Skyrim Character Building » Discussions


Event Build: The King of the Undead

Tags: #Character Build Warrior  #Character Build Necromancer  #Character Build Villain  #Event:Crossworlds3  #Peppo 
  • December 12, 2017

    Very little is known about the King of the Undead, but there's no doubt that many years ago - only the Daedra know how many - he was once a very powerful ruler and one of the strongest warriors in Skyrim. As he grew older and closer to the end of his days, he became more and more fearful of death, and his mind started turning to evil deeds. That's what brought him into making a deal with Molag Bal, Daedric Prince of domination and spiritual enslavement, who granted him an eternal soul in exchange for all the souls he could harvest from the mortal plane. The King believed that, as long as he kept on killing people in the name of Molag Bal, he could not die. No one knows how many of his champions died, for the only survivor who mattered was the King who rose with the sun on the following morn. Now he rarely spends a moment on his glowing throne, but strides out with sword drawn, demanding a fealty that extends far beyond death.

     

     The King of the Undead is a two-handed melee fighter, but unlike many he's armorless: this means he's swifter than your ordinary warrior and can sprint for much longer, giving him an advantage versus archers and spellcasters. On the other side he doesn't have any defense, but this is easily taken care of thanks to his main feature, the ability to raise the dead. A reanimated enemy can not only be a decent fighter but also a much more effective meatshield, so even the weakest foes serve a purpose. As for the long range attacks, the Fire Breath shout is all you need: plenty of damage and basically no cost.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     Race: any

     

    Main skills: Two-Handed, Conjuration, Alteration, Enchanting

     

    Standing stone: Ritual

     

    Stats: 1/1/2 until level 10, then 0/1/2

     

    Clothing: enchanted noble clothes (see below)

     

    Weapon: any greatsword with the Absorb Health/Stamina enchantment

     

    Spells: Raise Zombie (and above), Oakflesh (and above)

     

    Shouts: Fire Breath

     

    Enchanting doesn't play a vital role in this build (in fact I first wanted to present a no-crafting build), but I feel like the later stages of the game are too unforgiving without some extra protection, especially versus magical damage. Also, being able to absorb either health or stamina with the greatsword gives a major boost to the build and adds to the roleplay.

     It's a build that doesn't require much work: no Alchemy, no Smithing and only 4 skills to level up. On the other hand, even though the King's main source of damage is the greatsword, you rely on two different schools of magic: although they're pretty easy to level up, you need to balance a decent mana pool and a good enough HP pool, all with as much stamina as possible. You need 3 early points in Magicka to be able to double-cast Raise Zombie, or you could play the first quest from the College of Winterhold to get Jyrik's Gauldur Amulet Fragment, or both.

     Talking about the race, any is viable. I chose Breaton because of their Dragonskin power and the boost in Conjuration and Alteration, but there are other good choices: Orc, Redguard and Altmer come to mind.

     

     

     

     

     

     As for the outfit, make sure you wear high-quality clothes: I suggest going for the Noble Clothes because they can be obtained even at level 1 by stealing them from the East Empire Company Warehouse, but you can also go for the Emperor's Robes if following the Dark Brotherhood questline. Plus, the former respawns every now and then, so you can enchant one and substitute it when you reach a higher level in Enchanting.

     I opted for Thalmor Boots and Gloves because they don't clip with the Noble Clothes and cover a big portion of the arm, so I thought they looked nice. Also, much like the Noble Clothes, they are literally the easiest piece of clothing to find, since you can loot them off a Thalmor Justiciar's corpse right after you exit Helgen (at the unmarked Shrine of Talos Massacre).

     As you can see, the enchantments focus on getting extra survivability and a bit more damage, with the Fortify Conjuration enchantment thrown in for the extra duration. This setup lacks resistance to physical damage, but that shouldn't be a problem thanks to Oakflesh/Ironflesh and the extra protection granted by the raised units.

     Some players might want even more Magicka for when dual-casting becomes hard without regen: if that's your case, you could drop the enchantment on your gloves or ring.

     Also, don't forget to enchant your greatsword! Especially in the early stages, it's much more important than enchanting your clothes. Absorb Health is hard to find, but if you're tired of checking out shops and caves you can get a slightly weaker version by killing Astrid after starting the Dark Brotherhood questline and looting the Blade of Woe off her corpse.

     

     

     

     


    Two-Handed

    Your main skill: you should be able to put a lot of points in it since it's the easiest to level up. The perk spread is pretty straightforward: take what improves greatsword damage, stamina usage and damage in general, skipping the rest. This skill should have the priority over the rest.

       

     

    Conjuration

    Raising zombies is the main feature of this build, and you don't need other spells from this school of magic. For this reason, stick to perks that reduce the magicka cost and all the ones involving necromancy (like Summoner and Necromancy itself).

       

     

    Alteration

    Levelling up Alteration, even though you only need it for Oakflesh/Ironflesh, grants much more benefits than Conjuration: first, it gives extra armor and magic resistance; secondly, in the later stages of the game, it literally lets you absorb the magicka of the spells that hit you! It requires some time, but you should be able to get easy levels by spamming the spells.

     

      

    Enchanting

    Enchanting is easy to level up but boring, and it's not really helpful for the first ~20 levels. On the other hand, overlooking it is a huge mistake: the extra efficiency in skill and stats enchantments is priceless, and the extra effect (if you manage to reach level 100) is also really good. Just keep disassembling all the enchanted gear you find and spend some small Soul Gems on a bunch of rings and necklaces, which you can later sell.

     

     Level 20

     

    Level 45

     

     

     

     

     

     Playing as the King of the Undead, you should always try not to fight large groups of enemies at the same time unless you want to summon them with the Ritual Stone power. The King excels in close range combat and is so lightweight he can easily dodge arrows, but multiple mages (especially conjurers and high-level destruction mages) are a bit of a problem.

     When exploring caves having a reanimated enemy at all times is mandatory, or you risk getting caught by melee fighters with smaller weapons that swing faster than your huge greatsword. Keeping a high armor rate by spamming Alteration spells is also very important, but avoid doing it too early or you might end up without protection in the middle of a fight.

     

    Abilities

     

        Fire Blast - Fire Breath shout

        A blaze of hot fire overpowers the King's foes, damaging multiple units and potentially staggering them.

        

     

        Sword of the Undead - Greatsword with Absorb Health/Stamina

        The King's sword is always hungry and leeches the life essence of the enemies.

     

     

        Zombie Servants - Raise Zombie

        The mortals slain by the King are forced to serve his will and protect their master at all costs.

     

     

        Heavy Skin - Oakflesh

        Blessed by the Daedric Lord Molag Bal, the King is not made of mortal skin, but of wicked sturdy flesh.

     

     

     Gameplay

     The King of the Undead is a character best played without followers: he wouldn't pay anyone to fight with him, let alone befriend a stranger or engage in a tavern brawl. Besides, zombies already serve that purpose.

     He has no mercy and no interest in forming relationships: helping people with unnecessary tasks, like delivering a letter or collecting some equipment, should be avoided. It goes without saying that marriage is out of question as well.

     No King would accept mercenary jobs: never expect a reward for your adventures except the stuff you find; joining factions is also hardly appealing to the role play. What's left is exploring caves by yourself and collecting unique items like the aforementioned Gauldur Amulet (which is a really good item for this build by the way), the Ebony Blade or all the three words of the Fire Breath shout. Completing all the Daedric Quests, especially the one involving Molag Bal, is another good choice.

     Alternatively, you could forget everything you read above about mercenary jobs and helping people and aim for the greater objective: becoming Thane of all Holds. At first it might seem confusing, but it has some interesting dynamics regarding the role playing. For example, if you want to become Thane of Riften you have to help the Jarl by killing some skooma dealers: while the King of the Undead would normally never do something like this, the reward is worth all the trouble.

     Lastly, the Dark Brotherhood questline is a good choice for both playing styles: after all, what kind of king wouldn't want to assassinate the Emperor and claim the title as his own? Of course you can't actually become the emperor of Skyrim, but killing him is half the job; plus, by following all the questline you find a total of three sets of Emperor's Robes, which you can wear and enchant as you like.

    In regards to this, if you're using mods you might want to try out Become High King of Skyrim (here the non-SE version), which adds to the role play even though it's not a real quest.

     

     

     

     

     For those who play Dota 2, this is my Skyrim version of the Wraith King, although I had to do some minor changes to balance the build and make it feel closer to the world of Skyrim. For example, the King of the Undead doesn't have any visible armor and can't resurrect, but on the other hand he still has some sort of fire blast, a sword that deals critical damage as well as lifesteal and an array of undead servants.

     And what's more important he keeps that aura of madness derived from the fear of death and the compulsive need to "feed" by killing people.

     

  • Member
    December 12, 2017
    I’m not too familiar with DOTA since I’m a League player, but the character does seem interesting. I was working on a build similar to this, but I think you pretty much hit the spot with this concept. I find it ironic though, because the character I based it on was from League. Regardless, this build looks great and it’s a huge improvement from your last build, well done!
  • December 12, 2017

    Aysleph said: I’m not too familiar with DOTA since I’m a League player, but the character does seem interesting. I was working on a build similar to this, but I think you pretty much hit the spot with this concept. I find it ironic though, because the character I based it on was from League. Regardless, this build looks great and it’s a huge improvement from your last build, well done!

    I've always been on the "Dota side" but I'm familiar with both games, although I don't play them much anymore. And is it really so much better than my last build? That's a big compliment for me.

    Looking forward for your build!

  • Member
    December 12, 2017
    I’m huge on art and presentation so any improvement on those automatically makes a build better for me. I really like the art used for this build as well as your presentation style. Your last build was good too, but I think this one looks better.
  • December 12, 2017

    I am heavily, heavily impressed with this build Peppo. It might be one of the cleanest presentations I've seen in a fair while, all the pictures are aligned and placed perfectly and the edited screenshots are really nice looking, as are the Perk/Equipment Spreads. I'm really impressed with the image alignment, but that might just be because I can't wrap images for shit on this site :) 

    The build itself is interesting, I enjoyed the combination of Two-Handed and Conjuration, just a really interesting combo that works out rather well here. Got no idea about this DOTA dude (the only MOBA I've even messed around with was Smite for a bit, not really a fan of the genre) but the character is interesting here. Would love to see more builds from you in the future Peppo, excellent job :D

  • December 13, 2017

    Aysleph said:

    I’m huge on art and presentation so any improvement on those automatically makes a build better for me. I really like the art used for this build as well as your presentation style. Your last build was good too, but I think this one looks better.

    Mega-Dragonborn-of-Doom (1921) said:

    I am heavily, heavily impressed with this build Peppo. It might be one of the cleanest presentations I've seen in a fair while, all the pictures are aligned and placed perfectly and the edited screenshots are really nice looking, as are the Perk/Equipment Spreads. I'm really impressed with the image alignment, but that might just be because I can't wrap images for shit on this site :) 

    The build itself is interesting, I enjoyed the combination of Two-Handed and Conjuration, just a really interesting combo that works out rather well here. Got no idea about this DOTA dude (the only MOBA I've even messed around with was Smite for a bit, not really a fan of the genre) but the character is interesting here. Would love to see more builds from you in the future Peppo, excellent job :D

    Thank you! I've always been a perfectionist, but most of the time I'm too lazy to make something really good even if I'm able to. This time I had a lot of spare time, I guess I spent it the right way. :D

     

  • Member
    December 15, 2017

    I don't know why, but I love that you've got this Two-handed/Conjuration bruiser in noble clothes... it's such an unexpected gear combo (and it looks fantastic for a wraith king). And any build that gives mention of the Ebony Blade is bound to catch my attention; love that sword!

    As many have already commented, the presentation is really top notch... you've outdone yourself. Can't wat to see future builds from you ;D

    PS--this build has made the TV Twitter page! :D

  • December 15, 2017

    ShinJin said:

    I don't know why, but I love that you've got this Two-handed/Conjuration bruiser in noble clothes... it's such an unexpected gear combo (and it looks fantastic for a wraith king). And any build that gives mention of the Ebony Blade is bound to catch my attention; love that sword!

    As many have already commented, the presentation is really top notch... you've outdone yourself. Can't wat to see future builds from you ;D

    PS--this build has made the TV Twitter page! :D

    The Ebony Blade was core in this build at first, the enchantment looks like it's literally made for this character. Too bad the related quest is only available after level 20.

    I don't have Twitter, but I gave the TV page a look and I'm really pleased about it. :D

  • Member
    December 17, 2017

    Really neat presentation, some stunning photos, and a two-handed death dealing machine, what more can you ask for!?

    I'm looking forward to seeing more builds from You Peppo, well done :)

    Edit: you should totally make a personal tag for your builds to make them easy to access (not that I had any trouble with this one). Quite a helpful little tool

  • Member
    December 21, 2017

    Very cool! I don't think you could have picked any better skills to make this a really fun playthrough, and the theme and presentation makes it a very inspiring build :)