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Character Build: The Shaman, Aspect of the Elements

Tags: #Character Build Elementalist  #Character Build Summoner  #Character Build Battlemage  #Rank:Exemplar 
  • Member
    September 14, 2012

    Hey guys, I just stumbled upon this amazing website a few days ago. I fell in love with a lot of the builds that I was finding, and was inspired by them, and I felt that I’d like to contribute as well, so without further ado, I present my first build:

    The Shaman, Aspect of the Elements

     

                               Thrall cried out in rage and grief, the elements themselves echoing his fury…

     

    Behind The Build

    This build was born of my love for the Shaman class as it is depicted in the Warcraft universe. They are guardians of nature who seek to preserve balance; they consider life to be something that is blessed and should be honored. They prefer to avoid violence, but are not afraid to fight in self defense, to protect those they love, or for a just cause. I no longer play World of Warcraft, but I still keep up with the lore of the series, especially that of Thrall, former Warchief of The Horde, and easily the most powerful living shaman in Warcraft’s planet of Azeroth. The way that he is depicted in lore is just badass. Obviously a couple adjustments had to be made when transferring this to Skyrim, but in general I’m happy with how this character turned out, and I hope you will be as well

     

                          You think to stop the Warchief of the Horde with pebbles?                    

    I will show you the true power of the elements! 

     

    Gameplay

    You are a Shaman, a guardian of the earth, and you seek to preserve balance in nature. To you, life is the most sacred of things, so you want to avoid violence when possible. But sometimes, violence is the only option, sometimes it can be justified and you must destroy those who are evil and would harm the world and those you care about. 

    As a Shaman you are a living conduit for the elements of Earth, Fire, Air, and Water. You are able to channel these forces to protect and heal yourself, or to destroy your enemies.

    At range you may call upon the element of Air to command lightning itself in order to electrocute your enemies from afar, as well as the element of Fire so that your foes may burst into flames around you , leaving nothing but charred corpses and ashes. Should you find yourself in an enclosed space where ranged magic is not an option, do not fear, for your elemental mastery enables you to bind the elements into your weapons and unleash their fury upon those who stand in your way.

    Of course, you will be more vulnerable should it come to close encounters as you will only be wearing light armor, but with the might of the Earth you can coat yourself in the sturdiest elements, making that hide and leather as strong as any steel . Unfortunately, sometimes the situation can get out of hand even for a powerful shaman such as yourself. If you find yourself severely outnumbered you can summon physical embodiments of the elements themselves to aid you, and should you be badly wounded you may call on the element of Water to bring soothing rain that will mend your wounds. 

     

     

     A Shaman may not seem threatening at first. But make the mistake 

      Of fighting one, and you will soon be fighting the elements themselves!

     

    The Build

    Races: Orc is my preferred race both because I love Thrall, and because I love their racial ability. Otherwise any of the “Human” races would work. I would stay away from elves and the beast races.

    Factions/Questlines: Do the Main Quest so you can get the Storm Call Shout. Eventually you’ll have to become acquainted with The College of Winterholde for the master spell ritual quests.  Other than that, really almost anything you want as long as you’re fighting “evil/bad guys”. Generally want to stay "good" as much as you can, but at the same time neutral if that makes sense, so I wouldn’t suggest joining either side in the civil war.

    Stone: Mage stone for early leveling, Atronach Stone later on.

    Perks: Here’s the calculator. http://skyrimcalculator.com/#188505  With all the different trees you’ll be investing in, this requires you to get to a decently high level before it starts to become as powerful as it truly can be, but don't get me wrong, it's still fun early on, just more challenging. Make sure you focus on your Magic Schools first, and keep in mind that your One Handed perks are only meant to be used as a last resort back up should you need them for whatever reason.

    Armor:If you’re looking to truly RP the part, I suggest Forsworn or Fur armor. Otherwise I’d say pretty much any light armor except Elven, Nightingale, and Dark Brotherhood armor sets (Which you wouldn’t want anyway because the stats don’t really benefit you). For RP purposes I would also suggest finding a light armor hood that looks good with the armor you’re wearing. You’re not taking Matching set, so feel free to explore with options outside of your base armor set.

    For the Necklace and Ring: While you’re leveling at low levels I’d say just go with whatever you find that has a decent enchant regarding magicka or magicka costs. Later in the game you can enchant your own.

    Weapons:  Dual wielding maces or axes. Again for RP purposes I would suggest two forsworn war axes, or maybe even the Dawnguard war axes would work, otherwise whatever you want and think looks cool to fit the part and fit your character based on the armor you chose. Base damage doesn’t matter a whole lot as you will have a few points in Armsman as well as double damage enchants on each weapon (shock and fire on both). Melee isn’t your real focus anyway, sometimes there are situations where a ranged attack won’t work out, and that’s what your weapons are there for, a solid backup.

     

     Basic Spells/Abilities

     

                         Lightning Bolt/Thunder Bolt/Fireball/Incinerate: Main single target spells              

               Chain Lightning:Use against small groups of targets    

       Wall of Flames: Use as a barrier between you and your enemies

                       “Flesh” Spells: Keep on you when possible to reduce physical damage taken                 

         Lightning Cloak: Use to add a little offense to your defense should you need it! 

                  Restoration Spells: For RP purposes, the only restoration magic you should be using are healson yourself and others. You're not a paladin or holy priest, so no turning undead.

     

    Special Abilities

     

     Blazing Speed: You simultaneously call upon the elements of Air and Fire to gain an immense burst of speed, and leave a trail of flames behind you. Use to quickly escape enemies and then set them ablaze. (Dual cast Flame Cloak -> Whirlwind Sprint)

     

     

    Shockwave: You call forth a powerful sonic wave followed by a blast of wind that can paralyze your enemies, and sends all enemies in front of you flying backwards. (Unrelenting Force Shout)

     

     

    Fire Nova: Erupt with the fury of a volcano, stunning enemies around you and causing a massive explosion around you and setting everything within range on fire. (Mass Paralysis + Firestorm)

     

     

    Fulmination: Call lightning down as rain from the sky to obliterate your enemies. While this storm lasts you may act as a conduit for it’s power and a channel for the lightning, streaming it from your hands. (Storm Call Shout, Lightning Storm spell)   ***For an RP experience, Storm Call MUST be active to use Lightning Storm***

     

     

    Molten Fury: Harness the fury of Fire and the might of Earth to increase your power and decrease damage taken at the same time (Orc Racial: Berserker Rage + Dragonhide)

     

     

    Rebirth: It is not yet your time. Once a day, when death would otherwise be the outcome, you may call upon the element of Water to instantly restore a large portion of your health and temporarily remove yourself from battle. (Avoid Death Perk in Restoration Tree + Become Etherreal)

     

     

    *Adjustments made to this Special Abilities section thanks to help and advice from Jo'Daro

     Conclusion

    Thanks a ton for reading this, guys! And hopefully you’re considering making a Shaman! This is my very first build that I’ve posted, so I hope any “newbish” mistakes aren’t too bothersome for you if I’ve made any. Those of you that are interested or have suggestions, let me know what you think! I'm fairly new to this stuff and planning out builds, and I haven't actually explored every skill tree in the game for myself yet, so I'll gladly take all advice! 

     

     

     

     

     

  • September 14, 2012

    A lot of your special moves are just regular moves that you just call something else. I suggest removing those or editing them to add more things to them.

  • Member
    September 14, 2012

    Yea, I know, but that's just for more of an RP purpose, I don't really know what to add with them, but they are the most powerful spells at your disposal, so I feel they should be considered "special" and to fit the role of the Shaman, I chose to re name them and give them some descriptions that made them more "Shamany"

  • Member
    September 14, 2012
    i LOVE this build! i cant wait to try it! i was an ele sham in wow, and always had trouble recreating the build in oblivion and skyrim. love it! 1 suggestion tho try adding in block. shamans used shields altho idr if thrall did...
  • Member
    September 14, 2012

    Thanks for the suggestions! Fulmination I'll keep as it is because I want it to be more of an RP thing, like how I have it said up (and maybe I should explain this more) is that you can't use the lightning storm spell (master level shock spell) UNLESS you have storm call active, so it's like you're using the storm to channel the spell if that makes sense. But these are all pretty solid and good ideas. Thanks again!

     

  • Member
    September 14, 2012

    Thanks a ton! Glad you like it. And yea I know how they use shields in the game, but I figured making em dual wield similar to enhancement shamans makes for 1) less keybinds, and 2) less required perk points as it's already stretched pretty thin. But if you want to give block a shot, go for it and tell me how it goes!

     My shaman is actually only level 32 at the moment, so I haven't actually explored the ENTIRE build yet for myself, but I'm happy with it so far, and I'm excited to see how it ends up 50+

  • Member
    September 15, 2012

    Hey Matt, 

    Good Job on re-creating the shaman archtype on Skyrim mate! Like yourself, I am an Rper, heavy into WoW, Skyrim with a little bith of other titles on the side. Heck, my first build was based of Kingdom's of Amalur's Spellcloak class and aptly named & Built as such.

    I was planning to do a shaman build after my next build that I am working on, but it would seem that you had beaten me to it :)

    No worries, it saves me the headache of actually having to decide if I should be doing an ele build or a enhancement build... looks like the choice it obvious.

    Just one question though... why the points in one handed if you doing an all out ele build?

  • Member
    September 15, 2012
    thts pretty much y i stopped using block, felt like id get spread too thin with it. i jst started the character a little while ago and its a blast! maybe u should try ur hand at some other WoW builds? another question: is this going for an ele shaman? or an enhance shaman, or maybe even a hybrid?
  • Member
    September 15, 2012

    This build is mainly meant to be played like an ele shaman, a caster, and you should focus on your destruction, alteration, restoration, and conjuration magic first. But, I figured that after all that is said and done I didn't want the build to end there, so I put points into One Handed so that while casting is your main focus, you have atleast some strength in melee should you need it.

  • Member
    September 15, 2012

    You're correct in that this is mostly to be played as an ele shaman, and your magic schools should be your main focus, but I didn't want the build to be completely helpless in melee combat, when you're in tight spaces or if you somehow get cornered, and that's why I put some points in One Handed. Your spells are your main source of damage and it should be your priority to act caster over a melee fighter, no doubt about that, but there are always exceptions that need to be made, and sometimes you might find those weapons useful. That's what the points in One Handed are for, an adjustment that I made for Skyrim so you can have a solid back up should you need it. I'll make an adjustment to the section where I briefly talk about perks in order to make this clear