One of the main reasons The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has remained one of the most popular games thanks to a sense of endless replayability. With 18 individual skill trees, tons of factions to join and dozens of unique weapon and armor sets to incorporate into your character, there is potential to create hundreds of unique character builds for your journey through the harsh wilds of Skyrim.
While there are many viable builds and the game itself sets players up for quite a few suggested ones, it can also be very entertaining to base your character build not just on power but on a specific fantasy archetype as well. With the open choices and exertion of free will available to you in Skyrim, it can be entertaining to play to a specific alignment or trope rather than grabbing the same powerful weapon you always want to. Here are five Skyrim builds for players who want to play to their character.
Race: Breton
Skills: Heavy Armor, Two-Handed, Destruction, Alteration
This build is a variation of the Two-Handed Tank build that many players opt for when running through the game. The main difference between this build and a generic heavy build is that the Oblivion Heavy relies almost exclusively on Daedric Artifacts, primarily the Masque of Clavicus Vile, Ebony Mail and Ebony Blade. Something between a warlock and a barbarian, the goal for this character is to sell out to any Daedric Princes with ill intent you come across — in exchange for malicious power, of course.
There is lots of freedom with how this may play out: as listed above, you may opt for Two-Handed combat using the Ebony Blade or Volendrung, or you could take an approach that utilizes the Mace of Molag Bal and Spellbreaker. You could succumb to lycanthropy and use the Ring of Hircine, or you could choose vampirism and sate your infernal hunger with the Ring of Namira. Couple this with Destruction magic for added damage and/or Alteration magic to beef up your armor. Bonus points if you get your speech high enough to intimidate anybody without fail.
Race: High Elf
Skills: Conjuration, Destruction
The perfect build for players who want to let off some steam at the expense of their frame rate, the Necrobomber build takes everything that makes the traditional necromancer build great and adds an explosive twist. This build is a necromancer at heart, taking advantage of the Necromancer Amulet, high Conjuration and Destruction skills and the Ritual Stone power fixed to the Aetherial Crown, which allows the player to raise all the dead around them at once as often as they want.
Where this build deviates is in terms of damage. Instead of sinking skill points into buffing up your undead, spend them on Destruction magic, specifically towards rune spells. You won't need your zombies to be particularly beefy anyway because this build makes use of Ahzidal's Ring of Necromancy, which causes any raised undead to explode in icy magic as soon as they take damage. Support this with destructive runes, the Flaming Familiar spell and as many explosive spiders as you dare to fit in your pockets. Raise the dead, hope the game doesn't crash when they all immediately explode, rinse and repeat.
Race: Wood Elf
Skills: Archery, Sneak, Conjuration, Light Armor
All roads lead to stealth archer, but that doesn't mean all stealth archers have to be the same. This build focuses on some of the less-appreciated items available in Skyrim and Solstheim that are designed for taking down all manner of wild beasts. This build makes use of several gifts and artifacts belonging to Hircine, the Daedric Prince of the Hunt. This includes lycanthropy, the Ring of Hircine and the Glass Bow of the Stag Prince, available at the Ramshackle Trading Post in Solstheim.
Along with these Daedric boons, players can make use of Horksbane, a mace designed for taking down Horkers, and Trollsbane, a warhammer that burns trolls. If the player doesn't want to sink any upgrades into One-Handed or Two-Handed weapons, the bow alone should do more than enough damage. Finish the look with the Savior's Hide and the Old Gods set, and throw a few conjuration spells into the mix for a wolf familiar to join you on your hunts. Push the limit of what you consider prey by joining the Dawnguard or the Dark Brotherhood.
Race: Imperial
Skills: Heavy Armor, Restoration, Block
A staple of the RPG community, the paladin build is one of the more entertaining roles to fill in any fantasy world, and Skyrim is no exception. With the addition of the Dawnguard DLC, players have access to dozens of spells, weapons and armor sets designed to smite all things unholy. While this build calls for a bit more attention, especially into leveling up Restoration, the payoff is one of the most satisfying builds achievable in Skyrim.
Starting with the basic Dawnguard setup, make your way through the side quests until you get the Dawnguard Rune Hammer or Rune Axe and Auriel's Shield. Train up Restoration to the best of your ability using the "Equilibrium" spell, and then you can start to mow down the undead horde with maximum efficiency.
Race: Nord
Skills: One-Handed, Block, Heavy Armor, Smithing
This build is not only incredibly fun but also unbelievably strong. The Kin Slayer build takes the best aspects of the True Dragonborn and dragon slayer builds and puts them in one character. Most of the early to mid-game materials for this build comes from the Blades, bringing most of the "slayer" elements into it. Start with the Blades armor set and Dragonbane until you can smith up a set of dragonplate armor.
What makes this different from a straight-up dragon slayer build is the heavy use of shouts: using an exploit in which you talk to a follower while transforming into a vampire or werewolf, the player can equip five Amulets of Talos at once, reducing their shout cooldown to zero. This means that the player is not only the perfect dragon slayer but the perfect Dragonborn as well. Top off the look with the Jagged Crown, which can be obtained through a pickpocketing exploit and become the greatest Dovahkiin who ever lived.
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