Nord - Greatsword - Light - Barbarian
A warblade is born for conflict. Swift, strong, enduring and utterly confident in their martial skills. They seek to test themselves against worthy foes.

Any two handed weapon as soon as you can and then craft or purchase a steel greatsword. Then progressively better greatswords as Smithing perks are unlocked.
The final weapon is a The Ice Blade of the Monarch which is a Steel Greatsword that does 30 Frost damage but swings nearly as fast as a sword with a speed of 0.95 instead of 0.75.
Craft a set of leather scout armor as soon as you can and then get progressively better light armor as smithing perks are unlocked. For example Orcish scaled is a good choice once Orcish Smithing is unlocked.
The final gear is a Morokei, Stalhrim Light Armor, Fur Boots and Fur Gauntlets and an Amulet of Talos.
Morokei is found in Labyrinthian and is accessed by following the quests at The College of Winterhold. Note that Morokei only reduces the cooldown of shouts by 20% if the Unofficial Patch is installed or a similar mod that adds the correct enchantments to the item.
Stalhrim Light Armor can be purchased from Grover Mallory in Raven Rock at a little below level 40. When Stalhrim gear starts appearing you can do a quick save, attack and quick load until the armour appears in his inventory. If you buy a piece of nordic jewelry it will start a quest that gets you 3 stalhrim. 1 is needed for the quest so the other 2 allows you to upgrade the armor twice before you run out of Stalhrim.
The Fur Gauntlets and Boots can be acquired in Helgen from any Stormcloak.
An Amulet of Talos can be found on the battlements of Fort Dawnguard and can be taken at any level. Once you enter the Fort take 2 right turns and then go up the stairs.
Alteration for utility spells. Restoration for heals.
Use the Atronach Stone for 50% spell absorption, 50 Magicka but -50% Magicka regeneration.
Use a shrine of Talos for the 20% shout cooldown reduction.
Location: Just follow the main story quests.
Can be used to stagger enemies but never needed it as the sabre does this.
Location: Dead Men’s Respite, Volskygge, High Hrothgar (The Way of the Voice)
Use to reach otherwise inaccessible places and to quickly evade attacks or catch up with fleeing enemies. With all the gear and a blessing of Talos the cooldowns are 8, 10 and 14 seconds depending how many words you use (This assumes that USSEP is being used to fix Morokei).
I picked Nord for this build due to the boost in combat skills such as Two-handed, Light Armor and Smithing. Frost resistance also helps on any melee build.
Pick female as the sex for your character as there are more male humanoids than females to fight in Skyrim so the 10% damage bonus against the opposite sex from Agent of Dibella gets more use. All Dwemer Automatons count as Male.
Distribute attributes at a ratio of 0 / 2 / 1. At level 55 which is required for all the perks the attributes are:
| Magicka | Health | Stamina |
|---|---|---|
| 100 (265) | 460 | 280 (295) |
The skill boosts for Nords are marked in bold.
| Mage | Warrior | Rogue | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alteration | 8 | Archery | 0 | Alchemy | 7 |
| Conjuration | 0 | Block +5 | 0 | Light Armor +5 | 5 |
| Destruction | 3 | Heavy Armor | 0 | Lockpicking | 0 |
| Enchanting | 8 | One-handed +5 | 0 | Pickpocket | 0 |
| Illusion | 0 | Smithing +5 | 6 | Sneak | 0 |
| Restoration | 8 | Two-handed +10 | 9 | Speech +5 | 0 |
| Total | 27 | Total | 15 | Total | 12 |
Novice Alteration
Apprentice Alteration
Adept Alteration
Expert Alteration
Magic Resistance 3/3
Atronach
Novice Destruction
Augmented Frost 2/2
Enchanter 5/5
Insightful Enchanter
Corpus Enchanter
Extra Effect
Novice Restoration
Apprentice Restoration
Adept Restoration
Expert Restoration
Regeneration
Recovery 2/2
Respite
Steel Smithing
Dwarven Smithing
Orcish Smithing
Ebony Smithing
Daedric Smithing
Arcane Blacksmith
Barbarian 5/5
Champion's Stance
Devastating Blow
Great Critical Charge
Sweep
Alchemist 5/5
Physician
Benefactor
Agile Defender 1/5
Custom Fit
Unhindered
Wind Walker
Deft Movement
| Spell | Level | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Candlelight | Novice | Creates a hovering light that lasts for 60 seconds |
| Detect Life | Adept | Nearby living creatures, but not undead, machines or daedra, can be seen through walls |
| Telekinesis | Adept | Can pull an object to you from distance. Add it to your inventory or throw it |
| Waterbreathing | Adept | Can breathe under water for 60 seconds. Stand in water and cast to level Alteration. |
From the Bow of Shadows quest that you get from the steward in Dragonsreach you can get the Detect Life spell book at the stables once you have read the ledger in Acradia's Cauldron. Cast this in the market during the day to level Alteration.
| Spell | Level | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Soul Trap | Apprentice | If a target dies within 60 seconds, fills a soul gem. |
Soul Trap is a good way to level conjuration. Just find a baby mudcrab and then spam the spell.
| Spell | Level | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Flames | Novice | A gout of fire inflicting a base damage of 8 points of fire damage per second. |
Use Unbounded Freezing and fast travelling to level Destruction. The spellbook can be found in Hob's Fall Cave.
| Spell | Level | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Courage | Novice | Target won't flee for 60 seconds, and gets some extra health and stamina. |
Courage can be used to level illusion by casting it at an NPC.
| Spell | Level | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Healing | Novice | Heals the caster 10 points per second |
| Fast Healing | Apprentice | Heals caster by 50 points |
| Close Wounds | Adept | Heals caster by 100 points |
| Grand Healing | Expert | Heals everyone close to the caster 200 points. Does not affect atronachs, machines or undead |
Restoration is used for emergency healing in combat. Use Grand Healing to replenish both Health and Stamina.
The effects listed below are based upon 100 Enchanting skill, all the enchanting perks in the build and with a set of enchanted crafting gear. Read my guide on making crafting gear if you are not familiar with it.
| Item | Enchantment | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Morokei | Fortify Magicka Regen | Magicka regenerates 100% faster |
| Fortify Shouts (USSEP) | Shout cooldown is reduced by 20% | |
| Body | Fortify Destruction | Destruction spells cost 46% less to cast |
| Fortify Destruction and Magicka Regen | Destruction spells cost 28% less to cast. Magicka regenerates 10% faster. | |
| Feet | Fortify Stamina | Increases Stamina by 115 points |
| Resist Shock | Shock Resistance is increased by 69% | |
| Hands | Fortify Magicka | Increases your Magicka by 115 points |
| Fortify Two-handed | Two-handed weapons do 75% more damage | |
| Amulet of Talos | Fortify Shouts | Shout cooldown is reduced by 20% |
| Ring | Fortify Destruction | Destruction spells cost 46% less to cast |
| Resist Magic | Magic Resistance is increased by 37% | |
| Ice Blade of the Monarch | Frost Damage | Target takes 45 points of frost damage to Health and Stamina |
With the Sallowed Regent Black Book the magnitude of all enchantments can be increased. Please note that Black Books can only be used on Solstheim.
The magnitude of the enchantments can be further increased by equipping 4 pieces of Azhidal's gear.
| Ingredients | Blue Mountain Flower & Wheat | |
|---|---|---|
| Effects | Fortify Health | Health increases by 170 points for 60 seconds |
| Restore Health | 266 points of health restored | |
You can get all the Blue Mountain Flowers you need in Whiterun. The two farms to the east of Whiterun also get you all the Wheat you need.
| Ingredients | Fly Amanita, Dragon's Tongue & Scaly Pholiota | |
|---|---|---|
| Effects | Regenerate Stamina | Stamina regenerates 213% faster for 300 seconds |
| Fortify Two-handed | Two-handed weapons do 170% more damage for 60 seconds | |
| Fortify Illusion | Illusion spells are 170% stronger for 60 seconds | |
| Resist Fire | Grants 128% resistance to fire for 60 seconds | |
Fly Amanita and Dragon's Tongue can be found at Kynesgrove, which is just to the south of Windhelm. Fly Amanita are numerous in the mine there as well. There’s a lot of Scaly Pholiota to the south of Ivarstead. There's a path to Ivarstead through the mountains from Helgen.
| Ingredients | Dreugh Wax/Stoneflower Petals & Snowberries | |
|---|---|---|
| Effects | Fortify Enchanting | 85% stronger for 30 seconds |
Dreugh Wax and Stoneflower Petals are only available from Khajiit caravans. Some travel between Whiterun and Markarth. Snowberries are abundant near Windhelm.
| Ingredients | Dreugh Wax/Gold Kanet & Glowing Mushrooms | |
|---|---|---|
| Effects | Fortify Smithing | 213% stronger for 30 seconds |
Dreugh Wax and Gold Kanet are only available from Khajiit caravans. Some travel between Whiterun and Markarth. Glowing Mushrooms are in Falmer caves.
For more information on getting to and setting up your farm read my guide.
| Ingredient | Qty | Harvest | Green Thumbs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fly Amanita (4) | 11 | 44 + 11 = 55 | 88 + 11 = 99 | Blue Mountain Flowers (3) | 7 | 21 + 7 = 28 | 42 + 7 = 49 |
| Scaly Pholiota (5) | 9 | 45 + 9 = 54 | 90 + 9 = 99 |
| Ingredient | Qty | Harvest | Green Thumbs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dragon's Tongue (4) | 11 | 44 + 11 = 55 | 88 + 11 = 99 |
| Ingredient | Qty | Harvest | Green Thumbs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheat (4) | 6 | 24 + 6 = 30 | 48 + 6 = 54 |