Highlights
- Skyrim offers a variety of playstyles, allowing players to choose from different races, classes, and skills.
- Unique character builds, such as Unarmed or Shield Basher, make the game highly replayable.
- Players can explore non-violent options, like the Pacifist build, by using magic or recruiting followers to avoid direct combat.
As an RPG fantasy game, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim allows the player to choose multiple different ways to play with a variety of races, class systems, and skill trees. This means that the protagonist of the game can take out their enemies with some powerful melee weapons, magical abilities, or by sniping them in the dark like the ever-popular stealth archer. The skill rewards for taking out enemies using these playstyles are integral to the game, and allow the player to stick to a specific type of character they build throughout the story.
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Then there are some optional ways to play Skyrim that don't meet any specific playstyles. These are unique character builds that players can use either by finding a specific set of gear or by ignoring the skill trees entirely. Whatever these unique builds are, they make the game incredibly replayable.
6 Unarmed
Using Only Hands In Combat
Race | Khajiit |
Weapons/Armor/Equipment | Gloves Of The Pugilist |
Key Skill Tree | Block |
Using only the characters' fists in Skyrim will do damage to an enemy, and it can stagger them. However, it is not an easy way to play the game. Unarmed strikes do very little damage, and there is no skill tree to level up this skill. Therefore, it seems that the game wants to push the player toward using a weapon of some kind.
However, it is possible to create and play a character that only uses their fists in combat. A Khajiit will do some small additional damage when fighting unarmed because they are born with claws. Plus, players can find a unique item called The Gloves of the Pugilist to help them progress this way. These fur gauntlets can be found in The Ratway in Riften, and they have the effect Fortify Unarmed, which increases unarmed damage. It might be difficult for players to kill Gian the Fist and take these gloves with only their fists, but it is one of the few ways to make the unique unarmed build work in this game.
5 Shield Basher
Defense Can Be A Good Offense
Race | Any |
Weapons/Armor/Equipment | Targ Of The Bloodied |
Key Skill Tree | Block |
By their nature, a shield is an object that is supposed to defend the player in combat. However, these items can also be used to bash enemies in Skyrim. Such an attack will stagger the opponent, and do a small bit of damage at the same time. As such, there is a way to play this game by only using the shield bash attack.
As with the unarmed build, using a shield as a weapon will not put the player on a specific skill path. However, there is a useful perk that players can unlock when using their shield. At level thirty, players can unlock the Power Bash perk on the Block skill tree. This perk lets the player use a bash attack while they are still blocking. Also, the Targ of the Blooded is a unique shield that can be found on a Redguard in the Dwemer Ruin of Alftand. It does an additional three points of damage when the player shield bashes, making the Shield Basher a slow but viable Skyrim build to play.
4 Orc Berserker
Using The Power Of The Orcs
Race | Orc |
Weapons/Armor/Equipment | Any |
Key Skill Tree | One Handed/Two Handed Weapons |
All Orcs in Skyrim are given the ability Berserker Rage when the player creates a new character. This unique ability allows Orcs to only take half damage for sixty seconds, and they do double their attack damage during this time. Using this ability, Skyrim players can use an Orc build to play the game in a unique way.
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The Berserker Rage perk does not get better over time, but players can keep using it once it is recharged. Doing so, the player can choose to use any weapon in the game and only attack enemies with the Berserker Rage ability activated. This build could be made even more challenging by not leveling up any skills during this playthrough.
3 Poisoner
Using Alchemy And Stealth
Race | Any |
Weapons/Armor/Equipment | Alchemy Table, Ingredients |
Key Skill Tree | Alchemy |
Deadly weapons and magic aren't the only way to take out enemies in Skyrim. The game is also full of various potions and powerful poisons. As a result, players can make a character build that chooses to only kill enemies with poisons.
This Poisoner build is tricky to create, but it gets easier by leveling up the Alchemy and Stealth skills. By doing this, the player can find lots of ingredients around the map to craft enough poisons for an enemy encounter. Then they can use stealth skills to pickpocket enemies and eventually place their poisons on the foe. Doing so will cause the enemy to drink the poison and die. However, this build may require the player to also carry a dagger to take out larger foes like dragons or spiders.
2 Pacifist
Finishing The Game Without Violence
Race | Any |
Weapons/Armor/Equipment | Full armor set, Hand weapon, Shield |
Key Skill Tree | Conjuration |
It may seem obvious that a player must always have to directly kill their enemies to progress in Skyrim. That is not the case, though, and players who want to avoid violence will be glad to hear about the Pacifist build. This character build involves never striking an enemy with a weapon or fists. Instead, players must choose more creative and non-violent methods to keep progressing.
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Becoming a Pacifist in Skyrim gets easier when the player levels up their Conjuration magic. This means that players will be able to conjure powerful enemies to fight for them. If this seems like too much violence, then the Illusion spell, Fury, can turn enemies on each other. It also helps to recruit a follower to help take out anything resistant to these conditions.
1 Survivor
The Hardiest Of Builds
Race | Any (Easier When Playing As A Nord) |
Weapons Armor/Equipment | Fur Armor, Campfire |
Key Skill Tree | Restoration |
Playing as a Survivalist in Skyrim is one of these easiest unique builds to set up, but one of the hardest to attempt. The best way to become a survivor in Skyrim is to set the difficulty level to Survival Mode in the main menu. There are also additional mods that can be used to make the experience even more realistic or challenging.
Survival mode is a way to make the world of Skyrim more lifelike. Cold weather will reduce the player's health, and so they will need to find clothing or build fires to keep themselves warm when traveling. Also, the player character will get hungry, and so it's important to keep some cooked, healthy food on hand so as not to starve in the wild. All these changes make the game infinitely more difficult, and only the toughest players are able to beat Skyrim with a unique survival character.
