My List of Best to Worst Races

[yeastybootymuncher]

Preface: This is my opinion, but I love hearing others. I base this tier list on passives and abilities, NOT on starting skills and appearance. Appearance is subjective (except for height that gives a barely noticeable speed boost i.e male Altmer the fastest and female Breton the slowest in terms of walking but it, again, is negligible) and starting skills mean literally nothing after an hour of play. Sex won't be covered, as it has barely any effect on the game, with exceptions like the Allure perk from the Speech tree, etc. (but if you put perks in speech you are already messing up).

1. Breton - 2nd best racial ability, adding 50% of magic absorption for 60 seconds makes magic super easy to tank. Not even mentioning the 25% of magic resistance that you get just for being a Breton. Magic resistance is one of the hardest things to obtain in the game, and you can get a cap of 85% with it. By being a Breton, you reduce the amount needed by 60%, which is great. Breton can be used in a wide variety of builds and it's passive and ability can be used with good effect. The only build I'd not recommend using Breton with is a Sneak, because if you're getting hit with magic using a sneak build, you're not exactly the best sneaker.

2. Orc - The best racial ability in the game, hands down, no questions. Double physical damage AND 50% physical damage reduction, this can make a ton of fights absolute jokes. It's so good that the lack of a passive means virtually nothing. Orc works wonders on any build that uses one-handers, two-handers, or archery as means of attack, and any other physical attack. Orc however, is BEST with a sneak build, especially one with daggers. Assassin's Blade + Shrouded Gloves give 30x damage bonus while sneaking, and with the ability active, that's 60x damage! It's insane!

3. Nord - 50% cold resistance is solid, as pretty much everything in Skyrim has a damage type of frost. Frost atronachs, Ice wraiths, vampires & necromancers, etc. all have their damage cut by 50%. Their ability is great, casting a fear spell around the player and it lasts for 30 seconds, which is a hefty amount of time to get the job done. And it works on a ton of high-level enemies, so you can cast it and hack away at them (or escape) in a lot of scenarios. Warrior builds generally suite a Nord based off this information.

4. Altmer - 50 additional magicka is meaningless in late game, but early and mid game it's quite a boost to magicka. Their ability to regenerate magicka rapidly is great for both combat and utility. It can make leveling magic (such as illusion) a lot less tedious. Also you can go to ham with spells in the heat of battle. Definitely a mage-orientated build, other races would fare better with other builds. I'd use high-elf if I were going to use lots of magic or if I were going to be a warrior but I need an extra 50 magicka early game for the help.

5. Dunmer - 50% resistance to fire is good, not as good as Nord's frost, but still good. Their racial ability is laughable, and is second worse to the Khajiits. It's a pitiful fire cloak spell that barely does damage. Dunmer is primarily here for it's fire resistance, and is the preferred race for vampire-orientated builds, as the fire resistance balances out the vampire weakness to fire.

6. Argonian - 50% resist to disease is meh. If you do get a disease, just quick-load, eat a hawk-feather, or cure disease potion. Their Histskin is not bad at all, but lacks compared to the races above (except Dunmer). It's rather useless against enemies that can one shot you, so it has diminishing returns as you increase in diffiuclty, meaning in Legendary it's not great. But if they don't one tap you, paired alongside a health regen potion, you can get some serious regeneration going.

7. Redguard - 50% resist to poison is basically useless. There's so few enemies that deal a threatening amount of poison damage it's a joke. Their ability is okay, I guess. It can make travelling easier if you have to run somewhere and can be good in combat. However, vegetable soup is a thing, so the ability is kind of put down.

8. Bosmer - 50% resist to poison AND disease. Okay, it definitely has better passives than Argonian and Redguard (obviously) but their ability is trash. Their ability is literally a shout you can obtain later in the game that isn't even that good. In a few niche scenarios ex. taking out a giant camp, it can have some value, but in general it's not grand.

9. Imperial - Their luck passive isn't good. It's just very below-average. However, their ability is actually quite good, arguably better than the Nord. You can pacify everyone around you, and do a whole bunch of things, like get away, sneak attack, wait 24 hours to get another, etc. I wouldn't suggest imperial for any build, in all honesty. It just has no place whatsoever. Sorry imperialists.

10. Khajiit - The worst race. It sucks. I know a ton of people like this race but it's actually just really bad. The passive that increases fist damage is good for punching builds and brawls. That's it. If you plan on doing any other sort of damage method, the passive will basically never be used. The ability? You turn your screen's brightness up. You can do that in the settings of the game! I suggest Khajiit if you are doing a fist build or, in the off chance, that max brightness is somehow a little dark for you.

Final notice: Again, my opinion, but I'd like to hear others. If you like Khajiit, play them, go ahead, enjoy ya self. Or if you like any race, play it. In all honesty, it barely changes the overall gameplay, so race isn't that essential (but we still must make a list about it :P).

[Emetann]

Take a look at the meme virgin breton vs chad orc and you would invert their places

Btw the best race is altmer because they're highborn, a superior breed of mer, that will prove its superiority to men one century at a time

[yeastybootymuncher]

Originally posted by Emetann:

Take a look at the meme virgin breton vs chad orc and you would invert their places

Btw the best race is altmer because they're highborn, a superior breed of mer, that will prove its superiority to men one century at a time

I always pick Orc. Breton is too gay 4 me. Also magic is for virgins.

[jreese46]

I almost always go Breton because of the magic resistance. I can do without the absorption power, though. 25% resistant blood + Lord stone and I'm suddenly 3 racial resistances rolled into 1.

[jreese46]

Originally posted by Emetann:

Take a look at the meme virgin breton vs chad orc and you would invert their places

Btw the best race is altmer because they're highborn, a superior breed of mer, that will prove its superiority to men one century at a time

Superior... Well, you do make pretty nice boots...if I tan you properly, that is.

[MysticMalevolence]

Well, if one talking racial bonuses only, and refusing khajiit's place on top, you might as well consider the survival mode creation's passives. Since it's the closest thing to a vanilla stance on racial survivability.

Originally posted by Lauraac53:

Argonian
• Weakness to cold
  
• Raw diet (no food poisoning)
  
  Dunmer
  
• Resist fatigue
  
  Altmer
  
• Resist fatigue
  
  Khajiit
  
• Resist cold
  
• Raw diet (no food poisoning)
  
  Nord
  
• Resist cold
  
  Orsimer
  
• Resist hunger, fatigue and cold (OP!!!)
  
  Bosmer
  
• Resist fatigue

(The imperial luck passive is bugged[en.uesp.net], and yet you still put khajiit beneath ugly humans? Ugc!)

[Jo]

I confess I never really pay attention to the passives of each race as I'm a very shallow person who considers superficial aesthetics over other stuff.. :)

So it's either Nord, Imperial or Breton for me. I can't really see myself running around as a cat, orc or elf, although I'm sure it could be interesting.

[jreese46]

Cats have a notable advantage in fistfights, if you're ever interested in playing one.

[258789553873]

No magic as a stealth character? Ever heard of a stealth-illusionist? Sneak archers are also great at fighting dragons, and magic resist helps A LOT with that.

But why rate them higher than orcs? I play Bretons all the time, and only once ever rolled an orc (which I didn't play for long), but the orc's racial power is well-known for being the most broken in the game. There's a reason orcs are the top pick for legendary playthroughs. Bretons, on the other hand, are only really good for maxing your magic resist. And no, they don't reduce it by 60%. You're probably confusing it with the passive benefits any race can get (such as those alteration perks, and the lord stone). And magic resist isn't THAT rare, considering that you CAN make resist magic items yourself, and there's even a daedric artifact that grants it too, giving you a guaranteed way to find such an item (though you can't learn the effect from it). Also, with bretons you can get the atronach stone and use your racial power to give yourself 100% spell absorption for a full minute AT LEVEL ONE, rendering you completely immune to magic. This makes bretons great even as warriors (the atronach's penalty doesn't mean anything if you're not using magic, obviously, so it kinda works better for them than it does for mages).

And why devalue night eye when you claim you could just turn up the brightness? Perhaps that's true, but with orcs you can replicate their racial power by just lowering the difficulty. Does that devalue it? Not that night eye is really useful anyway, since it seems all but impossible to get this game dark (I have my monitor set to the lowest brightness settings, graphics settings to the darkest, and even have mods that make the game darker, and all that still isn't enough to make much of a difference). Still, I would rate them above bosmer. Their racial is at least of SOME use at all levels, and honestly their passive is more useful too anyway, even if its not by much. It helps in brawls, at least.

As for redguards, you use their racial power to make endless power attacks. Granted, you can do the same with vegetable soup, but honestly I always found that to be a bit of a hassle. Besides, as you said, its great for running too, which vegetable soup doesn't really help with at all. Either way, I never really saw them as a great race either.

And yeah, the imperial luck thing is bugged (the player character gets the bonus regardless of their race), but the unofficial patch fixes that.

And initial skill bonuses don't really mean much aside for stealth, which helps you get to being viable as a stealth assassin a bit quicker (invaluable at the higher difficulties). Everything else is irrelevant since your racial modifiers don't change your maximum skill level, and the bonuses you do receive get nullified rather quickly. Honestly I don't even bother remembering which race gets bonuses to which skills it matters so little.

[alexander_dougherty]

Most of the racial abilities are useless, dunmers summon ancestor is a joke. But the Khajiit's nighteye ability is actually usable, it means you can sneak in dungeons without a torch or light spell or adjusting the light levels.

The resist disease passives are great, if you don't want to play as a werewolf or a Vampire, since you need to carry far fewer cure disease potions.
Resist cold and fire are good, resist cold means those frost spells draugr love are less effective, and for vampires the resist fire passive of a dunmer is a life saver, literally.

The list is clearly the OPs preferences rather than a debated list, since Khajiit should not be at the bottom, having played them they are better than some of the higher ranked races.

[ZarahNeander]

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

The resist disease passives are great, if you don't want to play as a werewolf or a Vampire, since you need to carry far fewer cure disease potions.

Disease is more of a psycological threat than anything else, cure disease is cheap and plentyful. I really cant see that "carry far fewer potions" is a significant advantage.

Apart from that: firm believer in Breton master race, not as OP as in TesIII or IV, but still, in a game where dragons are one of the main antagonists....

[Malsvir Ixen]

I know that anyone can be a Dragonborn, but due to all Nordic culture in the game and the fact you go to the Nord afterlife and they will welcome you back when you die, I can't help but play Nord.

[Perplex]

Khajit fist builds are fun, but dont work on anything above expert. And their Night Vision is totaly useless, it does not make a damn difference other than change the screen colour a little bit.

I like Bretons and Orc. But i always forget to use the racials so i am basing it all on looks.

[yeastybootymuncher]

Originally posted by IXBlackWolfXI:

No magic as a stealth character? Ever heard of a stealth-illusionist? Sneak archers are also great at fighting dragons, and magic resist helps A LOT with that.

But why rate them higher than orcs? I play Bretons all the time, and only once ever rolled an orc (which I didn't play for long), but the orc's racial power is well-known for being the most broken in the game. There's a reason orcs are the top pick for legendary playthroughs. Bretons, on the other hand, are only really good for maxing your magic resist. And no, they don't reduce it by 60%. You're probably confusing it with the passive benefits any race can get (such as those alteration perks, and the lord stone). And magic resist isn't THAT rare, considering that you CAN make resist magic items yourself, and there's even a daedric artifact that grants it too, giving you a guaranteed way to find such an item (though you can't learn the effect from it). Also, with bretons you can get the atronach stone and use your racial power to give yourself 100% spell absorption for a full minute AT LEVEL ONE, rendering you completely immune to magic. This makes bretons great even as warriors (the atronach's penalty doesn't mean anything if you're not using magic, obviously, so it kinda works better for them than it does for mages).

And why devalue night eye when you claim you could just turn up the brightness? Perhaps that's true, but with orcs you can replicate their racial power by just lowering the difficulty. Does that devalue it? Not that night eye is really useful anyway, since it seems all but impossible to get this game dark (I have my monitor set to the lowest brightness settings, graphics settings to the darkest, and even have mods that make the game darker, and all that still isn't enough to make much of a difference). Still, I would rate them above bosmer. Their racial is at least of SOME use at all levels, and honestly their passive is more useful too anyway, even if its not by much. It helps in brawls, at least.

As for redguards, you use their racial power to make endless power attacks. Granted, you can do the same with vegetable soup, but honestly I always found that to be a bit of a hassle. Besides, as you said, its great for running too, which vegetable soup doesn't really help with at all. Either way, I never really saw them as a great race either.

And yeah, the imperial luck thing is bugged (the player character gets the bonus regardless of their race), but the unofficial patch fixes that.

And initial skill bonuses don't really mean much aside for stealth, which helps you get to being viable as a stealth assassin a bit quicker (invaluable at the higher difficulties). Everything else is irrelevant since your racial modifiers don't change your maximum skill level, and the bonuses you do receive get nullified rather quickly. Honestly I don't even bother remembering which race gets bonuses to which skills it matters so little.

In general, I place Breton above Orc because I believe it has more usefulness in builds over the Orc, but the difference between the placements is not far whatsoever. Breton's need to get 60% magic resistance because they have already a passive 25%, if I didn't make that clear. You just don't need to get as much magic resist enchants, passives, or perks compared to the other races. Breton and Orc are very good races because they are amazing in so many builds and way of play, I'm not in no way discouraging a Breton warrior or Orc mage, but, you know... you can infer which race does which build in general better.

As far as Khajiits, they're ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and I firmly believe that. I'd take 50% disease and poison resist and an early game animal allegiance shout over 15 additional points of damage to one of the most unconventional damage methods in the game and a brightness increase. Orc is just a superior pick, as you can (or at least I have) left the tutorial with a higher sneak than what Khajiit starts with, making the "stealth race" even more ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. And I guess you can turn the difficulty down, but if you're playing on Master or below, race means literally nothing. The game is super easy on those low difficulties, and I'd actually would recommend choosing aesthetics over viability in those instances, it's all up to user interpretation.

Redguard's ability is good, and I understand that carrying a bunch of vegetable soup could be a hassle, but it's not that much of a hassle to make Redguard place higher in my list.

I don't play with the Skyrim patch, so this list is based off vanilla. Sorry.

[yeastybootymuncher]

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

Most of the racial abilities are useless, dunmers summon ancestor is a joke. But the Khajiit's nighteye ability is actually usable, it means you can sneak in dungeons without a torch or light spell or adjusting the light levels.

The resist disease passives are great, if you don't want to play as a werewolf or a Vampire, since you need to carry far fewer cure disease potions.
Resist cold and fire are good, resist cold means those frost spells draugr love are less effective, and for vampires the resist fire passive of a dunmer is a life saver, literally.

The list is clearly the OPs preferences rather than a debated list, since Khajiit should not be at the bottom, having played them they are better than some of the higher ranked races.

I really don't know how one could say Khajiit is not the worst race. 15 extra damage points to one of the most unconventional damage methods in the game and a brightness increase. Skyrim isn't too dark, and I understand how Night Eye could be seen good if you had lighting mods, but this is based off Vanilla, so unless you're wearing shades inside, I don't see the use. Once your Sneak is high enough, light isn't that dependent. No doubt Khajiit is the best brawler, but having the occasional advantage in a brawl vs. a level 1 expert pacify spell, hm...

[Hex: Oni's Plaything]

I play Imperial because I like Voice of the Emperor. That, and I like the way they and Nords look. I'm more about looks than usefulness. lol But ye, I think you are right with your opinion of who is better.

I also, like Perplex, forget to use racials at the start of battles so Nord and Imperial are the ones I usually go with since I'll go "osht, I should really use my racial ability here". lol