Stealthy Characters

[zencadet]

i seriously make a sneaky character every time i first play an rpg (that allows sneak), then when i get bored i move to diferent options.

Haha, I'm pretty much the other way. I make a generic warrior/tank character to get my feet wet then inevitably make a rogue/thief. The play-style is just more immersive when you're forced to actually take notice of your surroundings and scout out a room rather than just running in with your shield up and hoping for the best.

 

To the OP: Once you get the backstab (15% bonus) perk you'll end up using daggers over your bow, which I only break out for openers and dragons, since you can't backstab them. To help spread out points I ignore the right side of the archery tree; the crit bonus and the faster movement with bow drawn are pretty useless since you'll be sniping from stealth. As for light armor, I'm level ~40 and have yet to put a perk in it. If you're playing a rogue and you have a high armor skill that means you're getting hit a lot and doing something wrong.

 

One way to get your skills up if you're having a hard time is to go hunting. Stalking wolves, bears, etc will provide sneak, archery, one handed, skill-ups easily plus the leather mats to skill up smithing or w/e.

[katling]

Sneaking in dungeons is a great way to level up Sneak. Also using bows while sneaking helps level up sneak really quickly. I have a level 45 sneaky archer and she can one shot everything except higher level enemies like Draugr Death Lords. (Believe me, getting those sneak kill shots never gets old. I still giggle when I wipe out a room full of draugr without them ever figuring out where I am.) I'm currently working on Enchanting so I can add just that little more damage to my bow.

 

I started out with the bow straight away. I rarely use a dagger and I have Mehrune's Razor for when I need that. I can usually kill any enemy with my bow though, even if they've found me. The dagger's just the fall back for when I get caught out. I've barely bothered with the light armour perks until now. I've been concentrating on Sneak and Archery. If you kill it before it gets to you, it doesn't matter what your armour is. :biggrin:

 

 

Do you go about killing Dragons the same way...just pelt it with arrows until it's dead?

 

 

Yeah, pretty much. I use daedric or ebony arrows so I do get some punch to it. Then it's just a matter of keeping on the move and making sure I get the full drawback on my bow because then I get the crit damage perk to kick in pretty regularly and that makes even an ancient dragon stagger, even better when you get the timing right because you can stop them from breathing fire or frost at you by doing that. It's actually easier when the dragon's in the air too though I have had some of them crash land in awkward positions on occasion. Dragons are one of the reasons I'm working on enchanting at the moment. I want to get the dual enchant perk then I'll put a strong fire resist and a cold resist on my armour and say 'bring it on, baby!'. :biggrin:

[deathjam]

Contrary to others, I like the up close and personal melee style of sneaking and assasinating. There is almost no feeling like stalking your prey, keeping to the shadows, and waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. Of course I use archery too, it's only natural and makes daylight assassinating so much easier, but daggers are where it is at.

 

As for straight up combat, daggers have a use, mainly because they attack fast, but there are some really interesting unique daggers.

The big one is obviously Mehrune's Razor which has albeit, small chance to 1 hit KO anything in the game and I mean anything, regardless of health. Don't use this when experimenting with shadowmere's health and regen rate :wink:

The second one is surprisingly a weapon that you can get very early in the game called Valdr's Lucky Dagger. If I recall correctly, this weapon gives you an extra 25% chance to land a critical strike, and critical's hurt in this game.

 

Now if you factor in the speed of using a dagger, you can imagine that these effects can land pretty often which they do. Also, because they have no charge, you can't disenchant them, but soul gems are not needed for them AND they work with the elemental fury shout which makes absolute mincemeat of the toughest of foes. It's so effective, I had to limit my use of this combination to give myself a challenge again, even though I am playing on expert difficulty (hardcore scares me). If that isnt enough, using the shout Marked for Death, will mop up anything that proves to be stubborn. Mix in a paralyse dagger and things just become unfair. Remember, you can wield two at once!

 

As for sneaking, it's one of the easiest skills to level that you really don't need to even 'cheat' at it. Sneak attacks raise it like crazy, especially when you use either the guaurdian stones that raise theif or combat abilities. I think the thief one works better here. By the time my sneak hit 100, the highest other skill was in the 50's.

 

One last thing I will say, don't feel the need to put all 5 points into the first sneak perk. I survive on just having one in there. It means I have to find a hinding place when I attack, but it put's me on edge a bit when attempting to remain hidden nad provides a new element. Even if i do get seen, the last perk on the tree means I always have another option, even if it is sometimes overpowered.

 

AH! this was meant to be short, not a wall of text :pinch:

[Cyrotek]

I startet out as Melee Assassin right from the start. Melee sneak attacks level sneak a lot faster than ranged ones. I was at 100 sneak before any other skill was at 50.

 

And now the fun part: That was at Vanilla on Master difficulty, now imagine the same thing with some ... mods that add difficulty. Sneak melee is incredible hard then, also you dont oneshot anything anymore right from the start.

 

Btw, heavy armor sneakcharacter with 100 sneak, ebony armor (you know, the deadra one) and 4 parts enchantet with +40% sneak is somewhat ... funny.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Cyrotek

[pastafrola]

First I take the warrior stone buff and lv up light armor, one handed and archery. After having some "battle perks" I start focusing on sneak movement and attacks as much as I can.

[Brandy1123]

Whats the point in walking around behind the Greybeards to level up? You may as well console it up, if thats your goal. Just sneak walk in dungeons and ruins. Each successful attack or action raises your skill small small degree.

 

As for armor, you can find a lone wolf and let it pounce on you all day while you heal, console it up - OR- you can play the game, trying to NOT get hit and let it go up naturally.

 

there's no point in powering your perks. If playing the lowly denizen of the Skyrim province is not your thing, then console it to the point you think you need to to be able to play the game where you enjoy it.

 

I personally wish you could lock it down at a certain point. That stats raise way to fast for my liking as it is.

[Tsig]

Whats the point in walking around behind the Greybeards to level up?

 

 

You're not walking around behind them, you can actually sneak attack them while they're meditating and they won't even turn around or fight back. It's an easy way to level up the Sneak skill to the point it becomes useful.

[Brandy1123]

Tsig, I understand. I was just trying to win a fight for just having fun and let the levels arrive as a surprise when they finally decide to show up. I do understand the monotony of starting out brand new each and every time.

[babis8142]

I have two main characters levels 56 and 40. One is warrior (with limited use of destruction, restoration and conjouration) with almost all warrior skills above 90 and enchanting 100. Let's forget this one.

The other is a sneak assassin. I started as battlemage meant to focous mostly one magic but around level 5 I changed my mind and went the assassin way. I have played with a dagger 70% of the time and the other 30% split between sword and bow. That is after the perks in sneak skill that give you 15x damage with daggers, x6 with swords and x3 with bows. Before that I hardly played with a dagger and mostly played with the other two. At some point I joined the dark brotherhood (maybe level 10) and started using the shrouded armor for muffled footsteps and double backstab. Some time before that (almost as soon as I decided to be a sneaky assassin) I became a vampire (so that's more muffled movement) and also I've focused on one handed, light armor (I like having some protection although I don't get hit most of the times also even more muffled movement) and sneak.

 

Result: overpowered character. I enter a room full of draugr and even if I'm right in front of them they can't see me. It's stupid really. How can they not see me? It breaks my immersion every time. Like how I can just stroll (well sneak stroll) into a room kill everyone in there and no one has detected me.

Edited January 26, 2012 by babis8142

[Tsig]

It's nice being able to choose your fights sometimes...plus at higher levels those Drauger are a PITA to fight face-to-face.