Greetings and bienvenue, everyone. This build is the result of several ideas starting with a leader of a werewolf pack, to an ancient Nordic king, to finally a monster of decay, death, and pure power. I present to you... The Warmonger.
The Warmonger is an ancient Altmeri warlord. He is equally skilled in subterfuge, debilitating and poisonous magic, the raising of dead souls, and barbarian like tactics. He is not good or evil, he is an efficient and ruthless mercenary who seeks to sate his lust for battle and challenges. The inspiration for this build came from my love of DoT, the fact that I have never used the poison rune, and a certain bonus granted by the Steed Stone.
Race: Altmer~ Their +50 bonus to magicka is very helpful, as is their Highborn power. They also have a tall and domineering appearance, especially when wearing the the bulky and brutal looking Orcish armor.
Stone: Steed Stone, this stone is crucial to the build as it allows us to carry multiples of a single set of armor (this is nothing new, it's a decently well-known trick).
Equipment: Two sets of self-enchanted Orcish armor. Bound Battleaxe.
Skills: Conjuration, Illusion, Two-Handed, Restoration, Heavy Armor, and Enchanting.
Shouts: There is only one shout I used enough to mention; Summon Durnehviir.
The Build
Probably the most important skill for this build is Enchanting as it allows you to make your two specialized sets of armor. It'll also cutdown the cost of the poison rune early on and the higher level summons early on. This skill should raise very easily given the inherent soul trap of the Bound Battleaxe. I picked up the Black Star, this allowed me to raise Enchanting very quickly.
The Block skill was used in conjunction with summons, the poison rune, and illusion spells. This would allow you to cause mayhem and massive amounts of DoT, while still being in the heat of the battle. The combination of the Targe and the Poison Rune can really add up, especially when focused on a single tough enemy. For instance, bandit chiefs can be stunlocked (respite and targe of the blooded) and slowly dying by DoT, all while being attacked by your summons/his allies).
Illusion is used to cause disarray in enemies ranks. Causing them to attack each other instead of you or your summons (but mostly you) is extremely helpful. A great tactic to use is get all the bandits to attack their chief and stunlock him/her with shield bashes (don't forget it'll do DoT). Another great tactic is summon a wrathman and when a lot of bandits are surrounding him, throw in either an AoE fear or fury, simple but very effective.
The Bound Battleaxe has the disadvantage of not allowing spell-casting without it being dispelled. However it does give you a much more offensive approach to combat and you can still summon support before summoning the battleaxe. There is another way around this though: Durnehviir. You can summon him without dispelling your battleaxe and he'll even summon 3 minions to take the heat off you. Durnehviir also suits the supportive/DoT aspect of this build by using his Drain Vitality shout (which does DoT) and as stated before, his three Soul Cairn summons.
Heavy armor is taken mainly for looks, its higher AR (especially noticeable due to the lack of smithing), and the fact that it won't slow us down due to our use of the Steed Stone. Orcish armor looks imposing and fits this build perfectly. It isn't wholly good or evil, just like the character itself. It is also available at a relatively low level, so you can get your final kit together early.
Level 25 Perkspread
Level 45 Perkspread
The Forms
Thanks to the Steed Stone's power of allowing us to carry several weightless armor sets for certain situations, both have their advantages and disadvantages, but they're diverse enough to keep combat fresh and overcome the other's weaknesses.
The Puppeteer
This 'form' is focused on sowing chaos, raising the dead (or summoning them outright), and slowly killing enemies with his barbed shield or poisonous magic.
Combat: Start by first casting your summons (mostly based on situation, if it's a dragon, I would suggest one mistman for when it is flying around, and a wrathmen for when it lands). After you have your summons out, use your fury spells to keep enemies from focusing on you (fear spells are also helpful at this, especially if they get caught in a corner). Next you need to build the DoT, this can be done with two methods, the Targe and the Poison Rune. They both have distinct advantages; the Targe will do less damage, but it will stagger the enemy, which will let your summons get in a couple free shots; or the poison rune which does 6x the damage of the Targe, but it doesn't stagger them. Summoning Durnehvirr will give you a total of 5 summons, though be warned when bashing, one hit will turn Durehvirr's summon against you, so I heavily suggest you use the Poison Rune when his summons are around. The Poison Rune and Illusion spells do not work on undead or automatons (I didn't take Master of the Mind perk so I wouldn't accidentally fear my undead), luckily the weightless battleaxe used by the Berzerker will be able to stunlock undead and automatons easily. Muffle was used every once in awhile to get close to an enemy and set up for a pincer attack, but do not put perks into sneak, it's used scarcely and Muffle will make up for the lack of perks in the skills itself.
Key Enchantments: The best enchantments for this form are fortify illusion, fortify restoration, and fortify magicka. Conjuration is typically only use twice where as illusion and restoration will be used throughout the fight.
The Berzerker
This form spurns the use of illusion spells and the poison rune, instead opting to go all out and rely on your massive health pool, health regeneration, and weightless battleaxe (tons of staggering power attacks) to survive.
Combat: The huge health pool and high health regeneration are used to make up for the lack of easy healing, they also support each other since a higher health pool increases your base health regeneration. This form is where Durnehviir really shines, being able to summon him without dispelling your battleaxe is a huge plus and his summons will be conjured to assist you as well. This path is a lot more straightforward and is a nice break from the slow methodical approach of the Puppeteer. This form's weakness is a large number of enemies due to his lack of crowd control (didn't take sweep so I wouldn't piss off Durnehviir's summons), luckily that situation is absolutely perfect for the Puppeteer!
Key Enchantments: Fortify health and health regeneration are far and away the most important enchantments for this form. They make up for the form's lack of high AR/shield and the lack of easy healing. Fortify heavy armor and two-handed would also be beneficial, though they're not as important as the health and health regeneration.
Closing Notes
And that's the build, I had a lot of fun with this one. It's versatile and very powerful, able to overcome any situation. My biggest worry with this build was that the skills wouldn't level evenly, but much to my surprise, they were all almost exactly the same (bar maybe heavy armor).
*I would also like to thank Vazgen for the screenshots, he did a fantastic job. Sorry for making it an enchanting-heavy build, Vaz.
*
*I would also like to thank Henson for passing around ideas, especially regarding the name and armor selection*
Greetings and bienvenue, everyone. This build is the result of several ideas starting with a leader of a werewolf pack, to an ancient Nordic king, to finally a monster of decay, death, and pure power. I present to you... The Warmonger.
The Warmonger is an ancient Altmeri warlord. He is equally skilled in subterfuge, debilitating and poisonous magic, the raising of dead souls, and barbarian like tactics. He is not good or evil, he is an efficient and ruthless mercenary who seeks to sate his lust for battle and challenges. The inspiration for this build came from my love of DoT, the fact that I have never used the poison rune, and a certain bonus granted by the Steed Stone.
Race: Altmer~ Their +50 bonus to magicka is very helpful, as is their Highborn power. They also have a tall and domineering appearance, especially when wearing the the bulky and brutal looking Orcish armor.
Stone: Steed Stone, this stone is crucial to the build as it allows us to carry multiples of a single set of armor (this is nothing new, it's a decently well-known trick).
Equipment: Two sets of self-enchanted Orcish armor. Bound Battleaxe.
Skills: Conjuration, Illusion, Two-Handed, Restoration, Heavy Armor, and Enchanting.
Shouts: There is only one shout I used enough to mention; Summon Durnehviir.
The Build
Probably the most important skill for this build is Enchanting as it allows you to make your two specialized sets of armor. It'll also cutdown the cost of the poison rune early on and the higher level summons early on. This skill should raise very easily given the inherent soul trap of the Bound Battleaxe. I picked up the Black Star, this allowed me to raise Enchanting very quickly.
The Block skill was used in conjunction with summons, the poison rune, and illusion spells. This would allow you to cause mayhem and massive amounts of DoT, while still being in the heat of the battle. The combination of the Targe and the Poison Rune can really add up, especially when focused on a single tough enemy. For instance, bandit chiefs can be stunlocked (respite and targe of the blooded) and slowly dying by DoT, all while being attacked by your summons/his allies).
Illusion is used to cause disarray in enemies ranks. Causing them to attack each other instead of you or your summons (but mostly you) is extremely helpful. A great tactic to use is get all the bandits to attack their chief and stunlock him/her with shield bashes (don't forget it'll do DoT). Another great tactic is summon a wrathman and when a lot of bandits are surrounding him, throw in either an AoE fear or fury, simple but very effective.
The Bound Battleaxe has the disadvantage of not allowing spell-casting without it being dispelled. However it does give you a much more offensive approach to combat and you can still summon support before summoning the battleaxe. There is another way around this though: Durnehviir. You can summon him without dispelling your battleaxe and he'll even summon 3 minions to take the heat off you. Durnehviir also suits the supportive/DoT aspect of this build by using his Drain Vitality shout (which does DoT) and as stated before, his three Soul Cairn summons.
Heavy armor is taken mainly for looks, its higher AR (especially noticeable due to the lack of smithing), and the fact that it won't slow us down due to our use of the Steed Stone. Orcish armor looks imposing and fits this build perfectly. It isn't wholly good or evil, just like the character itself. It is also available at a relatively low level, so you can get your final kit together early.
Level 25 Perkspread
Level 45 Perkspread
The Forms
Thanks to the Steed Stone's power of allowing us to carry several weightless armor sets for certain situations, both have their advantages and disadvantages, but they're diverse enough to keep combat fresh and overcome the other's weaknesses.
The Puppeteer
This 'form' is focused on sowing chaos, raising the dead (or summoning them outright), and slowly killing enemies with his barbed shield or poisonous magic.
Combat: Start by first casting your summons (mostly based on situation, if it's a dragon, I would suggest one mistman for when it is flying around, and a wrathmen for when it lands). After you have your summons out, use your fury spells to keep enemies from focusing on you (fear spells are also helpful at this, especially if they get caught in a corner). Next you need to build the DoT, this can be done with two methods, the Targe and the Poison Rune. They both have distinct advantages; the Targe will do less damage, but it will stagger the enemy, which will let your summons get in a couple free shots; or the poison rune which does 6x the damage of the Targe, but it doesn't stagger them. Summoning Durnehvirr will give you a total of 5 summons, though be warned when bashing, one hit will turn Durehvirr's summon against you, so I heavily suggest you use the Poison Rune when his summons are around. The Poison Rune and Illusion spells do not work on undead or automatons (I didn't take Master of the Mind perk so I wouldn't accidentally fear my undead), luckily the weightless battleaxe used by the Berzerker will be able to stunlock undead and automatons easily. Muffle was used every once in awhile to get close to an enemy and set up for a pincer attack, but do not put perks into sneak, it's used scarcely and Muffle will make up for the lack of perks in the skills itself.
Key Enchantments: The best enchantments for this form are fortify illusion, fortify restoration, and fortify magicka. Conjuration is typically only use twice where as illusion and restoration will be used throughout the fight.
The Berzerker
This form spurns the use of illusion spells and the poison rune, instead opting to go all out and rely on your massive health pool, health regeneration, and weightless battleaxe (tons of staggering power attacks) to survive.
Combat: The huge health pool and high health regeneration are used to make up for the lack of easy healing, they also support each other since a higher health pool increases your base health regeneration. This form is where Durnehviir really shines, being able to summon him without dispelling your battleaxe is a huge plus and his summons will be conjured to assist you as well. This path is a lot more straightforward and is a nice break from the slow methodical approach of the Puppeteer. This form's weakness is a large number of enemies due to his lack of crowd control (didn't take sweep so I wouldn't piss off Durnehviir's summons), luckily that situation is absolutely perfect for the Puppeteer!
Key Enchantments: Fortify health and health regeneration are far and away the most important enchantments for this form. They make up for the form's lack of high AR/shield and the lack of easy healing. Fortify heavy armor and two-handed would also be beneficial, though they're not as important as the health and health regeneration.
Closing Notes
And that's the build, I had a lot of fun with this one. It's versatile and very powerful, able to overcome any situation. My biggest worry with this build was that the skills wouldn't level evenly, but much to my surprise, they were all almost exactly the same (bar maybe heavy armor).
*I would also like to thank Vazgen for the screenshots, he did a fantastic job. Sorry for making it an enchanting-heavy build, Vaz.*
*I would also like to thank Henson for passing around ideas, especially regarding the name and armor selection*
Well, I guess, it's fitting for monster of decay, death and power though 
