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Character Build: The Omni-Planar Assassin

Tags: #Character Build Illusionist  #Character Build Nightblade  #Character Build Assassin  #Race:Dunmer  #Rank:Legendary 
  • Member
    March 25, 2013

    This time around I wanted to try something new, something different. I never quite expected anything like the end result. This build is one of the most rewarding and empathic things I've played to date. (Other than my main build, "The Ridnen Rider")

    Since the dawn of Nirn... assassins have been counting down the days the people of Tamriel have, keeping a watchful eye on their Time-Levellers; ...You see, the Time-Levellers are hour-glasses that quantify mine, and yours, and everyone-elses life inside them... when the hourglass runs out... ... the assassin steps out of the ethereal plane of shadows and tracks his mark across the rolling hills, the valleys, snow-covered mountains and through every door and safe haven until they find them, for they will find you eventually...and harvest your soul for themselves, for this keeps their own hour-glasses full, feeding off of their victim's energy, their very...

     

    "..soul..."

    An assassin that has gained his mark's soul.

    You see... some people made a deal with their own assassins, which is why they cannot die... Only some of the richest and most influential people can strike a deal with them... ... the Jarls, the Heads of Guilds and some of the most richest figures throughout the Holds. But they pay the ultimate price....

     

    "...Eternal Youth..."

    Race: Dark Elf, with their dark complexion and eyes, they're perfect fit aesthetically.

    Guardian Stone: Shadow Stone, 60 seconds invisibility seemingly allows you to warp through another plane of existence, where others of the Mortal Realm of Nirn cannot percieve you (coupled with Muffle they can't hear you either!!...).

    *

    Solstheim All-Maker Stone: Wind Stone. This allows you to cast an AoE Frost spell that deals 20 points of damage for 10 seconds, allowing you to create a chilling quasi-elemental breeze surrounding your foes.

    **

    Black Book Ability: Secret of Protection. This allows you to take half damage for 30 seconds, as you almost seemingly stagger and lurch inbetween planes of existence as their cohesion protects you from the Mortal Realm.

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    Meditation on Shout:  When meeting Paarthurnax, you'll be giving an option to choose to 'meditate' on a word of power. Choose the option 'Feim' (Eternal Spirit). This allows you to regain health 25% faster while Ethereal.

    ****

    Shouts Known: Become Ethereal, Slow Time, Soul Tear, Whirlwind Sprint, Elemental Fury.

    Attribute Spread: 3/2/2

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    Major Skills: One-Handed, Conjuration, Illusion

    Minor Skills:  Light Armor, Smithing, Enchanting

    One-Handed will allow you use of your main offense in the Mortal Realm whilst caught out between the different Planes of existence, whilst Conjuration will allow you to use your Bound Sword, your most ethereal weapons other than your use of The Ghostblade (Very fitting for this build I thought!) and also conjuring Bonemen/Mistmen/Wrathmen. On the other hand, Illusion will allow you to cast Invisibility at will, jumping out of your current Plane whenever you may need to.

    Light Armor will allow you to make good use of your armor, whilst Smithing and Enchanting allows you to improve and enchant your current gear, if you feel the need to. (I only included them to cover the rest of the Minor Skills to buff it out, otherwise I was going to make it a No Craft build, which I was playing as anyway...) (Which I recommend, instead of the last 2 listed Minor Skills).

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    Spells Known: Invisibility, Muffle, Summon Arvak (a skeletal horse in the Soul Cairn), Soul Trap, Conjure Mistman, Conjure Wrathman, Conjure Boneman, Clairvoyance, Vision of the Tenth Eye (Optional - Winterhold College Minor Quest).

    I specifically made my mind to choose Mystic Binding, Soul Stealer and Oblivion Binding right off the bat as it means your bound weapons (Bound Sword in this case) do more damage, automatically casts Soul Trap and banishes summoned foes and turn raised ones all together, meaning there is alot more reason to wield one, and, complete with Ghostblade, it becomes a formidable setup when you have achieved 5/5 Armsman ranks all the way up to Paralyzing Strike, as all the One-Handed perks apply to bound one-handed melee weapons aswell, on top of everything I listed that your bound sword does already, it can paralyze enemies, decapitate them 25% of the time, and costs you alot less stamina to wield it, even dual wield it, with Ghostblade.

    When you have Mystic Binding (Bound weapons do more damage). and the 5/5 Armsman rank, you are looking at truely awesome damage potential, and when coupled with invisiblity and muffle, they won't even know you're there!

    I have got the best perks for conjuration as it helps greatly when conjuring your Bonemen/Mistmen/Wrathmen to do your bidding, and Wrathmen require expert status of conjuration skill acquired to summon them.

    The level and skill of Illusion is purely intentional, as invisibility plays a significant role in this build, and, being able to dual-cast it and/or improve it via perks and Illusion cost reduction via the Nightingale Hood, is always a bonus in tight situations.

    And the sneak, well, that is your basic assassin type must-have perks, being able to sneak well is not only useful, but time-saving in dungeons.

    This assassin couldn't of been more unprepared. This build excels against low level enemies such as this as even when you are detected, their level of weaponry is usually quite low, and as a result, quite hit and miss.

    Arvak, your trusty steed for head-hunting, your very own black skeletal horse!. He resides in the Soul Cairn, and can be summoned afterwards. He his one of the most aesthetically unique steeds in the game, other than Shadowmere, with red glowing eyes.

    Your ethereality, and the power to plane shift, and/or become invisible. (As shown above). This is an extremely useful ability, I needn't tell you that you cannot harm anyone or be harmed whilst ethereal. It makes for useful getaway situations most applicably.

    Even in the Mortal Realm, your ethereal stature and unknowing visibility is extremely nifty, this is whilst crouching, so as to not be detected whilst ethereal; It is the best thing next to casting invisibility, to avoid detection.

     

     

     

    Arvak and the Soul Cairn:

    The reason I chose the Soul Cairn to primarily play in is that after visiting there the first time, I never went back. Never done any other quests there, didn't meet anyone new there, didn't get to enjoy the breath-taking atmosphere the second time around. This build is also a means of redemption for those who maybe also didn't go back themselves. The Soul Cairn is full of miscellaneous quests and your own summonable black skeletal horse. I also never found, rode or summoned Arvak, which was a mistake, because he's so unique.

    Arvak has several noteworthy advantages over other mounts: he can't be permanently killed, he costs no money, and you don't need to worry about losing him. Despite being a summoned horse, he can be kept indefinitely (until you dismount) as long as you are riding him when his summon time of 60 seconds expires. Additionally, Arvak is the only horse that can be used in Blackreach. Just in those advantages, he's practically on par with Shadowmere...

    *This is endgame equipment & should be equipped most of the time*.

    Nightingale Hood:  Levels 1-18: Illusion Spells cost 12% less to cast.

    Levels 19-31: Illusion Spells cost 15% less to cast.

    Levels 32+: Illusion Spells cost 17% less to cast.

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    Ebony Mail: Muffle, Poison damage 5 points per second to nearby foes (The crouching dark smog that surrounds you is perfect aesthetically, and damages at the same time!).

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    Nightingale Gauntlets: One Handed attacks do 15-25% more damage. (The percentage increase has the same level tier as the Nightingale Hood, the strongest 25% increase obtained at Level 32+).

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    Ebony Boots: The ebony boots must be enchanted with a Health or Stamina attribute fortification enchantment.

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    Ghostblade &/or Bound Sword: These will be your primary weapons; If you wish to wield both at the same time, I have considered that by utilizing the Dual Flurry and Dual Savagery perks so that you can if you wish to do so.

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    Amulet of Talos: These are easily obtainable and reduces the time recovery for Shouts by 20%, which is helps all the stages of shout reovery from the differentiating recovery times when you shout all three parts of the shout, as it lengthens the time every word you shout in succession.

    This amulet helps allowing you to essentially use your Become Ethereal shout quicker once it wears off.

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    Ring of Revival OR Ring of Renewal: The ring of revival will allow you to regenerate your health 50% quicker than your current healing rate (which can be modified by items of the same enchantment, and the only enchantment this can be put on or found on is a piece of chest/torso armor necklace or ring). If you have one of these items, any or all, the 50% Health Regeneration enchantment will stack with it.

    The Ring of Renewal is exactly the same but instead of health regeneration it is a stamina enchantment instead of 50%, all the afore-mentioned item enchantment stacking still applies. This could help you greatly with power attacks either invisible or not.

    Battle Tactics:

    This assassin slices and dices this bandit from chin to hip invisibly, with the help of Ghostblade.

     

    Using the spells you know to your advantage, you sneak up on your foes invisibly with either the Ghostblade or Bound Sword in your opposite hand with invisibility, soul trap or a conjuration spell in the other. Providing you don't give yourself away, forget to cast invisibility/muffle or let Arvak give away your location, you'll have an easy job of 90% of your enemies.

    Although, if any of the above does happen, jump out of your hiding place, use your Become Ethereal, Slow Time, Soul Tear or Elemental Fury Shout before going into battle, conjure your best conjuration being (Boneman etc.) and go in all swords blazing. with the help of a good stamina level, and optionally the stamina regeneration on your ebony boots plus if you have acquired the Dual Flurry and/or Dual Savagery perks, you should still be able to dispatch more than a handful of foes with extreme ease.

    Your main usage for your shouts is to make the battle situation easier from the get-go if sneaking fails; Your shouts, although no Special Moves to rely on, are a good early options for the character when you're sneaking isn't good enough to properly sneak behind an enemy and slice them, although when you improve your sneak level, you will be able to go into invisibility and sneak right in front of them, optionally Muffled with the correct spell to minimize chances of detection, and then do a crouching power attack with your Bound Sword or Ghost Blade, depending on which is strongest at your current level of attempt.

    Your conjured fiends will make short work of most enemies if you've been detected, and will charge ahead of battle when summoned. Another tactic that springs to mind is similar to the last one, except when attacking invisibly, whilst still under the spell, conjure one of your Soul Cairn conjures and the AI will attack them, instead of attacking you. This will also allow you to gain XP without fighting, as the kills your followers and conjures make most of the time will count towards you gaining levels; so don't think your conjuration skill isn't to be blown off as your conjured creatures are weak at low levels. They will improve in speed, strength and weapon damage as your conjuration skill increases and you buy the specific spell tomes (They are, however, as tested, levelled, for example you're not going to be a able to purchase a telekinesis spell tome from under level 15, so don't even try).

    Your level will increase in One-Handed, improving your arms offense with the Ghostblade and Bound Sword. As mentioned before, your Bound Sword will be able to eventually (As soon as you gain the appropriate perks to do so) Decapitate humanoids 25% of the time, they'll also be increased from the Mystic Binding and Armsman ranks as they increase too, they'll banish summoned foes upon hit and turn raised ones in the flash of an eye, be able to cast Soul Trap on an enemy automaticallly and will in turn with the Fighting Stance perk cost you 25% less stamina to wield it; Plus, when wielding it with Ghostblade, (Your other trusty ethereal weapon) it will in unison with Ghostblade deal 25% more damage with Dual Savagery, and will swing 20% faster with the first rank of Dual Flurry and 35% faster will the full two ranks fully attained.

    It is recommended to play with the dual wield when you can do all of these things, and not dual wield only when you are casting invisibility or a conjuration spell.

    Recommended Quests:-

    Boethiah's Calling  (For Ebony Mail)

    Ansilvund Excavation Site (For the Ghostblade)

    ****

    Role-Play and other Gameplay Points:-

    I'll keep this short and sweet. (For the people that don't like reading, but love roleplaying!) I'll outline the basics, though:-

    Don't murder in cold blood, and try to only kill stealthily.

    Stealth around dungeons where possible.

    Don't draw attention to yourself when in public areas.

    ^ Although this doesn't mean not to kill in public areas.

    Do not be wholly evil, just dark and...brooding.

    If ever cornered by a guard, try to escape whilst Ethereal/Invisible, It'll give the assumption that you're 'plane-shifting' from danger, like an ethereal assassin would.

    Murder those that cross you, but never murder influential or rich people.

    Try not to attain more than 40 Bounty in any hold, Plane-Shifting is for emergencies, not any excuse to run from the law.

    Think of your assassin as not lawful, but more of a chaotic soul.

    Lastly, try to spend a bit more time in the Soul Cairn, and complete those quests.

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    Conclusion, Final Thoughts and Thanks:

    I have very much enjoyed playing, testing and creating this build. There has honestly never been a dull moment.

    I would like to thank Shuuiketsu Nero for the Perk Chart, RuneRed and Vazgen for a majority of the screenshots and pictures, for taking the time to put up with me through PM and otherwise!

    Another side note, I was considering making this character a vampire, and gaining the Necromage Restoration perk. This required 70 in Restoration, and I didn't want it as a main skill. If you did, however, it would mean the Ethereal Shout would have a cool-down time of next to nothing, meaning you could...*tut*...'Spam' it. I didn't want this build to be too cheesey, and didn't want game-breaking spamming ruining the build, or being build reliant on it though, if, and when you play this, however, that choice is up to you. (Thanks Shuuiketsu, again, for that tip; Believe it or not, I didn't know it beforehand).

    Lastly, a final thought from Vazgen: The Omni Planar Assassin's Signature Weapon, The Ghostblade, is ready to slit throats...

    Thanks, Everyone!

     

  • Member
    March 25, 2013

    That sounds so cool and exciting, I will definitely try this build

  • Member
    March 25, 2013

    Very good concept and solid build Olaf! +1 Was glad to help!

  • Member
    March 25, 2013

    I dig the build, the screenshots, theme, and aesthetic especially. I just have one question: If the Omni-Planar Assassin is so foreign and, well, not human, then why does he give a spriggan's sweetroll about not killing rich or influential people? Just because he was one of them?

  • Member
    March 25, 2013

    This is awesome! The aesthetic is such a cool look/effect. My approach to the shout is very different. Very unique approach here and I love the incorporation of Ghostblade, a cool sometimes unappreciated weapon.

    Big +1 from me

  • Member
    March 25, 2013

    This build can not be described in words.

    +1

  • Member
    March 25, 2013

    Nightingale Hood + Ebony Mail is definitely the coolest armor combo in the game, I've been selling that since the Revakriid.  I've never used the Ghostblade, because it seems like such a useless enchantment, and it forces you to pick up Arcane Blacksmith if you want to temper the weapon (which seems pretty much necessary, as it has such a weak base damage).  But how does its swing speed compare to other swords?  Since it has 1 weight, I imagine it could make up in swings per second, what it lacks in damage per swing, thereby making it a bit more viable...

    For the write-up, this is just my opinion, but I prefer to see a lot less "fluff" (e.g., fancy fonts, centered text, overuse of bold/underline/italics, abundance of header/filler images, etc.).  I feel like for such a long build, there's not very much actual information.  I'd love for you to maybe trim some of the visual fluff, and expand on the combat and general gameplay.  Like, from what you've actually written, it seems like there are a bunch of wasted perks.  e.g., What's the point of perking Light Armor so heavily, if you're going to mix and match with heavy armor?  (Especially when the main armor piece is heavy, not light?)

    I'm assuming you used all light armor in the earlier parts of the playthrough, but I didn't see that actually mentioned anywhere.  Also, you mentioned that you didn't actually invest in Enchanting.  It seems like a waste of 2 perks to pick up 2/5 Enchanter, if it only ever *might* be used on a pair of boots.  I'd probably just find a set of generic in-game Ebony Boots with a useful effect, or perhaps enchant a set with Muffle (which gives 100% Muffle even with unperked, level 15 Enchanting).

    Just a few bits of constructive feedback man; there's a lot of good stuff here and I'm giving you a +1, so please don't take this as me being harsh.  I especially love your use of the Bound Sword; it's interesting because it's so effective early on, but if you don't maintain it, it can lose power later on.  Between stealth, become ethereal, and some Fortify One Handed gear, you seem to have found a good way to keep it powerful later on as well.  Not to mention, it's extremely relevant to the build's backstory.

  • Member
    March 26, 2013

    Cheers EasilyRemember  

    You were right about the light armor, it is to make it more viable early on before you get the ebony armor.

    The Ghostblade never got he usage it deseved in my opinion, and it's aesthetics are completely unique. I have also added in the arcane blacksmith perk so that you can temper it aswell.

  • Member
    March 26, 2013

    One does not simply describe this build! +1

  • Member
    March 26, 2013

    What I would do, since you aren't going to grab all light armor later, is put in Agile defender (5/5) then when you get the heavy armor put that into juggernaut (5/5), that way you don't use more perks and you get maximum armor rating out of a mixed set!