This is my first ever build that I put together after a few ideas came into my head about skill combinations and techniques. I also got the idea for this when I heard the song "In The Presence Of Enemies" by Dream Theater. Strange to reference a song I know (by the way its in two parts) but I think that the lyrics give you this sense of an unstoppable master of the shadows and the realms beyond men. So without further a do, here he is, the Dark Master. Both Dawnguard and DragonBorn DLC's are required for this build to reach its full potential. This build is more aimed towards people who are not as experienced with skyrim and are fairly new to it so if you are experienced, read the parts about the build, armor, gear, stats etc and then go for it but for newer people, there is a section which tells you how to deal with certain enemies and bosses such as dragons.
Character Information:
Race: High Elf Vampire, but due to their starting bonuses, Dark Elves and Bretons can also fit the build well.
Equipment: Dark Master's Cuirass (Daedric Chestplate enchanted with magicka regeneration and Health point increase), Dark Manipulation Gauntlets (Daedric gauntlets with heavy armor skill increase and increased magicka points), Boots of Dark Mysticism (Daedric Boots enchanted with Muffle and Resist Fire) and Shrouded hood.
At the higher levels, move up from the shrouded hood to the dragon priest mask Morokei, then to the dragonborn masks, using the appropriate mask for your preferred destruction element, then finally Konahrik. These are obviously not restricted to only using konahrik or your current one at the time, you can use any, but these are the most effective ones for this character. Ahzidal will be very useful for negating the vampires fire weakness, so I suggest this one, but go for your choice if you prefer a different element. Don't take my word as law, this can be as much your build as it is mine.
Other Apparel: Necklace of Immortality (Bone Hawk (or any) amulet enchanted with resist magic and fortify healing rate) and the Ring of Withered Souls (again Bone Hawk (or any) ring enchanted with Fortify magicka regeneration and fortify destruction).
Weapons: Bound Sword, GodSlayer (Dragonbone Mace enchanted with Chaos Damage and Absorb Health), Daedra's Hand (Daedric Sword enchanted with Fiery Soul trap and Absorb Magicka), ShadowSnakes (Daedric/Dragonbone dual daggers enchanted with Frost damage and Fear.
Major Skills: Destruction, Conjuration, Illusion, Sneak, Heavy Armor, Enchanting
Minor Skills: Smithing, One handed and Alteration
Optional Skills: Two handed
Major Shouts: Any that are offensive, however I do mention specific uses of certain ones later.
Quests: Main Questline, Dawnguard, Dark Brotherhood, Dragonborn, College of Winterhold.
Stat Distribution: 2 Magicka to 2 Health to 2 Stamina until Health and stamina reach 200, then straight up with magicka until that reaches 360, then all health.
Back story
On a distant Island far off the coast of the Summerset Isles, a child is born, but not just any child. This child was born by a mother who was seduced by Molag Bal because of her magnificent beauty and this gave birth to the child who would grow up to be the heir to the throne of the world, devourer of souls and master of death. However the woman was a devout follower of Mehrunes Dagon, so a portion of the power she was given by him was also imbued into this child as well. This produced a machination that, when fully grown, would become the most powerful being ever to walk Tamriel. Instead of being angered by Molag Bal's interference in his affairs, Mehrunes Dagon realized just how powerful this child will be, so he and Molag Bal decided to help and guide this child on his path to lead him to total domination of the world, creating a world that would be ruled by not one, but two Daedric Princes.
Perks
By Level 50
Destruction: master destruction, augmented frost, shock or flames (2/2) Dual casting
Illusion: adept illusion, dual casting, animage, kindred mage
Conjuration: master Conjuration, Mystic binding, summoner(1/2), atromancy, elemental potency, twin souls
Enchanting: Enchanter (5/5)
Sneak: stealth (3/5), muffled movement, backstab
One handed: Armsman (4/5), fighting stance, savage strike
Heavy armor: Juggernaut (3/5)
Smithing: Ebony Smithing (Note this is due to the atronach forge in the midden in the underneath the college of winterhold so there is no need for daedric smithing, although you can grab it if you want to improve it to legendary grade), Arcane Blacksmith
Alteration: novice alteration
Weapons and Skills in Depth
If you're wondering why there are so many weapons for this character, it is because I wanted to create a character which would be utterly devastating in any situation. These weapons, except for the Shadowsnakes, will only be used in close, open combat, but they are to be used at any time, so don't feel forced to use them, use magic as your main weapon, but these will be a sort of secondary main. Simply switch in and out as you wish. The Shadowsnakes are something different, part of the sneak section of the build. These two weapons will become absolutely devastating once your sneak is maxed out and the right. For those not sure about the conjuration, heavy armor and sneaking side of things, let me explain.
Firstly, the conjuration goes hand in hand with the open combat weapons I have explained about. It allows you to summon very powerful weapons which deal massive damage and allow you to soul trap enemies should you run out of magicka or weapon charge. They also banish lesser daedra such as flame atronachs so enemy conjurers or any kind of mage that summons daedra will have alot more to deal with due to having no conjuration to back them up. Also, just think how awesome it feels to conjure two demonic warriors with flaming greatswords running in decimating everything while you're firing powerful destruction spells from the back, or you're using your melee weapons and are joining them. Heavy armor should be fairly easy to explain, firstly, Daedric armor is the most powerful armor in the game, allowing you to take a lot of damage without even feeling a scratch, its mostly aesthetic honestly, but it gives you that big armor buff, on top of the flesh spells you may or may not use.
In terms of combat, it's very useful to know how to approach different types of enemies. The three main classes are warriors, archers and mages. Archers are easy to take care of, they are a little annoying at times, especially the higher level ones, but conjuration allows us to make them focus their fire in a different direction. Its a good idea to use weaker level summoned allies as they cost much less magicka to summon up. This way if it dies you have less chance of being stuck if an archer that deals high damage kills a tougher ally you have summoned because you wont have to wait for magicka to recharge. Warriors are fairly straight forward, keep away from high level ones but don't be afraid to get stuck in with something that's not too overpowering. Remember you are wearing heavy armor in this build so it will give you a lot of protection. Mages are the worst to deal with as their attacks ignore armor and can damage other stats, but again, distract them with the conjuration spells and hit them with the good'ol lighting spells to drain their magicka. Use wards as well so that you don't get hit by any magic blasts. If your using your sword for the battle however, try to get as close as possible and power attack them to stun them and they'll go down pretty fast.
Concerning boss's, dragons are pretty annoying at a lower level as swords cant hit them and ranged attacks miss 95% of the time. The best way to kill them is to overpower them as much as possible. Conjured ally's wont work well unless they are a high level like a storm atronach or a dremora so try and have a follower that is a warrior to distract them. Lydia is a good example. For this build, and others, I always use a follower, they soak up hits pretty well but wearing the heavy armor you should be able to get the hits in from the side and still take some decent damage without dying as well. This is a fairly decent tactic for most bosses, for things that will kill you in seconds though, like draugr deathlords, Dragon priests etc, use cover and followers. You have to reduce the total damage taken by leaps and bounds or you will never survive.
Now for sneak. Sneak is a ridiculously powerful mechanic dealing huge damage and taking zero. Throw illusion into the mix and your character becomes a master the art of dropping a room in seconds. Wearing heavy armor with sneak may seem stupid, but that's what the muffle enchantment was for in case you were wondering. I can tell that now (probably) people are starting to build up a picture of this character and are starting to see what I mean by my character. Speaking of pictures, here's one now, you deserve it after that huge wall of text.
Demon Lord Form
A lot of people unfortunately dismiss the vampires as being bad and having no point to them, but I am telling you now that the amount of perks and bonuses you receive from being a vampire is amazing. It completely fits our characters skills. They gain a 25% boost to sneak and illusion, Invisibility for 180 seconds a day, a magicka free resurrection spell for a day, a magicka free calm spell each day, Night eye per day, complete resistance to disease and poison and 50% resistance to frost. That's a lot of buffs if you ask me. Also, because vampires are undead, acquiring the necromage perk allows our healing spells to be stronger to us. I didn't mention restoration above because if you're a mage, you will be using restoration anyway, in fact most characters do so its fairly given that we will use it.
The only big drawback with vampires is that they are incredibly weak while in sunlight, which a lot of people complain about and have a large fire weakness. Firstly, Auriel's Bow fixes the problem of being weak in sunlight, yes you have to shoot the sun every day but hey it takes about 3 seconds so don't be lazy. Also, our magic and fire resistant stuff helps with negating the fire weakness so that's all good there. Personally, I like that Bethesda added in the weakness during daytime, it makes the game more "legend-friendly" if you will, plus you can't expect to have so many perks and bonuses and have no downsides, that would be way overpowered. Anyway, now onto the vampire lord form which is what I actually wanted to talk about.
The Dark Master is a powerful being, gifted with the ability to transform into a monster of destruction and carnage, the demon lord. Max out this perk tree and few will be able to stand against you. Few will be able to anyway, but this will make you 110% certain. Plus you can hover over water which is pretty funny when the enemies aren't ranged, and it looks cool. Nothing more to be said here.
Dark Powers
Supernatural Death: Slow time + Dual Bound Swords
Unleash the power of the dark master and watch him decimate the battlefield while his enemies see him moving with lighting speed before receiving a swift death.
Dark Army Looms: Hysteria + Conjure 2 Dremora Lords
The dark master commands his demonic legion on Nirn, a sight so terrifying that all living things around fear for their lives and flee from the scene, but are quickly chased down and destroyed by the dark masters warriors.
Decimation: Conjure 2 Dremora Lords + Dragon aspect + Storm Call + GodSlayer
Use this either for fun or as a last resort. The dark master summons the most powerful abilities at his disposal and completely destroys everything around him. Nothing stands in his way as him and his dark minions destroy anything that dares to challenge them, and anything that doesn't...
I hope you guys like this build, its my first one so its not brilliant, but I am fully open to any constructive criticism that you have for me. If I have missed anything out please feel free to let me know, other than that there isn't anything else to say. Thanks!
This is my first ever build that I put together after a few ideas came into my head about skill combinations and techniques. I also got the idea for this when I heard the song "In The Presence Of Enemies" by Dream Theater. Strange to reference a song I know (by the way its in two parts) but I think that the lyrics give you this sense of an unstoppable master of the shadows and the realms beyond men. So without further a do, here he is, the Dark Master. Both Dawnguard and DragonBorn DLC's are required for this build to reach its full potential. This build is more aimed towards people who are not as experienced with skyrim and are fairly new to it so if you are experienced, read the parts about the build, armor, gear, stats etc and then go for it but for newer people, there is a section which tells you how to deal with certain enemies and bosses such as dragons.
Character Information:
Race: High Elf Vampire, but due to their starting bonuses, Dark Elves and Bretons can also fit the build well.
Equipment: Dark Master's Cuirass (Daedric Chestplate enchanted with magicka regeneration and Health point increase), Dark Manipulation Gauntlets (Daedric gauntlets with heavy armor skill increase and increased magicka points), Boots of Dark Mysticism (Daedric Boots enchanted with Muffle and Resist Fire) and Shrouded hood.
At the higher levels, move up from the shrouded hood to the dragon priest mask Morokei, then to the dragonborn masks, using the appropriate mask for your preferred destruction element, then finally Konahrik. These are obviously not restricted to only using konahrik or your current one at the time, you can use any, but these are the most effective ones for this character. Ahzidal will be very useful for negating the vampires fire weakness, so I suggest this one, but go for your choice if you prefer a different element. Don't take my word as law, this can be as much your build as it is mine.
Other Apparel: Necklace of Immortality (Bone Hawk (or any) amulet enchanted with resist magic and fortify healing rate) and the Ring of Withered Souls (again Bone Hawk (or any) ring enchanted with Fortify magicka regeneration and fortify destruction).
Weapons: Bound Sword, GodSlayer (Dragonbone Mace enchanted with Chaos Damage and Absorb Health), Daedra's Hand (Daedric Sword enchanted with Fiery Soul trap and Absorb Magicka), ShadowSnakes (Daedric/Dragonbone dual daggers enchanted with Frost damage and Fear.
Major Skills: Destruction, Conjuration, Illusion, Sneak, Heavy Armor, Enchanting
Minor Skills: Smithing, One handed and Alteration
Optional Skills: Two handed
Major Shouts: Any that are offensive, however I do mention specific uses of certain ones later.
Quests: Main Questline, Dawnguard, Dark Brotherhood, Dragonborn, College of Winterhold.
Stat Distribution: 2 Magicka to 2 Health to 2 Stamina until Health and stamina reach 200, then straight up with magicka until that reaches 360, then all health.
Back story
On a distant Island far off the coast of the Summerset Isles, a child is born, but not just any child. This child was born by a mother who was seduced by Molag Bal because of her magnificent beauty and this gave birth to the child who would grow up to be the heir to the throne of the world, devourer of souls and master of death. However the woman was a devout follower of Mehrunes Dagon, so a portion of the power she was given by him was also imbued into this child as well. This produced a machination that, when fully grown, would become the most powerful being ever to walk Tamriel. Instead of being angered by Molag Bal's interference in his affairs, Mehrunes Dagon realized just how powerful this child will be, so he and Molag Bal decided to help and guide this child on his path to lead him to total domination of the world, creating a world that would be ruled by not one, but two Daedric Princes.
Perks
By Level 50
Destruction: master destruction, augmented frost, shock or flames (2/2) Dual casting
Illusion: adept illusion, dual casting, animage, kindred mage
Conjuration: master Conjuration, Mystic binding, summoner(1/2), atromancy, elemental potency, twin souls
Enchanting: Enchanter (5/5)
Sneak: stealth (3/5), muffled movement, backstab
One handed: Armsman (4/5), fighting stance, savage strike
Heavy armor: Juggernaut (3/5)
Smithing: Ebony Smithing (Note this is due to the atronach forge in the midden in the underneath the college of winterhold so there is no need for daedric smithing, although you can grab it if you want to improve it to legendary grade), Arcane Blacksmith
Alteration: novice alteration
Weapons and Skills in Depth
If you're wondering why there are so many weapons for this character, it is because I wanted to create a character which would be utterly devastating in any situation. These weapons, except for the Shadowsnakes, will only be used in close, open combat, but they are to be used at any time, so don't feel forced to use them, use magic as your main weapon, but these will be a sort of secondary main. Simply switch in and out as you wish. The Shadowsnakes are something different, part of the sneak section of the build. These two weapons will become absolutely devastating once your sneak is maxed out and the right. For those not sure about the conjuration, heavy armor and sneaking side of things, let me explain.
Firstly, the conjuration goes hand in hand with the open combat weapons I have explained about. It allows you to summon very powerful weapons which deal massive damage and allow you to soul trap enemies should you run out of magicka or weapon charge. They also banish lesser daedra such as flame atronachs so enemy conjurers or any kind of mage that summons daedra will have alot more to deal with due to having no conjuration to back them up. Also, just think how awesome it feels to conjure two demonic warriors with flaming greatswords running in decimating everything while you're firing powerful destruction spells from the back, or you're using your melee weapons and are joining them. Heavy armor should be fairly easy to explain, firstly, Daedric armor is the most powerful armor in the game, allowing you to take a lot of damage without even feeling a scratch, its mostly aesthetic honestly, but it gives you that big armor buff, on top of the flesh spells you may or may not use.
In terms of combat, it's very useful to know how to approach different types of enemies. The three main classes are warriors, archers and mages. Archers are easy to take care of, they are a little annoying at times, especially the higher level ones, but conjuration allows us to make them focus their fire in a different direction. Its a good idea to use weaker level summoned allies as they cost much less magicka to summon up. This way if it dies you have less chance of being stuck if an archer that deals high damage kills a tougher ally you have summoned because you wont have to wait for magicka to recharge. Warriors are fairly straight forward, keep away from high level ones but don't be afraid to get stuck in with something that's not too overpowering. Remember you are wearing heavy armor in this build so it will give you a lot of protection. Mages are the worst to deal with as their attacks ignore armor and can damage other stats, but again, distract them with the conjuration spells and hit them with the good'ol lighting spells to drain their magicka. Use wards as well so that you don't get hit by any magic blasts. If your using your sword for the battle however, try to get as close as possible and power attack them to stun them and they'll go down pretty fast.
Concerning boss's, dragons are pretty annoying at a lower level as swords cant hit them and ranged attacks miss 95% of the time. The best way to kill them is to overpower them as much as possible. Conjured ally's wont work well unless they are a high level like a storm atronach or a dremora so try and have a follower that is a warrior to distract them. Lydia is a good example. For this build, and others, I always use a follower, they soak up hits pretty well but wearing the heavy armor you should be able to get the hits in from the side and still take some decent damage without dying as well. This is a fairly decent tactic for most bosses, for things that will kill you in seconds though, like draugr deathlords, Dragon priests etc, use cover and followers. You have to reduce the total damage taken by leaps and bounds or you will never survive.
Now for sneak. Sneak is a ridiculously powerful mechanic dealing huge damage and taking zero. Throw illusion into the mix and your character becomes a master the art of dropping a room in seconds. Wearing heavy armor with sneak may seem stupid, but that's what the muffle enchantment was for in case you were wondering. I can tell that now (probably) people are starting to build up a picture of this character and are starting to see what I mean by my character. Speaking of pictures, here's one now, you deserve it after that huge wall of text.
Demon Lord Form
A lot of people unfortunately dismiss the vampires as being bad and having no point to them, but I am telling you now that the amount of perks and bonuses you receive from being a vampire is amazing. It completely fits our characters skills. They gain a 25% boost to sneak and illusion, Invisibility for 180 seconds a day, a magicka free resurrection spell for a day, a magicka free calm spell each day, Night eye per day, complete resistance to disease and poison and 50% resistance to frost. That's a lot of buffs if you ask me. Also, because vampires are undead, acquiring the necromage perk allows our healing spells to be stronger to us. I didn't mention restoration above because if you're a mage, you will be using restoration anyway, in fact most characters do so its fairly given that we will use it.
The only big drawback with vampires is that they are incredibly weak while in sunlight, which a lot of people complain about and have a large fire weakness. Firstly, Auriel's Bow fixes the problem of being weak in sunlight, yes you have to shoot the sun every day but hey it takes about 3 seconds so don't be lazy. Also, our magic and fire resistant stuff helps with negating the fire weakness so that's all good there. Personally, I like that Bethesda added in the weakness during daytime, it makes the game more "legend-friendly" if you will, plus you can't expect to have so many perks and bonuses and have no downsides, that would be way overpowered. Anyway, now onto the vampire lord form which is what I actually wanted to talk about.
The Dark Master is a powerful being, gifted with the ability to transform into a monster of destruction and carnage, the demon lord. Max out this perk tree and few will be able to stand against you. Few will be able to anyway, but this will make you 110% certain. Plus you can hover over water which is pretty funny when the enemies aren't ranged, and it looks cool. Nothing more to be said here.
Dark Powers
Supernatural Death: Slow time + Dual Bound Swords
Unleash the power of the dark master and watch him decimate the battlefield while his enemies see him moving with lighting speed before receiving a swift death.
Dark Army Looms: Hysteria + Conjure 2 Dremora Lords
The dark master commands his demonic legion on Nirn, a sight so terrifying that all living things around fear for their lives and flee from the scene, but are quickly chased down and destroyed by the dark masters warriors.
Decimation: Conjure 2 Dremora Lords + Dragon aspect + Storm Call + GodSlayer
Use this either for fun or as a last resort. The dark master summons the most powerful abilities at his disposal and completely destroys everything around him. Nothing stands in his way as him and his dark minions destroy anything that dares to challenge them, and anything that doesn't...
I hope you guys like this build, its my first one so its not brilliant, but I am fully open to any constructive criticism that you have for me. If I have missed anything out please feel free to let me know, other than that there isn't anything else to say. Thanks!
