I'm going to start with some credit: This would not have become a build had I not tried and enjoyed Mason's Arcane Archer. That build has answers to many scenarios in game and the build I'm outlining here has some weaknesses and shortfalls that the Arcane Archer didn't have, although that's part of the reason I made it as I did – to provide something hopefully fun and engaging whilst maintaining flaws that force you to think out some of your encounters in a new way.
The Arcane Assassin
The Arcane Assassin is a lightly armoured, nomadic adventurer who wanders Skyrim with little more than their daggers and wits to aid their survival. As the Assassin part of the name implies, they are efficient at killing and not adverse to using their skills to make some coin. They are as fast with their feet as they are with their tongue, and their enhanced speech skill means they can win many battles in bartering and debate as well as those relying on martial prowess. Whilst well versed in destruction magic, the Arcane Assassin does not cast anything other than cloak spells, tapping their magic to reinforce their body and blades rather than using it as an overt offensive.
Race: Any, although I feel the build is best played as a Nord, given the Nords superstitious attitude towards magic gives the assassin a good reason to hide their spell casting abilities.
Gender: Unimportant, though it was painful to type out the character background in a gender neutral way so feel free to apply your own preference.
Stats: 1:2:1, until you have enough magicka to cast Flame Cloak, then points can be placed in either stamina or health, based on preference.
Birthstone: The Steed, with an option to change to The Lord later on.
Major Skills: One Handed, Light Armor, Enchanting
Minor Skills: Destruction, Speech, Sneak (optional)
Shouts: Slow Time, Marked for Death, Dragonrend, Fire Breath, Frost Breath, Whirlwind Sprint, Ice Form, Drain Vitality.
Quests of interest: The Dark Brotherhood, to make the most of your skills. Main Quest (optional, though ignoring it may limit your toolset). Dragon Research (requires some main quest progression). The Book of Love (15% resist magic passive is Arcane Assassin candy). The Heart of Dibella (ditto, and especially useful for female assassins). Discerning the Transmundane (Path of Magic or Path of Shadow – both offer two skill boosts to the assassin, unless you've opted for Sneak in which case the Path of Shadow offers three). Ancient Knowledge and Frostflow Abyss can also be completed for flavour, but the rewards are not useful to you.
The Arcane Assassin is very versatile for role play, but I'll outline my own approach:
The Arcane Assassin is naturally talented with destruction magic, but this talent is paired with a reclusive personality that was always better at observing others than working with them. The assassin never wished to draw attention to themselves, so learned to channel their magic in subtle ways that aided them, hiding it from others. Many hours were spent in studious solitude while the assassin learned to hone their destructive magic into complex enchantments and protective shields, always seeking ways to manipulate magic into a passive and supporting force. Impatient with only limited success at using alteration and illusion magic, the assassin turned their studies towards artifacts and blessings that might further their research.
Their small frame did not lend itself to a hard life of battle on the front lines, so instead they trained in methods that encouraged displays of speed and agility and applied their observational skills to shrewd trading techniques. When they found themselves heading alone to the Northernmost province of the Empire, Skyrim, they knew they were heading to a place where their swordsmanship, speed and more subtle magical talents could be of great use, but their passion for finding more passive magic remained a driving force in their mind.
There are two potential builds outlined below, one favouring use of stealth and daggers, the other favouring swords and a more aggressive approach. There are pros and cons to each – the stealth and daggers path is safer but slower, whereas the aggressive method favours a rapid attack method but may require more skill in placement and use of directional power attacks. The first will lead you to level 52 if you take 5/5 in Agile Defender and Stealth. The second reaches 45 assuming the same about Agile Defender.
*Note above: Destruction should be identical to below
You'll probably have noticed the great weakness in this build now, and that is the lack of ranged attack. By opting to force their destruction magic into enchants and cloaks, the assassin has limited their ability to attack from a distance. Their focus on quick movement and bladed attacks has directed them away from archery. This encourages the assassin to think around obstacles and distance, rather than counter it in more traditional ways. If you're playing the aggressive model, you will need to make use of structures and trees for line of sight. Both builds can use shouts to counter some of their distance issues.
Special moves:
Take cover!
You've found yourself in the open, fighting a foe who has a distance advantage such as a powerful mage. Whirlwind Sprint into sprint of, for stealthers, silent roll, to gain distance and hopefully place you near some cover – a wall, a tree, whatever works. Make them come to you – once they've foolishly closed the distance, they have lost their advantage.
Time Freeze
When fighting an enemy that is in any way weak to frost magic, this combination powers up your connection to the frozen plane of destruction. Throw on your Frost Cloak, equip your icy weapons, and Tiid Klo Ul time to a near standstill.
Frost Charge
When you want to fling yourself into combat but don't need to take advantage of your temporal control, this is the stylish way to do it. Once again don the Frost Cloak and icy weapons, sprint or Silent Roll to your victim and chill them with your Frost Breath before going to town with your blades.
Freezing Slam
As above, but for slightly stronger enemies, replacing Frost Breath with Ice Form
Seek Prey
As the assassin's focus has been on the extreme poles of destruction and their adeptness with lightning magic is not as strong as it is with the other two forms, this combination is good for fighting enemy mages but also anything that can outpace you (not that there will be many). Provided one weapon has a frost enchant the other is unimportant as you descend on the enemy and use your Drain Vitality shout to suck away their magic and health (and stamina) whilst trapping them in range with the slowing effect of your frost enchant.
Flame Atronach
Not a literal Flame Atronach, but your own embodiment of one. Using fire bound weapons (those enchanted with fiery soul trap, for instance), activating your flame cloak, and flying at your victim with a mighty Flame Breath bursting from your lips.
Weapon suggestions
There are a few weapons in the world that will naturally compliment your playstyle, such as Chillrend for sword wielding assassins. At higher levels most special weapons the game provides, whilst still cool, are disappointing in terms of power compared to weapons you can make yourself.
For the most thematic way to play the Arcane Assassin you should never use axes or maces. Daggers and swords are the lightest weapons in the game and the fastest to wield, making them the best choice for our flighty fighter.
Before enchanting a weapon you're best off taking it to the nearest weapon wheel, chugging a blacksmithing potion if you have one, and upping its base damage.
There aren't that many weapon enchants in Skyrim, but you should always use a frost or fire enchant (be that Fire Damage or Fiery Soul Trap) as one of your enchants, one per weapon once you have access to extra effect. You could double up on frost and fire enchants on each weapon for maximum damage, or an absorb health/magicka/stamina if you prefer these for the small impact they will make on your enemy pools and your own regeneration.
Economy of Skyrim – The Arcane Assassin's fun and profit
One of the most attractive assets of the aforementioned Arcane Archer was its approach to money and training. I recommend checking out the build link for a more indepth guide to how this works as Mason went into a lot of detail and had some great tips, but here's the gist of the idea and how it applies to our assassin:
You are an enchanter. This is not only an important aspect of your build and skill set, but also an excellent way for you to make money and train. With a couple of good enchants learned (such as Drain Stamina, Fiery Soul Trap or Fortify Carry Weight when you're enchanting jewelry and not weapons) you will be able to enchant all sorts of weapons you pick up on your travels, buy soul gems from vendors to fuel them and still turn a profit.
The reason we're interested in money, aside from the usual cash sinks of horses and houses, is the potential for level by level training. You can make the most of levelling up at first to train up your destruction, as when you take the Augmented Flames and Frost skills this will also boost the power of any flame and frost enchants on your weapons. When you've gained enough points in destruction you could then turn your level up training towards light armour to enhance your survivability, or sneak if you've chosen to take the stealthy route.
I'm going to start with some credit: This would not have become a build had I not tried and enjoyed Mason's Arcane Archer. That build has answers to many scenarios in game and the build I'm outlining here has some weaknesses and shortfalls that the Arcane Archer didn't have, although that's part of the reason I made it as I did – to provide something hopefully fun and engaging whilst maintaining flaws that force you to think out some of your encounters in a new way.
The Arcane Assassin
The Arcane Assassin is a lightly armoured, nomadic adventurer who wanders Skyrim with little more than their daggers and wits to aid their survival. As the Assassin part of the name implies, they are efficient at killing and not adverse to using their skills to make some coin. They are as fast with their feet as they are with their tongue, and their enhanced speech skill means they can win many battles in bartering and debate as well as those relying on martial prowess. Whilst well versed in destruction magic, the Arcane Assassin does not cast anything other than cloak spells, tapping their magic to reinforce their body and blades rather than using it as an overt offensive.
Race: Any, although I feel the build is best played as a Nord, given the Nords superstitious attitude towards magic gives the assassin a good reason to hide their spell casting abilities.
Gender: Unimportant, though it was painful to type out the character background in a gender neutral way so feel free to apply your own preference.
Stats: 1:2:1, until you have enough magicka to cast Flame Cloak, then points can be placed in either stamina or health, based on preference.
Birthstone: The Steed, with an option to change to The Lord later on.
Major Skills: One Handed, Light Armor, Enchanting
Minor Skills: Destruction, Speech, Sneak (optional)
Shouts: Slow Time, Marked for Death, Dragonrend, Fire Breath, Frost Breath, Whirlwind Sprint, Ice Form, Drain Vitality.
Quests of interest: The Dark Brotherhood, to make the most of your skills. Main Quest (optional, though ignoring it may limit your toolset). Dragon Research (requires some main quest progression). The Book of Love (15% resist magic passive is Arcane Assassin candy). The Heart of Dibella (ditto, and especially useful for female assassins). Discerning the Transmundane (Path of Magic or Path of Shadow – both offer two skill boosts to the assassin, unless you've opted for Sneak in which case the Path of Shadow offers three). Ancient Knowledge and Frostflow Abyss can also be completed for flavour, but the rewards are not useful to you.
The Arcane Assassin is very versatile for role play, but I'll outline my own approach:
The Arcane Assassin is naturally talented with destruction magic, but this talent is paired with a reclusive personality that was always better at observing others than working with them. The assassin never wished to draw attention to themselves, so learned to channel their magic in subtle ways that aided them, hiding it from others. Many hours were spent in studious solitude while the assassin learned to hone their destructive magic into complex enchantments and protective shields, always seeking ways to manipulate magic into a passive and supporting force. Impatient with only limited success at using alteration and illusion magic, the assassin turned their studies towards artifacts and blessings that might further their research.
Their small frame did not lend itself to a hard life of battle on the front lines, so instead they trained in methods that encouraged displays of speed and agility and applied their observational skills to shrewd trading techniques. When they found themselves heading alone to the Northernmost province of the Empire, Skyrim, they knew they were heading to a place where their swordsmanship, speed and more subtle magical talents could be of great use, but their passion for finding more passive magic remained a driving force in their mind.
There are two potential builds outlined below, one favouring use of stealth and daggers, the other favouring swords and a more aggressive approach. There are pros and cons to each – the stealth and daggers path is safer but slower, whereas the aggressive method favours a rapid attack method but may require more skill in placement and use of directional power attacks. The first will lead you to level 52 if you take 5/5 in Agile Defender and Stealth. The second reaches 45 assuming the same about Agile Defender.
*Note above: Destruction should be identical to below
You'll probably have noticed the great weakness in this build now, and that is the lack of ranged attack. By opting to force their destruction magic into enchants and cloaks, the assassin has limited their ability to attack from a distance. Their focus on quick movement and bladed attacks has directed them away from archery. This encourages the assassin to think around obstacles and distance, rather than counter it in more traditional ways. If you're playing the aggressive model, you will need to make use of structures and trees for line of sight. Both builds can use shouts to counter some of their distance issues.
Special moves:
Take cover!
You've found yourself in the open, fighting a foe who has a distance advantage such as a powerful mage. Whirlwind Sprint into sprint of, for stealthers, silent roll, to gain distance and hopefully place you near some cover – a wall, a tree, whatever works. Make them come to you – once they've foolishly closed the distance, they have lost their advantage.
Time Freeze
When fighting an enemy that is in any way weak to frost magic, this combination powers up your connection to the frozen plane of destruction. Throw on your Frost Cloak, equip your icy weapons, and Tiid Klo Ul time to a near standstill.
Frost Charge
When you want to fling yourself into combat but don't need to take advantage of your temporal control, this is the stylish way to do it. Once again don the Frost Cloak and icy weapons, sprint or Silent Roll to your victim and chill them with your Frost Breath before going to town with your blades.
Freezing Slam
As above, but for slightly stronger enemies, replacing Frost Breath with Ice Form
Seek Prey
As the assassin's focus has been on the extreme poles of destruction and their adeptness with lightning magic is not as strong as it is with the other two forms, this combination is good for fighting enemy mages but also anything that can outpace you (not that there will be many). Provided one weapon has a frost enchant the other is unimportant as you descend on the enemy and use your Drain Vitality shout to suck away their magic and health (and stamina) whilst trapping them in range with the slowing effect of your frost enchant.
Flame Atronach
Not a literal Flame Atronach, but your own embodiment of one. Using fire bound weapons (those enchanted with fiery soul trap, for instance), activating your flame cloak, and flying at your victim with a mighty Flame Breath bursting from your lips.
Weapon suggestions
There are a few weapons in the world that will naturally compliment your playstyle, such as Chillrend for sword wielding assassins. At higher levels most special weapons the game provides, whilst still cool, are disappointing in terms of power compared to weapons you can make yourself.
For the most thematic way to play the Arcane Assassin you should never use axes or maces. Daggers and swords are the lightest weapons in the game and the fastest to wield, making them the best choice for our flighty fighter.
Before enchanting a weapon you're best off taking it to the nearest weapon wheel, chugging a blacksmithing potion if you have one, and upping its base damage.
There aren't that many weapon enchants in Skyrim, but you should always use a frost or fire enchant (be that Fire Damage or Fiery Soul Trap) as one of your enchants, one per weapon once you have access to extra effect. You could double up on frost and fire enchants on each weapon for maximum damage, or an absorb health/magicka/stamina if you prefer these for the small impact they will make on your enemy pools and your own regeneration.
Economy of Skyrim – The Arcane Assassin's fun and profit
One of the most attractive assets of the aforementioned Arcane Archer was its approach to money and training. I recommend checking out the build link for a more indepth guide to how this works as Mason went into a lot of detail and had some great tips, but here's the gist of the idea and how it applies to our assassin:
You are an enchanter. This is not only an important aspect of your build and skill set, but also an excellent way for you to make money and train. With a couple of good enchants learned (such as Drain Stamina, Fiery Soul Trap or Fortify Carry Weight when you're enchanting jewelry and not weapons) you will be able to enchant all sorts of weapons you pick up on your travels, buy soul gems from vendors to fuel them and still turn a profit.
The reason we're interested in money, aside from the usual cash sinks of horses and houses, is the potential for level by level training. You can make the most of levelling up at first to train up your destruction, as when you take the Augmented Flames and Frost skills this will also boost the power of any flame and frost enchants on your weapons. When you've gained enough points in destruction you could then turn your level up training towards light armour to enhance your survivability, or sneak if you've chosen to take the stealthy route.
