A person who sees, an observer, a prophet; a person who is endowed with profound spiritual insight.
The Seer
The Seer is a powerful magic caster who utilizes the gifts given to him/her, which is foresight, and endless insight. Seers use the full power of enchanted staves to essentially double magical output. When wielded it grants a secondary magicka pool which can unleash an array of magic attacks upon enemies. This is what sets the Seer apart from other magic users, their attachment to powerful artifacts grants them powers beyond this world and make them deadly combatants. The Seer can take two paths to follow his/her destiny; the path you choose will determine moral beliefs and combat prowess.
The Path of Malice: is a deadly nightblade who uses the power of stealth to take enemies by surprise, strike deadly blows, and smite them with powerful magical attacks.
The Path of Fury: is a powerful battlemage who charges head on, devastating enemies with conjured followers, and supplementing himself/herself with aegis auras.
Each path is equally powerful and has its own play styles, strengths, and weaknesses. The choice is yours as you develop your character. If you prefer a more head on, and concentrated effort, choose fury; if you prefer a quiet, more strategized plan of attack, malice is your best choice.
I would highly recommend Dragonborn DLC, and Dawngaurd DLC. Lots of items come from using items and rewards from the DLC’s. Take advantage of the all-new staff enchanting table. This crafting station allows you to take an unenchanted staff and apply a spell’s effect unto it.
Path of Malice
Behold! Your inevitable demise!
The Build
Race: High Elf, Breton, Dark Elf
Stone: Lord, Lady, Ritual (We’ll discuss this later)
Major Skills: Destruction, Sneak, One Handed, Illusion
Minor Skills: Enchanting, Restoration, Smithing
Recommended Gear:
Aesthetic set: Heavy Falmer Armor, Nightingale Boots, Gloves, Hood, Enchanted Ring and Necklace
Potent set: Heavy Falmer Armor, Boots, Gauntlets, Aethrial Crown, Enchanted Ring and Necklace
Recommended Weapons:
Staves: Skull of Corruption, Enchanted Staffs, Staff of Magnus, Staff of Jyrik Gauldurson, Miraak’s Staff, Hevnoraak’s Staff
Daggers: Best available, Blade of Woe
Spells: Ice Spells, Fear and Calm Spells, Invisibility, Restoration Spells
Shouts: Slow Time (burst of foresight), Marked for Death (marked for life’s only certainty), Aura Whisper (an insidious vision)
Vampirism: Recommended, but this choice is purely optional; if you despise being a vampire don’t become one.
Spread: 60% Health/40% Magicka/0% Stamina
Power you couldn’t even fathom.
To begin with an analysis I’ll start with race, I would highly recommend a High Elf. High Elves are perfect for any spell casting character; they begin with +50 magicka bonus which essentially is 5 levels to spend your attributes elsewhere. Their greater power Highborn is outrageous, and can turn the tide of any battle (10x magicka regen is nothing to laugh at). Bretons make an exceptional choice also because of their static magical resistances and useful greater power Dragon Skin. Dark Elves look badass, and have their static fire resistance which is very helpful if you are playing as a vampire, however, their greater power Ancestor's Wrath, breaks the flavor of the build and runs out of use as soon as a better cloak spell is learned.
When choosing a standing stone, The Lord grants a permanent armor rating along with a magical resistance. This stone functions well on any character, and simply helps you at all times! The Lady is very useful when playing as a vampire, the added regen helps tremendously when in combat. Now The Ritual… to be honest I had way too much fun with this power. The power lets you resurrect EVERY corpse within vicinity to aid you in battle once a day. The once a day part really turns people away, but after messing around with the Aethrial Crown from Dawngaurd DLC, it just so happens that if you attach The Ritual to the crown and reequip it the power is then reset. In conclusion, this gives you infinite undead armies requiring nothing but a press of a button/key. I went crazy over this. I normally don’t like to use exploits, but this was an exception.
When looking at armor I found the pure aesthetic and combat effective awesomeness of the Heavy Falmer Armor. I usually like to look fabulous rather than be at maximum overkill. But I found that both were possible. Nightingale Boots, Gloves, and Hood hold enchantments that will further all of your major skills, the downside however they are leveled to your character, and you can easily outgrow them; when this happens simply swap out for Heavy Falmer Gauntlets and Boots, then enchant them yourself. Dark Brotherhood attire is easy to obtain at early levels and gives awesome bonuses.
Shouts are game breakers as always, Slow Time helps when you are outmatched and overwhelmed. Marked for Death softens up even the heaviest enemies granting you the edge. Aura Whisper grants you the ultimate reconnaissance to scope out priority targets and lets you plan out your routes.
Skills and Perks (50+)
Destruction: Novice – Expert, Augmented Frost, Deep Freeze
Sneak: 1/5 Stealth, Muffled Movement, Backstab, Deadly Aim, Assassin’s Blade, Light Foot, Silent Roll, Silence, Shadow Warrior
One Handed: 5/5 Armsman, Fighting Stance
Illusion: Novice – Master, Hypnotic Gaze, Aspect of Terror, Rage, Animage, Kindred Mage, Quiet Casting, Master of the Mind
Restoration: Novice – Adept, Regeneration, 2/2 Recovery, Necromage
Enchanting: 5/5 Enchanter, Soul Squeezer, Insightful Enchanter, Corpus Enchanter, Extra Effect
*For smithing use the Dragonborn DLC perk reset
Link to build here: http://skyrimcalculator.com/#256705
Your fate is sealed, my prey.
Vampirism helps you in every way for this build. It grants you bonuses to your stealth and illusion abilities, and also grants you a vast array of powers. I would highly recommend it, but again if you hate being a vampire don’t be one.
Gameplay and Strategies
This path uses staves, magic, and daggers for weapons. Start out with a sneak attack on an enemy to get the first jump, follow through by dropping your dagger and equipping your spells then release a fury of ice spells. Staff of Ice Storms and Ice Storm combined is nuts, it literally wipes battlefields clean. Illusion aides you tremendously when you are in over your head. Simply by stopping combat with a calm spell to allow breathing time is a huge advantage, pair this up with your sneaking ability to seek shelter for another coordinated assassination. Invisibility isn’t necessary, but it does help quite a bit and it’s fun. Another thing that I found useful was to enchant your dagger with a lasting Soul Trap enchantment; jab an enemy and finish him for an easily acquired soul.
The Thieves Guild is a perfect questing opportunity to let your stealth skills shine. The Dark Brotherhood is another beneficial quest-line, along with the College of Winterhold. Side with the Volkihar’s to further develop you vampirism.
The Path of Fury
I will prevail, I have foreseen it.
The Build
Race: High Elf, Breton, Nord
Stone: Lord, Atronach
Major Skills: Destruction, Conjuration, Alteration, Heavy Armor
Minor Skills: Enchanting, Restoration, Smithing
Recommended Gear: Dragonplate Armor, Ahzidal’s Armor, Ahzidal’s Ring of Arcana
Recommended Weapons:
Staves: Skull of Corruption, Enchanted Staffs, Staff of Magnus, Staff of Jyrik Gauldurson, Miraak’s Staff, Hevnoraak’s Staff
Spells: Fire Spells, Armor Spells, Atronach Spells, Restoration Spells, Soul Trap
Shouts: Slow Time (burst of foresight), Cyclone (spiritual intervention), Storm Call (weather prediction)
Lycanthropy: Recommended, but again purely optional.
Spread: 40% Health/60% Magicka/0% Stamina
I am bewildered you didn’t see this coming!
I am not going to repeat everything; instead I’ll just highlight the major differences. Nords makes a valid choice for this path for their natural frost resistance, and their Battle Cry power has proven to be useful in many situations.
Lord is the most valid stone, but if you are daring take the Atronach. The Atronach is extremely useful, but I dislike the drawback.
Ahzidal’s Armor Set, is the strangest armor set I have ever seen. Each piece is fitted with a unique enchantment. However, this armor is quite difficult to obtain; time is an issue since the quest revolving around it is based on the in-game clock, and requires a large sum of gold. The best heavy armor available is advised while you level up. Dragonplate Armor is the basic endgame armor, for both aesthetic and effectiveness.
To be honest for this path, all I ever used was the Cyclone shout. It is entertaining, and effective… not much to say other than that. Storm Call has its uses, but it is limited to outdoor encounters.
Skills and Perks (50+)
Destruction: Novice – Expert, Augmented Flame, Intense Flames
Conjuration: Novice – Master, 1/2 Summoner, Atromancy, Elemental Potency, Twin Souls
Alteration: Novice – Master, 3/3 Magical Resistance, Stability, Atronach
Heavy Armor: 5/5 Juggernaut, Well Fitted, Tower of Strength
Restoration: Novice – Expert, Regeneration, 2/2 Recovery
Enchanting: 5/5 Enchanter, Soul Squeezer, Insightful Enchanter, Corpus Enchanter, Extra Effect
*For smithing use the Dragonborn DLC perk reset
Link to build here: http://skyrimcalculator.com/#257209
In my vision I only saw devastation and agony…
Lycanthropy is extremely fun. The new werewolf perk tree also helped balance out the disadvantages in combat, and makes being a werewolf more of a journey. There is really only one downside to having this boon, the inability to get rested bonuses. Becoming a werewolf is fairly easy to do early game so you can benefit as soon as possible.
Gameplay and Strategies
Playing smart is best tactic when using this path. If there is time to prepare take it! Summon an atronach, cast armor spells, and give some time for your magicka bar to regenerate. Be aggressive, Fireball is my favorite fire spell, I always remember Festus Krex’s words of wisdom “Remember, Fireballs, you can never go wrong.” Now when I mean aggressive I don’t mean charge into the greatsword-wielding bandit chief. By being aggressive I mean by maintaining a steady stream for spells, and keeping pressure on enemies. The atronachs are excellent for distracting enemies which will keep enemies at bay. The less concentration on you the better, however, you are built to last AND to destroy, that’s the beauty of this path.
For questing wise, The Companions is essential, they grant you lycanthropy and give out tons of quests ranging from hunts to raids. The College of Winterhold is important to enhance your magical powers. The Main quest and the Civil War quests are full of epic battles with the odds against you, odds which you can turn and prevail.
Additional Notes for the Entire Build
Enchanting is another big part of the build. This grants you the best gear, but also is essential to recharge your staves normally I would never take Soul Squeezer; but it actually helps significantly in this build. A specific item that really helps this build work at maximum potential is the Black Star. Some advice to get a decent staff early on is the Staff of Jyrik Gauldurson from the first College quest, one quest and boom staff. The Skull of Corruption if maintained properly is an amazing staff. This staff is a powerhouse when charged with dreams, and can hit multiple enemies at once. To get dreams you just cast it on a sleeping person and it adds 5 “dreams” to the staff. Harvesting dreams is not an act of aggression; the best ways to find sleeping people is draugr in walls and guard barracks.
Vaermina’s quest and Azura’s quest should be completed early on to reap the benefits from their powerful artifacts.
Getting to Tel Mithryn on Solstheim should be a main priority. Neloth is the keeper of the Staff Enchanter; so you need to do a couple of quests to convince him to let you use it.
Sources of images from: www.magicthegathering.com
Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave comments!
A person who sees, an observer, a prophet; a person who is endowed with profound spiritual insight.
The Seer
The Seer is a powerful magic caster who utilizes the gifts given to him/her, which is foresight, and endless insight. Seers use the full power of enchanted staves to essentially double magical output. When wielded it grants a secondary magicka pool which can unleash an array of magic attacks upon enemies. This is what sets the Seer apart from other magic users, their attachment to powerful artifacts grants them powers beyond this world and make them deadly combatants. The Seer can take two paths to follow his/her destiny; the path you choose will determine moral beliefs and combat prowess.
The Path of Malice: is a deadly nightblade who uses the power of stealth to take enemies by surprise, strike deadly blows, and smite them with powerful magical attacks.
The Path of Fury: is a powerful battlemage who charges head on, devastating enemies with conjured followers, and supplementing himself/herself with aegis auras.
Each path is equally powerful and has its own play styles, strengths, and weaknesses. The choice is yours as you develop your character. If you prefer a more head on, and concentrated effort, choose fury; if you prefer a quiet, more strategized plan of attack, malice is your best choice.
I would highly recommend Dragonborn DLC, and Dawngaurd DLC. Lots of items come from using items and rewards from the DLC’s. Take advantage of the all-new staff enchanting table. This crafting station allows you to take an unenchanted staff and apply a spell’s effect unto it.
Path of Malice
Behold! Your inevitable demise!
The Build
Race: High Elf, Breton, Dark Elf
Stone: Lord, Lady, Ritual (We’ll discuss this later)
Major Skills: Destruction, Sneak, One Handed, Illusion
Minor Skills: Enchanting, Restoration, Smithing
Recommended Gear:
Aesthetic set: Heavy Falmer Armor, Nightingale Boots, Gloves, Hood, Enchanted Ring and Necklace
Potent set: Heavy Falmer Armor, Boots, Gauntlets, Aethrial Crown, Enchanted Ring and Necklace
Recommended Weapons:
Staves: Skull of Corruption, Enchanted Staffs, Staff of Magnus, Staff of Jyrik Gauldurson, Miraak’s Staff, Hevnoraak’s Staff
Daggers: Best available, Blade of Woe
Spells: Ice Spells, Fear and Calm Spells, Invisibility, Restoration Spells
Shouts: Slow Time (burst of foresight), Marked for Death (marked for life’s only certainty), Aura Whisper (an insidious vision)
Vampirism: Recommended, but this choice is purely optional; if you despise being a vampire don’t become one.
Spread: 60% Health/40% Magicka/0% Stamina
Power you couldn’t even fathom.
To begin with an analysis I’ll start with race, I would highly recommend a High Elf. High Elves are perfect for any spell casting character; they begin with +50 magicka bonus which essentially is 5 levels to spend your attributes elsewhere. Their greater power Highborn is outrageous, and can turn the tide of any battle (10x magicka regen is nothing to laugh at). Bretons make an exceptional choice also because of their static magical resistances and useful greater power Dragon Skin. Dark Elves look badass, and have their static fire resistance which is very helpful if you are playing as a vampire, however, their greater power Ancestor's Wrath, breaks the flavor of the build and runs out of use as soon as a better cloak spell is learned.
When choosing a standing stone, The Lord grants a permanent armor rating along with a magical resistance. This stone functions well on any character, and simply helps you at all times! The Lady is very useful when playing as a vampire, the added regen helps tremendously when in combat. Now The Ritual… to be honest I had way too much fun with this power. The power lets you resurrect EVERY corpse within vicinity to aid you in battle once a day. The once a day part really turns people away, but after messing around with the Aethrial Crown from Dawngaurd DLC, it just so happens that if you attach The Ritual to the crown and reequip it the power is then reset. In conclusion, this gives you infinite undead armies requiring nothing but a press of a button/key. I went crazy over this. I normally don’t like to use exploits, but this was an exception.
When looking at armor I found the pure aesthetic and combat effective awesomeness of the Heavy Falmer Armor. I usually like to look fabulous rather than be at maximum overkill. But I found that both were possible. Nightingale Boots, Gloves, and Hood hold enchantments that will further all of your major skills, the downside however they are leveled to your character, and you can easily outgrow them; when this happens simply swap out for Heavy Falmer Gauntlets and Boots, then enchant them yourself. Dark Brotherhood attire is easy to obtain at early levels and gives awesome bonuses.
Shouts are game breakers as always, Slow Time helps when you are outmatched and overwhelmed. Marked for Death softens up even the heaviest enemies granting you the edge. Aura Whisper grants you the ultimate reconnaissance to scope out priority targets and lets you plan out your routes.
Skills and Perks (50+)
Destruction: Novice – Expert, Augmented Frost, Deep Freeze
Sneak: 1/5 Stealth, Muffled Movement, Backstab, Deadly Aim, Assassin’s Blade, Light Foot, Silent Roll, Silence, Shadow Warrior
One Handed: 5/5 Armsman, Fighting Stance
Illusion: Novice – Master, Hypnotic Gaze, Aspect of Terror, Rage, Animage, Kindred Mage, Quiet Casting, Master of the Mind
Restoration: Novice – Adept, Regeneration, 2/2 Recovery, Necromage
Enchanting: 5/5 Enchanter, Soul Squeezer, Insightful Enchanter, Corpus Enchanter, Extra Effect
*For smithing use the Dragonborn DLC perk reset
Link to build here: http://skyrimcalculator.com/#256705
Your fate is sealed, my prey.
Vampirism helps you in every way for this build. It grants you bonuses to your stealth and illusion abilities, and also grants you a vast array of powers. I would highly recommend it, but again if you hate being a vampire don’t be one.
Gameplay and Strategies
This path uses staves, magic, and daggers for weapons. Start out with a sneak attack on an enemy to get the first jump, follow through by dropping your dagger and equipping your spells then release a fury of ice spells. Staff of Ice Storms and Ice Storm combined is nuts, it literally wipes battlefields clean. Illusion aides you tremendously when you are in over your head. Simply by stopping combat with a calm spell to allow breathing time is a huge advantage, pair this up with your sneaking ability to seek shelter for another coordinated assassination. Invisibility isn’t necessary, but it does help quite a bit and it’s fun. Another thing that I found useful was to enchant your dagger with a lasting Soul Trap enchantment; jab an enemy and finish him for an easily acquired soul.
The Thieves Guild is a perfect questing opportunity to let your stealth skills shine. The Dark Brotherhood is another beneficial quest-line, along with the College of Winterhold. Side with the Volkihar’s to further develop you vampirism.
The Path of Fury
I will prevail, I have foreseen it.
The Build
Race: High Elf, Breton, Nord
Stone: Lord, Atronach
Major Skills: Destruction, Conjuration, Alteration, Heavy Armor
Minor Skills: Enchanting, Restoration, Smithing
Recommended Gear: Dragonplate Armor, Ahzidal’s Armor, Ahzidal’s Ring of Arcana
Recommended Weapons:
Staves: Skull of Corruption, Enchanted Staffs, Staff of Magnus, Staff of Jyrik Gauldurson, Miraak’s Staff, Hevnoraak’s Staff
Spells: Fire Spells, Armor Spells, Atronach Spells, Restoration Spells, Soul Trap
Shouts: Slow Time (burst of foresight), Cyclone (spiritual intervention), Storm Call (weather prediction)
Lycanthropy: Recommended, but again purely optional.
Spread: 40% Health/60% Magicka/0% Stamina
I am bewildered you didn’t see this coming!
I am not going to repeat everything; instead I’ll just highlight the major differences. Nords makes a valid choice for this path for their natural frost resistance, and their Battle Cry power has proven to be useful in many situations.
Lord is the most valid stone, but if you are daring take the Atronach. The Atronach is extremely useful, but I dislike the drawback.
Ahzidal’s Armor Set, is the strangest armor set I have ever seen. Each piece is fitted with a unique enchantment. However, this armor is quite difficult to obtain; time is an issue since the quest revolving around it is based on the in-game clock, and requires a large sum of gold. The best heavy armor available is advised while you level up. Dragonplate Armor is the basic endgame armor, for both aesthetic and effectiveness.
To be honest for this path, all I ever used was the Cyclone shout. It is entertaining, and effective… not much to say other than that. Storm Call has its uses, but it is limited to outdoor encounters.
Skills and Perks (50+)
Destruction: Novice – Expert, Augmented Flame, Intense Flames
Conjuration: Novice – Master, 1/2 Summoner, Atromancy, Elemental Potency, Twin Souls
Alteration: Novice – Master, 3/3 Magical Resistance, Stability, Atronach
Heavy Armor: 5/5 Juggernaut, Well Fitted, Tower of Strength
Restoration: Novice – Expert, Regeneration, 2/2 Recovery
Enchanting: 5/5 Enchanter, Soul Squeezer, Insightful Enchanter, Corpus Enchanter, Extra Effect
*For smithing use the Dragonborn DLC perk reset
Link to build here: http://skyrimcalculator.com/#257209
In my vision I only saw devastation and agony…
Lycanthropy is extremely fun. The new werewolf perk tree also helped balance out the disadvantages in combat, and makes being a werewolf more of a journey. There is really only one downside to having this boon, the inability to get rested bonuses. Becoming a werewolf is fairly easy to do early game so you can benefit as soon as possible.
Gameplay and Strategies
Playing smart is best tactic when using this path. If there is time to prepare take it! Summon an atronach, cast armor spells, and give some time for your magicka bar to regenerate. Be aggressive, Fireball is my favorite fire spell, I always remember Festus Krex’s words of wisdom “Remember, Fireballs, you can never go wrong.” Now when I mean aggressive I don’t mean charge into the greatsword-wielding bandit chief. By being aggressive I mean by maintaining a steady stream for spells, and keeping pressure on enemies. The atronachs are excellent for distracting enemies which will keep enemies at bay. The less concentration on you the better, however, you are built to last AND to destroy, that’s the beauty of this path.
For questing wise, The Companions is essential, they grant you lycanthropy and give out tons of quests ranging from hunts to raids. The College of Winterhold is important to enhance your magical powers. The Main quest and the Civil War quests are full of epic battles with the odds against you, odds which you can turn and prevail.
Additional Notes for the Entire Build
Enchanting is another big part of the build. This grants you the best gear, but also is essential to recharge your staves normally I would never take Soul Squeezer; but it actually helps significantly in this build. A specific item that really helps this build work at maximum potential is the Black Star. Some advice to get a decent staff early on is the Staff of Jyrik Gauldurson from the first College quest, one quest and boom staff. The Skull of Corruption if maintained properly is an amazing staff. This staff is a powerhouse when charged with dreams, and can hit multiple enemies at once. To get dreams you just cast it on a sleeping person and it adds 5 “dreams” to the staff. Harvesting dreams is not an act of aggression; the best ways to find sleeping people is draugr in walls and guard barracks.
Vaermina’s quest and Azura’s quest should be completed early on to reap the benefits from their powerful artifacts.
Getting to Tel Mithryn on Solstheim should be a main priority. Neloth is the keeper of the Staff Enchanter; so you need to do a couple of quests to convince him to let you use it.
Sources of images from: www.magicthegathering.com
Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave comments!
