybladey]

Ok well I have played skyrim a lot, and I want to do one last play through with realism mods (frost fall etc), and alternate start, and K enb. I will use a female nord character, no armor, just clothes or maybe some light armor. Should I play as a dual swordsman, all out mage, archer-mage, or battlemage? It's not about which is best, but most FUN.

 

Out of those choices, I'd say Mage, with no armour or weapons, or Dual Swords with Light Armour.

 

My first character was a Nordic Rune Witch (Druid) with no weapons or armour (except her Battle Axe in dire emergencies, which saved her life more than once). Once she maxed her skills by about level 60, she started operating like a Ranger for the combat skills just to get more levels for extra perks. She did use a bow and scimitar at first, but they were competing with her magick skills, so I stopped before level 12. Major FUN.

 

Archer-Mage kind of splits you between using missile spells vs the bow, so your skills are competing against each other and I found it got annoying. Unless you do not use Destruction at all.

 

Battlemage, Spellsword and Nightblade are fairly similar in Skyrim, depending on whether you like a Light Armour/Heavy Magick or a Heavy Armour/Light Magick Fighter/Mage or prefer a Mage/Thief/Assassin type.

 

I am playing a Dunmer Nightblade at the moment, so it's Sword plus left-hand Destruction spells, no Block, No Archery and Dual Swords when Magick runs out or when doing a Sneak attack. Stealth, Illusion, Light Armour and Alchemy.

 

 

But with the Realism, Survivalist and Camping mods, (which I have been using for well over a year), the most fun is a Ranger, I find - Archery, Light Armour, Sneak, Dual Swords and a smattering of Illusion and Conjuration for any animal-related spells and perks. Also, the Conjuration Madness mod adds a whole bunch of animal summoning spells. Plus Alchemy, of course.

 

I think Skyrim just screams RANGER! every where you go outside of cities, which must b 90% of the game. With the mods you mention, I think it's one of the most immersive and fun experiences, especially if you use things like Pocket Empire Builder so you can build your own permanent camp sites and stockades, and even plant a flag so you have a map marker for your camps.

 

And I never realised archery could be such fun in a game. :D

 

~.~

[KanesGhost]

It all depends on what gaming style you prefer most....I love Perma Death Glass Cannons, Realism, challenge and heavy reliance on Tactics and Strategy....So I have the most fun running a Poisons Archer in Light Armor, he doesn't use any sort of Magic including Restoration and no Healing Potions or Skill Buffer Potions....he uses slower healing Bandages instead. I do have to use a number of Mods to achieve satisfaction with his build though.

 

A Mod to make Stealth more realistic and challenging...:

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/28418//?

 

Give enemy NPC's some grey matter between their ears...:

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/2700/?

 

The best enemy Mod out there....if you don't use Tactics and Strategy you die, these NPC's are tough and as I run a loner Dovahkin (very rarely use Followers...one at the most if I do use Followers) it's a real challenge to stay alive....:

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/12452/?

 

Plus I use a Mod that make Poisons more realistic...though the potency of Poisons run both ways, Spiders are a force to be reckoned with in my game....Some minor Perk Tree tweak Mods...and an Agility Mod. It all really does depend on what you like though and how you most enjoy combat....Squishy Archer's are great for patient strategic play, only if the high damage Stealth perk isn't abused though....I still make use of the high damage, though have evened that out with much more challenging Stealth and tougher and smarter NPC's.

[titoman]

It's all about your personal liking. For me I would definatetly say archer, but not entirely archer, I would go archer with dagger.

Like others said archer will be a pain in the beginning, sure it will, unless you know actually how to sneak attack.

Daggers have 6 or 7 multiple damage in the beginning, can't remember exact number, and as your sneak grows up, you will have 15 multiple sneak damage perk. And if you join the dark brotherhood, they give you a pire of gloves with double stab damage, 30x!! None of your enemies can stand one shot of you anymore! And yeah you can still add more damage by dual wielding daggers, which means 60 multiple damage In the end.

You will find skyrim an entire new game by mastering sneak attacks, this is just so much fun to do. Remember sneak attack does not mean one shot. You can keep sneak attacking, be able to spot shadow areas then remain in darkness while those idiots panicking having no idea of what is going on, take them down one by one in silence.

But don't take followers, they screw you up.

[CidTrip]

Archer/Swordsman hybrid. :D Heavy Armor + Two Handed weapon as well. That's what I'm running with for now.