What are some good rules of thumb when spending skill points?

Buddy_Bradley · January 2020

I've reached a point now where I'm finding it harder to decide where to put skill points. I know there are theorycrafted builds out there I can look at, and a ton of video advice, but I like the independence and flexibility of the skill point system and don't want to follow a guide ... but I would like to hear some of the best "rules of thumb" you use when allocating points.

Some specific questions that occur to me:

Once you've found a couple of skills you like in a particular line, is it really necessary to unlock every other spell in that line?
Should I be focusing on unlocking spells/abilities, or putting points into passives, during levelling?
How important is it to accrue points across all skill lines as you're levelling? For example, most guild lines are at level 1 or 2 so far, because I don't have any abilities slotted from them. Should I?
Do you need to 'unlock' a line by assigning at least one point to it, even if the first thing available is a bit crap and you don't really want it? (Looking at you, Light Armor)
If I don't put points into the crafting passives that unlock more advanced materials, am I limiting what benefit I get from doing daily crafting writs?

TIA.

VaranisArano · January 2020

1. No, its not necessary to unlock every skill in a skill line. You can skip skills.
2. It kinda depends. I tend to go for the "skills first, then passives" approach, but it's always worth looking at which passives you have unlocked and picking up ones you know are going to benefit you immediately.
3. It's important to unlock skill lines, but how they level differs.
Individual skills level from being equipped on the active bar when you gain exp.
Armor skill lines level from the weight of gear you are wearing.
Guild skill lines level according to their guild mechanic, i.e. Fighters Guild levels from killing daedra and closing dark anchors.
4. You don't have to unlock skill lines by putting in skill points. Armor lines unlock by equipping 3 pieces of that weight of armor, but will gain exp as soon as you equip one piece. Weapon skill lines unlock when you kill an enemy with that type of weapon. Guilds usually require joining the guild and grow based on Guild activities as you gain reputation with them.
5. Yes, putting in more skill points will give higher tier writs and better rewards. However, crafting is a big skill point sink while leveling, so if you want to do it I suggest finding a lot of skyshards as you adventure.

Hope this helps!

Nestor · January 2020

Here is my leveling strategy. Works quite well across the 18 I have leveled so far

1. Have one class skill on your bar at all times, swapping them out once the skill reaches Morph stage. Worry about your Morphs later.
2. Have one weapon skill on your bar at all times, again until Morph stage
3. Wear a mix of all 3 armor types so they all level about equally
4. From L1 to L20, invest in attack skills and actives
5. From L20 to L35 start investing in Passives and Support Skills
6. From L35 to L50 start investing in Morphs (but only if all your class skills are at the Morph Stage), if you have points left, then Passives and Crafting Skills
7 From CP10 to CP160 try out dropped sets to see which ones fit your playstyle, don't worry about traits right now, fill in passives and actives you may have missed
8. Grind on Dolmens to level your Fighters Guild, or find the Lore Books to level Mages Guild
9. Do some stealing to level Legerdemain, best source for money in the game
10. Decon every piece of gear you get that you are not going to use immediately to level equipment crafting, no need to invest skills points until Champ Ranks.

Nestor · January 2020

There are two phases to leveling.

During the leveling phase, the game buffs you so you can run a sub optimal skill loadout. This affords you the chance to level all base skills now so you are more flexible later. Obviously there are weapons your not going to use ever, so you can ignore those as you see fit. Then you just have to choose the morphs you want when your ready to create your build.

Also, having different skills forces you to use them. You.may find some skills benefit how you play better than you thought they would. In other words, don't be a slave to Streamer Builds, find skills that work for you.

Morphs come into play once your ready to create your build. So your better off having skills ready to morph than leveling an unused skill to morph stage when your trying to do end game. Most morphs do not increase in power all that much, so leveling the morph early is not that much a benefit. Of course some skills like Inner Light do increase significantly during morph stage, so plan accordingly.

Also, don't forget, the game gives all characters a skill respec scroll just before you get to 50, so you can take points from skills you don't want to use and put them towards your build. But, as we all know, the devs will make some skills stronger and some weaker during updates. This is the main reason to have all the skills you can be ready to morph. So a few minutes are spent at the respec shrine, not hours grinding a skill when the devs throw you a curve.

El_Borracho · January 2020

One thing to add to the great advice above. If you are putting points into research times, you can/will eventually get all of them back once you have finished researching all the traits you are interested in. I say this because you will likely pay to respec your skill points at some point and there will be no reason to put those 12 points back into those slots. So you can use those to open other skill lines.

Alienoutlaw · January 2020

personally i level 1 skill from each class line on the frontbar and then only the skills i need + one hot swap and all the passives for those skill lines
guild skill lines depend on your build needs and play style
crafting points depends on how often and serious you are doing writs the very 1st thing to do is level provisioning and alchemy for the passives that increase the duration for your food and potions

Buddy_Bradley · January 2020

Nestor wrote: »

swapping them out once the skill reaches Morph stage. Worry about your Morphs later

That's interesting, can you expand on why you don't advise morphing skills initially? Is it just that it's generally a smaller benefit than taking a passive or opening a new ability? Or some other reason?

ghastley · January 2020

Buddy_Bradley wrote: »

Nestor wrote: »

swapping them out once the skill reaches Morph stage. Worry about your Morphs later

That's interesting, can you expand on why you don't advise morphing skills initially? Is it just that it's generally a smaller benefit than taking a passive or opening a new ability? Or some other reason?

I suspect it's mainly because you can easily put something back on your bar later if the skill is going to be used, while a skill you never unlocked just isn't available.

And this whole discussion is missing the obvious point of not investing in passives you'll never use - the ones that only take effect when you're using a weapon you don't use, or wearing another weight of armor. There's a case for leaving all of those to last, so you don't commit to a weapon or armor weight too soon.

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What are some good rules of thumb when spending skill points?

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