Dark elves (also known as dunmer) are an interesting race in Skyrim due to both their bonuses and how they play. These native people from Morrowind have a lot of unique bonuses that make creating a solid build about them quite the task to undertake since they don’t completely specialize in one specific area.
The best builds for a dunmer are versatile ones that take full advantage of their ability to fit most roles in battle. Just about any build would be good for a dark elf, but these are the best of the best regarding playing into their strengths and using them to their fullest potential.
Thief
While not as sneaky as an argonian, dark elves do start with a 5 point bonus in the Sneak perk tree to help them tiptoe around unsuspecting enemies. On top of this, they also possess the magical prowess for the Illusion perk tree, with an extra 5 points in that category and Light Armor for better protection. Joining the Thieves Guild is a must, as they can provide you with the armor and tools necessary to be a great thief. Activating the right standing stone can also further help increase your build’s effectiveness, and the best one for this build is the Shadow Stone, found to the south of Riften, near the Nightingale Hall.
Battlemage
The people of Morrowind usually don’t make the best pure warriors out there, which is why it’s important that if you want a melee build, you combine it with something a dark elf is good at.
They may not have any starting boosts to their one-handed skill, but they do start with 10 bonus points to their Destruction skill. The dunmer also has a 50 percent resistance to Fire Damage which is a common element used in destruction magic by enemy mages.
As for the standing stone for this build, the perfect selection is the Atronach Stone. This grants you a 50 percent chance to absorb hostile spells and 50 extra points to your total amount of Magicka. The location of this stone is northeast of Darkwater Crossing and northwest of Mistwatch.
Destruction Mage
If you’re looking for a more purely mage-based build, the best build for a dark elf in this sense would be a destruction mage. This approach benefits from using the Ancestor’s Wrath racial ability which when activated, will burn anyone that gets too close, although this includes neutral characters and allies, so be careful with it. Destruction spells are your general weapon of choice as well as staffs that inflict some kind of damage, like a staff of Fireball. Becoming a member of the College of Winterhold will give you access to a variety of different kinds of magic abilities, and make use of the Atronach Stone to help with defense and assist in either igniting, freezing, or shocking your enemies to oblivion.
Assassin
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This build is similar to the thief build with its emphasis on stealth but focuses on the more lethal aspects of that build. The goal of this setup is to sneak up on unsuspecting foes and to take them down without a fight.
Make use of the bonuses to Sneak and Illusion to disguise your movements and create openings for yourself. You can even use the extra points to alteration a dark elf has to help with more effectively using the Detect Life spell, which will show you nearby enemies until deactivated and even works through walls.
Get to the shadow stone for this build and try to join the Dark Brotherhood, so you can get the perfect weapon for this build, the Blade of Woe, and the best armor for this as well, the Ancient Shrouded Armor set.
Stealth Mage
The stealth mage utilizes just about every ability a dunmer is good at, such as destruction, alteration, sneak, illusion, light armor, and alchemy as well, and uses them for maximum efficiency. The College of Winterhold can be a huge help with learning new spells and so can a jarl’s mage if they have one since they have different types of spellbooks (the one in Whiterun is a good place to buy them). Either the atronach or shadow stones would greatly assist you with this build that will have you launching powerful spells from the shadows as your enemies won't know what hit them. Last, becoming a vampire can also help with this setup, but is not necessary for it.
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