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Character Build: The Blademaster

Tags: #Character Build Illusionist  #Character Build Acrobat  #Character Build Vampire  #Rank:Legendary  #Hall of Fame Build 
  • Member
    March 27, 2013

     

     

    "I have travelled the vast lengths of High Rock, hoping to grasp the mastery of the blade. I learnt much from the Great Samurai Master himself, Kiberius Tero, who fled High Rock to Hammerfell after being chased down by the Blade-Runners of the High Rock Assassination Guild endlessly. Kiberius was a great tutor and taught me all that I know about the way of the blade, but his blood and knowledge of the his weapon was all too powerful mastery of such an instument of war to be kept from The High Rock Blade-Runners; They captured him more than once, and, after escaping several times and killing the head of the Blade-Runner guild, he fled the latitude of many dangerous paths to an undisclosed location in Hammerfell. He told me before he fled to meet him there on horseback to continue my training.

    I have journeyed to Skyrim in search of other means of teachings to continue my path of mastering the blade.

    I vow to hone my skills and one day locate my former tutor, and with his help, wipe  the rest of those Breton assassins from the face of Nirn.

    Being bitten by a vampire hasn't exactly helped me on my quest either, although I somehow feel ...empowered. The sanguinare venom that is coursing through my veins as of now has taken it's toll on me... I am starved of my former self... I can't describe the likeness that has taken me over both mentally and physically... I can't stop thinking about my last and next drop of blood, I feel like feeding again...

    I must keep on track and finish my journey. Kiberius is awaiting my arrival.... I musn't show him my inner-most greed for my lurch of mortal blood...

    I'm setting off for Skyrim in the morning, hopefully I'll be able to find a skilled trainer in the way of the blade from where I left off with Kiberius...."

     

    Build

    Recommended Race: Breton: Because it fits the lore and their Magic Resist racial bonus helps to offset Vampire's Weakness.

    Stone: The Lord: The Lord stone will boost your magic and physical resistance by %25 each and it will add 50 armor rating which helps you reach the armor cap.

    Major Skills

    • Two Handed: Only source of damaging enemies and leeching their life energy.
    • Light Armor: Protecting yourself while still being agile, you'll want to use light armor.
    • Blocking: You'll counter-attack your enemies, bash them and block their attacks, so you need this.
    • Illusion: You will use Calm spells at your enemies, making dueling viable.

    Minor Skills

    • Restoration: As a vampire Necromage perk will also make Quick Reflexes perk more worthy and powerful, making time much slower when activated and also making enchantments more powerful and increasing the duration of Slow Time and Become Ethereal by %50.
    • Enchanting: As this build uses Ebony Blade and it does low damage we'll want to increase the damage with Fortify Two-Handed enchantments and also improve our armor with magical effects.
    • Alteration: You'll want to use this for the Stability perk that also increases the duration of Slow Time and first two Magical Resist perks.

    ~

    All-Maker Stone: Wind Stone or Waters Of Life. Wind Stone will assist you while dueling by doing AoE DoT damage but you can also use Waters Of Life when you're low on health, but your Ebony Blade already heals you so you shouldn't even need healing!

    Black Book Ability: Seeker of Might which makes your combat skills %10 more effective which also makes smithing better helping you reach the armor cap and reduces shout times by %10 which makes you able to use shouts more often.

    ~

    Shouts: Slow Time, Whirlwind Sprint, Disarm, Become Ethereal, Marked For Death, Unrelenting Force

    Meditation: 'Force Without Effortwhich increases blademasters stagger resistance by 25% and causes blademaster to stagger opponents 25% more. After meeting Paarthurnax you'll be able to mediate on a shout, choose this.

    Stat Allocation: 2/2/1 # 0/3/2 after you have 160 magicka.

     "Size means nothing when your blade carries no weight."

    ~


    ~
    Equipment

     

    Primary Weapon

    Ebony Blade
    With 4 pieces of equipment that has Fortify Two-Handed, you're able to do 99 damage, 129 with the absorb health enchantment, I was playing easily on Legendary.

    Armor
    Cultist Mask

    Chitin Armor

    Stormcloak Officer Bracers & Boots

    Silver Necklace &

    Silver Ruby Ring

     --
    You can get the Stormcloak Officer gear right after the tutorial if you sided with Ralof.  Take a carriage from Whiterun to Riften, and travel southest to Forelhost.  Captain Varmir will be camped outside with a full set for the officer armor.

     

     

     

     

     

    ~Perks

    Level 50

    Key Perks

    • Quick Reflexes: This perk will allow you to counter-attack enemies, dodge their attacks and be a badass.

     

    ~Quests/Guilds/Factions

    • The Whispering Door: To get the legendary katana that uses your vampiric powers.
    • The Book Of Love: When you finish this quest you'll get permanent %15 Magic Resist that helps you reach the Magic Resistance cap.
    • Dark Brotherhood: To learn vital points of Men&Mer and feeding your twisted blade.
    • Thieves Guild: You'll get contracts that can help you locate your master.
    • Dawnguard/The Volkihar Side: You're already a strong vampire but you can still become a stronger vampire!

     

     

     "There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity."

     

    ~Vampirism

    Vampirism is a very important part of this build. When combined with Necromage perk it makes Quick Reflexes perks 'Slow Time' effect even slower. It also increases duration of Slow Time and Become Ethereal, the key shouts of this build.
    It also makes effects %25 stronger that means Fortify Two-Handed enchantments goes to %50 instead of %40.

    ~Dueling

    As a Blademaster, you seek to train yourself at every oppurtunity you get. I used Calm spells to calm everyone and then pick their strongest and start the duel by bashing him. When he gets aggressive I move back and then start blocking and a few hits later when he tries to power attack Quick Reflexes activates and then I stop blocking, sidestep and start slashing him and finish him, if enemy isn't dead yet then I backstep and use Great Critical Charge before he could even hit.
    I feel like a badass after dueling with a Bandit Chief!

    "Although I don't fear dying, I still would rather not."

    ~Abilities

    Invite Duel

    Calm your enemies, pick their strongest and invite him to a duel while others watch it.

    Requires: Dual Cast Pacify + Bash

     

    Blademaster's Feast

    Mediate and slow time and then start slashing your enemy with an incredible speed to heal your wounds.

    Requires: Slow Time + Fully Charged Ebony Blade

     

    Counter-Attack

    You sense that your opponent will attack, you quickly move aside while cutting your opponent and stunning after it.

    Requires: Quick Reflexes + Sideways Power Attack + Bash

    ~Credits!

    I'd like to thank NendirOlaffsen for the backstory he provided. He has builds that are better than mine, be sure to check them out too!

    Also, thanks EasilyRemember for giving me the tip about Stormcloak Officer gear, and constructive criticism.

  • March 27, 2013

    I like it, the only thing I'd change is removing the passive special moves as there is nothing special about them.

  • Member
    March 27, 2013

    I love how you've made Ebony Blade a main weapon, it can be very powerful but I didn't see it used much! +1 

    I have a few minor questions. Why don't you pick all three perks in Magic Resistance. You can reach the magic resistance cap that way. You can also reach that cap by getting the Agent of Mara power but I didn't see it mentioned here. The next question is why did you chose to calm your opponents? Frenzy will make them fight each other and only the strongest one will be worthy to fight the Blademaster :) Calm on the other hand can wear off while you fighting the boss and put you in a difficult situation.

  • Member
    March 27, 2013

    I removed, you're right. Added a new move instead.

  • Member
    March 27, 2013

    Thanks, I always wanted to use Ebony Blade effectively.

    The reason I didn't take the last perk of Magic Resistance is because you already reach the magic resistance with
    Breton: %25
    Magic Resistance 2/3: %20
    The Lord Stone: %25
    The Agent Of Mara: %15

    I forgot to write about Agent Of Mara, adding it.

  • Member
    March 27, 2013

    You've put the same description on two last moves.

  • Member
    March 27, 2013

    Nice build and story to it, I would of thought Harkon's sword would be more beneficial to it, with being a Vampire. Anyway I like it, so +1

  • Member
    March 27, 2013

    Yeah, I edited it in 10 seconds, and now you saw it, that means I'll have to kill you ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

  • Member
    March 27, 2013

    It might be but I get the build idea after watching the movie 'Seven Samurai'. After seeing those classical samurais that wield a blade with their both hands, Ebony Blade came to my mind and bang! This build was born.

  • Member
    March 27, 2013

    This looks like a "patch 1.9" build.  That patch fixes bugs with two of your key pieces of gear: The Ebony Blade, up until patch 1.9, incorrectly benefits from One-Handed Armsan perks and enchantments, rather than Two-handed ones.  Likewise, until patch 1.9, the Stormcloak Officer Boots are incorrectly handled as heavy armor.  So perfect timing with this build, as 1.9 is supposed to drop for consoles very soon (and is already available on PC).

    Also, in case you weren't aware, you can get the Stormcloak Officer gear right after the tutorial if you sided with Ralof.  Take a carriage from Whiterun to Riften, and travel southest to Forelhost.  Captain Varmir will be camped outside with a full set for the officer armor.

    At first glance, your skill set reminded me a lot of one of my builds, the Crimson Scar.  I had a lot of fun with that build, so I can comfortably say that this build should be a lot of fun as well.  I love the Ebony Blade, it may be my favorite artifact in the game.  You armor kit looks awesome too, and it's a very unique combination.  I love the cultist masks; the moment I first saw one, I thought about wanting to incorporate it into a build.  Kudos for making that work.

    The formatting seems a bit goofy in places, like all the whitespace toward the bottom, compared to a lot of cramped space near the top.  Also, you went from size 2 body text in the upper half of the write-up, to size 3 text in the bottom half, which is a bit jarring.  I'd suggest keeping all the body text at size 2, which is the default.  Also, I may have just missed it, but what weapon do you use until you're at a sufficient level to pick up the Ebony Blade?

    Overall, I think it's a pretty good job.  Cool toys, cool gear, fun skills, good use of two of my favorite shouts in Slow Time and Become Ethereal, and I'm a sucker for the Vampire/Necromage mechanic.  Nice job.