Orcs in Elder scroll Oblivion Skyrim, are they worth using? Options

[Mik McMok the Me...]

Sorry couldnt find a better place to stick this post.
Ok so i tried Orcs in Oblivion and they didnt seem as good as other races, and in the end i went for a Dark elf theif assasin vampire which did well
Now with skyrim i have gone for a Redgaurd Warrior type, but i have to wonder given the time, is the Orc race option a good choice for Elder Scrols games and if so, any tips to help them along?

[Keg]

They're warriors and smiths through and through.
Also the fungus beer hall would have been better IMO.
I've played through Skyrim just the once and reached level 63 with an Orc, dual wielding and never buying a single piece of equipment except for ores and metal bars. My smithing was the first thing to reach level one hundred.
Also their natural ability, berserk, is fantastic if you're in a pinch.
Keg

[Mik McMok the Me...]

Thanks for the imput Keg. Skyrim seems to be better for character development so perhaps Orcs are a better choice there. Will have to try it out.

[Dim_Reapa]

My main build currently is a Dark Elf Archer (anyone who says archery is rubbish has no idea what they're talking about), but I'm toying with a few builds (a thief in particular because it looks like I've got a sodding glitch with my 56 hour Dark Elf's Thief Guild progress) but I have to say if you're ever going to make an emphasis on weapons, or be a warrior in general, the Blacksmith Perks are an absolute must (I had a glass bow before level 20, and a Daedric bow before level 40), although even with a heavy armour specialising warrior I'm wondering if Dragon Armour is worth bothering with.

Blacksmithing is dead easy to level up. By far the best way, though, is to just collect lots of leather and iron, even buying them where you can, and just make a craptonne of iron daggers. It may seem like its costing you in the short run, but when you get to the point that you can tweak virtually any weapon you are likely to use OR sell, you will be making an absolute sodding fortune. Like Keg, I got Blacksmithing up to 100 relatively quickly.

In my view character builds work rather well in this one (although admittedly this is my first Elder Scrolls game), but certain races do suggest certain builds. For my mage build I'm considering Breton or High Elf, my Warrior is an Orc but I considered a Nord, and I'm going to run another thief at some point soon and I'll probably opt for another Dark Elf, this time female.

With perks, I'd stick to 2-4 trees initially. I can't emphasise enough how likely one or two of those is going to be Smithing and your Armour type of preference (Light or Heavy) With my Dark Elf Archer I run Stealth, Smithing, Archery and Light Armour exclusively. I've not run into many challenges, especially if I'm hidden. My Archer is lv 43 if memory serves, and by about lv 50 those 4 trees will be maxed (aside of Dragon Armour that I'm not bothering with - but I couldn't resist the chance to make a Daedric bow), and any other perks after that are a minor bonus. With my Warrior Orc, it's early days but most likely it'll be smithing, heavy armour, one-handed and two-handed. For my Wizard though, I really have no idea, and it's quite concerning in a way, how much is useful and how much I know I'll be plunging into magic perks.

Make sure you find the first set of standing stones once you exit Helgen. The Warrior Stone will be immensely useful to any player using an Orc.

[Mik McMok the Me...]

Still getting the hang of the game so i am only level 13 at moment with my redgaurd warrior, but he seems to be doing well, busy killing dragons and getting shouts ect. So far ive focused on two handed perks stealth and lock picking with distruction magic (redgaurds are good at that) with a little archery and alchemy thrown in.
ive done a bit of smithing but obviously not enough, just enough to improve the weapons and armour i carry and make a couple of daggers.

[Dim_Reapa]

Well I'd tell you more, but I took a throwing knife in the metatarsal.

[Mik McMok the Me...]

that sounds painful!

[mr_maxime]

I have an ork with a handlebar mustache! Best character ever. His name is Lord of War Deffgob.

[big mek tank kru...]

my character is an orc through-and-through - he charges into battle screaming wielding two axes - 'hack' and 'slash', one of which steals life-force and the other of which steals souls.
blacksmithing is a pretty good skill but i found it a bit boring, so i chose to level up by killing things. it works, but it's slower. i'm also pretty rich for a lvl 20, as i craft, hone, enchant and sell stuff, and have full suits i've made for everything (except carrying stuff )

one thing that i've noticed is that if you want to carry as little as possible, get the heavy armour perk that adds the gauntlets armour value onto your close-combat attacks, then buy/make the best ones you can. i made some orcish ones, hones them up and they are just beastly if i want to go a-lootin'. (i also enchanted them to enhance unarmed, so pretty beastly!)

so yeah, i love my orcish character!

[Mik McMok the Me...]

So far my redgaurd is doing me well and i am at level 46 with pretty much all the theive and assassin guild stuff done and most of the Dragon quest, but have stopped short of doing the underworld stuff for the lexicon. I havent done any of the stormcloak imperial stuff and stayed pretty neutral on that matter, but i think my next character will be an orc and i will concerntrate on Two handed skills Heavy armour skilllls and maybe smithing. This time i didnt use my skills correctly till i was well into it and have spread them around too much. Next time i wont both with any magic skills (at least to start with ) and just go for brute force and ignorance. Perhaps i will do the Stormcloaks quest next time.

[mr_maxime]

Theres nothing more satisfying when an enemy says something like "is that all you got?" then you immediately behead them.

[Mik McMok the Me...]

lol couldnt agree more. Though , the sneak assassin kills with the throat cutting or two katana impalings are pretty neat two espescially in a city in broad daylight (it must be the gretchin in me, trying to get out) . Though Killing the Emporor is such a disappointment , when he sits there and lets you do it. No sport in that.

[Dim_Reapa]

Theres nothing more satisfying when an enemy says something like "is that all you got?" then you immediately behead them.

There are many corpses in my game who uttered a similar phrase before taking a fatal arrow to the knee, eyes, or groin. Sneak archery is sodding overpowered, and I'm not kidding.

I've been sticking almost exclusively to elves. Had two Dark Elf Archer Thieves (one got gliched quite horrendously and had to start again), and I've more or less just started a high elf mage. It has a completely different playstyle, in that magic becomes pretty nasty, but mages are extremely fragile. You can rock them in armour, but you're better off using alteration and getting the Mage Armour skill.

Best way to start with the mage is actually to go to solitude and grab the Wabbajack. The quest has no level limit, so although it's not that great, it can do a little work for you before you get Sanguine's Rose, which is super-worth getting.

[Mik McMok the Me...]

I gotta agree that Archery is way powerful and i havent even completed all the skill tree on iot yet but with theives cowl for additional bow bamage and elven gauntlets of archery or some such it is feasome., I have cleared out quests with nothing more than one or two arrows per victim, Many dropping before i am even noticed and the others dying as they draw weapons and charge forward.
The wabbajack and Sanguine rose are pretty awesome as is the staff of flames you can get. I tend not to use them though, so they ended up getting sold. I currently have the Skull staff that gets charged up on peoples dreams and does major damage to deadra, which i might keep, even though the one time ive tried it so far , the deadra where too high level to be of use, and i got my ass kicked till i ran away and shot them with my bow and with shouts. A good shout with archery os the slow time one, great for assasinating moving targets.

[Dim_Reapa]

Staffs don't make a lot of sense til you run a mage. Doesn't matter how much mana your mage has, you'll never have enough for the difficult fights. Recently raided a Vampire camp, and was constantly dying until, crazily, I found an unlikely saviour in the Wabbajack. It wasn't eating mana, and it was actually doing more than my destruction magic, and this is destruction magic that's been improved by perks too.

The Staff of Dreams is very useful if you're in the mage's college, as it's very easy to charge up there.

I'm wondering why the internet is on about the weakness of the Wabbajack. It actually has a habit of instantly killing quite powerful enemies. Then of course there's the hilarity of turning a powerful vampire into a chicken whilst you deal with their thralls...

[Mik McMok the Me...]

Sadly i gave away my wabbajack before i figured out how to recharge it...serves me right for not reading up on recharging magic items first i guess, but too late now as i cant rememeber where i sold it...itd probably be gone anyway, but as you say, turning a fiece oppoenent into a chicken is such good fun. I see the new O&G book has a similar character who can turn opponents into squigs, a bit like in 40k Orks.... happy days.

I find the potion shop in Riften a good spot to recharge my staff as its just round the corner from the theives guild and one of the old dears is always asleep!

[mr_maxime]

As a melee character I initially found enemy magic to be ridiculously overpowered. I'd run into a human settlement thinking "oh a small town" then "shit, its full of fire mages!.... oh well im dead now"

[Mik McMok the Me...]

Thankfully the archery skills are also overpowering and can snuff out mages pretty quickly.....hopefully.