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Contest Build: The Renegade

Tags: #Character Build Warrior  #Character Build Alchemist  #Character Build Villain  #Race:Imperial  #Rank:Recognized  #Contest4 
  • January 29, 2016

    I'm back, after a long hiatus from the group. I had one brief stint with true character building, as in posting, and was hungry for more. Then the fourth contest was announced...so, I thought to myself, how better to jump back in and get soaking wet than to post a competing build?

    But what the hell to do? I didn't know.

    I just decided to make an Imperial, and see what happened. I can actually thank the nameless Legate from the introduction for the name, and most of the inspiration for the build. It's truly amazing how one thing can spark something amazing. I am proud to present...

    The Renegade

    "Next, the renegade from Cyrodil!" - Nameless Imperial Legate


    "Must we bring him in? The Dark Brotherhood could get this done so quickly, so quietly. I really cannot see why we must bring in...well, him." - Anonymous Elder Councilman

    "Do you want his allies to find him with his throat slit, lying in his bed? Only for them to say he died of an illness in his sleep? Or do you want him to be completely and utterly eviscerated in a public place, for all the Imperial City's people to see, and have them know it was you who ordered his death? Do you want him dead, or do you want him killed?" - Anonymous Elder Councilman Lackey

    "...call him. But you're paying the collateral." 

    "In your dreams, councilman. I would not make enough septims to pay for this guy's collateral in a lifetime."

    Once, you were the secret weapon of the Elder Council. Politicians, lords, ladies; they hired you for your services regularly...quietly. Discreetly. You were their last resort when they needed something...someone...done. A political adversary, a spurned lover, someone who had information they shouldn't. You knew more of them and their secrets and their twists and plots than any other person in the Empire. You are an assassin, whose sanctuary comes not in the form of shadows, caves, or stealth, but instead in its purest form: the political sort. Your alliances and employers act as your sanctuary, your protection...your assurance. 

    "Did you see him? He skewered that man without hesitation. Simply walked up, told him he was here to kill him, and thrust that curved sword of his through the man's gut. His curved sword. Curved. Sword." - Awed Imperial City Guard

    "He must be a Redguard. They use those blades. Nobody knows what he is, though; he never takes off his helmet. Nobody has seen his face." - Citizen

     

    Then the Thalmor came. As the Great War raged on, the Elder Council unified in the shadows, sending you out against the Aldmeri offensive. You were unstoppable, a masked, faceless juggernaut, bearing the armor of any other Imperial soldier, wielding a curved blade dripping in poison. Vials at your belt, face obscured in shadows, you were an enigma; showing up at their tent, dozens of guards slain outside, declaring your intent to kill them, before swiftly slicing open their throat and disappearing...with nobody stopping you. Your unique talents let you walk out unhindered, except against the strongest of intellects and wills; and, well, you enjoyed the challenge of killing those outliers anyways. 

    Then, the Thalmor found out. Your employers, threatened. Either they give you up, and turn you over to the elves, or they pay for your many murders with their own coin and blood. 

    They're dead now, of course, by your own hand, and you're on the run. Quickly, you escape north, towards Skyrim, crossing the border and stashing your helmet at a shrine to Talos in the mountains, hoping to disappear unbothered into the far north. Alas, you are captured by an Imperial patrol with fresh Stormcloak prisoners, with orders to capture, detain, and execute any Imperial crossing the border without identification papers. 

    That, is where our part of the story begins.

    "Are you with the Legion? Identify yourself!" - Gaius Maro

    "Someone paid me a lot of coin to make your body look bad, Gaius." 

    "You would threaten me here? In front of the Jarl and his court?"

    "Where else?"

    Race: Imperial: Imperial is the only race that fits the lore, and you need the major power to get the full effect of this build.

    Stats: 0/1/0: This character does not use any magic, and he utilizes the infinite stamina exploit. At level 30, this leaves you with roughly 400 health.

    Stone: Warrior, and then it's your choice; I used the Lord Stone for a while, and then switched to the Atronach for the spell absorption.

    Skills: This character only perks 4 total skills, with the speech perks being entirely optional. The perk spread looks as such: 

    "I've heard the strength of his arm is so that he makes even giants kneel before him with a single blow."

    "Kneel? Please. They wouldn't have time to; I heard the poison he uses on his blade is so strong, it kills giants instantly."

    "You're both idiots. Where would he fight giants? I hear he's never left the Imperial City. Last I checked, there weren't any towering nomads wandering around here."


    Equipment: The Renegade acquired new Imperial armor during his escape from Helgen, and recovers his legendary helmet as soon as he was free of the Imperial clutches. Using a curved scimitar and a shield, he is a force to be reckoned with.

    The armor, as you can see, is not enchanted. It is also of lower than Steel quality; this to fit the roleplay, as well as to keep up the challenge. It also has the advantage of being available before you're even out of Helgen, assuming you side with Ralof (side with Ralof). The Closed Imperial Helmet can be acquired from an unmarked Shrine of Talos near Froki's Shack immediately after Helgen, and was my first stop.

    I used whatever heavy shield I found, until my first visit to Solitude, where I acquired more than a few sets of Solitude Guard armor. Later on, post Civil War, I acquired the Shield of Solitude as my final piece. 

    Windshear, you acquire at the end of the Dark Brotherhood questline. I fetched myself a scimitar from Kematu's body, after playing him and Sadia against each other to acquire double benefits. So within your first half hour of playing, you can have most of your equipment. Whatever ring of wielding you find will be suitable. 

    One of your gifts, as the trained assassin you are, is unlimited stamina. This can be unlocked with the Gauldr Amulet as early as you can get the amulet with custom Fortify Restoration potions, as stated by Alastor in the comments section of Kaiser and Teccam's Sapiarch Build. You start with a 20 in Alchemy, so don't perk that until you do this. You'll need to make a Fortify Restoration potion with 20 Alchemy and no perks, and then another with 1 Perk in Alchemist. You should have an 18% and a 21% potion. You can drink them in that order before equipping the Gauldr Amulet for infinite stamina! Other combinations can be found in this awesome thread here.

    Quests: Civil War (Stormcloaks), Dark Brotherhood, Main Questline, Companions (Just entry level, for training and some funds. Don't become a werewolf.), Blood on the Ice, Thane of Eastmarch, Thane of Solitude, any quest that involves you killing someone for a profit (I have the Notice Board mod installed, and did a lot of bounty quests inbetween key main questline moments.)

    I followed a pretty fluid questing experience. I went along with the main quest cues until I killed the dragon, after acquiring my initial pieces of gear. When Balgruuf send me to the Greybeards, I grabbed my Gauldr Amulet, potions in tow, to get my infinite stamina. You can do whatever you want, in basically whatever order; except for two key things, from a role play sense.

    1. Your employers, the Elder Council, the primary government body in the Empire, spurned you at the behest of their new Elven overlords. Your source of income, gone. Your source of political sanctuary, gone. Your main goal in going to Skyrim is to escape the hounds chasing at your heels, and to take up your most honorable profession once more; but for that, you need a government that will support and use you to your full effect. This, you find in Ulfric and his Stormcloaks. 

    2. You must wait to join the Dark Brotherhood until after Ulfric gives you a subtle cue; at some point, after reporting back to him (after the Battle for Whiterun, I believe) he promotes you, and tells you you may now fight the Empire in whatever way you see fit, with a nudge towards Galmar. I chose this moment to start the Dark Brotherhood. Why? Because you end the quest line by killing the Emperor. How does your character know that, you may ask? 

    He worked for the Elder Council. He knows all of the inner workings of their politics, all of the plots, all of the plans, all of the whispers; and he knew, that there was a coup planned to kill the Emperor, and overthrow his regime, fermenting in the darkest rooms the Council has access to. That they planned to go the last remaining Dark Brotherhood sanctuary, in Skyrim, to accomplish this means. Having heard a rumor of a boy performing the Black Sacrament, and having a fair bit of knowledge about the group (being an assassin and worshiper of Sithis, yourself,) you go hunting down the boy to fulfill his contract. They'll come to you.

    And they do.

    From then on, I did my quests for Astrid in tandem with my quests for Ulfric, trying to balance them out so that when he sent me somewhere, I could complete my contracts along the way. I ended up killing the Emperor, and then doing the Siege of Solitude (and thus clearing my bounty). These two questlines being completed signifies the "official" end of the journey for this character, and the rest is up to your discretion. 

    Combat: You are an assassin; but not the dainty, sneaky little bitches that skulk around in the shadows, slitting throats and disappearing. No, you are a true assassin: You kill for money and political gain. To quote our old Festus, "...walk up to your mark, introduce yourself, melt their face off, and run like hell."

    Believe me when I say, your poison will indeed melt their faces off. The majority of your damage comes from your poison. I saved my vials for tough enemies, and bosses. The best delivery system? A scimitar blade to the face. No subtlety needed.

    We have a number of potions at our disposal, as well as a sword, and a shield. With scimitar coated in poison as often as possible, shield at the ready, our Renegade wades into battle with no hesitation...but he knows when to run. That is to say, when the mark is dead, and there might just be too many guards for you to kill by your lonesome. Luckily, as an Imperial, you have a go-to for that: The Voice of the Emperor

    We should all know the basics of how this power works. It applies a calm spell in an AOE vicinity to every enemy near you, and without a level restraint. If you're standing in an inn common room, everybody in it will be calmed. This allows you to walk away from a dead body or three, virtually unhindered. It can only be used, as it is a major power, once a day. Use it wisely. I save it for marks in populated areas. Especially handy for escaping weddings...

    Your other tricks, aside from the vastly entertaining and grossly over powered sword-n'-board combat style, come in the forms of powerful elixirs. My go-to recipes are the following (as listed in my alchemy app favorites list on my phone):

    When It Must Die: Imp Stool, Mora Tapinella, River Betty (Instant Damage Health, Lingering Damage Health): This is your go to poison. If this doesn't kill them with two applications, you might be better off running. 

    For Skyrim!: Hanging Moss, Glowing Mushroom, Rock Warbler Egg (Fortify One-Handed, Fortify Health): This is my battle elixir. It boosts your damage and survivability by a lot, for a solid duration. Drink before battle.

    Getaway Ride: Luna Moth Wing, Vampire Dust (Invisibility, Regenerate Health): This is my oh shit potion. Also useful coupled with Voice of the Emperor for an easy get away (boots with muffle are a bonus, and an acceptable replacement for your Imperial Heavy Boots)

    Get Over Here!: Deathbell, Mora Tapinella, River Betty (Instant Damage Health, Slow): If you are close enough to hit them with this, you're probably better using When It Must Die, but this is handy for slowing them down considerably.

    Stop Right There, Criminal Scum!: Canis Root, Imp Stool, Slaughterfish Egg (Paralysis, Lingering Damage Health): Same as Get Over Here! for this one. It's excellent for killing marks without drawing as much attention. They'll usually die before the paralysis kicks in. Some situations call for this.

    Mage Ward: Fly Amanita, Hawk Beak, Snowberries (Resist Fire, Resist Frost, Resist Shock): This is super handy for dragons, Thalmor, and other magic users. Perked out, with a piece or two of alchemy gear from loot, you can hit the resist cap with this.

    Bottoms up: Wheat, Hawk Feathers, Charred Skeever Hide (Restore Health, Cure Disease): Standard all-in-one healing potion. Self explanatory. 

     

     I hope you enjoy the build!

    Check out my other build, the Agent of Anarchy, here.

    Credits:


    Teccam and Kaiser, for inspiring an infinite stamina based character with their excellent Sapiarch build.

    Alastor, James, and Parabola for all their work on the infinite stamina exploit. It's glorious. Thank you.

    To Relycs, for the BOMB ASS wizardry that is the equipment and perk spread. Thank you, my friend. You're amazing.

    To the group, and everyone else who helped along the way while I figured this little potion guzzling shithead out. Thank you, ladies and gentleman.

  • Member
    January 29, 2016

    Very nice and neatly done, good job!

  • Member
    January 29, 2016
    I like it, it's got a good role play element with fun sounding gameplay elements. Which is always nice. Plus I'm a closet case fan of that crummy imperial armor.
  • January 29, 2016

    It looks slick as hell, and it gets the job done. This character was amazing. I had so much fun. Every single kill felt satisfying, and fulfilling. He wasn't fighting in the civil war to make Skyrim for Skyrim; he was fighting in the civil war to have a government in control that would employ him, and shelter him. Roleplaying that Ulfric quietly knew and supported, even demanded, some DB kills, made it even better.

  • Member
    January 29, 2016

    Nice build. I'm not good at reproducing glitches but I think I will try this build since I want to learn more about playing with poisons. Will play this after I get bored of my current build. 
    Also +1 for being able to put the Civil War into the roleplay. The only character I managed to do it was a Battle Priest who believed Skyrim could never get rid from the Dragon Menace while denying the Dragonborn Tiber Septim as a true divine.

  • January 30, 2016
    It was a driving focus! The Imperials caved into the dominion, and disrupted his routine. I played him as a noble sort of sociopath, almost. If you have any questions about poisons, feel free to ask. Also, there's an app on google play that will help you immenselyy.
  • Member
    January 30, 2016
    You did a good job making Ulfric seem useful, you got my +1
  • January 30, 2016
    Thanks :D I vastly prefer Ulfric over Tulius, but I generally empathize with the Imperials. Finding reasons to side with Ulfric makes me content.
  • Member
    January 30, 2016
    Hopefully in the next Elder Scrolls they make the faction leaders of the (almost) main quest tolerable. Skyrim just has this over all smug and dreary feeling for me. I still love it, don't get me wrong.
  • Member
    January 30, 2016

    An Imperial Legate-assassin who takes his kills head-on instead from the shadows is a cool concept. I enjoyed this build (btw--"Do you want him dead, or do you want him killed?" is an awesome quote)... glad you're back at it! :D