Skyrim Legendary Character Developing Guide

10 February 2014
Version 1.1 - Added legendary skill tree explanation and recommendations
Version 1.0 - Initial character developing guide for creating a
character
building plan
Bob Cameron
Bob.Cameron@CameronTS.com
Copyright 2013-2014 Cameron Technology Solutions
This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for
personal,
private use. This document may not be placed on any web site or
otherwise
distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this
guide on
any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly
prohibited,
and a violation of copyright.
About the Author:
My day job is training software managers and teams transition from a
command
and control development style into self-organized teams using Scrum and
eXtreme Programming (XP).
teams

I also help companies that have many agile

coordinate self-organized teams using the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe).

Contents
1.

Introduction

1.1

Skyrim Legendary Character Building

1.2

Breton Sample Skills by Tree

1.3

Non-Breton Legendary Sample Skills by Tree

1.4

Skills by Level Approach

1.5

Breton Skills by Level 7

1.6

Non-Breton Skills By Level

1.7

Legendary Skills and Perks Beyond Level 81

1.8

Leveling Tips

2.

Races

2.1

Constant Effects

12

12
13

3
6

6
9
11

2.2

60 Second Power 13

2.3

Preferred Races 13

3.

Followers

13

4.

Marriage

15

5.

Training

16

6.

Skills and Perks

6.01

Alchemy 17

6.01.1 Potions and Farming

6.01.2 Alchemy Perks

18

6.02

Alteration

19

6.03

Archery 20

6.04

Block

6.05

Conjuration

21

6.06

Destruction

22

6.07

Enchanting

23

6.08

Heavy Armor

25

6.09

Illusion

26

6.10

Light Armor

26

6.11

Lock Picking

26

6.12

One Handed

27

6.13

Pick Pocket

27

6.14

Restoration

27

6.15

Smithing

28

6.16

Sneak

6.17

Speech 29

6.18

Two Handed Weapons

Conclusion

1.

Introduction

17
17

20

29
30

30

Since Skyrim has come out, I have spent thousands of hours playing
Skyrim
designing, re-designing and then restarting Skyrim again.
targets

This guide

both new and experienced players playing Skyrim Legendary which includes
the
official expansions Dragonborn, Hearthfire and Dawnguard.

The Legendary

edition is available wherever the original edition used to be available.

This
guide does not include the plugins beyond those packaged in the Skyrim

Legendary edition. Elder Scrolls Anthology includes Skyrim Legendary and

the
previous games from the Elder Scroll series (Oblivion, Morrowind, etc.).
For
new players, the guide tries to supply enough information to reduce
restarting after discovering more about how the game plays and identify
some
places to visit early.
grind
your skills.
game

Another goal is to level up without having to

Grinding a skill is when your character stops playing the

and starts repeating a game activity to improve a game skill.

For

experienced Skyrim players, this guide may point out some places to
visit
early and will hopefully influence Skyrim character development for at
least
one game.
build

The guide has some spoilers, but is not a walkthrough.

The

plan described below is a good plan, but the point of the guide is to
provide
a strategy to build your own plan.
This guide takes a different approach than other guides in that the goal
is
to create a framework to map out different Skyrim leveling plans and
survive
on the most difficult game settings.
for

There are already many good guides

character builds including the official strategy guide and Skyrim web
sites
that contain more details such as
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Skyrim.
Many of the guides do not account for the standard expansions that are
now
bundled with Skyrim or the higher difficulty levels.
suggests a

This guide

legendary character building strategy that will hopefully minimize your

time
grinding skills and help survive and excel on the legendary difficulty
level.
1.1

Skyrim Legendary Character Building

The Skyrim Legendary character building guide builds a character

building

framework creating a character who encounters everything, can do all of

the
quests, and maximizes skills working in the Skyrim universe and
minimizes
time grinding skills.
limit

When the game first came out, there was a level

of 81, so the leveling guide shown is for the first 81 levels. For the
impatient, try one the character perk plans below.
1.2

Breton Sample Skills by Tree

Race: Breton (25 percent magic resistance, dragon skin)

Perks by skill:
Alchemy (9):

Alchemist 1-5, Physician, Benefactor, Poisoner,

Concentrated Poison

Alteration (7):

Novice Alteration, Alteration Dual Casting,

Magic Resistance 1 and 2, Apprentice, Adept,

Stability

Souls

Archery (8):

Overdraw 1-5, Eagle Eye, Power Shot, Quick Shot

Block (0):

None

Conjuration (4): Novice Conjuration, Necromancy, Dark Souls, Twin

Destruction (5): Novice Destruction, Augmented Shock 1 and 2,

Augmented Frost 1 and 2
Enchanting (10): Enchanter 1-5, Insightful, Fire, Frost, Storm,
Extra Effect
Heavy Armor (0): None
Illusion (6):

Novice Illusion, Illusion Dual Casting, Animage,

Kindred Mage, Quiet Casting, Master of Mind

Light Armor (4): Agile Defender (1), Custom Fit, Unhindered,

Wind Walker
Lock Picking (0): None
One Handed (10): Armsman 1-5, Fighting Stance, Dual Flurry 1-2,
Dual Savagery, Savage Strike
Pick Pocket (0): None
Restoration (3): Novice Restoration, Regeneration, Necromage

Dragon

Smithing (6): Steel, Elven, Advanced, Arcane Blacksmith, Glass,

Sneak (8):

Stealth 1, Backstab, Muffled Movement, Deadly Aim,

Light Foot, Silent Roll, Silence, Shadow Warrior

Speech (0):

None

Two Handed (0): None

Using the plan above, training can ignore block, heavy armor, lock
picking,
pickpocket, speech and two handed weapons.
knowing

Whatever plan is used,

which skill trees to ignore will help decide what to train and what not
to
train. Reasons to ignore block include a preference for dual wielding
over
blocking and to have one less skill tree to maintain.
both

Light Armor is

lighter than heavy armor and provides a perk to restore stamina quicker.
Lock picking takes some practice, but eventually any lock can be picked
without spending perks.

Pickpocket is nice for the extra pockets perk

allowing your character to carry 100 more, but at the cost of three
perks and
another skill tree to maintain.
not

With the Hearthfire expansion, money is

an issue somewhere around level 15, so speech is not critical for very
long.
Two handed weapons are heavier and slower than one handed weapons.

Dual

wielding one handed weapons also means attacking with two enchanted
weapons
instead of one.
Please alter your skill plan by your preferences.
and

Selecting which perks

skills to improve is part of the fun of the game.

break

Whatever your list,

down the skills by level to prevent having to grind skills later in the
game.
1.3

Non-Breton Legendary Sample Skills by Tree

When playing a race other than Breton, reaching a magic resistance of

85%
requires either carrying a shield or wearing magic resistant jewelry.
Magic
resistant jewelry is a good choice for Dark Elf (50% fire resistant) or
Nord
(50% frost resistant), as jewelry piece resistant to the other two
elements
will raise enough resistance quickly in the game.
to

Another approach is

give up on dual wielding and carry a magic resistant shield using 3

block
perks instead of the 3 one hand dual wielding perks.
alteration perks are not really needed with a shield.
perks

Magic resistance
The 2 additional

available from not using the Magic resistance will be replaced by

additional
block perks block runner and shield charge.
1.4

Skills by Level Approach

Using the recommended perks and organizing them by level requirements,

fast
track two or three skill trees at a time while slowly leveling the other
skill trees to keep up with your current level.
tree
groups to fast track in order are:
1)

Alchemy and Enchanting

2)

Smithing, Conjuration and Restoration

The recommended skill

Increasing alchemy in the first group improves attack, defense and every
skill.
tree

With the Hearthfire expansion, alchemy is also the easiest skill

to improve. Finally, the Dragonborn expansion will allow resetting a

skill
tree to develop your player level beyond 81. Enchanting eventually leads
to
the "Extra Effect" perk which allows two enchantments on each item.
When training and leveling, the first set of skills will need to stay at
more
than twice the character level to stay on plan.
skill is

If the first set of

alchemy and enchanting, the first set of skill can stay ahead of plan
without
any training, but will require purchasing soul gems for enchanting.
The second group of skills includes smithing, which affects everything
made
and improved.
grinding
skills.
that

Smithing is in the second skill tree group to avoid

The other skills in group increase the level of dead thrall's

can be raised to 50, and increases the number of dead thrall's that can
be
raised to 2.
are

Dead thrall's have a limit of level 50 NPC's, but there

many good NPC's to choose from limited to level 50.

The second set of skills is more likely to need training in order to
keep up
with the plan.

Restoration in particular requires taking damage before

practicing, so if restoration is in the plan second skill set, prepare

to
train restoration skill.
Meanwhile, there needs to be a balance including all used skills to
survive
on legendary difficulty.
can't be

Improving from level 15 or 20 to level 100

done without leveling up, so the recommendation is to improve most perks

on
the odd numbered levels, and the fast track perks on the even levels.
1.5

Breton Skills by Level

With the Breton perks and strategy outlined above this leads to the
following
perk leveling plan with missions to visit notes for early levels:
Breton Leveling Plan:
Player
Level

Skill
Tree

Level

Perk

Alc

Notes

Alchemist (1)

Hold ingredients until level 2

Mix Potions.
Follower.

Add Faendal as a

Visit the Whiterun

Jarl.
3

Smi

Steel Smithing

Join All Guilds

Enc

Enchanter (1)

Sne

Stealth (1)

Alc

20

Alchemist (2)

Bleak Falls Barrow

Arc

Overdraw (1)

Dragon Rising

Alc

20

Physician

Keep Smithing at 2 x Level

One

Armsman (1)

Book of Love

10

Enc

20

Enchanter (2)

Keep Restoration at 1.5 x Level

11

Lig

12

Alc

30

13

Res

14

Alc

30

15

Con

16

Enc

30

Fire Enchanter

17

Ill

Novice Illusion

18

Alc

40

19

Alt

20

Enc

40

21

Des

22

Enc

40

Frost Enchanter

23

Arc

20

Overdraw (2)

24

Enc

50

Insightful Enchanter

25

One

20

Armsman (2)

26

Enc

50

Storm Enchanter

27

Res

20

Regeneration

28

Alc

60

Alchemist (4)

Agile Defender(1)Keep Conjure at 2 x Level

Benefactor

Build Falkreath House.

Novice Restoration
Poisoner

Mix and Use Paralyze Poisons

Novice Conjuration
Start Training As Needed

Alchemist (3)
Novice Alteration
Enchanter (3)
Novice Destruction

29

One

20

Fighting Stance

30

Alc

60

Concentrated Poison

31

Alt

20

Alteration Dual Casting

32

Enc

60

Enchanter (4)

33

Ill

20

Illusion Dual Casting

34

Alc

80

Alchemist (5)

35

Ill

20

Animage

36

Enc

80

Enchanter (5)

37

Alt

25

Apprentice Alteration

38

Enc

100

39

Lig

30

Custom Fit

40

Smi

30

Elven Smithing

41

Alt

30

Magic Resistance (1)

42

Con

40

Necromancy

43

Des

30

Augmented Shock (1)

44

Smi

50

Advanced Armors

45

Arc

30

Augmented Frost (1)

46

Smi

50

Arcane Blacksmith

47

Arc

30

Eagle Eye

48

Smi

70

Glass Smithing

49

Sne

30

Muffled Movement

50

Res

70

Necromage

51

Sne

30

Backstab

52

Con

70

Dark Souls

53

One

30

Dual Flurry (1)

54

Smi

100

55

Sne

40

Deadly Aim

56

Con

100

Twin Souls

57

Arc

40

Overdraw (3)

58

One

40

Armsman (3)

59

Ill

40

Kindred Mage

60

Sne

40

Light Foot

61

Sne

40

Magic Resistance (2)

62

Arc

50

Power Shot

63

One

50

Dual Flurry (2)

64

Ill

50

Quiet Casting

65

Lig

50

Unhindered

66

One

50

Savage Strike

67

Sne

50

Silent Roll

Extra Effect

Dual Enchant Jewelry

Dragon Armor

Dual Enchant Elven Items

68

Alt

50

Adept Alteration

69

Des

60

Augmented Shock (2)

70

Des

60

Augmented Frost (2)

71

Arc

60

Overdraw (4)

72

One

60

Armsman (4)

73

Lig

60

Wind Walker

74

Sne

70

Silence

75

Arc

70

Quick Shot

76

Alt

70

Stability

77

One

70

Dual Savagery

78

Arc

80

Overdraw (5)

79

One

80

Armsman (5)

80

Ill

90

Master of Mind

81

Sne

100

Shadow Warrior

Using the plan above, keep an eye on smithing, restoration and conjure
skills. The second set of skills needs to keep smithing skill about
twice the
character level starting at level 8.

Eorlund Grey-Mane in Whiterun is a

master trainer who can help train to level 90. Restoration needs to stay
around one and a half times the character level until reaching
restoration
level 70, so start watching restoration at level 10.
the

Colette Marence in

in the mages guild can train restoration to level 70. Conjure starts at
level
20 with a Breton, so somewhere around level 10 start monitoring conjure
skill.
start

If playing a race other than Breton (starting with skill 15),

watching conjuration at level 8.

and

Falion is the master conjure trainer

has a house / store in Morthal

1.6

Non-Breton Skills By Level

Swapping in the block perks for dual wielding and magic resistance also
brings decisions of where to insert the block perks.
track

Re-using the fast

skill trees, the change ripples throughout the plan as shown below.
Both the
Breton and Non-Breton plans reach maximum magic resistance at level 61.
Bretons could also use this plan which acquires 6 perks at skill level
100.

Non-Breton Leveling Plan:

Player
Level

Skill
Tree

Level

Perk

Alc

Notes

Alchemist (1)

Hold ingredients until level 2

Mix Potions.
Follower.

Add Faendal as a

Visit the Whiterun

Jarl.
3

Smi

Steel Smithing

Enc

Enchanter (1)

Sne

Stealth (1)

Alc

20

Alchemist (2)

Bleak Falls Barrow

Arc

Overdraw (1)

Dragon Rising

Alc

20

Physician

Conjure and/or Smithing at 2x

One

Armsman (1)

Book of Love

10

Enc

20

Enchanter (2)

Restoration at 1.5x Level

11

Lig

12

Alc

30

13

Blo

14

Alc

30

15

Res

16

Enc

30

17

Con

18

Alc

40

19

Ill

20

Enc

40

21

Alt

22

Enc

40

23

Des

24

Enc

50

Insightful Enchanter

25

Arc

20

Overdraw (2)

26

Enc

50

Storm Enchanter

27

One

20

Armsman (2)

28

Alc

60

Alchemist (4)

29

Res

20

Regeneration

30

Alc

60

Concentrated Poison

31

One

20

Fighting Stance

8
Level

Join All Guilds

Agile Defender(1)
Benefactor

Build Falkreath House

Shield Wall (1)

Poisoner

Mix and Use Paralyze Poisons

Novice Restoration
Fire Enchanter
Novice Conjuration
Alchemist (3)
Novice Illusion
Enchanter (3)
Novice Alteration
Frost Enchanter
Novice Destruction

32

Enc

60

Enchanter (4)

33

Alt

20

Alteration Dual Casting

34

Alc

80

Alchemist (5)

35

Ill

20

Illusion Dual Casting

36

Enc

80

Enchanter (5)

37

Ill

20

Animage

38

Enc

100

39

Alt

25

Apprentice Alteration

40

Smi

30

Elven Smithing

41

Lig

30

Custom Fit

42

Con

40

Necromancy

43

Des

30

Augmented Shock (1)

44

Smi

50

Advanced Armors

45

Arc

30

Augmented Frost (1)

46

Smi

50

Arcane Blacksmith

47

Arc

30

Eagle Eye

48

Smi

70

Glass Smithing

49

Sne

30

Muffled Movement

50

Res

70

Necromage

51

Sne

30

Backstab

52

Con

70

Dark Souls

53

Blo

30

Deflect Arrows

54

Smi

100

55

Sne

40

Deadly Aim

56

Con

100

Twin Souls

57

Arc

40

Overdraw (3)

58

One

40

Armsman (3)

59

Ill

40

Kindred Mage

60

Sne

40

Light Foot

61

Blo

50

Elemental Protection

62

Arc

50

Power Shot

63

Ill

50

Quiet Casting

64

Lig

50

Unhindered

65

One

50

Savage Strike

66

Sne

50

Silent Roll

67

Alt

50

Adept Alteration

68

Des

60

Augmented Shock (2)

69

Des

60

Augmented Frost (2)

70

Arc

60

Overdraw (4)

Extra Effect

Dual Enchant Jewelry

Dragon Armor

Dual Enchant Elven Items

71

One

60

Armsman (4)

72

Lig

60

Wind Walker

73

Sne

70

Silence

74

Arc

70

Quick Shot

75

Alt

70

Stability

76

Blo

70

Block Runner

77

Arc

80

Overdraw (5)

78

One

80

Armsman (5)

79

Ill

90

Master of Mind

80

Sne

100

Shadow Warrior

81

Blo

100

Shield Charge

Which skills are selected is not as important as having a plan to create

the
desired character to guide training and leveling decisions.
using

Note that

a shield instead of dual wielding and magic resistance keeps the plan
the
same until about level 13, but the plans diverge after that.
1.7

Legendary Skills and Perks Beyond Level 81

Patch 1.9 introduced legendary skills, which allow characters to reset a

skill tree to level 15, redistribute perks and develop the skill tree
again.
Rebuilding a skill tree is useful because legendary skills allow
developing a
character beyond level 81. Leveling or re-leveling a skill increases
your
experience to increase your character level.
Alchemy,

The 3 crafting skills:

Enchanting and Smithing create a leveling engine to potentially acquire

all
perks.

Each crafting skill gets a 20% experience bonus when a different

Guardian Stone is activated plus a 10% to 15% experienced bonus

depending on
if you are married or not after taking an hour nap.
making

A few notes about

crafting skills legendary:

Alchemy: Activate the Thief stone before mixing potions.
Alchemy
skill combined with Hearthfire farming ingredients quickly.

The

Invest in

Alchemy perks.
Enchanting: Activate the Mage stone before enchanting.
ring,

Enchant a

necklace, gloves, circlet and Falmer helmet with Alchemy skill before
resetting the enchanting skill.
pass

Smithing: Activate the Warrior stone before smithing.

The first

through the smithing skill tree recommended the light armor path.

After

the first pass, try alternating which perk tree branch to follow so that
all ingots are used.
amount
of materials used.
the

Bows are generally the most valuable for the

Stockpile Dwarven ingots for a second pass through

smithing tree.
Legendary skills will make perks available before a perk is available
for a
particular skill tree.
mind.

When this happens, have a few skill trees in

If either skill tree plan above is used, try:

Additional archery and/or melee weapon perks: Improve primary
weapons
Conjuration: Mystic Binding and Soul Stealer: Summon a soul trap
weapon
instead of carrying one
-

Restoration: Respite, Recovery, Avoid Death: Nice to have

Pickpocket: Light Fingers, Night Thief, Extra Pockets: Carry an

extra 100
1.8

Leveling Tips

Characters except high elves start the game with 100 magicka, 100
health, and
100 stamina.
character

High elves start with 150 magicka.

Each time your

levels up, your character can level up magicka, health or stamina.

The

enchanting system can reduce the magicka cost to cast any spell to 0 if

wearing the right sets of enchanted armor, helmets, rings and necklaces.
With good enchanting each item can reduce magicka cost by 29 percent.
Carrying only extra sets of rings and necklaces, a character can reduce
the
cost of four magic schools by 86 percent instead of two schools reduced
to 0.
Stamina is used when running or using weapons, so stamina needs to
increase,
but not too fast.
highly
recommended.
1

Health is used to stay alive.

Staying alive is

With this in mind, try leveling up at a ratio of 3 health,

stamina, and 1 magicka.

The third set of skills are generally looking to stay about the same
level as
the player level until player level reaches 77 or 78.
2.

Races

All races are playable in Skyrim.

seem to

As far as game dialog goes, there

be two races: Nord and not Nord.

with

The game will have friendlier dialog

Nords.
For a Legendary character build, all races are not the same.
except Orcs come with a constant effect.
with a

All races

All races except Nords come

60 second power (the Nord power lasts 30 seconds).

2.1

Constant Effects

In my opinion, there is one constant effect that is better than the

rest: 25
percent magic resistance.
is

This is the Breton constant effect.

used by powerful dragons and some spell casters.

resistance is not needed often.

Magicka

Fortunately, magic

When magicka resistance is needed, an

enchanted ring and necklace can make your character reach maximum
magicka
resistance for fire and frost, which are the only two magic forms that
dragons use.
a

The worst constant effect is the Orc, which does not have

constant effect.

While constant effects seem more useful than 60 second

powers, in reality, constant effects are used about once a day, but
sometimes
for more than 60 seconds at a time.
2.2

60 Second Power

Also in my opinion, the best 60 second power is the Orc power: take 50
percent damage and give an extra 100 percent damage.
that

This is a power

stacks with other powers or potions and comes in handy in the middle
game
when opponents are a little more powerful than your character.
playing

When

Skyrim, the Dragons rarely kill, and almost never kill after enchanting
a
fire/frost resistance ring and necklace.
tend to

The tough enemies to handle

be the boss characters not easily attacked from a distance with an

arrow,
magic or voice attacks.
2.3

Preferred Races

For the Legendary build, maximum magic resistance requiring no enchanted

jewelry or armor makes the Breton the best race for playing on the
legendary
difficulty level. The Breton is the only race that can maximize magic
resistance without using magic resistance enchantments, freeing the
enchantment slots for other abilities.
once

Also play as an Orc at least

using the shield skill tree plan.

3.

Followers

When playing on the easy levels, followers are helpful to carry loot
from
adventures, but can hinder your sneak ability and get in your way when
moving.

On the legendary difficulty level, enemies and followers start

significantly more powerful than your character making followers more

important for survival on early levels.
primary

Followers need to become the

target in battles because followers are leveled similar to enemies, but

your

character is not leveled like the enemies.

Detailed information about followers can be found at
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Followers.
know
about followers.
up

There are some things to

First, follower levels match with your character level

to a character specific maximum.

who

Skyrim with expansions has 4 followers

do not have a maximum level: J'zargo (Mages Guild), Caleann (Dawnguard),

Durak (Dawnguard) and Ingjard (Dawnguard).
also

The Dawnguard followers can

be Blades who will join quests attacking dragons. The Dawnguard

followers can
also be stewards who in addition to helping run a house built, will help
when
attacked at your built house.
brotherhood
initiates.

Other important followers are dark

The initiates have a maximum level of 100.

Using a dark

brotherhood initiate when recruiting Serana from Dawnguard allows having

two
followers.
Creatures are also followers.

The highest level creature follower is

Vigilance, which is a dog that can be purchased at the Markarth Stables.

Vigilance has a maximum level of 50.
Another set of followers to consider are followers who are also
trainers.
Followers who are trainers are paid for training, but then your
character can
"trade some things" with the follower to take the gold back.
general,
trainer followers are companions.
Riverwood.

In

One exception is Faendal in

Faendal is an archery trainer follower who has a house and some

equipment in
his house and is a good first follower.
30,

Faendal has a maximum level of

so switch to another follower by level 30 at the latest.

the

If playing on

legendary difficulty level, do NOT use free archery training (or any
training) to increase your archery level higher than your current player

level.
50

Free archery training can raise your character archery to level

and player to level 8.

all

A high archery and player level enables almost

enemies to one or two hit kill your character until your other skills,
equipment, etc. catch up.
free

Archery will level fast enough without the

training.
Another follower benefit comes when asking your follower to pick up a
skill
book (identified as books valued over 50 gold). A follower can pick up
the
book and trade the book to your character without your character reading
the
book. Delaying reading a book until reaching a higher skill level is
helpful
latter in the game.
4.

Some followers can be married.

Marriage

Marriage in Skyrim has many practical advantages.

a

Your spouse will open

store allowing your character to buy and sell items at home to your
spouse.
Your spouse's store will also provide 100 gold per day when your
character
asks if the store has made any money.
Another

Some spouses have houses.

advantage is that sleeping where your spouse is receives the lover's

comfort
bonus. The bonus increases all skill tree experience gained by 15
percent
for 8 hours of game time.
rolls

If your spouse is your follower, using bed

located at many quest locations enables gaining experience faster.

Marrying
someone who is not a follower and fast traveling to another location
frequently simulates more than 8 hours of game time.
experience
leads me to recommend marrying a follower.
marry

The faster

Before your character can

someone, your character has to wear an amulet of Mara, and do something

to
gain the potential spouse's favor.

The maximum level of followers that can be married is 50.

several

There are

housecarl and circle companion member followers who can advance to level
50.
The circle companion followers are also trainers: Aela the Huntress
(expert
archery), Farkas (master heavy armor) and Vilkas (master two handed).
Since
Aela is the only follower who trains in a skill tree that the plan is
not
ignoring, Aela seems the most practical of the companion followers to
marry.
Aela is an archer with one handed weapon, light armor and sneak skills.
The
issue with marrying companions is that your character cannot marry them
until
after completing all of the companion quests.
For the housecarls, your character must become thane of a hold, and then
win
their favor.
the

Early in the game, the gold from your spouse's store helps

finance issue until building the Falkreath house.

housecarl to marry is Lydia from Whiterun.
character

The first available

To win her favor, your

must do the main quest Dragon Rising (fight a dragon with help), and
purchase
a house in Whiterun for 5000 gold.
can

With the plan above, your character

usually marry Lydia somewhere around level 10 or 11.

heavy

Housecarls have

armor, archery, one handed and block skills.

A third follower candidate worth mentioning is Uthgerd the Unbroken.
win
her favor, your character must best her in a bar fight in Whiterun.
lower

To
On

difficulty levels, fighting is reasonable to attempt when first entering

Whiterun.
will

On the legendary level, your character will need potions and

need to have defeated Gian the Fist in the Ratway while joining the
Thieves
guild to pick up his Gloves of the Pulgist.
in
Whiterun, but has a maximum level of 30.

Uthgerd comes with a house

Marrying Uthgerd is recommended to get married follower benefits the

earliest.
is

If looking to marry a follower who can reach level 50, Lydia

recommended.
also

Marrying Lydia or Uthgerd before building your house will

help gain smithing experience faster while building and furnishing your
house.
5.

Training

There are some lessons about training that are not obvious the first
time
playing Skyrim.
skill

The first lesson is to use an upper limit training

trees that are not fast tracking up to your current level on the master
and
legendary difficulty level.
that

Your character may need to train the skills

are fast tracking beyond your current level to meet your planned
requirements. In general, accelerating alchemy and enchanting does not
require trainers.
need

Smithing, alteration, conjuration and restoration may

trainers when fast tracked.

skills
up to your player level.
gold is

There are two reasons to limit training

The first reason is that early in the game,

needed to purchase equipment, filled soul gems, spell books, a house,

etc.
All skills start at level 15 or above.
base

The second reason to not train

skills beyond your player level is the reason for not using the free
training
from Faendal.
your

Skills higher than your player level tend to increase

player level too fast making your character more vulnerable to leveled
enemies.
The second lesson is to consider your player level the lower limit for
skills
in skill trees that use perks in your plan.
the

On the odd player levels,

skill level required for the perk is below your player level following
the

proposed plan.
trees

Keeping skills up at character level in the used skill

will keep the skills relevant.

trees
like destruction.
at

Relevant skills are important for skill

If your character is using novice destruction spells

level 25, the spells will have very little effect on level 25 enemies
The third lesson is to not train skills for the skill trees that your
character is not planning to gain perks in.
up to

Trying to keep all skills

your player level falls apart somewhere around level 25 due to a

training
limit of five skills per player level.
used

Training skills not frequently

will contribute to enemies leveling too fast for your character to

survive.
Too low a skill level will prevent your character from picking up the
planned
perks.
6.

Skills and Perks

The skills section gathers as much relevant information about each skill
into
a single place to enjoy the skill tree without providing every detail
about
the game.
legendary

Each section also explains the perks in the recommended

character build. The skills and perks are presented in alphabetical

order
6.01

Alchemy

Alchemy is one of the first two skill trees to develop quickly in the
game.
Farming makes alchemy easy to improve and help solve the finance issues
in
the game.
6.01.1 Potions and Farming
Potions are among the most versatile aids in the game.
created

Potions are

by combining ingredients that have common effects.

four

Each ingredient has

effects. The first effect of each ingredient can be discovered by

eating the
ingredient.
using

Further effects can be discovered by purchasing recipes,

perks, or using trial and error. Potions are also a source of income
that
improves as alchemy perks are gained.
The most expensive potion to make from ingredients early in the game is:
Blue Butterfly
Blue Mountain Flower
Giant's Toe
The potion value will increase as alchemy skills and perks are acquired.
Giant's Toe will create a great return on investment when purchased from
an
alchemy shop.
potions

Eventually, giants can be taken down using paralysis

and your best weapons.

The Hearthfire expansion enables farming, or planting ingredients and
harvesting the plants.

Around level 10, your character will get an

invitation from the Jarl of Falkreath for a quest to take care of some
bandits.
from

To become Thane also involves some quests helping three people

Falkreath.
Barit's

The simplest quests in Falkreath to become a Thane are:

Ashes (delivering ashes from Thadgeir to Rumil), Stealing a note from

Lod's
house for Dengeir, and selling a cabbage to Mathies that can be picked
from
his farm.
glitches.

Sell the cabbage last, as the cabbage seems to reset any

Four quests and 5000 gold pieces enable buying land to build a house.
Built
houses can include building a garden and planting 11 ingredients.
Building a
house can also include building a greenhouse and planting 18 more
ingredients.
harvested.

House plants produce 3 to 5 of each ingredient when

Purchase needed farming ingredients not found.

The following farming recipes are recommended:

Ingredients
Plant

Per Plant

Potions

Creep Cluster

Fortify Carry Weight / Restore Magicka

Scaly Pholiota

Regenerate Stamina / Fortify Illusion

Mora Tapinella

Weakness to Magic

Cannis Root

Paralysis /

Imp Stool

Damage Health (1.5xDamage)

Death Bell

Blisterwort

Fortify Smithing /

Glowing Mushroom

Fortify Health /

Wheat

Restore Health

Snowberries

Enchanting (w/Blue Butterflies) /

Dragons Tongue

Resist Fire /

Tundra Cotton

Fortify Barter /

Snowberries with Blue Butterflies create Enchanting potions.

Unused

Snowberries adds Resist Fire to the fortify barter with Dragons Tongue
and
Tundra Cotton.
Sell unused potions.

Eventually, carrying all of your potions will get

heavy, so as a general rule when your character has more than 5 of any
potion, store the rest in your house for future use.
will

The extra potions

come in handy using the Dragonborn expansion when recycling your alchemy
skill tree and want to use the good potions while selling the cheaper
potions.
As for the rest of the ingredients, try eating them and trial and error
to
figure out what different ingredients do.
potions.

Farming provides needed

The rest of the potions are for discovering on your own.

of

Looking up all

the ingredient effects takes something away from playing the game.

6.01.2 Alchemy Perks

Returning to the perks selected on the Alchemy skill tree, the
recommended
perks are alchemist 1-5, physician, benefactor, poisoner and
concentrated
poison. The alchemist perks increase the potency and value of all
potions.
Physician and benefactor help the positive effects of potions.

Poisoner

helps your poisons, and Concentrated Poison allows your character to

paralyze
two enemies before reapplying poison to your weapon.

With concentrated

poison and paralysis with only one enemy, be sure to switch to another
attack
such as destruction or the weapon in your other hand until the paralyzed
enemy tries to get up.

Paralyzing a paralyzed enemy does not do much.

The experimenter perks are ok for discovering other ingredient effects.

Farming makes Green Thumb obsolete.
many

Green Thumb does not affect how

ingredients are harvested from farm plants.

percent

Snakeblood provides 50

poison resistance. Purity makes potions have all positive or all

negative
effects.

For some potions, purity increases the potion usefulness while

decreasing the potion sale value. Snakeblood and Purity are ok, but 9
perks
in one skill tree are enough.
6.02

Alteration

Alteration is recommended for the magic resistance perks, the paralysis

and
mass paralysis spells.
Magic resistance has a maximum of 85 percent.
Breton

To reach 85 percent a

starts with 25 percent resistance. Early in the game, enter the temple
in

Riften and visit Dinya Balu.

of

Dinya will send your character on The Book

Love quest which involves helping 3 people.

character

When completed, your

receives "Agent of Mara", providing 15 percent magic resistance brining

magic
resistance up to 40 percent.
an

In the process your character will receive

amulet of Mara, which is needed to get married.

10 a

Sometime around level

courier will deliver a note to visit the Museum of the Mythic Dawn in
Dawnstar.

Visit the museum and start a quest line for the pieces of

Mehrune's razor.
to the

Do the quests and your character will be asked to go

Shrine of Mehrunes Dagon which will be added to your map. Follow your
map to
reach the Shrine.

Across from the Shrine entrance is the Lord Stone.

Activate the stone and receive 50 to your armor rating and 25 percent
magic
resistance, totaling 65 percent.

Add the two 10% magic resistance perks

Magic Resistance 1 and 2, and your Breton has maxed out magic resistance
at
85 percent without carrying a shield or other enchanted magic resistance
items.
For the non-Breton, a magic resistance enchanted shield with the
elemental
protection perk and the Agent of Mara mission above also provides 85%
magic
protection without needing the magic resistance perks.
The selected alteration perks, novice and apprentice alteration are
required
for magic resistance.
extends

Adept alteration is needed for stability which

how long the paralysis spells last.

stability

Alteration dual casting and

extend the duration of the paralysis and mass paralysis spells.

resistance 3 is not needed for a Breton.
are

Magic

Expert alteration and atronach

not necessary with 85 percent magic resistance.

ok, but

Master Alteration is

3 alteration enchantments reduce the cost of the mass paralysis spell by

87
percent allowing the perks to be used in other places.

6.03

Archery

Poisoned enchanted bows are the most powerful ranged weapons in the
game.
Smithing and enchanting will make your bows very powerful without the
archery
specific perks.
which

The archery perks recommended include overdraw 1-5,

amplifies bow damage by 20 percent for each perk.

see
and hit targets that are further away.

Eagle Eye will help

Magic attacks do not have an

equivalent perk to eagle eye, contributing to bow superiority over

destruction spells.
the

Staggering opponents with Power shot is nice and on

way to the Quick Shot perk which increases your bow firing rate and
damage
per second by 30 percent.
The other archery perks are helpful, but do not improve the bow attacks
by as
much as the perks selected.
approximately 5
percent per perk taken.
requires

Critical hits increase damage by

Ranger is useful for moving faster, but

critical hit and hunter's discipline perks as prerequisites.

Finding or

making arrows is not an issue, so hunter's discipline is not very

helpful.
Steady hand slows down both your character and your opponent, so the
perk
does not inflict damage faster when able to hit your targets without
needing
to slow them down.
of

Finally, bullseye is ok, but is one of the effects

using a paralyze potion.

The paralyze potion has other effects such as

lingering damage health.

after

The other archery perks may be good choices

leveling up beyond level 81.

6.04

Block

Block can be ignored by Bretons, but is essential for all other races.
There
are useful block perks.

If using minimal block perks, recommend perks

include shield wall 1, and deflect arrows and elemental protection.

using

If

five block perks, block runner enables moving faster with your shield up
and
shield charge knocks down less threatening enemies on the way to the
boss.
Additional shield wall perks only add 5 percent better protection than
shield
wall 1.
which

Protection is already maximized when your armor rating is 567,

can be reached without using a shield.

disarming

That leaves shield bash and

bash.

The block skills are not bad, but there are better alternatives.

6.05

Conjuration

The second pair of skill trees to fast track includes Conjuration.

Conjuration is very powerful early in the game when summoning a flame
atronach, and again at Conjure level 90 when casting the dead thrall
spell.
Conjure at level 100 gives access to the twin soul's perk which allows
two
dead thralls.
Conjuring ability is effected by what happens in the beginning of the
game.
In the starter dungeon is a dead mage in the torture chamber who has a
novice
hood. Keep this hood after leaving the dungeon.
Farengar

When in Whiterun,

sells a conjure flame atronach spell that can be cast while wearing the
novice hood.
Early in the game, the flame atronach is very powerful, has both melee
and
ranged attacks, and can solve quest issues on legendary difficulty that
are
otherwise not addressable until later in the game.
joining

For example, when

the thieves guild early in the game (before level 10, levels 3 to 5 are
recommended), your character will encounter a lowlife NPC that is very
difficult to kill at low levels.
ledge by

Cast the flame atronach up to the

the drawbridge, and the atronach will take care of the lowlife.

The set of perks recommended for conjure are along the necromancy branch
leading to the twin souls perk.

These perks are Novice Conjuration,

Necromancy, Dark Souls and Twin Souls.

Necromancy has limited use by

extending how long reanimated dead are active.

health to your reanimations and thralls.
reanimated,
thralled or summoned helpers.
restoration

Dark Souls adds 100 more

Twin souls allows two

These four perks combined with the

perk Necromage allow casting the Death Thrall spell and thrall two
corpses
that are up to level 50.
A spoiler that should not surprise even new players is that your
character
eventually becomes the leader of each guild after the original guild
leader
dies.
of

Most guild leaders level up with your character up to a maximum

level 50, which is conveniently the maximum level to thrall characters.

Want
a mage follower? Try Savos Aren and/or Ancano.
Kodlak

Want a fighter?

Try

Whitemane or Skjor. Complete the civil war to thrall Ulfric who comes
with
dragon shouts or General Tulius.
There are a few things to know about the dead thrall spell.

First, the

difference between reanimate and thrall is that when your thrall dies,
the
thrall does not turn to ash. Instead, the thrall can be looted, given
smithed
and enchanted weapons and cast dead thrall again. Thralls follow until
killed, banished or turned.
your
thralls.
are

Casting cloak spells seems to kill all of

One technique is to smith and enchant the armor that thralls

wearing. Return the armor and the thrall will wear the armor.
will
spawn new unique armor if the original armor is looted.
thrall

Thralls

Giving the

smithed and enchanted weapons will only make them more powerful.
the

Giving

thrall back smithed and enchanted armor that the thrall was not wearing

before causes the thrall to spawn a new set of the armor and ignore the
given
armor.
The other conjure branches are good, but not as good as the necromage
branch.
The atronach branch provides summoning without having to rely on finding
a
dead body or creating one during a battle before gaining an assistant.
Atronachs cannot use smithed and enchanted weapons.
The bound weapons branch allows your summoned weapons to be more
effective,
and to attach a soul trap and banish spell to summoned weapons.

Created

weapons are more effective because the weapons can be smithed and
enchanted.
Dual casting is useful for casting the bound weapons and increasing the
bound
weapon duration, but there are more useful perks.
proficiency

Finally, the

effects (apprentice, adept, expert and master) can be taken care of

using
enchantments.
recommended

Proficiency perks for any magic school are only

when the proficiency perks are pre-requisites for other perks. In this
case
the novice conjuration perk is recommended.
6.06

Destruction

Destruction magic and the destruction skill tree are helpful, but not as
critical as the other recommended skill trees.
magic

As a ranged attack, the

spells are not as powerful as a bow for attacking single targets and
destruction does not have an eagle eye perk to see targets that are far
away.
The destruction crowd control attacks are useful in the earlier to
middle
parts of the game, but not as effective as the alteration spells
paralyze and
mass paralysis available later in the game.

The rune master perk casing

runes further away is ok, but not having the perk sill allows placing
rune
traps with the restriction to be closer to where the trap is placed.

The dual casting / impact perks are useful when using destruction magic
as
your ranged attack.
than

The proficiency perks are not recommended other

novice destruction.
other

Novice destruction is a prerequisite to get the

perks.

This leaves the fire, frost and lightning branches.

branches.
good
choice.

Pick two

Most creatures are not immune to lightning, so lightning is a

Fire does extra damage to enemies on fire, and frost slows down

enemies and drains stamina.

for

Destruction is useful for crowd control and

boosting enchanted weapons. The frost branch is recommended, but fire is

also
useful for extra damage.
Two destruction elements are recommended because the augmented flames /
frost
/ shock perks increase the elemental damage of weapons that have the
corresponding enchantment.

If your weapon has two enchantments, such as

frost and shock damage, then augmented shock will increase the effect of
BOTH
the frost and shock damage from the weapon.
one

The effect works on your

handed weapons, two handed weapons and bows, making the augmented
destruction
perks more valuable than perks such as the archery critical hit perk,
the one
handed bladesman perk, etc. that only effect one particular weapon each.
The highest level element perks such as intense flames, deep freeze and
disintegrate are not recommended because when these perks are available,
the
higher level alteration perks are also available for crowd control.
Since
the necromancy conjure branch was recommended, do not select
disintegrate to
avoid turning your potential thrall into ash.
6.07

Enchanting

Enchanting is in the pair of skill trees to fast track first.

Alchemy

provides an instant boost to almost everything.

an

Enchanting is done at

arcane enchanter, such as the arcane enchanter in Dragon's Reach.

Ask

Farengar how to use an arcane enchanter. Enchanting provides the

constant
effect added to armor, clothing, weapons, etc.
a

Weapons are charged with

combination of soul gems and armor or clothing enchanting. Destruction

magic
skill level helps to slow down how quickly weapons discharge.
The shorter enchanting perk list to explain is the list of perks to
skip.
The soul squeezer / soul siphon branch falls into this category.

While

charging perks are nice to have, around level 15 gold is not an issue
and
filled soul gems can be purchased.
soul

Soul gems to not weigh much.

Use a

gem storage rule similar to the storage recommendation for potions:

once
your inventory has more than 5 of any one soul gem size, store 2/3 to
3/4 of
the soul gems in a container in your house.
The other enchanting perk that can be skipped is corpus enchanter.
Corpus
enchanter is ok, but the fortify fire / frost / storm enchantment perks
boost
weapons and enable selecting the Extra Effect perk.
The recommended perks include enchanter 1-5, which increase the effect
of all
enchantments by 20 percent each.
effects by 25 percent.
enchantments

Insightful enchanter increases skill

Finally, Extra Effect allows putting two

on each item.
In the beginning enchantment skills are grown by disenchanting magic
items:
mage robes, enchanted weapons, etc., but NOT your first novice hood.
Save
the first novice hood to summon flame atronachs.
purchase

Around level 15

any affordable gems from the general merchants (Belethor, Perci HoneyHand,

Grelka, etc.).
soul

General merchants can then use the gold from selling

gems to purchase expensive potions, armor, etc. from your character.

Also be
on the lookout for enchanted items from merchants that enable learning
new
enchantments.
The highest value enchantments are banish for weapons, block for
shields,
destruction for armor and clothing, water breathing for headgear and
jewelry,
and sneak for boots.
fortify

Some of the most helpful enchantments include

alchemy and fortify smithing.

Once the Extra Effect perk is acquired, check that your alchemy
equipment
(ring, necklace, gloves and helmet) and smithing equipment (ring,
necklace,
gloves and armor) are maximized and that your character is wearing the
equipment. Next make the best jewelry, armor, and weapons to enchant.
Since
the plan develops enchanting before smithing, the actual armor and
weapons
material will change as better materials become available.
the

The bigger

filled soul gem the better the enchantment effect and the more expensive
the
soul gem costs.
A special note for enchanting is that falmer helmets (heavy armor),
penitus
oculus helmets (light armor available in Dragon Bridge related to the
civil
war and dark brotherhood quests) can be enchanted and worn with a
circlet or
dragon priest mask. Circlets can also be enchanted.
many
choices.

Enchanting creates

Useful enchantment combinations depending on availability are:

Weapon 1: Shock / Frost Damage

Weapon 2: Shock Damage / Soul Trap
Helmet:
helmet

Fortify Conjure / Illusion : Replace with a Penitus Aoculus

Penitus Oculus Helmet:

Archery / Conjure
Circlet:

Archery / Illusion

Armor:

Destruction / Alteration

Gloves:

Bow / One handed weapons

Boots:

Sneak / One handed weapons

Rings and Necklaces:

Bow / One handed weapons
Destruction / Alteration
Conjure / Illusion
Ring:

Fortify Unarmed / Carry Weight

Necklace: Fortify Barter / Carry Weight

The above combinations maximize bow and one handed damage.
rings

Changing

and necklaces will provide 3 enchanted pieces to reduce destruction,

alteration, conjure and illusion spells costs, and two pieces of jewelry
for
restoration spell costs.
more

Your characters equipment will have room for

archery damage enchantments after finding the penitus oculus helmet and
a
circlet enchanted.
6.08

Heavy Armor

Heavy armor is one of the skill trees to skip.

tree is
recommended instead.

The light armor skill

Light armor is lighter, can also reach the maximum

armor rating and has the perk wind walker which regenerates stamina 50
percent faster.
If your plan chooses heavy armor over light armor, try the Juggernaut 1,
fists of steel, cushioned and conditioning perks.
heavy
armor by 20 percent and is a prerequisite perk.

Juggernaut increases
Fists of steel helps in

brawls increasing hand to hand damage based on your armor.

halves

Cushioned

damage from falling, and conditioning makes the equipped heavy armor
weigh
nothing.

Conditioning is key with heavy armor.

Smithing will help reach the maximum armor rating without the additional
juggernaut perks, well fitted or matching set.
percent

Tower of strength (50

less stagger) and reflect blows (10 percent reflect damage) have too
many
prerequisites for the benefits received.
6.09

Illusion

The illusion skill tree is a recommended skill tree.

can
be acquired slowly and still be effective.
illusion

The illusion skill

There are several useful

spells including clairvoyance (show a path to your quest target), muffle

(50
percent less noise from armor), invisibility, and call to arms (area
affect
boost to archery, one handed, two handed, health and stamina).
issue

One

with illusion spells is that the spells only work on enemies up to a

level
limit, and the spells do not work on all enemy types.
illusion

The other

fear, frenzy or pacify spells need specific perks to boost their level
effectiveness.
because

As with all magic, the novice illusion is recommended

the novice illusion perk is a prerequisite for illusion perks.

The

recommended illusion branch is animage (effect higher level animals),

kindred
mage (effect higher level people), quiet casting (no noise casing any
spells)
and master of mind (illusion spells effect undead, daedra and
automations).
Illusion dual casting extends the duration for the invisibility and call
to
arms spells. The calm, fear and frenzy perks and are not recommended.
6.10

Light Armor

Light armor is the recommended armor due to being the lightest armor
early in
the game, and the wind walker perk restoring stamina 50 percent faster.
Smithing will help your light armor reach the maximum armor level when
combined with the light armor perks agile defender (1) and customer fit.

Unhindered is the light armor perk that makes equipped armor weigh
nothing.
The extra agile defender and matching set perks are not needed to reach
the
maximum armor rating.
melee

The deft movement perk avoiding 10 percent of

damage may be recommended beyond level 81.

6.11

Lock Picking

The lock picking skill tree is safe to skip.

lock at
any difficulty can be picked.
purchase at

With some practice any

many stores within the game.

while

Extra lock picks are available for

For a novice lock try to move the lock

the pick is in the center.

between

If the lock does not turn, try half way

the center and the right.

the

If still not opening, try half way between

center and the left.

points
for novice locks.
etc.

For apprentice locks, check half way between the

Adept check half way between the apprentice checks,

Use your perks on another skill tree.

6.12

One Handed

Enchanting and one handed weapons are the skill trees with the most, 10,
recommended perks.
affect

Enchanting skills need to be enhanced quickly to

all skills, weapons and armor.

One handed weapons specialize in melee

weapons, which can do the most damage.

Armsman 1-5

The recommended perks are

(20 percent more damage per level), Fighting Stance (25 percent less
stamina
for power attacks), Dual Flurry 1-2 (faster dual wielding attacks at 20
and
35 percent faster), Dual Savagery (50 percent more damage on dual
wielding
power attacks), and Savage Strike (25 percent bonus damage on standing
power
attacks).

This should be plenty of perks for the one handed skill tree.

What was left behind?

Bone Breaker, Hack and Slash, and Bladesman perks

levels 1 to 3 that increase particular types of one handed weapons are

left
behind.

All are helpful, but not as helpful as the one handed perks

selected.
Critical

Critical charge allows power attacks while sprinting.

charge is helpful, but not when fighting enemies paralyzed from potions.
Paralyzing strike has a 25 percent chance of paralyzing on a backwards
power
attack, but potions are more reliable and do not require a backwards
power
attack.
6.13

Pick Pocket

Pickpocket is among the skill trees to skip and spend perks elsewhere.
When
pickpocket is selected, try the light fingers, night thief, extra
pockets set
of perks.

Extra pockets increase carrying capacity by 100.

valuable is to pick up cutpurse and misdirection.

Misdirection allows

pickpocketing unequipped weapons before having to fight.

allows pickpocketing equipped items.
success

Next most

Perfect touch

Pickpocketing has an 85 percent

cap. A sneak attack with a poisoned weapon and then looting after the
battle
is preferred.
6.14

Restoration

Restoration is part of the second fast track skills that can stop
advancing
at skill level 70.
degree.

All of the restoration perks are helpful to some

Healing spells help keep your character alive as do healing potions.

Wards
protect against magicka attacks, which does not really help a Breton.
The
spells affecting the undead are helpful against the undead, but are too
specialized for general use.
spell.
useful

Guardian circle is an undead crowd control

Undead are generally immune to mass paralysis, so this is a

specialized crowd control spell.

The recommended perks are Novice Restoration (proficiency and

prerequisite),
Regeneration (50 percent healing spell bonus), and Necromage.

Necromage

increases spells against the undead 25 percent more effective for 50

percent
longer.

Necromage helps both the Dead Thrall conjuration spell and the

Guardian Circle restoration spell.

Noteworthy perks not selected include respite which adds stamina
restoration
to all healing spells.

Characters generally do not have a problem with

stamina, so the perk is not selected.

health

Avoid death heals 250 points of

when under 10 percent health once per day.

that
may be recommended when beyond level 81.

Avoid death is another perk

The perks Recovery 1 and 2

regenerate magicka 25 and 50 percent faster.

effective as

Recovery is not as

potions.
Other perks not selected are proficiency perks (apprentice, adept,
etc.).
Ward absorption is not particularly helpful perk from reaching 85
percent
magic resistance from other perks.
6.15

Smithing

The smithing skill tree recommendation has changed with the expansions.
Before expansions, the only way to get the best weapons in the game was
to
follow the heavy armor track to Dragon Armor. With the expansion, Dragon
Bone
weapons are now the most powerful weapons in the game and can be
acquired
following either the heavy or light armor path.
smithing

The following armor

perks are recommended: Steel (prerequisite), Elven, Advanced, Arcane

Blacksmith, Glass, and Dragon Armor.

Elven armor is the lightest armor,

which makes a slight difference until gaining the unhindered light armor
perk. Advance armor allows creating better heavy armor for your
follower and

light armor for yourself, but no weapons.

weapons

Glass creates both light

and armor. Dragon scale armor is the best light armor.

Blacksmith

Arcane

allows smithing armor that has already been enchanted.

people

One note for

who are used to the heavy armor track is that smithing was easier to
develop
with the dwarven smithing perk and converting metal from dwarven ruins
into
dwarven armor and bows.

With the light armor track, developing smithing

skill involves making more jewelry, armor upgrades and relying on house
building.
Building jewelry is aided by visiting the Halted Stream Camp.
Halted

To find

Stream Camp if not given a quest early in the game is to leave Whiterun,
walk
past the stables, and turn west to walk North around Whiterun on the
west
side. Follow your compass directly north towards the tent compass
symbol.
Approach carefully, as Halted Stream Camp is a Bandit camp.
poisons
work well on bandits if the Falkreath farm is up and running.
you

Paralyze
Inside

will find a spell book on a table by the bandit chief's bed that can
transmute iron to silver and silver to gold.
main

Silver and gold are the

jewelry components.
6.16

Sneak

Sneak is alphabetically the last recommended skill tree.

helpers

A crowd of

drawing fire from enemies while sneaking up to attach with arrows or one
handed weapons then disappearing into the crowd again is enjoyable.
shorter list is the list of sneak perks not recommended.
perks not
recommended are sneak 2 through 5.
skill
tree adding 20 percent to sneak.

The

The first

Sneak 1 is a prerequisite for the

Sneak 2 through 5 add 5 percent each.

Sneak 2 through 5 combined are half as effective as enchanting boots

with

sneak when enchanting is at 100.

is
assassin's blade.
weapons

The other sneak perk not recommended

Assassin's blade is nice, but backstab with longer

is eventually deadly enough to one hit kill most enemies.

advancing

When

beyond level 81, consider assassin's blade again and use quiet daggers
for
sneak attacks.
The selected sneak perks are: Stealth 1 (20 percent sneak skill),
Backstab
(one handed sneak attacks do 6 times the damage), Muffled Movement
(armor
noise reduced 50 percent), Deadly Aim (bow sneak attacks do 3 times the
damage), Light Foot (don't trigger pressure plates), Silent Roll (sprint
sneaking), Silence (running without increasing detectability), and
Shadow
Warrior (crouching causes distant enemies to find other targets).
6.17

Speech

The speech skill tree is not recommended.

when

Speech helps gain more money

bartering by either getting better prices, or providing more gold to

merchants.

In Skyrim, better prices are available when wearing fortify

barter helmets and necklaces.

eventually

The thief's guild missions will

increase the amount of gold the fences can offer for your merchandise.
Spend
your perks someplace else.
6.18

Two Handed Weapons

Two handed weapons are not recommended in favor of one handed weapons.
One
handed weapons are faster, lighter and if dual wielding have twice as
many
enchantments.
two

Two handed weapons are not bad.

Choosing to emphasize

handed weapons instead of one handed weapons frees 10 perks from the one
handed recommendation. The one handed perks are replaced with the
recommended
8 perks below plus two more perks in anything desired.

The two handed

recommended perks are similar to one handed perks: Barbarian 1-5 (20
percent
more damage per perk). Champion's stance (25% less stamina for power
attacks), devastating blow (25 percent more damage for standing power
attacks) and sweep (sideways power attacks hit everyone in front of your
character).
perks.

Sweep does not have an equivalent with one handed weapon

Perks not recommended include deep wounds, limbsplitter and skullcrusher

as
these perks are specific to types of two handed weapons.

Great critical

charge is sprinting power attacks, which will drain stamina even more
with
two handed weapons.

Warmaster is the backwards power attack with a 25

percent chance of paralysis which is less effective than a paralysis

potion
from the farm.
7

Conclusion

That is the guide for legendary character creation and planning.

Hopefully
this guide has presented enough information for new players to enjoy as
much
as the game as possible without a "go here then there" walkthrough and
helps
develop an even better character building plan.
Skyrim
as much as I have.
Bob Cameron

I hope that all enjoy