I told Ebonslayer a while ago that I would eventually start this series, after the first series was quite well received, all I needed was some armor combos. Well, I got my combos straight, so I am glad to present to you, the first in the Dragon Priests of Skyrim series...
Deep within the tomb of Valthume a presence stirs. A disturbing tremor runs through the minds of the weak all throughout Tamriel, those that are not strong will surely fall to the coming storm that is Hevnoraak's manipulative wrath.The sadistic soul left Valthume in search of a host to create itself once more, a weak-minded mortal on the borders of Skyrim, a perfect subject...
Hevnoraak witnessed Lord Alduin's return at Helgen, he decided then and there that it was his turn to rule, Alduin will fall and in his place, he would reign supreme! He would begin with the College of Winterhold, once he worked his way up to Archmage and had all the mages of Skyrim under his thumb, he would spread his influence further.
Race: Nord Vampire - Hevnoraak was a Nord and also a powerful lich, I decided vampirism would be best to represent a lich and also represent his massive controlling aura.
Stone: The Mage --> The Lady - This allows for health and stamina regeneration during the day time, very useful in a pinch or when combined with Become Ethereal.
Stats: 3/2/0 - This gives you a nice magicka pool and also a fair amount of health so you aren't too hindered by Vampirism's penalties.
Major Skills: Heavy Armor, Conjuration, Illusion, Destruction
Minor Skills: Restoration, Enchanting
Shouts: Become Ethereal, Dragon Aspect, Soul Tear, Bend Will
Powers: Ethereal Spirit, Sailor's Repose, Secret of Arcana, Seeker of Sorcery
Spells: Rout, Rally Mind Control Spider Scroll, Thunderbolt, Chain Lightning, Raise Zombie - Dread Zombie, Close Wounds
Quests: College of Winterhold, Evil in Waiting, Frostfall Lighthouse, The Volkihar, Main Quest, Unearthed, Dragonborn, Black Book: The Hidden Twilight, Black Book: The Sallow Regent, Black Book: Filament and Filigree.
Ebony Armor will be sold by blacksmiths and start appearing often in the world at around level 32, it can, however, be found as low as level 20. Since this character doesn't use smithing (Of course if you want to use it, go ahead) you will have to wait for this armor, but anything is a good alternative, I personally like to recruit Uthgerd then kill her outside Whiterun for her armor, which is great until Ebony Armor starts to appear.
I recommend going to get Hevnoraak's mask after completing the College of Winterhold, since you have an ally at the time of the fight, Hevnoraak should be relatively easy to defeat with your shock magic.
Overall, you'll have a 50% decrease in cost to Illusion and Destruction spells and a 25% decrease in cost to Conjuration spells, as well as a small resistance to fire and shock, in addition to an 85% resistance to frost all of which is helpful against opposing elementalists.
Heavy Armor: This skill is chosen due to the category of Hevnoraaks mask being heavy armor, this will give you a decent physical defense against opponents and on higher levels it will have next to no drawbacks.
Illusion: Hevnoraak practiced a type of mind control magic, this is simulated with Illusion (and Mind Control Spider Scrolls), the spells used are Rout and Rally, to make your enemies flee from your wrath and boost the power of your undead servants respectively.
Destruction: This is used because Hevnoraak, like all Dragon Priests, uses a form of destruction magic when encountered, in this case it is shock magic. Shock magic also reflects Hevnoraak's sadistic nature, as it is also the type of Destruction used by torture masters.
Conjuration: This skill is used to resurrect the dead, showing Hevnoraak's mastery over lichdom, your servants will act as meatshields, but can also be used as pivot for Chain Lightning.
Restoration: This skill is used to restore your health in a pinch, Necromage has been purposely avoided as it is most certainly been used to death.
Enchanting: Finally, this skill is used to imbue your gear with helpful effects to give you a greater advantage in battle.
Combat is certainly the best thing about The Brutal Overlord, he has complete dominance over the battlefield and is not completely defenseless either. Destruction magic is your main source of dealing direct damage, Chain Lightning is helpful against large groups of enemies, whereas one-on-one battles are better handled with Thunderbolt, but it is most effective against dragons.
I recommend casting your Illusion spells after summoning your undead slaves, this will cause your enemies to flee and they will be chased by your servants, whilst they are running you can use the fleeing NPCs at the back of the group as pivots for Chain Lightning. You may also use Mind Control Spider Scrolls at enemies in the group to make them kill each other off whilst you close in or just enjoy the show.
You will be able to handle melee combatants fairly easily, with all the relevant perks and the equipment listed above you should have an AR of 350, boosted to 450 if you use Dragon Aspect (In addition to extra Fire resistance and 20% faster shout cooldown time), using this you can hold your own against even the strongest melee enemies.
If you are low on health you can use Restoration to replenish yourself, or you can use Become Ethereal, bumping your Regeneration to 50% faster, you can summon undead just before this so your enemies are dealt with whilst you replenish yourself.
Mind Control Spider Scrolls are limited, but of course, I STRONGLY recommend you avoid this by using the duplication glitch on Albino Spider Pods, if you aren't a fan however, you don't have to, but you'd be missing out on a great roleplay aspect. Bend Will is a good alternative if you aren't a fan of the dupe glitch.
Since you're a vampire, Hevnoraak's mask enchantment is made obsolete, I understand this, but you could very easily not be a Vampire if you don't want to be, I just think it works from a roleplay aspect but not a gameplay aspect.
Improved Closefaced Helmets - This allows you to see your characters eyes through Hevnoraak's mask, it gives a very imposing feeling in my opinion, especially when coupled with the next mod...
Red Vampire Eyes-Dawnguard and Original - The red vampire eyes work very well and goes hand in hand with Improved Closefaced Helmets, even if it is only a minor detail.
Immersive College of Winterhold - This mod allows the College to serve as a hub for all your overlord-like activities, allowing you to teleport to various places and also giving you a place to store artifacts, on top of making the College look like a much mightier place.
So this is the end of the first in a hopefully successful series of builds, it was great fun playing this character even if the evil vampire overlord gimmick has been done before, I feel that I have put a somewhat enjoyable twist on it - putting it on a Dragon Priest build.
All art credit goes to its original owners
Screenshot credit goes to me, Screenshot editing credit goes to Relycs
Perkspread and Equipment Spread editing credit goes to Blooded
Shoutout to Relycs for keeping the Equipment/Perkspread request from dying.
If you have any comments or criticisms please post them below so I can hear your feed back, thank you.
I told Ebonslayer a while ago that I would eventually start this series, after the first series was quite well received, all I needed was some armor combos. Well, I got my combos straight, so I am glad to present to you, the first in the Dragon Priests of Skyrim series...
Deep within the tomb of Valthume a presence stirs. A disturbing tremor runs through the minds of the weak all throughout Tamriel, those that are not strong will surely fall to the coming storm that is Hevnoraak's manipulative wrath.The sadistic soul left Valthume in search of a host to create itself once more, a weak-minded mortal on the borders of Skyrim, a perfect subject...
Hevnoraak witnessed Lord Alduin's return at Helgen, he decided then and there that it was his turn to rule, Alduin will fall and in his place, he would reign supreme! He would begin with the College of Winterhold, once he worked his way up to Archmage and had all the mages of Skyrim under his thumb, he would spread his influence further.
Race: Nord Vampire - Hevnoraak was a Nord and also a powerful lich, I decided vampirism would be best to represent a lich and also represent his massive controlling aura.
Stone: The Mage --> The Lady - This allows for health and stamina regeneration during the day time, very useful in a pinch or when combined with Become Ethereal.
Stats: 3/2/0 - This gives you a nice magicka pool and also a fair amount of health so you aren't too hindered by Vampirism's penalties.
Major Skills: Heavy Armor, Conjuration, Illusion, Destruction
Minor Skills: Restoration, Enchanting
Shouts: Become Ethereal, Dragon Aspect, Soul Tear, Bend Will
Powers: Ethereal Spirit, Sailor's Repose, Secret of Arcana, Seeker of Sorcery
Spells: Rout, Rally Mind Control Spider Scroll, Thunderbolt, Chain Lightning, Raise Zombie - Dread Zombie, Close Wounds
Quests: College of Winterhold, Evil in Waiting, Frostfall Lighthouse, The Volkihar, Main Quest, Unearthed, Dragonborn, Black Book: The Hidden Twilight, Black Book: The Sallow Regent, Black Book: Filament and Filigree.
Ebony Armor will be sold by blacksmiths and start appearing often in the world at around level 32, it can, however, be found as low as level 20. Since this character doesn't use smithing (Of course if you want to use it, go ahead) you will have to wait for this armor, but anything is a good alternative, I personally like to recruit Uthgerd then kill her outside Whiterun for her armor, which is great until Ebony Armor starts to appear.
I recommend going to get Hevnoraak's mask after completing the College of Winterhold, since you have an ally at the time of the fight, Hevnoraak should be relatively easy to defeat with your shock magic.
Overall, you'll have a 50% decrease in cost to Illusion and Destruction spells and a 25% decrease in cost to Conjuration spells, as well as a small resistance to fire and shock, in addition to an 85% resistance to frost all of which is helpful against opposing elementalists.
Heavy Armor: This skill is chosen due to the category of Hevnoraaks mask being heavy armor, this will give you a decent physical defense against opponents and on higher levels it will have next to no drawbacks.
Illusion: Hevnoraak practiced a type of mind control magic, this is simulated with Illusion (and Mind Control Spider Scrolls), the spells used are Rout and Rally, to make your enemies flee from your wrath and boost the power of your undead servants respectively.
Destruction: This is used because Hevnoraak, like all Dragon Priests, uses a form of destruction magic when encountered, in this case it is shock magic. Shock magic also reflects Hevnoraak's sadistic nature, as it is also the type of Destruction used by torture masters.
Conjuration: This skill is used to resurrect the dead, showing Hevnoraak's mastery over lichdom, your servants will act as meatshields, but can also be used as pivot for Chain Lightning.
Restoration: This skill is used to restore your health in a pinch, Necromage has been purposely avoided as it is most certainly been used to death.
Enchanting: Finally, this skill is used to imbue your gear with helpful effects to give you a greater advantage in battle.
Combat is certainly the best thing about The Brutal Overlord, he has complete dominance over the battlefield and is not completely defenseless either. Destruction magic is your main source of dealing direct damage, Chain Lightning is helpful against large groups of enemies, whereas one-on-one battles are better handled with Thunderbolt, but it is most effective against dragons.
I recommend casting your Illusion spells after summoning your undead slaves, this will cause your enemies to flee and they will be chased by your servants, whilst they are running you can use the fleeing NPCs at the back of the group as pivots for Chain Lightning. You may also use Mind Control Spider Scrolls at enemies in the group to make them kill each other off whilst you close in or just enjoy the show.
You will be able to handle melee combatants fairly easily, with all the relevant perks and the equipment listed above you should have an AR of 350, boosted to 450 if you use Dragon Aspect (In addition to extra Fire resistance and 20% faster shout cooldown time), using this you can hold your own against even the strongest melee enemies.
If you are low on health you can use Restoration to replenish yourself, or you can use Become Ethereal, bumping your Regeneration to 50% faster, you can summon undead just before this so your enemies are dealt with whilst you replenish yourself.
Mind Control Spider Scrolls are limited, but of course, I STRONGLY recommend you avoid this by using the duplication glitch on Albino Spider Pods, if you aren't a fan however, you don't have to, but you'd be missing out on a great roleplay aspect. Bend Will is a good alternative if you aren't a fan of the dupe glitch.
Since you're a vampire, Hevnoraak's mask enchantment is made obsolete, I understand this, but you could very easily not be a Vampire if you don't want to be, I just think it works from a roleplay aspect but not a gameplay aspect.
Improved Closefaced Helmets - This allows you to see your characters eyes through Hevnoraak's mask, it gives a very imposing feeling in my opinion, especially when coupled with the next mod...
Red Vampire Eyes-Dawnguard and Original - The red vampire eyes work very well and goes hand in hand with Improved Closefaced Helmets, even if it is only a minor detail.
Immersive College of Winterhold - This mod allows the College to serve as a hub for all your overlord-like activities, allowing you to teleport to various places and also giving you a place to store artifacts, on top of making the College look like a much mightier place.
So this is the end of the first in a hopefully successful series of builds, it was great fun playing this character even if the evil vampire overlord gimmick has been done before, I feel that I have put a somewhat enjoyable twist on it - putting it on a Dragon Priest build.
All art credit goes to its original owners
Screenshot credit goes to me, Screenshot editing credit goes to Relycs
Perkspread and Equipment Spread editing credit goes to Blooded
Shoutout to Relycs for keeping the Equipment/Perkspread request from dying.
If you have any comments or criticisms please post them below so I can hear your feed back, thank you.
