This character concept is actually an old idea I had to become a Redguard, desert mage with the power of the sun. I did not quite know how to complete the build until some recent discoveries I had playing and thought that there was a TON of synergy to be messed around with for an extremely effective character not only to the undead, but to all enemies of the game using fire and sun fire. This build will incorporate a lot of the Dragonborn DLC, so read on if you don't mind spoilers (although most of this should be common knowledge now I guess!). I present...
The Sun Priest
The basic concept behind the Sun Priest is to play off of an old archetype of an undead hunter and expand it using some perk and skill synergy within Skyrim. Given the addition of some key equipment choices from both Dawnguard and Dragonborn DLCs, the Sun Priest can harness powers of the light of the sun to keep the undead at bay and burn all in his path with righteous fury!
The playstyle is 80% shield-mage, wielding the Dawnguard Rune Shield and various spells to achieve devastating effects towards undead foes. Using the shield, stamina is spent instead of magicka to release Stendarr's Aura which emits sun damage to burn the rotting flesh of draugr, make sketelons turn to ash, and vampires tremble where they stand. The other 20% of this build is a magically enhanced sword and board playstyle using the always popular Dawnbreaker sword, allowing maximum fire and one handed damage to strike justice into the damned and explore the extreme power of Meridia's wrath.
Synergy is something I always look for in builds and I have played around with the cool synergies we can achieve with fire based spells. I thought that with what I have tried before could be expanded upon:
Build
Race: Redguard
Stone: Mage -> Steed -> Atronach
Dragon Shouts: Become Ethereal, Clear Skies, Fire Breath
Major Skills: Restoration, Destruction, Block
Minor Skills: Heavy Armor, Illusion, One Handed, Smithing
Equipment:
Skills and Perks
Restoration - The central skill to the Sun Priest. Circle of Protection, Guardian Circle, and Bane of the Undead are incredible skills when combined. Given this build does not take enchanting, it will take patience and a lot of magicka investment to pull off some of these spells together. Since most last for extended periods of time (duration is boosted by Augmented Flames) your magicka will be ready to recast if need be. Sun spells are also useful here. It is interesting to note that Ward Absorb will work with the occasional usage of Spellbreaker, which seems to also stack well with Ahzidal's Gauntlets of Warding! Great combo for quick recharging of your magicka!
Destruction - Fire, fire, fire. This will be your universal damaging spell. Since non-undead do not respond to circle spells and sun spells, fire is your focused light spells burning your enemies to Oblivion. With Aspect of Terror and Ahzidal's Mask, your damage output will be significantly higher. Wall of Flames and Flame Cloak are you go to spells here backed by Ignite as your main ranged spell of death.
Block - Any shield-mage needs proper training with a shield. Maximum protection, extreme resistances, and shield bashing provides an excellent defense while being able to dish out the damage with your spells in one hand. Ignite provides high DPS even when single cast, so your shield will always be up unless going for Master level spells or dual casted Circle of Protection.
Illusion - Aspect of Terror. 'Nuff said.
One Handed - Sometimes you need to be in the enemy's face. Dawnbreaker provides a nice damage output with augmented fire damage thanks to perks as well as an incredible effect against the undead. Make your undead explode with a fiery awesomeness to send his friends packing either into your wall spells or into your circle spells. Undead ping pong!
Heavy Armor - Being on the battlefield up close means having thick armor to defend yourself. Ahzidal's Armor of Retribution along with some of the other pieces of the set provide nice defense and great, unique enchantments. The cuirass' ability to have enemies that strike you become paralyzed for 7 seconds is amazing. It may not trigger as often, but when it does you will feel like a true sun god of blinding and debilitating light.
Smithing - Boosting defenses and sharpening Dawnbreaker.
Level 50 Perk Spread - Stat Ratio: M/H/S - 3/1/1
Gameplay and Tactics
The Sun Priest is a very versatile character in that he dabbles in both devastating spells to deal with the undead using Restoration as well as Destruction magic to cover his basis on the living side of his foes. Vampires and Draugr do not even stand a chance with the Sun Priest, but he can also dish out some serious burning pain through DPS ignite and Dawnbreaker/Dawnguard Rune Shield combo.
The Sun Priest's first order of business is gathering his equipment to be as effective as possible. The stacking of the shield's Stendarr's Aura with Flame Cloak is incredibly effective against undead opponents as stated before, but it can only be truly recognized when up close and personal. The radius of the shield effect is not large and you must be in close quarters - But with undead enemies running and getting trapped in corners all the time, they will be sitting ducks to the power of the sun!
Well there you have it folks! I hope you enjoy burning all the wickedness out of Skyrim. The synergy I could achieve with this build was a lot of fun and I hope you give it a try. Thanks to Aspect of Terror, fire spells will never be the same! I could also have not made the presentation look so good without the help of Vazgen with his amazing artistic photos! Thank you!
This character concept is actually an old idea I had to become a Redguard, desert mage with the power of the sun. I did not quite know how to complete the build until some recent discoveries I had playing and thought that there was a TON of synergy to be messed around with for an extremely effective character not only to the undead, but to all enemies of the game using fire and sun fire. This build will incorporate a lot of the Dragonborn DLC, so read on if you don't mind spoilers (although most of this should be common knowledge now I guess!). I present...
The Sun Priest
The basic concept behind the Sun Priest is to play off of an old archetype of an undead hunter and expand it using some perk and skill synergy within Skyrim. Given the addition of some key equipment choices from both Dawnguard and Dragonborn DLCs, the Sun Priest can harness powers of the light of the sun to keep the undead at bay and burn all in his path with righteous fury!
The playstyle is 80% shield-mage, wielding the Dawnguard Rune Shield and various spells to achieve devastating effects towards undead foes. Using the shield, stamina is spent instead of magicka to release Stendarr's Aura which emits sun damage to burn the rotting flesh of draugr, make sketelons turn to ash, and vampires tremble where they stand. The other 20% of this build is a magically enhanced sword and board playstyle using the always popular Dawnbreaker sword, allowing maximum fire and one handed damage to strike justice into the damned and explore the extreme power of Meridia's wrath.
Synergy is something I always look for in builds and I have played around with the cool synergies we can achieve with fire based spells. I thought that with what I have tried before could be expanded upon:
Build
Race: Redguard
Stone: Mage -> Steed -> Atronach
Dragon Shouts: Become Ethereal, Clear Skies, Fire Breath
Major Skills: Restoration, Destruction, Block
Minor Skills: Heavy Armor, Illusion, One Handed, Smithing
Equipment:
Skills and Perks
Restoration - The central skill to the Sun Priest. Circle of Protection, Guardian Circle, and Bane of the Undead are incredible skills when combined. Given this build does not take enchanting, it will take patience and a lot of magicka investment to pull off some of these spells together. Since most last for extended periods of time (duration is boosted by Augmented Flames) your magicka will be ready to recast if need be. Sun spells are also useful here. It is interesting to note that Ward Absorb will work with the occasional usage of Spellbreaker, which seems to also stack well with Ahzidal's Gauntlets of Warding! Great combo for quick recharging of your magicka!
Destruction - Fire, fire, fire. This will be your universal damaging spell. Since non-undead do not respond to circle spells and sun spells, fire is your focused light spells burning your enemies to Oblivion. With Aspect of Terror and Ahzidal's Mask, your damage output will be significantly higher. Wall of Flames and Flame Cloak are you go to spells here backed by Ignite as your main ranged spell of death.
Block - Any shield-mage needs proper training with a shield. Maximum protection, extreme resistances, and shield bashing provides an excellent defense while being able to dish out the damage with your spells in one hand. Ignite provides high DPS even when single cast, so your shield will always be up unless going for Master level spells or dual casted Circle of Protection.
Illusion - Aspect of Terror. 'Nuff said.
One Handed - Sometimes you need to be in the enemy's face. Dawnbreaker provides a nice damage output with augmented fire damage thanks to perks as well as an incredible effect against the undead. Make your undead explode with a fiery awesomeness to send his friends packing either into your wall spells or into your circle spells. Undead ping pong!
Heavy Armor - Being on the battlefield up close means having thick armor to defend yourself. Ahzidal's Armor of Retribution along with some of the other pieces of the set provide nice defense and great, unique enchantments. The cuirass' ability to have enemies that strike you become paralyzed for 7 seconds is amazing. It may not trigger as often, but when it does you will feel like a true sun god of blinding and debilitating light.
Smithing - Boosting defenses and sharpening Dawnbreaker.
Level 50 Perk Spread - Stat Ratio: M/H/S - 3/1/1
Gameplay and Tactics
The Sun Priest is a very versatile character in that he dabbles in both devastating spells to deal with the undead using Restoration as well as Destruction magic to cover his basis on the living side of his foes. Vampires and Draugr do not even stand a chance with the Sun Priest, but he can also dish out some serious burning pain through DPS ignite and Dawnbreaker/Dawnguard Rune Shield combo.
The Sun Priest's first order of business is gathering his equipment to be as effective as possible. The stacking of the shield's Stendarr's Aura with Flame Cloak is incredibly effective against undead opponents as stated before, but it can only be truly recognized when up close and personal. The radius of the shield effect is not large and you must be in close quarters - But with undead enemies running and getting trapped in corners all the time, they will be sitting ducks to the power of the sun!
Well there you have it folks! I hope you enjoy burning all the wickedness out of Skyrim. The synergy I could achieve with this build was a lot of fun and I hope you give it a try. Thanks to Aspect of Terror, fire spells will never be the same! I could also have not made the presentation look so good without the help of Vazgen with his amazing artistic photos! Thank you!