The Problem with Pure Builds: Official Discussion...

[SpellAndShield]

Same thing for me Op, pure orc warrior without shouts, except that I use a shield and one handed axe at all times. You can get that arrow imunity shield perk I believe and craft frost\fire\ whatever resist potion and works well when trying to reach casters. I think warrior is the easiest way to go, mage second and stealth char last.

 

the orcs berserking racial is VERY Overpowered imo.

 

What I found to be a very good mage counter is taking the Atraunoch birth sign for a pure warrior build; I don's use magic on my Orc Warrior BUT you absorb 50% of all spells cast at you, very handy.

[SpellAndShield]

I am using a mix of all my favorite skills but its kinda kicking me around, losts or reloading after dealth. I have magika stacked for spells and almost no armor so Cqc is rough. Skills in order of use for me: Sneak, achery, destruction, restoration, onehanded. I can usually get health down to about 1/4 before im forced into cqc, (hate running to much) but groups take it to me. Im starting to think armour might be nice but im gunna stick it out a little longer. I think the pure builds are sweet but I kinda want to do everything I can in skyrim with one build, I think a mix gives you more options and for tactics, which makes the game more interesting after investing countless hours. There is only so many ways you can rush into a battle with a 2-handed war axe, but if you have stealth, illusion, blocking, long range skills, etc. the posibilites are endless. I was leaning for 3 seperate pure build before the game was released but after a couple days I think I can still enjoy the game to its fullest with a good mix. True I dont get to max perks in any one class, but many of the perks just are not needed for my style. skyrim rocks.

 

I am going to start a build like that too, doing different ones.

[beholder2]

Same thing for me Op, pure orc warrior without shouts, except that I use a shield and one handed axe at all times. You can get that arrow imunity shield perk I believe and craft frost\fire\ whatever resist potion and works well when trying to reach casters. I think warrior is the easiest way to go, mage second and stealth char last.

 

the orcs berserking racial is VERY Overpowered imo.

 

What I found to be a very good mage counter is taking the Atraunoch birth sign for a pure warrior build; I don's use magic on my Orc Warrior BUT you absorb 50% of all spells cast at you, very handy.

 

Are you sure that's a 50% absorb damage ??

As far as I remember Daggerfall, the Atronach Sign was hard to play because your mana wasn't regenerating (even with sleep), but in counter part you were able to absorb mana from spells which hit you.

 

And I tried it yesterday : just got this sign for my dual hander warrior, I went into a cave where I had to kill a bandit chief. He was an argonian caster, and he juste two-shots me with its electrical spell. I had to shout and rush him. As usual, I needed to try 5-6 times before succeed.

 

So, I don't think Atronach gives the power to absorb 50% of spell's damage :-/

[mmanolis2001]

I have 3 pure builds in their mid to high teens.

 

1 - 2 handed axe wielding Orc warrior

2 - Breton destruction mage

3 - Wood Elf hunter

 

All are fun to play but they are lacking something for my play style. Whether it was poor perk allocations or my lack of skill with these builds I found my self feeling weak in certain areas. The Orc is powerful against all but mages. The Breton burns thru magicka two quickly this early in the game. I know with more perks and better gear that will change but currently im relying on my meat shield companion. It works great until she gets KO’d. The wood elf has been fun and archery feels powerful. In open areas kitting works great but in confined areas it gets hairy.

 

My latest build is not a pure class but more of a Knight/Paladin cross.

 

Race: Nord

Stat allocation : 2 Stamina 1 Health ratio.

Armor: Heavy

Weapons: One Handed Mace and a shield

Spell schools: Heavy Restoration, Light Destruction (Basic Shock damage only)

Enchantments: Only use enchantments found on world items.

 

 

Perks (based on level 50)

 

One-Handed

Armsman - Level 5 - One-handed weapons do 100% more damage

Fighting Stance - Power attacks cost 25% less stamina

Critical Charge - Sprinting power attacks do double critical damage

Bone Breaker - Level 3 - Maces ignore 75% of armor

 

Block

Shield Wall - Level 5 - Blocking is 100% more effective

Quick Reflexes - Time slows down if blocking power attack

Deflect Arrows - Arrows blocked by shield do no damage

Elemental Protection - Blocking with shield reduces fire/frost/shock by 50%

Block Runner - Move faster with shield raised

Power Bash - Able to do power bash

Deadly Bash - Bash does 5 times more damage

Bash Disarm - Chance to disarm when bashing

Shield Charge - Sprinting with shield raised knocks down most targets

 

Heavy Armor

Juggernaut - Level 5 - Armor Rating is 100% higher

Well Fitted - 25% if wearing all Heavy armor

Tower of Strength - 50% less stagger when wearing only Heavy Armor

Matching Set - Additional 25% bonus if wearing matched set

Reflect Blows - 10% chance to reflect melee damage if wearing all Heavy armor

 

Restoration

Master Restoration - Proficiency Cast Restoration Master spells for 50% less magicka

Ward Absorb - Wards recharge magicka when hit with spells

Respite - Healing spells restore Stamina as well

Regeneration - Healing spells cure 50% more

Recovery - Level 2 - Magicka regenerates 50% faster

Avoid Death - Autoheal 250 points when health goes below 10% once/day.

 

Smithing

Steel Smithing

Dwarven Smithing

Orcish Smithing

Ebony Smithing

Daedric Smithing

Dragon Smithing

 

Basically this will be a healing tank build. With the one hand perks I should be able to do decent melee damage while keeping myself healed. My low magicka pool should be helped with potions and restoration perks. My lower health will be countered with my heavy armor and block perks. My high stamina will allow me use my shield as a counter attack (interrupt) via bashing. Smithing will allow me to have the best tier equipment as I level up. I skipped enchanting on this build to keep myself from creating god like gear early in the game. Besides this will give me a reason to dungeon dive for better gear.

 

I have played through 18 levels on this build so far and it’s working great. I’m still stamina starved when I mix it up with 3 or more tougher opponents but that should be resolved when I pick up respite in later levels. I'm having a blast and it feels allot stronger than my previous builds at the same level. I love running into a cave and making as much noise as possible alerting all inside that they are about to get a shield slap and mace to the face. If I run into a mage lobbing fire balls I duck around a corner and heal up. And work my way to them. When I get Elemental Protection they will fall much faster. So far the 10 or so dragons I have encountered have been a joke. Just tank the breath fire shock bolts at them until they land. Then it’s a mix of bashes and shouts to interrupt there breathe and beat them down.

[Nadimos]

A pure nord warrior build with 2h sounded like suicide to me, so i took the one hand+shield route and i can close-up and evade just fine, without being beaten to death.

 

Thinking about trying shield bash soon for more offensive moves. The only downturn of this setup is, it requires

crazy stamina.

 

Other skills i have are heavy armor/smithing, aswell as

enchanting/alchemy to a slightly lesser degree.

 

Truth to be told tho at lvl 30 hacking+slashing is kinda getting boring...

 

PS: Trading in enchanting for restoration sounds interesting.

Edited November 16, 2011 by Nadimos

[Beomagi]

Yes I could be a full plate wearing, 2 Hand Axe wielding, Fireball caster class....but this would make the game too easy.

 

What I try to do is look at a class build from a previous game I played (Shadowknight from Everquest, Rogue from WOW, Paladin from Neverwinter nights, etc etc) and use them as a template to build my Skyrim toon

 

 

Funny you should mention a Paladin. My NWN Paladin was I guess you can say cross class. Bow user using high charisma bonus to stack on damage. Most fun character I've ever played in NWN.