Melee Assassin.... is it possible?

[Deleted2156094User]

I've been playing Oblivion (on the pc) for almost a year now. I can safely say that I've beaten the game with all the basic characters; heavy melee, magic, bow & arrow etc. So I feel it's time for a change. I plan to (as always) play on the hardest difficulty setting. I want to play a character who focuses only one sneak-attacking with a melee weapon (sword or dagger, no blunts).

 

It's very easy playing a stealth bow&arrow character backed up with magic and alchemy, but I've never once tried replacing my trusty bow with a blade. I see Ocheeva in sneak mode, slashing away with her dagger in the Cheydinhal Sanctuary, and I keep wanting to follow suit. Is there any way to survive the harsh world of Oblivion in this manner of combat?

 

(Apologies for my bad english, I'm not a maestro in it.)

[WastelandAssassin]

well, i can only tell you about what i've learned (and most of my early characters were melee assassins)

 

if you are planning on using the original leveling system, then it may be a big problem for you

you see, melee weapons are rather strong, and with a good sneak, you can do some serious damage

however, if you one-hit-kill any and all your enemies, you'll barely level up your blade

and if your blade skill will be low, than you'll probably be in some serious problems, when you can't kill enemies with one hit

 

however, my early characters weren't really done properly, in terms of skill distribution and such

i usually played a strictly assassin character, with no magic abilities, which is the worst idea ever

if you have a character that has some decent chameleon\invisibility spells, a good sneak, some decent alchemy (for creating poisons, for the difficult kills), a decent blade and lockpicking, and the rest of the skills distributed well enough, then yes, you can survive as a melee assassin

 

if i were you, i would train on blade at any chance i get, get myself a great dagger, and enchant it with a massive amount of damage (for the 1st hit), and also have a great longsword, if the battle isn't won after that one strike

 

i hope this helps, and gives you a better approach to this type of character

[Deleted2156094User]

I doubt I'd OHKO everything in the game on highest difficulty, especially with a dagger, which I plan to go for as it's got the highest DPS. I was thinking of taking a few swings in sneak, then when I'm noticed, peddle and kill the enemy. I WOULD play a ranged Assassin, but I have this weird problem where I can't loot all the arrows I shoot at the opponent. For example, if I were to shoot fifteen arrows at any hostile enemy, I can maybe only get four back by looting, five the most, which is a waste of arrows in my opinion. I'd always have to go and buy more arrows from vendors.

 

I always have problems playing hybrid characters. I'd always either use too much of a skill or too little of it. I'd always use more magic in a magic/bow&arrow hybrid than my bow&arrow. So my last playthrough was with a pure magic user, which was absolutely horrid. I speedran the main storyline, dying countless times to the same types of enemies over and over; enemies with magic resistance or reflections. I remember that damn Lich boss near the end of the main story which always reflected my shock damage, as I had no spells which did only one type of elemental damage (it was always fire+shock+cold+extras). And besides, the Mage Guild storyline was pretty creepy.

 

So if a Melee Assassin requires more than just cunning stealth and luck, I'm not going for it. Thanks a lot for your reply, I guess I'll stick to hacknslashing everything I see.

[WastelandAssassin]

well, i didn't say that you need to use anything other than sneak and blade, in order to be a melee assassin

all i said was that i would suggest that you have some magic help (not attack magic, just useful spells like seeing in the dark, spotting life around you, becoming invisible and such, because sneak isn't all too easy)

you can try to play any way you like, so don't take my word as a law or something

i'm just saying what i've learned, after several years of evolved gameplay

 

whatever you do, there is one point that i feel i should make

computer games, at the bottom line, are meant for fun

so just try to make a character that you will enjoy the most, and do just that, ENJOY!! :biggrin:

[SimpleGlitch]

I WOULD play a ranged Assassin, but I have this weird problem where I can't loot all the arrows I shoot at the opponent. For example, if I were to shoot fifteen arrows at any hostile enemy, I can maybe only get four back by looting, five the most, which is a waste of arrows in my opinion. I'd always have to go and buy more arrows from vendors.

 

Its supposed to be like that, the game figures that most arrows you shoot into a target get stuck or break in some way.

 

As far as the blade skill goes I suggest using skill trainers every time you level up (and don't level up before you use all 5). The problem with this is it gets expensive for a low level character who doesn't have access yet to high-end magic loot. My suggestion for money is do the first 6 arena fights then do the "order of the virtuous blood quests." To start you need 6 fame and just wait a while in the temple district. After the quest each vampire dust you collect is worth 250 gold, which means you can walk out of a cave or fort with over 2,000 gold in vampire dust, not counting the rest of the loot you find, which should cover training expenses.

 

I actually rather go for a melee stealth attack when I can. Melee weapons usually average more damage then bows, and they get a X6 bonus.. add a little poison or an enchantment and you got a pretty sure victory (if the first hit doesn't kill them, they are already seriously injured and won't take much more damage to go down). A little magic support though isn't a bad idea though. You don't really need to get real strong in magic, I would suggest doing the first 7 mages guild quests just so you have access to the enchanting altar. or even better get Frostcrag Spire.

 

My charater knows a little bit of illusion, but only learns it so I can enchant items. I carry around a ring of night eye and ring of detect life as well as the ring of kajitii and hot key them. The advatage over doing this is you get effects that you can hot key and switch on and off quickly, but you don't have to worry about spell timers or saving magic.

[majikmonkee]

For my thief/assassin characters who I don't really care about having fight monsters, I tend to assign them seven skills that will never get used so I can level up the skills I do want to use without actually leveling my character. That way, the world stays at level 1 for the most part, but my assassins can easily take down their targets with sneak attacks (granted I use Deadly Reflex most of the time, which allows for a 100% effective lunging sneak attack, but that's beside the point).

[ChaosApostle]

II WOULD play a ranged Assassin, but I have this weird problem where I can't loot all the arrows I shoot at the opponent. For example, if I were to shoot fifteen arrows at any hostile enemy, I can maybe only get four back by looting, five the most, which is a waste of arrows in my opinion. I'd always have to go and buy more arrows from vendors.

 

Like SimpleGlitch stated, that is an aspect of realism. You are shooting 4 oz (0.24 lb) or heavier arrows fired through a 100+ lb draw war-class bow that can pierce through armor (I rarely ever have to do these conversions, so I hope I'm accurate on those numbers). Arrows are likely to snap or have the arrow head shatter/break if the hit is not clean, and once the arrow is no longer straight, you wouldn't pick it back up and try to use it again and risk missing a target or hitting one you didn't intend to. In fact, by default arrows in Oblivion weight less on average than they should, so you are likely carrying far more around with you than you should be able to. I had to go and make my own personal weight mods to address the arrow weight issue (among several others including robe and hood weights) because I got tired of Daedric and Dremora arrows weighting more than they should as if the weight fully discerns an arrow's attack power (it is in the design and weight of the head that determines how deadly and or piercing the shot will be).

 

 

 

As for a melee assassin with a dagger, on hardest settings... wow. That sounds insane if you don't get the OHKO on the enemies. I'd exploit the chargen phase and when you get to the first Gremlin/Orc you have to sneak up on, just use always run and auto-move forward against the rock wall when you enter and occupy yourself 'til you reach maximum sneak (or just command console yourself to max sneak). Then the only challenge will be in actually killing the enemies after a while, due to the lack of sneak kills effecting blade as the others stated. I'd try to use a paralyze spell to assist the kills, so if the sneak hit fails to OHKO there would be enough time to stab them while they are down, and be sure to have alchemy (as stated by WastelandAssassin) for poisoning your hits for the added damage. I could see some pretty nasty combos with all three + enchanted daggers with poison/paralyze/etc. In fact, if you could have a dagger with heal, you would have an ideal dagger you could use to raise your blade skill with because the target would not die from it. That is why detect life is essential, because you will want to isolate weak targets with attacks you can withstand and then just outright slash them to raise blade skills... weaker the blade the better, and just keep paralyzing them down.

 

Try it, the worst that will happen is you'll die and need to load your furthest progress save with the character. But if you quit before even attempting it you'll never know how far you could get trying.

Edited February 22, 2011 by ChaosApostle

[Fingerpaint]

It must be playable, because it's the character type I almost always end up playing (even when I try not to). I just dislike engaging in combat, particularly with multiple enemies, and avoid it by way of ending my fights before my opponent knows they're in one. Though I do play at normal difficulty, so there're bound to be some differences. In any case, it can be a little difficult early on because you have to wait for your sneak skill to get up high enough to even get close to your target, but once you can do that much you're usually golden. Poisons and enchantments can help too, but they'd better work fast if you're in an environment with many hostiles, a full-on fight will almost certainly alert their friends to your presence.

 

Part of being a sneaky character is also the privilege of picking your battles. I find that it's often more fun to infiltrate than eradicate. Actually being able to beat every enemy in the game isn't usually a priority of mine if there's an alternate solution.

 

As Apostle said: try it, the only one who really knows if the style suits you is, well, you.

[SimpleGlitch]

I would also like to point out if your going to use a dagger down load a stealth overhaul mod that changes the multiplier depending on size of the weapon (smaller the weapon higher multiplier. Reason: a smaller weapon is more agile, faster, and more sneaky.) In my opinion having a dagger do more damage during a sneak attack then a sword makes more sense, Every try swinging a large sword silently, I've studied a few different martial arts, and I would say hands down I would rather have a small weapon during a sneak attack than a large one. I also herd that daggers will do more damage in Skirim coming out this fall, so a sneak overhaul mod would be good practice ;)

[Daledge]

I would also like to point out if your going to use a dagger down load a stealth overhaul mod that changes the multiplier depending on size of the weapon (smaller the weapon higher multiplier. Reason: a smaller weapon is more agile, faster, and more sneaky.) In my opinion having a dagger do more damage during a sneak attack then a sword makes more sense, Every try swinging a large sword silently, I've studied a few different martial arts, and I would say hands down I would rather have a small weapon during a sneak attack than a large one. I also herd that daggers will do more damage in Skirim coming out this fall, so a sneak overhaul mod would be good practice ;)

 

I agree with all except for the last point. I understand that daggers would have a better sneak attack, but a full-on swing without sneaking? Now that just wouldn't be realistic..