Art Source: DIYMID
Concept:
This build is part 2 of my take on blending Christian and Elder Scroll Trinities. Please see "The Father" for a detailed description of the parallels in the Lore discussion specifically regarding the Talos Oversoul. The final build is "The Messiah."
This build is an attempt to mix a favorite play style – a sneaky and agile spell sword with a focus on the "destruction" side of restoration. The Holy Ghost is not just another holy warrior though. She is a powerful blade that utilizes aspects of sneak, acrobatics and ethereal, sun-infused combat to bring a special sort of illuminating justice to Tamriel.
Lore:
The Holy Ghost in myth and religion is often depicted as the “conscious” of believers and “connection” to the divine. In Christian circles, The Holy Ghost is recognized as a helper and teacher for those who believe. But more importantly for this build, The Holy Ghost can act to convict the hearts and minds of the non-believer.
This Holy Ghost build takes this concept of conviction to the level of judgment, which is where it veers sharply away from the Christian tradition. As such, please do not NOT take this as my literal interpretation of The Holy Ghost coming to Skyrim, rather a figurative launching point for the concept of the build.
In my original trinity parallel discussion, The Holy Ghost is a take on Wulfharth (the “rebel and usurper”), who is noted to have "submitted Skyrim to a fiery reinstatement of the traditional Nordic pantheon..."
Thus, I present The Holy Ghost as The Father’s earthly vengeance. An archangel that has come to shine a holy light into the darkest parts of Skyrim. She is holy, but deadly. She’s been sent by The Father to investigate and act on the growing vampire menace as well as other evils in Skyrim.
Build:
Race: Female Breton – provides a starting boost to conjuration & restoration, magic resistance and the right aesthetic – a pretty girl the bad guys don’t see coming. Dragonskin comes into play in the Abilities section below.
Stone: Lover for leveling across the board, Atronach (for offense), Lord (for defense) or both if you grab the Aetherial Crown. When you’re feeling extra sneaky, put the Shadow Stone on the Crown.
Stats Distribution: 3 Magicka | 2 Health | 1 Stamina (Once Health is 200 and Stamina is 150, the rest can go into Magicka).
Equipment:
Early: Silver Sword, Skyforge Sword, Leather Armor, Galdur Amulet of Magicka or Mara, Novice hood
Later to End game: Silver and Elven Swords (enchanted with fire damage), Ancient Falmer Armor (fortify restoration, regenerate magicka), Ancient Falmer gloves (fortify one-handed), Ancient Falmer Boots (muffle), Adept Hood* or Aetherial Crown, various ring and amulets (I chose Amulet of Talos and a ring of Health regeneration for most of the later playthrough).
The adept hood is a perfect matching dark brown to the trim of the Ancient Falmer armor! Credit to Nelaf’s Armor combo page and “The White Witcher” by HistWarrior for this aesthetic.
Major Skills:
One Handed: The Holy Ghost prefers a Silver Sword and it’s ability to deal quick strikes and massive damage against undead foes.
Restoration: The Holy Ghost uses this to heal herself and others as well as recover magicka and stamina in heaps. Stendarr’s aura, sun fire & vampire’s bane are a must for this build! The necromage perk at 70 is a fitting way to stack extra damage to undead.
Sneak: She can be ghost-like in her stealth. A few points in Stealth and muffled movement early, and then add in more of the left-side of the tree as the game progresses. I put no perks into archery, instead using the Deadly Aim perk to improve damage dealt via bows. Early leveling note, in both Bleak Falls and Dustman’s Cairn, you have ample opportunity to sneak attack sleeping Draugr. Hit them once as not to kill them, then cast Turn Lesser Undead to level Restoration and finish them off. The turn spells even work as nice staggers on higher-level Draugr that don’t actually run away.
Enchanting: Sort of tough to justify this from an RP standpoint. If you’d rather keep her out of this soul trapping business, simply strengthen other skills and wear the end-game ancient falmer armor un-enchanted. I RP’d it as “winning” souls to heaven, though I fully realize that is completely wrong in ES lore terms.
Minor Skills:
Light Armor: Just a few perks to unhindered are worth the investment. I recommend using grumpy Grelka in Riften as a merchant / trainer.
Speech: For mechanics, it’s always helpful to get speech to 50 and take the merchant perk to sell your enchanted gear to Collette for Restoration training (or any other merchant trainer for that matter.) For role-playing, it’s easy to imagine that The Holy Ghost would have a way with words. This also connects thematically with the throw voice/sneak combination.
Conjuration: Summon flame atronach “angels” to aid you.
Smithing: Later in the game, it’s worth 2 perks up to Elven to improve the Ancient Falmer set.
Level 20 Perks – Skyrim calculator
Level 44 Perks – Skyrim Calculator
(Art Source: Deviant Art)
Shouts:
Become Ethereal – One of the most versatile shouts, it works as protection and as a precursor to two of the special abilities below. Also an obvious RP fit.
Throw voice – 3 words (for quickest cooldown), improve your stealth positioning and stalk your evil prey.
Clear skies - to let the heavenly light shine a bit brighter and works as a stagger (outdoors) with a much shorter cooldown than Unrelenting Force.
Getting started:
Start off leveling sneak and one handed as you might normally. Pick up the turn undead and healing spells as well as a follower to start leveling restoration (it’s slow, but focus on getting it to 70 and necromage perk). Start sneak attacking and turning draugr as often as possible through the early main quest and the first part of the Companions (for your silver swords) before heading over to Winterhold to join the college.
Grab a few helpful items through the start of that questline and then jump into the Dawnguard line ASAP (level 10). At this point I start picking and choosing quests based on acquiring desired shouts and levels. For example, I don’t want to get too far into the DG without at least one Become Ethereal word. Not to mention, Serana doesn’t help you level restoration at all…
Don’t forget to Bolster the DG Ranks with your buddy Florentius as early as possible. He’s vital for spell acquisition and restoration training.
If you time it right, you are ready to take on Vyrthur and then Harkon and his goons with your full compliment of gear and spells.
Game Play:
Use sneak to assess the situation and initiate combat. Use positioning, throw voice and arrows to draw your foes into position. Manipulate the battle. Then let loose with area spells like Vampire’s bane or Sun Fire against undead.
Against evil humans and surprise attacks, use and buff your follower while cleaning up the mess with your agile, well timed sword strikes. In trouble, use Become Ethereal to heal up or escape. Call in a Flame Atronach to reposition and re-engage.
Against magic users, you’ll be quite immune to their attacks given the combination of Breton blood (25%), Book of Love quest (15%) and optional Lord Stone (25%). If you need an additional boost against serious magic users, use your racial ability Dragonskin to absorb at 50%. Adding the Atronach stone (on the Aetherial Crown) yields 60 seconds of pure 100% spell absorption. (See "replenish & repel" below).
One last note on gameplay/RP, if man or mer asks for mercy...give it to them and add a calm spell to keep them from rejecting your grace.
“Hell Fire & Healing Light”
Requirements: Bane of the Undead, Necromage, Become Ethereal, Healing Spell (respite & recovery)
Description: Pass judgment on a crowd of undead while basking in ethereal light. If Ethereal Spirit is active, you get a 25% health regeneration boost. Add in the respite (healing spells restore stamina) and/or recovery (boost to magicka recovery) perks in the restoration tree and you have yourself an across the board recovery party all while burning up the bad guys.
“Sanctuary” – Credit Mason in The Heretic
Requirements: Potion of Restoration, Potion of Destruction, Stendarr’s Aura, Become Ethereal, Necromage
Description: Chug a few potions, cast Stendarr’s Aura and use BE to run around lighting up the undead for loads of damage all while being wholly invincible. (see what I did there? Wholly/Holy?)
"Hush, Evil One”
Requirements: Muffle, Throw Voice, Potion of Destruction, Necromage, Vampire’s Bane
Description: From the shadows, draw the monster to your firing zone and blast them with augmented holy light. With a basic potion of destruction (~25%) and necromage perk (25%), Vampire’s bane will hit for over 100 damage due to the increase in duration and afterburn described first by James. If you want to get really nasty, perk the destruction tree for Augmented flames (though I didn’t take it that far).
"Repel and Replenish"
Requirements: Dragonskin (Breton), Atronach Stone, Circle of Protection or Guardian Circle
Description: If you take Restoration to 75 (CoP) or 90 (GC), or use associated scrolls, you have an opportunity to replenish your own magicka at 100% with Dragonskin (50%) and the Atronach stone (50%) active. (I don't know who to properly credit for first finding and using this...but it's very cool). Not to mention you're 100% resistant to spell damage for the duration. Great for long, tough battles.
Quests:
- Join the Companions - to get silver swords early. Save a few for enchanting later on. Do not become a werewolf, obviously.
- Enter the College of Winterhold - for access to leveling and the Galdur amulet for an early boost to magicka. I also stored my extra weapons, soul gems and alchemy ingredients for leveling here.
- Main Quest – at least through The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller to grab an easy word of Become Ethereal, but ideally through Paarthurnax to Meditate on Feim for Ethereal Spirit effect.
- Dawnguard –This DLC is a perfect fit for the Holy Ghost. “Vampire killers? Where do I sign up?!” Also, it is required for the ideal armor aesthetic – Ancient Falmer and Sun Damage restoration spells for effective Vampire hunting.
- Bolter the Ranks – Save Florentius and use him as a merchant / restoration trainer. Also necessary for Stendarr’s Aura and Vampire’s Bane spells.
Other notable quests:
- The Blessings of Nature: access to Danica Pure-Spring for additional access to Restoration training right in Whiterun
- The Book of Love: +15 Magic Resistance
- The Break of Dawn: One of the few suitable Deadra quests and a nice alternate weapon in Dawnbreaker, (although not my personal choice.)
- Coming of Age: (grab another word of Become Ethereal in Ironbind Barrow, as well as access to the Fiery Soul Trap enchantment if you want go that route on the silver swords.)
- Grab the other word of Become Ethereal at Bard’s Leap Summit
- Lost to the Ages – For end game fun, opt for the Aetherial Crown and use Atronach and Lord stones as a powerful combination, or attach the shadow stone to it and use its sneaky power at will.
Follower Notes:
Since this build utilizes the Dawnguard expansion, and you are forced to use Serana for much of this, I thought I’d briefly discuss her inclusion in this build.
Would a holy crusader align with a vampire? Even one who is happy to help you take out the really bad guys? I say yes and role-played it as a symbol of possible ‘salvation’, asking her to cure herself following the DG questline completion.
Closing Notes:
At this point in Skyrim builds, with so many amazing ones already out there I feel it's appropriate to point to a few inspirational ones in this category. The War-Priest by NO SNAKES ALIVE and Mason’s Seraphim are both double legendary builds that were seriously eye opening and led to my favorite play through to date. Think of The Holy Ghost as an homage to these epic builds, with my own personal touches.
Thanks to workshop folks CurseNeverDying, Legion, Chris Diokno and Fevnall for the feedback.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for The Messiah!
Art Source: DIYMID
Concept:
This build is part 2 of my take on blending Christian and Elder Scroll Trinities. Please see "The Father" for a detailed description of the parallels in the Lore discussion specifically regarding the Talos Oversoul. The final build is "The Messiah."
This build is an attempt to mix a favorite play style – a sneaky and agile spell sword with a focus on the "destruction" side of restoration. The Holy Ghost is not just another holy warrior though. She is a powerful blade that utilizes aspects of sneak, acrobatics and ethereal, sun-infused combat to bring a special sort of illuminating justice to Tamriel.
Lore:
The Holy Ghost in myth and religion is often depicted as the “conscious” of believers and “connection” to the divine. In Christian circles, The Holy Ghost is recognized as a helper and teacher for those who believe. But more importantly for this build, The Holy Ghost can act to convict the hearts and minds of the non-believer.
This Holy Ghost build takes this concept of conviction to the level of judgment, which is where it veers sharply away from the Christian tradition. As such, please do not NOT take this as my literal interpretation of The Holy Ghost coming to Skyrim, rather a figurative launching point for the concept of the build.
In my original trinity parallel discussion, The Holy Ghost is a take on Wulfharth (the “rebel and usurper”), who is noted to have "submitted Skyrim to a fiery reinstatement of the traditional Nordic pantheon..."
Thus, I present The Holy Ghost as The Father’s earthly vengeance. An archangel that has come to shine a holy light into the darkest parts of Skyrim. She is holy, but deadly. She’s been sent by The Father to investigate and act on the growing vampire menace as well as other evils in Skyrim.
Build:
Race: Female Breton – provides a starting boost to conjuration & restoration, magic resistance and the right aesthetic – a pretty girl the bad guys don’t see coming. Dragonskin comes into play in the Abilities section below.
Stone: Lover for leveling across the board, Atronach (for offense), Lord (for defense) or both if you grab the Aetherial Crown. When you’re feeling extra sneaky, put the Shadow Stone on the Crown.
Stats Distribution: 3 Magicka | 2 Health | 1 Stamina (Once Health is 200 and Stamina is 150, the rest can go into Magicka).
Equipment:
Early: Silver Sword, Skyforge Sword, Leather Armor, Galdur Amulet of Magicka or Mara, Novice hood
Later to End game: Silver and Elven Swords (enchanted with fire damage), Ancient Falmer Armor (fortify restoration, regenerate magicka), Ancient Falmer gloves (fortify one-handed), Ancient Falmer Boots (muffle), Adept Hood* or Aetherial Crown, various ring and amulets (I chose Amulet of Talos and a ring of Health regeneration for most of the later playthrough).
The adept hood is a perfect matching dark brown to the trim of the Ancient Falmer armor! Credit to Nelaf’s Armor combo page and “The White Witcher” by HistWarrior for this aesthetic.
Major Skills:
One Handed: The Holy Ghost prefers a Silver Sword and it’s ability to deal quick strikes and massive damage against undead foes.
Restoration: The Holy Ghost uses this to heal herself and others as well as recover magicka and stamina in heaps. Stendarr’s aura, sun fire & vampire’s bane are a must for this build! The necromage perk at 70 is a fitting way to stack extra damage to undead.
Sneak: She can be ghost-like in her stealth. A few points in Stealth and muffled movement early, and then add in more of the left-side of the tree as the game progresses. I put no perks into archery, instead using the Deadly Aim perk to improve damage dealt via bows. Early leveling note, in both Bleak Falls and Dustman’s Cairn, you have ample opportunity to sneak attack sleeping Draugr. Hit them once as not to kill them, then cast Turn Lesser Undead to level Restoration and finish them off. The turn spells even work as nice staggers on higher-level Draugr that don’t actually run away.
Enchanting: Sort of tough to justify this from an RP standpoint. If you’d rather keep her out of this soul trapping business, simply strengthen other skills and wear the end-game ancient falmer armor un-enchanted. I RP’d it as “winning” souls to heaven, though I fully realize that is completely wrong in ES lore terms.
Minor Skills:
Light Armor: Just a few perks to unhindered are worth the investment. I recommend using grumpy Grelka in Riften as a merchant / trainer.
Speech: For mechanics, it’s always helpful to get speech to 50 and take the merchant perk to sell your enchanted gear to Collette for Restoration training (or any other merchant trainer for that matter.) For role-playing, it’s easy to imagine that The Holy Ghost would have a way with words. This also connects thematically with the throw voice/sneak combination.
Conjuration: Summon flame atronach “angels” to aid you.
Smithing: Later in the game, it’s worth 2 perks up to Elven to improve the Ancient Falmer set.
Level 20 Perks – Skyrim calculator
Level 44 Perks – Skyrim Calculator
(Art Source: Deviant Art)
Shouts:
Become Ethereal – One of the most versatile shouts, it works as protection and as a precursor to two of the special abilities below. Also an obvious RP fit.
Throw voice – 3 words (for quickest cooldown), improve your stealth positioning and stalk your evil prey.
Clear skies - to let the heavenly light shine a bit brighter and works as a stagger (outdoors) with a much shorter cooldown than Unrelenting Force.
Getting started:
Start off leveling sneak and one handed as you might normally. Pick up the turn undead and healing spells as well as a follower to start leveling restoration (it’s slow, but focus on getting it to 70 and necromage perk). Start sneak attacking and turning draugr as often as possible through the early main quest and the first part of the Companions (for your silver swords) before heading over to Winterhold to join the college.
Grab a few helpful items through the start of that questline and then jump into the Dawnguard line ASAP (level 10). At this point I start picking and choosing quests based on acquiring desired shouts and levels. For example, I don’t want to get too far into the DG without at least one Become Ethereal word. Not to mention, Serana doesn’t help you level restoration at all…
Don’t forget to Bolster the DG Ranks with your buddy Florentius as early as possible. He’s vital for spell acquisition and restoration training.
If you time it right, you are ready to take on Vyrthur and then Harkon and his goons with your full compliment of gear and spells.
Game Play:
Use sneak to assess the situation and initiate combat. Use positioning, throw voice and arrows to draw your foes into position. Manipulate the battle. Then let loose with area spells like Vampire’s bane or Sun Fire against undead.
Against evil humans and surprise attacks, use and buff your follower while cleaning up the mess with your agile, well timed sword strikes. In trouble, use Become Ethereal to heal up or escape. Call in a Flame Atronach to reposition and re-engage.
Against magic users, you’ll be quite immune to their attacks given the combination of Breton blood (25%), Book of Love quest (15%) and optional Lord Stone (25%). If you need an additional boost against serious magic users, use your racial ability Dragonskin to absorb at 50%. Adding the Atronach stone (on the Aetherial Crown) yields 60 seconds of pure 100% spell absorption. (See "replenish & repel" below).
One last note on gameplay/RP, if man or mer asks for mercy...give it to them and add a calm spell to keep them from rejecting your grace.
“Hell Fire & Healing Light”
Requirements: Bane of the Undead, Necromage, Become Ethereal, Healing Spell (respite & recovery)
Description: Pass judgment on a crowd of undead while basking in ethereal light. If Ethereal Spirit is active, you get a 25% health regeneration boost. Add in the respite (healing spells restore stamina) and/or recovery (boost to magicka recovery) perks in the restoration tree and you have yourself an across the board recovery party all while burning up the bad guys.
“Sanctuary” – Credit Mason in The Heretic
Requirements: Potion of Restoration, Potion of Destruction, Stendarr’s Aura, Become Ethereal, Necromage
Description: Chug a few potions, cast Stendarr’s Aura and use BE to run around lighting up the undead for loads of damage all while being wholly invincible. (see what I did there? Wholly/Holy?)
"Hush, Evil One”
Requirements: Muffle, Throw Voice, Potion of Destruction, Necromage, Vampire’s Bane
Description: From the shadows, draw the monster to your firing zone and blast them with augmented holy light. With a basic potion of destruction (~25%) and necromage perk (25%), Vampire’s bane will hit for over 100 damage due to the increase in duration and afterburn described first by James. If you want to get really nasty, perk the destruction tree for Augmented flames (though I didn’t take it that far).
"Repel and Replenish"
Requirements: Dragonskin (Breton), Atronach Stone, Circle of Protection or Guardian Circle
Description: If you take Restoration to 75 (CoP) or 90 (GC), or use associated scrolls, you have an opportunity to replenish your own magicka at 100% with Dragonskin (50%) and the Atronach stone (50%) active. (I don't know who to properly credit for first finding and using this...but it's very cool). Not to mention you're 100% resistant to spell damage for the duration. Great for long, tough battles.
Quests:
- Join the Companions - to get silver swords early. Save a few for enchanting later on. Do not become a werewolf, obviously.
- Enter the College of Winterhold - for access to leveling and the Galdur amulet for an early boost to magicka. I also stored my extra weapons, soul gems and alchemy ingredients for leveling here.
- Main Quest – at least through The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller to grab an easy word of Become Ethereal, but ideally through Paarthurnax to Meditate on Feim for Ethereal Spirit effect.
- Dawnguard –This DLC is a perfect fit for the Holy Ghost. “Vampire killers? Where do I sign up?!” Also, it is required for the ideal armor aesthetic – Ancient Falmer and Sun Damage restoration spells for effective Vampire hunting.
- Bolter the Ranks – Save Florentius and use him as a merchant / restoration trainer. Also necessary for Stendarr’s Aura and Vampire’s Bane spells.
Other notable quests:
- The Blessings of Nature: access to Danica Pure-Spring for additional access to Restoration training right in Whiterun
- The Book of Love: +15 Magic Resistance
- The Break of Dawn: One of the few suitable Deadra quests and a nice alternate weapon in Dawnbreaker, (although not my personal choice.)
- Coming of Age: (grab another word of Become Ethereal in Ironbind Barrow, as well as access to the Fiery Soul Trap enchantment if you want go that route on the silver swords.)
- Grab the other word of Become Ethereal at Bard’s Leap Summit
- Lost to the Ages – For end game fun, opt for the Aetherial Crown and use Atronach and Lord stones as a powerful combination, or attach the shadow stone to it and use its sneaky power at will.
Follower Notes:
Since this build utilizes the Dawnguard expansion, and you are forced to use Serana for much of this, I thought I’d briefly discuss her inclusion in this build.
Would a holy crusader align with a vampire? Even one who is happy to help you take out the really bad guys? I say yes and role-played it as a symbol of possible ‘salvation’, asking her to cure herself following the DG questline completion.
Closing Notes:
At this point in Skyrim builds, with so many amazing ones already out there I feel it's appropriate to point to a few inspirational ones in this category. The War-Priest by NO SNAKES ALIVE and Mason’s Seraphim are both double legendary builds that were seriously eye opening and led to my favorite play through to date. Think of The Holy Ghost as an homage to these epic builds, with my own personal touches.
Thanks to workshop folks CurseNeverDying, Legion, Chris Diokno and Fevnall for the feedback.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for The Messiah!
