Skyrim Character Building » Discussions


Character Build: The Demon

Tags: #Character Build Archer  #Character Build Juggernaut  #Character Build Blacksmith  #Race:Argonian  #Rank:Recognized 
  • CBR
    Member
    September 28, 2012

    I'm playing this build through at the moment.  As someone who's always enjoyed stealth builds WAY more than mages or warriors, I'm having an absolute blast with this guy - not only my first warrior, but first Argonian.  In response to NoSnakesAlive's Demonhunter, I give you...

    The Demon

    The Demon is a friend to no one, and the enemy of all.  Granted dark gifts by Mehrunes Dagon, he is an agent of Chaos, sowing discord, strife, and violence wherever he goes, and always hungry for more food.  Immortal, the Demon can regenerate himself, and has a thick, chitinous skin that no sword can hope to penetrate, and that is so vile and venomous that it damages those who get too close.

    After countless hours playing sneaky assassins and nightblades, I wanted to try a sword-and-board, but not something as mundane as a typical knight/paladin/warrior.  Argonian was the only race I hadn't played, and, given that racial abilities and resistances are the only things that really matter, they seemed like a supremely underrated race (given that waterbreathing is fun, Argonian resistance to disease is convenient, and Histskin is probably tied for ultimate best racial power with Berserker Rage).

    The Demon is something of a conglomeration between Ponty's Histmaster, Mason's Mauloch and Salamander, Sage's "Betrayed" Falmer, Emer Dareloth's Whet-Fang, and my own Wraith, with the notable addition of cooking.  He is an incredibly well-armored and regenerating monster who will outlast any foe and withstand any attack while simultaneously bleeding out his victims.  Wholly evil, the goal in creating this monster was to attempt to kill everything killable on the map.

    The Build:

    Race: Argonian

    Stone: Steed until "conditioning perk", then Lady

    Power: Racial, Marked for Death, Become Etherial

    Major Skills: Block, One-Handed, Archery

    Minor Skills: Alchemy, Heavy Armor, Smithing

    Weapon: Enchanted Daedric War-Axe (Fiery Soul-Trap + Absorb Health), Enchanted Daedric Bow (Fiery Soul-Trap + Frost Damage), Targe of the Blooded (really, it's a weapon)

    Apparel: Ebony Mail, Ring of Namira, Enchanted Ancient Nord Helmet or Daedric Helmet, Daedric Boots/Gauntlets.

    Enchantments: Helmet (Archery, Lockpicking), Gauntlets (1-Handed, Heavy Armor), Boots (1-Handed, Stamina Regeneration), Necklace (Health Regeneration, Fortify Health) 

    Stats: 0:3:1 (M:H:S)

    Quests: Main Quest, Destroy the Dark Brotherhood (because you're destroying something; that's what you do), Taste of Death, Black Star, Ironbind Barrow, Randomly killing innocent people and eating them, in front of guards if possible

    Description:

    Anyone familiar with Ponty's Histmaster build will probably recognize the play-style of the demon, but with magic taken completely out of the picture.  The Demon is a Damage-over-Time character, working with a war-axe (with fire damage) and Targe of the Blooded for stacking bleed damage, on top of the poison from ebony mail, on top of damage-over-time poisons.  His enchanted and heavily smithed armor and shield make the Demon virtually impossible to kill, and if death looks like even a mild possibility, he can vanish (Become Ethereal) or become truly unkillable (Histskin).

    For role-playing, you're an all-consuming, all-destroying killing machine.  My goal was to make Riverwood a ghost-town by level 15, Whiterun by level 25 (to the extent possible), and the rest of the map before level 60.  So far so good...

    The battle-plan is as follows: before you go towards a potential danger-zone (dragon-battles, etc), go into the house of someone you've killed.  Riverwood should be a ghost-town before you hit level 30, so that will work.  Create Vegetable Soup, Venison Stew, and/or Horker Stew, as well as some Health Regeneration potions.  When you start fighting, kill something quickly and eat them (ring of namira).  In conjunction with your enchanted helm and necklace and, if necessary, Histskin, you should at that point be functionally invincible.  From there, hack and bash away at your leisure.

    In long, drawn out fights, the cooked foods (particularly Venison Stew) function more like PCP then a $5.00 lunch.  Think of it as such.

    Health regeneration is unfortunately a pretty rare enchantment.  The best bet you've got of finding it to purchase is, in my experience, Radiant Raiments in Solitude.  As far as leveling enchanting/smithing, the standard Froki's Bow run into Graywinter Watch will get you a valuable enchantment to use on thousands of iron daggers, using purchased petty soul-gems filled with fiery soul-trap axe strikes on Draugr, wolves, and the like.

    As for the Dark Brotherhood, I opted for "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood," partially for the quick blade of woe to disenchant, and partially because it's one of the few quests completely revolving around killing people and destroying an organization.  Don't forget to kill the prisoners too... kill them, eat one of them for the stats, then kill Astrid.  After you finish off the last of the Dark Brotherhood and collect your reward, make sure you put Dragon Bridge to the torch as well.

    Perks: 

    (Level 30)

    Archery - Overdraw (2/5)

    Heavy Armor - Juggernaut (3/5), Well-Fitted

    Block - Shield Wall (3/5), Quick Reflexes, Power Bash, Deadly Bash, Deflect Arrows, Elemental Protection

    One-Handed - Armsman (3/5), Hack and Slash (2/3)

    Smithing - Steel, Dwarven, Orcish

    Alchemy  - Alchemist (2/5)

    Enchanting - Enchanter (4/5), Insightful Enchanter

    (Level 60)

    (Level 81)

     

    Recipes:

    Food

    • Horker Stew (Restores 15 health, 15 stamina, 1 pt health/second for 720 seconds) - Lavender, Tomato, Garlic, Horker meat
    • Vegetable Soup (Restore 1 pt health/second + 1 pt stamina/second for 720 seconds) - Cabage, Potato, Leek, Tomato
    • Venison Stew (Restore 15 stamina, 1 pt health/second + 1 pt stamina/second for 720 seconds) - Venison, Salt Pile, Potato, Leek

    Potions

    • Restore Health + Fortify Health - Blue Mountain Flower, Wheat
    • Regenerate Health - Any 2: Juniper Berries, Nordic Barnacle, Garlic, Luna Moth Wing, Vampire Dust or Namira's Rot
    • Fortify Heavy Armor + Fortify Block + Resist Frost - Briar Heart, Thistle Branch, Slaughterfish Scale
    • Regenerate Health + Invisibility - Luna Moth Wing, Vampire Dust

    Poisons

    • Damage Health + Weakness to Poison + Slow - Bleeding Crown, Deathbell, River Betty
    • Weakness to Poison, Weakness to Fire - Bleeding Crown, Juniper Berries, Small Antlers
    • Damage Health + Lingering Damage Health - Imp Stool, Orange Dartwing, River Betty
    • Lingering Damage Health + Paralyze - Canis Root, Imp Stool, Orange Dartwing

    And your signature "Demon Venom" concoction, for special occasions...

    • Damage Health + Lingering Damage Health + Paralyze - Human Flesh, Imp Stool, Slaughterfish Egg (There's a hunk of human flesh in the Aretino House with Astrid's name written all over it...)

     

    Powers:


    Demon Skin - (Histskin + Potion of Regeneration + Vegetable Soup) - This is sort of the core of the build in terms of defense, in conjunction with heavy armor enchanted with health regeneration of course.

    Venomous Strike(War Axe of Fire + Lingering Poison + Eboy Mail) - The foil to Demon Skin, and the offensive bread-and-butter of the build.  When up against fire dragons, dark-elves and such, it might do well to keep an alternate war-axe - I use Absorb Health and Frost Damage.

     Master of Death - (Targe Bash + Venomous Strike + Become Ethereal) - A strong tactic for dealing with heftier foes.  You watch their life tick down as your life ticks up from invulnerability.


    Sadist - (Marked for Death + Targe Bash + Ebony Mail) - This is a tactic for keeping someone down and bleeding - truly an evil technique.

    The play-style is dynamic and tactical, but it is built on the understanding that you are going to take some hits.  Especially for early levels, keep a good collection of healing potions on you.  With patience, determination, and a healthy dose of sadism, you'll be completely unstoppable.

  • Member
    September 28, 2012

    Firstly, +1.

    I really like the fighting style concept to this build, outlasting opponents with poisons and bleeding. Really cool and original as far as I've seen. Only qualms with it are: the name (maybe change it to something more relevant to the fighting style, as opposed to one aspect of the character), and that vampirism seems to be questionably unnecessary; its only apparent purpose being Embrace of Shadows, to which you can easily brew an alchemical equivalent. 

    The P.S. at the end I think should play a bigger role in the purpose of the build. Maybe make it a challenge build with the goal of killing everyone killable in Skyrim? Could be a fun motivation. 

    All aside, cool and unique build. I dig it.

  • CBR
    Member
    September 28, 2012

    Good points, will modify appropriately

  • Member
    September 29, 2012

    Wow wow! I really love the name change, fits the build perfectly. And I take back what I said about vampirism, it grooves really well with the synergy of the whole build: works just awesomely man. Additionally, mages have fear and zombies while thieves/assassins have throat-cutting and shadows; This however, is the only melee build I think I've ever seen with a combat style that is essentially, fundamentally, at-its-core evil. This is just a mean and nasty build, by a mean an' nasty character building machine. Honestly think this build deserves Expert at least. Wish I could give ya another +1. 

  • CBR
    Member
    September 29, 2012

    Cooking isn't skill-based, so it's not actually that big of a deal.  The alchemy/enchanting/smithing stuff IS a lot of work, but no more then any typical necromage-vampire build out there (this isn't even a necromage build).  Personally, I enjoy the Aldmeri Assassin build the most for just this reason - no enchanting/alchemy and minimal smithing required.

    If you're going to do that though, this guy is pretty fun.  He isn't as overpowered as your typical spell-sword, and it can take a while to take down some heftier foes.  Half the enjoyment and satisfaction is dropping back for a bit to let your gear heal you and watching your enemy's life tick down without you even touching them 

  • September 29, 2012

    Would you believe I just, pretty much, made this build in my head? lol. Not exactly the same, but there are a lot of similarities. I wanna post mine now too! lol I think I will and give it a play through. +2 if I could man!

  • September 29, 2012

    I agree with the heavy grinding on the crafting skills, but it's not as heavy as you would think. I use all 3 on my Archetype Sorcerer build I'll be posting soon. It's pretty easy to get very far with your crafting skills by training with money you make from using said skills. Certain enchantments make more money than others so you find those and spam them on looted items to grind. Then you sell them for increased profits and go train your skills even higher. Same with Alchemy. Make expensive potions and poisons and sell them to arcadia and then train with the money she just gave you. then make a ton more potions and recycle your money again.

  • CBR
    Member
    September 29, 2012

    Haha! Looking forward to seeing it 

  • Member
    September 30, 2012

    A really cool build and that I will add on my list of characters I wish to try. Can't wait to slaughter everyone in sight! +1

  • CBR
    Member
    October 2, 2012

    Updated with new photos and some build modifications/elaborations.  I've been playing it more and it's really a blast!