Skyrim Argonians: 5 Quick Facts

Skyrim Argonians

When I role play, I find myself picking either elves or humans for my character’s race. This predilection goes back to my early days of playing tabletop classics like Dungeons and Dragons, so when Skyrim came out I naturally gravitated towards the elf and human stock. Am I strange? Apparently not — out of the ten playable races in Skyrim, seven are either elf or human, so obviously these races are the most popular. On my second play through of Skyrim however, I wanted to challenge myself by completely altering my playing style and going a different route. For this reason I selected an Argonian, a scaly reptilian hailing from Black Marsh. Am I having fun? Absolutely! In many ways my second play through of Skyrim is more enjoyable than my first, and today I present 5 quick facts about Skyrim Argonians:

1. Favored Skills

Skyrim Argonians start with bonus Light Armor, Sneak, Lockpicking, and Pickpocket skills above the base level of 15. These favored skills make Argonians a perfect choice for playing a thief. In fact, my Argonian recently became a proud card carrying member of the Thieves Guild. Interested in playing a thief? Check out the Skyrim Fansite’s earlier article: The Best Skyrim Character: Warrior, Thief or Mage?

2. Health Regeneration

Even though I wanted to “play outside the box,” when I first considered picking an Argonian I was somewhat hesitant. I wasn’t certain if an Argonian would be tough enough to survive the early stages of the game. This hesitancy was not only unfounded, but but was based on my ignorance of Argonians in general. Skyrim Argonians have the racial power Histskin — an ability to regenerate health a whopping 10X faster for 60 seconds. The power to regenerate health quickly is a real advantage, especially at early game levels. Believe me, Histskin has saved my character’s lizard butt on more than one occasion when engaged in battle.

3. Water Breathing

As you know I love Skyrim, but one of the things I find frustrating with the game is swimming. When a character goes into the drink not only do the graphics take a step backwards, but the controls are wonky. In my first play through of Skyrim I tended to avoid water all together. This aversion to water was the result of my character inadvertently drowning while I was wrestling with the controls. Skyrim Argonians though have the natural ability to breathe underwater and can’t drown. This ability proved useful in the early stages of the game when I wanted to avoid dangerous encounters. Instead of hoofing it down the road and through the wild, I would swim to different locations to avoid that random Frost Spider and bear that always seemed to cross my path.

4. Disease Resistance

Skyrim can be a dangerous place. Not only do characters have to worry about menacing enemies such as Daedra and Dragons, they have to give a thought towards contracting diseases. Granted, Skyrim diseases are more nuisance than deadly, but they’re easily contracted from encounters with animals and traps and are a hassle to deal with. Thankfully for Skyrim Argonians, living in nasty swamps has given the race a natural resistance to disease (50% Disease Resistant to be more exact). While this ability hasn’t stopped my character from completely getting sick, it has definitely cut down on my trips to local shrines seeking cures.

5. Elder Scrolls Online

As if there was any doubt, last week’s Zenimax video confirms absolutely that Argonians will be a playable race in the upcoming Elder Scrolls Online game. For a guy with a penchant towards elves and humans, I have to say that this fact gives me a lot of joy. In my second play through, I’ve really become fond of Skyrim Argonians and I would have hated to see the race disappear from ESO. It’s nice to know that my marsh friends are sticking around for next exciting chapter in the Elder Scrolls legacy.

Final Thoughts

So how about it fellow travelers? What are your thoughts about Skyrim Argonians, and if you haven’t played this race yet would you do so in the future? Share your opinions with your fellow fans in the Speak Your Mind section below.