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WiP Event Build: The Abyssal

  • Member
    September 17, 2019

    The Abyssal steps from the boundless emptiness of the Void; a man once, corrupted by ruinous powers of entropy - to harness volatile magics at the cost of the ultimate sacrifice. This build combines some of the most self-destructive spells that Apocalypse has to offer with potent restorative magics, to shape the forces of life and death simultaneously. The result is a character that empowers his spells by ravaging his own flesh and blood to unleash all manner of maledictive destruction. 

    What to expect:

    • An Ancient Returned - think Miraak, but rather than being imprisoned in Apocrypha, The Abyssal has traversed the unknowable nothingness that lies beyond and thus become corrupted by the elder knowledge hidden therein. 
    • Shadow Priest, Blood Mage - The Abyssal unleashes deadly spells at a deadly cost; much more potent than any blood-mage, this build deals enormous amounts of damage to its enemies at the cost of utterly depleting its own health-pool.  
    • Finger of Death - The Build uses this spell as it’s main (and indeed singular) form of offence: Blast of death magic that damages a living target equal to its Health but the caster takes 125% damage. If this would kill the caster, damage to the target is reduced. 



    Those ignorant to the ways of the arcane often view magic as a boundless source of power. They could not be more wrong. Magic, as all things, is bound to a strict set of rules and limitations that shackle all wizards within their confines. I spent a lifetime contemplating these absolutes, seeking ways to undo the restrictions and thereby transcend the ranks of the mundane magi. I submerged myself in the ways of The Occult; seeking knowledge amongst the alternate plains - the realms of the Daedra, yet found their promises of power all but empty.   

    Thus it was that I discovered a source much more potent, much more ancient, than any I had sought before. By way of a great ritual I launched myself beyond the metaphysical realms of the existing, into the vast and primeval darkness known to us as the Void.  

    It was within this emptiness, this manifestation of the unknowable nothingness, that I found the secrets to undo the arcane lores. However, to be a mortal touched by this power is to suffer an agonizing glimpse of eternal unreality, and so my body and mind became changed, corrupted by the eternal shroud, to be cursed with an absolute power at the cost of a most terrible price...

     

    ***

     

    Race: Imperial

    The damage potential of the build scales directly from maximum health, it’s important to reach as high amount of hit-points as possible. For this reason we choose to play an imperial that, at level 10, sacrifices 50 points of stamna to gain an additional 100 points of health.

    Stat placement: 100% health 

    For the reasons mentioned before, and due to a few cleverly placed perks, The Abyssal is able to invest all of it’s perk point into health - rendering the build exceptionally tanky and further increasing the damage potential of Finger of Death.

    Standing Stone: The Atronach

    With magicka regeneration based on kills and a sorely needed 50% reduction to spell costs plus a 25% boost to spell effectiveness, The Atronach Stone benefits the build in terms of magicka management; allowing us to completely ignore any additional investments into the stat - making this stone the best in slot for the build. 

     

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    Magic of The Void

    The main concept of The Abyssal is that of a man, a potent wizard of old, who sought to break the shackles of the arcane lores by delving deep into the abyss of The Void; here he became corrupted by the ancient powers that linger in the darkness, cursed to sacrifice his own life force in order to access the pandemonious powers bestowed upon him. 

    To mimic this awesome roleplay backdrop the build combines some of the more controversial spells from the Apocalypse mod to minimize the natural risks of the playstyle. 

     

    Main Spell

    (Apocalypse) Finger of Death - Blast of death magic that damages a living target equal to its Health but the caster takes 125% damage. If this would kill the caster, damage to the target is reduced. 

    The spell that singularly defines this build. It allows The Abyssal to potentially one-shot any mob in the game, but as you can see such power comes at a great price. On it’s own the spell is almost impossible to use effectively, the damage received is simply too great, but when combined with a few interesting illusion spells from apocalypse and a boatload of healing, it evolves into the single most powerful spell in the game. Now you should start to understand why we need all that health. 

     

    Defence

    (Apocalypse) Ocato's Recital - Stores the (beneficial self-targeted non-concentration) spell in your left hand and casts it for no cost whenever you enter combat. Up to 3 spells. Empty left hand to reset.

    Ocato’s Recital is probably the single most useful spell in all of the Apocalypse mod. It allows us to cast whatever self-targeting spell we want upon entering combat; when paired with Atronach-enhanced flesh spells and restoration spells this allows for some serious defensive capabilities.

    • Spell 1: (Alteration) Highest level flesh spell at your disposal
    • Spell 2: (Restoration) Tree Rings 
    • Spell 3: (Restoration) Resurgence 

    (Apocalypse) Spell Twine - Bind a chosen effect to the spell in your left hand. It is triggered whenever the spell is cast. Up to 3 spells. Empty left hand to reset.

    Spell Twine is another great defensive layer to add to the build - and after a little testing I have discovered that Spell Twine and Ocato’s actually work hand in hand, making life easy and allowing the build to stack ridiculous amounts of health on auto-cast. 

    • Spell 1: Flesh spell - fortify health 
    • Spell 2: Finger of Death - heal for 50% of your alteration level 
    • Spell 3: personal preference 

     

    ***

     

    With most of the Enairim mod collection enabled there is a huge amount of spells, passive effects and perks that synergise wonderfully with one another to make this build posible. By using Finger of Death as our main source of damage, all that remains is to reduce the negative effects from the spell and scale our maximum health - to increase the damage potential and tankiness of the build; forging a truly terrifying Blood-mage capable of staying healthy by corrupting the life essence of its foes and healing itself from the damage inflicted. 

     

    Restoration:

    The main skill of the build; restoration grants us enormous amounts of damage as well as healing. By focusing on some of the high-end restoration perks, The Restoration School becomes a truly invaluable asset. Overflowing Cup directly increases out maximum health and Wheel of Life passively grants us healing in combat. All in all the build needs a high level of restoration, but only expends a handful of perks therein. 

     

    Alteration: 

    Yet another defensive layer and quality of life enhancement; Alteration grants the build even more of a boost to maximum health and a much needed increase to armor rating. However, the true benefit of The Alteration School stems from the Ocato’s Recital spell in combination with damage-reducing restoration spells and a few cleverly chosen effects of the Spelltwine spell when selected to benefit the autocast skills stored. Alteration takes on the aspect of a utility skill and remains my favorite school of magic within Ordinator. 

     

    Illusion:

    Some of the most essential perk and spell combinations of the build stem from The Illusion tree - spells that reduce enemies max health, chain the damage of Finger of Death and damages targets around The Abyssal based on the self-damage taken, renders The Illusion School the perfect companion to scale the build’s damage and survivability. Example: The Illusionary flames spell reduces any enemies max health by 30%, but when combines with Dream Theif and imposing presence we can increase this temporary damage to 72%.

    (More to come)

     




  • Member
    September 19, 2019

    Updated

  • Member
    September 19, 2019

    Really excited to see how this develops. The gameplay seems very interesting. Are you planning on using Ordinator with this build as well? I'm wondering how Lamb of Mara + Finger of Death + Intuitive Magic from Ordinator would play together.

  • Member
    September 20, 2019

    benhargreaves said:

    Really excited to see how this develops. The gameplay seems very interesting. Are you planning on using Ordinator with this build as well? I'm wondering how Lamb of Mara + Finger of Death + Intuitive Magic from Ordinator would play together.

    I am Indeed planning to use Ordinator, but I don't see how Intuetive Magic would work - I suspect that Finger of Death self-damage scales from damage dealt and can't be reduced via perks, but I'll defenently have to test that combo; if it woks this build is going to become downright overpowered. 

    The build will however be delving into Ilussion and use some of the Illusionary Flames spell to reduce enemy HP by 30% and a few other neat tricks. 

    I'll also have to see if magic resist plays a factor... so much to do xD

    Edit: I see what you mean about Intuetive Magic - casting Lamb of Mara for free to constantly heal with 0 magicka cost. This is brilliant, I hadnt even thought about this combo, it'll also work wonders with healing spells. Great suggestion mate!

  • September 22, 2019

    I am beyond fascinated with where this is going Blue, you've already completely sold me on the concept of the build which sounds really fascinating. Some part of me kind of does wish that Finger of Death could kill the caster, but I suppose it can still push you to 1 HP with poor usage and I'm really interested in seeing where this build ends up. 

    Really cool stuff so far mate :D (Also sorry for not dropping in yet, I've had it open for a few days but been sick this weekend.)

  • Member
    September 22, 2019

    Update 2 - pretty minor things (added the 3 main skills though), I have yet to put the meat of the build on paper as I'm busy with work :( 

    The formatting is ugly as hell at the moment, this will be changed for the final post. 

    Also I'd like to hear you guys thoughts on the backstory. 

  • Member
    September 22, 2019

    Dragonborn2121 said:

    I am beyond fascinated with where this is going Blue, you've already completely sold me on the concept of the build which sounds really fascinating. Some part of me kind of does wish that Finger of Death could kill the caster, but I suppose it can still push you to 1 HP with poor usage and I'm really interested in seeing where this build ends up. 

    Really cool stuff so far mate :D (Also sorry for not dropping in yet, I've had it open for a few days but been sick this weekend.)

    Thanks Dragon, and dont worry about being late, I only check into the the vault in the evenings when I have the time so I respond pretty slowly anyways! And yea, I'm loving the build concept myself; I'm just hoping I'll be able to do it justice. 

  • September 23, 2019

    Backstory is solid Blue, I think, assuming that this is the full thing, it works well with the gameplay focus of the build by not being longer, it binds the idea of the character with the gameplay but isn't incredibly wordy (though to be fair I don't think adding more to the backstory would hurt either). The skills section is nice, personally I'd consider bolding some of the key perks and expanding on the effects a wee bit more (giving specific numbers where applicable, or just more detail).

    Yeah, new stuff is good mate :D

  • Member
    September 28, 2019
    Pretty killer idea revolving around that spell. High risk, satisfying reward.