Skyrim Character Building » Discussions


Character Build: The Purifier

  • Member
    January 2, 2014

    In the Lord of the Rings series, it easily said that Legolas is a total badass. Jumping and sprinting and rolling... All that while shooting arrows this way and that, and skillfully using with his daggers. While not being a Legolas build, this character brings that sort of exhilarating combat into play. I am proud to present:

    Agility is the name of the game. Not simulated agility, through slow time and such, but actually being zippy! This build is all about being as fast as possible while making the enemy as slow as possible.

    The ranger perk really is underappreciated. The perk description says “able to move faster with a drawn bow”. What it should say is “moving with a drawn bow does not affect your speed at all”. Let that marinate in your mind. You can be non-stop firing arrows, on the move, at full movement speed. Now, what if I told you this build can acquire the ranger perks as early as level 13? Using Faendal as a follower for free training until level 50 archery, and then training with Aela (using paralysis to pickpocket back the money) until level 60 archery, you can be rocking the ranger perk for an entire playthrough, from the very beginning. Furthermore, you gain even more potential mobility by unlocking the silent roll perk. Using silent roll you can quickly reposition, dodge attacks, and get behind enemies.

    As far as weapons go, the hunting bow is the best option. It is the fastest firing bow in the game that is both enchantable and affected by a smithing perk. Using the insane rate of fire it has you can keep enemies almost constantly staggered with the power shot perk. By enchanting it with a one second paralysis enchantment (26% chance), and taking the bullseye perk (14% chance), you end up with a 40% to paralyze per shot. Every shot will have a 50% chance to stagger and a 40% chance to paralyze, and this is with a very high rate of fire bow! Using poisons of slow and paralyze makes your job even easier. I was told (Teccam) that the "rolls" for bullseye and paralysis may be done separately, but even then, it ends up being around 37%, which at the end of the day is the same as 40%.

    Lore

    “It was as if a crack in reality had opened wide. A flood of horrific beasts, tentacled toads, insects of armor and spine, gelatinous serpents, vaporous beings with the face of gods, all poured forth from the great hollow tree, blind with fury. - A Dance in Fire, Book IV

    Wild Hunts are one of the most destructive events that can take place on Tamriel. Nothing can stand the way of a Wild Hunt. You cannot fight. You cannot run. You can only die.

    A group of Bosmeri rebels, called the Purifiers, renounced Y’ffre and the Green Pact. The ability to turn into the Wild Hunt is one of the “gifts” Y’ffre gave the Bosmer in return for adhering to the Green Pact. They are ashamed and terrified of the death and destruction a Hunt unleashes. The Purifiers will stop at nothing to prevent a Wild Hunt. Despite their efforts, if a Wild Hunt takes place, the Purifiers consider it their sacred duty to “purify” the land of the foul beasts. They developed a unique fighting style centered on extreme agility to fight the beasts. You cannot be torn to shreds if they cannot catch you.

    When not working to stop a Wild Hunt, or currently fighting one, the Purifiers wander the lands of Tamriel. They search out powerful foes such as vampires and giants to train for when their skills will be needed most.

    The Build

    Race: Bosmer

    Stat Distribution: 0 : 1 : 1 (Magicka : Health : Stamina)

    I followed that distribution until I got 200 stamina, then I put pretty much everything else into health.

    Standing Stone: The Atronach

    Unfortunately, you cannot out maneuver spells very effectively, so spell absorption combined with magic and elemental resistances will have to do. Also it provides extra magicka, allowing you to more or less ignore adding points to magicka.

    Major Skills: Archery, Sneak, Smithing

    Minor Skills: Light Armor, Alchemy, Alteration

    Weapons: Hunting Bow w/ 1 second paralysis, Hunting Bow w/ soul trap, The Blade of Woe, Ebony Arrows

    Equipment: Krosis, Dawnguard armor, Shrouded Boots & Gauntlets, Amulet & Ring of resist magic

    Shouts: Whirlwind Sprint, Slow Time, Become Ethereal, Dragon Aspect

    Smithing is what makes the hunting bow viable as an endgame weapon. Tempering it to increase damage, especially when using self crafted potions of fortify smithing and purchased fortify smithing gear makes a huge difference. Also, smithing allows for a large supply of top quality arrows. Ebony arrows are weaker than daedric and dragonbone arrows, but the materials for those two types are much too rare. I later learned (Teccam again) that Nord Hero bows have the same draw speed as hunting bows, but have superior damage. If you want to go for a Nord Hero bow, go ahead, but it is not needed.

    Sneak unlocks the use of silent roll and backstab. Backstab brings badass dagger combat into play. When you consume a vampire dust you gain 4 seconds of invisibility. This is perfect for a quick backstab to a tough enemy.  The blade of woe is a great weapon for this tactic due to the high base damage, every point counts when you are not perking one handed. Instead of becoming invisible, think of it doing as doing a backflip over the enemy, slitting their throat on the way over. Make sure to only use sneak attacks in this manner, you should be running around, not sitting in the shadows.

    Alchemy is fantastic because even before you start perking it, you can still make some nice concoctions due to fortify alchemy enchanted gear that can be bought. Slow, paralysis, fortify marksman, and fortify smithing where all very common effects I made use of.

    Alteration is a nice little tool kit. It is the glue that links all a bunch of the different parts of the build together. Faster leveling, boosted physical and magical defense, more charges in my paralysis bow, stability, the list goes on. Due to the magicka boost from the atronach stone, you can cast flesh spells even when you have not perked them yet in some cases.

    Level 25

    Stat Distribution: 150 : 240 : 200 (Magicka : Health : Stamina)

    Since I never actually used sneak in combat, I leveled it by backstabbing the greybeards over and over.

    Level 50

    Stat Distribution: 200 : 440 : 200 (Magicka : Health : Stamina)

    As for the order of perks, if I had to choose between alteration and alchemy, I always perked alteration first.

    Concoctions

    I generally only used single effect potions; there was never any need for having multiple effect ones.

    • Fortfy Marksman: Canis Root, Elves Ear, Juniper Berries, Spider Egg
    • Slow: Deathbell, Large Antlers, River Betty, Salt Pile
    • Paralysis: Briar Heart, Canis Root, Human Flesh, Imp Stool, Swamp Fungal Pod
    • Fortify Smithing: Blisterwort, Glowing Mushroom, Sabre Cat Tooth, Spriggan Sap
    • Resist Fire: Bone Meal, Dragons Tongue, Elves Ear, Fire Salts, Fly Amanita, Mudcrab Chitin, Snowberries
    • Resist Frost: Frost Mirriam, Frost Salts, Hawk Beak, Moon Sugar, Purple Mountain Flower, Silverside Perch, Slaughterfish Scales, Small Pearl, Snowberries, Thistle Branch
    • Restore Health: Bliserwort, Blue Dartwing, Blue Mountain Flower, Butterfly Wing, Charred Skeever Hide, Daedra Heart, Eye of Sabre Cat, Imp Stool, Rock Warbler Egg, Swamp Fungal Pod, Wheat

    Gameplay

    When in combat the idea is to always be moving. You can take advantage of the large amount of stagger your shots do by constantly circling enemies while they recover. Paralysis only amplifies this, giving you time to reposition, retreat, or just continue zipping all over.

    Silent roll pairs perfectly with ranger and power shot. Ranger also affects you in sneak mode, so you can be quite mobile while preparing to roll around. When enemies are stagger you can do a quick roll or two to go behind them, forcing them to turn around, buying you more time. In general, if an enemy is staggered or paralyzed, try to be behind them to force them to waste time turning around. Another advantage of using silent roll to maneuver is that it gives you a smaller profile. Being smaller means you are harder to hit!

    The vamp dust + backstab technique should be used sparingly. If used to often the game would be way too easy, it is like a poor man’s shadow warrior. Well, that, and you would run out of vamp dust pretty fast. For some reason it often takes two doses of dust for the sneak attack to happen, the first one often fails at making you undetected. Bashing the enemy beforehand helps set this move up.

    While the Purifier focuses on real time and player skill agility, slow time is a huge bonus. All that mobility you normally had is increased massively when slow time is in effect, even with only the first word.

    Battle Tactics

    Honed Senses- Ranger + Steady Hand

    Normal movement, or archery when you have ranger, is already quite mobile. By using steady hand both you and your enemies are slowed down equally. However, it allows you to see attacks coming due to giving you more time. You can subsequently go in the right direction to avoid said attacks.

    Execution- Vampire Dust + Backstab + (Blade of Woe, Dark Brotherhood Boots & Gauntlets)

    Entering a room, walking straight up to the boss, and proceeding to kill nonchalantly him in a single skillful slice of your dagger is pretty nifty.

    Velocity Shift- Slow Poison + Slow Time + Stability + (Potion of fortify alteration)

    Pretty self explanatory on this one… This makes the enemy as slow as possible in relation to you, and stability makes slow time last longer, as do potions of fortify alteration.

    Quests & Roleplay

    I would say the ideology behind the Purifier is the end justifies the means. I actively searched out and murdered any Bosmer I could find in Skyrim. Less Bosmer in the world means less chance of a Wild Hunt. It seems extreme and misguided (and is...), but, the Purifiers are radicals after all! Think Batman, but without a moral compass.  When not hunting down my own race, I spent time seeking out powerful foes such as dragons, vampires, and giants to test my skill. As for quests I recommend doing Dawnguard, Dragonborn, the Main Questline, the Black Star, Destory the Dark Brotherhood, and Served Cold.

    Video

    Special Thanks

    Teccam- Teccam is THE MAN! He listened to all my ideas and bit by painstaking bit helped me piece together several builds. None of them actually got posted, but they lead to the creation of the Purifier. Thank him for making sure this build actually happened.

     

    Thanks for reading. Feel free to like and comment.

  • Member
    January 2, 2014

    First like! I only skimmed this but I can see no clear problems. Excellent work! :)

    (P.S Your screenies look awesome!)

  • Member
    January 2, 2014

    Thanks man, editing the screenies was a pain in the but :P.

  • January 2, 2014

    Good work. I've been itching to play an archery build recently, and this just might be the cure. +1

  • Member
    January 2, 2014
    Dude, the friggin eyes are glowing. Plus 1 for creepiness of the build.
  • Member
    January 2, 2014

    Even though the build is not "evil", glowing eyes are too epic to pass up :D. 

  • January 2, 2014

    Am I the only one that's surprised by how well Shrouded Gloves go with Dawnguard Armor?

  • Member
    January 2, 2014

    If you thought Legolas was a awesome in LoTR, you need to see him in the Desolation of Smaug...

    This is another fantastic build from you, it's funny because I was thinking about making a build using Legolas' dagger fighting style, you made the archery part of that.

    This build looks really powerful with 80% spell absorption, 30% magic resist + amazing agility/slow time and a fast firing bow... I need to find time to play this.

    A very well deserved +1.

    P.S - I love the borders (green is better then yellow ).

     

  • Member
    January 2, 2014

    I saw him in the Desolations of Smaug, that is why I had to put the dagger bits in too! He was epic.

    The build overall is pretty darn powerful, it has no huge weaknesses, other than not always being able to kill enemies extremely quickly.

  • Member
    January 2, 2014

    Yeah, Legolas was pretty awesome.

    I just noticed, but under your Quests and Roleplay section, it should be served cold, not severed cold (though, it does sound like a funner quest then...)

    I'd like this again if I could, but I can't.