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Character Build: The Shinobi

Tags: #Character Build Assassin  #Character Build Acrobat  #Character Build Alchemist  #Race:Bosmer  #Rank:Recognized  #Ninja 
  • Member
    October 16, 2014

    For my first build I wanted to create a character that could combine all my favourite skills into one awesome package, the shinobi. The abilities of the shinobi include espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, and open combat in certain situations.  Some legendary abilities purported to be used by the shinobi include invisibility, walking on water, and having visions of the future.

    I proudly present to you... 

    True Shinobis are always outnumbered, because they are individuals

    The Shinobi

    The shinobi is a highly trained ninja honed in the skills of espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination. He uses these skills to overcome any task thrown at him with ease and style. This also gives the shinobi a major advantage against the enemy, for he can easily make any well laid out stragegy fall apart before the fight has even begun. The shinobi uses stealth and agility to take out his enemy's with ease, whether that be slitting there throat, making them fight eachother, or poisoning his target. For the shinobi, failure is not an option.

    Espionage allows the shinobi to find out informaton he shouldn't by persuading, bribing, or intimidating his target or sometimes even disguising himself. The shinobi can also harmlessly pickpocket documents to find out information of someone instead of killing them, keeping the peace but also gaining something at the same time. Sabotage can cause even the best laid out stratageis to fall apart, the shinobi is most dangerous when he chooses to attack from the shadows, as he has ensured that if he is detected the opponent doesn't have a single chance.

    The Build

    Race:

    • Bosmer - Before you click off the build thinking the shinobi is just another sneak archer wood elf, think again.. In this build I haven't even perked archery, although it is used from time to time this build focuses more on close quarters combat. I have chosen the wood elf due to there starting boost to sneak and alchemy. Alchemy being the most important skill in this build and the resistance to poison fits in nicely with the shinobi being an alchemist.

    Stone: Warrior Stone followed by the Lady Stone.

    • You will be taking the warrior stone to raise block and one-handed. Once block has reached level 100, you will then switch to the lady stone, giving you a nice 25% boost to stamina. As an agile fighter you will need the extra stamina to dodge, run, block and parry your enemy.

    Stat Distribution: 0 Magicka 1 Health 1 Stamina

    • The shinobi is an unarmored build, therefore you will be needing an even split between health and stamina, giving you enough health to take a more than enough hits from your enemy, and being able to pull off many powerattacks. However when I reached 300 Health I then switch to full stamina and 300 health is more than enough to keep you going.

    Gear: Mourner's Clothes, Apprentice Hood, Nightingale Boots and gloves,Amulet of Articulation

    • I chose this armor combonation simply because this isn't some "Hollywood ninja" type build, this is a real ninja build. Although this is a unarmored build, I think the nightingale gloves and boots not only look good with the Mourner's Clothes (You could use the mourner's hat by I think the ears sticking out no the wood eld doesn't look good), but also give you a boost in one-handed damage and sneak. Real ninjas usually went for a more casual look to blend in with everyone else, that way the enemy wouldn't expect a thing from someone dressed as a civilian. However if you have the dragon born DLC I would switch out your nightingale boots for "Ahzidal's boots of waterwalking" when you want to walk on water. And last but not least the Amulet of Articulation is some what time consuming to obtain, it lets you bribe guards out of crime without having to invest an extra perk point into Speech and also giving you the ability to persuade anyone into anything.

    You're not a very good ninja, if people know you're a ninja

    Weapons: Blades Sword, Long Bow

    • At the start of the game you will want to head straight to the "Nightgate Inn" to retrieve your Blades Sword. The Long bow may seem like a very odd choice but it has the fastest draw speed out of all the bows in the game without perking archery. The Long bow is only used deliver deadly poisons to your target, and even then that isn't really neccersary.

    Shouts: Slow time, Marked for Death, Aura Whisper

    • Slow time is an essential shout giving you the ability to quickly attack your target and deal a lot of damage, this used with deadly poisons allows you to deal great damage in small time. Marked for Death is simply to be used against any stronger enemy's you would like out the way quickly. Now Aura whisper was the shout I least used, I mainly only used it when inside forts and what not purely to locate my targets and track there every move and allowing me to plan ahead of the fight.

    Major Skills

    One Handed: One Handed is the main damage dealer in this. The perk you will want to aim for first is "Critical Charge", combining this with silent roll allows you to deal a devastating 12x damage with your sword.

    Block: Block is another game changer, allowing you to block, dodge or parry incoming attacks limits the number of hits you'll be taking. But I chose block mainly for the perk "Shield Charge", despite what the name suggests this can also be executed with a sword by simply rolling or running then pressing the block button half way through.

    Sneak: You wouldn't be a very good shinobi without this skill. Take every perk in this tree apart from "Deadly Aim" and Assassin's Blade" as we will not be using a dagger and archery isn't really used. Another game changer is the perk "Shadow Warrior" this allows the shinobi to become even more difficult to catch up with by weaving in and out of the shadows by simply crouching.

    Pickpocket: This is the skill that can turn a room full of two-handed bandit marauders into a room of harmless fist fighters. This can make taking on multiple enemies a lot easier. This can also be used to silently slip a poison into an enemies pocket so kill them, or cause them to become aggressive towards anything nearby.

    Alchemy: In my opinion alchemy is by far the most important skill in this build. Alchemy allows the shinobi to create deadly poisons to use against any enemy. With a wide range poisons the shinobi can use this makes up for the lack of enchantments to increase one handed damage. Alchemy also allows you to quickly win a battle if pickpocketing your enemies weapons fails.

     

    Minor Skills

    Speech: Speech is where espoinage comes into play, this allows the shinobi to spy and gather information from his enemy's to use against them or plan ahead. The shinobi can also talk there way out of being arrested and even sell some of there stolen goods for more.

    Lockpicking: Now I was considering not putting this skill into the build, but I've never invested a single perk point into lockpicking before I thought I would use my 3 leftover points to go towards lockpocking. As it would be a bit embaressing if the shinobi was thwarted by a locked door.

    Smithing: There's only one perk needed here, and that's steal smithing. The blades sword not only fits the look of the build well, but also scales very well in damage throughout the game and increasing its damage a little more comes in handy.

    Perk Spread

    Level 50 Perk Spread

    Alchemy and Pickpocket are your two most important skills. Paying for alchemy lessons then robbing the teacher is a great way to increase both skills at the same time. By the time you Alchemy is around level 50-60 your pickpocket will be at level 70-80, at this level you can grab the "Misdirection" perk and allow this build to take off.

    While One Handed and Sneak take care of themselves, Block and Speech take special attention to level. The easiest way to raise block is to goto a giants camp and lower the difficulty down to novice, and block all incoming attacks from giants. Up to around level 50 giants will increase your block by 1 per hit, so block can be leveled very fast but you will need a few health potions to keep you going. Speech can be leveled in various ways. For the first one you will need the dragonborn DLC and will need to obtain the "Exquisite Saphire" from Saphire. Then you will need to goto the Khajiit Caravan over in Dawnstar and sell it to the trader, after that run over to the secret chest and get it back. Then simply repeat. The second way is to goto the speech trainer in the solitude and pay him for lessons, then rob your money back.

    Poisons

    Smoke Bomb - Invisibility

    Ice Wraith Teeth, Vampire Dust, Chaurus Egg, Nirnroot, Luna Moth Wing

    When to be used: Invisbility is mainly used for when you are trying to pickpocket as many enemies weapons as possible to ensure you have already won the battle. Another use for invisibility is for sneaking past enemies you don't want to deal with at that moment in time, so instead you can throw a smoke bomb and silently pass by. And last but not least invisiblity can be used to escape a battle if you don't have enough time to kill an enemy.

    Ninja Star - Slow + Damage Health

    Death Bell + River Betty

    When to be used: The Ninja Star is not only useful for slowing down enemies to give you a great advantage over them. But also to inflict a deadly poison into there blood stream. This is one of the two poisons that make the long bow worth using.

    Stun - Paralysis

    Imp Stool, Briar Heart, Canis Root, Swamp Fungal Pod

    When to be used: This had 2 uses. One being to stun your foe while you have low health to ensure you don't take any fatal hits or even getting killed. The second is for when there is multiple targets that you cannot possibly pickpocket without being detected, or even a target without any weapons and uses magic. By stunning them you can simply remove them from the battle field for a short amount of time. But a short amount of time is all you need to eliminate anyone else. This is the second poison the long bow can be used for, by hitting the enemy with a dart in the right area can leave them with great pain.

    Potent Poison - Damage Health

    Death Bell, Falmer Ear, NightShade, Red Mountain Flower. Skeever Tail

    When to be used: Although this doesn't poison your enemy as much as the ninja star, it can be constantly tipped on your blades sword to forever fill your foes body with poison. Making the time spent dealing with your target substantially less.

    Slow reacting Poison - Lingering Health Damage

    Imp Stool, Mora Tapinella, Slaughter Fish Scales/Eggs, Scathecrow (DB)

    When to be used: This is to be used against a stronger enemy that stands out more than the rest. Tipping your blades sword every 5 seconds can leave your enemy with a 100+ points of poison damage per second. Eliminating stronger enemies before your weaker enemies lets you quickly take the weaker ones out without a problem.

    Heal wound -  Fortify Health

    Blisterwort, Wheat

    When to be used: I found myself using this a lot against dragons as they're one of the toughest enemies for this build. I found myself using them against anything immune to poisons if I ever failed to take them out in a different way.

    Special Combos

    Vanish - Smoke Bomb + Shadow Warrior

    This Allows the shinobi to quickly disappear from the battlefeild, allowing you to return to the shadows and plan your next move.

    Leap from the shadows - Silent Roll + Critical Charge + Slow Reacting Poison (Optional)

    Leap from the shadows lets you deal 12x normal damage with your sword, allowing you to kill or severely harm your opponent. Slow Reacting Poison will let you slash your enemy then sprint to your next one without having to worry about the target you just poisoned, as he will be as good as dead in the next few seconds.

    Tackle - Silent Roll + Shield Charge

    Quickly sweeping your foes feet will allow you to pull of some other combos while they are getting back up. That's if they're not dead by the time they've even started too.

    The Speed of the shinobi - Slow Time + Standing or moving basic attacks + Potent Poison

    The shinobi unleashes his energy to become a fast and deadly warrior. Swinging your sword in all different directions while constantly being tipped with Potent Poisons allows the shinobi to take out multiple weak enemies quickly and efficiently.

    Counter - Quick Reflexes + Power Bash + Standing basic attacks + Potent Poison + Paralysis (Optional)

    While receiving an incoming power attack from your enemy you can quickly power bash your target, harming him and making them unable to attack for a few seconds. In this time you can attack your enemy with your blade tipped with a Potent Poison. Paralysis is optional, I mainly used this move with paralysis against slightly stronger enemies so that I can not only take them out quicker but also take no damage in the process.

    Misjudged - Leap from the shadows + Slow reacting poison

    This is only to be used when you misjudge an enemy for being weaker then they look after executing a leap from the shadows. You can quickly tip your blade with a slow reacting poison, this will not only slow down the enemies movement spped by 50% but will also release a deadly poison into there blood stream.

    Some of these special moves can be used with one another or after one another to increase the power of the shinobi.

     

    Tactics

    Open Combat - You should always start of your fight with a Leap from the shadows, if the enemy you just leaped on isn't killed or nearly killed after then you have multiple options to choose from. You can either use Misjudged which will then go smoothly The Speed of the shinobi, this will ensure a defeat against your target. However if you don't want to draw to much attention to yourself you can easily vanish and execute another leap from the shadows with a slow reacting poison. This will keep you in the shadows while taking out your target. Now moving onto when you find yourself in a situation where even if you do vanish it won't change the odds of you being able to sneak attack each foe you need a back up plan. This is by far my favourite move, by combining speed of the shinobi with 5+ stuns tipped onto your blade will allow you to stun all the targets around, allowing you to stab all your opponents with a potent poison will ensure you victory. Now there has been times where I have come across enemies that are immune to the shinobi's poisons. I would recommend using vanish, or using speed of the shinobi without poisons.

    Sabotage - Sabotage allows the shinobi to ensure he has won the battle before it has even begun. Pickpocketing your enemies weapons is easy... until you're detected, in which case you can execute a tackle combined with speed of the shinobi and ended with a vanish, or you can seamlessly vanish then stun your target and stack 2-4 slow reacting poisons on them to ensure a kill.

    1 on 1 -This battle tactic is no only an easy way to eliminate your target or take out a much stronger enem, but also makes you feel like a true ninja. This is where the long bow comes in handy, using your long bow + slow time + constant arrow tipping with paralysis allows you to stun as many targets as you want for around 12-17 seconds, allowing you to kill your target and your target only without any hassle. This is mainly for roleplaying purposes, but can also come in handy as well.

    Planning Ahead

    Planning ahead in this game allowed me to plan out my every move before the fight has even begun. Using aura whisper allowed me to track my enemies and there every move to make my life easier, and there lifes shorter. I also would plan out who I'm going to kill first if there is ever a mixture of any type of enemy.

    Firstly I would look for any humanoids, as they are the easiest to deal with. They are all effected by poisons, and can all be pickpocketed unless they're a mage. In which case I would try and eliminate all the mages before anything else.

    Secondly there are multiple enemies immune to the shinobi's poisons, such as draugr, vampires and automatons. Even against these enemies you still have your agility, stealth and wit on your side. The speed of the shinobi is very effective even with poisons, although it's a lot weaker it can still be used to take down anything immune to poisons. And if all fails, simply vanish and slip by your foes without any trouble.

    Now when fighting against dragons, I tended to find a nice area where I could take over and attack whenever I wanted to. Once I found that area I would then equip the amulet of talos and utilize the speed of the shinobi combo to quickly damage the dragon. Although fighting a dragon may be time consuming, I enjoy it. However if you do not enjoy fighting dragons and only want to slaughter them for there souls, then feel free to use the Ebony Blade. The Ebony Blade will allow you to deal no where near as much damage if you were to use the speed of the shinobi. But it allows you to regane health in the process which basically makes any dragon battle pointless and boring as you have 100% ensured victory.

    Closing Remarks

    This is my first build, so feel free to criticize me if I have done anything wrong.

    All Images were found on google images, I do not own any of them.

    All though archery is my favourite skill in the whole game I wanted to stay away from it as much as possible in this build. Which is why in my next build I will be including archery as a major skill.

    I also admit to seeing curse's infiltrator build while making this build and gave me a few ideas, but I used some of his build and changed it although its not 100% different but I enjoyed playing this build so I hope you do to!

  • Member
    October 16, 2014

    For some reason at the "Tactics" part of them build the writing has spaced itself out a bit more and i've try'd fixing it and it looked fine while creating the build but on the preview and now its all spaced out, does anyone know how to fix it? Or could an admin fix it for me or something?If so thankyou

  • Member
    October 16, 2014

    I can tell you used Curse's Infiltrator build as inspiration. In my opinion you used way too much of his build, even mimicking some of his descriptions and tactics. Its okay taking some inspiration to form a build, but almost copying it wont make it very popular, since theirs one already out just like it. I'd recommend making a build made by your creativity, and like i said earlier, using less of someone else's build and more of yours. Not trying to be mean by it, just trying to help you out.

  • Member
    October 16, 2014

    Love ninjas dude, +1

  • Member
    October 16, 2014
    Nice build. Might give it a go on my next play through. P.s its 'their' not 'there'. ;)
  • Member
    October 16, 2014

    That's true I did use some bits of it, I had the idea of a ninja build in the first place and saw his but wanted to make it different in my own way. And I did copy his layout not going to deny that. I will hopefully make my next build 100% of my own. I used his build as a template kind of, and changed it a bit to make it my own but yes I do admit to copying it slightly with the shield charge etc. But thanks

  • Member
    October 16, 2014

    Thanks Chris

  • Member
    October 16, 2014

    Thanks ;)

  • October 16, 2014
    Well now this is pretty good, I like the general layout of the build except for the places you have inserted the pictures and the way it moves the text to the sides, well actually it only annoyed me in the Tactics but you've mentioned that's not your fault. (also I could be wrong but it could be the size of the picture and the formatting around it, can't say for sure though). The idea is fairly used and you don't seem to have much in terms of Roleplay or Backstory but that's fine in this case because it's such an open build. Lastly I like the amount of work you've put in into combat and how you explain it because overall that's what makes it playable. +1 from me.
  • Member
    October 16, 2014

    Is your Spacing 150%??? Mine is, you can change it on your profile settings I think..