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Character Build: The Chaos Lich

Tags: #Character Build Necromancer  #Character Build Nightblade  #Character Build Vampire  #Race:Breton  #Rank:Recognized 
  • February 14, 2012

    I've been playing around with a build on my last character, and I had decided to make him a Necromancer. But necromancy is so weak by itself until you get Dead Thrall, and I wasn't going to stand for that. I'd decided on making him a Nightblade, or a stealth-based mage. Not just any Nightblade, but...

    The Chaos Lich is a powerful mage who has delved into undeath, further increasing his necromantic and illusory capabilities. He is a master of the mind, and, as his name suggests, creates chaos amidst groups of foes who oppose him. Using illusion to turn them against each other, Destruction to finish them, and Necromancy for disposable aids if necessary, the Chaos Lich is a force to be reckoned with.

    Character Setup Reccomendations:

    Vampirism: The lich is undead, and what better way to give bonuses to being undead than to have boosts to illusion magic and a free illusion as well as conjuration spell every day? The Vampire's synergy with Nightblades is amazing, boosting sneak as well.

    Ritual Stone: This standing stone allows the ressurection of any dead body within radius every day, including things like Giants, high level Draugr bosses and Mages, and even the entire group of Silver Hand that gets slaughtered by Farkas. A great stone to have for an aspiring Necromancer.

    Breton Race: The race is entirely up to you, however, I find that the most dangerous types of foes for this build are the ones that can hit you from a range. While archers are a problem, they're generally more predictable than a mage who could, for all you know, have the ability to cloak themselves in flames, or summon an atronach/zombify a powerful comrade, or unleash powerful lightning spells that could easily one-shot you (Morokei = all of the above). Trust me when I say Dragonskin is one of the most powerful abilities mid-level before you can get Atronach in the alteration tree.

    Attribute Spread:

    Health: Go into here every 6 or 7 levels.

    Stamina: Try to avoid this; you won't be needing this much at all.

    Magicka: Poor every single last one of your levels into Magicka. You will need a LOT of magicka, especially so as we won't be using enchanting.

    Stats:

    Major:

    Conjuration: As a lich, you delve into the necromancy part of the tree, bringing back the bodies of fallen foes to fight again and add to the chaos you've created by using illusion magic. It can also create distractions once you obtain the Conjure Flaming Familiar spell with the Summoner perks.

    Illusion: You will create chaos on the battlefield, and watch as the living foolishly battle amongst themselves. While this will only work against humans and animals at first, if you choose to power-level illusion, then you'll be able to reach Master of the Mind earlier and make illusion even more useful early on.

    Alteration: A lich will have little to no defense, so your'e going to want to be able to use this when you're detected. At higher levels, the Paralyze spell is great for get-aways.

    Sneak: You are a Nightblade, and considering that your Health and Stamina are going to be atrocious at almost every level, it's best not to be seen. This also helps for those enemies that you just can't kill with illusion and conjuration alone.

    Minor:

    Destruction: You'll need some kind of offensive magic that doesn't depend on the abundance of enemies. You'll also have to worry about Dragons. Runes are great for a Nightblade.

    Restoration: You'll want this, but not too much. Having very little health anyway, you won't need the higher-level spells. At higher levels, when this does level up, you can procede to become an even stronger Lich, using the power of Necromage. Necromage affects all undead, and, funnily enough, Vampires are labeled as undead, even you.

    One-Handed: Go into this if you want, though it's not necessary. This will up your damage for sneak attacks.

     

    And that's it. You may be wondering, "Y u no use enchanting?" Well, I'll tell you why. The build isn't the kind to use OP items that compeltely reduce Magicka consumption costs of something like Illusion or Conjuration. The lich is more of a challenge build, focusing on its own abilities rather than creating enchanted items or smithing a sturdy piece of armor. I personally think it is cooler to feel powerful with your own powers than to feel powerful because the Clothes make the Superman. I don't dictate what you choose to do, but that's my take on it.

    Important Perks (Excludes Novice-Master Casting):

    These are perks that excel in importance amongst others. These are the perks I reccomend grabbing before others. (Ntoe: These are only at mid-level, assuming a max of 60 in each skill)

    Alteration: Magic Resistance for obvious reasons.

    Conjuration: Necromancy and Summoner, because you'll want undead that work in multiple situations like in the middle of a battle when you wish to remain hidden and summon undead at a distance, or when you need to bring a disposable ally into the next room and want to make sure he doesn't fall over in the middle of the battle for no reason.

    Illusion: Animage, Kindred Mage, and Quiet Casting, because You won't be able to cast your illusion spells on anything other than people and animals, and quiet casting affects all spells.

    Restoration: Respite, Regeneration, and Recovery because as a vampire, you will want to be able to heal stamina when forced into traversing in the day-light, and you'll want to be able to heal back your little amount of health ASAP. Recovery is a permanent boost to magicka regen, which is always welcome.

    Destruction: Rune Master, just because then you'll be able to attack from a distance without being completely noticed.

    Necromage Perk (Restoration 70):

    This perk is so amazing that it deserves its own little section. Necromage, as its description says, makes all spells more effective against undead. Now, your'e probably wondering why this is helpful. Sure, it helps with iullsion against undead late-game, but what can this really do? Well, the description is a little vague (The effectiveness of spells is increased by 25%), but when it says undead, it means all undead; not just monsters, but you yourself, vampire.

    The Necromage perk makes all spells, or in the case of Skyrim's game engine, all active effects, more effective. This means your armor enchants, healing, and even summon durations are improved (although summon durations get a 50% greater duration for some unknown reason). Thus, this is what makes Necromage such an awesome perk late-game. In a sense, it helps "balance" you out for not having any real armor or a large amount of health. You could even RP and say that diving into the life magics of Restoration has made you a stronger lich or some badass story like that.

     

    Kain's (My Breton's) Level 25 Build:

    I made a few adjustments to this build early on, so this likely isn't going to be what you would look like if you followed this guide exactly. For example, he has no one-handed.

    Conjuration: Novice-Apprentice Conjuration, Summoner 1/2, Necromancy

    Illusion: Novice-Adept Illusion, Illusion Dual-Casting, Animage, Kindred Mage, Quiet Casting, Hypnotic Gaze

    Alteration: Novice-Apprentice Alteration, Magic Resistance 1/3

    Sneak: Stealth 1/5, Muffled Movement, Backstab

    Destruction: Novice-Apprentice Destruction, Rune Master

    Restoration: Novice Illusion, Recovery 1/2, Regeneration

     

    Reccomended Equips:

    Arch-Mage Robes: These robes are awesome. They fortify your magic in every way possible, reducing all spell costs, increasing magicka and increasing magicka regen all by pretty good amounts. This is the best non-self-enchanted apparel you can get for a mage, so get it.

    Dragon Priest Mask: Vokun or Morokei to be more specific. Morokei is more for if you want to use more Destruction and Restoration along with Illusion, Conjuration and Alteration. If you don't, then Vokun is the way to go.

    Necromancer Amulet: I know, the quest for this item is very buggy and some of you may be unable to get it, however, it is great if you can get it. A powerful fortify Conjuration enchant with a 50 point boost to your max magicka. The weakened HP and SP isn't as bad, as you can simply heal it back.

    Reccomended Spells (Low to Mid-level):

    Alteration: Stone/Iron flesh

    Conjuration: Conjure Flaming Familiar*, Raise Zombie, Reanimate Corpse

    Illusion: Fury, Calm, Frenzy, (If you use a follower) Rally

    Destruction: Any Rune spell

    Restoration: Fast Healing

     

    *If you get the Vokun Mask at Highgate Ruins, the quest reward for completing the ruins is Conjure Flaming Familiar

     

    Please leave feedback, be it contsructive critisizm or just comments! Thanks.

  • February 14, 2012
    Man, great minds really do think alike, and at almost the exact same time too lol. Loving the build and really glad you went more towards magic while I veered towards combat to keep our builds from being redundant clones of one another (especially since you beat me out by a few seconds haha).

    Let me just add that if you're going the Vampirism route, which fits perfectly IMO, you should grab the Necromage perk from Restoration because the game treats you as undead and boosts any effects accordingly. Hats off, dude. If Skyrim had co-op our builds would totally kick ass together lol.
  • February 14, 2012

    Yeah perhaps you should get together and produce a level 81 build for our 'hall of fame'! If you merge both your builds you would have something pretty special!

  • February 14, 2012

    Co-op Skyrim... We'd spend more time fighting over who gets which dead bodies more than anything lol.

    And I thought I mentioned Necromage in this, right? *Checks again* ... Apparently I did, but forgot to mention why it's particularly helpful for this build. I'm going to go fix that right now, thanks!

     

    @Mason: A combination build of the Nightblade and Chaos Lich? I dunno, seems like it could be a lot of work to collaborate... I guess it depends on what No snakes aLive wants to do.

  • February 14, 2012

    Look, a pure stealther with a touch of evil would look really good in the hall of fame, this class is very strong even if you dont go down the vampirism route. Yeah its a fair bit of work to present it neatly but i'd be happy to help, if you guys come up with a valid lvl81 skillset i'll happily add it to the halls! As usual, it depends how much you want it! Only 4 out of 230 odd people have been able to come up with something neat...

  • February 14, 2012

    Alright, I'll see if No snakes aLive is interested. I already have a few neat ideas if he says yes.

  • February 14, 2012
    I'm down with the collabo attempt. I love how we both forego Enchanting because the gear we want for both of our builds is already available, and when I said to choose your favorite hood and robes along with Shrouded Boots and Gloves for mine, a nice light armor Dragon Priest Mask and Archmage Robes would more than fit the bill there, so combining gear for our builds works beautifully. Throw some vampirism and a ton of Illusion on my build for when you wanna slow it down and toy with your foes before you cut them down and raise them back up (or have them cut eachother down for you) and we've pretty much got what we need here. I'm thinking a little Destruction borrowed from your build (I vote Ice) for some range and that should round it out nicely for our evil level 81 stealthomancer build worthy of the hall. So yeah... I'll work out a full perk list for a level 81 combo of our builds and run it by you no later than this weekend! What do you think?
  • February 14, 2012

    Loving the sound of this guys! I'm looking forward to seeing the end product! A necro-shadow-humper! I cant wait!!!

  • February 14, 2012

    I like it! The problem is, I'll be gone the next week, so I won't be able to do anything until the next weekend. I'll share some of my own ideas with you earlier, if you'd like.

  • May 14, 2012

    This was the first build I found on the internet and inspired me to start making builds. I love the background mixed with the playstyle. Very powerful without loosing any fluff.