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Character Build: The Assassino

Tags: #Character Build Warrior  #Character Build Assassin  #Character Build No Crafting  #Race:Redguard  #Rank:Legendary  #Hall of Fame Build  #Miraak Build 
  • Member
    September 1, 2013

    A mysterious warrior from the Alik’r Desert, the Assassino’s motives are just as much a mystery as he himself is…

    His identity remains vague, but his prowess as both warrior and assassin are undeniable; he gives no reasoning for coming to Skyrim other than then claiming he has come to liberate the people at a bad time.

    With outlandish weapons and cunning skills with both blade and tongue, the Assassino is a true danger to any and all that may stand in his unknown crusade.

     

    Race: Redguard

    Standing Stone: Warrior -> Lord

    Stats: 0 / 1 / 1

    Major Skills: One-Handed, Light Armor, Block

    Minor Skills: Sneak, Archery, Speech

    Equipment: Linwe’s Hood, Vampire Armor (Light), Dawnguard Gauntlets, Dawnguard Boots

    Weapons: Blade’s Sword, Crossbow, Hidden Blade (Shiv)

    Quests: Thieve’s Guild, Main Quest, Dawnguard(Dawnguard), Dragonborn, Companions up to Proving Honor, The Forsworn Conspiracy, No One Escapes Cidna Mine, Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!

    The Build

    The Assassino build is a sort of swordsman-like character. Combining the warrior and assassin archetypes to create the ultimate killer. Motivated by an age-old oath to protect Tamriel or die in the process.

    Armored lightly for additional speed, the Assassino relies almost entirely on getting the first strike in. Using the appealing Blades Sword and Crossbow alongside the underrated Shiv while in combat, and complimenting them with blocking and sneaking skills. A high speech skill also makes for some interesting options when it comes to shops, similar to a very prominent and well-known assassin.

    Sneak plays the key defining role in the build. Combat is always preceded with a sneak attack from blade, sword, or dagger. Leaving plenty of different options as to how to handle a situation Whether planned out beforehand or improvised, stealth will always assist in a situation.

    Another strategy I used this time around was climbing up on things whenever I needed too. Pinging enemy bandits with my crossbow from the safety of a tall hill or basically air assassinating enemies from a piece of stone was a nice addition to the standard stealthy stuff. I tried going through dungeon backdoors when it was an option. Those bandits in Embershard never see it coming...

    Level 45 Perks

    The Assassino has a pretty straight-forward approach with perks. Suitable for those that want an action-packed playthrough. The build makes absolutely no use of crafting, and this becomes both a blessing and penalty. With crafting skills removed the playthrough becomes much more entertaining, but also hinders abilities at higher levels.

    Sneak is a much needed skill, it opens up additional opportunities in combat that essentially counterbalance any disadvantages of not making use of crafting skills for additional damage. It also saves a lot of worrying about the petite AR at lower levels. Thus making it both a combat and support skill.

    For aesthetic purposes block is used without a shield. This saves a lot of perks for other skills. The quick reflexes perk is used nicely to open up what I like to call counter attacks. Simply slip behind an enemy while they perform a power attack, and perform your own power attack. It is pretty damn awesome...

    Deadly Bash from the block perk tree works with the Crossbow to really make Archery the “stay the hell away” skill. Getting nice occasional staggers, criticals, and paralyzes can change the battle around in seconds. A nice way to get this started off is getting trained by Faendal..

    One-Handed is obviously the primary damage dealer. Buffing the blades sword and the shiv respectively.

    I chose to train Speech and Light armor with Revyn Sadri and Grelka respectively. These two skills are a real pain in the ass to level normally, so the training really helps to get them started out. Money isn't hard to come by with the character. Money was literally just weighing me down throughout the playthrough because I never needed anything I took or stole, so money for the training isn't really a concern.

    The Targets...

    Harkon: A dangerous ancient vampire, he is a mentally unstable and extremely powerful being bent on enslaving mortals.

    Elenwen: The leader of the Thalmor in Skyrim, this Altmer threatens the freedom of religion that all people should have. (Can be killed upon completion of Main Quest by Whirlwind Sprinting back into the Thalmor Embassy)

    Miraak: A once prominent Assassino betrayed the order in pursuit of knowledge and power. He's by far the most cunning of all our current contracts, and will likely prove to be a very difficult fight.

    Linwe: A once well known Assassino that has recently been corrupted mentally, stealing valuables from the dead. His band of thieve's also threatens our informants for the Guild.

    Astrid: Leader of the corrupt and disgusting band of assassin's known as the Dark Brotherhood. Her life and the lives of all her lackeys should be taken to better protect the people from cutthroats like them.

    Equipment

    With the equipment I aimed to keep the classic assassin look, but still manage to keep myself well defended. Combing the lightest colored almost white Vampire armor with Linwe's Hood makes for a good assassin look. Any gauntlets and boots work here really. I personally ran with Dawnguard ones for the majority of the playthrough for aesthetics, but the DB and Linwe's are both great choices as well for higher difficulties. All of this equipment can be obtained doing the Thieves Guild, Dawnguard, and Main quests.

    The Blades Sword is an easy to obtain weapon. Simply take it from the left wall of Delphines secret room. If you're feeling like destroying the roleplay, Fultheim at the Nightgate Inn also carries one. Bolar's Oathblade and Dragonbane are also both great to have for taking out Boss level enemies and Dragons each respectively at lower levels.

    The Shiv may seem like a mediocre little weapon to have for a master of assassinations, but it's extremely light weight makes for some quick take down stealth attacks. More than two can be obtained during the Forsworn Conspiracy, no matter which way you choose to go with it. Having a pair of the DB Gauntlets after destroying them opens up lots of nice attacks, not many enemies are gonna be able to withstand the three hit dual wielding power attacks that deal 600+ damage while in sneak mode.

    Crossbows are quite possibly my favorite weapon in the game. They're essentially bows with a slight stagger effect that synergizes nicely with Power Shot, and after being enhanced are basically the equivalent to long range maces.

    Credits

    Every screenshot you see here was taken by Zimbu.

    A big thank you to Mason and Ben for picking out the flaws in the original build.

    Update: Thank you to everyone who liked it for getting it to legendary!

    Update: PCOutcast has done a playthrough of the build on his Youtube channel, here's a link to that if you're interested in seeing the build in action.

  • Member
    September 1, 2013

    The Shards of Aetherius Bryn! The Shards of Aetherius!

  • September 1, 2013

    Fair enough.  But then what makes it different from other assassin builds, aside from backstory?

  • Member
    September 1, 2013

    Last I checked, all other AC builds didn't work out like this one at all other than maybe a similar look. This is different, and I'm really not getting how your seeing it as the same thing. The what makes it different comments are all the same, they're never really helpful because they make no sense IMO.

  • September 1, 2013
    those are minerals that can be made into a staff, shield, and cro- Oh my God they are pieces of eden...
  • September 1, 2013

    This assassin build you've made, follows the exact same template of all other non magic using assassins.  I'm not talking about AC anymore.  I'm asking why would someone pick this assassin over others.  They could just as easily play one of those other assassins and say oh I'm an assassin restoring my order in skyrim.  Your assassin is different from Ponty's Nightingale Swordsman and Averywhere's Weaponmaster only by the margin of one skill in each instance.  After that you are solely relying on your background story being a big enough factor to get people to play it.

    This is, yes, when my frustration occurred, because we have seen other AC builds and it has been done.  You say your difference is that you are not emulating Altair or Ezio, but it is still AC.  It seems almost unfair that we've seen so many of them fall, but now you make one and because it's your name on it and people have gotten to know you well enough rather than joe shmoe new guy that wanted to share the build he has been playing, and now it will do well.

    Seems unfair.

  • September 1, 2013
    Seraph, quit causing drama. Just accept you dont like/care for the build, and forget about it.
  • Member
    September 1, 2013
    You get my like for the outfit alone! Awesome stealth build, very true to the AC assassin style. Speech is a great idea, reminds me of Ezio in AC Revelations investing in stores and making more money and getting more well known. I have a couple of questions/slight improvement suggestions though. Firstly, was the shiv actually viable at later levels? It can't do much more than 10 damage with all the one handed perks, and that only means 150 sneak attack damage with Assassin's Blade. And in combat, would it work to just pick up an enemy's weapon (either by disarming them or killing them) and dual wield that weapon with your sword? Similar to Altair/Ezio? Then drop the weapon when the battle is finished. And you might want to say that Elenwen is essential until the Season Unending or the Civil War and Diplomatic Immunity are complete. Final thing, there's a minor spelling error in the backstory: it says "wisess", not wisest.
  • Member
    September 1, 2013

    I rolled with dual shivs (Hidden Blades) for most of the playthrough, so damage wasn't really much of an issue. A sneak attack dual power attack dealt plenty of damage.

  • Member
    September 1, 2013

    So you're saying that the only reason people like this build is because I'm not a random new guy? I guess the Prophet didn't deserve any likes either...