Big weapons are awesome. Nothing makes you feel more like a rock star than skewering some hapless bandit on a massive great sword! But there’s a huge problem—two handed weapons are friggin' slow, and trading blows with faster opponents during power attacks really sucks.
I can hear you saying right now, “Totally, SirFish, it blows! But there’s nothing to be done, it’s just the way things are…” WRONG! What if I told you that there was a build out there that slowed your opponents down to a crawl by dealing MASSIVE frost damage, AND while wielding a MASSIVE great sword? Well, there is such a build—the Winter Knight.
The Winter Knight
No one knows where he came from, or what he wants but anyone who has seen him in action knows what the Winter Knight is capable of. His swordsmanship is excellent, but far more frightening is the necromantic blade he carries. Each slash of that hideous weapon leave horrific, frost bitten wounds upon his enemies. And as the fight goes on, the Winter Knight grows stronger as his foes grow weaker, and weaker, and weaker...
They die like flies, but death is not the end for them. The Winter Knight uses his command of ice and death to resurrect them as undead bombs, primed to explode in a sickening display of frost magic and necromancy should any dare approach their master.
He's got ice in his veins, and he's not afraid to use it.
Race: Nord or Orc. If you’re a min/maxer I’d recommend Orc, since their skill bonuses sync more closely with the chosen skill set, but from a role play perspective the Winter Knight is totally a Nord.
Stone: Atronach
Skills: Destruction, Enchanting, Two handed, Smithing, Heavy Armor, Block
Armor: Dukaan (Dragon Priest mask that increases frost damage/resistance), Enchanted Ebony Armor, Aetherial Crown (with Ritual Stone).
Jewelry: Ahzidal’s Ring of Necromancy, Talos Amulet.
Blessing: Talos (this build is shout-heavy, hence both the blessing and neck slot)
Weapons: Blade of Leeching Cold (Stahlrim Greatsword enchanted with Frost Damage and Absorb Health).
Shouts: Ice form, Frost Breath (eventually replaces Ice Form once upgraded with Dragonborn Frost, which adds a freeze effect to the shout), Soul Tear, and Become Ethereal.
Essential Quests: College of Winterhold, A New Source of Stahlrim, Unearthed (for Ahzidal’s Ring of Necromancy), Lost to the Ages (for the Aetherial Crown), The Black Star (this build is heavy on the enchanting)
Gameplay
The Winter Knight is fundamentally about melee combat augmented with frost magic. The idea is to capitalize on the pseudo paralysis and slow effects of frost damage, combined with the more reliable Ice Form shout as crowd control.
But the real potency of the build comes from a heavily augmented Stahlrim great sword, which is enchanted with Frost Damage and Absorb Health. You see, every single perk for increasing Frost Damage output has been taken—Frost Enchanter, Augmented Frost and Deep Freeze. Dukaan—the dragon priest mask—is worn and increases frost damage by twenty five percent. Even more damage comes in the form of Stahlrim weaponry--frost enchants are twenty five percent more effective on Stahlrim. These effects stack to create a seriously powerful weapon.
But wait, there’s more! By pairing the health absorption enchant with frost damage, its output is also increased via the Frost Enchanter perk. It now heals for 30 points of health, just as much as a fully-powered Ebony Blade! You should have no need for the Restoration tree, though in the early days you will probably need to take a nip now and then from some health potions.
Moving onto combat, typically you will open by applying frost cloak, pulling with a frost rune, and then switching to your great sword. Once you have engaged your opponent(s), you can incapacitate them with Ice Form. After they are on the ground, power attack to your heart’s content. Even after the effect breaks, it still takes them a few seconds to get up, during which you can power attack again.
Most opponents will not survive this. If you are facing off against particularly nasty targets (or they are frost immune), your sword is equipped with a very potent absorb health enchant. You should have no problem staying alive.
In the event that you are facing off against mages or archers, use Become Ethereal to close the gap and thereby mitigate the some of the damage. Remember, you are using the Atronach Stone, so magic won't hurt as much, but they still sting. And no one ever likes taking an arrow to the knee...
Additionally, this build makes limited use of summons by utilizing Ahzidal’s Ring of Necromancy. Its unique effect causes reanimated corpses to explode, dealing frost damage and dying upon taking damage. The use of this ring is detailed more specifically in the special moves section, but essentially you use either Soul Tear or the Aetherial Crown paired with the Ritual Stone to create (un)living frost bombs.
Not only is this cool, but it thematically fits very well with the Winter Knight’s style of combat, and makes you feel like Arthas himself, commanding a legion of undead who are just dying to die for you in a brilliant explosion of guts and frost magic (if you played Warcraft…if not ignore that last part).
The Perks of Being a Winter Knight
Two handed: This entire build revolves around two handed weapons, so you have to perk this tree. I used a great sword on my play through, but feel free to go with the war axe or great hammer. I didn’t take any weapon specialization, and didn’t need it. The Winter Knight pumps out so much damage, both physical and magical, that anything extra via weapon specs was unnecessary (plus math types say they are bad, anyway).
Destruction: The most important perks here are Augmented Frost and Deep Freeze. The additional damage stacks with your frost damage enchant, seriously beefing it up. Also, your two main spells, Frost Rune and Frost Cloak are going to come from here.
Enchanting: Frost Enchanter and Extra Effect are the two main perks. The Winter Knight’s great sword is enchanted with both Frost Damage and Absorb Health.
Heavy Armor: Not every single point of Juggernaut was needed. The armor cap can be reached quite easily with smithing. If you are having difficulty, make an armor set enchanted with fortify smithing and craft your armor. CAUTION! If you do make a smithing set, ONLY USE IT TO MAKE YOUR ARMOR! Otherwise you will craft a sword that is ridiculously overpowered and breaks the game.
Block: Your only healing comes from potions (hopefully won’t need them much) and your enchanted sword. Damage mitigation is a good thing!
Smithing: Take up to Ebony Smithing. The great thing about Ebony Smithing is that it allows you to craft both Ebony and Stahlrim weapons and armor. Yay for crafting! It's my favorite part of Skyrim!
Level 50 Perk Spread Stat Placement: 1/2/1
Special Moves
Flash Freeze: (Ice Form + Frost Cloak) Prior to opening combat, apply Frost Cloak. After engaging the opponent(s), use Ice Form in order to incapacitate them. At this point they are unable to defend and vulnerable to your power attacks. Dispatch them at your leisure. This is your primary attack, and is the reason for using the Talos Blessing and Amulet.
Improved Blizzard: (Frost Cloak + Become Ethereal + Blizzard ) Use frost cloak, then Become Ethereal. Starting aggro’ing bad guys. Once you’ve got 4-5 of them, cast Blizzard. If there’s anyone left standing, your sword will make short work of them.
An Important Note: Frost Resistance (FR) negatively impacts Blizzard's damage (40% FR reduces damage by 40%). Nord racials and Dukaan take FR to the 85% cap, meaning Blizzard will be quite weak. There are a few ways to work around this. If you are a PC player, use Unofficial Skyrim Patch* and it will fix the problem. Alternatively, if you are playing an Orc, remove Dukaan prior to casting Blizzard. If you want to be Nord and play on a console, you're out of luck. Play an Orc instead.
Frost Bomb: (Soul Tear + Ahzidal’s Ring of Necromancy) This ring causes any corpse reanimated by you to explode upon taking damage. Soul Tear does massive damage and reanimates anything killed by it. The reanimate effect lasts 60 seconds, so this is a great move to use as a finisher when you know there are more enemies close by. With an undead bomb at your side, you are sure to start your next fight with a bang!
Cluster Frost Bomb: ( Aetherial Crown with Ritual Stone + Azhidals Ring of Necromancy) If you read the previous special attack, then you can guess what this is—multiple raised undead who are prepped to explode! Each one detonates for fifty damage—not much by itself, but 4-5 explosions add up! I like to use this move right after an Improved Blizzard. The bad guys were so nice to die in a neat little pile at your feet, almost as if they wanted to be used as high ordnance explosives.
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the build!
Acknowledgements: Pictures courtesy of Blizzard and Game of Thrones. Also, I made heavy use of Mason’s formatting style. Mimicry is the highest form of flattery, right?
*Link to Unofficial Skyrim Patch
Big weapons are awesome. Nothing makes you feel more like a rock star than skewering some hapless bandit on a massive great sword! But there’s a huge problem—two handed weapons are friggin' slow, and trading blows with faster opponents during power attacks really sucks.
I can hear you saying right now, “Totally, SirFish, it blows! But there’s nothing to be done, it’s just the way things are…” WRONG! What if I told you that there was a build out there that slowed your opponents down to a crawl by dealing MASSIVE frost damage, AND while wielding a MASSIVE great sword? Well, there is such a build—the Winter Knight.
The Winter Knight
No one knows where he came from, or what he wants but anyone who has seen him in action knows what the Winter Knight is capable of. His swordsmanship is excellent, but far more frightening is the necromantic blade he carries. Each slash of that hideous weapon leave horrific, frost bitten wounds upon his enemies. And as the fight goes on, the Winter Knight grows stronger as his foes grow weaker, and weaker, and weaker...
They die like flies, but death is not the end for them. The Winter Knight uses his command of ice and death to resurrect them as undead bombs, primed to explode in a sickening display of frost magic and necromancy should any dare approach their master.
He's got ice in his veins, and he's not afraid to use it.
Race: Nord or Orc. If you’re a min/maxer I’d recommend Orc, since their skill bonuses sync more closely with the chosen skill set, but from a role play perspective the Winter Knight is totally a Nord.
Stone: Atronach
Skills: Destruction, Enchanting, Two handed, Smithing, Heavy Armor, Block
Armor: Dukaan (Dragon Priest mask that increases frost damage/resistance), Enchanted Ebony Armor, Aetherial Crown (with Ritual Stone).
Jewelry: Ahzidal’s Ring of Necromancy, Talos Amulet.
Blessing: Talos (this build is shout-heavy, hence both the blessing and neck slot)
Weapons: Blade of Leeching Cold (Stahlrim Greatsword enchanted with Frost Damage and Absorb Health).
Shouts: Ice form, Frost Breath (eventually replaces Ice Form once upgraded with Dragonborn Frost, which adds a freeze effect to the shout), Soul Tear, and Become Ethereal.
Essential Quests: College of Winterhold, A New Source of Stahlrim, Unearthed (for Ahzidal’s Ring of Necromancy), Lost to the Ages (for the Aetherial Crown), The Black Star (this build is heavy on the enchanting)
Gameplay
The Winter Knight is fundamentally about melee combat augmented with frost magic. The idea is to capitalize on the pseudo paralysis and slow effects of frost damage, combined with the more reliable Ice Form shout as crowd control.
But the real potency of the build comes from a heavily augmented Stahlrim great sword, which is enchanted with Frost Damage and Absorb Health. You see, every single perk for increasing Frost Damage output has been taken—Frost Enchanter, Augmented Frost and Deep Freeze. Dukaan—the dragon priest mask—is worn and increases frost damage by twenty five percent. Even more damage comes in the form of Stahlrim weaponry--frost enchants are twenty five percent more effective on Stahlrim. These effects stack to create a seriously powerful weapon.
But wait, there’s more! By pairing the health absorption enchant with frost damage, its output is also increased via the Frost Enchanter perk. It now heals for 30 points of health, just as much as a fully-powered Ebony Blade! You should have no need for the Restoration tree, though in the early days you will probably need to take a nip now and then from some health potions.
Moving onto combat, typically you will open by applying frost cloak, pulling with a frost rune, and then switching to your great sword. Once you have engaged your opponent(s), you can incapacitate them with Ice Form. After they are on the ground, power attack to your heart’s content. Even after the effect breaks, it still takes them a few seconds to get up, during which you can power attack again.
Most opponents will not survive this. If you are facing off against particularly nasty targets (or they are frost immune), your sword is equipped with a very potent absorb health enchant. You should have no problem staying alive.
In the event that you are facing off against mages or archers, use Become Ethereal to close the gap and thereby mitigate the some of the damage. Remember, you are using the Atronach Stone, so magic won't hurt as much, but they still sting. And no one ever likes taking an arrow to the knee...
Additionally, this build makes limited use of summons by utilizing Ahzidal’s Ring of Necromancy. Its unique effect causes reanimated corpses to explode, dealing frost damage and dying upon taking damage. The use of this ring is detailed more specifically in the special moves section, but essentially you use either Soul Tear or the Aetherial Crown paired with the Ritual Stone to create (un)living frost bombs.
Not only is this cool, but it thematically fits very well with the Winter Knight’s style of combat, and makes you feel like Arthas himself, commanding a legion of undead who are just dying to die for you in a brilliant explosion of guts and frost magic (if you played Warcraft…if not ignore that last part).
The Perks of Being a Winter Knight
Two handed: This entire build revolves around two handed weapons, so you have to perk this tree. I used a great sword on my play through, but feel free to go with the war axe or great hammer. I didn’t take any weapon specialization, and didn’t need it. The Winter Knight pumps out so much damage, both physical and magical, that anything extra via weapon specs was unnecessary (plus math types say they are bad, anyway).
Destruction: The most important perks here are Augmented Frost and Deep Freeze. The additional damage stacks with your frost damage enchant, seriously beefing it up. Also, your two main spells, Frost Rune and Frost Cloak are going to come from here.
Enchanting: Frost Enchanter and Extra Effect are the two main perks. The Winter Knight’s great sword is enchanted with both Frost Damage and Absorb Health.
Heavy Armor: Not every single point of Juggernaut was needed. The armor cap can be reached quite easily with smithing. If you are having difficulty, make an armor set enchanted with fortify smithing and craft your armor. CAUTION! If you do make a smithing set, ONLY USE IT TO MAKE YOUR ARMOR! Otherwise you will craft a sword that is ridiculously overpowered and breaks the game.
Block: Your only healing comes from potions (hopefully won’t need them much) and your enchanted sword. Damage mitigation is a good thing!
Smithing: Take up to Ebony Smithing. The great thing about Ebony Smithing is that it allows you to craft both Ebony and Stahlrim weapons and armor. Yay for crafting! It's my favorite part of Skyrim!
Level 50 Perk Spread Stat Placement: 1/2/1
Special Moves
Flash Freeze: (Ice Form + Frost Cloak) Prior to opening combat, apply Frost Cloak. After engaging the opponent(s), use Ice Form in order to incapacitate them. At this point they are unable to defend and vulnerable to your power attacks. Dispatch them at your leisure. This is your primary attack, and is the reason for using the Talos Blessing and Amulet.
Improved Blizzard: (Frost Cloak + Become Ethereal + Blizzard ) Use frost cloak, then Become Ethereal. Starting aggro’ing bad guys. Once you’ve got 4-5 of them, cast Blizzard. If there’s anyone left standing, your sword will make short work of them.
An Important Note: Frost Resistance (FR) negatively impacts Blizzard's damage (40% FR reduces damage by 40%). Nord racials and Dukaan take FR to the 85% cap, meaning Blizzard will be quite weak. There are a few ways to work around this. If you are a PC player, use Unofficial Skyrim Patch* and it will fix the problem. Alternatively, if you are playing an Orc, remove Dukaan prior to casting Blizzard. If you want to be Nord and play on a console, you're out of luck. Play an Orc instead.
Frost Bomb: (Soul Tear + Ahzidal’s Ring of Necromancy) This ring causes any corpse reanimated by you to explode upon taking damage. Soul Tear does massive damage and reanimates anything killed by it. The reanimate effect lasts 60 seconds, so this is a great move to use as a finisher when you know there are more enemies close by. With an undead bomb at your side, you are sure to start your next fight with a bang!
Cluster Frost Bomb: ( Aetherial Crown with Ritual Stone + Azhidals Ring of Necromancy) If you read the previous special attack, then you can guess what this is—multiple raised undead who are prepped to explode! Each one detonates for fifty damage—not much by itself, but 4-5 explosions add up! I like to use this move right after an Improved Blizzard. The bad guys were so nice to die in a neat little pile at your feet, almost as if they wanted to be used as high ordnance explosives.
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the build!
Acknowledgements: Pictures courtesy of Blizzard and Game of Thrones. Also, I made heavy use of Mason’s formatting style. Mimicry is the highest form of flattery, right?
*Link to Unofficial Skyrim Patch
