* * * * *
Summary
I: Prologue
II: Introduction
III: Character Sheet
IV: Gameplay
V: Role play
* * * * *
I. Prologue
She ran through the jungle, without ever looking back; she knew she was being chased. Hunted by the murderous Ayleids, who sought to enslave humanity following Lorkhan’s demise, the young Persephone was a native human of Cyrodiil. Resisting captivity, she had somehow managed to slip through the chains that were restraining her and escaped the city; but she failed to do so without catching the guard’s attention.
The path narrowed and the sky darkened as she reached the heart of the jungle. Thick vines hanged from the trees and covered the ground beneath her; she became entangled in one of them, falling flat on the dirt. The guards could be heard approaching, and this time they would not spare her.
Looking up, Persephone saw a man in white and red robes she hadn’t noticed before: he was rather tall, having long, white hair; his red eyes were staring at his hands as if in pain. As he looked at her, she noticed it was not a man, but he didn’t look like an elf either. In panic, she got back on her feet and ran toward him:
“Sir, I need help, there are people who are trying to murder me.”
Annoyed, he didn’t answer. The guards emerged from the jungle, wearing the distinctively yellow elven armor, and shouted:
“There you are!”
Horrified, Persephone stepped back, trembling in fear. The tall man didn’t react, unconcerned. One of the guards raised his bow, aiming at her. She irrationally raised her hands in defense, entering a state of terror as she realized her inevitable death. In a fraction of a second, the arrow was released, and flew straight at her. She closed her eyes.
As she opened them again, she slowly realized she was still standing there, unharmed. The guards looked confused, and the man in white robes was staring at her, baffled. The young woman looked back and noticed the arrow had slipped through her and hit a tree instead.
“Cut her down!” the guard ordered, unsheathing his blade. But as he walked towards her, the mysterious man stepped in the way and firmly said:
“Get out of here.”
His voice was particularly menacing, enough to freeze the elves where they stood. Regaining their composure, one of them answered:
“Do not get in our way…” he hesitated, “… meddling peasant, or we will… we will kill you too.”
Offended, the man snapped his fingers, and suddenly the guards were set on fire. They screamed in pain, running around aimlessly, and then fled back to the jungle. Persephone remained still, dumbfounded by the mysterious man’s amazing power.
“Who taught you that?” he asked in his deep voice.
“Taught me what?” she replied.
“Do not take me for a fool. That arrow just slipped through your skull. What is your name?
- I..." she was confused, "I am Persephone, sir. Thank you for helping. Who are you?
- I am Akatosh,” the man answered.
The young woman looked at him, confused and speechless. She realized his presence was indeed somewhat overwhelming; his red eyes seemed to stare at her very soul. But she did not believe him, or knew how to answer his question.
"I think I should probably be going..." she said.
“It was one of the Daedric Princes who did this, wasn't it?” Akatosh continued, stopping her, “How can a mortal be capable of transcending space?
- I am not sure, sir” she asked, "Now that I think about it, I do recall being visited by some stranger, and sometime later I had a nightmare, I was in some sort of temple where everything was made of steel."
There was a moment of silence. He cursed something about Trinimac she couldn't hear too well. He seemed lost in his thoughts after hearing her words.
“I have to go,” she added.
"You will have to follow me. You have much to learn" the Et'Ada said.
"But I have to help my people," she insisted.
"You can help your people later, I cannot allow you to go around using that kind of power recklessly. Normally I would kill you, but given your potential there is something I need you to do."
* * * * *
II. Introduction
Also known as the Slave Queen, St. Alessia was a human female who lived during the First Era. She established the first Cyrodilic Empire, the imperial pantheon consisting of the eight divines, and ended human enslavement by the Ayleids. The name “Alessia” is merely a corruption of her title “Al-Esh”, meaning “Her Highness”; her true name is unknown. I have taken the freedom of naming her Persephone as a reference to Greek mythology. Vix has written an excellent article about her and the rebellion against the Ayleids, which I recommend reading.
Living during a time when the Et'Ada still walked the surface of Tamriel, Alessia is rumored to have been helped by Morihaus, the son of Kynareth, Pelinal Whitestrake, a possible Shezarrine, but also by Akatosh himself, who ultimately granted her the Amulet of Kings. With these three in mind, I have based the character build on the idea that she was trained by all three of them, eventually becoming the first Queen of the Cyrodilic Empire.
Akatosh trained her to be a good fighter, also lending her his legendary bow. Morihaus taught her the art of warfare and politics, allowing her to organize the rebellion against the Ayleids. And finally, the mysterious Pelinal stood by her side and taught her to never forget about her friends. But above anything, she was known for a very peculiar ability: to be able to become intangible at her will.
Now, during the Fourth Era, following the Oblivion Crisis, the Amulet of Kings was shattered, breaking the seal that maintained a barrier between Nirn and Oblivion. The Empire is breaking apart, as the Altmer once more become a threat to humanity. Persephone mysteriously wakes up somewhere in Skyrim, the broken amulet in her hand, only to find herself in the middle of an ambush.
* * * * *
III. Character Sheet
The idea for this build came to me as I was watching a series. I already knew I wanted to create Alessia for the Resurrection contest, and I also wanted to make use of dual wield. But my problem with dual wield was that I lacked in defense and kept dying to bandits or other melee enemies due to my rather aggressive nature. I love to rush at enemies and fight them toe to toe rather than to exploit some weakness, but in Master difficulty it’s sometimes not possible.
There is a character in a series I usually watch, whose main ability is to slip through attacks. His entire fighting style is based on it. I saw in it a solution to the problem I previously mentioned, especially that we are already given a similar technique in game: Become Ethereal. Thanks to it, what I am offering you with this build is a character that can engage in one on one combat with bandit marauders or ancient dragons and kill them quickly while bypassing their deadly attacks.
• Basics:
Race: Imperial
Stone: The Lady
Stats: Begin with 10 levels of Health for survivability. I usually aim for 200 Magicka, 200 Stamina and put the rest into Health.
• Recommended Quests:
You’ll have guessed, the Thalmor replace the Ayleid overlords in this playthrough:
• The Civil War (Imperial)
• Dawnguard Questline
• Dragon Crisis
• Missing in Action
• Find the Thalmor Assassin
• A New Source of Stalhrim
Any other quests concerning Speech or generally helping humans or fighting elves are a good choice.
• Skillset:
One Handed: Your main offense, you’re going dual wield with this and you’ll be tearing through enemies as fast as you can with power attacks.
Perks: Armsman , Dual Flurry, Dual Savagery, Fighting Stance, Savage Strike
Priority: High
Archery: Your ranged alternative, particularly useful against dragons or other ranged enemies. You are also meant to use Auriel’s Bow later on.
Perks: Overdraw, Critical Shot, Eagle Eye, Power Shot, Quick Shot, Bullseye
Priority: Medium
Enchanting: The crafting skill used for this build. It will allow you to increase your damage and I like to get as much magic resistance as possible from it.
Perks: Enchanter, Fire Enchanter, Insightful Enchanter, Corpus Enchanter, Extra Effect
Priority: High
Restoration: Your means of survivability. I recommend getting the Apprentice Restoration perk immediately so that you can use Fast Healing early on. It’s a very powerful healing spell that will save you a lot of times if used correctly.
Perks: Novice up to Expert, Regeneration, Respite, Recovery, Avoid Death
Priority: High
Speech: A higher Speech level improves merchant prices. This allows you to purchase more soul gems when visiting court wizards or other mages, which in turn are used to train Enchanting. In the long run, it allows you to have better equipment faster. It’s also a good role-play device for unlocking different quest options.
Perks: Haggling, Bribery, Persuasion, Allure
Priority: Low
Light Armor: Unlocking the final perk will give you a 10% chance of bypassing melee attacks, which adds up to the theme of this build. You can get a significant boost from trainers, particularly Grelka, to whom you can sell items in order to compensate for the cost of training.
Perks: Agile Defender, Custom Fit, Unhindered, Wind Walker, Deft Movement
Priority: Medium
Destruction: A supportive skill for this build, using the Fire branch. Early on you have no choice but to use the basic Flames spell to level up. After that, this skill is mostly useful for the runes and cloaks (the latter remains active while Become Ethereal is cast).
Perks: Novice to Adept, Augmented Flames, Intense Flames, Rune Master
Priority: Low
You may have noticed that I haven't listed how many perk points you should invest into some of the perks, such as Armsman. This is because it's not possible to obtain all these perks by level 40, neither by level 50 for that matter. You need to chose them accordingly with your favourite play style.
Regardless, if you are not sure which perks to chose, this is my build. Click the links to view my perk spread:
• Level 25 Perk Spread •
• Level 40 Perk Spread •
• Dragon Shouts:
Become Ethereal (will go into detail in the Gameplay chapter)
Fire Breath& Slow Time: Accordingly with the idea that you are a disciple of Akatosh.
* * * * *
IV. Gameplay
Ethereal Warrior:
The cookie cutter ability of this build. Role-play wise, Persephone is capable of becoming intangible, but must materialize again in order to attack. Generally, you’d use Become Ethereal to escape tough situations or jump off cliffs without taking damage. For this build, I propose a different approach: use it consecutively while fighting enemies. Casting the first word only, and having an Amulet of Talos along with the Blessing of Talos will reduce Shout cooldown, bringing out the full potential of this ability.
This is the main play style for this build. Activate your Flame Cloak, bypass the enemy’s initial power attack, and strike back. You can also use it to slip through magical attacks, in particular the very annoying Vampiric Drain. With dual wield, you cannot block attacks. But Become Ethereal solves that problem by offering a different way of avoiding damage without having to run away. Funnily enough, just like in the series this strategy is inspired from, it also comes with the same disadvantage: you have to materialize again in order to counterattack. Timing is therefore key. Don't attack if you know the enemy is just about to power attack you. Sometimes you'll get unlucky and take heavy hits anyway; use your Restoration spells to make up for it.
Resourceful Ranger:
This is the secondary play style for the build. Using the Slow Time shout allows you to land more ranged attacks on your enemies before they get to you. Casting a fire rune on their way beforehand will further increase the damage dealt to them. The shout allows for better crowd control, although it will make it impossible to immediately activate Become Ethereal once you engage in melee. It’s mostly useful against dragons and in other boss fights when you can’t afford taking too much damage.
Also, if you have a follower and are not engaging in melee, use your Restoration spells to heal the follower and, if fighting undead, use Turn Undead spells or Sun spells (from the Dawnguard DLC) to further increase crowd control and damage.
Regeneration
Remember the Twins from Matrix? They had the same ability as our Persephone here: they were able to become intangible, moving through objects at will. There was something more to it: they would regenerate any damage taken while they were ethereal. It just so happens you can add that ability to Become Ethereal in Skyrim.
First, we have the Lady Stone, which grants you +25% health and stamina regeneration. You can use a Fortify Restoration potion to increase this effect. Although you can only craft a basic version of that potion with this build, you may try creating gear with the Fortify Alchemy enchantment to maximise its effect.
Secondly, the Become Ethereal shout can be enhanced after meditating on the word Feim with Paarthurnax, but this effect is glitchy. I was not aware of this and so I didn't look into it while playing, but apparently meditating on Force without Effort will enable the Become Ethereal regen buff. Read Phil's research for more information. If done correctly, this will still grant you an additional +25% health regeneration while being ethereal.
Finally, you can add the health regeneration enchantment itself to your gear. NPC's will sell you items with +50% health regeneration, though you can only enchant a maximum of +36% on your gear. I did not make use of this, because with the Extra Effect perk you can make better enchantments, but if you come across a +50% health regen item early on, why not.
Equipment
This is the final outfit I have used for this build and its enchantments. Click the following link to view them:
• Level 40 Equipment •
Note: My sword is actually an Ebony Sword with a different 3D model.
Role-play wise, I have chosen Ancient Falmer Armor mostly for the looks. It looks very ornamental, like something a king or queen would wear in battle, and it has red decorations, which match the color theme of Imperials or the Empire more generally. This choice has nothing to do with Snow Elves themselves. If you don’t have the Dawnguard DLC, Glass Armor works as well.
I have used an Amulet of Talos up to level 37 when I finally got my Extra Effect perk. It's great for reducing Become Ethereal's cast time. When your gear is fully enchanted, you can tank more damage so it's ok to spam it a bit less often.
Also, Auriel’s Bow is an important element for this build. Its high DPS output fits well with Slow Time. Role-play wise, it would be Akatosh who personally lent his bow to Alessia as a sign of support, not only as a weapon but also as a symbol of power in order to gain influence politically (the same idea as with the Jagged Crown).
An easy way to obtain elven arrows for the bow is to purchase them from Sorine Jurard after completing the Dawnguard questline. She sells packs of 200 for around 2000 gold depending on your Speech level. You then have no choice but to return to Gelebor so that he can enchant the arrows, but getting a good enough stock will prevent you from returning there all the time.
* * * * *
V. Role Play
For the Empire
Fight for the Empire. Defend against the Stormcloaks, who seek to damage it by forcing Skyrim to withdraw from the alliance, but also against the Thalmor, who wish to impose their will on humans. For this, raid every Stormcloak camp in Skyrim and kill at least 10 Thalmor squads without receiving a bounty.
Daedra Slayer
Akatosh is not very fond of the Daedric Princes. Neither are you, for that matter. He commands you to disrupt their plans and kill their followers, including those who worship Sithis (complete all the Daedric Quests while betraying the Daedra each time, except for Molag Bal and Meridia in which case you can't actually chose to betray them.
Smooth Talker
Convince Faralda to let you join the College of Winterhold without taking a test. Good luck! This page has some other Speech objectives you can set for yourself in the Persuasion category.
Phantom Dancer
Defeat a Blood Dragon or higher while only using your swords and your Become Ethereal shout to avoid damage. If you have mastered the technique, try to defeat a tougher boss.
Zombie Apocalypse
With Auriel's Bow, your fire spells and Restoration spells, defeat Potema. Enjoy the abuse of area of effect damage at your disposal.
* * * * *
• Credits •
Thanks Ben for discussing the build, Mason for hosting the Resurrection event and Ponty for proof reading and further discussion of strategies!
Find out the rest of Alessia's story later on in the Story Corner section or during chapter 9 and 10 of The Seventh Path.
* * * * *
Summary
I: Prologue
II: Introduction
III: Character Sheet
IV: Gameplay
V: Role play
* * * * *
I. Prologue
She ran through the jungle, without ever looking back; she knew she was being chased. Hunted by the murderous Ayleids, who sought to enslave humanity following Lorkhan’s demise, the young Persephone was a native human of Cyrodiil. Resisting captivity, she had somehow managed to slip through the chains that were restraining her and escaped the city; but she failed to do so without catching the guard’s attention.
The path narrowed and the sky darkened as she reached the heart of the jungle. Thick vines hanged from the trees and covered the ground beneath her; she became entangled in one of them, falling flat on the dirt. The guards could be heard approaching, and this time they would not spare her.
Looking up, Persephone saw a man in white and red robes she hadn’t noticed before: he was rather tall, having long, white hair; his red eyes were staring at his hands as if in pain. As he looked at her, she noticed it was not a man, but he didn’t look like an elf either. In panic, she got back on her feet and ran toward him:
“Sir, I need help, there are people who are trying to murder me.”
Annoyed, he didn’t answer. The guards emerged from the jungle, wearing the distinctively yellow elven armor, and shouted:
“There you are!”
Horrified, Persephone stepped back, trembling in fear. The tall man didn’t react, unconcerned. One of the guards raised his bow, aiming at her. She irrationally raised her hands in defense, entering a state of terror as she realized her inevitable death. In a fraction of a second, the arrow was released, and flew straight at her. She closed her eyes.
As she opened them again, she slowly realized she was still standing there, unharmed. The guards looked confused, and the man in white robes was staring at her, baffled. The young woman looked back and noticed the arrow had slipped through her and hit a tree instead.
“Cut her down!” the guard ordered, unsheathing his blade. But as he walked towards her, the mysterious man stepped in the way and firmly said:
“Get out of here.”
His voice was particularly menacing, enough to freeze the elves where they stood. Regaining their composure, one of them answered:
“Do not get in our way…” he hesitated, “… meddling peasant, or we will… we will kill you too.”
Offended, the man snapped his fingers, and suddenly the guards were set on fire. They screamed in pain, running around aimlessly, and then fled back to the jungle. Persephone remained still, dumbfounded by the mysterious man’s amazing power.
“Who taught you that?” he asked in his deep voice.
“Taught me what?” she replied.
“Do not take me for a fool. That arrow just slipped through your skull. What is your name?
- I..." she was confused, "I am Persephone, sir. Thank you for helping. Who are you?
- I am Akatosh,” the man answered.
The young woman looked at him, confused and speechless. She realized his presence was indeed somewhat overwhelming; his red eyes seemed to stare at her very soul. But she did not believe him, or knew how to answer his question.
"I think I should probably be going..." she said.
“It was one of the Daedric Princes who did this, wasn't it?” Akatosh continued, stopping her, “How can a mortal be capable of transcending space?
- I am not sure, sir” she asked, "Now that I think about it, I do recall being visited by some stranger, and sometime later I had a nightmare, I was in some sort of temple where everything was made of steel."
There was a moment of silence. He cursed something about Trinimac she couldn't hear too well. He seemed lost in his thoughts after hearing her words.
“I have to go,” she added.
"You will have to follow me. You have much to learn" the Et'Ada said.
"But I have to help my people," she insisted.
"You can help your people later, I cannot allow you to go around using that kind of power recklessly. Normally I would kill you, but given your potential there is something I need you to do."
* * * * *
II. Introduction
Also known as the Slave Queen, St. Alessia was a human female who lived during the First Era. She established the first Cyrodilic Empire, the imperial pantheon consisting of the eight divines, and ended human enslavement by the Ayleids. The name “Alessia” is merely a corruption of her title “Al-Esh”, meaning “Her Highness”; her true name is unknown. I have taken the freedom of naming her Persephone as a reference to Greek mythology. Vix has written an excellent article about her and the rebellion against the Ayleids, which I recommend reading.
Living during a time when the Et'Ada still walked the surface of Tamriel, Alessia is rumored to have been helped by Morihaus, the son of Kynareth, Pelinal Whitestrake, a possible Shezarrine, but also by Akatosh himself, who ultimately granted her the Amulet of Kings. With these three in mind, I have based the character build on the idea that she was trained by all three of them, eventually becoming the first Queen of the Cyrodilic Empire.
Akatosh trained her to be a good fighter, also lending her his legendary bow. Morihaus taught her the art of warfare and politics, allowing her to organize the rebellion against the Ayleids. And finally, the mysterious Pelinal stood by her side and taught her to never forget about her friends. But above anything, she was known for a very peculiar ability: to be able to become intangible at her will.
Now, during the Fourth Era, following the Oblivion Crisis, the Amulet of Kings was shattered, breaking the seal that maintained a barrier between Nirn and Oblivion. The Empire is breaking apart, as the Altmer once more become a threat to humanity. Persephone mysteriously wakes up somewhere in Skyrim, the broken amulet in her hand, only to find herself in the middle of an ambush.
* * * * *
III. Character Sheet
The idea for this build came to me as I was watching a series. I already knew I wanted to create Alessia for the Resurrection contest, and I also wanted to make use of dual wield. But my problem with dual wield was that I lacked in defense and kept dying to bandits or other melee enemies due to my rather aggressive nature. I love to rush at enemies and fight them toe to toe rather than to exploit some weakness, but in Master difficulty it’s sometimes not possible.
There is a character in a series I usually watch, whose main ability is to slip through attacks. His entire fighting style is based on it. I saw in it a solution to the problem I previously mentioned, especially that we are already given a similar technique in game: Become Ethereal. Thanks to it, what I am offering you with this build is a character that can engage in one on one combat with bandit marauders or ancient dragons and kill them quickly while bypassing their deadly attacks.
• Basics:
Race: Imperial
Stone: The Lady
Stats: Begin with 10 levels of Health for survivability. I usually aim for 200 Magicka, 200 Stamina and put the rest into Health.
• Recommended Quests:
You’ll have guessed, the Thalmor replace the Ayleid overlords in this playthrough:
• The Civil War (Imperial)
• Dawnguard Questline
• Dragon Crisis
• Missing in Action
• Find the Thalmor Assassin
• A New Source of Stalhrim
Any other quests concerning Speech or generally helping humans or fighting elves are a good choice.
• Skillset:
One Handed: Your main offense, you’re going dual wield with this and you’ll be tearing through enemies as fast as you can with power attacks.
Perks: Armsman , Dual Flurry, Dual Savagery, Fighting Stance, Savage Strike
Priority: High
Archery: Your ranged alternative, particularly useful against dragons or other ranged enemies. You are also meant to use Auriel’s Bow later on.
Perks: Overdraw, Critical Shot, Eagle Eye, Power Shot, Quick Shot, Bullseye
Priority: Medium
Enchanting: The crafting skill used for this build. It will allow you to increase your damage and I like to get as much magic resistance as possible from it.
Perks: Enchanter, Fire Enchanter, Insightful Enchanter, Corpus Enchanter, Extra Effect
Priority: High
Restoration: Your means of survivability. I recommend getting the Apprentice Restoration perk immediately so that you can use Fast Healing early on. It’s a very powerful healing spell that will save you a lot of times if used correctly.
Perks: Novice up to Expert, Regeneration, Respite, Recovery, Avoid Death
Priority: High
Speech: A higher Speech level improves merchant prices. This allows you to purchase more soul gems when visiting court wizards or other mages, which in turn are used to train Enchanting. In the long run, it allows you to have better equipment faster. It’s also a good role-play device for unlocking different quest options.
Perks: Haggling, Bribery, Persuasion, Allure
Priority: Low
Light Armor: Unlocking the final perk will give you a 10% chance of bypassing melee attacks, which adds up to the theme of this build. You can get a significant boost from trainers, particularly Grelka, to whom you can sell items in order to compensate for the cost of training.
Perks: Agile Defender, Custom Fit, Unhindered, Wind Walker, Deft Movement
Priority: Medium
Destruction: A supportive skill for this build, using the Fire branch. Early on you have no choice but to use the basic Flames spell to level up. After that, this skill is mostly useful for the runes and cloaks (the latter remains active while Become Ethereal is cast).
Perks: Novice to Adept, Augmented Flames, Intense Flames, Rune Master
Priority: Low
You may have noticed that I haven't listed how many perk points you should invest into some of the perks, such as Armsman. This is because it's not possible to obtain all these perks by level 40, neither by level 50 for that matter. You need to chose them accordingly with your favourite play style.
Regardless, if you are not sure which perks to chose, this is my build. Click the links to view my perk spread:
• Level 25 Perk Spread •
• Level 40 Perk Spread •
• Dragon Shouts:
Become Ethereal (will go into detail in the Gameplay chapter)
Fire Breath& Slow Time: Accordingly with the idea that you are a disciple of Akatosh.
* * * * *
IV. Gameplay
Ethereal Warrior:
The cookie cutter ability of this build. Role-play wise, Persephone is capable of becoming intangible, but must materialize again in order to attack. Generally, you’d use Become Ethereal to escape tough situations or jump off cliffs without taking damage. For this build, I propose a different approach: use it consecutively while fighting enemies. Casting the first word only, and having an Amulet of Talos along with the Blessing of Talos will reduce Shout cooldown, bringing out the full potential of this ability.
This is the main play style for this build. Activate your Flame Cloak, bypass the enemy’s initial power attack, and strike back. You can also use it to slip through magical attacks, in particular the very annoying Vampiric Drain. With dual wield, you cannot block attacks. But Become Ethereal solves that problem by offering a different way of avoiding damage without having to run away. Funnily enough, just like in the series this strategy is inspired from, it also comes with the same disadvantage: you have to materialize again in order to counterattack. Timing is therefore key. Don't attack if you know the enemy is just about to power attack you. Sometimes you'll get unlucky and take heavy hits anyway; use your Restoration spells to make up for it.
Resourceful Ranger:
This is the secondary play style for the build. Using the Slow Time shout allows you to land more ranged attacks on your enemies before they get to you. Casting a fire rune on their way beforehand will further increase the damage dealt to them. The shout allows for better crowd control, although it will make it impossible to immediately activate Become Ethereal once you engage in melee. It’s mostly useful against dragons and in other boss fights when you can’t afford taking too much damage.
Also, if you have a follower and are not engaging in melee, use your Restoration spells to heal the follower and, if fighting undead, use Turn Undead spells or Sun spells (from the Dawnguard DLC) to further increase crowd control and damage.
Regeneration
Remember the Twins from Matrix? They had the same ability as our Persephone here: they were able to become intangible, moving through objects at will. There was something more to it: they would regenerate any damage taken while they were ethereal. It just so happens you can add that ability to Become Ethereal in Skyrim.
First, we have the Lady Stone, which grants you +25% health and stamina regeneration. You can use a Fortify Restoration potion to increase this effect. Although you can only craft a basic version of that potion with this build, you may try creating gear with the Fortify Alchemy enchantment to maximise its effect.
Secondly, the Become Ethereal shout can be enhanced after meditating on the word Feim with Paarthurnax, but this effect is glitchy. I was not aware of this and so I didn't look into it while playing, but apparently meditating on Force without Effort will enable the Become Ethereal regen buff. Read Phil's research for more information. If done correctly, this will still grant you an additional +25% health regeneration while being ethereal.
Finally, you can add the health regeneration enchantment itself to your gear. NPC's will sell you items with +50% health regeneration, though you can only enchant a maximum of +36% on your gear. I did not make use of this, because with the Extra Effect perk you can make better enchantments, but if you come across a +50% health regen item early on, why not.
Equipment
This is the final outfit I have used for this build and its enchantments. Click the following link to view them:
• Level 40 Equipment •
Note: My sword is actually an Ebony Sword with a different 3D model.
Role-play wise, I have chosen Ancient Falmer Armor mostly for the looks. It looks very ornamental, like something a king or queen would wear in battle, and it has red decorations, which match the color theme of Imperials or the Empire more generally. This choice has nothing to do with Snow Elves themselves. If you don’t have the Dawnguard DLC, Glass Armor works as well.
I have used an Amulet of Talos up to level 37 when I finally got my Extra Effect perk. It's great for reducing Become Ethereal's cast time. When your gear is fully enchanted, you can tank more damage so it's ok to spam it a bit less often.
Also, Auriel’s Bow is an important element for this build. Its high DPS output fits well with Slow Time. Role-play wise, it would be Akatosh who personally lent his bow to Alessia as a sign of support, not only as a weapon but also as a symbol of power in order to gain influence politically (the same idea as with the Jagged Crown).
An easy way to obtain elven arrows for the bow is to purchase them from Sorine Jurard after completing the Dawnguard questline. She sells packs of 200 for around 2000 gold depending on your Speech level. You then have no choice but to return to Gelebor so that he can enchant the arrows, but getting a good enough stock will prevent you from returning there all the time.
* * * * *
V. Role Play
For the Empire
Fight for the Empire. Defend against the Stormcloaks, who seek to damage it by forcing Skyrim to withdraw from the alliance, but also against the Thalmor, who wish to impose their will on humans. For this, raid every Stormcloak camp in Skyrim and kill at least 10 Thalmor squads without receiving a bounty.
Daedra Slayer
Akatosh is not very fond of the Daedric Princes. Neither are you, for that matter. He commands you to disrupt their plans and kill their followers, including those who worship Sithis (complete all the Daedric Quests while betraying the Daedra each time, except for Molag Bal and Meridia in which case you can't actually chose to betray them.
Smooth Talker
Convince Faralda to let you join the College of Winterhold without taking a test. Good luck! This page has some other Speech objectives you can set for yourself in the Persuasion category.
Phantom Dancer
Defeat a Blood Dragon or higher while only using your swords and your Become Ethereal shout to avoid damage. If you have mastered the technique, try to defeat a tougher boss.
Zombie Apocalypse
With Auriel's Bow, your fire spells and Restoration spells, defeat Potema. Enjoy the abuse of area of effect damage at your disposal.
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• Credits •
Thanks Ben for discussing the build, Mason for hosting the Resurrection event and Ponty for proof reading and further discussion of strategies!
Find out the rest of Alessia's story later on in the Story Corner section or during chapter 9 and 10 of The Seventh Path.
