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Character Build: The Sanctus Combatant

Tags: #Character Build Archer  #Character Build Enchanter  #Character Build Unarmed  #Race:Khajiit  #Rank:Recognized  #Sanctus  #Crossbow  #Sanctus Combatant 
  • Member
    July 20, 2012

    --Warning, there are some minor Dawnguard spoilers within this post. I have split it into two catagories (pre-dawnguard, and post-dawnguard) so those of you who do not yet have Dawnguard may still read this--

    Hi all, after recently joining this wonderful site I decided to make a contribution to all these amazing builds. It is my first build so positive criticism is welcomed! Thanks again for reading this, I really hope you enjoy it. Without further ado, I present...

    The Sanctus Combatant

    -- Pre-Dawnguard --

    The Sanctus Combatants are an elite group of Khajiit fighters who dedicate themselves to the honing of their combat abilities. While they take pride in their ability with a bow, their true strength lies in their fists. They are ferocious warriors who can punish even the strongest of foes with nothing but the steel gauntlets worn around their hands. However, they are not pure brutes. As strong as they are, they are also some of the most cunning of the Khajiit. With adept and even expert restorative and destructive magic abilities, these Combatants can stop a foe in it's place before putting a well placed arrow through their throat. Many are seen as holy fighters, but if necessary, dirtier tricks may be used to reach their goals.

    Race: Khajiit

    Stone: Mage/Warrior --> Lord/Atronach

    Major Skills: Restoration, Enchanting, Heavy Armor, Archery

    Minor Skills: Destruction, Sneak, Smithing, Alteration

    Weapons: Heavy Armor Gauntlets, Bows

    Armor: Dwarven

    Recommended Quests: Companions, College of Winterhold, Destroy the Dark Brotherhood, The Black Star, Unfathomable Depths, Sailor's Repose, Main Questline

    Shouts: Whirlwind Sprint, Slow Time, Marked for Death

     

    The Build

    I'm a pretty casual player so this was only played on adept but was tested in some expert gameplay and was viable there, I'm sure with some patience and experience it could be played equally as well on master difficulty.

    This build is really a build I made to try out a few things I hadn't tried yet. It utilizes runes, cloaks, and unarmed combat; All things I hadn't tried. In the end this became my new "main" character and a favorite build of mine. I mixed in some stealth and archery for Dawnguard but it can still be used without Dawnguard in the form of bows instead of crossbows.

    The part that makes this playthrough really enjoyable though, is the unarmed combat. You get all these awesome kill animations as long as you're "dual-wielding" your fists. I often found myself playing this character much like a "spell-fist," due to the fact that he needed almost constant healing since he gets hit a lot more being an unarmed fighter. This is where the cloaks and runes come in handy.

    A well placed rune placed before a battle has saved my life more than once on this playthrough. After shooting down two enemies punching another three, I occasionally found myself overwhelmed by sheer numbers. I could temporarily flee back to my rune where I'd have my faithful follower waiting to shoot my enemies with ice spikes before they were blown to smithereens by my rune.

    Another fun aspect of this character is the cloak spells. The fire cloak spell is great, doing a decent 8 points of damage every second and also imbueing your fists with a 8 point fire damage "enchantment." They also allow you to tick away at your enemies health while your focusing on some other enemy; Great for crowd control.

    The last part that should be mentioned about this build would be alteration. Flesh spells are great for boosting your armor rating and all those situational spells make you feel great when those situations actually arise. Paralysis spells are very helpful and go along great with the cloak's theme of crowd control.

     

    The Sanctus Combatant

    -- Post-Dawnguard --

    Dawnguard is where the Sanctus' really shine through! With the new armor to make them look awesome aswell as some cool new restoration spells and crossbows to boost both offensive and defensive power.

    Race: Khajiit

    Stone: Mage/Warrior --> Lord + Atronach (Aetherial Crown)

    Major Skills: Restoration, Enchanting, Heavy Armor, Archery

    Minor Skills: Destruction, Sneak, Smithing, Alteration

    Weapons: Heavy Armor Gauntlets, Crossbows/Bows

    Armor: Dawnguard Heavy Armor

    Recommended Quests: Companions, College of Winterhold, Destroy the Dark Brotherhood, The Black Star, Unfathomable Depths, Sailor's Repose, Main Questline, Dawnguard Questline

    Shouts: Whirlwind Sprint, Slow Time, Marked for Death, Soul Tear, Drain Vitality

     

    The Build

    For the most part, the builds are very similar pre- and post- Dawnguard. In Dawnguard you will be able to switch your dwarven armor for Dawnguard Heavy Armor, and exchange your bow and arrows for a crossbow and (exploding) bolts, if you so choose. Some new offensive restoration spells are added, namely, Sun Fire, Vampire's Bane, and Stendarr's Aura. You also gain access to the Aetherial Crown, a very powerful and useful circlet. The Aetherial Crown allows you to access two different stone powers at the same time. Some may find this game breaking but allow me to explain why I used it on this build:

    1.) This is an unarmed build and therefore takes a lot more hits than many other builds.

    2.) Using the Aetherial Crown stops full set perks in the Heavy Armor tree from boosting our defenses making us significantly weaker.

    3.) My Khajiit looked so freaking cool I didn't want to wear a helmet and cover up his face! xD

    The last things that differ from the pre- to post- Dawnguard builds is that you get some new shouts! One of them, happens to be my new favorite: Soul Tear. I started using Soul Tear almost exclusively but Drain Vitality is very good aswell and of course the other shouts that aren't new are still perfectly fine, they just aren't new.

     

    Level 25 Perk Spread

    170|270|100

    Our priority here is Heavy Armor; We need that Fists of Steel perk! Getting high enchanting early is also very helpful because early on you will want to head down to The Ratway to get your Gloves of the Pugilist off Gian the Fist for the fortify unarmed enchant. After you have those two, restoration will most likely be your focus for the rest of the levels with some sides in destruction, alteration, and archery. Steel Smithing is in preperation of Dwarven armor for pre-dawnguard or for your enhanced dwarven crossbow if post-dawnguard, if you want your armor faster, go ahead and level smithing to 30 and exchange a perk for dwarven smithing.

     

    Level 50 Perk Spread

    200|450|140

    We finish off this character by basically maxing restoration, enchanting, and archery. You get up to expert Alteration and stability for a long lasting ebony flesh and we go up the left side of the heavy armor tree for improved movement. Grab that dwarven smithing if you didn't earlier to improve your armor/crossbow and make archery a force to be reckoned with.

     

    Special Abilities

    Sanctus' Shield

    Cloaking yourself in a burning light of holy energy your fists are imbued with flames and undead enemies drop faster than flies.

    Requires: Flame Cloak, Stendarr's Aura

    Combatant's Trickery

    With a rune placed behind unsuspecting enemies you blast them with a fireball only to have them turn into your rune making their health dwindle to little or none.

    Requires: Rune Master (Perk), Rune Spell, Fireball (or lightning/ice equivalents)

     

    Extra Information

    *The pre-dawnguard section explains most of the info while the post-dawnguard explains only the extra content provided by Dawnguard.

    *The perk spreads and magicka|health|stamina numbers are not requirements, they are simply a guide for those who are unsure of what to do.

    *Anything you'd like to see? Drop a comment and I will try to accomadate your requests.

    *This is my first build so as I said in the intro, positive criticism is appreciated, Thanks!

  • July 21, 2012

    this is a really cool build, i have been looking for a good reason to create a khajiit as i have yet to do so.

    Thanks for sharing this looks enjoyable.

  • Member
    July 21, 2012

    Thanks Matt! It was a lot of fun to play, especially with all those awesome unarmed kill animations.