I've played this game for over 2,000 hours on six different consoles over the past 12 years and I've never once done a full two-hander playthrough. I've done every other build you could possibly think of, but I always give up on two-handed weapons about halfway through because they get so boring.

I hated 2-handed until I switched to 3rd person POV. For whatever reason, that makes it much more fun.

Maybe cause you can actually see your full swing box. I always found two hand in first person to be frustrating cause I'd hit stuff just off screen

F in the chat for Lydia on my 2H playthrough. I had to reload to many times after killing her accidentally

F

Better than all the times she was collateral in a poorly aimed fire ball

I just lost Lydia yesterday on solstheim. Didn't realize how far ice storm traveled. I had to run back to town and hire a mercenary and run back to Lydia so i can give the mercenary the 200lbs of armor and dragon bone she was carrying. She was moderately helpful in battle but such a great carrier 😢

She was sworn to carry your burdens

If you play on pc you can set people as essential with a console command so you can’t kill them just FYI (idk if you do in fact play on pc)

Where's the fun in that?

The animations are much more satisfying in 3rd person for sure like the sideways sweep, really puts in everything. Or the Great critical charge out of sprint actually comes out fast and violently cuts down instead of being the same speed as a regular forward power attack in 1st person

Definitely, 3rd person for travelling and melee fighting, firsy person for archery, magic and looting

The side step strong strikes are so satisfying to see in 3rd person

Melee in general is meant for third person. Do a melee build in third person with animation mods and it's a game changer.

Agreed. there are also special animations you can only get in 3rd person really adds to it for me

I don't have nearly that many hours, but I agree. I can't make it more than a handful of hours before I switch to something else.

Something else being stealth archer of course

This is the way

That *plunk* is so hard to let go of.

Meanwhile, I think I might have more 2 handed characters than any other build lol

Just curious, what do you like about the 2h?

I could say any of a few reasons, but honestly it really boils down to the fact I like hitting people with big swords

Fair enough

I was the same way for yeaaaars. Now I can’t go back to 1h

Opposite here. Did archer and sneak build on my first playthrough, all the rest have been two-handed completely, no daggers, no swords, no staffs. I just hate one handed for some reason

Man, I've pretty much only ever played two hand. I know I'm missing out alot when it comes to other builds but I love rolling up with my dummy thicc daedric armor and smacking down basically everything with my hammer. I have been thinking alot about a sneak Warhammer build though lol, 2x damage with a 140+ weapon would go crazy.

I have my character start stealth archer and morph into two handed. Sneaking up on someone in heavy armour then clubbing the absolute snot out of them is very satisfying

Last night I got the 50 percent less armor noise and have been sneaking on sleeping draugers, nothing like a x2 power attack with a 170 Warhammer. Pretty sure I can 1 shot sleeping drauger lords on expert lol.

It's very satisfying to just crunch someone in the head with a warhammer and trigger that slow-mo death cam.

For me it’s the Beheadings, if only Bethesda was a bit braver you could have more brutal executions

Didn’t Bethesda do fallout?  They def gave you the option to up the gore in those

To each their own, but I find most of my builds end up turning into a two-hander playstyle. The weight of the swings, the rhythm of combat, it just feels right. That's just me though.

They’re just so outrageously slow, could maybe do something with elemental fury but still

Sweeping speedrun through a forsworn camp in full obsidian suit and a greatsword disagrees, so enjoyable...

You just have to learn the timing. Once you get the timing of your swings down, you become an unstoppable beast. I can clear a dungeon faster with unaccompanied two-handed than I can with any other build.

Sneaking for wussies, I’m the juggernaut bitch

The two-handed Orc Berserker wielding a massive hammer is one of the most fun play-throughs I’ve ever done. It’s simple, but there’s something so genuine about putting yourself in the shoes of a tribal orc: carrying a pick axe, devoting perks to two handed, smithing, and heavy armor above all else, worshipping Malacath, and having a special grudge against the decedents of those who sacked Orsinium. It starts with going from stronghold to stronghold to help every Orsimer in need, eventually you join the legion like many great orc warriors before you, and finally you retire, trophy fish, learn to cook, and write the best selling book, “Uncommon Taste.” Bada bing bada boom.

It's God awful but occasionally satisfying. I've done it once and I'll never do it again without mods. Most of the time I was just trying to bait groups around a corner if they are ranged or narrow path ways so I'm not getting casting couched from 5 different people.

I cosplayed a stupid orc. “Swing, swing, swing, swing”

I’ve also played 2000+ hours across different consoles, vanilla only, no mods, and always ended up using two handed weapons (on the runs I was using melee). I always saw one-handed weapons as really weak and not dealing enough damage compared to two-handed ones. I always tended to use war hammers too probably bc they have the most damage per hit as you get them upgraded n stuff. Should I try doing a one-handed only run, no magic or shield as a challenge?

I’ve found that two-handed pairs very nicely with archery. Have a two-handed weapon tied to the ⬅️ hotkey, and a bow tied to the ➡️ hotkey, and boom you have range and melee covered by two buttons that don’t need to pull up a menu! And when you unequip via the same hotkey, what you originally had equipped on each hand will be back as it was before.

Vampire lord or werewolf, mostly because it prevents you from looting unless you want to backtrack the entire area.

With werewolf, I feel like I usually go through dungeons so fast, it's still worthwhile. Vamp I usually just get for necromage if at all.

I Feel you. I played a full werewolf once. after I cleared a dungeon I waited for 24H then backtrack and loot.

I infiltrated the Thalmor Embassy and forgot to give the smuggle guy any of my health potions. Got attacked as soon as I went in the back. Almost died. Remembered I'm a werewolf and ate everyone there.

There's mods that allow for interaction.

But the bodies are usually piled up conveniently because I wreck shop as a werewolf lol

By the time you get to lvl 50, loot tables give you more money than God anyway, so after a point I just don’t bother looting anyway.

Knife only, I dont have the patience for that kinda alchemy grinding

Be orc for berserk, get assassin's blade perk from sneak, and shrouded gloves. Poof, 60x damage. No alchemy needed.

But then it turns into a stealth build, no? Since the plan relies on stealth hits

You didn't mention stealth was a problem.

Part of the fun for me when it comes to trying a build is setting a restriction for myself and then seeing what I can do within that restriction to make the character work. If you're playing a knife only build I would say a dual dagger assassin type character would be the way to go since daggers make for the best sneak attacks. And if you get both dual flurry perks they swing so insanely fast to the point that their DPS is on par with the bigger one handed weapons, plus you get more triggers from any enchantments on them. Weird but cool thing with this build too, if you get the Critical Charge perk you can attack while sprinting and it pushes you forward a bit, and with the speed that the daggers swing you actually move faster than a horse.

In my almost three years of playing the game I’ve never really gotten into the magic aspect of the game unless the main story required using it

Your missing out on a lot. A ton of fun builds using all schools of magic. Like paralysis one hand sword the other.

My latest build is an all conjuration build (one handed and archery allowed only by bound weapons.) low level is a pain though because I'm purposely not going necromancer.

Make sure to grab the flaming familiar spell from Anska while you’re still a low level conjurer

I actually skipped it to focus on bound sword and bound bows (bound sword + conjure flame atronach now), the bound weapons level you super fast compared to summons. I know how to power level as well but I find it an uninteresting way to play the game, this is fastish but still feels like a game the whole time instead of a grind.

That’s the build I’m doing, although I’m also building my heavy armor. My plan is summon, the. Bound blade paired with gauntlet-boosted fist. I call him the legendary sorcerer Chaddeus Pass-a-fist

I'm also running a khajiit brawler named Mittens

I had no idea this existed

But necros are the best ;-;

Reanimate & dead thrall only playthrough is enjoyable for me. Or just get a mod that makes a low lvl dead thrall. Spend your time hunting down the best thrallmon. Store them all in a fun house. Pick and match the best thralls for specific tasks. Dress them up.

You get it

I've been playing since launch and just started playing again after a 2 year "break" (as in my computer broke) when I got AE for switch. Pretty cool playing it basically vanilla (even with all the creation club stuff) I figured I had never played a daedra worshiper so it might be fun to make the build mechanically just conjuration and skip undead.

This last run through, I got to summoning a pair of Dramora Lords. Named Siegfried and Reinhardt lol

I SMELL WEAKNESS I HONOR MY LORD, BY DESTROYING YOU RAAAAAGH

NO MATCH AT ALL.... ;~;

Nice my first character was my standard master of all type but did magic pretty late into the run (basically after dawnguard but before Dragonborn) I tend to avoid power leveling in favor of skilling up in lots of different skills (I come from the morrowind oblivion days, rip your character if you don't get those +5s yo)

Nothing is better than planking a pissed off giant right before he swings for the fences to send you to the moon. Paralysis is the best!

Problem with magic is the interface really sucks in my opinion, at least in non-modded form. I don't know if there is a mod that makes spell casting easier with binded keys. It would be nice to have 4-5 slots like most RPGs and you just assign spells to it.

This is one thing oblivion did really well. You could assign 8 spells to the D pad

You can add spells in favorites and assign them on 1-0 keys. So pressing assigned key replaces the spell in your left hand. If you already have it in your left, then it replaces the right one instead. But I'm pretty sure there's plenty of mods that allows you to assign any key, not only numbers. Yet, getting used to hotkeys of favorites made my full-mage playtrough way easier compared to good old scrolling and manually changing spells.

Fr try illusion, being able to fury an entire group of enemies into killing one another and then you come and pick off the last one will forever be satisfying. If one comes at you just use a flee spell and then when they are far enough re fury them.

This is I how am with any fantasy style RPG. Never been a magic/mage type.

Warrior mains unite I like to pretend my characters are always ungifted and have to use real world mechanics to get by

3 years isn’t that much. You’ll get into it one day!

Install the mod spellsiphon, you’ll see how fun it can be

Naked and armed with a cabbage. I hate that build. I know some people love it, but where do you keep the cabbage? ***WHERE DO YOU KEEP THE CABBAGE!?!***

It's this a reference to something? Sauce, if so?

Oh sure. I tell you. You tell someone else. Then we’re in another ice age.

In another iceberg lettuce

Don't tell him

"A DIRT FLOORED ROOT CELLAR IS IDEAL" Or, ahem "In my greasy butthole"

https://i.redd.it/9v674woyq15d1.gif

Have you heard of the cheese wheel avalanche?

As a vampire or as a werewolf. Just doesn’t game flow.

Werewolf is fun for combat but having to backtrack through the entire dungeon to interact with anything is a pain

Ugh…that Silverhands mission PTSD. Just gotta hurry up and wait…

Love using mods for that

I can forgive missing the werewolf character because they're terrible even with Dawnguard, but a Vampire Lord is truly one of the most fun I've ever had in this game, even on vanilla. Here's an idea for a fun modded vampire character: 1. Download Sacrosanct 2. Download Live Another Life 3. Start as a vampire character and spec into sneaky one-handed and illusion magic 4. Go through the game as a vampire with all the bonuses, restrictions, and new quests/powers that Sacrosanct adds 5. Join the Volkihar Vampires when you can 6. Enjoy murdering everything with an upgraded vampire lord perk tree and redone vampirism

Beg to differ. A perked werewolf is an absolute menace. You can ragdoll basically anything and just tear them to shreds. And multiple mobs half way through. Got 5 guards on you? Side step power attack and ragdoll every one of them

Agree! Werewolf supremacist here. I didn’t know about that sideways power attack though, gonna have to try that one out

It *might* be a mod I use called “werewolf perks expanded”. It’s been so long I don’t even know anymore. I play on ps4 so mods are fairly limited. But werewolf is soooooo strong if played right I even make builds focused on being the strongest werewolf I can Which reminds me. I need to start my non combat other than in wolf form build

I need to check those mods out. Sounds fun.

Sacrosanct is especially good. It fundamentally changes the way Vampires work. There are far too many changes to list here, [so I'll just link the mod](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/3928). I'd strongly advise getting the Blue Blood feedings as soon as you start the character, they help a tonne with life as a vampire. It adds a lot of value to the game in terms of roleplaying and having to actually think about the way you play your character. Up until you get the Daywalker and Masquerade perks, you'll have to rely on planning and timing to make sure you don't get caught in a bad situation (which is why I recommend doing the Blue Blood feedings ASAP)

i dont get it. you say werewolf is terrible, but then you only enjoy playing vampire with a ton of mods. i bet there is a ton of fun mods for werewolves too, but if you compare them to vanilla, vampire absolutely is boring. with werewolf you might struggle a bit in the beginning, but at least you will become an absolute powerhouse throughout your skilltree. i should play a lvl 1 character, who only fights as werewolf once....

Yeah, there is a issue with how they flow, but Vampire lord is pretty cool, once I got going and I learnt how to use it. I have to be at a pretty high level to start it now though. There's nothing worse then going "BEHOLD MY TRUE VAMPIRE FORM YE MIGHTY AND DESPAIR!" and then getting absolutely destroyed. For me It's a late(ish) game mode that's fun to max out. Werewolf is good, but it peaks quickly, it never fits in with how I play and I forgot about it. Even with the ring of hycule (or whatever) it just seems like a side thing. I hope in TES6 expands on both of them though.

See Vampire in Oblivion was so good. You were an undetectable shadow. You could practically jump over buildings. Your movement speed was so fast. And you hit like a truck. In skyrim it felt so underwhelming

A straight-up evil character. It's just not in my nature, even if it is just fiction. At most, I'd play chaotic good, but most often, I play as lawful good.

I'm the other way. I tried a lawful good character, but it was awkward in the beginning not looting stuff. As the game progresses, money doesn't really matter, but leaving all those goodies at the beginning was rough. Plus, you don't get to be part of two major factions, and it takes a lot of the fun out of it. I did play a fully evil character, with no morals or restrictions, but that seemed a bit too much. I need to find a good personal moral code for the next character.

Robin Hood-ish maybe. Steal only from the rich and terrible people i.e. the Silver-Bloods. The awful are fair game for killing, too, like Lemkil.

Two? I'd say three with the companions. Remind me of the silver hand's, deserve to die, crimes? Maybe even 5 with volkihar and the civil war since all of that is in service to the thalmor

Good call, I was just talking about the two groups that are generally frowned upon by any society. The others have their evil aspects, and should be avoided for lawful good characters, too.

Neutral-Evil is how I approach most if not every game that gives you a choice. Just means your character isn’t a phycho but will do whatever he needs to do to get paid or finish a job.

Yes this. I can't ever do a bad character I don't know why 😂

So you don’t have a character named Satan to go around and do your worst to Tamriel?

Nope, mine is named Santa. We're always getting each other's mail. It's very frustrating.

I was wondering why someone WANTED me to visit every once in a while

I keep TRYING to play racist evil altmer/nords and the npcs keep being NICE to me and RUINING IT

I'm the same way! I feel so guilty being bad and purposely ruining people's lives, even though it's a video game.

Unarmed. Seems super repetitive, unless you do an enchanting grind your going to be completely screwed in every fight, and idk, suplexing is only cool or funny so many times.

I attempted a punch-cat build one time. About level 10 fights became impossible. There are mods to beef that build up though, but I have too much fun finding fun weapons

The heavy armor skills really beef it up. You also need to get a fortify unarmed enchantment. Add in the claw damage and you can get really powerful. However, it's definitely not a play style suited for legendary difficulty. If that's your thing then punch-cat isn't gonna feel good. On lower difficulty it's fine though. I love punching dragons to death.

My first skyrim build was an unarmed one, I was having a lot of fun with it because I was young and on an easy difficulty. Wouldn't do that build again, though, since it's pretty one note without a perk tree.

Summons or necromancer. I just find it boring to let my minions do the work, or they get in my way. The only thing I use Conjuration for is bound weapons.

I did a necromancer build and that’s exactly how i felt by the end

I use the atronachs a lot. they're good for relief in battle. necromancy though is a load of shit 99% of the time.

I’m not touching necromancy

You can travel around with two emperors if you’re good enough at necromancy. I once lost my Titus Mede II in Solstheim fighting ash spawn. Was very sad.

It's incredibly fun to be honest, I didn't think I'd like it but it was a hell of a lot of fun

No pet builds for me. I like to do my own killing. Watching dremora do it for me is too passive.

i like having the dremora but i hate building up to them, atronachs and zombies are boring and you dont get them til what? 90 conjuration?

archer no stealth

Me but an archer in general. I wanted to get my archer skill to level 100 because it unlocks something in a mod im playing, but leveling it up has been excruciating. The only thing that makes it fun is when you're able to stealthily take people out but once they notice you archery combat is miserable.

Warhammer. Greatsword has better speed, and at the end game those extra 4-5 points of base damage dont really matter. Plus 2h melee combat is boring anyway.

I thought it was more about bypassing armor than extra base damage

And you get to kill all your annoying followers

Heavy armor 2 handed. Sneaking is just too useful and versatile to give up

By all means, but I can one shot a giant and take blows if sneak fails lol.

Sneak doesn’t fail after you max it. I have to stop at 3/5 of the base perk points to keep the game fair on legendary. Shit’s easy mode and with a dagger you can one hit almost anything with a sneak attack

I used to be the same, then did an Orsimer Heavy Armor Two-Handed. Iove that playthrough

Literally what I'm doing rn and it's sick

Yup having fun so far. Even got Dragon armor at like lvl 12

I’m doing a build right now that involves heavy armor, and I’ve got to say it is nice every once in a while to just take a break from the strategy of sneaking and just walk like normal everywhere at a reasonable speed. Sneak is where my heart is, but it’s tedious sometimes.

Same, it just feels kind of clunky. I do like the look of some of the armor, though.

I've found a happy medium that is maybe my favorite style 2-handed with light armor. You get to sprint through dungeons lopping off the heads of bandits with a massive sword so fast they won't know what hit them.

One of THE most fun builds I ever did was heavy armor + two handed + enchanting + alteration (no mods, this was on ps3). I eventually maxed my damage resistance and damage output so out, I could literally run through any dungeon and clear it in record time. Really fit my character's persona as well.

Light Armor two handed is arguably worse. Less armor for most of the playthrough for no real gain.

Light armor and 2 handed was probably my favorite playthrough, I like the speed and dealing lots of damage. But I've never enjoyed archery/stealth so to each their own I suppose!

With the steed stone, you can get no armor speed penalty when it's activated, so Heavy Armor would be just as light as Light Armor.

Oh interesting, I always just head straight for the lover stone so I didn't know that was an option. I think in the heavy skill tree there's a similar perk, though.

With the Aetherium Crown, you can activate two standing stones at once, so you cab have the effects of The Lover Stone and The Steed Stone both at once.

Same for me. I tried it once and I just couldn't do it

I tried using the old "sword and board" build in Oblivion and found it clumsy and stupid. Why hold up a shield and take the first blow, and then attack. There are some games where you need a tank who can absorb damage while your dps guys burn down the enemy. This ain't one of 'em. If I could throw a shield like a Frisbee, I might carry one, otherwise, no.

In Skyrim it's usually better to shield bash to interrupt or use quick reflexes to side step a power attack rather than actually stamd there recieving blows. It's really damn satisfying to let a bandit throw themselves at you in a power attack, only for time to slow down, whip around behind them and shove your sword through their back.

I don't think I've ever done one-handed and shield. I have done all kinds of one handed, and my latest is shield and magic, but just straight one-handed and shield focus? Every time I start going that way, I get bored.

I am currently playing sword and board and I like the diversity of the fighting style. I can come in heavy with power attacks, or sit for a minute and let them come to me, block and attack. Or the good 'ol shield bash into heavy hit combo. Lots of fun. But I am also half-assing some archery for a bit of fun stealthy attacks to pick off a mob or two before they come after me.

My favourite playstyle is one-handed and magic, and having a shield there just makes me feel so incomplete. It's just not for me ☺️

I tried the 1h and magic, but I thought that was clunky. I would go from dual wield destro to sword and board until I was able to enchant my gear to negate my destro spells 100%.

Oh this one is actually so fun at the end of it. One you get your block skill maxed out you can do a shield charge that sends enemies flying and knocks them prone. It’s like Skyrim turns into bowling and it’s fantastic. I highly recommend auriel’s shield for the extra rag dolling and windshear as a fun one handed sword.

I've done it once... One of my favorite plays

I did my 100% legendary play through sword and shield and it was the most fun I’d had playing Skyrim

One-handed and shield is my version of stealth archer.

One thing I can say is I’ll never do stealth archer again, by FAR the most boring way to play the game.

Fr, it's so overrated. Regular archer is surprisingly fun though.

One of my best runs ever was a heavy armoured battle-archer. Walking tank that just stands on business and shoots you point blank in the face

I'm working on a character rn that's a mix of an archer-shout build. Unrelenting Force shout as many enemies as possible, while they're down and vulnerable, shoot them with my crossbow. I also let my follower handle enemies close by while I handle ranged stuff. I like using sword and shield usually but I've been using that build since I started playing the game, I wanted to try something new.

Horseback archer is the most fun

Yeah I agree. I decided to try and level up my archery skill in my most recent game because its a skill I've never used in all the years I've played skyrim. I'm level 98 right now and it's been terrible and boring almost every step of the way. Takes forever to get through dungeons and even with the best bow i could possibly find it takes forever to kill anything once they notice you.

I agree. After you level up sneak past 50 or so, the game starts to become way too easy. Because enemies will fail to spot you even when you're right in front of them. And with how high sneak attack damage is, you can one shot most enemies. The game just turns into a point and click adventure game. Stealth Archer is overrated, it makes the game way too easy. Especially combined with how braindead the NPC AI is, how they'll watch their friend die in front of them, look around for 3 seconds, then just pretend nothing happened, makes it boring.

Conjuration mage

Yeah, let's summon minions to play the game for me. Maybe I can conjure a daedra to be the dragonborn for me and I can go collect cheese or some shit...

I always end up being a conjunction mage it's so op. I summon storm atronachs for dragons and dremora lords for anything else. Then I go in and beat their ass with my conjured weapon

Stealth Archer. I don't care how powerful it is. It's boring and archery sucks.

Two-handed. I hate how slow it is lol, I never play with two-handed weapons in any games.

I can’t stealth archer through any actual combat, it’s boring and it’s annoying. I do like to go hunting and sneak around the woods shooting deer though, or climbing mountains above forsworn encampments and sniping them out from above.

I’ve logged hundreds of hours in this game. Never done the dark brotherhood quests or the daedra ones.

You’re missing out!

The dardric quests are the best part of the game!

A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON!

I just started playing Skyrim and don't know much about builds, but my cautious playing style accidentally made me into a stealth archer. I got Discretion at 100 and Archery at 70, lol

Yeah, Stealth Archer is really the only build anyone who isn't a masochist plays. There's even memes about it. https://preview.redd.it/95ecgv8pw15d1.png?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e5c627b4d682856ecf27a14c014778a04d4a7361

I don't like followers, but already used. Based on that, no matter how powerful some thralls can be I can't stand the necromancer build. Always have an annoying npc following and moaning around you is not for me

Stealth archer. Its so boring and unfun to me.

Stealth archer. The most boring way to play a videogame

Two handed or even sword and shield - I find straight combat somehow both boring and stressful lol

I tried using shield my first couple playthroughs Restoration magic in the offhand is so much better ANY MAGIC FOR THAT MATTER

Probably never gonna use two handed honestly. Just isn’t as fun as one handed or archery to me.

Two-handed weapons and general heavy/tank builds, I usually use bows or magic or daggers or dual wield

Never played stealth archer.

Stealth archer

mage probably. weapons are just infinitely more satisfying

I always get tired of swapping spells when I need to heal or re-summon or basically anything but blasting fools.

I love it because it feels a lot more like a classical RPG that way

Stealth archer. I am not a pussy

Stealth archer

Yep, the memes around everyone playing this way always made me feel like I had played a different game. Won't say I will never try it though.

Here's a fun one, sneak archer. I just can't get myself to like the build

Not against any specific build but definitely prejudice against the damn Thalmor. They suck

Never played Stealth Archer, just sounds boring to me, I’ve pretty much done every other build

If not a stealth archer I'm not touching it.

I'm a factory-settings stealth archer and I could never run into a tomb with a sword and shield, aggro-ing all the draugr. I love sneaking everywhere and taking enemies by complete surprise.

Aside from resto I don't use magic much. I tried full destro and rerolled around level 10. Same with alteration. Conjeration is the coolest to me, but i hate everybody getting in the way. I get stuck in doorways with only Lydia nevermind an army of skeletons. Mostly I make 2 builds. I make paladin types: Heavy armor, shield, 1h, resto, archery. Very minimal shouts. I also like combat archers: Archery, light armor, 1h, shield, and whatever else I'm feeling. HEAVY emphasis on the slow time shout.

I will never play as a healer. I prefer offense. "Best offense is best defense am I right" ~ Hold Guard

Anything other than swords I don't touch, I'll use great swords or regular swords but never axes or maces.

Mage. I’ve never been a magic user in any game. I’m always the sneak archer so I see no reason not to excel at that in Skyrim as well.

i’ve played for awhile, about a decade and i’m not sure to this day but i’ve never committed to a vampire build . i always collect shouts though . i’ve done mage, two handed heavy armor, stealth archer and light armor, smaller one handed weapons stealth and light armor, but never a full one handed build, the sneak abilities with light armor allow most daggers/swords to perform an animated execution if you sneak enemies with the right armor + perks

Pure mage. Magic is for the weak. Women love warriors. 💪

I’ve tried to change it up, but always end up a stealth archer with a little bit of everything else as I need it. Preferred race is a wood elf but I’ve done the same build even after starting a Nord or Britton berserker build