The dark omni-noctivigous stalker of death and decay has arrived! This build comes in the form of a rapant Gargoyle, a stampeding clawed blood-spewing machine, and an end to my search of a truly dark character.
The Gargoyle
A clawed hand, A dying dream,
Something heard, ...but nothing seen....
The daylight fades from human eyes,
The moonlight wakes, The Gargoyle cries,
For release, granted only by the nighttime...
One alone wakes to hear the sound,
Of silence shattering throughout crypt around,
But somehow, the human knows...
and from the shadows....
...The Gargoyle arose.
Race: Dark Elf / Vampire Lord
Stone and Other Abilities: Lady Guardian Stone, Blood of the Ancients.
Major Skills: One-Handed, Sneak, Alteration
Minor Skills: Destruction, Restoration.
Armor: Vampire Lord Royal Armor (Vampire Armor in light gray before-hand - simulates Gargoyle skin), Vampire Boots & Gauntlets, Amulet of the Gargoyle, Ring of the Erudite, Ahzidal's Mask.
Weapons: Dragonbone Sword of the Vampire (R) & Dragonbone Dagger of Petrifying (L)
Shouts: Throw Voice, Slow Time.
Spells: Detect Life, Flame/Frost/Lightning Cloak, Oak/Stone/Iron/Ebonyflesh, Equilibrium, Healing, Fast Healing, Close Wounds, Ash Rune.
_
Note: The offhand dagger is used purely for the speed increase; See 'The Gargoyle's Armory Unveiled' paragraph. This build also requires Dawnguard DLC.
=***=
The Build:
The Gargoyle focuses on Alteration and it's flesh spells to improve it's armor rating to offset using no armor, whilst combining Destruction in the form of some of the best cloaking spells to aid it in armorless sneaky skirmishes, Restoration to instantly heal itself via it's vampiric abosrb health Destruction spell to drain the life out of it's foes, or it's Restoration spells - whilst it utilizes the energy for itself to bolt through the hardest of battles, of the ones it can't sneak up againgst.
The Gargoyle's Special Moves replicate the real gargoyles stone statue disguise perfectly to sneak up on foes and the Throw Voice shout and all your Stealth ranks to lure gullible adventurers and enemies to The Gargoyle.
The Vampire Lord ability allows you to summon gargoyles to fight for you, allowing your own kind to take down the prey, while your Amulet of the Gargoyle will allow you to summon an extra gargoyle alongside the other one for 30 seconds.
The coupling of your Absorb Health default vampire/vampire lord ability and Equilibrium will weakon your own life force to strengthen your magicka in battles, to create a completely infinte magicka pool loop that depends on your own and your enemies full health attribute totals to fuel and to use your cloaking and flesh spells to create a ward of near impenetrability for any who attack you.
The usage of Ash Runes is to be able to entomb your foes like stone statues....ironically much like that of the gargoyle itself, giving disguise to that of a motionless, unsuspecting statue in Castle Volkihar's Undercroft...
-***-
Stat Placement: Magicka 3 - Health 2 - Stamina 0
Magicka is a primary attribute and will be needed to upgraded the most in order to use your most powerful spells. Health will allow you to bolster your Magicka (as shown above w/ Equilibrium) and will be a secondary attribute to your Magicka to sustain yourself in battle, as your flesh and cloak spells will create a awesome ward-like melee resistance for yourself. Stamina is least used and will not be upgraded at all. This in turn gives you the opportunity to upgrade your Health and Magicka more throughout levels upon level-up instead of Stamina for a bigger total for the build's more powerful endgame.
Level 55 Perk Placement
With the Dual Flurry speed bonus from Necromage, this builds total speed calculation for wielding two weapons at the same time with Necromage ends up being 168.75% faster than a standard swing.
Cloak spells are affected by Augmentation through perks and do 8 pts/second the bug sections and magic/spell tables on the UESP and Wiki and completely wrong and very misleading. However, the same perks do not affect Rune spells unfortunately.
Mage Armor Alteration perks are for bolstering the flesh spells The Gargoyle uses, allowing you a decent AR even being a no craft, no armor build. The Mage Armor makes your flesh spells 3x stronger if not wearing any armor whatsoever.
The Gargoyle's Armory Unveiled:
The armor cap with all the listed armor on is 567, which is reasonably decent anyway, but when you combine the Mage Armor 3/3 perks, and Ebony Flesh, starting with no armor at all, it jumps to 300 AR, as soon as you have the 3/3 ranks and Ebonyflesh cast, which is 52.91.5% of the overall armor cap straight away, which, is over half.
As for the weapon speed to be increased even further, past 110% speed, I was going to add Elemental Fury shout, but it only works on unenchanted weapons, and I couldn't pass up the decision I made to wield a paralysis dagger and an absorb health sword, which, instead of using your vampire absorb health ability and Equilibrium to have a health attribute depending total magicka pool enchancement, you can use your absorb health sword, which will allow you to use your enemies health to fuel your magicka total as well as your own as an alternate means for the same effect; (Using melee offense instead of your default vampire/vampire lord racial spell to achieve the same outcome).
The purposeness of utilizing the health absorbing sword in you main hand on it's own is a benefit all by itself, whilst anything by universal gameplay rule, is slower in your off-hand; Therefore, by putting the quickest, lightest weapon in your off-hand, you can balance the attack times with both hands, so they are level in timing, and neither of them are slow to wield, which is is handy, considering what the off-hand weapon is for.
The paralysis dagger in your off-hand is useful for quick jabs on harder enemies whilst using the dual wield speed increase to break the harder foes down into bitesize battle chunks in between paralysis times; Paralysis enchanted weapons have reasonably low charges, so the main usage for it is a off-hand backup weapon for harder enemies, thus saving you soul gems to keep recharging it constantly.
_____
Ahzidal's Mask allows The Gargyle's fully fled Stage 4 vampirism to offset the 100% weakness to fire by half, and at the same time increasing your own fire spells by a 25%, this whole offset in basic terms is taking the fire weakness element of your vampirism, and adding it on to your own elemental spell damage. Thus, turning your main weakness into a better offense. In addition, any weapon that you have equipped that has fire damage, is damage-fortified in magnitude by 25%. Dunmer also have 50% fire resistance which offsets your vampire racial weakness completely when coupled with Ahzidal's Mask.
With the Lady Guardian Stone it allows the offset of Health and Stamina regeneration penalties in sunlight once you are a vampire aswell.
Special Moves:
"Springing Statuette"
Requires: Stealth 5/5, Throw Voice.
Using your shout you can lure gullible adventurers, foes and the like to you, secondary after blending in with the stonework by sneaking. The Gargoyle replicates the real thing perfectly, and setting up a mastery of an ambush through only it's stealth and cunning.
"The Reversing Gargoyle"
Requires: Ash Rune, Slow Time.
Realizing your own ability of the Springing Statuette, you are able to reverse it, and make others turn to stone. By using your ability to slow your surroundings, you are able to place Ash Runes in the path of even the quickest of targets; Once triggered, they'll become a unsuspecting statue themselves....part of the stonework, lost and frozen in time.... and stone.....
-***-
Build Conclusion:
By choosing a Dunmer with the Lady Stone & Ahzidal's Mask you can offset all the vampiric penalties and focus on the positive benefits. You needn't worry about the sunlight or the fire weakness either with all of these things. You have all the replicated abilities of a Gargoyle plus more, and you have the perks that come with the Dawnguard DLC of being a Vampire Lord. The build isn't overpowered, nor is it too weak. It has the benefits of the best perks and the sanguinare disease, can heal itself by multiple means, and has reasonable AR even by being a no craft, no armor build. It's diverse enough and original to keep you entertained, and not overpowered to put you off. All in all, I hope you have as much fun as I did playing this build, especially through the Dawnguard DLC Storylines.
_____
Mod Recommendations/Build Gameplay Enhancements:
I appreciate those of you who do not like to play with mods or cannot mod your game because you are on console, or get fed up of people suggesting mods for builds, but for those of you who do like to play with Build/Gameplay Enhancements/Mods then use this: Craftable Alduin's Wings @ Skyrim Nexus
It's a set of craftable Alduin-Like wings for you to wear, compatible with any armor and clothing, to even look like a Gargoyle even when not in Vampire Lord form.
_____
Check out my other builds here.
The dark omni-noctivigous stalker of death and decay has arrived! This build comes in the form of a rapant Gargoyle, a stampeding clawed blood-spewing machine, and an end to my search of a truly dark character.
The Gargoyle
A clawed hand, A dying dream,
Something heard, ...but nothing seen....
The daylight fades from human eyes,
The moonlight wakes, The Gargoyle cries,
For release, granted only by the nighttime...
One alone wakes to hear the sound,
Of silence shattering throughout crypt around,
But somehow, the human knows...
and from the shadows....
...The Gargoyle arose.
Race: Dark Elf / Vampire Lord
Stone and Other Abilities: Lady Guardian Stone, Blood of the Ancients.
Major Skills: One-Handed, Sneak, Alteration
Minor Skills: Destruction, Restoration.
Armor: Vampire Lord Royal Armor (Vampire Armor in light gray before-hand - simulates Gargoyle skin), Vampire Boots & Gauntlets, Amulet of the Gargoyle, Ring of the Erudite, Ahzidal's Mask.
Weapons: Dragonbone Sword of the Vampire (R) & Dragonbone Dagger of Petrifying (L)
Shouts: Throw Voice, Slow Time.
Spells: Detect Life, Flame/Frost/Lightning Cloak, Oak/Stone/Iron/Ebonyflesh, Equilibrium, Healing, Fast Healing, Close Wounds, Ash Rune.
_
Note: The offhand dagger is used purely for the speed increase; See 'The Gargoyle's Armory Unveiled' paragraph. This build also requires Dawnguard DLC.
=***=
The Build:
The Gargoyle focuses on Alteration and it's flesh spells to improve it's armor rating to offset using no armor, whilst combining Destruction in the form of some of the best cloaking spells to aid it in armorless sneaky skirmishes, Restoration to instantly heal itself via it's vampiric abosrb health Destruction spell to drain the life out of it's foes, or it's Restoration spells - whilst it utilizes the energy for itself to bolt through the hardest of battles, of the ones it can't sneak up againgst.
The Gargoyle's Special Moves replicate the real gargoyles stone statue disguise perfectly to sneak up on foes and the Throw Voice shout and all your Stealth ranks to lure gullible adventurers and enemies to The Gargoyle.
The Vampire Lord ability allows you to summon gargoyles to fight for you, allowing your own kind to take down the prey, while your Amulet of the Gargoyle will allow you to summon an extra gargoyle alongside the other one for 30 seconds.
The coupling of your Absorb Health default vampire/vampire lord ability and Equilibrium will weakon your own life force to strengthen your magicka in battles, to create a completely infinte magicka pool loop that depends on your own and your enemies full health attribute totals to fuel and to use your cloaking and flesh spells to create a ward of near impenetrability for any who attack you.
The usage of Ash Runes is to be able to entomb your foes like stone statues....ironically much like that of the gargoyle itself, giving disguise to that of a motionless, unsuspecting statue in Castle Volkihar's Undercroft...
-***-
Stat Placement: Magicka 3 - Health 2 - Stamina 0
Magicka is a primary attribute and will be needed to upgraded the most in order to use your most powerful spells. Health will allow you to bolster your Magicka (as shown above w/ Equilibrium) and will be a secondary attribute to your Magicka to sustain yourself in battle, as your flesh and cloak spells will create a awesome ward-like melee resistance for yourself. Stamina is least used and will not be upgraded at all. This in turn gives you the opportunity to upgrade your Health and Magicka more throughout levels upon level-up instead of Stamina for a bigger total for the build's more powerful endgame.
Level 55 Perk Placement
With the Dual Flurry speed bonus from Necromage, this builds total speed calculation for wielding two weapons at the same time with Necromage ends up being 168.75% faster than a standard swing.
Cloak spells are affected by Augmentation through perks and do 8 pts/second the bug sections and magic/spell tables on the UESP and Wiki and completely wrong and very misleading. However, the same perks do not affect Rune spells unfortunately.
Mage Armor Alteration perks are for bolstering the flesh spells The Gargoyle uses, allowing you a decent AR even being a no craft, no armor build. The Mage Armor makes your flesh spells 3x stronger if not wearing any armor whatsoever.
The Gargoyle's Armory Unveiled:
The armor cap with all the listed armor on is 567, which is reasonably decent anyway, but when you combine the Mage Armor 3/3 perks, and Ebony Flesh, starting with no armor at all, it jumps to 300 AR, as soon as you have the 3/3 ranks and Ebonyflesh cast, which is 52.91.5% of the overall armor cap straight away, which, is over half.
As for the weapon speed to be increased even further, past 110% speed, I was going to add Elemental Fury shout, but it only works on unenchanted weapons, and I couldn't pass up the decision I made to wield a paralysis dagger and an absorb health sword, which, instead of using your vampire absorb health ability and Equilibrium to have a health attribute depending total magicka pool enchancement, you can use your absorb health sword, which will allow you to use your enemies health to fuel your magicka total as well as your own as an alternate means for the same effect; (Using melee offense instead of your default vampire/vampire lord racial spell to achieve the same outcome).
The purposeness of utilizing the health absorbing sword in you main hand on it's own is a benefit all by itself, whilst anything by universal gameplay rule, is slower in your off-hand; Therefore, by putting the quickest, lightest weapon in your off-hand, you can balance the attack times with both hands, so they are level in timing, and neither of them are slow to wield, which is is handy, considering what the off-hand weapon is for.
The paralysis dagger in your off-hand is useful for quick jabs on harder enemies whilst using the dual wield speed increase to break the harder foes down into bitesize battle chunks in between paralysis times; Paralysis enchanted weapons have reasonably low charges, so the main usage for it is a off-hand backup weapon for harder enemies, thus saving you soul gems to keep recharging it constantly.
_____
Ahzidal's Mask allows The Gargyle's fully fled Stage 4 vampirism to offset the 100% weakness to fire by half, and at the same time increasing your own fire spells by a 25%, this whole offset in basic terms is taking the fire weakness element of your vampirism, and adding it on to your own elemental spell damage. Thus, turning your main weakness into a better offense. In addition, any weapon that you have equipped that has fire damage, is damage-fortified in magnitude by 25%. Dunmer also have 50% fire resistance which offsets your vampire racial weakness completely when coupled with Ahzidal's Mask.
With the Lady Guardian Stone it allows the offset of Health and Stamina regeneration penalties in sunlight once you are a vampire aswell.
Special Moves:
"Springing Statuette"
Requires: Stealth 5/5, Throw Voice.
Using your shout you can lure gullible adventurers, foes and the like to you, secondary after blending in with the stonework by sneaking. The Gargoyle replicates the real thing perfectly, and setting up a mastery of an ambush through only it's stealth and cunning.
"The Reversing Gargoyle"
Requires: Ash Rune, Slow Time.
Realizing your own ability of the Springing Statuette, you are able to reverse it, and make others turn to stone. By using your ability to slow your surroundings, you are able to place Ash Runes in the path of even the quickest of targets; Once triggered, they'll become a unsuspecting statue themselves....part of the stonework, lost and frozen in time.... and stone.....
-***-
Build Conclusion:
By choosing a Dunmer with the Lady Stone & Ahzidal's Mask you can offset all the vampiric penalties and focus on the positive benefits. You needn't worry about the sunlight or the fire weakness either with all of these things. You have all the replicated abilities of a Gargoyle plus more, and you have the perks that come with the Dawnguard DLC of being a Vampire Lord. The build isn't overpowered, nor is it too weak. It has the benefits of the best perks and the sanguinare disease, can heal itself by multiple means, and has reasonable AR even by being a no craft, no armor build. It's diverse enough and original to keep you entertained, and not overpowered to put you off. All in all, I hope you have as much fun as I did playing this build, especially through the Dawnguard DLC Storylines.
_____
Mod Recommendations/Build Gameplay Enhancements:
I appreciate those of you who do not like to play with mods or cannot mod your game because you are on console, or get fed up of people suggesting mods for builds, but for those of you who do like to play with Build/Gameplay Enhancements/Mods then use this: Craftable Alduin's Wings @ Skyrim Nexus
It's a set of craftable Alduin-Like wings for you to wear, compatible with any armor and clothing, to even look like a Gargoyle even when not in Vampire Lord form.
_____
Check out my other builds here.
+1 Great layout and pics
