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Character Build: The Demon Jester

Tags: #Character Build Dual-Wield  #Character Build Vampire  #Race:Dunmer  #Rank:Mythic  #Character Build Nighblade 
  • February 3, 2014

         Hello everyone! This is my first build on The Skyrim Blog, so please tell me what you think! It'd be greatly appreciated. I've been playing Skyrim pretty much since day one and I've been experimenting with all sorts of role-play builds. I may make more if this one gets some attention. Without further ado, I give you..... 

    The Demon Jester

    AKA: Shaco

    Music---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBAdSGeTocc <----Music

         Most would say that death isn't funny. It isn't, unless you're Shaco - then it's hysterical. He is Skyrim's first fully functioning homicidal comic; he jests until someone dies, and then he laughs. The figure that has come to be known as the Demon Jester is an enigma. No one fully agrees from whence he came, and Shaco never offers any details on his own. A popular belief is that Shaco is not of Tamriel - that he is a thing summoned from a dark and twisted world. Still others believe that he is the demonic manifestation of humanity's dark urges and therefore cannot be reasoned with. The most plausible belief is that Shaco is an assassin for hire, left to his own lunatic devices until his services are needed. Shaco certainly has proven himself to be a cunning individual, evading authorities at every turn who might seek him for questioning for some horrendous, law-breaking atrocity. While such scuttlebutt might reassure the native inhabitants of Skyrim, it seems unimaginable that such a malfeasant figure is allowed to remain at large.

         Whatever the truth of his history might be, Shaco has joined the Dark Brotherhood for reasons only he knows. He is a terrifying figure, typically shunned by both his fellow assassins and the general public. Only the Night Mother knows why such a creature was allowed into the Dark Brotherhood, but most people suspect it to be a means that allows the power that be to keep an eye on the ever-elusive Shaco. Unsurprisingly, this assassin is popular in places where madness can openly reign, such as among the power-hungry rulers of the Empire and the Stormcloaks.

    Whatever you do, don't tell him you missed the punch line.

    Race and Stats

    Race: Dark Elf or High Elf (I prefer Dark Elf for role-play purposes and that sweet juicy fire resistance) 

    Sub-Race: Vampire (That fire resistance is sounding pretty good now huh?)

    Standing Stone: Serpent or Lord (Depending if you feel you need some protection, but I like to play a glass cannon)

    Stat Spread: Level 50 (200/440/150)

    Skills

    Major Skills: One-handed, Sneak, Illusion, Enchanting

    Minor Skills: Smithing, Destruction

    Perk Spread: Level 50 http://skyrimcalculator.com/354372

    Equipment

    Weapons: Dual Enchanted Stalhrim Daggers (I feel these look the closest to what Shaco actually uses, the frost boost helps too)

    Dagger 1: Absorb Magicka, Frost Damage (I usually use this one in my Right hand and go for sneak attacks with it, helps keep my mana up for re-castings of Invisibility) 

    Dagger 2: Absorb Health, Frost Damage (I usually use this one in my left hand for when I dual-strike/power attack, and I don't need the absorb health when I'm undetected)

    Clothing: Cicero's full set (Gotta look the part ya know?)

    Enchanted Ring: Fortify Illusion, Fortify One-handed (This is how we can save perks from the Illusion Tree and do awesome damage)

    Enchanted Amulet: Fortify Illusion, Fortify One-handed (See above)

    Shout and Spells

    Dragon Shouts: Aura Whisper, Become Ethereal, Dismay, Throw Voice, Marked for Death, Whirlwind Sprint

    Spells: Frenzy Rune, Frost Rune, Muffle, Invisibility                                                

    Abilities

    Backstab: Sneak + Cicero's Gloves

    Passive: Shaco deals 30x bonus damage when striking from stealth with his autoattacks.

     

    Decieve: Whirlwind Sprint + Invisibility + Shadow Warrior

    Active: Shaco instantly blinks to a target nearby location and enters stealth for up to 30 seconds. His next auto-attack within non-detection is guaranteed to critically strike for 30x damage. Bonus damage from other sources are also applied.

    Jack In The Box: Frenzy/Frost Rune + Throw Voice

    Active: Shaco creates a Jack in the Box at the target location. It will stealth instantly and lasts until an enemy comes near/or steps on the box. It activates, frenzying nearby enemies briefly/or damaging them for 30 seconds, dealing frost damage with it's explosion. Casting Jack In The Box breaks stealth.

    Two-Shiv Poison: Frost Enchanted Daggers + Serpent Stone/Frost Rune

    Passive: Shaco's autoattacks slow the target for 10 seconds. It also drains affected units of their stamina for less power attacks.

    Active: Shaco throws a dagger at a target enemy, dealing poison or frost damage and paralyzing them for 5 seconds or slowing them for 10 seconds.

    Hallucinate: Summon Spectral Assassin + Become Ethereal

    Active: Shaco disappears from the map and becomes untargetable for 8-18 seconds, then creates a clone of himself that lasts until it's defeated.

    Quests/DLC

    Main Questline: Only Act 1 is required as a prerequisite for Dragonborn and dragon spawns. You could keep going for Dragon Infusion which is a huge help.

    The Dark Brotherhood: All the way through here, gotta get Cicero's clothes/him as a follower if you want a permanent clone. Also gotta get Summon Spectral Assassin.

    Dragonborn: Black Books for their sweet perks. Mora's Boon is a lifesaver since we only rely on potions. A New Source of Stalhrim quest for our gangsta daggers.

    Dawnguard: Auriel's Bow is a big help with the sun gimp Vampire's get, but it takes the entire questline to get it. It's your call.

    General Skyrim Quests: The Book of Love, The Heart of Dibella, From The Ashes, Frostflow Abyss (totally optional here)

    Gameplay and Tactics

        Now here we get to the heart of this Demon Jester. Being a homicidal, vampire assassin has it's many strengths, and it's fair share of weaknesses. You'll need to know how, and when, and where you want you hit your enemies. One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give you is... TAKE YOUR TIME AND ANALYZE YOUR SURROUNDINGS!!! I can't recall how many times I've walked right into a terrible situation cause I was rushing blindly into the fray. Here are a few minor tricks that can help in general situations.

    * Dual casting Muffle before heading into a dungeon makes sneaking a lot easier.

    * A well placed Frenzy rune can tilt the tides in your favor significantly.

    * Summoning your Spectral Assassin during the Frenzy effect can keep enemies distracted while you go in for the kill.

    * Keep Invisibility, Mora's Boon and Become Ethereal hot keyed, you never know when you'll need them.

    * Executing a Silent Roll with a power attack preforms a fast long ranged sneak attack with 60x damage. Takes a lot of practice to get it right so be careful!

    * Try to take out Mages and Archers first, they are usually your biggest threat.

    * Keep a Frost or Frenzy rune close by as a safeguard for emergencies.

    * Aura Whisper is one of the best shouts when it comes to tactical play, use it often.

    * The Serpent Stone can be used to disable a powerful enemy while you take out their weaker allies, or even just to save yourself from a deadly power attack.

    * Remember, you're an assassin, not a warrior. If you get detected (and you are on Master+ difficulty) RUN! Try to find cover or re-stealth yourself. 90% of your damage is from your sneak attacks. Become Ethereal and Whirlwind Sprint come into play a lot here.

    * Dismay can be surprisingly effective in groups, divide and conquer!

    * Keep your enemies where you want them with Throw Voice! Make them walk right into a Rune trap, or keep their backs turned so you can slit their throats.

         Now let's get a bit more specific here, we'll start talking about how to handle different classes.

    Mages: Oh how squishy they are! But oh how much damage they do! You need to hit them fast and hard or you'll be toast. CC (Crowd Control) works extremely well on Mages if you get detected, Dismay will be your best friend here, fear 'em and they won't be able to cast a thing. You can even fear them from stealth if you really need to, due to the Quiet Casting perk. They are easy pickings after that.

    Warriors: Big, armored brutes. That's all they are. And the bigger they are, the more blood they spill. Warriors are usually pretty easy to read, they charge at you and spam power attacks and block once in a while. Not too hard to sneak attack them, but on the odd chance you get detected, the Marked for Death shout really helps take their armor down a notch or two. You can also use the shout from stealth and wait until the shout has drained a large portion of their armor before attempting a sneak attack.

    Archers: These guys can be a real pain in the neck if gone unchecked. I just realized that rhymed... Huehuehuehue. I find the best way to get to these guys is to Whirlwind Sprint to them and utilize Shadow Warrior for a quick stealth kill. And if Whirlwind Sprint is on cooldown, try timing your Silent Rolls in either direction to avoid arrows. With a bit of practice, you won't ever take an arrow to the knee.

    Role-play Tips

         Playing as The Demon Jester, you'll want to weigh your decisions as a Chaotic Evil person. Full of trickery and deceit, plotting to overthrow cities and backstab your allies in order to further your own position. With the completion of the Dark Brotherhood questline, you'll have a secret hideout where you can plan out your next targets.

         When accepting quests, make an effort to go with the evilest choice. Usually murdering, or stealing, that kind of thing. Once in a while, be sure to go on a random killing spree throughout your city or town of choice. Just for the fun of it! Try not to do 'good' quests, or give to the poor. As it is not in our nature. The Daedric artifact quests are usually evil oriented with great rewards to them as well. 

         Being a maniac, you've been known you place your Jack-In-The-Box's (Frenzy Rune) around town and sit and watch as people tear each other to pieces. The Wabbajack can also be utilized for some maniacal game play. But it's up to you.

    Conclusion

         This build is not set in stone, so I welcome all constructive criticism. Anything you feel might help add to the build, be sure to leave it in a comment. Feel free to alter the perk choices to fit your play style, this is just a guideline.

    Thanks for reading!

    Please let me know what you think and leave a comment down below!

     

    Ning experienced an issue that has affected the like counter. Here is how many likes the build has. 

     

  • Member
    February 3, 2014

    I would keep the text size consistent with the rest of the build. The size is fine for the opening paragraph but everywhere else it's too big. I know you said gameplay is coming soon but that's a huge problem. When people read builds, they don' want to check back to see if it's done yet. Anyone who wanted to play this can't and the build is virtually useless.

  • February 3, 2014

    Alright, thanks for the input guys. I just changed around the font to look more appealing and less harsh on the eyes. Kinda new to this so it was hard to judge how it'd look to people. And yes, I am working on adding at least some stuff to the gameplay right now. I can see how it might not be as helpful without it.

  • Member
    February 3, 2014

    Much better. I'll like for the effort

  • Member
    February 3, 2014

    I don't know what this looked like before, but as it stands now this looks pretty nice. Especially for a first build. I was a little iffy when I saw it was based on a League of Legends character because remakes of other characters typically don't go over too well, but this is solid. It is enough to stand on its own and its a pretty damn creative play on Cicero's gear. I would just change the name and leave out the "(Shaco)" part and clean up the tags a little, you get 3 official, one race and one rank tag. Once you finish the gameplay section you will have earned my like ;)

  • Member
    February 3, 2014
    "The Dark Brotherhood: All the way through here, gotta get Cicero's clothes/him as a follower if you want a permanent clone. Also gotta get Summon Spectral Clone." I believe you meant to say Summon Spectral Assassin. The Spectral Clone Shout is unavailable to the player and only the Greybeards can use said Thu'um. All in all, it seems a pretty decent build. I personally wouldn't play as I hate Cicero's guts! The following video is how I truly feel about him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8uqcGw3eYE
  • February 3, 2014

    Thanks so much for the constructive feedback guys! I just finished up a bit of the gameplay section and will add more! "you get 3 official, one race and one rank tag" Not sure how I should set up the tags for this, any thoughts? "I believe you meant to say Summon Spectral Assassin. The Spectral Clone Shout is unavailable to the player and only the Greybeards can use said Thu'um." I am changing this right now! Thanks for correcting my mistake.

  • Member
    February 3, 2014

    I like it :) Shaco has always been a favorite of mine in LoL

  • Member
    February 3, 2014
    DotA 4 Lyf. In all seriousness though, I liked the build. It's a nice take on an assassin and isn't as yet too commonly seen a roleplay concept. Just please don't add an auto-playing music thing, they're just annoying and no one likes them. Also, a little bit more of an emphasis on his psycho nature in terms of gameplay would've been cool, but I digress. Good job overall.
  • February 3, 2014

    Thank you, I appreciate that. I will definitely add some psychosis into the additional gameplay tactics. And as far as the music player goes, it's not gonna be an auto-play one. It'll be optional to turn it on. :)