Skyrim: The Best Race for Playability for All Character Builds

Building a character in Skyrim is a detailed process. Some people look at physical appearances, initial skill bonuses, or powers and abilities. I personally choose to model my Skyrim character based on powers and abilities, not because none of the other things matter, but because I aim to make my character practical in the long run. Initial skills do not have any long term or drastic effects on the game. Here I will list my reasoning for why the Breton is the most favorable race by comparing it to the other races.

With a 50+ magic bonus, the Altmer is one of the superior races of Skyrim. This attribute is important because it is a constant effect. The Altmer also has the High Born power, which allows it to regain magic more quickly than other Skyrim characters. This is a useful race attribute in the beginning especially and while training a spell.

The 50 percent resistance to disease is nice, but considering everyone wants to be a werewolf, this becomes pointless. Werewolves are 100 percent resistant, as are vampires. The Histskin power allows an Argonian to recover health very quickly. This is nice in a tight spot, but can only be used once per day. Finally, the water breathing ability is nice but I personally never had a problem with water. Any time you’ll need to go under for a while, there are usually potions around to help you out. Plus, there’s a spell for it.

Bosmer have a 50 percent resistance to both poison and disease. As listed above for the Argonians, the disease resistance isn’t totally necessary. Poison, however, is a different story. This can be very useful when facing certain enemies, especially at higher levels when your armor will make worrying about physical attacks a waste of your time. Command Animal lets you command an animal for a short period, but there are never animals around when it could be useful. The Bosmer makes for an okay race in Skyrim.

A 50 percent resistance to fire is extremely helpful considering how much damage magic attacks do to your health. This makes the Dunmer one of the better races. The power Ancestor’s Wrath is also useful to take out stronger enemies or packs at low levels, but slowly becomes less useful as the game progresses, until it is useless.

The 50 percent resistance to frost is a lifesaver when facing mages. Like I said above, magic kills you…fast. Battle Cry is also useful when something is gunning you down and about to kill you. The Nord makes for a relatively decent choice for a character build in Skyrim.

The Imperial luck allows for more gold to be found. This is kind of cool and there are no other effects in Skyrim like this one, making it unique and almost worth it. The Voice of the Emperor power is also somewhat useful when you accidentally piss off a town and need to run away. The imperial is lacking, however, in anything useful active combat. Combat in Skyrim is typically the drive of the game.

In Oblivion, I considered the Khajit to be the best race. In Skyrim, however, I consider it the worst race. It has stronger claw attacks, but weapons will always be a better option anyways. As far as night eye is concerned, if you’re having trouble seeing, turn up the lighting in the settings menu. In other words, the khajit doesn't really come with anything useful in Skyrim besides its looks.

Not much to say about this one. Beserker Rage allows for a player to take half and inflict double damage for 60 seconds, once per day. This is definitely useful for upper level enemies, especially bosses. On the other hand, a race with a constant effect is probably better considering preparation time is not always available in the Skyrim wilderness.

Redguards are another race in Skyrim with a 50 percent resistance to poison. Adrenaline Rush makes stamina regenerate ten times faster for sixty seconds. I personally never bother upping stamina regeneration because Become Ethereal, a shout, can be used to make sprinting take no stamina for a short time.

This is it, the cream of the crop. The Breton is what I consider to be the best race in Skyrim for one reason, and one reason only: a 25 percent resistance to magic. This is so much bigger than many players realize, especially when choosing a character for the first time. It’s a pain to augment resist magic and even at upper levels, magic attacks will drop a player almost instantly. There are ward spells, but they take time and hinder fighting back. The Breton's greater power, dragon skin allows a player to absorb 50 percent of magic attacks for 60 seconds. This is just a nice little perk for the Breton.

I hope you enjoyed this little hub of mine. Please, vote on which you think is the best.