In the fantastic medieval world of Skyrim you’ll be surrounded by chiseled bodyguards, powerful wizards, and darting archers. It’s a tale of emperors and kings who fight to rule the territory with slick conversation, stout alliances, and old fashioned brute force. Yet there is one character strong enough to bring them all to their knees.

The rogue in the shadows, the assassin, still chooses who lives and dies at the end of the day. You can embody this role to perfection and decide the future of Skyrim with a flick of the dagger if you play your cards carefully. It is one of the most overpowered builds in the game and has the highest single-hit damage of any build, so if you’re thinking about tinkering with this path, dive in. You won’t regret it (though your victims might).

7 Fortify Restoration?

First off, as with any build, using the Fortify Restoration “glitch” is how you become the most powerful wrecking machine at anything.

The developers have clarified that this is not a glitch and have left it in the game to reward player ingenuity. That being said, it’s very cheesy and doing this renders every guide virtually useless. So if you’re looking to play the game how it was meant to be played, press on.

6 Race

  • Khajiit

The trick with picking a race is that you don’t want to level up very much so that your enemies stay at a lower level. Choosing a character with bonuses to the skills you want to max out is ideal. With the highest sneak in the game and the second-highest one-handed skill, there is really is no contest here. Plus, you’ll be spending a lot of time in the dark and the Khajiit can see in the dark, so it’s really a race designed for this build.

5 Sign

  • The Thief first.

The stones boost the experience gained from a host of categories. Chose the Thief first until your Sneak has hit level 100.

Your secondary skill, One-Handed, will get an experience boost from this stone. If you hit 100 with it, go ahead and switch back to the Thief for the Light Armor boost.

4 Skills

  • Sneak

Sneak is your bread and butter. With light armor and a dagger, you might actually be the least powerful character in a straight-up fight. So Sneak will help you stay in the shadows, where you quickly become the most powerful character.

Your dagger will get a boost from the One-Handed skill. Your offense is your defense since your character will be slitting throats and getting one-hit kills.

Do not worry too much about Light Armor, but if you’ve already maxed out the other two skills at 100, this is a good tertiary choice. It will level up as you get hit, but hopefully that shouldn’t be happening too much. If you find yourself in open combat a lot, the points here will keep you safe.

3 Perks

  • Assassin’s Blade

This perk is your everything. Until level fifty in Sneak, you might even hate this build, but after that, you’ll be thanking your lucky stars that you stuck with it. This is what makes this build have the largest single-hit damage number in the game.

Your life and your damage are tied together. You have to stay invisible to live. And you have to stay invisible to do your best damage. Get five perk points in this and become a ghost even in broad daylight.

With five points in this, you’ve got double damage. This stacks directly with the times fifteen damage multiplier from Assassin’s Blade. So you’re looking at thirty times the usual damage, enough to one-shot giants even on tougher difficulties.

If you gain more perk points, the rest of the Sneak tree is helpful, but feel free to invest them as you see fit.

2 Leveling Up

  • Health.

You won’t be using magic and stamina only benefits power swings in open combat, which you will certainly be avoiding. Take the health to give yourself a little defense for when things go south.

1 Best Equipment

  • Blade Of Woe

Because you’re going for a one-hit kill build, you will need this dagger with the highest base damage in the game. It’s a slower dagger, but if you’re having to slash a bunch of times, you’ve already lost the battle. It does have lifesteal on it, so if things do get dicey, you’ll at least be somewhat protected.

It should be no surprise that your best weapon is tied directly to the Dark Brotherhood questline. You can get it in a number of different ways. You can complete the Death Incarnate quest, you can pickpocket Astrid (you can actually get this weapon twice if you pickpocket her early), and, without giving away any spoilers, you can get it in the Abandoned Shack if things don’t work out with the Dark Brotherhood.

This set is perfect for you. You’ll be immune to poison, automatically move silently, and, most importantly, do double sneak attack damage. That’s right, your times thirty bonus can be times sixty!

There are two ways to obtain this set. You can get it from the side quest Locate The Assassin of Old in the Dark Brotherhood questline. This quest is only available if you’ve successfully done the Breaching Security bonus requirement. Also, after visiting Olava the Feeble, there a secret room that will appear behind the throne in Hag’s End. A dead body inside is wearing this armor.

Enjoy stabbing your way through Skyrim, may the shadows keep you safe!