S Tier:

-Breton-

We all know magic is broken in this game, and of course Bretons are one of only two
races with an increased Magicka pool. Though you won’t have as much Magicka as a
High Elf, there are zero downsides to picking this race and some huge bonuses.
First of all, Resist Magicka 50%. This makes it cheaper to cast Resist Magicka
spells for exploiting items like the BoBS, Whitewalker, etc., as well as being able
to simply equip Cuirass of the Savior’s Hide for a full 100% resistance. It also
means that you can pick The Apprentice as your sign and still be able to cast
Resist Magicka 100% to use these items. Next, Dragon Skin. 50 points of Shield for
60 seconds would normally be an extremely expensive and difficult spell to cast,
but here you have it as a power. This is definitely one of the better powers in the
game and can help a lot in the early game when playing on high difficulty. Finally,
the skills. Mysticism is one of the most useful skills in the game for obvious
reasons, Restoration is pretty broken and basically just lets you edit your skills
and attributes to whatever you want them to be, and Conjuration makes up for the
Breton’s lack of weapon and armor skill bonuses while also providing a means to
deal with enemies who reflect magic. Conjuration also lets you summon Greater
Bonewalkers, which is, well, yeah…

-Orc-

Orcs are probably the most underrated of all the races. On the surface, they don’t
seem much different from a Nord or a Redguard, but there are a couple things that
make them special. First is Berserk. Berserk is the most useful power in the game,
for non-obvious reasons. Sure, it makes you able to hit stuff, which is great, but
the real benefit is the part of the spell most people find annoying: Fortify
Fatigue 200 points. If you have 200 max fatigue and you use Berserk while at full
fatigue, your fatigue modifier increases from 1.25 to 1.75. This increases your
odds of succeeding at anything by about 29%. This means that you can literally just
pick any skill on orcs and it just works. On top of that, they have very high
Willpower which somewhat makes up for their lack of magic skill bonuses, they have
the second highest “max” health in the game (only 2.5 points behind Nord and
Redguard), they’re the fastest race due to their hidden weight stat, and they have
25% Resist Magicka.

A Tier:

-Dark Elf-

The main reason Dark Elves are ranked this high is because of their power: Ancestor
Guardian. 50 points of Sanctuary is a very powerful effect and would be an
expensive and difficult spell to cast for 60 seconds, but here you have it as a
power. With this power, you can even make good use of The Thief as your sign, which
is pretty damn cool. The 10 point bonus to Destruction synergises well on this
race. Destruction can be a tricky skill to make good use of, but choosing
Destruction as a major skill gives you Fire Bite, and Dark Elves have a 75%
resistance to fire. Simply equipping the Denstagmer’s Ring renders you immune to
fire and free to cast fire spells on anyone without worry. Your other skills are
also quite good. Light Armor, Marksman and Short Blade lend themselves to a
specialization in stealth and you get a 5 point bonus to Mysticism, which is always
nice. In addition, because you are a Dark Elf and the game takes place in
Morrowind, you’ll have a naturally good rapport with most people.

-Redguard-
Much like the Dark Elf, the main bonus here is the power: Adrenaline Rush. 50
Agility increases your dodge chance, makes you harder to knock down, and along with
15 points in Long Blade, makes you more likely to hit your target. On top of that,
you get 50 strength to greatly increase your damage or help you carry stuff, 50
speed to help you escape, chase people down or just decrease travel time, 50
Endurance to increase your fatigue pool and fatigue recovery (slightly), and 25
Fortify Health which can be mildly useful if you’re careful. Redguards also get 75%
Resist Poison and 75% Resist Disease. Unfortunately, besides the 15 points in Long
Blade, the Redguard’s skills aren’t very exciting. They do lend themselves to a
specialization in combat, but there’s a lot of redundancy.

B Tier:

-Nord-

There’s a lot to like about Nords but they just don’t quite match up to the races
listed above. Woad is worse than Dragon Skin, Thunder Fist is pretty useless, they
have the same “max” health as Redguards but lack Adrenaline Rush and don’t have a
weapon bonus comparable to the 15 points in Long Blade. Their elemental resistances
are probably their biggest pro, but just playing a different race and choosing The
Atronach as your sign provides better resistance on average. They arguably make
better Spear users than Argonians because they can equip the BoBS, but not picking
one of the weapon skills they get a 10 point boost in feels like a waste.

-Wood Elf-

Once again, another good race that just doesn’t quite match up to those listed
above. Their power, Beast Tongue, is pretty useless. They have the same amount of
disease resistance as Redguards but lack any elemental resistances. They have low
starting strength and endurance, which means low “max” health and tedious looting
in the early game. The bonuses to Sneak and Marksman are significant, but not
enough to warrant picking them over a Breton, Orc or Dark Elf; all of whom can also
make use of those skills but have better powers and arguably better starting
attributes.

C Tier:

-Argonian-

Much like the Dark Elf, the Argonian is a bit of a “hybrid” race. Unfortunately,
Water Breathing is not nearly as good as Ancestor Guardian and, though Argonians
are immune to poison, they lack the bonus to Destruction that Dark Elves have. They
also have the downside of not being able to wear boots or closed face helms.
However, Argonians are not a bad race by any means and they’re one of my favorites
to play. To me, this is the most balanced race and that’s why I put them in C tier.
Not great, not terrible.

D Tier:

-High Elf-

Weakness to Magicka makes it more difficult to exploit items like the BoBS and,
along with the elemental weaknesses, makes Destruction an awkward pick. There is no
race more vulnerable to reflect than High Elves, yet they get a 10 point bonus in
Destruction for some reason. They also get a 10 point bonus to Enchant, which is a
skill that doesn’t use any Magicka and can potentially make the High Elf’s
increased Magicka pool completely pointless. I don’t know what they were smoking
when they made this race, but the only reason it’s not in F Tier is because magic
go brrr.

-F Tier-

-Khajiit-

These are just Wood Elves but worse. Eye of Fear can be good in some situations and
is probably better than Beast Tongue, but it’s definitely not enough reason to pick
Khajiits over the races listed above. The 15 point bonus to Acrobatics is a
complete waste. Moving on.

-Imperial-

Star of the West and Voice of the Emperor are pretty good powers, but Imperials
just don’t have the skills or attributes to make them more attractive than any of
the other races. Mercantile is pretty much useless and there are plenty of ways to
get around using Speechcraft. By picking Imperial, you’re just throwing 20 points
of racial bonuses in the trash. Nuff said.