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Character Build: The Frostwolf

Tags: #Character Build Enchanter  #Character Build Alchemist  #Character Build Werewolf  #Race:Orsimer  #Rank:Exemplar 
  • Member
    March 14, 2013

    The Aurora Borealis could already be seen at the night sky. It wafled like glowing smoke in front of the full moon that made the night almost day bright. A beautiful night and a good hunt. Yargul and Uzuk just finished binding their prey together with ropes and were about to start their way back home to their stronghold. They had enough meat to feed the stronghold for at least two weeks. Yargul was proud Uzuk had asked him to accompany him on the hunt. Uzuk was a fearless warrior and not only one orc in the stronghold considered him to be the strongest. Many were wondering when he would challenge the chieftain. Right as they were about to decamp Yargul saw a magnificient stag standing in a glade about twenty feet away. He let the ropes go and slowly drew his bow. Suddenly there was a howl far away but clear. Uzuk squinted his eyes and listened stressed. After a while he said: "No let the deer go. We go back to the stronghold." His bow already drawn Yargul looked at Uzuk in disbelief as another howl sounded. This time much closer and louder. The stag raised his head and disappeared in the woods."Come on after him" Yargul said. Uzuk looked at him with a look in his eyes he had never seen before: "We go. Now!". "Fine. Let's go" Yargul responded. As he swung the ropes on his back he realized why he never had seen this look on Uzuk's face before. It was fear.

    The Frostwolf

     

    The Frostwolf is a cast out orc shaman. He abonded the worship of Malacath to embrace Hircine's gift of Lycanthropy. Not many orcs live to tell the story but those who know of his existance shun and fear him. He lives in the frozen glaciers of Skyrim and has become one with the frost and the wolf. But sometimes a thirst for blood overcomes him and he makes his way back to the wild woods of Skyrim on the search for worthwile prey. As the dragons rise once again a strong desire to hunt rises in him as well. To hunt the greatest prey there ever was: Alduin.

     

    If you already know the Beast Form mechanics you can skip this paragraph

    Lycanthrophy: First some important facts about the Beast Form since this is a werewolf heavy build. Racial Abilities don't carry over to werewolf form since the game handles the transformation as a change of race. Upon transformation equipped Items get unequipped and have to be equipped again when becoming the default race again. Hence the Werewolf doesn't benefit from enchantments. Effects listed in the Active Effects list of the Skyrim Menu carry over to beast form. This includes Spells like Alteration Flesh spells, Destruction Cloak spells, Lesser and Greater powers like the orcish Berserker Rage, Abilities like Agent of Mara, Perks like Snakeblood in Alchemy and Potions you drink before the shape change. In Dawnguard the Beast Form gives the Character +50 Health and +100 Stamina in Beast Form and 100% Resistance to Diseases at any time. The Stamina Regeneration increases from 2% to 20% per second and the Health Regeneration decreases by 100 Points. Carry Weight gets increased by 2000. You get the Werewolf Claws constant effect which increases unarmed base damage from 4 to 20 and Reach from 96 to 150 and your Armor is 0. Also from level 11 on you get an increase of +50 Armor per Level and and unarmed base damage increase of eather +5 or +10 to a total of 400 Armor and 80 base unarmed damage. While in beast form you have no access to your menu whatsoever and when you try to open it you gain acess to your werewolf perk tree.  Every time you feed on a corpse you gather experience towards a new perk which you can spent to improve your werewolf form. The feeding also restores 50 Health and is the only way to heal yourself besides the Avoid Death perk in the Restoration Skill Tree. The Werewolf can do three types of Power Attacks: A power atttack while moving flings the enemy through the air which is great from preventing them to hit you, a rapid row of hits similar to the dual wield power attack when you press the power attack button longer and a sprinting power attack which triples the damage of your attack and knocks enemies down. Instead of Powers and Dragon Shouts the Werewolf can pick one ot ouf three Totems which grant him useful Howl Abilities that can be further improved/alterated with the Werewolf perk tree:

    Totem of Fear: Enemies flee in fear for 60 seconds and nearby wolves come to your aid.

    Totem of the Hunt: Summons two red pack members to aid you in combat for a limited time.

    Totem of Brotherhood: Reveals nearby prey, similar to a Detect Life spell.

    General Tips on being a Werewolf:

    Terror Howl is the best howl in most situations because you can spam it when you get overwhelmed.

    Hotkey your worn items to favorites so you can requip them faster when you leave werewolf form

    (You still have to manually hotkey the Ring of Hircine ability everytime you leave the Beast Form though.)
    Dont worry too much about picking up the stuff from corpses you will have enough money through crafting soon enough.

    Try to fill the right Werewolf perk tree as fast as possible as it gives you a massive Stamina and Health boost and grants you the ability to feed on almost all living beings.

    The Character Build

    The Orc is one of the best races for a Werewolf heavy build since he doesn't have any Racial Abilties and his Greater Power complements the Werewolf Form excellent. Every point can be spent upon Health when leveling up since you mostly need Magicka to prepare for your transformation. If you have a shortage of Magicka especially at the beginning of the game just equip items with bonus to Magicka and Fortify Destruction. The Frostwolf has a value of 300 (+200 upon transformation) Stamina when in Werewolf Form, which is more than enough with the rampant Stamina Regeneration.

    Tested up to Difficulty: Expert

    Race: Orc

    Sex: Male

    Magicka/Health/Stamina: 0/+1/0

     

    Skills: The skills of a Frostwolf are Alchemy, Alteration, Restoration, Destruction and Enchanting with 28 essential perks of whom Snakeblood and Magic Resistance give the Frostwolf important defensive buffs while shape changed. The X values can be filled as seen fit. Alchemy is useful for potions that carry over to werewolf form and to regenerate when going back to orc form. Alteration is needed for the Magic Resistance perks and the Flesh spells to reach the armor cap. Avoid Death in Restoration is the only tool to heal yourself while in werewolf form and especially useful at the beginning to heal yourself up after a fight. Destruction is mainly used for the Frost Cloak spell (or if you get bored of the Werewolf just wreak havok upon your enemies with powerful frost spells). Leveling Destruction can be a bit tough at times. I found the best way is to blow the sh** out of the wild life with a Rune spell while gathering ingredients for Alchemy. Enchanting is used mainly to reduce the casting cost of the spells and some other usefull effects while in orc form. 

     

    Alchemist (X/5)PhysicianBenefactorExperimenterSnakeblood

     

     

    Novice - Expert AlterationAlteration Dual CastingMage Armor (X/3)

    Magic Resistance (3/3)Stability

     

     

    Novice - Adept DestructionAugmented Frost (X/2)Deep Freeze

    Destruction Dual Casting

     

     

     

    Novice RestorationRegenerationRecovery (X/2)Avoid Death

     

     

     

    ✦ Enchanter (X/5)Insightful EnchanterCorpus EnchanterExtra Effect

     

     

     

    Spells: The Frostwolf uses Flesh Spells to harden his skin (On level 50 a Frostwolf reaches almost the armor cap of 667 with 650 armor from Ebony Flesh with Mage Armor (1/3), The Lord Stone and Werewolf armor). He scents the trail of his prey with Detect Life. Upon transformation he covers his pelt with a Frost Cloak (The Frost Cloak is the best cloak for a Werewolf in my opinion. You don't want your prey to run away if it's almost dead or to disintegrate so you can'f feed on it anymore. Frozen Food!) . Also the years of living in the icy glaciers of Skyrim have taught him the secrets of frost magic to defend himself while in orc form. After a succesful hunt he mends his wounds with Restoration spells.

     

    Oak - Ebonyflesh, Detect Life

     

     

     Frostbite, Frost Rune, Ice Spike, Frost Cloak, Ice Storm

     

     

     Healing, Fast Healing

     

     

     

    Dragon Shouts: Since the Frostwolf can't use any Dragon Shouts in his Werewolf form he uses shouts that benefit him before his transformation. To buy himself time for his shape change he uses either Ice Form or Unrelenting Force. If he fights a dragon he uses Dragonrend to get the Beast within the reach of his claws.

    Ice Form, Unrelenting Force, Dragonrend

     

    Standing Stones:  Young Frostwolfs use The Mage Stone to to become a better predator faster. After some time they eventually choose The Lord Stone to further harden their skin and shield themselves from magic spells. 

     

    The Mage Stone, The Lord Stone

     

     

    Powers, Abilities and Blessings: The Orc Greater Power Berserker Rage is immensely useful for boss enemies as you double your damage and half the damage you receive. Thats effectively a change from Adept to Novice Difficulty or from Master to Adept Difficulty for 60 seconds. Agent of Dibella, Agent of Mara, Dragon Infusion, Sailor's Repose and Sinderion's Serendipity are all useful abilities which you can acquire through quests. (I haven't played Dragonborn with this character yet. There are many intersting features like the Conjure Werebear Greater Power or the Rings for Werewolfes. If somebody has any experience with this items let me know and i will add more information.)

     

    Armor, Weapons and Jewelry: Use Fur Armor until you get the Stormcloak Officer Armor to get the wild shaman look. Much later Dragonscale Armor looks nice as well. Since you loose all your equipment upon transformation you should enchant your gear with stuff that helps you in the time spans between transformations. Useful enchantments include Carry weight, Waterbreathing, Fortify Alchemy, Barter, Alteration, Restoration, Destruction and Fortify Magicka. The rare occasions Frostwolfs enter human settlements to sell their potions they wear equipment of Fortify Alchemy and Barter. An example of a powerful combination of Enchanments for the wilderness  can be found below.

     

    Fangs of the Frostwolf: Alteration Spells cost X % less, Destruction Spells cost X % less.

     

     

     

    Pelt of the Frostwolf: Alteration Spells cost X % less, Destruction Spells cost X % less.

     

     

     

    Claws of the Frostwolf: Carrying capacity increased by X points. Increases your Magicka by X points.

     

     

     

    Hind Legs of the Frostwolf: Carrying capacity increased by X points.

     

     

     

    Heart of the Frostwolf: Alteration Spells cost X % less, Destruction Spells cost X % less.

     

     

     

    Ring of Hircine: Provides unlimited transformations for werewolves.

     

     

     

    Poisons, Potions and Scrolls: Useful effects from Potions include Fortify Alteration (Increase Duration), Restoration (Increase Health restored.), Destruction (Increase Damage/Range of Cloak Spells), Enchanting, Barter, Carry Weight, Magicka, Health, Stamina, Resist Magic/Fire/Frost/Shock/Poison, Restore Magicka/Health/Stamina, Regenerate Magicka/Health/Stamina and Waterbreathing. It is recommended to search for recipes that combine the effects that are used at the same time in one potion.  For example Boar Tusk (DB) + Blue Mountain Flower + Lavender gives a Fortify Health and FortifyStamina Potion. The Frostwolf doesn't use Scrolls.

     

    Followers: The Frostwolf has no Followers. He is a lone hunter.

     

    Transformation: The Frostwolf can alternate his Transformation depending on the prey he is hunting down. The parts of the transformation written in parentheses are dependant upon the enemy and not mandatory. He would only drink a Resist Magic Potion if hunting down a mage for example. Berserker Rage is mainly reserved for boss enemies like Dragons and Dragon Priests.

     

    Becoming the Beast!

    Ice Form/Unrelenting Force/Dragonrend + Ebonyflesh + Frost Cloak  + Fortify Health and Stamina Potion + (Resist Magic/Fire/Frost/Shock/Poison) + (Berserker Rage) + Werewolf Form

     

     

     

    Quests:

    --Do Ill met by Moonlight for the Ring of Hircine.

    --Do the Companions quest line for Beast Form and Totems.

    --Get access to the Stormcloak Officer Armor by the following means.

    --Join the Mage Guild.

    --Get Ice Form.

    --Hunt down Alduin.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Member
    March 14, 2013

    Since PS3 only got the DLC recently i was really eager to try out the improved Werewolf. I didn't found any build the focuses solely on the Werewolf aspect so i thought i share my pure Werewolf build with you. I tried to make the most effective Werewolf possible without using any glitches while having a good flow hile playing the game as well as having a solid RP background.

    If i level to 50 and do the Dragonborn DLC with this character i may update the Abilties and Items section and how you can get 100% spell absorption etc.

    Also: If somebody could make a cool looking screenshot of an orc in Stormcloak Officer Armor with a Flesh Spell and Frost Cloak it would be highly appreciated .

  • Member
    March 14, 2013

    Im currently working on a build that utilizes the 100% absorb :/

    Solid werewolf build none the less.

  • Member
    March 14, 2013

    Go for it! It will be a while until i play this character again.

  • Member
    March 14, 2013

    :D thanks!

    It took a while for me to figure out the new possibilities with dragonborn since I only finished it recently. The concept originally was to absorb equilibrium but, it turns out It doesn't work at all.

  • Member
    March 14, 2013
    I'm making Lucien from underworld and I'm having FUN! I might post if somebody wants me to.
  • Member
    March 14, 2013
    Unique build, I like it :) x
  • Member
    March 14, 2013

    You know, Nordic carved armour may be nice if you prefer heavy armour - as it resembles a bear as well, or wolf armor  from the companions (where the head piece looks more like a wolf thanks to the chest). Just giving an observation. But anyways, I love the build as it is! +1

  • Member
    March 14, 2013

    Yes i thought about nordic carved for a bit. You loose your armor when in beast form so i'm not gonna put any perks in conditioning and i prefer the faster running speed with light armor.

    But just for the looks alone those two armors are both very good options indeed.

  • Member
    March 14, 2013

    Unless they changed it you can't put water breathing on boots, just fyi