First, allow me lay down the cold hard facts of perks in Skyrim.

• There are 251 perks in Skyrim.
• You obtain one Perk Point each time you level.
• The max level is 81, which means you can choose a max of 81 perks.
• The average player ends up with a character between level 50 and 60 which means they can plan on obtaining that number of perks.

How you spend your perk points will be among the most important decisions you make in Skyrim. As in most Bethesda games, some perks are amazing and others that are pretty much garbage. Many perks will only be useful to specific play styles and character setups. It is wise to save perk points until certain skills reach higher levels. Many of the best perks are only available once your skill reaches level 80 or above.

Obviously, whether a perk is useful or not is a matter of personal preference and opinion. The recommendations I make are for gamers who plan to take their character to a reasonably high level and focus on developing skills I a few specific disciplines. If you want your character to be a jack-of-all-trades and shoot a bow, cast destructive magic, block with a shield, swing an axe, and summon dudes, it will be difficult to obtain all the perks you may want.

I’ll start out with the disciplines and respective perks that, in my opinion, are not beneficial to the majority of players. My reasoning behind this isn’t so much as these perks are particularly bad, but there are other perks that are probably a better investment in the long run.

Speech

Speech perks are primarily dedicated to helping your character earn more gold. At higher levels there are also perks to help you persuade or intimidate NPCs. Making money is Skyrim is not that challenging. While at first you will get ridiculously ripped off by merchants, what you lack in price you can make up in quantity. Even the easiest of dungeons and caves will contain a completely illogical amount of treasure chests filled with gold and all sorts of sellable items. Your biggest problem will be finding merchants with enough gold to buy all your random crap. If you begin taking your Enchanting and Alchemy to higher levels, you will have more expensive items than you can sell.

The only Speech perks I would even remotely consider getting are Merchant and Investor which will allow you to sell any item to any vendor and add 500 gold to a merchant’s maximum, respectively. But there are just so many better things to spend your perk points on.

Lockpicking

Unless you are completely hopeless at the lockpicking mini-game I wouldn’t bother putting any perk points into this discipline. Instead, I recommend buying lock picks anytime you see them in a vendor’s inventory and saving the game before attempting to pick a difficult lock.

Pickpocket

For some reason, I don’t find myself picking a lot of pockets in Skyrim. Maybe it’s because there are way easier ways to make money. If you are playing a serious character I wouldn’t bother getting any of these perks.

The Extra Pockets perk is tempting (to increase carrying capacity by 100) but it involves leveling pickpocket to 50 and spending 2 additional perk points on the prerequisite perks, Light Fingers and Night Thief. If your inventory is constantly weighing you down you should consider buying or making some light gear that fortifies carrying capacity. You can slip the pieces on when you need to haul all your junk back to town. Also, make sure you deposit all those heavy dragon bones!

*****
With the bad perks out of the way, I’ll break down the best perks in each discipline. Keep in mind, you will need to get all the needed prerequisite perks before you can plan on obtaining most of the following.

Heavy Armor

Early in the game you’re going to want to choose which type of armor you’re going to wear, and stick with it. Obviously, if you wear Heavy Armor you shouldn’t be putting any perk points into Light Armor, and vice versa.

Perks to get
Juggernaut 1-5 [Levels 0, 20, 40, 60, 80]: Increases armor rating for Heavy Armor by 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100%. Once you have the final Juggernaut perk you will have doubled your heavy armor rating.

Well Fitted [Level 30]: +25% armor if you are wearing a matching set of heavy armor (shield doesn’t matter).

Matching Set [Level 70]: +50% armor if you are wearing a matching set of heavy armor (shield doesn’t matter).

Light Armor

For characters who don’t want to get up close and personal when you attack, there are plenty useful Light armor perks.

Perks to Get
Agile Defender 1-5 [Levels 0, 20, 40, 60, 80]: Light armor wearers will need all the defense they can get. You can increase your armor rating in the same manner as the Juggernaut perk.

Custom Fit [Level 30]: +25% armor if you are wearing all Light Armor (shield doesn’t matter)

Matching Set [Level 70]: Additional +25% armor if wearing a matching set of light armor (shield doesn’t matter).

Fun fact: you can reach the game’s armor rating cap wearing light armor. You need to do the following:

• Obtain all of the above perks
• Boost your Smithing skill to a high enough level and upgrade a set of Dragonscale armor to Legendary condition.

One-Handed

One-Handed perks depend heavily on the specific weapon you use and whether or not you dual weld.

Perks to Get (no matter which weapon you use)
Armsman 1-5 [Levels 0, 20, 40, 60, 80]: Double my damage by skill level 80 you say? Yes, please!

Savage Strike [Level 50]: Power attacks do +25% damage and sometimes decapitate your enemy. That’s right: DECAPITATE. End of discussion.

One-Handed has many other badass perks you can choose from that primarily depend on your play style.

Two-Handed

Like One-Handed, Two-Handed perks depend heavily on your play style and weapon choices.

Perks to Get
Barbarian 1-5 [Levels 0, 20, 40, 60, 80]: I don’t always use a battleaxe, but when I do, I prefer to deal DOUBLE DAMAGE.

Champion’s Stance [Level 20]: Power attacks with two-handed weapons cost 25% less stamina.

Devastating Blow [Level 50]: The same as Savage Strike with the same amount of gratuitous severance of heads.

Archery

Perks to Get
Overdraw 1-5 [Levels 0, 20, 40, 60, 80]: By now, you know how I feel about double damage.

Eagle Eye [Level 30]: Allows you to hold down the block button while you have the bow drawn to zoom in on your target.

Steady Hand 1&2 [Levels 40 & 60]: Slow down time by 25% and 50% when zooming in. Perfect for those enemies who just refuse to hold still while you shoot them!

Quick Shot [Level 70]: Draw your bow 30% faster. This means you fire arrows 30% quicker and increase your cumulative damage output by the same.

Block

Perks to Get
Shield Wall 1-5 [Levels 0, 20, 40, 60, 80]: Blocking is 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40% more effective.

Elemental Protection [Level 50]: When blocking, you take 50% less fire, frost, and shock damage. This is a great way to weather dragon breath attacks.

Quick Reflexes [Level 30]: Slow down time when blocking an enemy’s power attack. This is kind of a maybe. It could be useful for players who like to block and then counter attack.

All Schools of Magic (Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Illusion, Restoration)

Perks to Get
Novice, Apprentice, Adept, Expert, Master [Levels 0, 25, 50,75,100]: Cast spells of that type of magic, at the respective level, for 50% less magicka.

Every school of magic has perks that will reduce the amount of magicka it costs to cast spells.

Alteration

Perks to Get
Magic Resistance 1-3 [Levels 30, 50, 70]: Blocks 10, 20, and 30% of a spell’s effects. Magic Resistance can be a difficult thing to obtain. I even dabble in Alteration on my non-magical characters just to get these perks.

Stability [Level 70]: The effects of Alteration spells last 50% longer.

Atronach [Level 100]: Absorb 30% of the magicka from spells that hit you.

Conjuration

I don’t have much game experience with Conjuration magic. To be honest, I’ve never really liked summoning things in any game (although Knights of the Round was pretty badass for its time).

Perks I think are probably good
Conjuration Dual Casting [Level 20]: Dual casting a Conjuration spell causes its effects to last longer.

Twin Souls [Level 100]: Two summons are better than one, right?

Destruction

Perks to Get
Destruction Dual Casting [Level 20]: Dual casting a Destruction spell creates more powerful effects.

Impact [Level 40]: Most destruction spells stagger an opponent when dual cast.

Deep Freeze [Level 60]: Frost spells can paralyze enemies that are at low health.

Illusion

Perks to Get
Illusion Dual Casting [Level 20]: Dual casting an Illusion spell creates more powerful effects.

Quiet Casting [Level 50]: Spells you cast are silent to others. This is good to get because it works for any spell in any school of magic.

Restoration

Perks to Get

Regeneration [Level 20]: restoration spells heal 50% more health.

Recovery 1&2 [Levels 30 & 60]: Magicka regenerates 25 and 50% faster. This effect happens regardless of whether you are casting Restoration spells or not. Great for all mages.

Respite [Level 40]: Restorations spells restore stamina as well as health. Obviously, this perk is only good for characters that find themselves depleting stamina often.

Sneak

Sneak perks depend on your play style. Obviously, if you’re the kind of person who rarely sneaks around you won’t need to bother. Yet, many quests require you to practice some degree of stealth.

Perks to Get
Stealth 1-5 [Levels 0, 20, 40, 60, 80]: You are 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40% harder to detect when sneaking.

The following perks depend heavily on the type of weapon you use:

Backstab [Level 30]: Sneak attacks with one-handed weapons do 6X damage.
Deadly Aim [Level 40]: Sneak attacks with bows do 3X damage.
Assassin’s Blade [Level 50]: Sneak attacks with daggers now do 15X damage.

Muffled Movement [Level 30]: Noise from armor is reduced by 50%. Good for sneaking
in heavy armor.

Silence [Level 70]: Walking and running does not affect detection. This is a must have for all sneaky characters.

Alchemy

With a high alchemy skill you can create multi-effect potions and devastating poisons. However, the best reason to take Alchemy to a high level (and obtain the right perks) is to create potions that can help you temporarily boost your Smithing and Enchanting skills.

Perks to Get (for perfect fortification potions)
Alchemist 1-5 [Levels 0, 20, 40, 60, 80]: Potions and poisons you make are 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100% stronger.

Benefactor [Level 30]: Potions you mix, with beneficial effects, are 25% stronger.

Enchanting

Here it is! The fastest way to take you character from pushover to overpowered. Enchanting your gear and weapons allows you to enhance your weapons and armor to a very high degree. With max level enchanting, and the right perks, you can do any of  the following:

• Enchant 4 pieces with +25% Fortify (any school of magic) to cast spells for free
• Enchant 4 pieces with +29% Fortify Alchemy or Smithing to make the strongest possible potions and armor upgrades.
• Enchant 4 pieces with +47% Fortify One-Handed, Two-Handed, or Archery (Marksman) to deal massive amounts of damage.
• Enchant 3 pieces with +28% Resist Magic to hit the max reduction cap.
• Enchant any weapon with +36% Fire, Shock, or Frost damage and obliterate anything and everything.

Perks to Get
I usually end up getting all of the Enchanting perks except for Soul Squeezer and Soul Siphon.

At the very least you’ll want:
Enchanter 1-5 [Levels 0, 20, 40, 60, 80]: New enchantments are 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100% stronger.

Insightful Enchanter [Level 50]: Skill enchantments are 25% stronger.

Extra Effect [Level 100]: You can put 2 enchantments on 1 item. This is hands down the most GAME BREAKING perk in the entire game! You may find yourself having to increase the difficulty after getting this one.

Smithing

The path you take in the Smithing tree depends on whether you want to craft Light or Heavy armor. Both will meet at the Dragon Armor perk, allowing you to create light or heavy dragon armor.

Perks to Get
Arcane Blacksmith [Level 60]: You can improve magical (enchanted) armor and weapons.

Dragon Armor [Level 100]: You can forge Dragon armor and improve it twice as much. You will need this perk in order to upgrade dragon armor to Legendary condition.

So there you have it, the most beneficial perks in each discipline. The next step I would suggest is to take a good long look at the skills menu and plan out the perks and prerequisites you’re going to want.  Then it’s simply a matter of executing your build and unlocking your god-like character.

Roy: As someone obsessed with creating focused builds in games, I really appreciate a clear outline of key perks to aim for in Skyrim.  Thanks to Psychic Octopus for his insight!

Related Posts:
Guest Post: Skyrim: So, you want to start a new character? By Psychic Octopus

Hey all, I’m an old friend of Roy’s as well as a veteran of just about every game Bethesda has developed this generation. I was excited when Roy asked me to provide some Skyrim content for Kotowari while he gets over his love affair with Dark Souls. My articles will deal mostly with Skyrim strategy and character development.

For those of you who have played Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion or the Fallout series you probably feel like you’re walking on egg shells when it comes time to create a new character. How do I avoid screwing up? What race should I be? When is the best time to level up? In Skyrim you can relax a bit. It is actually really hard to permanently screw up your character. You won’t need to pick and choose which skills to use and which to avoid. You won’t need to scrutinize when to allow your character to get to the next level. Even choosing one race over another will not affect your character very much. I’ll explain how it all works and then give a couple recommendations here and there for how manage your character effectively.

The level up system

As you perform an action, its governing skill increases towards the next level. As your skills level up, your character will progress towards the next overall level.

Skills

Combat: Archery, Block, Heavy armor, One-handed weapons, Two-handed weapons, Smithing

Magic: Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Enchanting, Illusion, Restoration,

Stealth: Alchemy, Light Armor, Lockpicking, Pickpocket, Sneak, Speech

Let’s say you cast heal a couple times: next thing you know, your Restoration skill increases a level. You will also notice the progress bar towards your character’s overall level increases slightly. You block a few hits, skewer a Skeever on a sword, sneak by a cave bear and next thing you know you’re at level 2! It’s as simple as that.

Attributes

Once your character levels, you have to go into the skills menu to allow your character to level up. You will immediately be prompted to increase an attribute by 10 points. The attributes are Health, Magic, and Stamina.

• Health is your total hit points.
• Magic is your total magica, used to cast spells.
• Stamina is used for power strikes, blocking, and sprinting. Leveling Stamina will also increase your maximum carry weight by 5.

Unless you are a hardcore warrior who refuses to use magic (even to heal) or a hardcore mage who never touches a weapon and travels light, your best bet is to keep your attributes relatively well rounded.

Perks

After you have chosen an attribute to increase, you will receive one perk point. How you choose to spend your perks points is the most important decision in the game. To break it down by numbers, there are about 250 perks and you receive 1 perk point each level. Leveling up will start to become slow at around 50, so the average player can plan on obtaining about 20% of all perks. The maximum level in the game is 81, therefore the maximum number of perks you could possibly get is 81. This is only reached by leveling all skills to 100.

At the beginning of the game, you will be leveling up very quickly without even trying. Many players make the mistake of spending their perk points as soon as they get them. Doing so is unnecessary because the game allows you to save your perk points and use them later. Saving perk points is wise because most of the game’s best perks cannot be obtained until a skill reaches a high level. I recommend limiting the spending of perk points to a few important disciplines (rather than spreading your perk points around just because you have them). Trust me, when your skills reach higher levels you’re going to wish you could accumulate the insane number of perk points you can easily obtain early in the game.

What happens as you level?

Your character will continue to progress towards the next levels even if you don’t choose to go to the skills menu and level up. At the beginning of the game when you are leveling up rapidly you may find you have leveled up 3 or 4 times. You will be forced to choose an attribute to increase for each level you’ve obtained. After increasing attributes you will be shown the number of perk points you accumulated. Unlike attributes, you do not have to spend your perk points and you can simply exit the menu.

As your level increases:

• Merchants will begin selling new weapons and armor
• New weapons and armor can be found in chests with random contents
• Certain enemies will also increase in level and become tougher
• Some of your enemies will also have access to better weapons and armor
• The amount of gold found in chests, on bodies, and in purses will increase
• Randomly appearing potions will be more potent

Choosing Your Race

There are ten races in Skyrim. Each has its own power that can be used once a day and some races also have special abilities and/or resistances. Whether your character is male or female makes no difference. Different races also begin the game with slightly higher skills in certain areas.

Altmer (High Elf)
+50 Magicka
Power: Highborn (Magica regenerates 10x faster for 60 seconds)
Additional Spell: Fury
+10 Illusion, +5 Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Enchanting, Restoration

Argonian (Lizard)
Resist Disease 50%
Water Breathing
Power: Histskin (HP regens 10x faster for 60 seconds)
+10 Lockpicking, +5 Alteration, Light Armor, Pickpocket, Restoration, Sneak

Bosmer (Wood Elf)
Resist Poison 50%
Resist Disease 50%
Power: Command Animal (make an animal your ally for 60 seconds)
+10 Archery, +5 Alchemy, Light Armor, Lockpicking, Pickpocket, Sneak

Breton
Resist Magic 25%
Power: Dragonskin (Absorb 50% of magica from enemies spells for 60 seconds)
Additional Spell: Conjure Familiar (Summon a Familiar for 60 seconds)
+10 Conjuration, +5 Alchemy, Alteration, Illusion, Restoration, Speech

Dunmer (Dark Elf)
Resist Fire 50%
Power: Ancestor’s Wrath (Foes close by take 8 points of fire damage for 60 seconds)
Additional Spell: Sparks
+10 Destruction, +5 Alchemy, Alteration, Illusion, Light Armor, Sneak

Imperial
Imperial Luck (find greater amounts of gold)
Power: Voice of the Emperor (Casts Calm on people nearby for 60 seconds)
+10 Restoration, +5 Block, Destruction, Enchanting, Heavy Armor, One-handed

Khajiit (Cat)
Claw Attacks (when unarmed you can scratch things like a kitty)
Power: Night Eye (Night visions for 60 seconds multiple times a day)
+10 Sneak, +5 Alchemy, Archery, Lockpicking, Pickpocket, One-handed

Nord
Resist Frost 50%
Power: Battlecry (targets flee from you for 30 seconds)
+10 Two-handed, +5 Block, Light Armor, One-handed, Smithing, Speech

Orc
Power: Berserker Rage (you take half and deal double damage for 60 seconds)
+10 Heavy Armor, +5 Block, Enchanting, One-handed, Smithing, Two-handed

Redguard
Resist Poison 50%
Power: Adrenaline Rush (Stamina regenerates 10x faster for 60 seconds)
+10 One-handed, +5 Alteration, Archery, Block, Destruction, Smithing

How do I choose?

I recommend choosing a race based on powers, abilities, and resistances as opposed to initial skill bonuses. You will barely even notice having an extra 5 or 10 skill points after the first couple hours. Low level skills will increase quickly. If you are using a skill often it will naturally level up on its own fairly quickly. Powers, abilities and resistances will be relevant the entire game, initial skill bonuses will not.

Before picking a race you should have a general idea of what your play style will be.

“Magic is lame, I want to see my enemies eyes as I hack them to bits!”

Orc and Redgaurd are the obvious choices for this. Both have great powers for melee fighting that can be used once a game day. However, melee characters have trouble dealing with enemies who aren’t willing to stand and bang. Choosing Breton could be a better choice in the long run. Bretons have a 25% magic resistance that allows a melee character to get hit by a few spells without dying while running down a spellcaster. The Bretons’ Dragonskin power can be used defensively in order to fill up your magic gauge and heal yourself. Magic resistance is somewhat hard to come by. It is relatively easy to protect yourself from arrows and melee weapons, but even the best armor won’t protect you from magical attacks.

“I wanna nuke the hell out of everything in my path with my magic!”

Altmer has an extra 50 magic to help you do this. The Highborn power let’s you regenerate magica quickly if you start running out.

“My enemies will only know I was there when they look down and see the arrow protruding from their heart”

There is nothing more traditional than playing a sneaky Khajiit with a bow. However, aside from the initial skill bonuses, Khajiit isn’t really that good unless you just NEED to have a furry tail. Any race would be suitable for this play style. If you don’t care, I recommend Breton again for the magic resistance.

“I don’t know whether I want to cast spells or hit stuff with things, I just want to kill dragons!”

If you want to be some type of warrior-mage hybrid you may be better off with the extra magica that being an Altmer provides. If you want to make sure you can defend against a dragon, Nord’s 50% Frost resistance and Dunmer’s 50% Fire resistance are great against ice and fire dragons, respectively.

“I don’t really care what race I am, just tell me which ones suck the most.”

Imperial is pretty lousy. “Oh wow, I have the ability to find slightly larger amounts of gold. That is incredibly helpful against this dragon.” Bosmer’s ability to make an animal an ally for 60 seconds is pretty useless unless you find yourself losing battles to bears. In that case you probably have much bigger problems than what race you picked. It might be kind of funny to use Command Animal on a chicken (although I’m not sure if it would work).

To conclude, race doesn’t matter all that much. It is much more important to spend your time considering which perks to choose.  Choosing the best perks for your desired play-style will result in a highly focused character.

Roy: if you find this article helpful please leave some comment love for Psychic Octopus and I may be able to encourage him to write more Skyrim tips for Kotowari!

Last night I went over my friend’s for drinks and merriment, as I do most Wednesdays.  In attendance were two close chums who both transitioned from Dark Souls to Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and they are loving it.  We have this ritual whenever a new game comes out of creating a character just for messing around while we chat and drink.  As I don’t yet own Skyrim, I was given the privilege of creating this just-for-fun character.  What follows is a detailed account of my exploits, but not in any way a review — just food for thought.

Since I was in the company of two big fans of the game I felt obligated to flaunt the fact that I was taking it in no way as seriously as they were.  I was not going to play the way that the game or my friends had hoped.  The intro, for instance, has your unformed character being delivered along with several other prisoners to their imminent demise aboard a wagon.  During this ride, NPCs say dramatic things as they come to terms with their death and various passers-by make comments about you and the other prisoners.  The player can control where their character is looking at this point, so I choose to look at the sky, ignoring all the carefully scripted events happening around me.  Yeah, I’m gangsta.

Whoa, don’t close out of this page yet, I promise it gets better.

Once the dead-man-walking wagon came to a stop and the passengers got off, I was prompted to make my character.  I should take this time to express how impressed I was with character editing in Skyrim.  It’s extremely user friendly and robust.  I went with a female Orc because, well, how many people actually made female Orcs?  Yeah, that’s what I thought.  I loved being able to apply face paint and scars and other small details.  In my haste, however, I regrettably forgot to look at the beard selection, which I am told is ample.

Back to my shenanigans.  During the events that follow character creation, things got chaotic.  It is still abundantly clear that the player must follow a certain NPC, so naturally, I didn’t.  I took to exploring the area around me over my friend’s frustrated requests to proceed.  After dying a few times by attempting to fight a dragon with bound hands, I discovered the first issue.  By running ahead of this NPC and avoiding him, I eventually came to an area where I jumped down from a small step.  Having not engaged the NPC however, he remained where he was, still beckoning me to follow him.  I could not jump over this step, as I expect the developers didn’t want the player to be able to backtrack.  This meant I was at a standstill, unable to speak to the NPC or proceed to the next area.  Thus I threw myself once more in front of the dragon’s fiery hatred and was burnt to a handsome cinder.  It was more entertaining than reloading a hard save.

Someone get this man a beard

At this point my friends were becoming quite frustrated, either from wanting me to venture further into the game or because I was mocking the game for its flaws.  I humored them and proceeded to the point where I could finally equip armor and weapons.  Do you remember that NPC I told you about earlier?  Well, he was still at my side.  I am sure you see where this is going.  Running through some cave, we were attacked by bandits.  Hey, I thought, these bandits just want us to get off their land.  I decided mutiny was the best option.  I would join the bandits in attempting to slay this helpful NPC.  Sadly, I wasn’t able to take him out before he killed the attacking bandits.  Still, he beckoned me onward, possibly writing my attacks off as friendly fire.

The same scenario happened again, and I leveled up.  Suddenly Oblivion’s repetitive action exploits came rushing back to me.  All I need to do is swing my sword at a sack of meat and I level up.  I looked at the friendly NPC, he looked back at me nervously as he realized the dots I had just connected.  He was to become my sack of meat.  The NPC was still on a script though, set to run through a certain path, all the while I wailed on him with my sword gaining levels and proficiency in 1 and 2-handed weaponry.

“Look, a bear!” My meat sack warned as he crouched down.  I turned and paused my relentless assault.  Sure enough, there was a bear staring dumbly at a stalagmite or something.  I ran up to it and with my newly honed skills and felled it in two mighty blows.  Back to wailing on Meaty McSack.  I was actually strong enough to kill him at this point, however rather than die, he would crouch down for about 10 seconds and then recover as if nothing happened.  He preceded forward on his rigid script until we exited the cave to the world of Skyrim proper.

Between the moist thudding sound from each swing of my sledgehammer, Meats told me about a town just down the road.  He started making his way there under my constant assault, stopping occasionally to crouch down and recover.  My friend’s frustration had turned to interest.  I was level 7 now, and I hadn’t even killed a single enemy, aside from that bear with ADD.  Then, the unthinkable happened: Meat Sackerton became hostile!  Thankfully I was strong enough from abusing him to put him down before he killed me.  He was still unkillable.  I took advantage of his aggression by kiting him back a ways and repeating until I was bored.

Beware the Frostbite Spider… bears

Next I ran into town with the intention of breaking into the homes of more NPCs and bludgeoning them.  The first house had two innocent women in it, one of which I killed and looted, the other had the same magical properties as Captain M. Sax: the ability to rest momentarily and come back to life.  So now I had two hostile characters who were totally unkillable coming after me.  My means of enjoying Skyrim was quickly becoming unsustainable.

Soon some guard appeared from the ether and wanted to take me to prison.  What a blowhard.  Want me to help you kill a bear?  That’s a hammering.  Want me to fetch you some mountain herbs?  That’s a hammering.  Want to take me to prison?  You better believer that’s a hammering.  After he was put down, I slapped on his armor and ran into the unknown.  At that point I found a man proudly sitting on a horse drawn carriage.  I had taken my anger out on plenty of humans, but not on a horse…yet.  I gave it a strong hammer blow on the nose.  It didn’t even budge. “Hey,” the man shouted, climbing down from his carriage, “that is an expensive horse!”.  He returned to his seat starting off into the distance like a certain bear I once met.  I repeated this until I grew weary of his presumed value of my new meat sack, so he received a healthy hammering.  That was about when I stopped playing.

Conclusions

The game has its exploits, that’s for sure.  I found a bunch in less than 2 hours of playtime.  Part of me hoped that the antiquated emphasis on repetition as a means of leveling was something that would be modernized or done away with.  Maybe I read too much into a more streamlined Fallout-esque system.

Playing as a total lunatic is fun, but clearly not something the game is prepared for in the early stages.  This resulted in seeing a little more back-door scripting than a player should experience.  Obviously the characters that cannot die are important, and delayed or non-existent hostility is just plain unrealistic.  All in all Skyrim is huge and there is ton to do, but it’s clear that the developers didn’t account for three bored and buzzed dudes wasting a Wednesday night.

Fallout: New Vegas is far on the horizon of games I’ve sufficiently overdosed on.  Still, yesterday’s release of the most recent DLC, Old World Blues, enticed me to check into the new perks the game unlocks.  As with the previous installments of DLC, the level cap has been raised by five levels.

The new perks are rather unimpressive. I am starting to think the gang at Obsidian are running on fumes in that department:

Atomic
Required: Level 20, Endurance 6
With the Atomic perk, you are 25% faster and stronger whenever you’re basking in the warm glow of radiation. Outside of irradiated areas, your Action Points (AP) regenerate faster the higher your level of radiation sickness becomes.
My Thoughts: I don’t know how literal “faster and stronger” is in this description so this perk is hard to judge. This may be a fun perk for those who like to live on the edge and frequent VATS, neither of which I am partial to.

Mile In Their Shoes
Required: Level 20, Survival 25
You have come to understand Nightstalkers. Consuming Nightstalker Squeezin’s now grants bonuses to Perception (+1 PER), Poison Resistance (+5), and Stealth (+5 Sneak) in addition to the normal benefits.
My Thoughts: Regardless of the availability of “Nightstalker Squeezin’s“, the benefits this perk brings are nothing to write home about.

Them’s Good Eatin
Required: Level 20, Survival 55
Any living creature you kill has a 50% chance to have the potent healing items Thin Red Paste or Blood Sausage when looted.
My Thoughts: These items have a high drop rate, and are a completely RAD-less food.  At a campfire you can even combine them into more effective versions.  If you’re playing on hardcore and are sick of carrying around your own food, this perk can definitely help find some on-the-go.

Implant GRX
Required: Level 30, Endurance 8
You gain a non-addictive subdermal Turbo (chem) injector. This perk may be taken twice, with the second rank increasing the effect from 2 to 3 seconds and the uses per day from 5 to 10 [Activated in the Pip-Boy Inventory.
My Thoughts: This perk has a very high Endurance requirement. If you can get past that, the benefits are awesome. Basically you can inject yourself with Turbo without fear of addiction or worry about carrying them around. This can be done 5 times a day, each hit lasting 2 seconds. On the second rank the doses double, but you only gain an additional second of Turbo-time. I think one rank should be sufficient for most players — if you need 10 doses of Turbo in a game-day you may have a problem…  This may be one of the coolest perks of Old World Blues.

For the first time, the new DLC also includes brand new traits as there now exists an NPC which allows you to change your traits one time.

Claustrophobia
Benefit: + 1 buff to SPECIAL attributes while outdoors
Penalty: - 1 debuff to SPECIAL attributes while indoors
My Thoughts: I am always leery of traits like this.  I learned from Four Eyes that this trait doesn’t help when it comes to getting perks.  That means it would only help by providing a small boost to your skills and maybe the occasional SPECIAL based speech check.  More trouble than it’s worth!

Early Bird
Benefit: + 2 buff to SPECIAL attributes from 6am to 6pm
Penalty: – 1 debuff to SPECIAL attributes from 6pm to 6am
My Thoughts: Of the SPECIAL influencing traits in the new DLC, this one is the most appealing since the boost is bigger than the penalty.  Also, if you tack on the Night Person perk the debuff doesn’t hurt quite as much.  Another option is just waiting twelve hours whenever you fall out of your comfort zone, but this is less of an option for those on hardcore mode.

Hoarder
Benefit: + 25 lbs to total carry weight
Penalty: – 1 debuff to SPECIAL attributes while current equipment weight is below 160 lbs
My Thoughts: Kind of interesting since I am almost always pretty burdened, otherwise see Claustrophobia.

Hot Blooded
Benefit: + 10% damage increase while below 50% health
Penalty: – 2 debuff to Perception and Agility while below 50% health
My Thoughts: This trait gives a very minor benefit and a pretty severe penalty. Now, you may be saying to yourself, Hulk want smash, why Hulk need to perceive things and do so in an agile manner? Well, Hulk… If you want to get the Slayer perk (requiring 7 Agility) which believe me, you do — then you will have to have your Agility at a staggering 9 points when it comes time to take the perk.  This assumption is based on how Four Eyes, a similar trait functions.  Being able to attack 30% faster or hit 10% harder, which would you prefer?

Logan’s Loophole
Benefit: Chems last twice as long and addiction rates are set to zero
Penalty: Locks the level cap at 30
My Thoughts: Now this is interesting.  If you design a very focused character (to make up for the lack of skill points) and abuse the hell out of chems, would that make up for ~15 levels of progress?  Hard to say, but I wouldn’t mind finding out.  Adding on the Chemist perk would extend the life of your stash making you an increasingly dangerous junky.

Old World Blues also has some new implants which can be acquired from the same NPC who lets you re-select your traits.  At this point, I can’t say for sure if the player’s ability to install these implants is based on Endurance (as was the case for the implants which appear in the stand-alone version of the game).  I will try to find this out and update this article accordingly.  If any readers know, please leave a comment confirming/refuting this!

• Implant C-13: +10% damage to Cazadores
• Implant M-5: Crouched movement speed increased 20%
• Implant Y-3: Removed RADS from radiated water sources
• Implant Y-7: Gain more AP and HP from food

Another body modification perk available upon clearing Old World Blues is possibly the greatest reason to acquire this DLC.  The player may select from an improve heart, brain, or spine:

Big Brained
Head cannot be crippled, +10% resistance to chem addiction, +10% DT if your DT >= 10 or +1 DT if your DT < 10
My Thoughts: This is the obvious choice among the body modification for a sniper class.  A crippled head means blurred vision and difficulty aiming.  This is less important the closer you get to your enemy.

Cardiac Arrest
50% poison resistance, Healing items boosted by 50%, Robots have -25% crit chance
My Thoughts: The main draw for this perk is the boost to all healing items, but increased poison and critical resistance is also a nice addition.  If you’re not playing on hardcore, this is a better option than Big Brained.

Reinforced Spine
Strength+2, DT+2
My Thoughts: This is a game changer.  Consider my current melee builds (1,2) obsolete.  This perk allows melee users to start with much lower strength and thus be more well-rounded as a whole.  The added DT is awesome, but honestly I would take this perk without it.

I am pleased to see the broad variety of character buffs available in Old World Blues — and I haven’t even looked into weapons yet!  Old World Blues is available now for all platforms for $10 USD, a shockingly low price to have your organs rearranged.

The most recent Fallout: New Vegas DLC, Honest Hearts, raises the level cap 5 additional levels to an even 40.  With the increased level cap come six new permanent perks the player can select.  Here they are, along with my thoughts:

Eye For Eye
Required: Level 20
For each crippled limb you have, you do an additional 10% damage.
My Thoughts: Initially this may sound like a pretty terrible perk.  Being crippled is not much fun; your vision blurs, your hands shake, and you cannot run depending on the limb.  But keep in mind that you have a total of 6 limbs, and they can all be broken — trust me.  That makes for a 60% boost to damage which is huge.  Characters best assisted by this perk include melee, explosives, and unarmed users — all of which require minimal finesse and accuracy, meaning being concussed ain’t no thang.

Tribal Wisdom
Required: Level 8, Survival 70
Your limbs take 50% less damage from Animals, Mutated Animals, and Mutated Insects, you gain +25% to Poison resistance, and can eat Mutated Insects when you’re in Sneak mode.
My Thoughts: This perk is interesting, but has a very high survival stat requirement, one which I doubt many players would strive for. If you are concerned with limb health then Adamantium Skeleton is a better choice, and if you just want to eat weird things go with Cannibal since humans exist in greater profusion than mutated insects.

Sneering Imperialist
Required: Level 8
You don’t take kindly to raiders, junkies, or tribals trying to “settle” or “stay alive” in civilized lands. Against dirty raider and junkie types as well as Zion’s tribals you do +15% Damage and have a bonus to hit in V.A.T.S.
My Thoughts: Raiders don’t exist in New Vegas the way that they did in Fallout 3.  Odds are good that you will more often be dealing with a faction angry at you for something.  Still, there are a lot of them in Zion, and you can return there even after the DLC.  Unless you’re big on V.A.T.S., there are better damage boosting perks to be had.

Fight the Power!
Required: Level 10
You’ve had enough of the so-called “authorities” pushing poor folks around! You gain +2 Damage Threshold and +5% Critical chance against anyone wearing the faction armor of the NCR, Legion or Brotherhood of Steel.
My Thoughts: This perk is a better version of Sneering Imperialist.  It will be useful much more often, and it’s both offensive and defensive.  Characters focused on increasing their critical hit rate should definitely get this as a 5% boost is huge.  The DT is great for melee characters, but truly benefit all classes.  I would, however, not suggest explosives characters take this perk since they are not capable of critical hits.

Grunt
Required: Level 8, Guns 45, Explosives 20
Just good, honest infantry work! You do 25% more damage with 9mm and .45 Auto pistols and SMGs, Service Rifles, Assault and Marksman Carbines, Light Machine Guns, Frag Grenades, Grenade Rifles and Launchers, and Combat knife.
My Thoughts: This perk is a game changer, people.  This is essentially the autoloader equivalent to Cowboy, only with less annoying requirements.  Some very powerful weapons can be augmented by this perk including the All American and the recently improved grenade launchers.  It’s a must for explosives users since its increased grenade damage is one of this perks biggest assets.

Home on the Range
Required: Level 8, Survival 70
Whenever you interact with a Campfire, you have the option of sleeping, with all the benefits that sleep brings.
My Thoughts: Again, this perk’s survival requirement is steep. It’s doubtful that many non-hardcore players would have a survival score that high, but really, they are benefited by this perk the most. Sleeping on non-hardcore not only heals you but also restores limb condition. On hardcore, the only benefit is your SLP gauge goes down which is… not much of a benefit. Also, there are not many campfires in the game — there are probably more beds.

Some of the new perks are helpful, some are fun, and some are plain useless.  I look forward to trying them out first hand once the DLC becomes available for Playstation 3.  The recent Playstation Network has sadly delayed it with an unknown ETA.  But rest assured, I will continue covering the new perks for the remaining DLC on the horizon.

Today the most recent patch for Fallout: New Vegas went live on the… recently deceased PSN, bringing a number of changes which effect the game’s balance.  A complete list can be found here, at Bethesda’s forums.  A more detailed, behind-the-scenes look at what the patch changed can be found at The Vault.  I feel obligated to go over those changes that are the most important and how it may or may not piss me off.

Lever-Action Rifles

My main character is a LAR man for the most part, alternating between the Brush Gun and a scoped Trail Carbine depending on range.  Luckily, I rarely use VATS for either as the AP cost to attack with these weapons has been increased by about one third.  The rate of fire has also been decreased which sucks, but makes sense as chambering another round is more involved than it is with automatics.  Spread has been increased meaning they are now both less accurate.  The unique La Longue Carabine however has had it’s accuracy boosted, making it a great sniping weapon if you can get your hands on it.

Automatic Rifles

• The Anti-Material Rifle is starting to appear to be worth its salt.  Its spread is now the lowest of all rifles at .01, making it one of the most accurate rifles in the game (matched only by the Hunting Rifle).  The AMR also had its critical hit damage increased significantly from 80 to 110, meaning sneak attack criticals with it are more dangerous.
• The Sniper Rifle and Gobi Campaign Rifle now fire faster and cost less AP in VATS to use.  Odds are very good that if you are using either of these weapons in VATS you have no clue what you are doing.  Sniper rifles are — moreso than any other weapon — meant to be fired manually. Not sure why they updated this.  One good change is the critical hit modifier, which was raised from x1 to x2 for both weapons.  This makes both much more lethal for sneak attack criticals.  All in all, both these weapons are much more solid.

Explosives

Surprisingly explosives have been massively improved.  I am intrigued by the fact that dynamite has a larger radius as the stuff can be had just about anywhere.  The 40mm grenades reportedly have a “significantly higher DAM on explosion”, and in fact their DAM has doubled from 50 to 100 — wow.  Likewise, their value has also more than doubled in the eyes of venders — you may wanna buy a surplus of these before you install the patch!

The improvements made to the Fat Man are probably the most astounding:

• Base damage up from 10 to 400
• Min Spread down from 2 to 0.5
• Sight Fov down from 55 to 40.
• Area of effect explosion has been increased in damage from 325 to 600 damage.

That certainly is starting to look more like a weapon that launches warheads.  Not only has its zoom interface been improved, but it’s at least twice as powerful in nearly every way.  Here’s hoping you explosive users didn’t waste your mini nukes!

That is about the long and short of the updates from the patch.  For the most part it’s for the better, and even the modifications they made to my beloved lever-action weapons are relatively bearable considering the patch as a whole.  As always, a patch can be avoided by keeping your console offline when playing, which is fairly easy at the moment for Playstation 3 users, da dun tssh.

Related Entries:
What you Need to Know About The Fallout: New Vegas 1.02 Patch

When Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim at this year’s VGAs I was only mildly interested.  I had a difficult time enjoying its massively successful predecessor, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for a number of reasons.  This bitter memory coupled with the game’s weak announcement trailer did little to arouse my interest.  However, this month’s Game Informer magazine provided a more concrete look at the game, showing not only gameplay screenshots but also making some impressive promises which have since put the game on my radar.

Story

You will assume the role of a dragonborn — possibly the last remaining one in Tamriel.  Dragonborn are a unique breed capable of battling dragons.  In other words, you’re in the business of dragon killing and cousin, business is a-boomin’.  This chapter of the series will feature dragons in the world for the first time ever.  Your goal is to prevent the awakening of Alduin, the dragon god prophesied to destroy the world, or if need be slay him yourself.  This may sound especially familiar if you paid attention to the teaser trailer shown during the VGAs:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Your Character

There are 10 races to choose from (the same number as in Oblivion), and customizing your character’s appearance has thankfully been improved.  Not only can you alter specific body features but you can also slap a beard on your dragon-killer. (Finally!)  Faces and expressions are said to have been overhauled as well.

You will not need to select a class as you did in Oblivion, meaning character creation will be simpler.  There is a soft level cap of 50 and the game will use a perk system similar to Fallout 3, meaning you will earn one perk per level.  Upon leveling up you can choose to raise either health, magicka, or stamina.

Combat

Bethesda has stated that they want each weapon to feel dramatically different.  Tactics are also said to be improved and more important than in the past.  You can designate which hand does what: carry a sword, shield, and you can even duel wield different weapons.  Your character can now dash in the game which consumes stamina.

Besthesda also revealed a few facts that hint to the raw power of the game’s yet unknown engine.  One example is radiant storytelling:

“The game eventually logs a huge storehouse of knowledge about how you’ve played, and subsequently tailors content to your capabilities and experiences. Entering a city, a young woman might approach you and beg you to save her daughter from kidnappers. The game will look at the nearby dungeons you’ve explored, automatically set the mission in a place you’ve never visited, and designate opponents that are appropriately matched to your strengths and weaknesses.”

There are also claims of the return of radiant AI, although whether this function ever existed as promised is the subject of some debate among fans.  What it essentially means is that NPCs have a mind of their own and their actions can effect other parts of the game.

And finally, level scaling will behave as it did in Fallout 3 — and not how Oblivion functioned — which should be good news to most fans of the series.  This will make for a more balanced experience overall.

Skyrim is promising a lot; if Bethesda can hold up their end of the bargain it could be a fantastic game.  I am going to try to curb my excitement somewhat as the developer’s track record hasn’t left me with much faith.  I will be following the game closely so expect more from me leading up to the game’s November 11th release.

As promised I have collected a list of the new perks which appear in Fallout: New Vegas’s DLC, Dead Money, which was released today for the Xbox 360.  The list is unofficial since I am mainly getting this from forums and an incomplete list on The Vault.  I will update the list as information becomes available.

In Shining Armor
Required: Repair 20, Science 70
+5 DT against Energy Weapons when wearing any metal armor, and +2 DT when wearing reflective eyewear.
My thoughts: This perk would be somewhat effective for extremely short periods of time in the game, such as killing off the Brotherhood of Steel and/or the Van Graffs.  Other than that it’s quite useless as those are the only enemies you can be sure will be packing plasma.  With Metal Armor, Reinforced and reflective eyewear, you can get up to 23 DT, which is not bad, but if you’re after pure DT you can do better with power armor.

Junk Rounds
Required: Luck 6, Repair 45
Craft Ammo at the Reloading Bench using alternate materials (Scrap Metal and Tin Cans).
My thoughts: According to some sources online, making a single bullet requires a hull/case, 1 scrap metal, and 5 tin cans. If this is true, this perk is useless as the combined weight of these materials is insane for yielding a single bullet. If you have taken or plan on taking the Hand Loader perk then this perk is already obsolete.

Old World Gourmet
Required: Endurance 6, Survival 45
+25% Addiction Resistance. Snack foods all give +50% Health. Scotch, Vodka, and Wine now give health, in addition to normal effects.
My thoughts: This will be good for hardcore players, but probably not good enough to give up a perk.

And Stay Back
Required: Level 10, Guns 70
Shotguns have a chance to knock an enemy back.
My thoughts: This is one of the few new perks I know I will be taking. Between the Dinner Bell and the Riot Shotgun, I just love shotgun-ing in Fallout: New Vegas. Knocking an enemy back will allow time to either squeeze off a killing blow or reload.

Heavyweight
Required: Level 12, Strength<10
Weapons with a weight of more than 10 is cut in half. This does not affect modded weapons.
My thoughts: If you are a melee user who is already lethal but want to carry more gear than go for this. It would be most effective for players who wield the Super Sledge and the Chainsaw which both weight a whopping 20 wg.  Guns and Energy weapons characters would receive more of a benefit with Pack Rat or Strong Back.

Hobbler
Required: Level 12, Perception 7
Increase in chance to hit target’s legs in VATS.
My thoughts: If you are using VATS and people are running away from you successfully than you should probably consider playing a different video game — extremely useless.

Light Touch
Required: Agility 6, Repair 45
While wearing light armor you gain +5% critical hit chance and your enemies suffer a -25% critical hit chance.
My thoughts: This is the second perk I will definitely get.  I already have Travel Light which allows you to move faster with light armor — the two will make a nice combo.  The perk is further accented by Built to Destroy, giving you an insane +8% critical chance not even counting your luck.  The increase critical hit resistance almost translates to DT meaning this perk is offensive and defensive.

If anyone out there has gotten the DLC and can confirm my list is correct, I would be most appreciative!

As I mentioned, only two of these perks appeal to me, and neither requires character reconstruction so I am very relieved at that.  I will admit that these perks are creative, but lack a solid benefit to most players, especially since the heightened level cap only allows for two more perks.  If I had to pick one, Light Touch takes the cake.

Right, so this is most likely the last update on Dead Money before its release, which is tomorrow for Xbox 360 owners.  Recently, Jason Bergman of Bethesda appeared on the Major Nelson podcast to reveal a few tidbits about the DLC.  The finer points of the podcast were collected at The Vault — I am essentially repeating their findings and throwing in my thoughts, for what that’s worth.

The DLC is aimed for higher level characters: 20 and above to be somewhat specific.  This means, as I have stressed before, it is a good idea to create a hard save of your current file, preferably before the end game events.  This especially goes for Xbox owners.  Since there will most likely be a healthy gap of time before PS3 and PC owners can get the DLC, this is less important.  In fact once the new perks are revealed (which will likely be tomorrow) that may change your ideal character, so you may want to start from scratch.  As much as it pains me to say, I will probably be doing this.

The names of the three characters joining you on the quest have been revealed.  We were able to get a look at each in the trailer released just last week:

• Dog/God: A schizophrenic super-mutant.  Depending on what personality is in the foreground, his name will change.  I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that Dog/God can be seen attacking the courier…
• Christine: It has been confirmed that Christine is a mute, and apparently very well written.
• Dean Domino: A once famous lounge singer who sang on the Las Vegas strip before it was New Vegas.  He is described as having his own agenda.

The DLC is said to be about four to six hours long.  It will open up all new conversation options with Veronica, which all but confirms that Elijah will have something to do with the events of the side story.  Through these new conversation options, Veronica may learn a new perk, depending on the decisions you make.  This is good because Veronica isn’t already an insanely powerful ally.  I wonder if future DLC will enhance other companions and provide more background on them.  If so, I would be much more willing to open my wallet.

In terms of the setting, some details were revealed about the inhabitants of the area around the Sierra Madre: the ghosts.  As you may already know, these individuals managed to survive a toxic cloud escaping from below the Sierra Madre by wearing gas masks and hazmat suits.  Their sanity however suffered quite a bit and they roam the deserted area, killing any who wander too close.  Killing them is said to be difficult, requiring decapitation.  At least it’s more creative than ZOMBIES ROFLOMGBBQFTW.  Lastly, there is said to be many new weapons, including a Holo-Gun and a Bearclaw Fist.

The last bit of Dead Money information that I care about will be the new perks that are being added.  Expect a post on this this as soon as details are out, along with a full rant from yours truly on what this means in terms of character customization.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Today Bethesda released a trailer for the upcoming Fallout: New Vegas DLC entitled Dead Money.  From the trailer we learn that the player is being forced to enter the Sierra Madre casino by an unknown individual to find the treasure within its vault.  If you had wondered what is keeping you from telling him and everyone else to shove off, it looks like an explosive neck collar is your main motivation.

We also get a look at the three companions the player is forced to cooperate with.  There is one from nearly each walk of life in the wasteland — a human, ghoul, and super mutant:

Here is the human member of the quartet. She has a shaved head and is wearing wasteland doctor’s fatigues, perhaps suggesting she has some medical skills.  She is briefly shown attacking with a knife and emerging from some kind of pod.  It’s difficult to make out, but she appears to have scars on her forehead and cheek.  Maybe she was at the receiving end of some surgery which required her to be confined to said pod (which also explains the shaved head).

This Ghoul is only shown briefly, so all I know about him is that he is a snappy dresser.  If I had to make a guess as to this fellow’s background I would say he’s a gambler who owes money to whomever the ringleader is of this operation — just a stab in the dark, really.

Lastly, we have the a presumably intelligent super mutant.  If you look closely you may notice that the word “DOG” is scrawled into his chest…  He also has a band-aid on his head.  Did he undergo some strange surgery as well?

As the mysterious narrator states, if any of the above characters die, it’s lights out for everyone so teamwork is important.  Supposedly, after finding the treasure, precious freedom will be rewarded to this ragtag crew.  The dangers of the area, aside from the explosive collar, includes insane respirator-wearing natives as well as telekinetic holographic women (…my only weakness):

This is a rather unique enemy; I wonder if it can be killed with standard methods or if holographic force must be utilized.

Dead Money will be available to Xbox 360 owners on December 21st — less than a week.  These new details have me excited for the DLC, but after wrestling with the bugs of Fallout: New Vegas, I am a bit relieved to have XBox owners be the first wave of debuggers.  Hopefully this means the PS3 and PC versions will be more stable, or as stable as Bethesda is capable of.