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Character Build: The Aedra's Crusader

Tags: #Character Build Crusader  #Character Build Archer  #Character Build Juggernaut  #Race:Orsimer  #Rank:Recognized  #Daedra  #Daedric  #Aedra  #Aedric  #Crossbow  #Hermaeus Mora  #Malacath  #Oghma Infinium 
  • Member
    March 14, 2013

    The 'Spark' for the Build:-

    Countless weeks back after a very brief conversation with Skyrim Blog Member Henson, we both agreed that it would be much better if the Orsimer's Racial Berserk Ability worked on bows. After much extensive testing 5:21pm - 11:42pm on 27/2/13, and the 28/2/13 with

    Version 1.8.151.0.7 on PC with all the DLC's and after checking on SkyrimWiki, Skyrim UESP and numerous Skyrim Forums asking the same question,

    I can confirm it does work! On the Crossbow, Dwarven Crossbow (Vanilla and Improved versions {Ignoring 50% Armor} and Enchanted versions). I only tested it on the crossbows for the sake of this build, but since it works on crossbows, it is more than likely that it will work on the normal bows aswell, as they share exactly the same things except the animation and aesthetics of each other.

    Members on The Skyrim Blog have also been discussing that character builds for Champions of Daedric Lords that would be a good idea.

    After weighing in on some other ideas, feedback and suggestions some other people gave me (Thank you

    Ben C, Matt Feeney, Skyler and Brynjolf) They stated in a discussion that Aedra would make for a better fit for a build as a Champion of a Deity rather than the Daedra.

    After reading the difference between the Aedra and the Daedra, and SkyrimWiki on the Aedra themselves I compiled some background information on the them. For those of you that are concerned with the background of this build, the Aedra, and The Daedra and Daedric Lords themselves, you  should read it.

    What are the Aedra?:- The Aedra are one of the two groups of supernatural beings which exist within the universe, or Mundus. The name is from the old Aldmeric tongue, and translates roughly into "our ancestors". The term refers to a specific subset of the beings (called et'Ada, "original spirits", in Aldmeri) that were the original inhabitants of the universe. The remainder of these original spirits are collectively referred to by the name Daedra, "not our ancestors", by the mortal inhabitants of Nirn.

    Unlike the Daedra, the Aedra can be killed, which is why some consider them "unworthy of worship". To the majority of Tamriel, however, the Aedra are revered as gods, and are given the collective name "The Divines."

    What are the Daedra? Are they similar to the Aedra?:-  The term daedra is used to describe a wide variety of supernatural creatures, most of which possess a minimal intelligence comparable to the animal inhabitants of Nirn...

    ...Unlike the powerful Daedra, the Aedra do not have their own native planes within Oblivion. Rather, the act of creation bound them permanently to the mortal plane. Additionally, their power was so reduced that the Aedra lost the ability to manifest themselves physically or to interact directly with their creation. This limitation is one of the prime forces behind the existence of daedra worship; since the Daedric Lords did not give up their strength to create Nirn, they retain the power to interfere with the mortal world and are thus attractive to the power-hungry among the mortals.

    Enjoy the read? Now I can start to explain how this build is connected through the Aedra...

    The Aedra's Crusader, The Legend:-

    The Aedra's Crusader is a lawful Champion of the Divines. Now, as you may have read, the Aedra have been bound to the mortal plane permanently. And this limitation is why deadra are still worshipped. Now, since the Daedric Lords did not give up their strength to create Nirn, they retain the power to interfere with the mortal world - like Hermaeus Mora, the Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge; who often appears as a seething black mass of eye-filled tentacles hung in the air, swiping out at people and piercing them through the heart, thus killing them; as part of a trickster plan to gain ultimate knowledge; (As seen in Dragonborn).

    There is,  however, a religious conflict brewing which is showing signs of becoming a major problem. The Orsimer have always worshipped the Daedra lord Malacath as their main deity. Orsinium's leader, Gortwog, however, has controversially claimed that Malacath is in fact a fake and has set up a priesthood dedicated to the worship of the ancient Aedric hero, Trinimac (this has caused controversy as Trinimac was said to have been devoured by Boethiah and afterwards became Malacath).

    "Malacath and Hermaeus Mora have had more than one brief encounter in the past too. To understand the story, I'll have to explain... "The Oghma Infinium!"

    The Oghma Infinium is a very powerful Daedric Artifact belonging to Hermaeus. It is a tome of knowledge written by Xarxes, the wizard sage known also as "The Ageless One." In 1E 980, Malacath, being the Creator of Curses, cursed Xarxes with every curse he could think of, practically killing Xarxes, as to stop him from writing the Oghma Infinium, so Hermaeus could not gain, or control, the knowledge within the tome.

    Naturally, Hermaeus was angry, even though Malacath's plan failed, and they have been at an endless war ever since.

    This is where Aedra's Crusader comes in. (Yes, I know, eventually!) The Crusader, being a Champion of Malacath by lineage, and the Aedra's Crusader, is a mortal enemy of Hermaeus Mora and will do anything to thrawt his progress in gaining knowledge, Hermaeus' true ambition...

    Look sharp, stop slouching, and pay attention. This is the actual build statistics now. (See, we got there eventually didn't we?)

     

     

    The Race:- An Orc (Orsinium). A Champion of Malacath by legend and lineage makes for an excellent fit to challenge the Daedric Prince of Knowledge (See The Aedra's Crusader, Legend).

    The Orcs are a hideous bunch, but say it to their {ugly} face and you'd regret it!

    Attribute Spread:-

    2/2/1 in M/H/S until Level 10 - You'll need high magicka to cast your lowest level Flesh spell once you obtain it to cast it straight off the bat, but a higher health attribute until you can gather the money to do so and buy the tome will have you covered.

    2/1/2 in M/H/S until Level 20 - Once you have the Eagle Eye perk in the Archery tree, you'll notice it uses up your stamina in a flurry, so a higher stamina attribute will be in order. Also, as you gain the higher and better flesh spells, you'll still need a high magicka attribute to cast it before taking on tougher enemies, now not just before every and any enemy you encounter.

    2/2/1 in M/H/S until Level 81+ {Legendary Update 1.9} - Once you are confident enough to fall back on your health attribute a bit more, now that it is increasing at every level a bit quicker, you won't have to pre-cast it before every fight, and you'll be able to take the brunt of the battle in the face. Also, you won't need to sneak-attack as many harder enemies now whilst zooming in with your bow, so you won't need to increase your stamina as highly every level in order to use the Eagle Eye perk for better visibility to do so.

    Guardian Stone/s:- The Serpent Stone & The Lord Stone (Requires the Aetherial Crown) The Lord Stone gives you +50 Armor Rating, and a 25% Spell Resistance. This makes it desirable for endgame characters who wish to play on Master difficulty, as it lowers the difficult to reach armor rating and magic resistance caps (567 and 85%, respectively; 517 and 60% with the Lord Stone).

    The Serpent Stone grants the ability to use a ranged paralysis poison on opponents once every in-game day. The poison paralyzes the target for 5 seconds, and does 25 points of damage. This is a stone that is hard to ignore for ranged characters and quite hard to pass up, given it's tactical benefits; Using it can help take out lower level enemies in a rush if more than one enemy attacks you, to take them out of the fight completely. It can also damage harder enemies whilst the paralysis helps to give you either some time to deal with the lower level enemies, heal yourself, re-group with any followers, or summon or conjure anything.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The Serpent Stone Location

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The Lord Stone Location

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Weapon:-  A crossbow. Being arguably the best ranged weapon in the game, and (to quote Ben C):- "In ancient times they were far superior to a bow. Their additional power meant additional range. In forests they were much better. A crossbow was smaller and easier to manoeuvre around the trees and shrubbery. The additional power was a great benefit too. A regular arrow, fired from a bow, is more likely to be slowed when hitting a twig or leaf. This would often alter the direction of the arrow. Because of this it was difficult to be accurate in a forest or thick shrubbery with a bow. A crossbow bolt could plow through twigs and leaves whilst staying on course".

    "In Skyrim crossbows have even more of an advantage. Their stagger rate is a huge benefit. Their upgraded bolts make for automatic enchantments. If you want to add enchanting, you can have 3 effects on every shot".

    From Skyrim Blog Discussion 'What is more satisfying, the bow or crossbow?'

     

    Also upgrade your crossbow at every chance you get: Crossbow -> Improved Crossbow -> Dwarven Crossbow -> Improved Dwarven Crossbow; you get the idea.

    I also highly recommend enchanting it with the Shock Enchantment early on. Why you ask? Because according to pages 101 - 116 in the Official Skyrim Game Guide the only thing that is resistant to this element or has any kind of weakness is the Storm Atronach, and the only times you see them are in higher level dungeons once cast by Expert or Master Conjurers or Necromancers; By the time you get to higher levels, you'll probably want higher and more amazing enchantments:- (Absorb Health, Absorb Stamina, Paralyze etc.) and you'll bypass having to deal with the shock immunity of the Storm Atronachs if you have a good spell resistance enchantment bound to your armor and a good enchantment on your crossbow that they have a weakness to, thus having an enchanted bow that is damaging in elemental aspects to more of the creatures that you'll face.

    Yes, I know how you feel, I wish I had one too!

    Armor:-  Any mixed Heavy Armor. At lower levels, you'll want to upgrade it early, as the melee enemies (Bandits mostly) will want to get in close and smear you around the ground with steel warhammers, and the armor will also slow you down, but you'll be grateful for the extra protection. You can always swap one of the listed stones with the Steed stone until you get the Conditioning perk in the Heavy Armor tree, if it bothers you that you can't out manoeuvre your tougher, quicker foes more easily; that being said, you'll be able to shoot most opponents down melee or not, before they even hit you.

    Armor Enchants:-

    Helmet:-

    (n/a - Aetherial Crown).

    Armor:-

    Health Regen. Y% or Fortify Health by X points.

    Gauntlets:-

    Fortify Archery by Y%.

    Boots:-

    Fortify Stamina by X points or Stamina Regen. by Y%.

    Shield:-

    (n/a - Ranged Weapon Equipped).

    Spells Known:-  Oakflesh, Ironflesh, Ebonyflesh, Dragonhide  Optional:- Candlelight, Magelight, Lesser Ward, Courage, Clairvoyance.

    Shouts Known:-  Drain Vitality, Soul Tear, Slow Time, Whirlwind Sprint.

    Major Skills:-  Archery, Alteration, Heavy Armor. These skills are especially useful to the build. Archery Perks are all compatible with the crossbow all the way up to the Bullseye Perk.

    Alteration is great as it means you can always be ahead of most of your enemies when it comes to Armor Rating when you go into battle with it pre-cast.

    Heavy Armor just adds to this, and you'll greatly appreciate  the added defense when fighting the tougher melee enemies; The added defense is sure to slow you down, but you won't need the manoeuvrability when it comes to dodging foes; Your crossbow will make short work of them before they close in on you, and moving while shooting isn't always as easy as the concept. You can always swap one of the Guardian Stones for the Steed Stone to offset the unassailability at lower levels as it allows your equipped armor to become completely weightless, so swap to it and swap back at a later level if it bothers you that much.

    Minor Skills:-  One-Handed, Smithing, Enchanting. One-Handed as a minor skill is useful for powerful swords you may want to pick up in the game (Dawnbreaker, Miraak's Sword, Keening, Mace of Molag-Bal, Mehrune's Razor, Bolar's Oathblade, Chillrend and Dragonbane just to name a few awesome ones). It is handy if you want to fall back on their powerful enchantments to use against an enemy or if you have to use a certain quest item sword to slay the proverbial beast to complete the objective/quest; admittedly this is really rare.

    Smithing and Enchanting, for more obvious reasons, are to improve and enchant your gear that you'll acquire throughout Skyrim as you scour Nirn and embark on quests. (To see which quests are recommended, see 'Build Recommended Quests').

    Perk Spread:-

    Level 26:-

    Level 41:-

    Level 60:-

    A rare sight: A pensive Orsimer. What? There is no such thing!

    Build Recommended Quests:-

    The Main Quest (If desired, this one is not set in stone)

    The Book of Love

    The Blessings of Nature

    Forbidden Legend

    In My Time of Need

    Missing in Action

    A Return To Your Roots

    The White Phial

    Repairing the Phial

    Masks of the Dragon Priests

    Angi's Camp (Great early level Role-Playing and Character Building Quest, Highly Recommended)

    Yngol Barrow: Ashore in a Sea of Ghosts

    Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!

    The Great Treasure Hunt of Skyrim

    All or Any Hold Thane Quests

    The Break of Dawn (Meridia's Lawful Quest, again, Highly Recommended)

    Dragonborn DLC Minor Quests and Favours

    Dawnguard DLC Major Quest (Dawnguard, Anti-Vampire Side, Highly Recommneded, Fun, and you can pick up infinite crossbow bolts aswell, plus being able to acquire the crossbow early is another bonus)

    Dawnguard Minor Quests and Favours

    Roleplaying the Aedra's Crusader:-

    The Aedra's Crusader is a crusader for good; after all, he is the right-hand man (well, Orc!) of the Divines, so being lawful and fighting for justice suits him like Sheograth's outfit suits the Prince of Madness himself. Orsimer's are mostly outcasted to tribal orc ruins and bandit camps, stealing skooma and looting, and that isn't this guy's thing. at all. He finds himself more comfortable kicking arse for the greater good.

    The Crusader is more likely to cross a bridge than to set it on fire. He doesn't like the evilry, and seeks out the darker side of Tamriel for the better. he doesn't steal, lie, cheat, disguise or trick the citizens of Tamriel. He is more likely to give a beggar gold than to set him on fire. And Snilf probably wouldn't appreciate it either; and burnt beggar smells like toe-nails and hair, and we wouldn't want that stinking up Riften... The Crusader probably is more than likely avoid Riften, people like Maven are the reason to avoid such a Hold in the first place.

    The Crusader doesn't uphold the view and beliefs of lawfulness and rightousness, he beholds the honour and grants his help to those who deserve it, he doesn't think to help the poor, he makes it a duty. He'll grant his assistance to the Jarls, the needy, and always live to uphold the greater good, he uses his racial talents (abilities) for better, not worse.

    Crusader's Cranial Causticion:-

    Dwemer Exploding Bolt + Berserker Rage + Paralysis Poison

     

     

     

     

     

    Aedra's Aerial Agony:-

    Vertical Aim with Crossbow* + Ravage Health Poison + Bullseye Perk + Serpent Stone

    *(Above target, takes practice, but fun)

     

     

     

    Ben C (Ongoing Support, through PM and otherwise!)

    Skyler (For some of the artwork edits)

    Henson (For the subtle hint at the whole idea of the CB!)

    Mason (For inspiration through CB presentation)

    And Remember:

     Thanks Everyone!

     

     

     

  • March 14, 2013
    It's been known that crossbows and bows work with berserker rage for awhile now...
  • March 14, 2013

    Why would a crusader of the Aedra use Daedric artifacts?

    One minor thing, the armor rating cap is 667. Because each piece of armor adds 25 hidden armor rating (not listed in-game) you can reach the armor rating cap at 567 if you wear 4 pieces, 542 if you also use a shield. Since you are wearing 3 pieces the cap is at 592 armor rating for you.

  • Member
    March 14, 2013

    Thanks Nik :) forgot to mention the armor cap

  • Member
    March 14, 2013

    Nice build +1, the story about Malacath and cursing Xarses, do you have a link or know where I can read about it ? I find it interesting.

  • Member
    March 14, 2013

    Some of the perk selections seem weird, In particular, why would you take Fire Enchanter if you aren't using any fire enchantments?

  • Member
    March 15, 2013

    I love the amount of detail and lore you put into this, don't remove a thing! +1

  • Member
    March 15, 2013

    @Albino Because (and I'm pretty sure it's true since I tested it) it auguments dwemer fire explosion bolt damage. and if you ever want to put a fire enchant on one of your early crossbows, it is stronger, asyour level would still be relatively weak.

  • March 15, 2013
    Yeah, maybe trim some fat of the fat. Other than that it looks good. +1. Oh wait, and repeating what was already said, it was confirmed awhile ago that Berserker Rage affected bows and crossbows. And why is the crusader of an Aedra wearing Daedric armor?
  • Member
    March 15, 2013

    The Daedric Armored figure isn't a screenshot of my character. It was another picture to visulalise who the Daedra are and what they actually looked like on the planet of Nirn.

    Thanks for the feedback.