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Character Build: Scion of a God

Tags: #Character Build Elementalist  #Character Build Sorcerer  #Character Build Vampire  #Rank:Recognized  #LeBlanc Builds  #Race:Altmer 
  • Member
    January 27, 2016

    So this was a very interesting build for me, to say the least.  Of all places to start, it began with a song as they say.  Seriously, I was listening to a song and thought, "damn that might be a sweet Skyrim build".  So began my journey to create this piece of work that you have before you.  As usual, this is a work of my imagination pulled from many strings and many directions.  I've tried to tie in to lore as best I can but at the end of the day, it's based on my interpretation (right or wrong) and the input I've received in the Workshop. 

    Scion of a God

    The Thunder God

    BACKGROUND

    "I am alive because that one is dead.  I exist because I have the will to do so."-Boethiah's Proving

    Gods.  No one knows what, exactly, moves them.  Nobody can account for their motivations.  What happens, then , when a god fathers a child, especially with a mortal?  One can imagine the trauma wrought on the babe from the demonseed coursing through the veins of the growing child.  Does this child inherit the god's powers and abilities; or are they cursed to be mere mortals with a god's knowledge but no way of attaining their status?  Maybe it's beyond their control as just another pawn in the clutches of the gods themselves to move about the playing board that in Nirn.

    Sayings abound and Proverbs prevail all throughout Nirn.  One such is Boethiah's Proving which states "I am alive because that one is dead.  I exist because I have the will to do so."  Gods, Goddessess, secret unions in the dark of Oblivion, unions between mortals and gods using a mortal visage; another example of the gods playing tricks on those that worship them.  Possibly, after one such clandestine meeting, in the realm of The Nine, this Proving takes on a life of it's own as a very pregnant mortal woman of the Altmer race gives life to one of her own blood, a daughter.  Alongside the newborn sqalling godling lies another child; her Zeymah, a male older by mere minutes but dead and drained of life.  The father of this child was a stranger in the land, but is rumored to be the Prince of Plots himself, Boethiah.  The fact that the womb-mate of the child was killed certainly links to Boethiah's Proving which ultimately serves to reinforce this belief.  This cursed union of their ritual was to be raised by the Altmeri mother but other forces intervened and cast the young goddess to the wilds of Skyrim where she finds herself fighting for survival as she grows and matures into a young woman. 

    Uncommon events continue to swirl around her during her early life, a juxtaposed pawn of the gods, and she eventually becomes immersed in the Civil War taking place in Tamriel; Skyrim in particular, at this juncture of the planets and feels compelled to possibly become the savior of the world as she finds her place in Skyrim and possibly finds her place in Oblivion as well; with a realm and a wasteland of her own waiting should she succeed.

    Boethiah's Armor Mail gathers the darkness of your father and cloaks you in a protective embrace.

    BASICS

    I'm the Lord of the Wastelands and the God of Thunder...

    Race: Altmer (Female) Vampire (Nothing says god-like quite like an Altmer's attitude...with fangs.)

    Stone: Lady (for enhanced health and stamina regeneration, a true god would not suffer these penalties)

    Shrine: Akatosh (for enhanced magicka regeneration, again to offset any type of weakness here)

    Shouts: Become Ethereal; Bend Will; Drain Vitality; Storm Call; Marked For Death; Slow Time; Whirlwind Sprint; Unrelenting Force

    Mandatory Quests: Boethiah's Proving; Acquire Stormfang; Unearthed; Main Quest

    Suggested Quests: Dragon Priests; Companions; College of Winterhold

    SKILLS

    Stats: 3/1/0

    Perks: Level 25

    Perks: Level 50

    GEAR

    Deck yourself out in Heavy Armor.  I went with Steel in the early going.  Eventually you will tie in with your father, when Sanguine tricks a follower into attempting to kill you.  In response, your patriarch will guide you to seek out the shrine to him and eventually lead you to become his Champion and his Ebony Mail.  This armor will give you the ability to perfectly mirror the song line "I gather darkness to please me", via the shadow effect on the armor piece.  Aesthetics only but awesome looking.  Oh, and the poison kicker is pretty god-like as well.  Feel free to take it off for some gaudy robes when wandering around town should you NOT want to provoke the mortals.  Another good tie in here is the Companions just to gain access to the Heavy Armor and Two Handed training.

    Conjuring is a major part of the build.  As the "Lord of the Wastelands", you will command corpses you reanimate via necromancy.  As you continue to gain power you will eventually use Dead Thrall to retain your greatest servant.  Plan to attain a "permanent item" such as Zephyr to use the Dead Thrall glitch (see below) to keep your Thrall resummonable.

    Stormfang is a great "storm" weapon with a sweet +30 bonus which is huge, especially early in the game.  I was able to snag this about Level 16 but it took some doing.  It's a reserve weapon for when you deplete your magicka so not a huge issue to get that early if you have to wait. 

    Dragonbane is another "storm" sword.  In tying in with saving the world (and yourself along with it of course), the ability to combat dragons outside of your spells is given to you following the main quest line.  Of course, the sword does shock damage to non-dragons and so ties in perfectly with the builds framework.

    I also wanted Ahzidal's Ring of Necromancy.  This will be limited mainly to your gold reserves to get through the quest line.  The ability to raise zombies that will then explode with a Thunderous roar and do more damage?  How sweet is that for the god of thunder? (Yes it's frost damage, but it's still an explosion.  BOOM!)  Use funds from selling basic enchanted items to raise the capital to pay off the archaeologist to gain this item.

    Zahkriisos' Mask is the cake-topper for this gear build.  It's an awesome Dragon-Priest mask making it worthy of a god to possess.  Plus it gives us an added +25% boost to our shock damage.  Combine this with our +50% bonus from Augmented Shock and our lightning spells really explode.  The Cultist Mask had similar AR stats and gave that "look" so I went with that in the early going.

    I didn't take points in Alchemy but I did utilize the tree mainly brewing Restore Health and Fortify Two Handed (for the bonus damage + Fire Resistance that goes with it).  The base levels of these two skills are enough to go with so I did not perk this skill tree..

    Destruction: As the God of Thunder; sparks will fly from your outstretched hands and lay waste to all before us. 

    Conjuration: We will raise the dead to be our merchants of death and destruction.  We will use only the corpses of those that we slay, forsaking the creation of atronachs.

    Restoration: God-like ability to restore health and the ability to offset the slower health/stamina regeneration issues as a vampire.

    Heavy Armor: We go for the Ebony Mail and enhance that with Ebony or Dragonplate armor.

    Two  Handed: Stormfang is the perfect "Stormbringer" weapon to complement our storm casting spells. 

    Alteration: One perk point, just for Equilibrium; again to offset vampire weakness issues with regeneration speed.

    Enchanting: We take points up the middle path to beef up our gear, mainly for magicka cost and regeneration.

    Vampirism: Note we are taking just base level vampirism, not the Vampire Lord form.  However feel free to go this route if you desire to.  The Lord form would not be used in gameplay however.

    GAMEPLAY

    So a bit of explanation might be in order now.  As noted I initially dreamed up this build listening to a song entitled "God of Thunder".  In piecing together the outline of the build, I felt an Altmer was the perfect race to convey the attitude of this goddess.  You are the child of semi-royal birth to gods and in the petty squabbles that occur in the higher realms, you've been cast out as a bone of revenge and contention against your parents.  You will effort to regain your rightful place but for now you must take solace in your time and place.  I made my character a female as the song references Aphrodite; this also brought in the ties to the gods.  Boethiah's Proving jumped out at me, as well as the dead sibling, from the song lyrics "I was raised by the demons to reign as the One".  I was initially going to go with Mara (for the Aphrodite tie in) but discussions with the Lore gurus led me into the final facets you see here. 

    The song title is God of Thunder, so that led also to the tie in with gods as part of the build and, of course, this also led to Sparks as the obvious spell set that we would use and limit ourselves to.  No flames or frost for this demi-god.  Lightning, sparks and more lightning.  Call down the storms with your power.  I felt that this would enhance and explain our weakness to fire (via vampirism) and frost (non-Nord) as the counters to our chosen spell set. 

    In the early levels we work at building up our magical abilities.  Tie in with the College of Winterhold for training.  Feel free to abuse their generosity and eventually take over the College as it's rightful head.  Any god would feel that any mere men or mer would be incapable of leading in your stead.  In fact, maybe you played mind games through the Eye of Magnus to cause the Arch Mage to be killed.  Nobody would ever suspect a mere "student". 

    As a vampire we do have several drawbacks, namely reduced regeneration of Magic, Health and Stamina.  We address these issues via the Lady Stone and Shrine of Akatosh coupled with our Restoration spells (Regeneration and Recovery) plus Equilibrium once you attain that spell book.  These combine to basically offset any negative issues via vampirism.  Gods shouldn't be weighed down with those issues after all. 

    I was raised by the demons; Trained to reign as The One

    From a quest perspective remember we are trying to save the world.  Not for any sense of "goodness" but more for "self preservation" since we are in Skyrim we don't want to die and we are trying to find our way to claim our god-hood at some point.  So, towards that end we may perform works of good but they are not for any honorable purpose but only self motivated for what we may gain from our actions.  So take over the College of Winterhold (if only to gain the power as Arch Mage and access to training).  Same with the Companions (although I took only the initial quest to access Heavy Armor and Two Handed training) and never progressed any further.  Definitely complete the main quest line as we must stop Alduin to save ourselves (saving Skyrim is just a bonus here) and don't worry about Paarthurnax...collateral damage.  So from that point, follow your own path wherever that may lead.

    ENCHANTMENTS

    I did end up using Enchanting.  Disenchant everything you can for XP and buy Grand Soul Gems plus use Soul Trap to fill up all levels.  Use these for recharging Stormfang (as needed) and use the Grand gems to do enchants on your gear. You can also do basic enchants as a means of leveling and to sell those items for training funds.  I found the following enchants to be of use in game play:

    -Fortify Destruction and Fortify Conjuration to offset casting cost and buff up magicka regeneration
    -Fortify Two Handed items to equip when using Stormfang
    -Fortify Magic Regeneration or Healing Rate to offset your vampire deficiencies.  A god shouldn't have those.
    Feel free to pursue Azura's Star as lore tells us the Daedric lords don't always compete against each other but you may decide yourself this is a conflict and choose not to help her.  Going this route leaves you with Grand Gems for your enchantments but these are plentiful to buy.

    ...as the Lightning Strikes again.

    COMBAT

    In combat it's Lightning as a primary attack AND a secondary attack and then, if all else fails, you have a sweet two-handed sword as a backup damage dealer.  Once you can cast runes these are great, not for the damage but for leveling Destruction up faster.  Cast a Shock Rune, let your magicka recharge and then pull your enemy.  Then use whichever level shock spells are appropriate (Chain Lightning when pulling 2+ enemies to get the AOE effect for example).  Use the Shock Rune to your advantage for the XP bump to cut down on having to train that. 

    Also, before entering combat, cast down one or two of your spiderling pets (see below).  This just adds some additional damage output when facing multiple enemies.  They are pretty hard to come by so don't waste them!  I tended to save them for boss fights and Dragon Priests.

    Also, you are a conjurer.  So raise up your undead minion to help out.  As you raise that skill you will be looking for a Thrall to be a permanent follower.  Use Soul Trap as your "draw" technique, again for leveling more than anything else.  Don't forget, enchanting will help raise money to pay for leveling spells and armor skills as needed so this will also help you fill up those soul gems you need.

    When they get too close and your magicka depletes, pull out Stormfang and make short work of anyone left.  That +30 shock damage is a killer.

    When facing mages, let your zombie take the brunt of the attack and let you move in unmolested.  You can also use a ward to block a meager spell or two as you get into range for your own spells while your minion draws the mages' attention.  Same for dragons, a ward blocks their breath attack and shock damage is a good damage dealer to dragons.

    IMBUING CHAMBER

    Dual wielding a storm spider and a cloak spider.

    One item I came across that I had not seen before was the Imbuing Chamber.  This little item allows you to make Storm Spiders, conjured creatures from the abyss to help you in your trials.  As with magic, we will limit ourselves to Storm Spiders.

    Storm Spider: Amethyst + Albino Spider Pod (referred to as ASP henceforth) (this spider jumps at enemy and explodes)

    Storm Cloak Spider: Amethyst + ASP + Salt Pile (Acts as follower with Lightning Cloak)
    Mind Control Spider: Soul Gem + ASP (allows you to take control of an enemy for a short time; very god like)
    *Note: If you use a "Damaged Albino Spider Pod" the resultant spider will be "dead" and act as a trap/rune that explodes when the enemy nears it.
    *A standard gem nets three spiders; a Flawless gem nets six spiders upon creation.

    Storm Cloak Spider on the attack while you enjoy the view

    MAKING A THRALL

    So, one option that you can definitely do with this build is glitch yourself a permanent undead thrall.  This would entail getting a "fully permanent item" of which there are just four in the game.  I recommend going after Zephyr as this seems to be the easiest one to get (to me).  Rather than explain the whole process, suffice to say you can place this "permanent item" in a corpses inventory then raise the corpse.  They then become a "permanent NPC" and can't be destroyed.  Read about the entire thought process and guide HERE and thanks to Lee Fiskilis for his work and efforts on this sweet little nugget.

    THANKS

    Thanks as always to the Workshop gang for their help.  Also thanks to the Lore group as I spent a lot of time and effort getting input on the lore here to make sure it made sense.  A special thanks to Phil from that group for his tireless efforts to help me "get it right" and to Relycs for some sweet art work.  By far this was my toughest build to pull together but that may make it my most rewarding as well.   I appreciate all the critiques and suggestions as they helped pull this from the world of rock and roll and into the realm of Nirn.

    Lastly, and a new Thanks...I'd love the thank the mighty HeroicX for thinking enough of this build to include in his newest YouTube video (along with several other Vault builds) that you can check out here:

  • Member
    January 27, 2016

    Awesome work, John! +1

  • Member
    January 27, 2016

    this is a cool build, a Heavy armored Greatsword welding mage Vampire that is a cool combo.

  • Member
    January 27, 2016

    Thanks for the comments and the likes.  Much appreciated.  Yeah, I wasn't sure where this one was going to go SGW but pretty happy with where it ended up.

  • Member
    January 27, 2016

    Dang Jogn, the presentation, especially the screenshots, are awesome, nice job

  • Member
    January 27, 2016

    Thanks Chris.  I think some of these came out really well.  I was really excited when I got the dragon shot (gear) and the level 50 perk shot.

  • Member
    January 27, 2016

    That's some cool armor! Is the helm part of the Bosmer Armor mod?

  • Member
    January 27, 2016

    It appears to be so

  • Member
    January 27, 2016

    It is a Bosmer Coif from a mod I use.  I was using that one because the open face helmets allowed the use of a Mage Circlet at the same time.

  • Member
    January 27, 2016
    I think this turned out really well. It was great to see it's progress in the Workshop and your research really shaping the concept. Good work John! :)