Ebony Armor! It’s so awesome! So I’ve incorporated it into some ideas that I had been having. Then mix it with badass Destruction skills, Atronachs, and an insane Blocking skill and you’ve got......
The Dark Apprentice
“It was said a dark character lurks in these halls.
He was once an Imperial. Not now. He must be a living, walking hell. He fought in the Dragon War. He was once a commander apparently….
He also was picked to scout areas for incoming dragons. History said that he ran as quick as a dragon could fly. He was the savoir of traveling camps that used to transport goods. One particular day he was scouting one of those dreaded dragon nests. This was on the coast of Cyrodiil and Skyrim.
But back to the story.
This dragon nest was different, much different. I read a book once that said it was like a fortress that was on a field of dry, cracked mud. So this man got closer and closer to the nest. I imagine he was young and ignorant as he got too close and was seen by a Legendary Dragon, which is worth of a tale some other day. This dragon used a shout that was once used on one of my most dearest friends, a member of the Blades like me and you. His name was Kain. This shout damages stamina and magicka for a period of time. It makes your legs feel like jelly but also works like the unrelenting force shout. So the Imperial falls backwards and falls into a crack in the Earth! How lucky and unlucky at the same time eh? This crack led to a small cave opening. The Imperial evaded the dragon in the cave. So he had no option to go down it. At the end was a vile of liquid, a potion if you like. The Imperial took it. He was reduced to a crawl due to the dragon’s shout. The young man must have mistaken it for a stamina potion or had the curiosity to drink it all! How foolish.
This potion is now unknown and most probably unobtainable. But the effects of it are widely known by anyone who knows the tale, which is very few by the way. This potion makes you forget your former self and replaces it with a dark mind, covered in shadows. No one should experience it. It is supposed to turn anyone absolute evil and serve as an apprentice for the maker of the potion. It’s a poison if you ask me but that is what the book said. But this Imperial, he half resisted it. This was shown when an unknown source of pure evil gave him some black, armor made by ebony and access to thralls to fight for him permanently to accompany his new found power. He did except the offer but then betrayed this source. Huh? The source? No one knows that either. It could have been Morag Bal, maybe Clavicus Vile, could even have been Alduin! He might have wanted a new dragon priest, who knows? I can’t remember much else. Except he once tried to attack Tiber Septim but failed and was brought here. Why? No one knows that either, not even the blades.”
-Esbern talking to Delphine at the entrance of Sky Haven Temple-
Race: Imperial
Stats ratio: 2/2/1
Stone: Lord
Major Skills: Block, Conjuration, Destruction
Minor Skills: Enchanting, Alteration, Heavy Armour
Armor: Full Ebony Armor
Staves: Conjure Flame Atronach, Conjure Storm Atronach,
Conjure Frost Atronach
Shouts: Marked for Death, Slow Time
Main spells:
Paralyze
Wall of Flame
Wall of Storms
Wall of Frost
Storm Thrall
Frost Thrall
Flame Thrall
Quests:
A Scroll For Anska – To get Vokun. (Do this at a very early level.)
· Dark Brotherhood quest-line.
· Pieces of the Past – This should be done at around level 25 as you could get Ebony Armor earlier than expected. (Very rare though.
College of Winterhold quest-line.
· The rest of the Daedric quests. (Pieces of the Past is a priority in the terms of Daedric quests.)
· Most miscellaneous quests.
· Bounty quests
Level 30 Perkspread
The Build
The Dark Apprentice has been shut away for so long that he has effectively turned into a Draugr. Because of this, he always covers his face to hide the fact that he is a monster. The potion allowed him to become immortal but still be prone to skin decay. (I am technically saying that he will turn into a living skeleton in the next thousand years!)
All worship of Talos is despised by The Dark Apprentice. It was announced that he attacked Tiber Septim but this was not true. Tiber was actually hunting down the Apprentice to find out about the unknown potion he drunk and the Apprentice retaliated but he was eventually captured. Tiber sent him to the blades to be kept safe and for them to get information on the potion that made a human immortal. He never got it though. The blades scattered, and the Thalmor left him to die. Without knowing that he was immortal. He managed to break the chains holding him and made Sky Haven Temple his home. He liked the dark, because he could not see himself.
The whole point of this build is to be emotionless. When I was testing the build out I tried to never act with emotion. I especially liked it when Bethesda added the ‘(Remain Silent option)’ in the Dark Brotherhood quest-line, if it ever comes up, press on it.
Whenever anyone asks for help he will do it without asking any questions. I enjoyed feeling like a robot, I have no idea why though. Kill this person, OK. Deliver these ingredients, OK. Just say yes to everything. But aim for the quests that I have listed.
Armor Enchantments
Ebony Helmet of Extreme Destruction- Destruction spells cost 22% less to cast.
Necklace of Revival - Health regenerates 50% faster.
Ebony Armor of Extreme Alteration- Alteration spells cost 22% less to cast.
Ring of Peerless Conjuration - Conjuration spells cost 25% less to cast.
Ebony Boots of Fire Abatement- Increases Fire Resistance by 60%.
Targe of the Blooded- When bashing, does 3 points of bleeding damage for 5 seconds
(All of the above can be brought or found as loot. Or find different items with the same enchantments and enchant your original gear!)
NOTE: These can be quite rare, but try to look for them as much as you can. If you can't find them though, try to get weaker variants.
I’ve left out Ebony Gauntlets because there are no loot-able (or enchant-able) gauntlets that increase the skills The Dark Apprentice uses. Most enchanted Ebony Armor will appear around level 33 and un-enchanted at level 32. I’ve picked to reduce Destruction and Alteration costs because of the use of one of the Wall spells and Paralyze. You can obtain The Targe of the Blooded at the end of the Dwemer ruin Alftand.
Combat
Paralyze and one wall spell of your choosing will be the spells you focus on most. Then two Thralls of your choosing. I picked Flame Wall for my wall spell and Storm/Frost for the two Thralls. This gives me a variety of damage, to each pool (Magicka, Health and Stamina) to cripple my opponents early.
The method when a battle starts is to equip the paralyze spell in the right hand and leave your shield on you. Use the paralysis spell as many times as you need the replace it with a wall spell. (NOTE: Switch wall spells depending on the enemy. (E.g. Flame wall against Giants).
While your enemy is paralyzed aim the wall spell at their feet and use it. the wall spell will stay there for a certain amount of time depending on how long you spray on the ground. Also keep bashing with the Targe of the Blooded to inflict more damage over the seconds. (NOTE: If you use the Slow time shout, the damage per second will stay the same which makes it much more deadly.)
If the paralysis spell is resisted, stand your ground and keep using your wall spell. If the enemy does a power attack, be sure to bash and even that will do damage. If you start to get dangerously close to dying hide behind on of your thralls or drink a health potion.
Early level
Armor
Vokun- Conjuration, Illusion and Alteration spells cost 20% less magicka to cast.
Steel Helmet
Steel Armor
Steel Nordic Gauntlets
Steel Shin Boots
Targe of the Blooded
Try to get the enchantments of weaker varieties than the ones that you need to get for the Ebony Armor.
As soon as you leave Helgen get the armor above then go to the college and enter the Midden. Immediately head to the Atronach Forge after you collect the items below to make the Spell Tomes you want.
(NOTE: you will need these items)
Spell Tome: Conjure Flame Atronach
- 1 Ruined Book
- 1 Fire Salts
- 1 Dragon's Tongue
- 1 Bear Pelt
Spell Tome: Conjure Frost Atronach
- 1 Ruined Book
- 1 Frost Salts
- 1 Frost Mirriam
- 1 Ice Wolf Pelt
Spell Tome: Conjure Storm Atronach
- 1 Ruined Book
- 1 Void Salts
- 1 Deathbell
- 1 Mammoth Tusk
Be aware of the Ice wraith, at low levels they can be quite hard to defeat. When you get to the forge, you’ll need to put certain items into the Offering box. Put in what it says above for each individual tome. These tomes you will use throughout your early game time. Partner an Atronach with a destruction spell of your choosing. Mine was Sparks.
Special Moves
Marked
An enemy won’t be able to move with enormous damage is dealt per second.
Marked for death + Wall of Flames/Frost/Storms
Double-attack
The surface of the skin melts but freezes at the same time.
Wall of Flames+ Wall of Frost
Spike Wounds
The enemy bleeds uncontrollably in such a short time.
Slow Time + Shield Bash
Special thanks
DeviantART and Nexus mods for the pictures. (That's why the character has a cape.)
Also to Mason for the tutorial on how to do various things on photoshop. (It helped me to modify some of the pictures here!)
Feel free to like and comment!
Ebony Armor! It’s so awesome! So I’ve incorporated it into some ideas that I had been having. Then mix it with badass Destruction skills, Atronachs, and an insane Blocking skill and you’ve got......
The Dark Apprentice
“It was said a dark character lurks in these halls.
He was once an Imperial. Not now. He must be a living, walking hell. He fought in the Dragon War. He was once a commander apparently….
He also was picked to scout areas for incoming dragons. History said that he ran as quick as a dragon could fly. He was the savoir of traveling camps that used to transport goods. One particular day he was scouting one of those dreaded dragon nests. This was on the coast of Cyrodiil and Skyrim.
But back to the story.
This dragon nest was different, much different. I read a book once that said it was like a fortress that was on a field of dry, cracked mud. So this man got closer and closer to the nest. I imagine he was young and ignorant as he got too close and was seen by a Legendary Dragon, which is worth of a tale some other day. This dragon used a shout that was once used on one of my most dearest friends, a member of the Blades like me and you. His name was Kain. This shout damages stamina and magicka for a period of time. It makes your legs feel like jelly but also works like the unrelenting force shout. So the Imperial falls backwards and falls into a crack in the Earth! How lucky and unlucky at the same time eh? This crack led to a small cave opening. The Imperial evaded the dragon in the cave. So he had no option to go down it. At the end was a vile of liquid, a potion if you like. The Imperial took it. He was reduced to a crawl due to the dragon’s shout. The young man must have mistaken it for a stamina potion or had the curiosity to drink it all! How foolish.
This potion is now unknown and most probably unobtainable. But the effects of it are widely known by anyone who knows the tale, which is very few by the way. This potion makes you forget your former self and replaces it with a dark mind, covered in shadows. No one should experience it. It is supposed to turn anyone absolute evil and serve as an apprentice for the maker of the potion. It’s a poison if you ask me but that is what the book said. But this Imperial, he half resisted it. This was shown when an unknown source of pure evil gave him some black, armor made by ebony and access to thralls to fight for him permanently to accompany his new found power. He did except the offer but then betrayed this source. Huh? The source? No one knows that either. It could have been Morag Bal, maybe Clavicus Vile, could even have been Alduin! He might have wanted a new dragon priest, who knows? I can’t remember much else. Except he once tried to attack Tiber Septim but failed and was brought here. Why? No one knows that either, not even the blades.”
-Esbern talking to Delphine at the entrance of Sky Haven Temple-
Race: Imperial
Stats ratio: 2/2/1
Stone: Lord
Major Skills: Block, Conjuration, Destruction
Minor Skills: Enchanting, Alteration, Heavy Armour
Armor: Full Ebony Armor
Staves: Conjure Flame Atronach, Conjure Storm Atronach,
Conjure Frost Atronach
Shouts: Marked for Death, Slow Time
Main spells:
Paralyze
Wall of Flame
Wall of Storms
Wall of Frost
Storm Thrall
Frost Thrall
Flame Thrall
Quests:
A Scroll For Anska – To get Vokun. (Do this at a very early level.)
· Dark Brotherhood quest-line.
· Pieces of the Past – This should be done at around level 25 as you could get Ebony Armor earlier than expected. (Very rare though.
College of Winterhold quest-line.
· The rest of the Daedric quests. (Pieces of the Past is a priority in the terms of Daedric quests.)
· Most miscellaneous quests.
· Bounty quests
Level 30 Perkspread
The Build
The Dark Apprentice has been shut away for so long that he has effectively turned into a Draugr. Because of this, he always covers his face to hide the fact that he is a monster. The potion allowed him to become immortal but still be prone to skin decay. (I am technically saying that he will turn into a living skeleton in the next thousand years!)
All worship of Talos is despised by The Dark Apprentice. It was announced that he attacked Tiber Septim but this was not true. Tiber was actually hunting down the Apprentice to find out about the unknown potion he drunk and the Apprentice retaliated but he was eventually captured. Tiber sent him to the blades to be kept safe and for them to get information on the potion that made a human immortal. He never got it though. The blades scattered, and the Thalmor left him to die. Without knowing that he was immortal. He managed to break the chains holding him and made Sky Haven Temple his home. He liked the dark, because he could not see himself.
The whole point of this build is to be emotionless. When I was testing the build out I tried to never act with emotion. I especially liked it when Bethesda added the ‘(Remain Silent option)’ in the Dark Brotherhood quest-line, if it ever comes up, press on it.
Whenever anyone asks for help he will do it without asking any questions. I enjoyed feeling like a robot, I have no idea why though. Kill this person, OK. Deliver these ingredients, OK. Just say yes to everything. But aim for the quests that I have listed.
Armor Enchantments
Ebony Helmet of Extreme Destruction- Destruction spells cost 22% less to cast.
Necklace of Revival - Health regenerates 50% faster.
Ebony Armor of Extreme Alteration- Alteration spells cost 22% less to cast.
Ring of Peerless Conjuration - Conjuration spells cost 25% less to cast.
Ebony Boots of Fire Abatement- Increases Fire Resistance by 60%.
Targe of the Blooded- When bashing, does 3 points of bleeding damage for 5 seconds
(All of the above can be brought or found as loot. Or find different items with the same enchantments and enchant your original gear!)
NOTE: These can be quite rare, but try to look for them as much as you can. If you can't find them though, try to get weaker variants.
I’ve left out Ebony Gauntlets because there are no loot-able (or enchant-able) gauntlets that increase the skills The Dark Apprentice uses. Most enchanted Ebony Armor will appear around level 33 and un-enchanted at level 32. I’ve picked to reduce Destruction and Alteration costs because of the use of one of the Wall spells and Paralyze. You can obtain The Targe of the Blooded at the end of the Dwemer ruin Alftand.
Combat
Paralyze and one wall spell of your choosing will be the spells you focus on most. Then two Thralls of your choosing. I picked Flame Wall for my wall spell and Storm/Frost for the two Thralls. This gives me a variety of damage, to each pool (Magicka, Health and Stamina) to cripple my opponents early.
The method when a battle starts is to equip the paralyze spell in the right hand and leave your shield on you. Use the paralysis spell as many times as you need the replace it with a wall spell. (NOTE: Switch wall spells depending on the enemy. (E.g. Flame wall against Giants).
While your enemy is paralyzed aim the wall spell at their feet and use it. the wall spell will stay there for a certain amount of time depending on how long you spray on the ground. Also keep bashing with the Targe of the Blooded to inflict more damage over the seconds. (NOTE: If you use the Slow time shout, the damage per second will stay the same which makes it much more deadly.)
If the paralysis spell is resisted, stand your ground and keep using your wall spell. If the enemy does a power attack, be sure to bash and even that will do damage. If you start to get dangerously close to dying hide behind on of your thralls or drink a health potion.
Early level
Armor
Vokun- Conjuration, Illusion and Alteration spells cost 20% less magicka to cast.
Steel Helmet
Steel Armor
Steel Nordic Gauntlets
Steel Shin Boots
Targe of the Blooded
Try to get the enchantments of weaker varieties than the ones that you need to get for the Ebony Armor.
As soon as you leave Helgen get the armor above then go to the college and enter the Midden. Immediately head to the Atronach Forge after you collect the items below to make the Spell Tomes you want.
(NOTE: you will need these items)
Spell Tome: Conjure Flame Atronach
- 1 Ruined Book
- 1 Fire Salts
- 1 Dragon's Tongue
- 1 Bear Pelt
Spell Tome: Conjure Frost Atronach
- 1 Ruined Book
- 1 Frost Salts
- 1 Frost Mirriam
- 1 Ice Wolf Pelt
Spell Tome: Conjure Storm Atronach
- 1 Ruined Book
- 1 Void Salts
- 1 Deathbell
- 1 Mammoth Tusk
Be aware of the Ice wraith, at low levels they can be quite hard to defeat. When you get to the forge, you’ll need to put certain items into the Offering box. Put in what it says above for each individual tome. These tomes you will use throughout your early game time. Partner an Atronach with a destruction spell of your choosing. Mine was Sparks.
Special Moves
Marked
An enemy won’t be able to move with enormous damage is dealt per second.
Marked for death + Wall of Flames/Frost/Storms
Double-attack
The surface of the skin melts but freezes at the same time.
Wall of Flames+ Wall of Frost
Spike Wounds
The enemy bleeds uncontrollably in such a short time.
Slow Time + Shield Bash
Special thanks
DeviantART and Nexus mods for the pictures. (That's why the character has a cape.)
Also to Mason for the tutorial on how to do various things on photoshop. (It helped me to modify some of the pictures here!)
Feel free to like and comment!
