Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-16060423-20130930190945/@comment-24431732-20151125080250

Take with grain of salt thanks to my extensive use of Combat Mods.

Statwise: While it has been a while since I've played TES:V without mods, I want to mention that from what I experienced Orcs were the best fighters (heavy armor + two handed greatsword ftw) to play simply because they hit like a truck under berserker rage. While Redguards hit hard too, a two-handing orc with berserker rage and the right perks can five(or less with luck)-shot a Draugr Deathlord without getting below 75% health. Seriously, tanking is insanely useful as a warrior. Add to the fact that skyrim enables jack-of-all-trading, and you've got a tank that normally one shots most enemies under his racial, takes little damage from anything physical(also magical if you use your spare points in enchanting), and is just intimidating to look at. Second tallest races. Speaking off of NPCs? Generally, an Orc geared out in heavy armor with a heavy weapon hurt the most as a bandit leader or something to that degree, while any dual-wielding Redguard NPC was almost evenly matching in difficulty(oddly enough, I never saw a redguard bandit leader). I'd rather personally, though this is after combat mods, have an Orc than any other race to be my character if I was going purely off stats for a warrior. I'd also rather have an Orcish follower that covers my six while I bomb the enemies with spectacular spellcraft(don't hate me for my mageness </3).

Lorewise: Orismer follow in the footsteps of Trinimac, and subsequently Malacath, being some of the greatest warriors and smiths on Tamriel. We all know they're awesome smiths, but it specifies they are some of the best warriors many times. Also, while stereotypes are disliked, think about how NPCs react in stories and in game. They regard Orcs as something to be apprehensive about fighting, unless you can outsmart them. Apparently, they also can have quite high intelligence, as Durak is the librarian for the College of Winterhold, and most of the women are actually pretty knowledgable, wise, and generally smart. There's also The Gourmet, you know... The best at the cullinary arts in all of Tamriel? Then there's Durak, who I'd be afraid to be in the same hold as if I were undead. He ran at a vampire that was behind me, raising his axe in his shiny-ass bubble, and I almost Fus-Ro-Panicked. Lorewise, Orcs are frickin' amazing. The outliers can be more intelligent than Mer, who are known for magic, and the majority can create feats of smithing one wouldn't dream of, or smash through a defending line like a champ.

Sources: Orsimer, Redguard, personal gameplay.